THese words are spoken of the Scribes and Pharisees, as appears plainly by the Context; who though they were perversly and stupidly ignorant, yet under­took to be the only Guides and Instructors of the People: And they again were so simple and besotted, as to put themselves under their Conduct and Direction.

And now, what good can come of such sensless Doings? Our Saviour here tells us what the Effect of it will be, They shall both of them fall into the Ditch, and ingulf them­selves together in Perdition. And this is so certain, that in another place, the 6th [Page 2] of St. Luke, vers. 39. He appeals to the common sense of Mankind, whether this be not likely to prove the last issue of such a course; He would fain know how it can be otherwise; Can the Blind lead the Blind? shall they not both fall into the Ditch?

• I. Why our Saviour calls these Scribes and Pharisees, blind Guides.
• II. Why he calls the People, their Fol­lowers, blind.
• III. The Danger of both Parties engaged in this sensless Course.

1. Why our Saviour calls the Scribes and Pharisees, blind Guides.

• 1. Because their Doctrines were contrary to Reason and common Sense. [Page 3] And therefore he often calls them Fools and Blind.
• 2. Because they were contrary to the Ho­ly Scriptures. They made void the Commandments of God through their Traditions.

1. Because their Doctrines were contrary to Reason and common Sense. What wise Hea­then would not have scorn'd that idle Con­ceit, that washen Hands could contribute to a Man's inward Sanctity? And yet this was the standing Tradition of the Elders, that none must eat with unwashen Hands; that so the Hands might not defile the Meat, nor the Meat the Man. And they were so careful to have this Practice duly observ'd, that they came on purpose to our Saviour, to com­plain of his Disciples for their scandalous neglect in this Point, and to challenge him for suffering them in it: As you have a full account of it in the beginning of this Chap­ter; together with our Saviour's sense of this out-side and superficial Religion, which is so far from the Heart. And upon this oc­casion it is, he here calls them blind.

[Page 4] Another Instance of this, was, their sens­less distinctions about the Obligation of Oaths, St. Matth. 23. 16, 17. Wo unto you, ye blind Guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the Temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the Gold of the Temple, he is a Debtor; i. e. bound to take care of his Oath, and make it good. Ye Fools, and blind; for whe­ther is greater, the Gold, or the Temple which sanctifies the Gold? These were profound Casuists indeed, to determine so awkardly and absurdly, and quite the wrong way, in Subtilties of their own making.

2. Because their Doctrines were contra­ry to the Holy Scriptures, they made void the Commandments of God, through their Traditions. Our Saviour shews us how they transgress'd the Fifth Commandment, and made it of none effect through their Tradition, in the 4th Verse of this Chapter. And so he shews in other places, how they had evaded and eluded the other Commandments, by their false Glosses and Interpretations. They taught Men how to supplant Justice and Honesty, by pretences of Piety; and to [Page 5] break the Tables of the Law one against another. They were very punctual in lit­tle Observances, about paying Tythe of Mint, Anise, and Cummin, which it is ve­ry disputable whether God did command or no; but in the mean time, made no Con­science of the more weighty and substantial things of the Law, Judgment, Mercy, and Faithfulness. Which makes our Saviour call them again, blind Guides, which strain at a Gnat, and swallow a Camel. St. Matth. 23. vers. 24.

II. And yet, in the second place, these blind Guides were taken for no less than In­fallible, by their blind and ignorant Fol­lowers. For they had swallowed down all their false and absurd Doctrines, without any scruple or examination: Insomuch that it was a great part of our Saviour's Business, both in his Sermon upon the Mount, and elsewhere, to undeceive them in these Mat­ters. The People had captivated their Un­derstandings and Belief to the Dictates of these Men, to such a degree, that it was laid down as a Rule amongst them, That if [Page 6] a Scribe said, their right Hand was their Left, R. Bechai. they were bound to believe him. The Scribes and Pharisees, it seems, had gain'd such an absolute Empire and Dominion over the Minds of the People, that they thought it their Duty, rather to distrust their own Sense and Reason, than what their Teachers deli­vered, though it were never so apparently false.

