receive it is that they cannot receive the benefit of Christs Presence without a lively Faith but should rather Eat and Drink their own Damnation as is more fully express'd in the next Article and also that the expressions of a Heavenly and Spiritual manner are only to oppose that Carnal and Gross manner which a Natural Body has as having local extention c. which Body as such cannot possibly be in more places then one as St. Augustin affirms and to which that part of the Article in Edw. Sparrow's Canons pag. 49. the Sixths days to which this has succeeded do's allude If he think I impose upon their Church I desire him to let us know by some Authentic Testimony what is the meaning of that part of the Article and to shew us how it can stand with the Doctrine deliver'd in the Church Chatechism which affirms as I have told you that The inward thing signified is the Body and Blood of our Lord JESUS CHRIST which is verily and indeed taken and receiv'd by the Faithful it do's not say by Faith but by the Faithful As also how it agrees with these words of the same Article The Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of CHRIST and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of CHRIST If then he admit with King James Causab Ep. ad Card. Per. that they believe JESUS CHRIST to be as really present in the Sacrament as Roman Catholics do but only know not the manner Pag. 61. What becomes of all his Sarcasms of Worshipping a Deity whose substance they first form'd and then spake it into a God c. He knew full well that such Objections were the very Calumnies of the Heathens who did not only object to Christians their eating of their God but also of eating Mans Flesh in their Sacrifices of drinking Childrens Blood and several other such like accusations all which proceeded from some imperfect knowledge they had got of the Christian Sacrifice notwithstanding all the care the Primitive Christians took to conceal that Adorable Mystery from Infidels and even Catechumens What becomes of all the Arguments brought from pretended contradictions and an impossibility of being present in many places at once Do's not their real Participation if as the Bishop says there be any Sence in the Words fall under the same censures And what becomes of all his Objections rais'd from the difference betwixt some Schoolmen who endeavour to explicate the manner of his presence and the free acknowledgment of others that we are ignorant of it Do not they themselves profess the same And if we cannot comprehend how God can be three and one or the Divinity be Incarnate must we necessarily therefore deny the Blessed Trinity or the Incarnation In a word what will become of all the Arguments in General brought against Transubstantiation substantiation Adoration Sacrifice of the Altar Communion under one Species c. seeing Learned Protestants themselves confess that if the words of the Institution be taken in a Literal Sence without which a Real Presence can never be admitted they must yield up the Cause in all those Points to Roman Catholics This Brerelay has shown in his Liturgy of the Mass Printed Anno 1620. pag. 225 339. from several of their own Authors But he tells us that many of our Schoolmen acknowledge there is not in the Scripture any formal proof of Transubstantiation that there is not any Texts that without the declaration of the Church would be able to evince it that it was not a matter of Faith till the Council of Lateran and then triumphs as if these expressions were a perfect yielding up of our Cause But I would gladly have him to consider upon what account it is these Learned Men use those expressions and examine a little their Reasons and then I doubt not but if he observe the Connection of their Discourse he will not find such an occasion of triumphing It is an usual thing with Novelists to pretend nothing must be admitted as a matter of Faith but what can be manifestly proved from plain Texts of Scripture This Catholics deny and tell them such a proposition destroys all our Faith because no body can prove for example by Scripture the Books of the Gospels or the Epistles of St. Paul to be the Word of God or Divine Revelation and if they cannot prove those Scriptures to be Divine but by Tradition and the Interposition of the Church and yet tell us Tradition and Church Authority are not sufficient what will become of all the Articles contain'd in those Books Nay further Catholics tell them that if they rely only upon the bare words of Scripture without having recourse to the Authority of a Church and the Consent of Pastors and Teachers in all Ages and Places they will never be able to demonstrate any one Doctrine that is they can never prove it so clearly as to convince those who rely wholly upon their Reason and will admit of nothing for a proof in such weighty matters but what is so clear that whoever understands the Terms and Propositions must necessarily consent to the Conclusion drawn from them The Schoolmen do not only instance the Real Presence and Transubstantiation in proof of this but the Trinity also and Incarnation and in a word all the Articles of our Creed And the very opposition which Heretics in the several Ages of the Church have form'd against those Doctrines is a clear proof of this seeing they upon all occasions pretended Scripture for their grounds and because Catholics could not bring any Text of Scripture