examine the matter and being infallibly assisted by the Spirit of truth which our Saviour promised should be with his Apostles to the end of the world that is with the Church their Successor which was to continue to the worlds end shee declares what is true and what is false as agreeing with or disagreeing from that doctrine which shee hath received from her Fore-fathers the Prophets and Apostles upon whom shee is built as S. Paul saith built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Ephes 2.20 For as in a building there is not the least stone which rests not upon the foundation so in the doctrine of the Catholique Church there is not the least point which is not grounded on or contained in that which was delivered by the Apostles For example in the principles of every Science are contained divers truths which may be drawn out of them by many severall conclusions one following another These conclusions were truths in themselves before though they did not so appear to us till wee saw the connexion they had with the premises and how they were contained in them And by the many severall conclusions so drawn the truth of those principles doth more shew it selfe but doth not receive any change in it selfe thereby even so in the prime principles of our faith revealed immediately by God and delivered to the Church are contained al truths that any way belong to our faith but it was not necessary that the Church should manifest all these at their first meeting in Councell but only so much in every severall Councell as should concerne the present occasion of their meeting which is some particular heresie or heresies then sprung up and so more according to the successive growth of heresies which when shee hath done shee cannot be charged with creating of a new faith or altering of the old but shee doth only out of old grounds and premises draw such conclusions as may serve to destroy new heresies and shew them to be contrary to the ancient faith In this manner the Church hath grown and increased in knowledge by degrees and shall still do so to the end of the world And as the sun spreads the raies of his light more and more betwixt morning and noon and his beames display themselves in a valley or some roome of a house where they did not before without any change of light in the sun himselfe So may the Church spread the light of her faith shewing such or such a point to be a divine truth which before was not known to be so or which though it were a divine truth in it selfe yet it was not so to us for want of sufficient proposall that is of the Churches wherein the Church resembles our Blessed Saviour her Lord and Spouse who though he never received the least increase of grace and knowledge from the first moment of his being conceived yet the Scripture saith He grew in wisdome and age and in favour with God and men Luc. 2.52 to wit because he shewed it more and more in his words and actions This also further appeares by the method which Catholique Fathers and Doctors observe in and out of Councells in proving and defining points of faith namely by having recourse to the authority of Gods Word conteined both in Scripture and Tradition and to the belief and practise of the Church in searching whereof the Holy Church joynes humane industry with Gods grace and assistance For when any question or doubt of faith ariseth particular Doctors severally dispute and write thereof then if further cause require the Holy Church assembles her Pastors and Doctors together in a generall Councell to examine and discusse the matter more fully as in that first Councell of the Apostles whereof the Scripture saith The Apostles and Elders assembled together to consider of this word Acts 15.6 The Pastors being thus come together and having the presence of our Saviour and his Holy Spirit according to his promise amongst them out of Scripture and Traditions joyning therewith the consent of holy Fathers and Doctors of foregoing times she doth infallibly resolve and determine the matter not as new but as ancient orthodox and derived from her forefathers making that which was ever in it selfe a divine truth so to appeare to us that now wee may no more make question thereof So that from hence it appeares that the Church makes no new Articles of faith such as then may be said to have their beginning but only explications and collections out of the old which were delivered to the Apostles and by them to us And though the Church doe thus grow in the knowledge of points of faith yet this is no newnesse of faith but a maintenance of the old with a kind of increase by way of explicating that which was involved cleering that which was obscure defining that which was undefined obliging men to believe more firmly and explicitly that which before they were not bound so to believe That is only to be called a new faith which is contrary to that which was held before or hath no connexion with it and when we cease to believe that which we believed before this indeed is change of faith the other is but encrease And if this encrease of faith by the declaration of Councells may be called a change and innovation of faith there is no Heretique but may challenge antiquity to himselfe and put novelty on the score of the Church For he may say such a thing for example that the Sonne is of the same substance with the Father was not held de fide a matter of faith before the Councell of Nice therefore it is new That Baptisme administred by Heretiques is good baptisme was not held as a matter of faith before the daies of S. Cyprian therefore it is new And the Heretique may say that he believes only that which was believed before such or such a Councell which he please for the case is alike in all and therefore he believes the antient Faith By which way of arguing he may renounce the decrees of all Councells as Novelties and maintaine many Heresies as the antient Faith Yea by this absurdity a man may deny divers Books of the Scripture as the Epistle to the Hebrewes the second Epistle of S. Peter the Epistle of S. Iames of S. Iude and the Apocalyps with some others because they were not admitted for Canonicall untill 300. or 400. yeares after they were written Yet when they were declared to be Canonicall there was no change of faith in the Church thereby for the believing of these Books was involved in this revealed Article I believe in God and the believing of them to be Canonicall was involved in this revealed Article I believe the holy Catholike Church onely hereby was an increase of the materiall object of our faith to us not in it selfe we being bound upon the declaration of the Church to believe that thing firmely and without dispute
