between the Prophets and Jesus so many hundreds of years after they were dead and before he was born Or are these Predictions and their Events to be imputed to Chance It is possible indeed that some one thing may be foretold and happen accordingly but that so vast a number of particulars should be foretold concerning one Person at all adventures and by strange luck come to pass afterwards is fit for them only to believe that can believe that the World was made by a casual hit of Atoms To name these things is enough to confute them 2. All that can be farther desired is to be well assured that these Prophecies were not forged by the followers of Jesus but that they were indeed contained in the ancient Writings that had been delivered down to the Jews of our Saviour's time by their Ancestors and the constant testimony of the Jews themselves who were most bitter enemies to Jesus and to his Doctrine were enough to satisfie us in this point 4ly And Lastly Whereas these Predictions are said to be a more sure word of Prophecy the meaning is this that they are a more convincing Testimony to Jesus than any other taken by its self they are indeed a more permanent Testimony and withal less liable to Cavil and Objection I cannot stand to shew this by making particular comparisons but shall only observe That Prophecy includes all other Testimonies and adds strength to every one of them It comprehends the Miracles of Jesus and of his Apostles his Resurrection and Ascension the Descent of the Holy Ghost and the excellency of his Doctrine because these were all foretold It includes all other proofs as well as the thing proved and those proofs are the more convincing because they also had been foretold by the Prophets From all this it follows That allowing the Scripture that Tradition which other good Histories have and which they have more of than any other ancient Writings in the World then the Prophecies of the Old Testament and the Accomplishment of them in the New do prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and this without the help of the Churches Authority and well is it for the Christian Religion that the Scriptures may be proved without the Authority of the Church for otherwise Christianity must never look an Infidel in the face since the Church hath no Authority at all till we are assured of the truth of the Scriptures themselves And I will make bold to add That when all those objections against the Authority of the Old Testament from the time wherein it was put into this form of Books from the light oversights of Transcribers from various readings and all the cavils upon any part of it are put together the word of Prophecy which runs through it all will bear all this reckoning and still remain an invincible argument that the first Authors were inspired that the Prophecy came not in Old time by the will of man but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Well therefore might St. Peter commend the Jewish Converts for taking heed to the word of Prophecy since this was the way to come to a well-grounded Faith indeed and to grow every day to greater assurance and stedfastness therein and for the same reason let us I beseech you be exhorted to like diligence in conversing with the Holy Scriptures that our Minds may be more enlightened with the knowledge of divine Truth and that every doubt if any there be that shakes our Faith may be removed And this Exhortation is so needful that I shall shew that there is no good reason in their Objection against it who have taken a great deal of pains to exclude all but the Clergy and those that have special License from reading the Scriptures the sum of what they say is this That the promiscuous Liberty of reading the Scriptures leads the People into Pride and Self-conceit makes them insolent and ungovernable and ready to throw off all Respect to their lawful Guides That almost all Heresies have proceeded from misinterpretation of Scripture and that there are so many obscure and difficult places in the Old and New Testament that to translate the Bible into vulgar Tongues and to encourage the People to read it is to betray them into the danger of infinite Errors which they are likely enough to fall into by mistaking the sense of the holy Text which therefore is to be kept out of the hands of the Laity as we would keep Children from medling with edged Tools and lay Swords out of mad-mens way Now if this Charge be true the Bible is a very dangerous Book if it be not true there is some other reason doubtless why they that pretend this have no kindness for the Bible I shall omit several advantages that may be taken against this Flourish because I think it may be shown very briefly that it pretends things that do by no means hang well together that it takes things for granted that are not true and that it concludes as strongly against the Scriptures being read by the Clergy as by the Laity It pretends some things that do not hang well together On the one side they tell us that the liberty of reading the Bible is apt to make the People throw off all dependance upon the Priest as to instruction on the one side that there are obscure and difficult passages in it by mistaking the true sense of which they will be led into Heresie and consequently into the way of Damnation Now indeed the Scriptures say this of themselves that there are divers things hard to be understood in them which ignorant and unstable men have wrested to their own destructien But if this be true the best way to keep the People in modest dependance upon the instruction of their Spiritual Guides is to lay the Bible before them and not to keep it from them since there