But the difficulty or the mischief does not stop here. There is one tenet behind so extraordinary and absurd, as well as wicked, that one can hardly conceive how it could have been established. It bears particularly upon this point of idolatry, since it makes it utterly impossible. for any man to be sure that he is not worshipping plain bread and wine. In their great eagerness to exalt the character of the priest, and to invest him with the highest possible authority in the execution of his office, the later popish councils have decreed that the intention of the priest is necessary to the validity of a sacrament: that is, that the priest must mean to do what he is supposed to do, he must really intend to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, or no change whatever takes place. If through inattention, through per verseness, through malice, he does not choose that grace should be conveyed to the partakers of the host, they not only receive no benefit whatever, but in kneeling and adoring the wa fer, they are paying religious worship to a mere composition of flour and water. It is, therefore, as I said before, impossible for any man who performs this act of adoration, unless he could read the heart of the priest, to be sure that he is not guilty of idolatry. But there is still further room for doubt and hesitation. For as this doctrine extends to orders and to baptism

as well as to the mass, it follows also that if the. bishop who ordained the priest had no intention of conferring orders, if the minister who officiated at his baptism had no intention of admitting him into the church of Christ, he is no lawful priest, and none of his acts can have any efficacy, nor can confer the least particle of spiritual grace, or the most insignificant privilege. And this, it must be further observed, goes back to every bishop and every priest from the days of the apostles. If in any one instance the intention was wanting, the chain is broken, and all those whose admission into the church is connected with the act which is thus defective are in fact no Christians. In short, upon their principle, every bishop and every priest, nay every saint of their church may be no better than heathens and publicans.

The folly as well as impudence of this doctrine is so alarming, it is such a loosening of the foundations of the church, so suicidal, that one can only refer it to that strong delusion mentioned in scripture, which causes men to "believe a lie;" which leads them to overlook the most false consequences, in the pursuit of a present, though ever so unsubstantial an advantage.

Thus have I brought to a close what I meant to say upon the first head of the corruptions. prevailing in the Romish church; and you can

not but see how even by that our separation from her might be fully justified. From the first to the last the scriptures are uniform in representing idolatry as the grossest act of rebellion against God. He deigns to consider himself as the husband of his church. And every other act of worship to any other being, nay, every such act paid even to him in any other manner than he warrants, is stigmatized as adultery and whoredom. He represents himself as a "jealous" God, that we may understand (for such is the nature of jealousy) that not only every approach to such a crime, but the very suspicion of it in the wife whom he hath chosen is what he will not endure. But as you have also seen the church of Rome is not only a prostitute, but a prostitute for hire. Not only she prefers a "form" before the "power" of godliness; but as St. Paul says elsewhere, supposes "gain to "be godliness*." Indeed when you see for what base ends the worship of God is thus by her priests and rulers profaned, what words can we apply to them more justly than those of our Lord spoken to other money changers, far less criminal than these, "It is written my house "shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have "made it a den of thieves.†.

* 1 Tim. vi. 5.

SERMON VI.

MARK vii. 7.

In vain do they worship me, teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men.

In the beginning of my last discourse I observed upon the difficulty which must be felt by every infidel or impostor in opposing the true religion, unless he be prepared with other doctrines by which he may divert and engage the attention of men, and satisfy that propensity to the divine worship which is so deeply rooted in the human mind: I may add now that the sort of doctrine which is thus made to supply the place of God's word, can of course only

be that which is pointed out in the text. And this affords another proof of the truth of what has been more than once observed, that error in all ages is substantially the same. For you cannot be ignorant that the practice which our Saviour thus reproves in the pharisees and hypocrites of his day, is the principal and most powerful engine employed at all times by the church of Rome, and by force of which she has been enabled to support her authority, and give currency to her peculiar tenets. The doctors of modern days have but trod the same path as the rabbis of old; both saw their advantage and pursued it; and in both cases but too successfully, "The word of God was made "of none effect by their traditions*." what way indeed could any colour have been given to the abominations which in my last discourse I pointed out, how could the worship of images and of relics, or the invocation of saints ever have become accredited but by devising such explanations and glosses, and bringing forward such opinions of men as should quite put out of sight the divine commandments in which they were so expressly prohibited.

In

Such is the case with the first class of corruptions adopted by the Romish church, nor shall we find those which follow at all less contradictory to the words of scripture, or differently * Matt. xv. 6.