against them so clear but they could elude it by some seeming Exposition therefore Scripture alone could never decide the Controversies but the voice of the Church in her Councils was in all Ages esteem'd necessary to stop their Mouths and her Decisions and Declarations of the Sence of Scripture was that which confounded all their Errors Thus it was that Arius and his followers were condemned by the Council of Nice not by the sole words of Scripture but by the words of Scripture as understood and explicated by the consent of the Catholic Church and thus it was that Berengarius and his followers were condemned by the Council of Lateran and several others and that Condemnation confirm'd by that of Trent He tells us moreover That this Doctrine was no matter of Faith till the Council of Lateran Pag. 56 1200 years after CHRIST and had not That and the Council of Trent interposed it would not have been so to this very day And cites Lombard Scotus Gabriel and Bellarmine for this Assertion Let us examine his Quotations but first we will represent the State of the Question as the best Method to understand their Meanings We must therefore take notice that the word Transubstantiation was first publicly used in the Council of Lateran as the word Consubstantial was in the first Council of Nice but that
but wonder that Persons should use so many endeavours not to understand us Expos p. 10. and because as the Bishop of Condom has observ'd in one sence Adoration Invocation and the name of Mediator are only proper to God and JESUS CHRIST we are astonish'd why they will still misapply those terms to render our Doctrine odious whereas if they would but strictly keep to the sence in which we use them all their Objections and Accusations would loose their force and we might have some hopes of a more Christian Unity ART III. Invocation of Saints AS for the Invocation of Saints Art 3. p. 9. he grants with Monsieur Daillè that several of the Primitive Fathers in the Fourth Age of the Church pag. 7. made Addresses to them but will have them to be only Innocent Wishes and Rhetorical Flights What Authority do's he bring for this Assertion and his farther accusation of these Fathers of the Fourth Century that they did certainly begin to depart from the Practice and Tradition of those before them pag. 8. Did any in that or the following Ages accuse or censure them If not by what Authority do's he condemn those Prayers those Innocent Wishes and Holy Raptures as he calls them because he will not have them to be Prayers as fond things vainly invented c. We only tell you it is lawful to Pray to them and condemn such as censure all those Antient and Orthodox Fathers What Authority have you to oppose us You say it is repugnant to Gods Word shew that Word If you cannot we are in Possession and the Antiquity and Uninteruptedness of our Doctrine besides the Reasonableness and Innocence of it confirms us in our belief and ought to be more prevalent with us than all the Sophistical Arguments brought against us We name them in our Sacrifices and give God thanks for the Victories they have obtain'd through his Grace and humbly beseech him to vouchsafe to favour us by their Intercession if we mention their merits 't is only those Victories they had obtain'd by his Favours which we beseech him to look upon and not to regard our unworthiness even as we beg of him to hear their Prayers which are more prevalent then our own because more pure But this is far from such an idle fancy as if Christ who is our Sacrifice pag. 12. needed as he says the Assistance of St. Bathildis or Potentiana to recommend him to his Father or the deserts of a St. Martin to obtain our forgiveness We detest such thoughts and abominate such Doctrines The Bishop of Condom has fully explicated our Tenets what this Author or others impose upon us we are not to answer for nor are we concerned to maintain the ill consequences which follow from such Impositions ART IV. Images and Relics HIs next Article of Images and Relics complains how the approved Doctrine of our most reputed Writers contradicts what M. de Meaux would have us to think is their only design in that Service Art 4. Pag. 13. Let us examine this a little The Bishop of Condom's business is to explicate the universally approv'd Doctrine of the Church according to the Sentiments of the Council of Trent and not to meddle with Scholastic Opinions or those Practices which are neither necessary nor generally received He tells us therefore Expos Sect. 5. pag. 8. That all the Honour that is given them ought to be referred to the Prototypes represented by them and that we do not attribute to them any other Vertue but that of exciting in us the Remembrance of those they represent That the Honour we render them is grounded upon this that the very seeing of the Image of JESUS CHRIST Crucified cannot but excite in us a more lively Remembrance of him who died upon the Cross for our Redemption That whilst this Image before our Eyes causes this precious Remembrance in our Souls we are naturally moved to testifie by some exteriour Signs how far our Gratitude bears us which exteriour Signs are not paid to the Image but to JESUS CHRIST represented by that Image So that properly speaking according to the Bishop of Meaux's sence and that of the Council the Image of the Cross is to be only look'd upon as a Representative or Memorative Sign which is