thereof Mark 14.23 But the second All is restrained to all the Apostles what reason then is there to extend the former words further then to all the Apostles And the reason why Christ said drink yee all of this and did not say eat ye all of this was not as Protestants vainly imagine because Christ fore-saw that some would deny the use of the Chalice to the Communicants but that the first to whom our Saviour gave the cup and so the rest untill the last were to know that they were not to drink all but were to leave so much as might suffice for them or him that was to drink after without new filling and consecration Which forme of words he used most plainely a little before the supper of the Pasche for as S. Luke saith Luke 22.17 Taking the chalice he gave thanks and said take it and divide it amongst you whereas breaking the bread himselfe and giving to every one his part and not the whole to be divided amongst them there was no such necessity of the said words § 6. As for the words of our Saviour doe this in remembrance of me they doe no waies infer a precept of receiving in both kinds First because our Saviour said these words absolutely only of the Sacrament in the forme of bread but in the forme of wine only conditionally doe this as oft as ye shall drink in remembrance of me not commanding them to drink but in case they did drink which was lawfull and usuall in those times but not so now as I shall shew by and by that then they should doe it in memory of Christ So that this precept do this being the only precept given by Christ to his Church concerning this matter and given absolutely of the forme of bread conditionally of the form of wine there is no colour to accuse the Church of doing against Christs precept by communion under one kind only S. Augustine saith Epist 1 18. that Our Lord did not appoint in what order the Sacrament of the Eucharist was to be taken afterward but left authority unto the Apostles to make such appointments by whom he was to dispose and order his Churches But suppose Christ had spoken these imperative words doe this after the giving of the cup yet are they to be understood with restriction to those things that belong to the essence and substance of this action for if we extend it further to the accidentary circumstances thereof in which Christ did then institute and give the Sacrament many absurdities will follow For by this rule we must alwaies celebrate the Eucharist after supper and in unleavened bread the receivers must take it into their hands and the Priest must wash the feet of those to whom he administers it with the like Now seeing to bind men to these circumstances of our Saviours action is in all mens judgements very absurd we must not extend the precept doe this to the said or the like circumstances but acknowledge that the precept includes only the doing of that which pertaines to the substance of the Sacrament of which kind communion in both kinds cannot be it being also a circumstance the substance thereof being intire in one only kind as hath been proved So that the Protestants wrangling thus for the cup doe but fulfill in themselves though in a different sense the prophecy of Isaiah ERIT CLAMOR IN PLATEIS SUPER VINO there shall be crying for wine in the streets Isay 24.11 Thus it appeares that Communion in both kinds is not of the essence or integrity of the Sacrament nor necessary by any divine precept from whence it followes that as a thing indifferent it may be permitted or restrained according as the wisedome of the Church shall think fit For the precinct of humane power streacheth to things indifferent and only to them Things absolutely commanded man cannot forbid things absolutely forbidden man cannot command and therefore the territory of humane legislative power must be in things indifferent or else there is none at all which is against Scripture reason and the most generall beleef and practise of mankind The Apostles practised this power upon the Gentiles by imposing upon them a new law of abstinence for a time from things offered to Idolls and blood and that which is strangled Acts 15.29 which yet Christ himself never imposed but left it indifferent whereas after the Apostles decree it became necessary wherefore it is said that S. Paul walked through Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches commanding them to keep the precepts of the Apostles and Elders Acts 15.41 § 7. Now the reasons moving the Church to restrain communion to one kind were many and weighty First to prevent thereby the occasion of error for whereas in the primitive Church the use of one or both kinds was indifferently practised as is apparent by testimonies of antiquity yea by the example of the Apostles Acts 2.42 and our Saviour himselfe Luke 26.30 yet when as the Manichean heretiques rose b see Aug. lib. de haer c. 46. Leo Serm. 4. de Quadrag who abstained from wine as a thing in it selfe unlawfull to be drunk and by consequence abstained from it also