And likewise again, if God's word be not ' yea and nay,' that is, not in- constant, then whatsoever is inconstant, and thwarts itself in contradic- tions, is not God's word. Popery is full of inconstancy, full of contradic- tions to itself.
1. First, besides inconstancy, and uncertainty, it is full of contradictions : it is ' yea and nay.' For a body to be in many places at once, and yet a true body ; to be in a hundred, in a million of places at once, as they would have Christ's body to be in the sacrament, here is to be, and not to be ; a body and no body, for it hath not the properties and quantity of a body ; for a body can be but in one place at one time. Here is yea and nay.
For Christ to be a perfect Redeemer, and yet notwithstanding to need the help of other mediators and intercessors, here is yea and nay. It is a con- tradiction.
That the church of Rome is the catholic church ; if it be Roman, it is not cathoUc. The universal catholic Roman church, it is as much as the
866 COMMENTARY ON
' universal particular church.' It is a contradiction. One thing overturns
anothor.
The sacrifice of tlic mass, an unl)loo(ly sacrifice ; a sacrifice is the kill- ing of a thing that was alive ; a sacrifice is with blood. The oflering of Christ in the bread, is an unbloody sacrifice ; a sacrifice, and not a sacrifice. Here is yea and nay, a contradiction. So that besides their thwarting of Scripture, they thwart and contradict themselves in their fundamental points, they are ' yea and nay,'
2. And then theii an- full of uncertainties, they are not undoubtedly ' yea.' There is no papist in tlio world would end his days so, if ho be not drunk, if he be advised, if he be not surprised with passion, if he do not forget himself. Come to a papist, and ask him, what are the main points of popery that you believe always yea ? Can you say when you confess your sins, that you confess all ? No. Can you then say then you have a perfect absolution, that depends upon your confession ? No ! it is an uncertain thing. What an absurd thing is popish religion ? It wrecks * the conscience of people.
Can you say that the priest intends consecration in these words, ' This is my body ?' No ! and if the priest's intention be not there, then Christ is not there, and then you are idolaters. Can you tell certainly that transub- stantiation depends upon his consecration ? No ! How full of uncertainties and contradictious is popery ! You cannot say the points of popery are always yea. Perhaps they are yea in life, but are they yea in death ? It is yea in life, that they merit salvation by works, but is it yea in death ? No ! Bellarmine disclaims it.f It is safe not to trust in our own merits for dan- ger of vainglory, &c., but to trust only in the mercy of God in Christ. So their doctrine it is yea in life, to sin by, to live riotously by, but then it is nay in death. They reverse it if they belong to God. "rhey disclaim their works, and other things, and cleave only to Christ, and there is hope of them that have grace truly to do so. So their doctrine is not yea, that in life and death they can stick to.
To go on a little further, to lay open the grossness of their tenets, | and the danger of their religion. We are better bottomed than they are, which make the word of God our rule and ground, that is not yea and nay, but yea. The canonisation of saints. The pope, he makes Garnet, a traitor, and Thomas of Becket, saints {ooo). How can he know that these were saints that he canoniseth ? He that' makes a saint must know the hearts of men, and search the heart ; for the truth of grace is there. Now, it is the privilege of God to know the heart. So that popery is full of un- certainties and pitiful perplexities.
Indeed, they maintain the doctrine of doubting, that we must doubt ; as if our nature were not sufficiently prone to doubt, but we must get arguments to make us doubt ; as if it were needful to have infirmities to stablish grace in us. Alas ! we are too prone to doubt, and the devil is ready to make us stagger in the time of temptation.
Again, the invocation of saints it is a point wondrous full of uncertain- ties. Can they know and say certainly that the saints hear them ? They cannot know that one saint, having a finite power, should hear a hundred petitions at once. A finite creature hath but a finite power to hear one thing at one time distinctly. How can they be persuaded that a finite saint
* Qu. ' racks ? ' See page 367, line 19 from top. — G. f Cf. note w. — G. X Spelled ' tenent,' as in the ' Bloody Tenent \i. e., Tenet] "Washed ' of John Cotton, 4to, 1C47.