therefore apt to put us in mind of JESUS CHRIST who suffered upon the Cross for us and the Honour which we there shew precisely speaking and according to the Ecclesiastic Style is not properly to the Cross but to JESUS CHRIST represented by that Cross Not to JESUS CHRIST as present in or with or to that Cross as if the Cross it self were the Object of our Worship as another Answerer represents our Doctrine Answer to Papist Protesting Sect. 5. passim but to him in Heaven whose becoming Man and dying for us we remember by looking upon the Cross So that JESUS CHRIST is the sole Object of our Adoration and not the Cross The Cross therefore whether taken as Wood or Stone or moreover as the Image of JESUS CHRIST Crucified is not properly the Object of our Worship but is a Help to recall our wandring Thoughts back to a Consideration of the Benefits we have received by his dying for us and whilst we have these good thoughts in our Minds our Affections are inflamed and we in presence of that Image which occasioned those pious Affections shew by some exteriour Act what are our inward Sentiments and pay our Adorations to our Redeemer but not to the Image that represents him This is the Pure and Innocent Doctrine of the Church without mixture of Scholastic Subtilities and this the above-named Author acknowledges to be very innocent Ibid. p. 84. It is says he a very innocent thing to worship GOD or CHRIST when any Natural or Instituted Sign brings them to our minds even in the presence of such a Sign as if a Man upon viewing the Heavens and the Earth and the Creatures that are in it should raise his Soul to God and adore the Great Creator of the World or upon the accidental sight of a Natural Cross and why not upon the designed sight of an Artificial one should call to mind the Love of his Lord who died for him and bow his Soul to him in the most submissive Adorations But because he could not deny this to be Innocent therefore he will not have it to be the Doctrine of our Church but will have the Use of Images in our Church to be not primarily for Remembrance but for Worship Ibid. Pag. 85. and this he tells us the Council of Trent expresly teaches but is far from proving it The Council indeed tells us as he cites That the Images of JESVS CHRIST Sess 25. Dec. de Invoc c. c. are to be had and retained especially in Churches not as he renders it especially to be had and kept in Churches and that due Honour and Veneration is to
of our selves make a true and proper satisfaction to God for Sin as he insinuates I would gladly therefore have this Author and with him all Protestants to consider whether what he says be a sufficient ground to break off from an establish'd Church and separate from her Communion All the Authority he brings is Pag. 24. We think the whole of this point to be the advancement of a Doctrine grounded upon no Authority of Scripture c. and we are persuaded that when ever God remits the Crime he remits the Punishment also Pag. 25. it being a way most suitable to his Divine Goodness He tells us indeed that this is the Doctrine of the Church of England but cites no Authority of Canons or Articles for it which is very strange seeing this Doctrine is of such concern that it gives more to a Sinner for saying a bare Lord have Mercy upon us than all the Plenary Indulgences of the Catholic Church against which they make such clamours And here also I cannot but wonder that he who so often uses no other Argument but we are persuaded we think we suppose that in almost every Article he brings this as his chiefest Argument we suppose this is contrary to Scripture or we think this is not to be found in it or in Antiquity Pag. 25. should yet quarrel with the Bishop of Meaux for using that word and tell us he ought to have brought some better proof for so great a Doctrine than barely we suppose And this especially when the Bishop did not use the word but only nous croyons we believe and so it was rendred by me But it matters not this served to make a shew of an Argument Pag 25 27 31. and must be improved upon several occasions Indulgences INdulgences follow next Art 7. pag. 27. And here he tells us That the Bishop of Meaux has stated our Doctrine after a manner so favourable to them that he is persuaded he will find more in his own Church than in theirs to oppose his Doctrine We do not hear of any one yet that has opposed it nay on the contrary we see it almost every where approved If the Disputes in the Schools have descended to some particular Niceties not expressed by the Bishop neither he nor we are concerned in them and if some Abuses have crept in seeing he acknowledges that both the Council and the Bishop of Meaux seem willing to have them redressed Pag. 28. methinks it should suffice He tells us indeed of many Practices in the Church of Rome different as he says from that of the Primitive Church but these being neither necessary nor universally received we will not quarrel with him about them but content our selves with what he has promised if he will stand to his word That whenever the Penances shall be reduc'd to their former Practice they will be ready to give or receive such an Indulgence as Monsieur de Meaux has described and as the Primitive Ages of the Church allowed of Purgatory THo' he will not allow a Purgatory Act. â— yet he is forced to acknowledge Prayer for the Dead in the very second Century Pag. 31. He