in the Sacrament holy Bishops did hereupon much commend the use of the chalice But this error being extinguished and another arising c Aeneas Silvius hist Bohem capt 3.5 against the integrity of Christ under either kind as also avouching the absolute necessity of both the Church of God hereupon began more universally to practise communion under one kind and withall in declaration of the truth and for prevention of Schisme did absolutely decree the lawfulnesse thereof with prohibition to the contrary So in more antient times when the Ebionites taught unleavened bread to bee necessary in consecration of the Eucharist the Church commanded the consecration thereof to be made in leavened bread And when the heretique Nestorius denyed our Blessed Lady to be the mother of God and only to be called the mother of Christ the Church condemned him and commanded that she should be called Mother of God And the Church hath ever found this the most effectuall means for the confutation and extirpation of heresie namely by contrary decrees and practise to declare and publish the truth A second reason moving the Church to forbid the use of the cup was the deserved reverence due to this highest Sacrament in consideration whereof the Holy Fathers did appoint most diligent care to be used lest any little particle of the Host or drop of the Chalice should fall to the ground Now the multitude of Christians in laterages being very great the negligence of many in sacred things as great through the coldnesse of their zeale devotion it could not morally be possible but that frequent spilling of the blood would happen if the Chalice were to be given ordinarily to the people d Aeneas Silvius Ep. 13. de errore Bohem. Narrat de Bohem. ad Conc. Basil
of two thousand years had no word of God but that which was unwritten which we call Tradition the Church of the Jewes had Scripture but with it Tradition as the prayer of Elias concerning raine Jam. 5.15 The contention of the Archangel S. Michael and the Devill about the body of Moses Jude v. 9. with others and of the Scripture both Old and New many books are lost as many Parables and Verses of Salomon 3 King 3.32 with many other books and S. Paul wrote an Epistle to the Laodiceans Col. 4.16 and another to the Corinthians which are not extant 1 Cor. 5.9 And seeing we have not the whole Canon of the Scripture how can we be sure that that part which we have conteineth all that we are bound to believe and do we do not read that the Apostles were sent to write but to preach and S. John denies that he had expressed in writing all that he had to say Having more things to write unto you saith he I would not by paper and inke for I hope that I shall be with you and speake mouth to mouth that your joy may be full Now that these things that the Apostles did not write but teach by word of mouth were matters also of weight and belonging to Faith S. Paul assures us in these words Night and day more abundantly praying that we may see your face and may accomplish those things that want of your faith 1 Thes 3.10 By which it is evident that the Apostles besides their writings did preach other things which were wanting to their faith § 10. Nor did the Apostles surely intend to write all points of faith for if they had it is probable that they all together or some one of them would have done it purposely punctually and methodically and declared so much unto the world But we know the contrary to wit that they did not write all by their own confession and that which they did write was but accidentall and upon particular occasions as Hooker affirmes Eccles Pol. l. 1. sect 15. p. 37. The severall Books of Scripture are written upon severall occasions and particular purpose which occasions if they had not happened it is most likely that they had not written that which they did For instance the Epistles of S. Peter James John and Jude were written against certain Heretikes who mis-understanding S. Paul did thereupon teach That faith onely without works sufficed to salvation of which very point S. Augustine saith Because this opinion was then begun De fide operibus c. 14. other Apostolicall Epistles of Peter John James Jude do chiefly direct their intentions against it that they might strongly confirm Faith without works to profit nothing S. John also did preach the Gospell till his last age which was very long without writing any Scripture and took occasion to write as S. Ierome affirmes by reason of the heresie of the Ebionites De Scriptoribus Eccles which then brake out The like might be shewed of all the rest And lastly which is worth the observation all the Epistles are written to such persons onely as were already converted to the Christian Faith therefore they were written not so much to instruct Tom. 2. l. de Eccles fol. 43. as to confirme as Zuinglius also confesseth § 11. By all which it is evident so far as we can see that the Apostles and Evangelists did write their books not by any command from Christ but upon some accidentall occasion moving them thereunto Wherein one and the same matter is often repeated as in S. Pauls Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians and also in all the Evangelists and many other things are omitted as a world of works which our Saviour did as S. John testifieth 2. John 21.25 and which the Apostles did also the small book of their Acts being too little to expresse all their actions and also the things which S. Paul ordained in the Church of the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11.34 by which it is manifest that they neither intended any compleat Ecclesiasticall history nor body of divinity containing all matters of faith and practice So that it did neither appear to me that the Scripture contained all the doctrine of salvation that the Apostles taught nor yet any of it