Full and Easy Satisfaction, Part 4 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I. The Firſt Reaſon to prove Tranſubſtantiation falſe.
R.
THe Papiſts Belief of Tranſubſtantiation is, that There is a change made of the whole ſubſtance of the Bread into the body of Chriſt, and of the whole ſubſtance of Wine into his blood. Their opinion (called their faith) hath two parts: The firſt is, that There is no more true Proper Bread and Wine after the words of Conſecration, Hoc eſt Corpus meum. The ſecond is, that There is the true proper Fleſh and Blood of Jeſus Chriſt, under the ſpecies (as they call them) of Bread and Wine.
It is the firſt that I ſhall now prove falſe: And you muſt not forget the ſtate of the Queſtion,Aquin. p. 3. q. 75. a. 5. ad 3. Fides non eſt contra ſenſum, ſed eſt d… eo ad quod ſenſus non attingit. But doth not ſenſe ſay, Here is Bread and Wine? which is not, Whether Chriſts Body and Blood be preſent? But Whether there remain any Bread and Wine?
Arg. I. If there remain no Bread and Wine after the Conſecration, then all the ſenſes of all the ſound men in the world are deceived, or all mens perception of theſe ſenſible things deceived, though there be due magnitude, ſite, diſtance of the object, a due abode, and a due medium and no depravation of the ſenſe or intellect. But this Conſequent is notoriouſly falſe, (as ſhall be proved) Therefore Popery is falſe.
1. That all mens ſenſes perceive Bread and Wine, or all mens Intellects by their ſenſes, will not be denyed. Not only Proteſtants, but Greeks, Mahometans, Heathens, Papiſts, all perſons perception by ſenſe is here the ſame: Therefore it is ſound ſenſes or elſe there are none ſound in the world.
2. It is not one ſenſe, but all. The eye ſeeth Bread and Wine: The hand and mouth feel it; The palate taſteth it; The ſmelling ſenſe ſmelleth the Wine; yea, and the ear heareth it poured out.
3. It is in due quantity, and not an undiſcernable Atome.
4. It is near the ſenſe, and neither by too much diſtance or nearneſs made inſenſible.
5. It hath a due abode, and is not made inſenſible by haſty paſſing by.
6. The air, and light, and all neceſſary media of perception are preſent. So that there is nothing wanting to the ſenſibility of the object.
P.
And how do you prove all or any of theſe? For ought you know, the media may be undue, the magnitude, ſite, diſtance, abode, may not be what they ſeem to be; and ſo you prove not what you ſay.
R.
All that I am now ſaying, is, that All men of ſound ſenſe, in the world have theſe immediate clear perceptions: The Intellect by ſenſe perceiveth the object as quantitative, as near, &c. This you dare not deny: So that if this perception be falſe, and here be no Bread and Wine, then Senſe or the Intellect diſcerning by the means of ſenſe, is deceived.
P.
I ſay that the Senſes or Intellects perception are deceived.
R.
I prove that they are not deceived; or at leaſt, that this kind of perception is the moſt certain that man on earth is capable of, and is to be truſted to by all men, and disbelieved or contradicted by none.
Reaſon I. Becauſe that humane nature is ſo formed, that the Intellect hath no other way of perceiving things ſenſible, but as they are firſt perceived by the ſenſe, and by it tranſmitted to the Intellect (or made its objects): And if about Spirits it hold not, that There is nothing in the Intellect, which was not firſt in the ſenſe: yet about things ſenſible, it doth undenyably hold: And alſo that the Intellect of it ſelf is not free to perceive things ſenſible otherwiſe than as they are ſenſed, or not to perceive them; but is naturally neceſſitated to perceive them. So that it is a contradiction for a man to be a man, conſiſting of a reaſonable ſoul, with ſenſitive faculties and a body, and yet not to be formed to judge of things ſenſible as ſenſe perceiveth them.
P.
Then mad men ceaſe to be men, if they judge otherwiſe.
R.
Mad men are your fitteſt preſidents: But, 1. I told you how mans nature is made by God to judge of things: I told you not that this nature may not be vitiated, and hindered from right action. Did I ever ſay, that the eye may not be blinded, or the underſtanding diſtracted? Blind men and mad men judge not according to the tendency of Nature, and therefore miſjudge. The Connexion of the Intellect to the ſenſe is eſſential to man as man; but ſo is not the ſoundneſs or right exerciſe of his faculties.