What has been said concerning these Jews, with whom we are less concerned, is enough to put you in mind of certain Priests and People in the World, who exactly agree with this Character, and seem to inherit the very Spirit and Temper of these Men. And to be plain, it is in the Romish Religion where this odd Scene has been acted over a­gain, and the Blind have led the Blind for several Ages together. The blind Guides of that Church, have affronted the Reason of Mankind, and voided the Holy Scrip­tures more effectually, than ever the Scribes and Pharisees did; and all their Dictates have been followed with as blind an Obedi­ence by the People.

[Page 7] First, Their Doctrines and Traditions, as the Pharisees were, are contrary to Reason, and the common Sense of Mankind. Prayer in an unknown Tongue, is certainly a most un­reasonable and contradictious thing. It is making their Requests known unto God, for that is the English of Prayer, when they do not know them themselves. It is the perfor­mance of a reasonable Act, without the help of the Understanding. In a word, It is the truest Sacrifice of Fools. Now, this is im­posed upon the generality of Christians, as C. Perronne tell us, for Uniformity sake, that the Mass may be said alike in all places; That Latin may be kept up in the World, to Reply to K. James. prevent the ill sounding of old and obsolete words in vulgar Tongues; and for such­like Reasons, which are as vain and ridicu­lous, as the practice which they are brought to justify.

The Doctrine of Merit and Supererro­gation, is a false and insolent Doctrine at the first sight: whereby they teach, that our great Creator may be put into Debt, and owe vast Arrears to one of his own Crea­tures: [Page 8] That some particular Men may have goodness enough, and to spare; and may help out others with that overplus. And up­on the Stock of these Merits, is raised the Fund of Roman Indulgences; whereby the Pope does make large Abatements of the Number of Men's Sins; and whereas they owe for Hundreds or Thousands, can, with the unjust Steward, bid them sit down and write Fourscore.

It would be endless to rip up the Absur­dities of a Purgatory Fire, which is to refine Men's Souls; Souls, I say, for it is plain that their Bodies are then lying in the Grave. Of Auricular Confession, where a Man unlades himself of all his Sins, by whispering them into the Priest's Ear. Of praying to Dead Men, which cannot hear us; and for Dead Men, which are past help. Of worship­ping Images, and expecting great good from them; concerning which, what David says, is the Verdict of meer natural Reason; They Psal. 115. 8. that make them, are like unto them; and so are all they that put their trust in them. As very Stocks and Stones as what they worship.

[Page 9] Of Transubstantiation; where Men must renounce all their five Senses at once, and where Absurdities, Repugnancies, and utter Impossibilities lie upon heaps. A Do­ctrine that lies so cross to a Man's Under­standing, as if it were framed in spight to our reasonable Faculties. But so much the better; for now we are able to demonstrate the falshood and impossibility of it; and if it had not been so very absurd, it had been the harder to confute. But now, that it is so point-blank contrary to the most evident and certain Truths we have, either in the Mathematicks, or in Philosophy, we are able to bring this Controversy to a short and speedy issue. For if Transubstantiation be true, it has the good luck to be the only Truth in the World, and there is never ano­ther beside.

And after all, The Doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility, keeps a very good decorum with the rest. For though he has, by his Autho­rity, spread these false and absurd Doctrines over a great part of the World; and though they seem to be very unreasonable, yet they are really true, because he that delivers [Page 10] them, is out of a possibility of erring; He alone cannot err, and all others, without some of his assistance, cannot but err. But it is very hard to believe, that one single Man in the World is more than a Man, and that all the rest are less than Men. That if he place himself in his Chair, he cannot err if he would; and that others lie under as fatal a necessity of erring, if they be left to themselves, without his guidance and di­rection. And it is still the harder to believe it, because these Oracles have been found contradicting each other. So that besides their Infallibility, they must have another privilege beyond all other mortal Men, and that is, to contradict one another, and yet be both in the right.