because I could not see by the directions that Protestants gave me whether the Scripture were the Word of God or no. CHAP. III. Of the insufficiency of the Protestants meanes to find out the true sense of the Scriptures And of the absurdity of their assertion that all points necessary to salvation are clear and manifest § 1. AS to know the letter of the Scripture so to know the meaning thereof I found a matter of great difficulty agreeable to S. Peter who saith speaking of S. Pauls Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 In which are certain things hard to be understood which the unlearned and unstable deprave as also the rest of the Scriptures to their own damnation But * Falke Con. Rhē Test in 2 Pet. cap. 3. Morton Apol. part 1. lib. 1. cap. 19. VVhitaker contro◠2. q. 5. c. 7. p. 513. Protestants to avoid their dependence on the Church for the interpretation thereof say that all things necessity to salvation are easie to be understood even by the most unlearned Reader But they never yet expressed what points were necessary to salvation and what not nor have given any rule by by which it might be found out but have left themselves the liberty of adding to or substracting from that title what and whensoever they pleased And who seeth not that with this device they may exclude if they please almost all the points of Christian belief and practise § 2. Wonderfull confusion I found herein for here the understanding of the most unlearned Reader is made the size of things necessary to salvation and if it be a measure unto all men then the most learned Clerk is bound to believe no more than the most unlearned peasant that can but read and the most unlearned need not the help of the learned for the understanding of things necessary but can find them out by his own reading So that you must take the arrantest dunce in their Church that can read and after he hath diligently perused the Bible and prayed for understanding therein that which he understands must be accounted necessary to salvation and no more Surely me thinks they are to blame that have not for the greater credit and cleernesse of their cause made this tryall upon some silly fellow and from his mouth have set downe their points necessary to salvation But by this it appears that they are willing to draw the matters necessary to salvation for their great ease into a very narrow compasse and make the same measure serve the silliest clown and the greatest Clerk which is uncomly And coming closer to the matter I have known some affirm which I believe is the opinion of very many that to believe
Saint is kept with great veneration and frequent Miracles wrought thereby and there was he made perfectly whole and thereupon abjured the Religion wherein his father brought him up and became a Roman Catholique § 3. Now for the Miracles that are said to be done in the Roman Church we have as high humane Testimony as can be imagined So that Protestants may with as much reason deny all humane story as that there were Henries and Edwards Kings of England whom they never saw yea they may as justly deny or doubt of the truth of their owne names which they doe not know but by report and mens calling them so and the poor record of a Church-book but Miracles have much more famous Records and more people that believe them And can they prudently imagine all Christians but themselves so stupid and foolish to believe these things without sufficient proof who in all other matters they must without the help of modesty acknowledg more wise and learned then themselves What did Christ and his Apostles doe more than the Roman Church hath since done and what can Protestants say more against her than the unbelieving Jewes or Gentiles might say against them And because some feigned Miracles are sometimes discovered from thence to charge all with the same accusation as it is unjust so it is absurd and destroies all humane faith they may as well deny all that is or hath been done in the world whereof they have not been eye-witnesses because some of those reports have been false Therefore as they believe Catholiques when they say some were feigned so in justice they ought to believe them when they say others are not so Otherwise by the same way of reasoning they may say that the Miracles of Moses were not true because the Magitians were counterfeit or that the new Testament is not the word of God because there were many Gospells Epistles counterfeited under the names of the Apostles And surely Catholiques would never endeavour to discover feigned Miracles if they were not sure that some were true but rather by one act condemn all that have been since the Apostles that are or shall be for false and counterfeit as Protestants in effect doe when they say that Miracles are ceased Moreover to affirme that Miracles are Antichristian as some Protestants doe is improper first because it is yet in question betwixt us whether Antichrist be come or no which Protestants have not proved nor never will with reference to the Pope Secondly it is granted on both sides that Antichrist shall doe no Miracles properly but only some signes and wonders not exceeding the power of nature and the devills art whereof one is to cause fire to come down from heaven Apoc. 13.13 which never any Pope did but the Miracles done in the Church doe exceed all created power And lastly many Miracles were done in the Roman Church before the time or times for they agree not in their reckoning that Protestants say Antichrist did first appear as at the reliques of d Chrysost in lib. cont Gentiles Babylas e Nazian in Cyprian Cyprian f Ieron in vita Hilar. Hilarion and many others So that all Catholiques may say with Richardus de Sancto Victore not with doubt or feare of being deceived but with assurance to the contrary g Lib. 1. de Trinit c. 2. O Lord if