of man hath power on earth to forgive sins which clearly implies that none else had that Power bâ— himself and he had it as he was God 1 John 2 1â— I write unto you little Children because your sins 〈◊〉 forgiven you for his Names sake that is he judge and pronounced them pardoned because he sees the Work of Grace that God had wrought upon the 〈◊〉 hearts Thus you do see in the Gospel of Christ how Confession of Sins is to be made so as a Pardon in the Blood of Christ may be obtained But Antichrist's Gospel teacheth Men and Wâ— men to confess their Sins and Pay Whip or some other Penance and at the old trade of sinning again 11. Eleventhly The Gospel of Christ teacheth Men to live peaceably as much as in them lieâ— with all Men Rom. 12.18 But Antichrist's Gospel teacheth them to livâ— peaceably with none but them of their own Religion and to do what possibly in them lies to destroy and root all others out of the World. 12. Twelfthly The Gospel of Christ teacheth alâ— Men to speak the Truth one to another and lye noâ— to any Man. But the Gospel of Antichrist teacheth Men to use Mental Reservations and Deceitful Equivocations which is to speak one thing with the Tongue and mean another thing in their Heart which is to lye upon all occasions to serve their Ecclesiastical Interest which is the highest degree of Hyporisy in the World. 13. Thirteenthly The Gospel of Christ teacheth us to know Good from Evil and Evil from Good and Light from Darkness and Darkness from Light and it teacheth us to chuse the Good and refuse the Evil. But this another Gospel 2 Cor. 11.4 Gal. 1. 〈◊〉 9. Namely the Gospel of Antichrist teacheth Men to call Evil Good and Good Evil and pâ—â— Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Isa 5.20 They call the Gospel of Christ Heresy and Protestant-Professors of it Hereticks Now the Gospel is the greatest Light that ever was in the World it is the Light 〈◊〉 Heaven And Heresy is the greatest Darkness in 〈◊〉 World it is the Darkness of Hell and they plaâ—â— their own Antichristian Gospel which is Hereâ—â— and thick Darkness in the room of the Gospel Light. 14. Fourteenthly The Gospel of Christ teacheth us to believe in him alone and to rely upon 〈◊〉 Righteousness and Merits for Spiritual Life he 〈◊〉 and for Eternal Life and Salvation with him 〈…〉 But the Gospel of Antichrist teacheth Men to rely upon their own Righteousness and Works of Merit Ay tho Works of Mischief and Darkness some of them and to expect to be saved by that in Conjunction with the Righteousness and Merits of Christ 15. Fifteenthly and Lastly To name no more the Gospel of God teacheth us to do Justice and to love Mercy and to walk Humbly with the Lord our God Mic. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God But the Gospel of Antichrist teacheth men to do Injustice and to love and delight in Cruelty and Persecution and to walk loftily and to carry it proudly towards God and Mun. Thus I have shewed you in part what a vast difference there is between the Gospel of Christ which is that which we Protestants do own and believe to be the revealed Will and Word of God and ought to be the only Rule for all People to Live and Walk by and especially to Worship God by and the Gospel of Antichrist there is as much difference as there is between Light and Darkness for indeed it is even so for the Gospel of Christ is the great Light in the World it is the Light of Heaven above all other Light in the World the Light of the Sun Moon and Stars is but Darkness compared with this Light of the Gospel of God for it is the Light which comes from Heaven And the Gospel of Antichrist is the greatest Darkness in the World it springs from the utter Darkness of Hell all other Darkness is Light compared to that Now I shall finish this Discourse with three Arguments But it may be that some Persons will say They do own the Scriptures tho they do not own some Doctrines which we that are Protestants do own whom they count Hereticks and perhaps they may say That I have acknowledged it in the first Part of my Book that they do own the Scriptures why yes that is true they do own it after a sort they do by the Holy Scriptures as Clippers and Coyners do do by the Kings lawful Standard Money they take the largest fairest Money and Clip and File it away and cover over Copper and Counterfeit the Kings Stamp and shuffle it away for currant Coyn among them that cannot discern it to be so Why even so they do by the King of Kings Coyn the Holy and Sacred Scriptures they add and diminish as their seeming Interest lieth But here is what will be their Portion unless they â—â—pent quickly for the Judg is at the Door Rev. 