the Wine his Blood c. all this is well and very true we are not ignorant that St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome St. Austin St. Cyril of Jerusalem and many other ancient Doctors name it so But how can the Papists shew by the Holy Scripture that Christ is there in the same manner as they affirm by a real presence which is not only spiritual but material and corporal That he is there in the same manner as he was of old in the Virgins womb in the manger of Bethlehem upon Mount Tabor and upon the Cross and nevertheless that he is in the highest Heavens at the right hand of God the Father Where can they find in all the four Evangelists any Text that mentions this prodigious Miracle of the Transubstantiation or transmutation of the bread into the real Body of Jesus Christ and of the wine into his Blood with a destruction of the first and a creation of the latter by the efficacy of four words uttered by a Priest Where is there a Writer of the Greek or of the ancient Latin Church that speaks of this Mystery in the same manner as Thomas Aquinas who maintained a corporal presence multiplied without division accidents sustained without their proper substance a discontinuance of a being without corruption a production of the same effects by a cause that is not an humane and divine substance under the appearance of a Wafer a God made man where nothing of his manhood is to be seen a body without extension a life without motion an infinite number of equal parts proportionable to their totum in a Mathematical point a relation from the same to the same from the first to a second who are but one a situation without space an abiquity without place a general destruction of all Predicaments by this supposed Mystery or Manhu as he calls it a word which expresseth the admiration of the Israelites when they saw the Manna fall amongst them Did ever St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome or any of the four chief Doctors of the Christian Church speak in this manner they did never imagine that so many absurdities could enter into the minds of men I am perswaded that if this Doctor stiled by them the Angelick Doctor because of the rare Inventions of his Wit had lived in the days of St. Austin and had spoken unto him in these terms that Primitive Father would never have understood him although he understood the Predicaments of Aristotle without Tutor doubtless he had taken him for a man faln from the Clouds dwelling in the Globe of the Moon or for one that maintains that there is there another World Where have they seen in Holy Scripture or amongst the ancient Fathers That the Lay-men must not communicate in both kinds that the Mass is a Sacrifice where the Passion of our Saviour is really renewed that Jesus Christ will be there worshipped in a visible manner by an adoration that relates to the substances as God himself if he were to be seen according to the Command of the Council of Trent I have been several years reading and perusing the Holy Scriptures and its Interpreters but I have found nothing there like to these Doctrines unless it be in the Popish Authors for I have met with an hundred passages contrary to this belief I confess we find in Holy Writ that Christ hath said This is my Body but he hath said also I am the Door I am the Stone I am the Vine and the Shepherd of the Sheep c. If we are to take all these expressions in a literal sonse we must believe that he is a Door a Stone a Vine a Shepherd of Sheep But the Scripture saith that Jesus Christ is ascended up into Heaven and that he sits there at the right hand of God the Father Therefore he is no longer upon Earth for it is not possible that the same Body should be in two distinct places at once If that were likely as the Philosophers tell us the same Body might be in twenty in an hundred in a thousand and in ten thousand places in the same moment From hence we might conclude that it is possible to make one man become a great Army that one man should kill himself a thousand times and yet continue alive that he should be a Saint in one place and a Devil in another damned in one place and saved in another the object of Gods wrath and goodness at the same time these are impossibilities and plain contradictions Christ commands us to do this in Remembrance of Him therefore he is not there really and bodily for we do nothing in remembrance of a man present before us in a corporal manner The Papists instance the Manna which was kept by God's command in the Ark in remembrance of that which God sent down from Heaven which was both the remembrance and the thing remembred the representation and the thing represented This is one of the most plausible Examples of the Papists but it is to little purpose for besides other Reasons that may be alledged against it I think they are mightily mistaken to compare a totum integrans with an individual one and the same may be divided and the parts carried into several distinct places where they may be look'd upon in divers manners but the other is altogether repugnant to division and separation The Manna that was in the Ark I confess was a memorial of that Manna which the Israelites had fed upon in the Wilderness but it was not the same How can they therefore from hence conclude that Christ's body must be in several places under distinct notions Christ informs us That His words are spirit and life and that the flesh profiteth nothing that it is the spirit that quickens It is not