Secondly, Their Traditions and Doctrines are contrary to the Holy Scriptures. Their Prayers, in an unknown Tongue, are di­rectly contrary to the 14th Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. Their Wor­ship of Images is so plain a breach of the Second Commandment, that themselves see­ing how irreconcileable they are, and that [Page 11] they cannot both stand together, have wise­ly let slip that Commandment out of their Catechisms. And so it were as easy to shew you concerning the rest. The Sacramental Elements are called Bread and Wine in Scrip­ture, even after Consecration. But instead of particular Instances, the Infallibility, and sole Prerogative of interpreting Scripture, is that which undermines the whole Gospel all at once. For it makes the Scripture but a Stale, and gives the Pope's Interpretations all the Authority, which of right belongs to the Scripture. So that as Bellarmine says, If the Pope call Vertue, Vice; or Vice, Ver­tue, he is to be believed and obeyed. And this indeed is a short and compendious way, of making all the Commandments of God of none effect; for Men must observe them no longer, than the Bishop of Rome thinks sit. And thus much for the first thing, which was, to shew how contrary the Doctrines of the Romish Priests are both to Scripture and Reason; and consequently, that they have as much right to that Title of blind Guides, or more, than ever the Scribes and Pharisees had.

[Page 12] The second Thing is to shew you, That they are attended by as blind and ignorant Followers. And this is notorious to the World; for Ignorance is industriously che­rish'd among the common People, to make them the better Catholicks; according to that Proverb, which has been a long time currant among them, that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion. There is a kind of Contract of Error made betwixt them; The Clergy are loth to have the People examine Things; and the People, on the other side, are as ready to take Things upon trust, that they may not be at the pains of examining: And so they have right the Nuncio's Blessing, Si Populus vult decipi, decipiatur, If the Peo­ple are willing to be deceived, let them.

Nay, they have enslaved themselves to such Principles, as will for ever keep them low and ignorant, and which cut off all enquiry after Truth. For they are made to believe, that it is a mortal Sin to doubt of any part of their Religion: And then it is another mortal Sin, not to confess this to the Priest; who questionless will take care [Page 13] to keep them from staggering, and effectu­ally prevent their Apostacy from the Church.

The Holy Scripture, which is the best means of instructing them better, is either lock'd up from them in an unknown Tongue, or at least the free use of it is de­nied to them. And yet they take this Injury so patiently, that most of them are really and heartily perswaded that it is for their good, and that they are thereby the farther removed from all danger of falling into He­resy.

They content themselves with that short Creed, To believe as the Church believes; with an implicit Faith, that is, with a Belief in another's keeping. Or as Cardinal Per­rone In his Let­ter to Ca­saubon. explains the thing, It is to believe with the Faith of the Church, or adhere to the Church which believes such things: By the Faith of which Church, says he, they live, as long as they continue in its Communion; as Children live by the Nourishment of the Mother, all the while they are in her Womb. Which is the fittest resemblance in Nature that can be found out for them.

[Page 14] By virtue of this Faith, all the Embrioes of that Religion do believe, that all these absurd Doctrines are contained in Scripture. Nay that Transubstantiation it self is in the Apo­stles Creed. For the Trent Catechism says expresly, That it is not lawful for any of the Faithful to doubt, but it is comprehended in these two Articles; J believe in God De Sacram. Eucharistiae. Sect. 25. the Father Almighty, and I believe in the Holy Catholick Church. The father Almighty is able to effect and bring it to pass, and the Holy Ca­tholick Church tells us, he does ef­fect and being it to pass: and there it is. Now if this be not blind Belief, I would fain know what is.