would willingly attribute this to any other Intention than that of the Church of aiding or helping Souls departed nay further he tells us they will not condemn the Practice Pag. 32. so it be not made an Article of our Faith But since two General Councils have declared it that of Florence in which the Grecian Bishops were and that of Trent and since the Practice of all Nations and the Testimonies of every Age confirm the Custom of Praying for the Dead that they might receive help what can we say to them who make a Breach in the Church and condemn Antiquity upon no other grounds than a bare supposition that it is injurious to the Merits of JESVS CHRIST which yet has no other Proof but their vain Presumption ART VIII Of the Sacraments in general IN his second Part he tells us Art 9. pag. â—â— That the Doctrine of the Sacraments has always been esteemed one of the most considerable Obstacles to their Union with the Church of Rome That they cannot imagine why M. de Meaux should insinuate as if our Disputes about these except it be in the Point of the Eucharist were not so great as about other Matters unless says he it be to serve for an Excuse for his own passing so lightly over them or to make us less careful in examining their Doctrine One would think to hear this Discourse that this Author had something very material to bring against our Church neither has he given us any reason to suspect he would be careless in such a grand Concern We will trace him in each Sacrament and see whether the Arguments he brings be sufficient or no to justifie a Breach in the Church which has been the occasion of so great Evils And first in this Article we find little difference betwixt our Doctrines as to the Nature and Efficacy of the Sacraments or as to the Necessity of them or manner how they confer Grace or the Dispositions requisite to partake of their Effects the chief difference lying in the diversity of Expression And as for the number of Sacraments he has removed the chief Obstacle by telling us in the close of this Article That their own Church says but little more than what our greatest Schoolmen have voluntarily confessed But he needed not to have gone to the Schoolmen for if they exact this Notion of a Sacrament that it must be generally necessary to Salvation as their Catechism expresses it 't is true they will not find Seven Sacraments but I am afraid also they will scarce establish Two and if they add with this Author that the other Sacraments are not Sacraments after the same manner that Baptism and the Lords Supper are pag. 41. it will be readily granted them seeing the very Words of our Profession of Faith express much-what the same thing when it tells us there are Seven Sacraments of the New Law Instituted by JESVS CHRIST for the Salvation of Mankind tho' all be not necessary for every Man If the number of Seven Sacraments be not mentioned by the Ancient Fathers it is no wonder seeing they writ not Catechisms but neither do they limit them to Two It is sufficient that in discoursing upon any of these Seven they generally and properly call them Sacraments Neither can any Argument drawn from Scripture against this Number be of force since the Scripture do's not term any of them Sacraments but only Marriage It is sufficient Eph. 5. that the Scripture mentions an exteriour Ceremony and an interiour Grace annexed thereto which shews the nature of a Sacrament ART IX Of Baptism AS for Baptism we both agree Art 10. p. 35. That it is the Law of Christ which the Eternal Truth has established that seeing all men are
least or more by the discretion of the Minister and so distributed And Men must not think less to be received in part than in the whole but in each of them the whole Body of JESVS CHRIST In the Proclamation it is ordain'd that it shall be commonly deliver'd under both kinds except necessity otherwise require which shews manifestly that the Church of England thought then that one kind was sufficient in case of necessity and that whole Sacrament was contained under one kind for half a Sacrament is no Sacrament And if a necessary occasion be sufficient to dispense with the Administration of it in both kinds who ought to be Judge but the Pastors and Teachers in every Age or the Church Representative which shews that this is a part of Discipline and not of Faith since both sides confess that in case of necessity it may be given in one kind and that by receiving each Particle one receives the whole Body of JESUS CHRIST as appears by the Annotation so that the Bishop of Condom's Argument against the Calvinists of France has its full force against the Church of England ART XX. Of the wrÃtten and unwritten Word IN the next Articlé we are agreed in the main Art 24. p. 75. We both acknowledge the unwritten Word to have been the first Rule of Christians and that it was so far from losing any thing of its Authority by addition of the Written Word that it was indeed the more firmly established We receive with equal veneration the Written and the Unwritten Word when we are assured they come from the Apostles And as we do not admit of every thing which is called Tradition so what is made appear to have been received in all Churches and in all Ages we are ready to embrace as coming from the Apostles Our difference consists only in this who shall be judge when this Tradition is Universal We rely upon the Judgment of the present Church