possible to speak any thing more contrary than this to the Papists Doctrine for these words assure us that Christ is there really and in truth but spiritually not corporally nor substantially that He is there by his Spirit virtue and efficacy to produce the same effects in us as if he were there in a sensible manner This was taught by the Primitive Fathers and thus the Protestants believe it He commands us also To eat his Flesh and drink his Blood in both kinds St. Paul repeats the words and the Council of Constance which is esteemed by the Papists as highly as a fift Evangil saith that since the Apostles time Communicants did receive in both kinds wherefore did they then take away the Cup why did they establish this Law that forbids Lay-men to drink of the Cup They acknowledge that Jesus Christ hath appointed it to be so that the Apostles did practice and command it and that it had been an universal custom amongst Christians for all men to communicate in both kinds Nevertheless this Council was so insolent to forbid it and command the World to believe that this Prohibition proceeds from the Holy Ghost although it be contrary to Christ's Institution
coal from thine Altar clense this tongue yet venomous which hath so often conveyed a poison into many hearts inflame it with some of those cloven tongues of fire which lighted upon thy Holy Apostles and which caused them to be no more dumb but eloquent Change the accent of this voice which hath been heard in the Pulpits of the Romish Religion make it never to be heard any more in vindication of errour and that it may never accent and pronounce any thing but that which is altogether conformable to thy Word These are the petitions that I now present unto Thee O good God especially at this time beseeching Thee also so to prepare the ears and hearts of my Hearers that they may be the better by my discourse more confirmed and settled in their Faith and more resolved in an obedience to Thee These mercies we beseech Thee to grant us O merciful God by the merits and only mediation of Jesus Christ in whose Blessed Name we continue to pray unto Thee as He Himself hath taught us Our Father which art in Heaven c. ROM 5. vers 20. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound HEre I am my Brethren in this Pulpit to acquaint you at present with the causes of that which you have seen me do this morning I am here to express unto you a repentance suitable to the hainousness of my sins by a publick abjuration of those grievous errours which I have formerly professed in the Church of Rome that I might shew forth the accomplishment of this holy Oracle pronounced by St. Paul Where sin abounded grace did much more abound You may be fully perswaded my Brethren that Gods grace hath obliged and constrained me to what I have done for my Change of Religion proceeds not from the unconstancy of my mind I have done nothing suddenly I have been seven years in a continual deliberation struggling with my self convinced in my judgment but could never resolve until now You must not therefore look upon my alteration as the effect of some calamity or the consequence of an unworthy behaviour or a disgrace I never wanted bread I have always had too much at command and have ever met with more happiness in my undertakings than I could expect Neither is this Change the product of any miscarriage no blessed be God I am not ashamed of any thing that I have done those Honourable Persons unto whom I have been recommended in this place may bear witness from the information of such as are worthy of credit The greatest crime that I have committed is that which I have been guilty of this day by forsaking a superstitious Religion and embracing a purer by leaving the broad road to Hell and turning into that of Heaven God out of his infinite goodness and mercy hath obliged me to it notwithstanding all the natural perswasions of worldly interest for I have left the assurance of a sufficient provision for my maintenance to embarque my self and rely wholly upon Gods good providence I have caused my best friends to become my most deadly enemies I have made of my parents and relations my persecutors and sworn adversaries I have left forever a Country where I enjoyed as much worldly happiness as was possible to come to live and dye in another where I have no other expectation nor means to advance my self but only from your kindness and favour God knows how strong these reasons have been to detain me so long and what difficulty I have had to command my self to a final resolution but at last grace hath overcome God hath had in me more power than the world and humane reason and the hopes of my salvation more than the advantages of this life That I might declare this unto you I have now the liberty to appear in this Pulpit I shall therefore do it as briefly as I am able I shall give you an account of some of those disputes which I have maintained in my mind before I could resolve to do what I have at last done I shall therefore begin to declare the reasons that have kept me so long in the profession of the Romish Religion and that as far as I am able to judge do detain the rest of its Professors I shall afterwards discover to you the reasons that have destroyed the first groundless reasons and that have caused me to forsake the Romish Religion and embrace the Protestant to renounce errour for faith heresie and idolatry for the truth the babylonish Rome for the celestial Jerusalem my Country