III. The third thing I propounded was, to shew you the Danger of both Parties en­gaged in this sensless course; If the Blind lead the Blind, they shall both fall into the Ditch. And I shall chuse this way to do it.

• First, By laying open before you what a great Fault it is in the Priests.
• [Page 15] Secondly, In the People. And then your selves may easily judg of the Dan­ger.

First, What a great Fault it is in the Priests.

And that (1.) in advancing Doctrines contrary to Reason and common Sense; whereby they go about, as much as in them lies, to extinguish that great Light which God has set up to enlighten every Man that comes into the World. Reason is the only thing we have to trust to, in the last issue and result of things. And our very belief of Divine Revelations, must finally be resolved into it: Or else we shall very ill comply with St. Peter's Advice, to be rea­dy to render a Reason of the hope that is in us. It is that which lays in us the Foundation of all Religion, I mean, a true Notion of God; It teaches us due apprehensions of him, and to conceive rightly concerning him. It instructs us, that we received our Being, and all our Faculties from him, that we can­not be deceived by them, in those things which we evidently and distinctly perceive; [Page 16] and that to think otherwise, would be to reflect upon God. Nay, it teaches us, that Omnipotence it self cannot make a clear Conception to be false: It can indeed make something out of nothing, but it can­not make something to be nothing.

These, and such like Principles of Rea­son, are the Rock upon which all Religion stands; and if any Man will go wisely and orderly to Work, he must be satisfied in these things, before he can think of Revela­tion. As for our Reasonable Faculties, we know whence we had them, and are assured that God has spoken to us by them: But as for any Revelation, we know not whence it is, till we have tried and examined it. Till we see how it agrees with our natural Notices of God, till we find that it is wor­thy of God, and becoming his Holiness, Wisdom, Goodness, and Truth: for then it bears God's Mark and Superscription up­on it, and carries along with it one great Evidence, that it came forth from God. When a revealed Religion, and the Rea­son of Mankind, do perfectly correspond, and bear Witness to one another, it is a sign [Page 17] they both proceed from one Author, and were both given us by the same Hand. If a Doctrine, which pretends to come from God, does teach us over again the first Prin­ciples of our Creation, and the Eternal Laws of Heaven and Earth, and nothing at all contrary to them, who can reasonably doubt but this is the very Mind and Will of him who made the World?

However, this is an undeniable Conse­quence on the other hand; if any pretended Revelation contain in it things contrary to Reason, such as we are able to prove false, it cannot come from God, it is immediatly convicted of Fraud and Imposture. For whatsoever is false in Philosophy, can never be true in Divinity. If natural and super­natural Truths could be supposed to cross one another, we should be bound to Con­tradictions and Impossibilities, we should be engaged at once to believe and disbelieve the same things; and in the self-same instance, to act both as reasonable, and unreasonable Creatures.

Therefore when Men first teach what is contrary to Reason, and then vilify and dis­parage [Page 18] it, as that which savours not the things which be of God, as that which is pur-blind, and sees little or nothing in Matters of Re­ligion, as that which is stark blind, and sees nothing at all; What do they, but under­mine the Foundations of all Religion, and eclipse that common Light which discovers God to the World, and that bright Star which leads all Wise Men to Christ; and, in a word, take the ready way, not to leave a Christian, or a reasonable Man, in the World?

2. It is likewise a great Fault, to teach Doctrines contrary to the Holy Scripture. For it is to unteach the People what God has taught them; It is to set them free from those Obligations which God has laid upon them, and to make them the Servants of Men: It is the presumptuous entitling of God to their own Errors and Falshoods, and saying, the Lord hath spoken it; when he ne­ver said it, neither did it ever come into his mind.

It is an unspeakable Injury to our Blessed Saviour, to misrepresent his Holy Gospel, and to make him be thought the Author of [Page 19] an absurd, and sensless, and loose, and cruel Religion. It is enough to alienate the minds of those, who only know Popery, and the dark side of our Religion, from Christiani­ty it self; and to make them take up the Re­solution of Averroes, Quandoquidem Christiani adorant quod comedunt, sit anima mea cum Philo­sophis. As long as the Christians worship what they eat, let my Soul be with the Phi­losophers.