Reaſon II. Hence I argue, that ſenſation and the underſtandings perception thereby, is the firſt perception of mans ſoul, and all that follow are but the rational improvements of it, and therefore ever preſuppoſe it: The natural order of the ſouls apprehenſions is this, beyond all controverſie. Firſt Senſe perceiveth things ſenſible, and the Imagination the Images of them. Next the Ʋnderſtanding by a ſimple perception conceiveth of them as it findeth them in the imagination. Thirdly, then by this Thinking or Knowing, we perceive alſo our own Act, that we do ſo Think or Know. And then Fourthly, We compound our conceptions, and form organical notions, and ſpin out concluſions from what we firſt perceive. Now if the firſt perceptions be uncertain or falſe, it muſt needs follow, that all thoſe following thoughts, and reaſonings which do but improve them, are at leaſt as uncertain and falſe, if not more. So that there can be no more certainty in any of the Concluſions as ſuch, than there is in the premiſes and principles. Therefore if mans firſt and moſt natural neceſſary perceptions are falſe, all the following actions or reaſonings of his mind muſt be no better. All being finally reſolved into theſe perceptions by ſenſe, there is no Truth or Certainty in mans mind at all, if there be none in theſe.
Reaſon III. Elſe you would infer, that God is not at all to be Believed, and that there is no ſuch thing as Divine Faith and Religion in Certainty in the world: And ſo you would bring in, by unavoidable conſequence, far worſe Impiety, and Irreligiouſneſs than Mahomet or Julian, or any Idolaters that I hear of on the earth. For you directly will overthrow the Divine Veracity, or Truth of Gods Revelations, which is the Formal Object of Faith, without which, it is no Faith.
P.
A heavy charge, if you can make it good.
R.
To make it good, do but firſt obſerve, 1. That Gods Eſſential Will or mind is not in it ſelf immediately ſeen by man; but known only by ſome Revelation.
2. That this Revelation is nothing but ſome SIGNES: For there is nothing in the Univerſe of Beings, but GOD and CREATURES and the ACTS or Works of Creatures. Now it is not Gods own Eſſence which is the Revelation in queſtion. Therefore it muſt be either A Creature (or work of God), or an Act or Work of a Creature. As the voice on Mount Sinai, and that of Chriſt at his baptiſm and tranſfiguration, and the written Tables of Stone, &c. were either the works of God immediately, and ſo created Signs of his mind; or elſe the Acts of Angels, and ſo Imperate Signs of his mind. Nor it is not the ordinarineſs or extraordinarineſs of the way of making theſe ſigns, which maketh them currant and true, or credible: For if God can make a Natural falſe ſign, he can make a ſupernatural falſe one, for ought any mortal man can prove. Only all the queſtion is, Whether it be indeed a ſign of the mind and will of God or not? Now the works of Nature are Gods Natural Signs, and his Natural objective Light and Law; as the perception of them is the Subjective or Active Light and Law of Nature: Something of God, theſe Natural ſigns do ſignifie or reveal plainly, and ſome things darkly: And ſo it is with ſupernatural ſigns; As the written Tables, the voice of an Angel, the words of an inſpired Prophet or Apoſtle, &c. Now there is no other way for God to ſpeak or reveal falſly, could he do it, but 1. Either to make a falſe ſign, naturally or ſupernaturally, or 2. To determine mans ſenſe or mind to a falſe perception. And if God can do this naturally, why not ſupernaturally?