for Haven and all for my God By this Discourse you shall perceive the greatness of Gods mercy towards me in that he hath been pleased of a stone to raise up a son to Abraham and hath caused his grace to abound where sin abounded before THE FIRST PART THe first and chief cause which hath so long detained me in the Church of Rome is that venerable Antiquity which is ascribed to her alone I did sometimes consider her gray hairs her pretended Founder the Apostle St. Peter who as it is said governed her during the space of five and twenty years I did sometimes look upon her Sovereign Authority which she saith Christ himself gave unto her in the person of that Apostle which since hath continued successively in all the Popes who have commanded in that See This Succession of the Popes and Bishops of Rome hath never been violated nor interrupted as they pretend but they have immediately succeeded to one another the like is not to be seen in any other Church Besides I did sometimes view a long Catalogue of Martyrs and other Saints who are said to have lived in an obedience to the Church of Rome and to be dead in the profession of that Faith which is there now and hath been always taught as is pretended I did examin all these plausible Titles these glorious Attributes and her divine Prerogatives as I found them recorded in the Books and Schools of that Church which could not but oblige me to an high esteem of her excellency and to wonder how men could be so blind and irrational as to deny her to be the only true Catholick and Apostolick Church In this manner my Brethren I have continued about the space of six or seven years seriously considering these advantages that were given to this Church At last I took that liberty which is not granted to any of that profession and that is to open my eyes and examin more narrowly from whence proceeded these magnificent and glorious Attributes and what reasons Rome hath to claim them to her self alone For that purpose I perused the Holy Scriptures and its most ancient Interpreters as the most worthy of credit and by them I was constrained to alter my judgment and to entertain perswasions contrary to that received from my Forefathers from my Masters and from the Reading of the Romish Divines I have found that Antiquity in which Rome boasts so much discovers
of an Apostle which he had renounced by his Apostacy from Christ He had denied his Master thrice therefore the Son of God proposes this question Lovest thou me three times All this is noted in the Roman Rubrick Thrice saith St. Cyril lib. 12. chap. 64. He commands him to feed His sheep to renew unto him the dignity and confirm him in the office of an Apostle for fear that the denial of his Lord which he had been guilty of through the weakness of the flesh should seem to have cashier'd him For it is to contradict what Jesus Christ said to all His Apostles when He appointed them to preach the Gospel to Mankind to teach and baptize c. to say that none but St. Peter had this power granted to him But a great many passages of Holy Scripture do expresly contradict this Doctrine You have but one Master but one Father which is in heaven saith Jesus Christ Matth. 23. vers 8. I am the good Shepherd I know my Sheep and lay down my life for them He saith not I am an hired Shepherd but the true Shepherd John 11. As there is but one Flock there can be but one Shepherd now who is this Shepherd Christ or the Pope My Father hath given me all power in heaven and in earth Matth. 28. I have power to pardon sins on earth Mark 2.10 God hath committed all judgment unto me and power to execute judgment John 5. How can these passages agree with the Popes Sovereign Authority Is it not a grievous affront offered to Jesus Christ to set this Divine Saviour aside as Bellarmin doth secluso Christo to help up the Pope to his Throne and invest him into his usurped Sovereignty If we are to acknowledge but one Shepherd but one Master but one Lord but one only Heir of the Fathers Power and Authority shall we not rob Christ of these His Divine Prerogatives if we should offer to bestow them upon the Pope I am not ignorant of all the distinctions made use of in this occasion to justifie the Pope from this Usurpation but they are but philosophical and aiery distinctions of the same nature as are commonly invented by the wit of man to justifie Aristotle from his Belief and Doctrine of the Worlds Eternity Thomas Aquinas and others from their saying that the Virgin Mary was conceived in sin Tertullian Origen St. Bernard and others from teaching that the Souls of Saints are not admitted to the Vision of God before the day of Judgment They are such like distinctions as the Pirrhenians invented to prove that white was black that a hat was the same as a slipper and an Ape like a Lion c. All these arguments and distinctions might be well resented from the mouth of Aristotle of Plato Pythagoras or from a Cartesian Philosopher but not from a Catholick Christian who ought not to mind what he might say but what he should believe in conscience not what he can maintain but what he is bound to embrace When an Article of our Faith is concerned such a one must set aside his disputing humour and the quirks and tricks of Logick taught him in the Schools to make a plain and sincere profession of the Truth For my part I think it is the best to declare ingenuously that there can be no solid reason found out to authorize our ascribing to a man that which belongs to