〈…〉 the words of the Prophecy of this book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this book Deut. 4.2 Prov. 30.6 1. Now my first finshing Argument is this If any Persons deny the Satisfaction made to the Law and Justice of God by the Righteousness and Merits of Jesus Christ to be wholly and intirely sufficient of it self to justifie and acquit a Sinner of all his guilt of Sin before God then these Persons tho they pretend to own part of the Scriptures yet they do deny the whole Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament because it is the Fundamental Doctrine of Mans Salvation in both Testaments Jam. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all As partial Obedience is no Obedience so partial owning the Scripture is a denying the Scripture in Fundamentals which is to deny the whole Scripture But there are a sort of Persons that profess themselves to be Christians that do deny the Satisfaction made to the Law and Justice of God by the Righteousness and Merits of Jesus Christ to be wholly and intirely sufficient of it self to justifie and acquit a Sinner of all his guilt of Sin before God. Therefore these Persons tho they pretend to be Christians and own some part of the Scriptures yet these very Persons destroy the Essential Being of true Christianity and deny the whole Scriptures both of Old and New Testament because there is this Fundamental Doctrine of Mans Salvation in both Testaments and a partial owning of Fundamental Doctrines of
that the Holy Scriptures were true and that their Redeemer that was revealed in them ever liveth and did make satisfaction and intercession to God the Father for them Ay and he was with them and in them at the Gibbet and in the very Flames as he was with the three Worthies of old in the fiery Furnace Dan. 3.25 He answered and said Lo I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt and the form of the fourth is like the son of God. I hope by this time you are not only persuaded that the Scriptures that we Protestants do profess and own were not the invention of Man but also you are satisfied of the veracity or truth of them That they are not invented by men of any sort but are indeed and in truth the Holy Word of God. But lest you should be yet staggering or stumbling for further corroboration I will add Eight Arguments and I will draw a parallel between our Scripture which we Protestants do profess and believe to be the Word of God and the Scriptures of Antichrist 1. First of all my first Argument shall be this If the Holy Bible does not give the least indulgence or countenance to any kind of Sin and Iniquity whatsoever then the Scriptures must be the revealed Will and Word of God But the Holy 〈…〉 we Protestants of all sorts do own and believe to be the Word of God does not give the least Indulgence or Countenance unto any kind of Sin or Iniquity Therefore the Holy Scriptures must be the Word of God and not the Invention of men Secondly If the Scriptures were not made by bad men nor invented by Good men then it must be infallibly the word of the true and living God. But you see clearly proved that the Scriptures were not made by bad men nor invented by good men therefore they must be the Word of the living and true God and made by him without the help of man. 3. Thirdly If the Scriptures do not in the least degree discourage and discountenance Grace and Holiness but is the promoter of it then the Scriptures must be the Holy Word of God. But the Scriptures do not in the least degree discourage or discountenance Grace and Holiness but do promote it in the hearts of Believers Therefore the Holy Scriptures must be the infallible Word of God not the word of Man nor of Mans making or inventing 4. Fourthly If the Scriptures teach all Goodness and Virtue Moral and Divine both for Body and Soul and Detect and Condemn all manner of Evil which is hurtful to Body and Soul both temporal and spiritual Evils and gives righteous Rules to Men to walk by and shews them what is Good and how they should demean themselves in every Relation Station and Condition from the Prince upon the Throne unto him that grindeth at the Mill and teacheth the Prince how to Rule and Govern in Righteousness and Peace and teacheth the People how to be governed in the fear of the Lord and to obey them that have the Rule over them not for Wrath but for Conscience-sake and all for the Good and Weal both of Prince and People Then surely the Scriptures must be the Word of God and not the Word of Men. But the Holy Scriptures which we Protestants do own and believe to be the word of God do teach all Goodness and Virtue Moral and Divine both for Body and Soul and Detect and Condemn all manner of Evil which is hurtful to Body and Soul both temporal and spiritual Evils and gives righteous Rules to Men to live and walk by and shews them what is Good and how they should demean themselves in every Relation Station and Condition from the Prince upon the Throne unto him that grindeth at the Mill and teacheth the Prince how to Rule and Govern in Righteousness and Peace and teacheth the People how to be governed in the fear of the Lord and to obey them which have the Rule over them not for Wrath but for Conscience-sake and all for the Good and Weal