it be error that we believe we are deceived by thee for thou hast confirmed these things to us with signes and wonders which could not be done but by thee CHAP. XVII Of the seventh Mark of the true Church viz. Conversion of Kingdomes and Monarchs § 1. ANother Mark of the true Church is the conversion of Kingdomes and Nations from Heathenisme to the faith of Christ As the Prophet Esay saith Kings shall bee thy nursing-Fathers and Queens thy Mothers Esay 49.23 thou shalt suck the milke of the Gentiles and the brests of Kings Esay 60.61 Their Kings shall minister to thee and thy gates shall be continually open that men may bring to thee the riches of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought c. Esay 60.10 11. And the English Bible printed Anno 1576. upon the 49. of Esay vers 23. saith The meaning is that Kings shall be converted to the Gospell and bestow their power and authority for the preservation of the Church And this Mark I found on the Roman Catholike but not upon the Protestant Church The first three hundred years after Christ being a time of great persecution there were few or no Kings converted to Christianity and from Constantine to Boniface the third which was almost 300. years more there were few Kings converted except the Emperours of the East and West and they were converted to the Roman Catholique not to the Protstant Faith as Napier in his Treatise on the Rev. p. 145. confesseth saying After the year of God 300. the Emperour Constantine subdued all Christian Churches to Pope Sylvester from which time till these our daies the Pope and his Clergie hath possessed the outward and visible Church Now since the yeare 600. these Prophesies have been accomplishing and they have been done by the Roman Church not by the Protestant Churches which were untill Luthers daies under hatches and invisible by their owne confession before mentioned And if wee look upon the conversion of Kings and Nations in these later times since their ignis fatuus which they call the glorious light of the Gospell hath appeared we shall find it performed not by Protestants but by Roman Catholiques in the remote and divided parts of the m Joan. Petrus Maffeus hist Indicarum 16. East and n Jos Acosta de natur novi orbis West Indies and of o Hartwell of Congo Epist to Reader Africa as by sufficient testimony appears In so much that Simon Lythus a Protestant before alledged saith The Jesuites within the space of a few years have filled Asia Africa America with their Idolls And whereas it is objected that the Gothes were converted to the Christian Religion by the Arrians first p Cap. 22. de not Eccl. Bellarmine proves it to be false secondly if it were true yet it is of no moment to prove the power of any other Religion but the Roman Catholique for the converting of nations and the fulfilling of the large Prophesies of the Scripture therein seeing they that are pretended to be converted by the Arrians were but the lesser part of the Gothes most of them having been Catholiques before Thirdly this example doth rather make for the Roman faith in that of all the world converted to Christian Religion there is but one poor half example of conversion and that false too wrought by any other Religion Which when it is observed that this pretended conversion was wrought by Arrians who even in the opinion of most Protestants were Heretiques it will turne to the shame and reproach of Protestants who pretending to be the true
by the zealous complaints against sin on either side for zealous complaint is hyperbolicall even in holy Scripture But it is manifest that the Protestant Religion hath not that sanctity of life in it that the Catholique hath when neither the founders thereof had any at all nor the followers any more but much lesse than when they were Catholiques In fine compare the lives of Roman Catholiques and Protestants both Clergie and Laity and of the same Nation for that some Nations perhaps are addicted to vice in generall more than others and every Nation to some one or few particular vices more than another the best to the best and the major part to the major part we shall find so have I done and I have heard even Protestants themselves confesse that they are exceedingly overballanced by the Catholiques CHAP. XIX Of the tenth and last here mentioned Mark of the Church viz. That the true Church hath never been separated from any society of Christians more antient then her selfe § 1. THe last Mark of the Church which I will mention is her never going forth out of any visible society of Christians elder than her self of which going out as a note of error and falshood the Apostles say They went forth from us 1 Joh. 2.19 Certain that went forth from us Acts 15.14 Out of your selves shall arise men speaking perverse things Acts 20.30 These are they that separate themselves Jude vers 19. Certain it is that the true Church is most antient as truth it self is elder than falshood if therefore there have risen in the Church men of indifferent judgements or affections from the true Church they have presently made a separation gone out of the Church wherein they were and erected a new Church to themselves As S. Augustine saith Tract 3. in Ep. Joan. de Sym. ad cateth l. 1. c. 5. All Heretiques went out from us that is they go out of the Church and againe The Church Catholique fighting against all Heresies may be opposed but she cannot be overthrowne all heresies are come out from her as unprofitable branches out from the Vine but she remaines in her vine in her root in her charity A vain thing therefore it is for Protestants to charge the Church of Rome with departing from the Word of God and the Doctrine of the Apostles unlesse they can prove that she departed from some former Church that held other doctrine than she doth But certain it is that this cannot be