Jesus Christ alone by his own words No man can justly condemn me for having denied to the Pope that which I read in the Gospel to be Christs Prerogative only It is not possible faith an ancient Father to give too much to God especially when man enters into competition with Him But listen I pray to what the Apostles and primitive Fathers say upon this Article There is one sovereign or great Shepherd of our Souls saith St. Peter Ep. 1. chap. 5. with whom when He shall appear we shall appear also with Him in glory such as feed the flock of Christ committed to their charge taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being lords over Gods heritage but c. Doth St. Peter establish here the Popes Monarchy doth not he rather undermine the foundation of it No man saith St. Paul can lay another foundation but that which is already laid Jesus Christ There is one Lawgiver Who art thou saith St. James that judgest another He hath the Keys of David that opens and none can shut that shuts and no man can open Revel 3. How doth this agree with that which the Papists would perswade us of St. Peter and of the Pope Ought we not to gather from these passages Doctrines contrary to their belief No man can lay another foundation c. They are therefore much deceived that affirm that St. Peter is the foundation of the Christian Church and that the Pope is the head There is but one Lawgiver the Pope therefore hath no authority to command and appoint Laws He is to be looked upon as a Deceiver when he would perswade us that they are all out of the Church that will not acknowledge his power Jesus Christ hath the Key of Heaven He opens and no man can shut c. I must therefore seek an entrance from Him if He opens me the door I shall be admitted maugre the Pope his Priests and Excommunications if He shuts it to me the Pope hath no Absolution nor Indulgence of a sufficient efficacy and power to open it All the primitive Doctors confirm this Doctrine they ascribe to Jesus Christ only that which the Papists ascribe to St. Peter and to the Pope whom they have made his Successor When Jesus Christ saith St. Chrysostome Tom. 3. Ser. de pent hath said upon this Rock I will build my Church He did not say upon Peter for He hath not built His Church upon a man but upon this Faith What means saith St. Austin Tract 10. in Epist Joan. what means He by these words upon this Rock I will build my Church He means upon this Faith because he had said Thou art Christ the Son of the living God St. Ambrose St. Hilary Theophylact and many others affirm the same thing Optat. Millevitanus speaking of Pope Siricius he doth not call him Master or Holy Father c. but Noster Socius our Companion Contra Parmen lib. 2. Art thou bordering upon Achaia saith Tertullian de Praet cap. 36. thou art near to Corinth if thou art joyning to Macedonia thou hast Philippi Thessalonica if thou canst go over into Asia thou shalt find Ephesus and if thou neighbourest upon Italy thou art not far from Rome where we have authority Thus the Primitive Fathers discourse unto us of the Church of Rome They never ascribed unto her any more power or priviledge than to all the other Churches Let any man therefore judge what impudency and presumption the Popes are guilty of in that they claim a
careful to oblige her domesticks to live well according to the Laws of God I cannot believe that such a person can be damned nor I neither said I to my self I am of your mind nevertheless it was then my interest to dissemble the inward perswasion of my mind Don't let that trouble you I was about to say to such if you have not committed a more grievous sin than that I shall not load you with an heavy penance I am certain that many are of my mind in the Church of Rome It is a cheat and a design to force people to believe it as confidently as the most holy mysteries and a great error to tell them that they cannot have any hopes of salvation if they are not perswaded that the others are assuredly damned although God commands us to the contrary by his Apostle not to judge others Rom. 14.3 Jam. 4.12 and assures us in his Gospel that there needs nothing else to attain unto salvation but the keeping of his Commandments which the Protestants profess to do and perform Therefore I did often argue in this manner It is not possible to be damned without sin for sin is that alone that shuts heaven and draws upon us the wrath of God Now there is no sin but is against his commandments either we must omit what he enjoyns or commit what he forbids Every one therefore that believes what God hath revealed unto us by his Prophets and Apostles and by Christ and shall keep the commandments of God shall infallibly be saved the Scripture declares it He that believeth in me although he were dead yet shall he live saith our Saviour Joh. 11.25 and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye He don't tell us we must believe in the Pope to be saved but we must believe in him He repeats these words in several passages of the Gospel Verily verily I say unto you if any man keep my word he shall never see death he speaks the same to that man which enquired of him what he was to do to be saved If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments Matth. 