Nay, à fortiore mark how you teach the Infidel to inferr? 1. Gods Natural Revelations are Common, and his ſupernatural rare. 2. Gods Natural Revelations are moſt certainly his own Acts: But how far a Voice or Book from a Spirit, may be the Act of that Spirit or Angel as a free Agent, and how far that Agent is fallible or defectible, we could not tell, if we had not farther Evidence of Gods owning it. Therefore if you make Gods own ordinary Natural Revelations or ſignifications to be falſe, how will you be able to diſprove the Infidel about the reſt? 3. And then note, that our Caſe is yet lower and plainer than all this: For if the very Being of the Creatures, which is the Matter of theſe Signs be uncertain to us, and all our ſenſes and minds deceived about it, then we have no place for enquiry, Whether this Creature be any ſign of the mind of God. As if the hearing of all men was deceived, that thought they heard that voice, [This is my Beloved Son] or Pauls, that thought he heard Chriſt ſpeak to him [Saul, Saul, &c.] or if their Eyes and Intellects were deceived, that thought they ſaw Chriſt and his miracles; or that think now that they read the Bible, and indeed there be no ſuch thing as a Bible, no ſuch words, &c. then there is no room to enquire what they ſignifie: For nothing hath no ſignification. Truth and Goodneſs are affections or modes of Being: And if we cannot by all our ſound ſenſes know the Being of things, we can much leſs know that they are True or Good. Therefore all knowledge, and all faith, and all Religion is overthrown by your denyal of the truth of our Senſes and Intellects perception of things ſenſible.
Reaſon IV. And by this means you are not capable of being diſputed with, nor any Controverſie between you and any others in the world, of being decided, while you deny ſenſe. For then you agree not with mankind in any one common principle. And they that agree in nothing, can diſpute of nothing. For this is the firſt principle: Eſt vel non eſt is firſt to be agreed on, before we can diſpute any farther of a ſubſtance. What will you do to confute an adverſary, but drive him to deny a certain principle? And can you drive him to deny a lower fundamental Principle, than the Being of a ſubſtance perceived by ſenſe, yea, by all the ſound ſenſes of all men in the world?
Reaſon V. Yea, it is ſpecially to be noted, that our difference is not only about the ſpecies of a ſenſible ſubſtance, but about the very ſubſtance it ſelf in genere, Whether all our ſenſes perceive any ſubſtance at all, or not. Suppoſe the queſtion were, Whether it be water or not, which all mens ſenſes ſee in Rivers? If a Papiſt would deny it to be water, doubtleſs he denyed the agreeing judgement of all mens Intellect by ſenſe. But if he ſhould alſo ſay, It is no ſubſtance, which we call water or earth, This were to deny the firſt Principle, and moſt fundamental perception in nature.
Now that this is your caſe, is undenyable. For, 1. You profeſs, that Chriſts Body and Blood are not ſenſible there; That it is not the quantity, ſhape, number, colour, ſmell, weight, &c. of Chriſts Body and Blood which we perceive, and that theſe Accidents are not the Accidents of Chriſt. 2. And you believe that the Bread and Wine is gone, that is, changed into the body and blood of Chriſt; ſo that no part of their ſubſtance, matter or form is left. And you put no third ſubſtance under theſe Accidents in the ſtead. So that you maintain, that it is the quantity of nothing, the figure of nothing, the colour, the weight, the ſcituation, the ſmell, the number, &c. of nothing, which all mens Intellects by ſenſe perceive. So that the Controverſie is, Whether it be any ſubſtance at all which by thoſe accidents we perceive? And when we ſee, handle, taſte, ſmell it, you believe (or ſay you believe) that it is none; neither Bread or Wine, or any other: Now if by ſenſe we cannot be ſure of the very Being of a ſubſtance, we can be ſure of nothing in the world.
Reaſon VI. Yea, it is to be noted, that though Brutes have no Intellects, yet their Senſe and Imagination herein wholly agreeth with the common perception of man: A Dog or a Mouſe will eat the bread as common bread, and a Swine will drink the Wine as common Wine: and therefore have the ſame perception of it as of common bread and wine; And ſo their ſenſes muſt be all deceived as well as mans. And Brutes have as accurate perfect ſenſes as men have, and ſome much more. And meer natural operations are more certain and conſtant (as we ſee by the worlds experience) than meer Reaſon and Argumentation. Birds and Beaſts are conſtant in their perceptions and courſe of action, being not left to the power of Mutable free-will.