in every Age either assembled in the most general Council that Age can afford or else declaring her Doctrine by her constant practice and the uniform Voice of her Pastors and People and are assured it is not sufficient for any Private Persons or Church to say we suppose or we are persuaded they are contrary to the Written Word or we find it not there to make the Churches Sentence void or justifie a dissent ART XXI Of the Authority of the Church IN his next Article Art 25. p. 76. of the Authority of the Church he grants many things which the Bishop of Meaux had asserted from which we might expect great Fruit but he presently nips all our hopes in the very bud He grants the Catholic Church to be the Guardian of the Holy Scriptures Pag. 76 77. and of Tradition and that it is from her Authority they reeeive both That they never deny the Church to have an Authority not only in matters of Order and Discipline Pag. 78. but even of Faith too That they neither fear the entire defection of the Catholic Church nor that she should fall into such an entire Infidelity as should argue her not to be a Church Pag. 80. And in his next Article he allows the Church a just Authority in matters of Faith and declares as a Doctrine of his Church that they allow such a deference to a Churches Decisions as to make them their directions what Doctrine they may or may not publicly maintain and teach in her Communion that they shew whatever submission they can to her Authority without violating that of God declared to us in the Holy Scripture And lastly that whatsoever deference they allow to a National Church or Council the same they think in a much greater degree due to a General In which none shall be more ready to assist nor to which none shall be more ready to submit These are fair offers to establish a church-Church-Authority and did he manifestly destroy all he has here said by some other exceptions we might have hoped some good effects of such a Submission He tells us Pag. 79. and that truly that any particular Church may either by errour lose or by other means prevaricate the Faith even in necessary points of it And yet notwithstanding he do's not only set up a particular Church to examin the Churches Decisions Pag. 78. which he tells us after all may err but even every individual Person who according to his Doctrine may not only examine the Decisions of the whole Church but glory in opposing them if he be but evidently convinced that his belief is founded upon the undoubted Authority of Gods Holy Word His words are these Pag. 79. Tho' we suppose the Scriptures are so clearly written that it can hardly happen that in necessary Articles of Faith any one Man should be found opposite to the whole Church in his Opinion He had told us a little before that any particular Church such as he esteem'd the Church of Rome to be might either by Errour lose or by any other means prevaricate the Faith even in necessary points of it and yet what he there wishes they had not too great cause to fear the Church of Rome has in effect done he here tells us can hardly happen to one particular Man But what follows is more intolerable and since he gives us it as a Doctrine of the Church of England I desire him to tell us in what Canon Article or Constitution it is contain'd But says he if such an one were evidently convinc'd that his belief was founded upon the undoubted Authority of Gods Holy Word so far would it be from any Errour to support it against the whole Church that it is at this day the greatest Glory of St. Athanasius that he slood up alone against the whole World in defence of Ghrists Divinity when the Pope the Councils the whole Church fell away Behold here a Doctrine which if admitted will not only maintain all the Dissenters that are but that ever can be from a Church a Doctrine which will establish as many Religions as there are Persons in the World every one of which may if he be but evidently convinced that is if he have but impudece enough to think he is so that his belief is founded upon the undoubted Authority of Gods Word not only oppose the whole Church but glory in it And a Doctrine backed by as false and Authority as the Assertion it self is false and scandalous for never any one yet before this Man said that the Pope the Councils and the whole Church fell in St. Athanasius his time on the contrary it is manifest to all those who have read any thing of History that the Pope and all the Western Churches and the approved General Councils of those times all stood up for St. Athanasius and if he said he was against all and all against him it was only to express the great number of Eastern Bishops that oppos'd his Doctrine