It deceives Men in Matters of the greatest Consequence, in the weighty Concerns of their Soul, and of Eternity; wherein, of all other things, it is the most horrid and barbarous to impose upon them. In a word, It is the shrewdest ill turn, under pre­tence of the greatest Charity; it is destroy­ing Men, in the way of making them hap­py; it is poisoning the Sacrament, and it is the Blood of Souls.

And the badness of this practice will fur­ther appear, by considering the Motives which draw Men to it. And in some Points of Popery, it is visible that it is Covetousness, making merchandise of Souls for filthy Lucre sake. And indeed, no Gain can be so foul [Page 20] and dishonest, as that for which Men sell Truth, and the everlasting Interests of Men.

In other Points, the Motive is Reputation; which is so plain in the Doctrine of Tran­substantiation, that one of their own Wri­ters, cannot forbear enlarging upon the great Honour which it derives upon the Rushw. Dial. 1. Sect. 4. Clergy, by giving them such a Privilege, as if all the learned Clerks, that ever lived since the Another says, the Priest has hereby the Ho­nour of being the Father of Christ, whom he has begot­ten in the Sa­crament. See this, with much other Blasphemy, in Andr. Rivet, Explic. Decal. P. 1364. beginning of the World, should have studied to raise, advance, and magnify some one State of Men to the highest pitch of Reverence and Emi­nency, they could never ( without special Light from Heaven) have thought of any thing compa­rable to this. That is, they can make their Maker: Sacerdos est Creator sui Creatoris.

The Sweets of Government, and the extream and accursed Pleasure of having a Spiritual Dominion, and reigning over the Minds and Belief of Men, seems to be the Original of other Points, as namely, Infal­libility and Confession.

It is much to be feared, that Ambition, Secular Profit and Advantages, that the [Page 21] God of this World has blinded their Eyes in these, and many other Particulars. I know, they plead Councils, and Fathers, and uninter­rupted Tradition, in behalf of their Do­ctrines: but with so little probability, that it may put us in mind of what Polybius says concerning the declaring of War; That one Reason is given out, but generally that which is concealed is the true Reason.

However, we are sure, that if such world­ly Considerations do not blind their Eyes, and byass their Understandings; Yet want of considering and examining things freely and impartially, is a Fault, of which they will never be able to acquit themselves. And that's Crime enough for a Man to bury his Reason alive, and hide his Talent in a Nap­kin, because he will not be at the pains of improving it. It is an unpardonable slight­ing of Heaven, and of the right way thi­ther; as if they were not worthy of their enquiry after them, and is sufficient to de­stroy, both themselves and them that hear them. Who are likewise,

[Page 22] Secondly, In great Danger, if we consi­der what a great Fault it is in them, to fol­low their blind Guides with a blind Belief and Obedience.

1. In Doctrines which are contrary to Reason and common Sense. This must be the worse, because a Man cannot do it with­out some reluctancy, and without offering violence to his own mind. We are apt to have very uncomfortable thoughts of the Heathen World, as sitting in Darkness, and in the shadow of Death; but Men that yield up their Belief to the Dictates of o­thers, betray themselves into a worse con­dition; they expose themselves to greater Errors than ever the Heathens were guilty of; of which the single Doctrine of Transub­stantiation will serve for a thousand Instan­ces: And not only so, but they put it out of their power ever to correct their Errors, and lie wholly at the mercy of another.