proved seeing she was planted by the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul and never separated her self from any precedent Church It is true indeed that there were Churches elder than she in time as she is a particular Church as the Church of Ierusalem where the Gospell was first preached and of Antioch where S. Peter was first Bishop with other Churches in Asia but these all agreed in the unity of Faith and were all subject to the Church of Rome after it was planted in union under the head thereof S. Peter and his successors as I shall shew by and by And the Church of Rome did never seperate from any of these but many of these from her in the Heresie of Arius and others as Protestants will not deny If then she did never separate from any elder Church so that men might say here is a Church and there is the Church of Rome once the same with her and now separated from her she must still be the first and true Church or there is none upon earth But certain it is on the contrary side that all the former Churches which Protestants themselves will call Heretiques as Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Entychians Donatists with many others did separate from the Church of Rome and she can tell when and why and no lesse certain is it that all that are now called Protestants and all the pedigree of their fore-fathers Waldo Wickliffe Husse Luther Calvin and all the Kingdomes wherein their followers are were once and first of the Roman Catholique Church and have forsaken her Communion and departed from her and have not joyned to any other Church more antient and subsistent apart from her by which shee was condemned of novelty and separation nor are they able to shew any such Church therefore the Roman must needs be the true Church Or else which is a most absurd and impossible imagination the true Church hath been utterly extinguished and revived againe and that not by the service of such men as proved their calling by miracles or sanctity of life as Roman Catholiques have done to all the nations they have converted but were men notable only for their wickednesse And these amongst many others which might be added and of which much more might be said are those infallible Markes that prove the Church of Rome and those that communicate with her to bee the one true holy Catholique and Apostolique Church That Church of whose infallible and never-erring Judgement the Scripture assures us calling it The ground and pillar of truth which hath the Spirit of God to lead it into all truth which is built upon a rock against which the gates of hell shal not prevaile wherein Christ placed Apostles Prophets Doctors and Pastors to the consummation and ful perfection of the whole body that in the mean time we be not carryed away with every blast of doctrine 1 Tim. 3.15 John 16.13 Mat. 16.18 Ephes 4.11.12 That Church which whatsoever it says God commands us to doe and he that will not is an heathen and a Publican which whatsoever shee shall bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatsoever shee shall loose one earth is loosed in heaven which is the spouse of Christ his body his lot Kingdome and inheritance given him in this world Math. 23.3 and 18.17.18 Of which S. Cyprian Epist 55. saith To S. Peters chaire and the principall Church infidelity or false faith cannot have accesse And S. Hierome Apol. advers Ruff. l. 3. c. 4. That the Roman faith commanded by the Apostles cannot be changed And S. Gregory Nazianzen Carm. de vita sua 'Old Rome from antient times hath the right faith and alwaies keepeth it as it becomes the city which over-rules the world Which being so what remaines to every man but laying aside endlesse dispute about particulars to cast himself into the armes of this Holy mother Church and wholly rely upon her infallible judgement wherein Christ Jesus her husband hath promised and hath reason to preserve her And to submit themselves to the visible head thereof the Pope of Rome of whose authority as I did my self particularly enquire and was moved thereby so I will briefly propound it to others CHAP. XX. That the Pope is the head of the Church § 1. THe Protestants doe usually blaspheme the Pope and Sea of Rome with the title of Antichrist of the Whore of Babylon of the Mother of Abominations of the Beast with seven heads and ten hornes and many other like courteous compellations
in you Joh. 6.54 And taking the Chalice he gave thanks and gave to them saying drinke ye all of this Mat. 26.27 Also In like manner the Chalice after he had supped saying this Chalice is the New Testament in my blood this do ye as often as yee shall drinke in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.25 But none of these places rightly understood nor any other do prove what the Protestants pretend to Particularly to the first of these places I answer that seeing the Protestants do generally interpret this Chapter of S. John not of receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist but onely of believing in Christ it is no objection for them but because most Catholique Divines do interpret it of the Blessed Sacrament it is an objection against us to which therefore I further answer First that all words of Scripture that in their forme seem to import a Precept do not so indeed as where our Saviour saith to his Apostles that they ought to wash one anothers feet Joh. 13.14 yet no man ever held it for a matter of necessity But supposing for the present that it include a Precept I further answer that as we distinguish in the Sacrament the substance and the manner the substance being to receive Christ the manner to receive him in both kinds by formall eating and drinking So the same distinction is to be made in our Saviours Precept about this Sacrament For howsoever his words may sound of the manner of receiving in both