cannot be a more convincing Argument of the necessity of attending to their Pastors in order to farther Instruction than the several difficulties that occur in the Scriptures and the warnings that the Scriptures themselves have given of the danger that unlearned and unstable Men are in of wresting them to their own destruction If it be said that experience shews the contrary and that neither this nor any other Argument can make people modest if they are generally permitted to have the Scriptures I add 2. That this arguing takes things for granted which are not true in point of fact all the Faithful anciently had the Scriptures but we find little complaint by the Bishops and Clergy then of the Wantonness and Insolence of the People so little in comparison of the frequent and earnest exhortations that all would deligently Read the Scriptures that it may be said to be none at all Christian People that had been trained up in the first Rudiments of the Faith were not only allowed them but required to Read the
some awakening Reproof from men or some merciful Providence of God may make the Truth which he is already provided with the belief of effectual to his Conversion But there is little reason to hope this of a man whose very Principles are corrupted and has no fears within himself for a charitable man to take hold upon And therefore that Saying of our Saviour may be well applied to such a Person If the light that is in him be darkness how great is that darkness Moreover as there is little hope to reform that man's evil Practices whose Persuasions make him secure and easy all the while so there is no little difficulty to be met with in trying to undeceive him for men will hold comfortable Errors as long as they can find the least pretence for it And which is not the least mischief of this Offence though such Errors are not laid down without a great trouble yet they are taken up with much readiness they are apt to spread far and wide And to this I believe the experience of the world agrees viz. That although there are mistakes that lead to Trouble of Mind and over-much Restraint yet for one that is led away by such Mistakes an hundred there are that believe comfortable Lies which either wholly take off the Restraints of Religion or in such part as to render them ineffectual 3. Perverse Disputes and an obstinate maintenance of Error by all the Arts of Sophistry has this lamentable evil commonly attending it That it renders many persons utterly careless to examine on which side the Truth lies Perhaps they are but few in comparison that are framed to an inquisitive Spirit and they who are not so framed by Nature or by Education must force their Tempers to Patience and take pains with themselves which is an Employment that men soon grow weary of and commonly they break off pretending it is to no purpose to search any farther but that when there is so much to be said on both sides when there is such an appearance of Reason for and against the same thing it is time for them to give over being Judges for themselves And indeed in things that are either really disputable or of less moment this were not much to be blamed But in matters of high consequence and questions that touch the very Vitals of Religion it often happens that men grow weary of searching Truth and give up themselves wholly to be led by the Authority and Judgment of others after the Controversy is stifly maintain'd for some time on both sides And it were well in this case if it were an even Lay whether they chuse the true Guide or not But when a Guide is to be chosen and followed with an implicit Faith the false Guide hath this Advantage always that he exceeds in Confidence in lofty Pretences in swelling Titles in positive denouncing Damnation to all that are not of his way And though a modest man that speaks justly of things and claims not to be infallible deserves the most credit yet 't is great odds that the other has most Followers amongst those that understand not the Merits of the Cause 4. The same Cause has too often a yet worse Effect and that is to run some persons into Infidelity and an utter neglect of Religion as if no Certainty could be had of the Principles of Religion seeing there is so much Controversy about it And some have said That it will be then time enough for them to believe in God and to worship him when they that pretend to oblige them to it are agreed about it The truth is were it not for that secret Impression of his own Being which God hath left upon our Nature it is not improbable but the monstrous Errors that have been obtruded upon a great part of mankind under the name of Faith and the Force and the Fraud wherewith they have been maintained had let in Atheism like a Deluge upon the world especially considering that there are those in the world who are so full of Zeal for their own way that they have no tenderness for the common Principles of Faith but are rather content that all should sink together than that their own Doctrines should not stand We have been born in hand that no assurance can be had of the Truth of Christianity but from the Authority of such and such men and they that believe upon other Grounds had as good have no Faith at all That if it were possible for them to propound any thing that is false we cannot be certain of any one Article that is true That the same exceptions may be made to the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles that are made against the Stories of latter Miracles And finally That by the same reason that any of their Traditions are rejected the Holy Scriptures may be rejected too and indeed we have lived to see the utmost that can be done by Wit