print them for every unbiass'd Reader may there see that the first Edition instead of proposing the Doctrine of the Church of Rome as this Author says it did so loosly and favourably Pref. p. 2. that many undesigning Persons of that Communion were offended at it Ibid. p. 3. did on the contrary if any fault be to be found on that score propose the same Doctrine with too much strictness They may see also that the Sorbonne was so far from marking out as he says several of the most considerable Parts of it Ibid. wherein the Exposition by too much desire of palliating had absolutely perverted the Doctrine of their Church that this very Author in his Collections could not propose one Doctrine so perverted without a forced Interpretation of his own nay on the contrary he is sensible that in some places the Bishop had rather spoken with too much strictness and therefore after his wonted way of turning all things to a wrong intention he tells his Reader Collect. p. 23. That th' other was really the true Sence of the Church but it was thought too ingenuous and 't is not fit Protestants should know it And in another place Ibid p. 32. That the first Exposition ran much higher than it seems the Spirit of the Gallicane Church could bear But it may be what was struck out of the Exposition to please the Correctors M. de Meaux recompensed in his Letter to satisfie his Holiness But if in some other Places he has either retrench'd or alter'd his Expression any one who is not willing to take every thing by a wrong Handle may easily see it was not out of such ill Designs as this Author endeavours to persuade us but purely to retrench what was not conformable to his Design of a bare Exposition or what had been sufficiently express'd before to keep himself more precisely to the Doctrine of the Council of Trent or to obviate any malicious Interpretations which Persons disposed to take all things in a wrong sence might force upon his Expressions if he worded them not more cautiously But above all it seems to me most strange that any especially one who dares publish to the World the Doctrine of a Church should make the alteration or retrenchment of some manner of Expressions in a Book writ as he owns four Years before so hainous a Crime that the Author must needs pass for one that either did not understand his own Doctrine Pref. p. 4. or at least had not the Sincerity to Expound it right He may wish it may be he had been as cautious in his own Book as the Bishop was in his However we have nothing to do with the first Impression 'T is this other put out by the Bishop of Meaux himself which has been presented to you and to which so many Authentic Approbations and Testimonies have been given And I affirm he must be strangely deceiv'd or wilfully blind who will not grant it to contain the true Doctrine of the Church according to the Sence of the Council of Trent But now to the Book it self PART II. ART I. INTRODVCTION SHould I undertake to examine all the Calumnies Misrepresentation unsincere Dealings and Falsifications of this Author in almost every Article I should swell this Answer beyond the Bounds I have prescrib'd to my self and make it tedious to the Reader yet some however I shall take notice of as they fall in my way from whence I hope we shall find this advantage that all those Books to which an Imprimatur Carolus Alston c. is prefixed will not hereafter be concluded free from Errours nor will every nameless Author who professes to be sincere pass hereafter for an Oracle His Introduction is Calumny in a high Degree and the State of his Question drawn from thence as unsincere He tells us of adoring Men and Women Crosses Introd p. 3 4 5. Images and Relics of setting up our own Merits and making other Propitiatory Sacrifices for Sin distinct from that of the Cross which he says P. 5. are contrary to our pretended Principles to wit That Religious Worship is due to God alone That we are to be sav'd only by Christ's Merits and That the Death of CHRIST was a perfect Sacrifice but yet are not as he tells us obscure Consequences drawn from our Doctrines but the plain and confessed Opinions of the Church of Rome the Practice and Prescription of the Chiefest Authority in it and therefore for us to refuse their Charge is to protest against a matter of Fact a Plea which even Justice it self has told us may without Calumny be rejected as invalid Were these Doctrines and Practices which he alledges the plain and confessed Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome he would 't is true have reason to say they contradict our Principles But seeing they are all so solemnly renounced by us that we detest the very thoughts of them and cannot hear these repeated Accusations without nauseating them and seeing he has been so often told that these Consequences are not only far-fetch'd obscure and disavowed but Consequences which are so false that no Connection can be found betwixt them and our Doctrines and Practices when truly represented we have just reason to refuse the Charge and tell him they have no more Justice to accuse us of them than Dissenters from the Church of England have to accuse her of Idolatry and Superstition for Bowing to the Altar and at the Name of JESUS or for using the Cross in Baptism or then the Quakers have for accusing them and us of breach of the First Commandment because we use the Civility of Hat and Knee to them who are but meer Creatures as we our selves But however these things must be charged upon us as an Introduction and then the Question must be stated after a new mode and we represented as consenting to it He tells us therefore Pag. 5. That they have got thus much at least by that Reflection that it shews them how they who have been so often charged by the Church of Rome as INNOVATORS IN RELIGION are at last by our own Confession allowed to hold the Ancient and Vndoubted Foundation of the Christian Faith and from this pretended Concession he draws up the State of the Controversie you may be certain favourably to himself But who is it I pray that allows him this Proposition That the New Reformers hold the Ancient and Vndoubted Foundation of the Christian Faith and where do's he allow it The Exposition has Sect. 2. p. 2. 't is true a Section to shew how those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion acknowledge the Catholic Church to embrace all the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion But how do's he from thence shew that Catholics reciprocally grant them to hold all those Fundamental Articles I say all for no body ever deny'd they held some of them This Author knows very well we are so far