Mahomet requires no more than this tra­ctable Principle, to keep Men Turks and good Mussel-men, for this will for ever re­concile them to all the absurd and bloody Doctrines of the Alcoran. In the 32 Azoara [Page 23] of which Book, he cautions his Followers not to enter into Debate about their Religi­on, nor to argue for it; but if any one of­fer to dispute with them, to say, That God shall discuss all Controversies in the Day of Judg­ment: which it is as easy for him to do, as if it lay written before him in a Book, seeing all things are his. And in another place he says, That no Body understands the Alcoran, but God alone; but they that have the depth of Wis­dom, say of it, We believe it, for all of it comes from our good God. And if they be true to these Principles, it is utterly impossible to bring Men over from that sensless and bar­barous Religion, or ever to put them out of conceit with it.

And besides, this temper not only ex­poses Men to the belief of the greatest Cheats and Impostures in Religion, but like­wise is a folly, which admits of no manner of defence or excuse. Why did God give e­very Man a Conscience of his own, if he were to be guided and directed by another Man's Conscience, and not his own? It is the Birth-right of Mankind to be govern'd by their own Reason in their sense of Reli­gion, [Page 24] and as to their inward belief; but these Men part with it upon cheaper tearms, than prophane Esau sold his, and fairly re­nounce it at a Priest's bidding.

Where should Men use their Reason and Understanding most, but in Matters of the greatest Moment? and such without con­troversy Religion is. Did God endow us with these Divine Faculties, only to mea­sure Lines and Angles, or to learn Trades, or to drive Bargains? We may as well say, that he created the Sun to save Candle. No, he bestowed them upon us for nobler and higher Purposes; that we might know Him and know our selves, what Relation we have to him, and what Service we owe him; that we might distinguish betwixt True and False, Right and Wrong, and might be able to think and act as becomes reasonable Creatures. And those that com­mit these precious Talents to another's keep­ing, are like to give but a very ill account of them.

2. In Doctrines which are contrary to the Holy Scripture. Here the People may more easily be abused than before, and [Page 25] be misled without being aware of it: be­cause the Institutions of Revealed Religion are not so well known, nor so obvious to Men, as the Dictates of Nature. But the Priests very forbidding the People to read the Scripture, gives them a just suspicion that they are abused, and would make any considerate Man the more eager to examine whether the things they teach be so or no. For which the generous Beraeans are com­mended in Scripture, who would not take the Apostle's bare word, but search'd the Scriptures themselves.

If any Doctrine decline Trial, it is a great Argument against it; for Truth loses nothing by being brought to the Test. If any Religion be too good to be examined, it is too bad to be believed.

Men would not be thus tamely cheated in Worldly Matters; they will not buy, or bargain, at this blind rate: and therefore it is a sign that they less care what becomes of their Souls, than of their Mony and Estates.

[Page 26] So that in the last place, this Temper re­solves it self into a great indifferency and unconcernedness about Religion, which ought to be our first and chief care. It pro­ceeds from a brutish degeneracy of mind, which makes Men content to be like the Horse and Mule, which have no understand­ing. It has in it all the bad Ingredients of Sloth and Negligence; of Folly, and Cre­dulity, and Irreligion. And I am sure there can be no safety in such a state of mind; for it is far from Truth, and far from God.

We may take occasion, from what has been said, to thank God that it is otherwise with us. For who has made the difference? This was the Case of our Forefathers, in the dark and long Night of Popery. Blessed be God that it is not ours.

2. Let us stand fast in that Liberty wherewith God has made us free, and never suffer our Souls to be brought into Bon­dage to any Man, whatever becomes of our Bodies.

[Page 27] 3. Let us heartily pitty, and as we are able, seek the recovery of those that are in this bad condition.

4. Let us take a special care to live up to that Knowledg which God has given us: otherwise we have but little reason to pity them, they are in a better condition than we. Let us think often of those words of our Sa­viour, St. John 9. the last Verse, Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no Sin, that is, none in comparison; your Sin would be the less: But now ye say, we see, therefore your Sin remaineth, and will be the harder to wipe out.

These things require more enlargement than the time will bear, I shall therefore leave them, as they are, to your own Con­sideration.