and Learning to diminish the Authority of the Bible Now this I say is a most dreadful Offence and has done infinite mischief in the world that men who are violently engaged in a wrong way of Religion care not for the most part what they venture in the service of their own Cause for whilst they lay the same stress upon false or at least disputable Points that they do upon the most necessary and acknowledged Principles of Religion and bend all their Wit to shew that no difference ought to be made they give occasion to men that would fain be Atheists to deceive themselves into what they would be For a very little Consideration will serve to satisfy them that something is false which is propounded to them as an Object of their Faith and they know they have then leave given them to conclude that nothing is true 5. There is another great mischief of Offences that are given by Errors in Doctrine or Practice and a mischief that often happens in the world which is that of running into a contrary Extreme The Church found this by sad experience in the Fourth and Fifth Ages when men of no small Note disputing against one Heresy fell into another of an opposite nature to the no small trouble of Christendom Truth sometimes as well as Virtue lies in the Mean and they that transgress on any one side do not only this mischief to give what authority they can to the wrong side they are of but they do this mischief too of giving occasion to others to offend on the other Extreme Thus the abuse of Church Authority on the one side has bred in some men contempt of all such Authority on the other The Scandals that have been given by propagating Opinions by Force and Violence have produced in many a fond persuasion that there ought to be no restraints whatsoever in matters of Religion Superiors have required unlawful things in Divine Service and to be revenged upon that abuse it has been said that they are not to
the Temptation Men of Probity and Lovers of Truth should upon diligent examination hold it faster than otherwise they would have done This is one of the great advantages to which that opposition tends which Truth has met with in the World And therefore the more lofty those Pretences are by which the other Church would bring us to an intire submission to her Authority in every point of Religion so much greater reason there is to examine every one of her particulars and if I find that she is mistaken in any of them I am very sure that she is not infallible in all And if she will not allow me to make a Judgment of the Particulars 't is just as if a Man should try to hinder me from casting up my own Accounts by going about to prove that he cannot possibly mistake in doing it he might indeed shew some Wit in working his Demonstration but I should shew a great deal more folly in trusting him To conclude We have a Rule whereby to try the Doctrine I will not only say of a Church or a Pope or a Council but even of an Angel from Heaven if an Angel should come and preach to us and that Rule is the Holy Scripture especially the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles These are by all Christians acknowledged to be the undoubted and the most ancient Records of our Holy Religion and they have had a Tradition so uncontroulable as no Books in the World ever had the like Whoever therefore is our Guide it is very reasonable that this should be our Rule And of all Churches in the World I will never trust my self to her discretion that will not trust me with the Knowledge and Study of this Rule Here we may if we please make our selves very sure that we are of those whom God will justifie for here we may discern what kind of Persons St. Paul and the Christians of whom he speaks in this place and what all the Apostles and Primitive Disciples of our Lord were For those Books which acquaint us with their Names and which were written by some of themselves do also discover to us what Faith they professed what Doctrine they taught and what Lives they led Now if we profess that very Faith and teach no other Doctrine and frame our practice by their Rules and good Examples then without all question we are such kind of Christians as they were and then altho' we should be used by the World as they were too yet the encouragement and comfort which they had will also belong to us and we too may say Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Having therefore the infallible Rule of God's Word whereby to guide our selves We beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more and more that while evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived ye may continue in the things which ye have learned knowing of whom ye have learned them even from the Sayings of our Lord Jesus and his holy Apostles delivered to us in the Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus Let us remember that it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us not forgetting by any means that 't is a way of righteousness we have been made to know and an holy Commandment that hath been delivered to us from which therefore we may depart as damnably by an impure Conversation as by leting go our pure Profession in which case we are so far from being justified that we shall be the more condemned by our Faith We have no false Principles to save our Hearts from condemning us if we allow our selves in any way of wickedness and God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Whoever else condemns us that is more than recompence enough if God justifieth But who is he that shall justifie us if God condemns FINIS THE SUMM OF A CONFERENCE On Feb. 21. 