kinds yet his intention is to command no more than the substance to wit that we really receive his body and blood which may be done under one kind The truth whereof will appeare if we consider first the occasion of the words objected which was the incredulity of the Capernaites whose doubt was not whether the Sacrament was to be given in one or both kinds but as Protestants still doubt whether he could give us his flesh to eat Secondly the manner of his speech which was not by making mention of any kind at all in the said words but only of the things themselves for he doth not say unlesse you eat the bread and drink the wine you have no life but unlesse you eat the flesh and drink the blood both which are equally contained under either bread or wine So that if a man receive the forme of bread only or of wine only he doth therein both eat and drinke the flesh and blood of Christ. And in other places of this Chapter where he makes mention of one kind it is of bread only and not at all of wine so that this place is of no force for the forme of wine unlesse the body and blood of Christ be separated and that receiving the form of bread we receive the body onely and of wine the blood only which must suppose Christ still dead which is most impious and impossible § 5. And if any think that because it is said unlesse you drinke therefore Christ must be received under a forme that may be drunke as well as eaten or else it is not drinking his blood but eating his blood as well as his body I answer it is called eating and drinking not so much in regard of the action as the subject so that flesh being the usuall subject of eating when the Sacrament is called flesh the action is called eating and blood being the usuall subject of drinking when there is mention of receiving the blood the action is called drinking and we are not bound to receive him in a drinkable forme because we are bid to drink his blood but we may be said to drink because we receive that which is in its nature drinkable to wit blood which we doe when we receive the body And if this will not serve the turn they may further argue against us that if we swallow the Host whole we do not eat it eating implying chewing more or lesse and so do not fulfill the precept of eating the flesh And we may argue in like manner against them that if they do not take wine enough to make a draught they do not drinke but onely tast or sip thereof and therein also do not fulfill that which they think they are here commanded But as a Protestant I suppose if the bread and wine should be so mixed together in a cup that both might be drunk together or else eaten with a spoon or in the manner of a moist piece of past or swallowed like a pill will believe that he receives in both kinds and fulfills this in his opinion Precept of drinking the blood So the body and blood being joyned together in either kind to us that believe Transubstantiation we receive both when we receive either kind which act of receiving with relation to the flesh may be called eating to the blood drinking yea though it should be taken in such a manner as strictly speaking should bee neither eating nor drinking I adde moreover with relation to them that do not believe Transubstantiation that the conjunctive particle And doth frequently signifie disjunctively that is Or For example the Apostle saith Acts 3.6 Silver and gold have I none where it is manifest that the sense is silver or gold I have none for if he had had either he had had no excuse of want for his not giving of almes So also S. Paul speaketh of this very Sacrament 1 Cor. 11.29 27. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himselfe which he interpreteth in the same Chapter saying Whosoever shall eat this bread or drink the cup of our Lord unworthily In like manner those words Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood if they be taken for eating and drinking under the severall formes of bread and wine are to be understood disjunctively thus Except ye eat the flesh or drink the blood of the sonne of man you shall not have life in you Which disjunctive sense is proved to be the sense intended in this place because else Christ should contradict himself for he promiseth in this same Chapter life eternall to eating only He that eateth me the same shall live by me and he that eateth this bread shall live for ever now if he require unto life eternall eating and drinking both under distinct forms and kinds it is manifest he should contradict himselfe and because this is impossible we must necessarily interpret this place with relation to the severall formes of bread and wine disjunctively thus unlesse you eat or drink The second text urged for Communion in both kinds is Drinks ye all of this Mat. 26.27 which being rightly understood will appeare to be spoken neither to all mankind as to Jewes Turks Infidells as Protestants also acknowledge nor yet to all the faithfull but to all the Apostles and to them all only Which is manifest out of the Text it self for what one Evangelist saith was commanded to all another relates to have been answerably performed by all They drank all