from granting this to them that on the contrary we always accuse them of Innovations and denying those Articles which are Fundamental and as necessary and as plainly revealed as many of those others which they admit We always affirm We are in possession of our Doctrines and our Practices that these have been delivered down to us by our Predecessors as Truths revealed to the Prophets and Apostles we always tell them We have the Decisions of a Church in our behalf a Church I say 1 Tim. 3.15 which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth Matth. 16.18 a Church against which the Gates of Hell by the express Promise of JESUS CHRIST was never to prevail Eph. 4.11 12 c. and in which Pastors and Teachers were to remain for ever lest we should be led away with every wind of Doctrine We tell them He who denies one Article revealed by God and proposed by his Church as so revealed is as guilty of the Breach of Faith as he who denies them all because he rejects God's Veracity upon which that Faith is grounded And by consequence we cannot but tell them That whilst they renounce those Articles which we believe are revealed Truths they are guilty of Fundamental Errors and hold not the Ancient and Vndoubted Foundation of the Christian Faith So that the true State of the Controversie in general betwixt Catholics and Protestants is whether they or we do Innovate they in refusing to believe those Doctrines we profess to have receiv'd with the Grounds of Christianity or we in maintaining our Possession And the Dispute is Whether Roman Catholics ought to maintain their Possession for which many Protestants themselves grant they have a Prescription of above 1000 Years or whether the Authorities brought by Protestants against the Roman Catholic Doctrine be so weighty that every Roman Catholic is oblig'd to renounce the Communion of that Church in which he was bred up and quit his Prescription and Possession Which certainly they are not obliged to do unless it can be plainly prov'd they have innovated or taught such Doctrines as overthrow those Truths which are on both Sides allow'd to be Divine This the Bishop of Condom knew they could never do and that our Doctrines when truly represented were so far from contradicting those mutually-received Articles of our Faith that on the contrary they confirm'd our Belief of them And therefore he undertook to separate the Articles of our Faith from what was falsly imputed to us and resolved to propose them according to the received Sence of the Church declared in the Council of Trent And whether he has faithfully perform'd this Undertaking or no is our present Question which we are to examine in these following Articles What do's it therefore avail this Author to tell us Pag. 6. he will in the following Articles endeavour to give a clear and free Account of what they can approve and what they dislike in the Doctrines of the Catholic Church unless he first shew us and that by some Authentic Acts of the Church that those are her Doctrines and secondly give us some assurance of greater Authority then the Prescription of the Roman Catholic Church that they are Novelties or Erroneous ART II. Religious Worship is terminated only in God THat all Religious Worship is terminated in God alone is the Biship of Condom's Assertion Art 2. and the Churches Doctrine to which both this and another later Author agree Answer to a Discourse entituled Papists Protesting c. but both of them will have the Invocation of Saints and the Honour which we pay to Images and Relics to be inconsistent with that Maxim What the Bishop has said is enough to satisfie any one who is not obstinate his Words are these The same Church teaches us Expos p. â— That all Religious Worship ought to terminate in God as its necessary End and that if the Honour which she renders to the Blessed Virgin and to the Saints may in some sence be call'd Religious it is for its necessary relation to God From which Words it is plain the Bishop thought Religious Honour or Worship might be taken in a double sence the first strict and that he acknowledges is only due to God the other in a larger sence which may be paid to Creatures But how this other may be called Religious Honour he tells us is because of the reference which it has to God Thus that Civil Honour or Obedience which we pay to Magistrates if we do it for Conscience sake that is purely to obey the Ordinance of God may be not improperly call'd a Religious Honour or Obedience because by Honouring or Obeying them for God's sake we Honour and Obey God Thus to visit the orphan and the widow in their tribulations is called by St. James a clean and unspotted Religion James 1.27 But if we take Religion in a stricter sence for a Supreme and Sovereign Honour or an adhesion to an Independent Being with all the Powers of our Soul c. it is only proper to God and cannot be paid to