1686. BETWEEN Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden About the Point of TRANSUBSTANTIATION The Third Edition LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1698. The SUM of a CONFERENCE On Feb. 21. 1686. BETWEEN Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden About the POINT of TRANSUBSTANTIATION Introduction IT will perhaps appear to some a little strange that I do not say almost Incredible that there should have pass'd a Conference above two years since in which Mr. Gooden was concern'd and the World yet to learn the Substance of it The Vanity of that Gentleman to thrust himself upon all Occasions into Disputes with the most Learned Men of our Church first and then to boast of his own Performances in them was so great that there is scarce a Coffee-house in the Town that has not been filled with the Noise of his impertinent Vapours And if those of the other Communion have been always remarkable for an Assurance becoming the pretended Infallibility of their Church I may venture to say that next to Father P the Jesuit and his Friend Mr. M I scarce know any among them that have ever talk'd so loud or made such Heroical Defiances of the Champions and Armies of our Israel in all Places and upon all Occasions as Mr. Gooden these late Years has done among us But thus shallow Waters always run with the greatest Noise and Violence and little Sophisters who either want Capacity to see into their own Fallacies or think they have forehead enough to carry that off with Clamour and Confidence which they cannot do by Reason and Argument delight to expose themselves and their Religion to the most dangerous Tryals whilst Men of Learning and Judgment are modest and ingenuous and know it to be neither for the Honour of their Church nor their own Reputation to challenge all Mankind to answer Paradoxes and to shew that not to be Demonstration which when brought to the tryal is hardly sense See Mr. G's Pap. I hope this will not be thought too severe a Reflection on the late Pretenders of this kind among us which I speak out of a just respect to the more learned and charitable Persons of the Church of Rome who have been no less scandalized at these forward Zealots than our selves and to whom I ought to give this Testimony That during a long acquaintance with many of them I never met with any thing of the Vanity of those I have before-mentioned Our Differences in matters of Religion made no Disturbance either in our Friendship or Conversation with one another If the discourse at anytime led to a Controversie of
is disgraced with the company of Follies and Lies Thus the Pharisees recommended their absurd Traditions to the People because in the same breath they taught them the Law of Moses Thus some of the Gentiles were ready to reject Christianity when they were made to believe it necessary for them also to observe the Mosaical Law if they would be Christians And this is one of the common Scandals of the World that Truth is so often insincerely represented and false Doctrines propounded still by the same Authority that holds forth some necessary Truths And for this reason the Gospel does not allow but command us to use a Judgment of Discretion not to reject that which is good because it comes from the same Authority that requires evil nor to admit Error because it is accompanied with Truth but to prove all things and to hold fast that which is good 4. All Popular Artifices that are used to recommend either wicked Errors or Practices are also great Offences and lead many silly Souls astray of which kind the most obvious are these An external shew of Strictness and Piety without real Virtue and Godliness at the bottom of it And of this the Pharisees were the first notable Instance who placing Religion in abundance of nice Observations seemed to be the most strict and devout People in the World and therefore our Saviour knowing the wickedness of their Hearts and Lives compared them to whited sepulchres that within were full of dead mens bones and all uncleanness And this Offence would be so powerful whenever it should happen that it seemed good to the Spirit to foretell it expresly viz. That in the latter times some should depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. Another Offence of this kind which was also expresly foretold is pretending the Testimony of Miracles For says our Saviour himself There shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect Behold says he I have told you before Matth. 24.24 25. And thus St. Paul foretold that when that wicked one should be revealed his coming should be after the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness I shall name but one other popular Device for the supporting of Error and that is to denounce Damnation peremptory against all Gainsayers with which Artifice the Judaizers secured themselves against the Gentile Christians saying Except ye be circumcised and keep the law of Moses ye cannot be saved Now although every man that has a Tongue may if he please lay this weight upon his Cause as to exclude all from Salvation that are not of his way and therefore the Threatning be not worthy of a wise man's thought till the Merits of the Cause be examined yet it has two notable advantages that it is framed to work upon the Passions of men more than upon their Judgment and in most men their Passion is stronger than their Reason and it may be so used as to bear the World in hand that 't is not Uncharitableness but mere Pity and Tenderness to the Souls of men that compels them to speak so harsh but so necessary a Truth And 't is a wonderful thing to observe how easy men are to be managed when on the one side there is a positive Sentence of Damnation to work upon their fears and on the other an appearance of serious Charity to win their Affections for by this Art men of contrary Parties have with strange success served contrary Opinions and Practices I cannot if I were willing reckon all the Offences of this kind that is popular and plausible ways of deceiving But that there would be such our Saviour did not only foretell in the general when he said It must needs be that offences come but in particular also when he said Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheeps cloathing Matth. 