much as concernes the full sense thereof be not all one to him as if they were in Hebrew I will set them downe according to the English Protestant translation and their number of the Psalmes Moab is my washpot over Edom will I cast out my shoe Psal 60.8 Also this Though ye have lien among the pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold Psal 68. v. 13. And this in the same Psalme v. 30. Rebuke the company of spearemen or as it is in the margent the beasts of the reeds the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the people c. Also this as it is in the Service book Or ever your pots be made hot with thornes so let indignation vex him even as a thing that is raw Psal 58.8 Therefore when Protestants read these and the like unintelligible places of Scripture to the unlearned people without interpreting them their end in reading being only the instruction of the people they truly fal into that error of which they untruely accuse us of speaking in the Church without the edification of the people So have many of them alone in their Sermons also speaking Latin or some other more unknown tongue without interpreting it Moreover the end of the Church meetings here spoken of by the Apostle was to instruct the ignorant and convert the infidels as may be gathered out of the 23. and 24. verses But the drift of the Church in appointing Liturgies and set formes of publique prayer and readings in the Masse was not for the peoples instruction though that as I have shewed be not neglected but for other reasons as first that by this publique service a continuall dayly tribute or homage of prayer and thanksgiving might be publiquely offered and payed unto God by his Priests Secondly that Christians by their personall assistance at this publike Service might professe exercise exterior acts of religion common with the whole Church represented by the Synaxis or ecclesiasticall meeting of every Christian Parish Finally that every Christian by his presence yeelding consent unto the publike prayers praises thanksgiving of the Church might participate of the graces benefits fruits which the Church doth ordinarily obtaine by her Liturgies publike oblations Now for these ends there is no need that every one should understand word by word the prayers that are said in the publike Liturgie but it sufficeth that the Church in generall and in particular Pastors Ecclesiastical persons dedicated to the Ministeries of the Church have particular notice of all the prayers that are said and that all may be taught and instructed in particular if they desire it and will be diligent therein But Protestants are more easily lead into this error of beleeving that the Church Service must be said in the vulgar tongue because they conceive the principall intent thereof with us is as it is with them for the instruction of the people For with them they doe not usually read the Church Prayers unlesse there be company to heare not is there any receiving of their Communion unlesse there be a number of the people to communicate But in the Catholique Church it is not so for with us the Office of the Church is said though there should be no people present for it is the Priests Office not the peoples and the daily Sacrifice is offered though there be no people present these are done to the service honour of God and for the benefit of the people too though not for their instruction and they are bound to be present at Masse only upon Sundaies other Holydaies yet may be present at any other time and are present more frequently numerously than the Protestants are at their Service or Sermons and for the substance of things done or said understand much more And all women children in their answers to the Priest are as ready if not more than ever they were in the use of the Liturgie of England And while they understand the generall purport of that which is said though they cannot apply every Latin word to its proper signification in the vulgar yet I suppose their understandings are more edified then theirs that know the signification of most of the words but not a jot of the inward sense meaning thereof as happens to the unlearned Protestants while they hear most parts of the Scripture read in the vulgar tongue Moreover most certain it is that the present custome of the Roman Church to have their Liturgie in a tongue not vulgar is agreeable to the custome of the Church in all ages and also of all Churches now in the world bearing the name of Christian though opposite to the Roman only those of the pretended Reformation excepted which constant concurrence is a great signe that the same is very conform unto reason not any where forbidden in the Word of God The Scripture was not read in any language but Greek over al the Churches of the East as S. Jerom praefat in Paralip witnesseth Also the Greek Liturgie of S. Basil was used in all the Churches of the East yet the Grecian was the vulgar language of all the countries of the East as is apparent by many testimonies particularly of the b Basil de Spiritu Sancto c. 19. Capadocians c d Hieron in Proâ—m 2. lib. com ad Galat. Act. Apost c. 1. v. 10 11. Mesapotamians d Galathians e Theodoret. in histor SS Patrum hist 13. Lycaonians f Hieron de Script Eccles in Anton. Egyptians Syrians yea that all these Countries most of the Orient had their proper language distinct from the Greek is manifest out of Acts 2. where divers nations of the East being assembled in Jerusalem at Pentecoste hearing the Apostles speak with tongues said How hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born Acts 2.8 No lesse manifest is it that the Latin Liturgie was common anciently to all those of the Western parts yea even in Africk as appears by testimonies of S. Augustine Epist 57 de doct Christ l. 2. c. 13. in Psal 123. in Exposit Ep. ad Rom. Ep. 173. Yet was not the Latin the vulgar language of all the nations of the West but every one had his owne distinct as now they have particularly in England the British language was then in use Nor yet was the Latin language vulgarly known in all these nations though understood by the beteer sort as it is at this day in all likelihood more generally known now than then in as much as the study of Arts Sciences communion in Religion are fitter meanes to spread a language than the sword of a Conqueror So that it is manifest that the Christian Church did never judge it requisite that the publike Liturgie should be turned into the mother tongue of every nation nor necessary that it should be presently