both 〈…〉 which we Protestants of all sorts do profess and believe must be the Word of God and not the Word of Men nor of Mens Invention 5. Fifthly If the Scriptures had been invented by any sort of sinful men whatsoever then certainly that sinful man would have made provision for the flesh and given Indulgence to his own sin and lusts for it is natural for every one to be kind to themselves and to cherish that which they love But the Holy Scriptures do no not give the least Indulgence or Countenance unto any one particular Sin or Immorality in the whole Book of God from the first of Genesis unto the last of Revelations but the whole Current of the Scriptures is bent against it Therefore the Scriptures were not the Invention of man but must be the Word of God. 6. Sixthly If the Scriptures in all Ages have been the Object of wicked and ungodly mens rage and malice which have caused them to persecute those persons to the very Death that have been the strictest Professors of it then it could not be wicked men that made and invented the Scriptures But the Holy Scriptures in all Ages have been the Object of wicked and ungodly mens Rage and Malice which have caused them to persecute those persons to the very Death that have been the strictest Professors of it Therefore it could not be wicked and ungodly men that made or invented the Holy Scriptures But it must be the Word of God. 7. Seventhly If wicked men had made and invented the Scriptures Satan having the Government and Conduct of them and they being acted and influenced and led by his Spirit as a Good man is acted and influenced and led by the Holy Ghost for Satan ruleth in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience for he is their Father John 8.44 Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it Now I say if the Children of the Devil had made the Scriptures they would have been tender and favourable unto their Father's Kingdom and Interest and have given some Countenance unto it and not have made the whole bent and stream of the Scriptures against it and afford no manner of Indulgence to themselves who are the Devil's Subjects or Vassals or rather his Bond-slaves indeed nor no manner of Relief or Support to his Kingdom But are made against all Heresie and all other Iniquity which is that wherein the strength of the Devil's Kingdom lieth then surely the Holy Scriptures must be the Word of God and not 〈…〉 But the Holy Scriptures which we Protestants do own and believe to be the Word of God are against all Heresie and all other Iniquity whatsoever
A FRIENDLY DEBATE BETWEEN A Roman Catholick AND A PROTESTANT Concerning the Doctrine of TRANSUBSTANTIATION WHEREIN The said Doctrine is utterly Confuted and Antichrist is clearly and fully Described and his inevitable Destruction predicted With a Challenge to all the Romish Doctors that Preach and Teach the said Doctrine to Answer it LICENSED September 24. 1688. LONDON 〈…〉 A FRIENDLY DEBATE BETWEEN A Roman Catholick AND A PROTESTANT CONCERNING THE Doctrine of TRANSUBSTANTIATION c. PRotestant Sir Do you believe that there is a Real Change wrought upon the Elements of Bread and Wine after they are Consecrated by the Priest in the Sacrament of the Eucharist into the Substantial Material Living Body and Blood of Christ which makes up his Real Person to wit of Body Soul and Divinity Roman Catholick Yes Sir I do believe that the Elements are Transubstantiated into the very living person of Christ to wit of Body Soul and Divinity that is into the very same Body which he assumed before he died the same Body in which he suffered and died upon the Cross without the Gates of Jerusalem the same Body that laid in the Grave three days and the very same Body in which he ascended up into Glory and is sat down at the right hand of God in Glory Prot. I must confess Sir according to the genuine sense of your Doctrine of Transubstantiation it must be so or else it is a mere sham and mockery For if the Elements be Transubstantiated into the very Body Soul and Divinity of Christ and then be offered up a sacrifice propitiatory and sufficient for the sins of the living and the dead then Christ must be alive or else you do offer a dead sacrifice But I do utterly deny it and therefore Sir I 〈…〉 Rom. Yes Sir I will prove it by Scripture from our Saviour Christ's own words and also from the words of the Apostle St. Paul. Prot. Pray Sir let me hear that Rom. First of all I shall prove it from our Saviour Christ himself by the words of Institution when he Instituted this Ordinance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist Luke 22.19 20. And as they were cating Jesus took bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body Likewise the cup after supper saying This cup is the new-testament in my blood Matt. 26.26 27 28. And as they were eating Jesus took bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my body And he took thâ— cup and gave thanks and gave it to them