7.15 5. To this I may add what St. Paul observes 1 Tim. 6.5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness That any thing may be defended as a part of Religion which makes for worldly Interest It is no such hard matter to perplex things that are plain to find colours for denying things that are evident to hide the weakness or the strength of an Argument to divert from the Cause to the Person so artificially as if the Cause went on still to lose the matter in debate to make Truth look like Error and Error like Truth to those that are willing to be deceived if a man is resolved to bend all his Wit this way for something may be said for any thing 6. And lastly Bad Examples of men professing the true Religion are another most dangerous Offence since I doubt most men are so framed as to take up their Opinions more easily from Authority than from other Arguments and they understand more easily the difference between good and evil Manners than between strong and weak Reasons And then they will be apt to judge of the Truth or Falshood of a Way of Religion by the good or bad Fruits of Practice it brings forth in those that profess it Which doubtless our Saviour intimated in those words Let your light so shine before men that others seeing your good works may glorify your Father which is in heaven But to hold the Truth in Unrighteousness is not only a Scandal to those that are in Error confirming them that are in the wrong way but likewise to those that are in the way of Truth by encouraging them to Sin in like manner especially when Evil Examples are set by those that are particularly obliged to set none but good ones whose Place or Office Wealth or Quality makes them more conspicuous and gives others any kind of dependance upon them And because of the pernicious Influence of Bad Examples we find St. Paul often calling upon the Christians with whom he had to do to fix their observation upon those that were good Brethren says he be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample For many walk of whom I have often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ Thus I have very briefly considering the largeness of the Subject shewn what Offences were to come by laying before you the principal and most obvious Offences which we know by the Predictions of the Scripture and alas for the World by too sad experience And now I proceed to the second Point which was to consider why it must needs be that Offences should come that is why it was not to be expected but that these or such Scandals as these would be given to the World And this Enquiry is necessary to be
careful to take none I. Be careful to give no Offence i. e. to lay no stumbling-block in any man's way to lead him into Sin or Error or to confirm him in it Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Wo be to that man by whom the offence cometh Now the way to keep our selves free from this guilt is to love the Truth our selves sincerely to desire it diligently to pursue it and likewise in all our actions to live by Rule and then we shall be sure to avoid giving ill Examples And we are the more obliged to this because we are not only to give an account of our selves to God but of our selves also with reference to the good or ill that others have received by us Let us consider my Brethren how careful we should be of our own actions and those especially that lye open to others when if we do ill our selves we shall not only be to answer for our own transgression of God's Law but very likely for the sins of others who are either led into some unlawful Practice or confirmed in it by our Examples Which makes such an increase of Guilt and is so great a sin in it self that it is sometimes needful for a man to abate of the use of his own liberty in things not unlawful of themselves lest another that is likely enough to make a wrong construction of it and to encourage himself in manifest sin should indeed do so And for this reason St. Paul handling the question of eating things offered to Idols acknowledgeth That meat commendeth us not unto God for neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat not are we the worse But says he take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak who are not throughly confirmed in the Worship of one God according to the Gospel For as he goes on if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idols temple shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols i. e. be emboldened to commit Idolatry 1 Cor. 8. So that altho it was not in it self unlawful to be present at those Sacrifices yet the Example being scandalous St. Paul concludes it to be a sin against the brethren and against Christ ver 12. And this inasmuch as it would grieve their weak Conscience i. e. not as we use I doubt to understand that word grieve that it would trouble and displease them but really hurt them by making them bold to partake of the Idolatrous Sacrifice And now Brethren if in things that are perhaps in their own Nature lawful we ought to use caution lest by an uncharitable use of our Liberty we encourage others to do things that are in themselves