29.16 when he enquired which Christ answered Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal c. Now the Protestants profess and observe these two things to believe in God and to obey his commandments This is their Faith and the principles of their Religion to believe all that God hath revealed and to do all that he hath commanded Wherefore should they be damned Because they don't believe in the Pope answers a Papist and because they don't keep the commandments of the Church of Rome But my friend from whence hast thou that these two things are also necessary for thy salvation is it from God or from man can you find in any passage of the Holy Scripture or in the three Creeds of your Religion any thing of this doctrine It is true you shall find I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord c. You shall not find there that you must believe in the Pope that the Bishop of Rome is the Head of all the Christian Church that he is infallible and that he must be obeyed as God himself You shall not find there any mention made of the Sacrifice of the Mass of Purgatory Indulgences the Worshipping of Images nor of the other Articles of the Popish Religion And the two other Creeds made about two or three hundred years after the first to explain and paraphrase it speak of no such things Listen attentively at your Morning Prayers or when Mass is sung in your Churches publickly you shall hear nothing of the Pope nor of his Church you shall only hear of the Articles which Protestants believe with less additions than you for they credit them only because God hath revealed them they will have no mixture of humane authority with the divine Look over all the commandments of God's Law you shall not find there any thing of praying to Saints of worshipping of Images of abstinence from meats of fasting in Lent of confession of sins to men but there you shall find that we must worship God that we must not make any graven Image c. All these commandments are kept more religiously by the Protestants than by the Papists what reason therefore can we find for their Damnation how come they to be so bold as to thrust this into their Creed as an Article of Faith ambition and antichristian rage against them hath perswaded them to it But I wonder how they can offer to maintain this doctrine with this addition that there is no salvation but by an union with the Pope whom they affirm to be the Head of the Church and by consequence to influence and give life to every one of its Members Suppose the Pope is a wicked man as many such have been according to their own confession if he be covetous profane lechrous an Heretick a Negromancer or a hellish Monster how can any relation and union with such a one do me any good can he make me partaker of that holiness which he himself wants I have good cause to fear that he will infect me with his vices Is it not a grievous mistake and a ridiculous fancy to say that I cannot please God unless I communicate with and be related to his enemy and that I must not expect salvation but by a communion with him that is assuredly damned Nevertheless this is one of the Articles of the Popish Creed and Faith § Their Doctrine concerning Traditions is also contrary to the Holy Word of God It tends to withdraw us from our faith and belief in it If Jesus Christ did now live in the world he might with reason treat the Papists in the same manner as he did the Pharisees In vain do they honour me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men for laying aside the commandment of God ye hold the tradition of men as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things you do transgress the commandment of God by your tradition Mark 7.7 13. Matth. 15.3 The most part of the Papists Principles and Articles of Faith are nothing but Doctrines and Commandments of men which have altogether changed the appearance of Christ's Church in all those Kingdoms where they have been admitted I might make this appear more plainly if I did but run over all the grievous impertinencies that are by this means received as so many Articles of Faith in the Church of Rome if I did but make an enumeration of all the false Miracles published for true but I should exceed the narrow limits prescribed to my self I shall therefore confine my self to one thing that hath very much scandalised me in this Doctrine it is the reason and expedient that they have to maintain it which tends to the total subversion of Christian Religion and to the destruction
observation is no small hinderance to a true Christian mortification a subduing of our passions and unruly lusts If our perfection in Christianity and the holiness of our Souls depends so much upon fasting abstinence and such mortifications of the body the Pharisees were good Christians and the Turks would deserve a greater esteem of holiness than we for the Pharisees did perform all these things exactly and the Laws of the Turks forbid them to drink wine and to forbear eating of several meats all their life time besides they have certain Monks very austere in their living the Dervises whip themselves publickly in the streets they cut their skin with sharp rasors and suffer many such cruelties in their bodies as Calcondile and Michael Baudier relate The wilfull penances of our Monks are not to be compared to theirs We may therefore conclude and speak confidently that this Law is as great an hypocrisie and abuse as the other Inventions of the Papists To make our Christian perfection consist in such niceties and follies is to catch at the shadow instead of the body to mistake the colour for the substance the appearance for the reality the shell for the pearl and the night for the day But such as are inveigled