for this â—â— my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins And in John 6.52 53 54 I am the living bread which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for every And the bread that I will give is my flesh which I wiâ—â— give for the life of the world Then Jesus said unto them Verily verily I say unto you except ye eat thâ—â— flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have 〈◊〉 life in you Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh mâ— blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at thâ— last day Thus you see I have clearly 〈◊〉 〈…〉 That it is Christ's Real Body and Blood that we do eat and drink in the Sacrament of the Eucharist And secondly I shall prove this Doctrine from the Apostle St. Paul's words also in the 1 Cor. 11.24.25 where he saith Take Eat this is my Body which is broken for you After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supped saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood. Thus you see I have proved this Doctrine of Transubstantiation by Scripture and I could also prove it by Councils and Decrees and Canons and Traditions of our Fathers and the like And besides all that has been said it is an Article of the faith of our Church which is infallible and cannot err And we are bound to believe as the Church believes and commands us to believe And therefore this Doctrine must be infallibly true Prot. Sir is this all that you have to say to prove this Doctrine of your Infallible Church Rom. Yes Sir and I think it is a sufficient proof of it too Prot. Why then I pray Sir Give me leave to answer you as well as I can from Scripture and from Reason also Rom. Yes Sir with all my Heart Prot. Why first of all Sir in the first place give me leave to tell ye you have not taken the whole verses or sentence in some of these Scriptures which you have quoted you have gone away with part of a Text even so far as will serve your turn which is a very dangerous thing for it is no less than to clip the King of Heavens Coyn which is Spiritual High Treason which is the worst of Treason and is punishable with no less than all the Curses of the Book of the Holy Word of God without true Repentance Rev. 22.18 19. Deut. 4.2 Prov. 30.6 Sir you know Satan when he tempted our Blessed Saviour Christ he quoted part of a Text of Scripture to serve his own turn Matth. 4.5 6. Then the Devil taketh him up into the holy City and setteth him on a pinacle of the Temple and saith unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone 'T is written saith Satan quoting Psal 91.11 12. for he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone The Devil leaves out that part of the Text to wit He shall keep thee in all thy ways Sir you do own and believe these Scriptures which you have quoted to be understood literally and properly and not Mystically and Spiritually but according to the plain letter of them Rom. Yes Sir I do for the Text is plain and clear Prot. Now Sir I will answer you from the words of our Saviour Christ in the same Chapters and in some of the same verses which you have quoted and also from the words of the Apostle Paul in that same Chapter which you have made use of and also in many other places of the Holy Scriptures whereby you shall see by God's assistance this Doctrine of yours overthrown and utterly confuted therefore let us bring it to the Touchstone of Gods Word To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isa 8.20 1. First of all By the words of our Blessed and only Mediator and Redeemer in Luk. 22.19 20. And he took Bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave it unto them saying
shall be filled with his own ways Eighthly we may observe that altho this Mystery of Iniquity did begin to work even then in the Apostles day yet it was not to come to that full measure and degree of iniquity which it was to come unto until after his death that was not until the Man of Sin should be revealed Act. 20.29 30. Ninthly and lastly it is to be observed that the cause of God's sending this strong delusion unto them was for their abandoning and casting off the Gospel of God which tendered Life and Salvation by Christ's Righteousness unto them and following after lying vanities it was that which provoked God to inflict this sore judgment upon them so that they have eyes and see not and ears and hear not which may very aptly refer to this viz. that these persons have as great natural Gifts and Endowments as other persons have namely Sence Reason and Understanding with all the Intellectuals and Faculties that belong unto men as men but they are not suffered to make use of them upon Spiritual objects or occasions neither will they suffer themselves to make use of them in that way and manner as would most glorifie God and tend to the Salvation of their own souls their Consciences are seared with a hot Iron they have quite lost all Spiritual feeling for tho Sences Reason Understanding and