Reaſon VII. You hereby quite overthrow your own foundation, which is fetcht from the Concord of all your party, which you call all the Church: You think that a General Council could not agree to any thing a… an Article of faith if it were not ſuch; (when it is bu… the Major Vote that agree); You ſay that Traditio… is Infallible, becauſe All the Church agreeth in i… (when it is perhaps but your Sect, which is a Mino… part). But do you not overthrow all this, when yo… profeſs, that All the ſenſes of all the ſound men in th… world, and all the ſimple perceptions of their Intellect… by ſenſe, do agree, that there is ſubſtance, yea, d… ſpecie Bread and Wine after the Conſecration? No on… mans perception by ſenſe diſagreed in this, from th… inſtitution of the Sacrament to this day, that can be proved, or the leaſt probability of it given. And i… this Concord be no proof, much leſs is yours: For▪ 1. The Intellect in Reaſoning is more fallible than i… its Immediate perception of things ſenſed (or perceived by ſenſe). 2. Yours is but the Conſent of ſome men; but ours is the Conſent of all mankind. Yours among your ſelves hath oft in Councils a Minor part of diſſenters, who muſt be overvoted by the reſt: But our Caſe hath never one diſſenting ſenſe or perception.
Reaſon VIII. By this denyal of ſenſe, you overthrow the foundations of Humane Converſe: How can men make any ſure Contracts, or perform any duty on a ſure ground, if the Concordant ſenſes of all the world be falſe? Parents cannot be ſure which are their own Children; nor Children which are their own Parents: Husbands cannot certainly know their own Wives from their neighbours. No Subjects can certainly know their own Prince. No man can be ſure, whether he buy or ſell, receive money or pay it, &c. No man can be ſure that there is a Pope, or Prieſt, or man in the world.
Reaſon IX. You ſeem to me to Blaſpheme God, and to make him the greateſt Deceiver of mankind, even in his holy Worſhip: Whereas God cannot lye; It is impoſſible: And the Devil is the Father of lyes: And you make God to tell all the world (as plainly as if words told them) even by demonſtration to their ſight, ſmell, feeling, taſte, that, here is Bread and Wine, when there is none; yea, that it is at leaſt ſome ſubſtance which they perceive, when it is none at all.
Reaſon X. You thus fain God to be Cruel to Mankind, and that under pretence of Grace; Even to put ſuch hard Conditions of ſalvation on man, which ſeem to us impoſſible, to any but mad men, or thoſe who by faction have caſt their minds into a dream. If theſe be Gods Conditions, that no man ſhall be ſaved, that doth not believe that all his ſenſes, and all the ſenſes of all the world, are deceived when they perceive Bread and Wine, or ſubſtance, many may take on them to believe it, but few will believe it, and be ſaved indeed.
Reaſon XI. Hereby you make the Goſpel or New Covenant to be far harder and more rigorous than either the Law of Moſes, or the Law of Innocency: For neither of theſe did damn men for believing the agreeing ſenſes of all mankind: Perfect Obedience, to a perfect nature, was fit to be a delight. The burdenſome Ceremonies had no ſuch Impoſſibilities in them. None of them obliged men to renounce all their ſenſes, and to come to Heaven by ſo hard a way.
Reaſon XII. You ſeem to me to Contradict Gods Law and terms of life, and to forge the clean contrary as his: He ſaith, He that cometh to God muſt Believe that God is, &c. and He that believeth ſhall be ſaved, and he that believeth not ſhall be damned: But you ſeem to me to ſay in plain effect, [He that Believeth Gods Natural Revelations to all mens ſenſes ſhall be damned, and that believeth that the ſaid Revelations are falſe, may be ſaved, caeteris paribus.]
Reaſ. XIII. And what a thing by this do you mak… Gods Grace to be? Whereas true Grace is the Repaire… and perfecter of Nature, you make it to be the deſtroye… and deceiver of Nature. The uſe of Grace according to your faith is to cauſe men to believe that Gods natural Revelations are falſe, and that all the ſenſes of th… world in this matter are deceived: Whereas a mad ma… can believe this without Grace.
Reaſ. XIV. By this doctrine you abominably corrupt the Church with hypocriſie, while all that will hav… Communion with you, muſt be forced to profeſs tha… all mens ſenſes are thus deceived: And can you thin… that really they can all believe it? or rather you… Church muſt be moſtly made up of groſs hypocrites who falſly take on them to believe it when they do not.