by the perusal of the Popish Books which are only allowed to be read in that Church and such as are besotted and deceived by the repeated lessons of their Preachers who seldom cry up any thing else in their Pulpits cannot well make all these reflections and considerations § The unlawfulness of the Priest's Marriage is a Law contrary to the Holy Scriptures and the cause of many abominations and of the damnation of many Souls which might otherwise be sanctified and saved What I shall say concerning this matter may be applied to the Monks and Nuns Jesus Christ himself hath approved of Nuptial Solemnities and Marriage by his presence He doth in no case disallow it Marriage saith the Apostle is honourable amongst all men Heb. 13.4 Virginity it is true causeth us to be very like the Holy Angels nevertheless the same Apostle assures us that it is better to marry than to burn 1 Cor. 7. The Examples of the Apostles and of their Successors should be sufficient in my judgment to answer all the objections that may be invented for although our virtue be never so extraordinary and God's Grace in us be never so powerful it is a grievous presumption to affirm that we have more virtue and grace than the Apostles had more than those illuminated Souls full of the most wonderful perfections It is to no purpose that they extoll what the Holy Scripture and the Primitive Fathers have said in praise of Virginity Children that know not what it is to engage in a vow to observe that which depends more upon God than upon our ability may approve of their reasons but we cannot allow them If we did all but understand as I have done by the confessions of many persons how many horrid and enormous crimes this Vow hath occasioned in the Church of Rome It fills it with abominations and filthiness and causeth such as should be examples of holiness to be paterns of all manner of vices Virginity I confess is praise-worthy I have not changed my Opinion in relation to that I remember very well what I have read upon this subject in St. Ambrose St. Austin and in other Fathers who have employed their eloquent pens to set forth the praises of these noble virtues if we may so stile things that are in themselves indifferent The same Sermons that I have preached in France in praise of a single life I dare preach in England without fear of reproof But I could never yet find in all the Holy Scripture nor in the writings of the Fathers of the Church any thing that should oblige us to engage in this rash Vow or that it is a virtue which we may promise to our selves to observe and keep faithfully till death I cannot find that God ever promised to bestow the graces necessary for the observation of this vow to all that shall undertake it After a long experience and acquaintance with the consciences of men I have understood sufficiently that this vow of perpetual Virginity engages some in the commission of grievous abominations who might otherwise be Saints Therefore I am forced to condemn this Law as one of the most wicked inventions of the Devil in Christianity and one of the most dangerous of all his snares I dare not say all that I know of this matter if I did I should force every modest Reader of these few lines to blush for I might declare not only sinful thoughts or desires and wicked deeds caused by this vow so highly esteem'd as a virtue these are but natural brats of that devilish father but I might mention unto you the most fearful monsters actions crimes and unheard of abominations proceeding from it such as deserve the fire of God's vengeance from heaven which once fell upon Sodom and Gomorrha such as deserve that the earth should swallow us up alive but God will not punish the innocent with the guilty How many crimes have been acted bloody murders and secret cruelties perpetrated If Tertullian were now alive he might with as good reason exclaim against the promoters of this law as once he did against Marcion who attempted to hinder the begetting of children He compared that wicked man to Herod and saith that in his opinion he was more criminal than Herod for that Tyrant cut the throats of children already born but Marcion was guilty of a greater cruelty because he did endeavour to hinder the generation of infants The Promoters of a Single life amongst the Priests are guilty of the same heinous offence they are guilty of Herod's cruelty Marcion's barbarity the Gnostick's murders All this they cover with the shadow of a pretended virtue they destroy many souls by engaging them in an estate where it is almost impossible that they should obtain salvation and cause them to commit many anticipated murders and cruelties Whosoever hath been where I have seen what I have beheld and heard what I have heard shall say the same as I do now I have many times pitied those poor fouls that have revealed unto me their secrets in relation to what I speak How miserable said I is this poor man if it were not for this one thing he would live like a Saint all his confession is stuffed with nothing else but with the sins against his vow that excepted I find his desires are zealous he is devout in prayer religious in his behaviour exemplary in his life and conversation and because he cannot make use of that remedy which God hath allowed to the rest of men as a prevention of sin he is in inevitable danger of damnation if God don't hinder him by his wonderful mercy If these lines happen to come into the hands of a Priest of the Romish Church I am