absolutely unlawful How much more cautious should we be not to give any Authority to sin by an Example that is evil in it self So likewise we ought with the more care to chuse our persuasions in Religion because in all likelihood we do not chuse them for our selves only but for our Children for our Servants for some of our Neighbours for many that some way or other depend upon us and for whom we must answer at the Day of Judgment And since we cannot profess we cannot live but the world observes us so how instructing ought to be our Profession how instructing our Conversation How apt to promote Innocence Truth Virtue and Piety And this the more the more we are in the Eye of others In short no words I can use can make such an impression upon you as these words of our Saviour ought to make Wo be to him by whom the offence cometh But this is not all 2. We must also be careful not to take Offences not to be led into Sin and Error by Example or Allurements by any kind of Temptations whatsoever To justify which Exhortation I desire you to observe these Three things 1. That our blessed Lord hath foretold that Offences would come nay that it must needs be that they come Nay I have shewn that the most dangerous Offences are particularly foretold in the New Testament Now Brethren this very warning in general much more those particular warnings were designed to take away in some good measure the danger of those scandals by arming us with caution against them beforehand Since that is to be applied to all other particular Scandals that is expresly added to the Prediction of lying wonders Behold I have told you before Now if the Offences though very dangerous of themselves were lessened by being foretold our guilt in falling by such Offences must be so much the greater because being forewarned we would yet take no warning The Offensiveness of these Offences is in some part abated by the cautions of the Scripture inasmuch as we have no cause to be startled and amazed and to question the care of God's Providence over his Church because Offences come since the Author of our Faith has told us before-hand that they must needs come And 2. We are also forewarned of the guilt and misery of falling by Offences inasmuch as our Saviour hath said Wo to the world because of offences i. e. as I told you at first because of that evil which will happen by taking Offence But if men were free from guilt in the committing of those sins which they fall into by reason of Scandals that are laid in their way in short if taking Offence were not it self a sin and in many cases a very great sin and such a sin as we shall be sadly accountable for at the day of Judgment there could be no reason given why our Saviour should denounce a Wo upon this account Wo unto the world because of offences 3. Let us not forget what was observed last time That God permits Offences to come which according to the common course of things were in themselves most likely to come he permits them I say for the Trial of our Ingenuity our Honesty and Sincerity There must be heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest It is by no means unavoidable to stumble at Scandals because we are forewarned of them but if we take warning it is for the Praise and Reward of our diligence and faithfulness in keeping to God's Word Our Saviour speaking of the Signs and Wonders done by false Christs and false Prophets says That if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect that is they would deceive the very best men but that they are guarded by Sincerity and by the Grace of God and these words plainly intimate that this would be the Touchstone to distinguish Persons truly and solidly good from all others That notwithstanding the fair colours that would be put upon wicked Practices and Errors they would persevere in the ways of Truth and Godliness And now that we may not be mis-led by Offences but keep our selves
down which are properly Religious that is which accompany and go along with Prayer or Thanksgiving or any acknowledgment of a Divine Perfection We are to give to no other Being in the World that outward Worship which by all the circumstances of it is Religious or a signification of the least Divine Honour Upon these grounds I intend to build and now I shall proceed to shew what those Sins are which manifestly oppose and contradict these Rules and they may I think be reduced to these Two Atheism and Idolatry First Atheism of which there are Two sorts properly so called Either I. Not believing that there is a God Or II. Not worshipping him 1. Not believing a God that is an Invisible Spiritual Being which is the cause of all things and this is that which is commonly understood by Atheism to deny the very Being of a God which as it is the highest stupidity and the greatest corruption imaginable of a man's Understanding so it is fundamentally opposite to all pretences of Religion and Worship which supposes the Being of God of God I say that is of a Spiritual and Invisible Being which knows and understands which can do all things and upon which all other things depend But 2. There is another sort of Atheism truly so called which consists with a Belief of the Being of God or at least doth not stand in a direct denial of his Being and that is not worshipping him He that doth not worship GOD before men is an Atheist to the World and he that worships him not at all is an Atheist before the World and in the sight of God too and there is no reason to question but he that is the one is the other too Every wicked man though he professeth Religion and worships God may indeed be called a Practical Atheist because he lives as if there were no God