Reaſ. XV. And by this means you make the Ʋnity of the Church to become a meer Impoſſibility: For you… condition of union is, that men all believe this among other Articles of your faith: And that man hath loſt o… vitiated his humanity who can believe and expect, tha… all Chriſtians in the world ſhould ever believe that al… the ſenſes of all the world are thus deceived. You might as well ſay, The Church ſhall never have Unity till all Chriſtians do believe that David or Chriſt was a Worm and no man, a door, a Vine, a thief, a Rock, in proper ſenſe; or we ſhall have no unity till we renounce both our humanity and animality and the light and Law of God in Nature. And after this to cry up Ʋnity, and cry down Schiſm, what abominable hypocriſie is it?
Reaſ. XVI. And by this doctrine what bloody inhumanity is become the brand or Character of your Church? When you decree Concil. Later. ſub. Innoc. 3. Can. 3. that all that will not thus renounce their ſenſes, and give the lie to Gods natural revelations, ſhall be excommunicated and utterly undone in this World, even baniſhed from all that they have, and from the Land of their Nativity; Yea your Inquiſition muſt torture and burn them, and your Writ de hereticis comburendis muſt be iſſued out againſt them, to fry them to death in flames, if they will not renounce the common ſenſes of mankind.
Reaſ. XVII. And it even amazeth me to think what horrid Tyrants you would thus make all Chriſtian Princes! When the ſaid Canon determineth that they ſhall be firſt Excommunicate and then caſt out of their Dominions, which ſhall be given to others, and their ſubjects abſolved from their allegiance and fidelity, except they will exterminate all theſe as hereticks from their Dominions, who will not give the lye to all mens ſenſes and to Gods natural Revelations. The plain Engliſh is, ☞ He ſhall not be the Lord of his own Dominions who will have men to be his ſubjects, or ſuch as will not renounce both their humanity and animality or ſenſe. For to perceive ſubſtances in genere & in ſpecie by ſenſe, and to believe or truſt the Common ſenſes of all the World about things ſenſible, as being the ſureſt way that we have of perception, is as neceſſary to a Man as Ratiocination is. Chooſe then O ye Princes of the Earth, whether you will be Papiſts, and whether you will have no men to be your Subjects, even none that believe the ſenſes of themſelves and all the world.
Reaſ. XVIII. Thus alſo your Idolatry exceedeth in abſurdity the Idolatry of all the Heathens elſe in the World: Even Canibals and the moſt barbarous Nations upon Earth. For if they call men to Worſhip an Image, the Sun, the Moon, an Ox or an Onion (of which the Egyptians are accuſed) they do but ſay that ſome ſpiritual or celeſtial numen affixeth his operative preſence to this Creature: But they never make men ſwear that there is no Image, or Sun or Moon or Ox or Onion left, but that the whole ſubſtance of it is turned into God, or ſomewhat elſe. Your Abſurdities tend to make the groſſeſt Idolatry ſeem comparatively to yours, a very fair and tolerable errour.
Reaſ. XIX. By theſe means you expoſe Chriſtianity to the ſcorn of humane nature, and all the world. You teach Heathens, Mahometans and other Infidels to deride Chriſt as we do Mahomet; and to ſay that a Chriſtian Maketh and Eateth his God, and his faith is a Believing that Gods ſupernatural Revelations are a lie, and that God is like the Devil the great Deceiver of the world. Wo be to the world becauſe of offences, and wo be to him by whom offence cometh.
Reaſ. XX. Laſtly by this means you are the grand pernicious hinderers of the Converſion of the Heathen and Infidel world: For you do as it were proclaim to them; [Never turn Chriſtians till you will believe that Gods Natural Revelations are falſe, and that all mens ſenſes in the world are deceived, in judging that there is Bread, Wine, or ſenſible ſubſtance after the words of Conſecration.]
Theſe are the miſchievous Conſequents of your doctrine. But one benefit I confeſs doth come by occaſion of it; that it is eaſier hereby to believe that there are Devils, when we ſee how they can deceive men: and to believe the evil of ſin, when we ſee how it maketh men mad; and to believe that there is a Hell, when we ſee ſuch a Hell already on Earth, as Learned Pompous Clergie men, that have ſtudied to attain this malignant madneſs to decree to fry men in the flames and damn them to Hell, and give them no peace or quietneſs in the World, unleſs they will ſay, that Gods Natural Revelations are falſe, and that all mens ſenſes are herein deceived, by God as the great deceiver of the World.