all the Faculties do their work and office yet none of them are to be believed And who are blinder than those that will not see They are just like the Images which they do bow down unto and pray before if not worship them And they have no better Spiritual use of them than a condemned Malefactor has of the temporal use of his legs which only serve to carry him to the place of execution Nay give me leave to tell ye that they have no more use of their Sences Reason and Understanding in Spiritual things than these very Images have which they adore of natural Sences Reason and Understanding 〈…〉 least for look into Psal 115.4 5 6 7 8. Their Idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands they have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not they have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not they have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through the throat Pray mark the winding up They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them First they have mouths but they must not preach the pure Doctrine of the Gospel of God therewith 2. They have eyes but they must not see the way to Life and Salvation by the Righteousness and Merits of Jesus Christ alone with them 3. They have ears but they hear not That is they must not nor will not hear the Preaching of the Gospel with them 4. They have Noses But they must not smell any savour in the holy ways and pure worship of God with them them 5. They have hands but they must not believe them when they tell them that the Bread or Wafer is but Bread and is not flesh nor a material body 6. They have feet But they must not walk to the House of God with them but they will walk to the Idols Temple with them 7. And lastly They have Throats but they must not pray nor speak unto God through them in a right manner according to his will and mind but they pray with them unto Saints departed and preach up the Infallibility of the Church and the Doctrine of Implicite Faith with and to it And thus they come to have eyes and see not and ears and hear not and so are like unto the Images they make and pray to and before and by this means the holy Bible cometh to be a sealed Book unto them Isa 29.10 11 12. And now I leave any one to judg whether this Man of Sin that sitteth in the Temple of God and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped can be the great Turk or whether it can be meant of any sort of Protestants whatsoever for they do not assume any such universal power and dominion or Soveraignty over Kings and Rulers Kingdoms and Nations and over mens souls and consciences But if the Turk be not Antichrist the Man of Sin nor the Protestants then pray who is Antichrist my answer is this viz. I will name no body but I will refer ye to the Scriptural Characters that I have observed and let it be compared to some mens Office and Offices and to their Faith Doctrine Worship Discipline Manners and Practices in the world and they shall answer for me and tell you plainly who Antichrist the Man of Sin is for the Holy Ghost in the Sacred Scriptures have drawn his Effigies or Picture so clear and conspicuous that any man of Gospel-sense or that hath but the use of natural reason may wink with both eyes and tell who the Antichrist is and where he sits for indeed the Holy Scriptures have written his name in his forehead so that we may read the very Scriptures that relate unto him in his Office Doctrines Worship Discipline Practice and Manners as clear and as plain as we may read his Office Doctrines Worship Discipline Practice and Manners by and in the Holy Scriptures Rev. 17.5 6. with which Scripture I shall conclude this Digression viz. And upon her forehead was a name written Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus Now he that runneth may read who this Man of Sin the Antichrist is if he be not wilfully blind if they will but give themselves leave to adhere to sense and reason I have made a tedious digression by which I have gone a little out of my way but it was to meet with Antichrist the Man of Sin and his Adherents which are all out in the Wilderness with the Woman or deserted Church and Idolatrous worship which doth belong unto him and doth attend upon him God awaken the Kings of the Earth and open their eyes that they also may see and know who this the Antichrist is Rev. 17.16 17 18. that he may ride them no longer But now my Dear Friend although I have taken a very long turn with Antichrist yet I remember my promise unto you viz. That I would meet you again upon our old Topic or Point of Doctrine that we were discoursing upon before I met with Antichrist the Man of Sin namely the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for I have not done with that as yet for I have more considerations to offer against it for the confuting of it the first shall be this viz. Christ saith in Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Pray mistake not for as Christ was