But he that is grown to that degree of Impiety as to make no acknowledgment of him by appearing in his Worship is much more so and doth in effect renounce his Maker before the World and it cannot be more truly said of any one than of such a man that he lives without God in the world And therefore although the Epicurean Sect acknowledged the Being of a God yet because they denied his Providence and took away all the Foundations of worshipping him they were by all men of sense called Atheists This however is also directly opposite to the Rule we are upon Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God But 3. Idolatry is opposed to it likewise and this is that Impiety which the Rule was chiefly designed against Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Idolatry is a Term in Religion or Divinity to which we must give that sense in which the Scripture uses it and I think all are agreed this to be the sense of it there That it is the giving of any Divine Worship to a Creature i. e. any part of that Worship which is due to God only and therefore these words are a Rule against all Idolatry whatsoever Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. Now 1. All Honour which is done to any Invisible Being besides God by formal Invocation of it or calling upon it must therefore necessarily be Idolatry because it ascribes in the very Nature of the Act Omnipresence to it which is a Divine Perfection 2. All the external Honours done to any such Beings which refer to that Service are also Idolatrous because they are significations of Divine Honour also and therefore dedicating Churches and Altars to them Bowing Kneeling Prostrating burning Incense and the like Religious Rites performed to them are Idolatry 3. Any Service paid to a created Being that is either visible or invisible see nor not seen present or absent which Service doth imply that thing to be God or ascribes any Divine Attribute to it or much more that Service which in all circumstances is the very same with what is given to God himself this also must necessarily be an Idolatrous Service 4. The Worship of an Image or any visible Representation of any thing whatsoever must be Idolatrous for if it be worshipped as the Representation of a Creature it cannot ' scape being so if there were no more in it than that Religious Worship is not to be given to the Original But if it be the pretended Image of the Deity the Worship of it is Idolatrous Worship and the reason is plain because it is set there to receive that external Worship at least which is due to that Invisible Being whom it is said to represent But the Worship of God is to be given to him and to none but him I pass by two material things one is That the Image-Worship of the People is known to be attended with expectation of receiving benefit from the Image it self which makes the Idolatry to be very gross in them but inasmuch as Images are made the Object of outward Acts of Divine Honour by all that worship them they give to the Image that Worship which is to be paid to God only Another is this That to pretend to make an Image of God is one of the grossest Dishonours that can be possibly done to him because that supposes the Godhead to be like unto wood or to stone and the work of mens hands and tends to corrupt the Notion of God in all that are made to believe that they are his Images or Representations but I do not place Idolatry in that though it be a great aggravation of it but in the actual worshipping of it and that because we are to worship the Lord our God and serve him only but to worship Images is not to worship him for God is one thing and a pretended Image of him is another All this I make bold to lay down peremptorily being well assured that these kinds of Worship are prohibited in this Rule of serving God only and that these prohibited Worships are in the Scripture called Idolatry which I shall now more particularly prove against a certain pretence That the true and only Notion of Idolatry is this and that it is neither more nor less than this viz. The Worship of the Heavenly Bodies the Sun the Moon and the Stars or any other visible and corporeal Deity as the Supreme God so as to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead The plain English of which is this That no man can be an Idolater that is not such a Sot as to take something which he knows can neither understand any thing nor chuse one thing before another to be the Supreme God and as such to worship it as for instance he must take something which hath no more of a spiritual Nature in it than a Piece of Stone or a Log of Wood and exclude all reference that it can have to any thing that hath a spiritual Nature and he must fall down upon his knees to
Faith we argu'd it upon the same Principles and with the same Calmness that we did any other Subject whatsoever by Arguments drawn from the Authority of the Holy Scriptures or from the Testimonies of the ancient Fathers as the Nature of the thing required us to do If these did not Convince they never flew off to the Common-place Topicks of the Authority and Infallibility of the Church much less to that exploded refuge of Oral Tradition but the Controversie ended And when all was done they were content to hope well of those of our Church who being sincere in their Enquiries and willing to be led by Truth where-ever it was still continued to differ from them Instead of calling me a Heretick or Schismatick or thundring out Damnation against me as such a mutual Charity concluded the Discourse We hoped and prayed for the Conviction of the Erring Party which ever it was but made no question but that the same Heaven might receive us all