Of Tranfubftantiation.

W

HAT the Papifts hold to be of Faith concerning this Point, N. C. tell us, is this, That the whole Subftance of the Bread and Wine, is after "Confecration, chang'd into the Body "and Blood of Chrift, without any al"teration of the Accidents or outward "Forms.

Against this impious and abfurd Tenent, his Grace has very frequently, all along his Sermons, taken care to fence his Hearers, and has writ a juft Treatise, and inferted it in his Third Volume of Sermons, to prove that this Doctrine of Tran fubftantiation is directly contrary to Senfe and Reason, and the common Notions of Mankind; and that it has no Revelation to uphold it, nor was it ever thought on in the first and pureft Ages of the Church, and that 'tis chiefly upheld by the intereft of the Roman Clergy, and the uncom mos affurance of thofe who affert it; and this he has perform'd with that Strength of Argument, and Plainnefs and Clearnefs of Stile, which was natural to him; and ich has in a great measure exhaufted the Subject.

To

To the Archbishop's Arguments, N. C. pretends to return an Anfwer, and with fome fhew of Reason and Philofophy, and Quotations out of the Fathers and the Holy Scripture; and (as ufually) is very pofitive in his Affertions; tho' in truth, he doth but nibble an Argument, and fays little to the purpofe; fo that those Strong Reafons which his Grace has brought forth, (like an Arch'd Building) stand more firm and fecure for the weak Efforts he has made against them. And therefore, tho' the bare reading over the Archbishop's Treatife, by any intelligent and well difpos'd Perfon, would be a fuffici ent Anfwer to N. C's Cavils; yet fince he has made use of fome untemper'd Mortar, to repair the Ruins, and fill up the Chinks of this myfterious Edifice (as he calls it) and labours to prop up the rotten Materials and visible Decays of this tottering Fabrick; I fhall therefore take the pains to confider what he has to fay on this Subject.

And, First, N.C. begins with a heavy Complaint against the Archbishop, for treating the Papifts with fcurrilous and abufive Language, but does it in fuch terms, that no one would ever have thought that N. C. and the Author of the True and Modest Account, were the fame Perfon; for tho' His Crace doth E z fome

fometimes expofe the Follies of the Church of Rome, and is pleasant at fuch times, when the Matter doth not require a fe rious Answer. But as Horace advises,

Ridiculum acri

Fortius & melius magnas plerunque fe

cat res.

Yet he never departs from that becoming and good-natur'd Gravity, which was in a peculiar manner his Character and Ornament. And therefore N. C. has only expos'd himself, when he begins his Dif courfe with this infipid Harangue, which I shall transcribe, to give the Reader a taste of his Sincerity and Temper.

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66

Never, fays he, Roman Conqueror fung more Paans after Victory, nor in"fulted over his Enemy with more Oftentation, than Dr. Tillotson has, on "this Subject, over the Roman Catholicks " and the Church of Rome; and (to compleat the Parallel) if his railing Eloquence and unchristian Contumelies (I am forry he extorts fuch Words from me) were of equal force to bind, with "that of Roman Chains, no barbarous Captives were ever worfe us'd by their infulting Conquerors, than the Sons of "that Mother, whofe Piety and Zeal, "brought forth in Chrift, his Ancestors,

•

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"have the fortune to be treated by the "unchriftian Slanders and Calumnies of

his bitter Tongue and Pen. Befides "that invincible Argument (if we believe him) that Achilles, the Evidence of Senfe, which he pretends to be against this Mystery, and which he repeats 66 over and over, in more places of his "Sermons than I can at prefent reckon ; "he has oblig'd us with a Treatise writ

ten on purpose upon this Subject, "which he calls a Difcourfe against Tranfubftantiation: In this Piece I meet "with as copious a Collection of scurri"lous, injurious Language, of notorious "and manifold Impofitions, and so much 4 Difingenuity in citing of Authors, and <? managing their Authorities, as I be"lieve, was ever poffible for any Man, "who had never fo little esteem for his "Credit, to bring within fo narrow a "compass,

This is fo heavy a Charge, and of fo venemous a Nature,confidering the Crimes objected, and the Dignity and Worth of the Perfon, against whom it is levell'd, that if N. C. cannot make plain proof of it, he must pass amongst all Men of com mon Honesty and Senfe, for a bare-fac'd and infamous Calumniator. I should be glad he had any thing to fay to excuse himself, and fhould have had the charity

to believe, that Zeal for the great Diana of the Popish Religion, or Paffion which is brevis Furor, might have transported him into these Indecencies, and occafion'd the cafting up fo much Dirt and Filth upon his Superiours; but that he takes care to inform his Reader, that he was calm and ferene when he wrote it, and in no Paffion: And therefore he has the more to answer for, and ought himself to confider what he fo frequently admonishes the Archbishop of, That he must shortly give an Account at God's Tribunal.

Well then, if he is fo much his own Man, we may expect, that he will make his Charge good, and produce these weighty Reafons, and juftifie the Demonftrations he fo frequently glories in. But fo far is he from this, or making any Proof of that which he has fo confidently afferted, that he doth not go about it; but contents himself, to gull the Reader with that idle Excufe, That at prefent he has other business: Well, however he takes care to inform us, that tho' he has now other Employment upon his hands of greater importance, yet he will find a time to call the Archbishop to account, and anfwer his Book, Paragraph by Paragraph; and to give us a Sample of his tended Work, he will fingle out his main Objection, and confute that.

Now