tho' we should continue to disagree to the last But this was not the temper of Mr. Gooden and the rest of the little Herd of that Church who gave so much Trouble and Disturbance to their own and the Nations repose and have contributed what in them lies by their Heat and Folly to ruine both themselves and us As for the Occasion of the present Conference it was this A Gentlewoman of a good Estate and intimately acquainted with divers R. C's was by a frequent Conversation with them wrought up by degrees into an extraordinary Opinion of the advantages of a Recluse Life for the better performing the Exercises of Religion Insomuch that the desire she began to have for such a sort of retirement made her almost willing to leave our Church and go over to the Roman Communion but that she still look'd upon their Doctrine in those points wherein they differ from us to be false and dangerous and to one so persuaded as she was Destructive of Salvation Being thus prepared for their Seduction they let slip no Opportunity to finish their work and gain their Proselyte For which purpose care was taken first by one of her Acquaintance to represent to her all the popular Pretences of that Church by which many are prejudiced in favour of it and the Advantages it had in point of Antiquity Unity Universality Infallibility and what not beyond ours and then in the next place to get Father Gooden brought to her as one that would give her a fuller satisfaction in all these matters if she would but afford him the opportunity of discoursing with her And to the end his Arguments might make the deeper Impression upon her it was thought fit to set forth the Priest to her not in the glorious Idea of the great Master of Demonstration one who had devoured all Mr. I. S's Principles and was thereby become such a mighty Man of Controversie that none of our Divines durst cope with him He in whose Hands the Dean of Paul's himself was nothing who had a certain Paper that in a few Lines baffled all that could be said or written in favour of the Reformation which was a greater thing answering in a few Sheets all the Books and Sermons that had ever been published or preach'd against them but in the humble Character of a Country Priest a little inconsiderable Man amongst them and his Dress was accommodated to his Character that so under this disguise he might talk with the greater Advantage to her But Mr. Gooden forgetting the person he had put on presently fell into his usual strain He began to talk of nothing but Infallibility Antiquity Demonstration That all the Fathers and Councils were on their side That he had baffled our most considerable Divines and particularly the Dean of Pauls who had in truth all of them so little to say for themselves when he came amongst them that he desired nothing more to convince her of the Truth of their Doctrines than that she would pitch upon some Point and bring one of our Men to meet him and she should see what work he would make with him Such a noise as this from one of the little inconsiderable Priests of the Church of Rome amazed the poor Lady And had he Prudently contented himself with the Boast of the Victories he had already gained without aspiring after the Honour of adding one more for the increasing his Triumph he might possibly have saved himself from the shame of that discovery the following Conference made of his Abilities and have gain'd his Proselyte But as great Wits are too often a little inconsiderate and before they are aware run themselves into difficulties out of which they cannot tell afterwards how to extricate themselves so it fell out with Mr. Gooden on this Occasion For the Lady presently took hold on his Offer and applied her self to Dr. Clagett and the Time and Place and Subject being fix'd Mr. Gooden and the Doctor met accordingly at Gray's-Inn Feb. 21 1686. I shall say nothing of the Menage of the Conference it self but that it was with much Noise on Mr. Gooden's side who in Discourse let fall some very extraordinary things and which might have pas'd into the Abstract too had not another Person who was with him and seem'd much more modest and understanding than himself observed what pass'd and corrected his Blunders After the Dispute was ended which lasted about Four or Five Hours a new Discourse arose about the Paper which Mr. Gooden made such Boasts of about the Town and had so often represented to the Lady and others as unanswerable He was very unwilling a great while to let the Doctor have a Copy of it tho' he promised to give him an Answer to it till at last it was declared That if he refused to let him have it the Company would look upon it as an idle Paper that had nothing in it and that therefore he durst not trust him with it Vpon this he gave him a Copy of it and the Doctor in pursuance of his Promise the next day sent him the following Answer to it For what concerns the Sum of the Conference here published it was taken in Writing and signed by both Parties upon the place so that there can be no cause for any one to question the sincerity of it And tho' the Abstract be very short yet I am persuaded it is enough to satisfie every impartial Reader why Mr. Gooden did not care to make any boasts of it And those who were present at the meeting and heard all that pass'd between them as well as the Lady for whose sake they met were very well satisfied that he would not force them to publish the History of it But tho' the Doctor was willing to let this matter die and shew'd himself as careful of Mr. Gooden's Reputation after the Conference as he was of the Ladies Conviction in it yet being now by the Providence of God removed from us I thought it a just