Creatures and in that sence the Honour which we pay to our Blessed Lady and other Saints is far from being a Religious Honour Let Mary be Honoured Epiph. Haer. 79. but let God be Adored was the Saying of an ancient Father not with Divine Honour for that is due to God alone Soli Deo honor gloria but with an Inferiour Honour which if our Authors will not have us call Religious we will not dispute about the Name We ought not to deprive God of any thing that is due to him alone that we may give it to his Creatures neither Honour nor Worship nor Prayer nor Thanksgiving nor Sacrifice But yet we may honour those whom God has honoured we may give an inferiour Degree of Worship to those who are in some Degree of Honour above us in this World and why not to the Invisible Inhabitants of the other so it elevate them not above the State of Creatures We may pray to our Friends and Parents here on Earth to pray for us without derogating from our Duty to God and why the same may not be addressed to Saints and Angels who are no less our Friends without robbing God of what is his due is I must confess to me unintelligible If you tell me the first is only Civil or if it may be called a Religious Love or Honour Answ to Papist Protest p. 38. when it is done for God's sake yet it is but an extrinsecal Denomination from the Cause and Motive not from the Nature of the Act and therefore cannot make Gods of them we affirm the same of the second and renounce any other sort of Religious Worship which is so from the nature of the Act and by consequence only due to God This Distinction reflected on will be sufficient to answer all the Objections brought against our Doctrine by both those Authors And we cannot
But any thing must pass now to deceive the vulgar tho' Men of Sence see the contrary Another Argument he brings to delude the Authority of the Church of Rome is to make her apss only for a particular Church But how often have they been told that Catholics do not take the Church of Rome as it is the Suburbican Diocess to be the Catholic Church but all the Christian Churches in Communion with the Bishop of Rome And that this is the true Church appears by the marks of it deliver'd in the Nicene Creed no other Church being able to pretend to that Unity Sanctity Universality and Antiquity which she is manifestly invested with The true Church must be one and by conquence free from Schism which destroys that notion which some of late have held that the true Church is that Catholic Church which is composed of all Christians the Roman the Grecians the Armenians Prtoestants c. all which they acknowledge to be Members of the True Church tho' they may be rotten ones and this notion our Author seems to have of it when he tells us that the Roman Church has in all ages made up but a part of the Church Pag. 77. and that not always the greatest neither The true Church must be also Holy and must by consequence be free from Heresie and teach no Erroneous Doctrine which how it stands with that Idea which this Author insinuates that the Church of Rome has erred event in necessary points of Faith and is yet a Member of the True Church is worthy a mature Consideration This indeed made the first Reformers who accused the Roman Catholic Church of Idolatry and Superstition say that the Church of JESUS CHRIST was hidden fled into the Wilderness See the Protestant Authors cited by Brereley in his Protestant Apology Tract 2. Cap. 1. Sect. 4. and invisible for 1000 or 1200 years that the Pope was Antichrist and the Church of Rome Antichristian But the Men of our Age being sufficiently convinced that the Church of Christ was to have Kings and Queens for Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers that she was to have Pastors and Teachers in all Ages Whitakers contra Duraeum l. 3. p. 260. that the Administration of the Sacraments and the Preaching of the true word of God were the Essential Proprieties of the Church c. and that all these marks do necessarily denote a Visible Church and finding moreover they could never prove any Christian Kings before Luther Converted to Protestancy or any visible Pastors or Teachers of their Doctrine or any Assembly that Administred the Sacraments as they do or Preached the word of God in their Sence and finding they could not deny the Conversion of many Kings and Nations to the Religion established in the Church of Rome found themselves obliged also to admit her as a part of the True Church tho' a corrupted one and would rather destroy the Sanctity of Christs Church and her Vnity than acknowledge themselves to be justly cut off from being Members of her The third Mark is Catholic which is universal as to Place Time and Doctrine that Church cannot be the true Church the sound whereof is not gone through the whole Earth and is not it self spread over and visible in all Nations that cannot be the true Church which has not continued in all Ages Visible Holy and Uniform neither lastly can that be the true Church which either adds or diminishes from the Doctrines revealed by God to the Prophets and Apostles so that those are as guilty of the Breach of Faith who refuse to believe what has been taught as those who impose new Doctrines The last mark of the Church is that she must be Apostolic that is grounded upon the Doctrines and Faith of the Apostles and deriving a continual Succession from them All which marks are so far from being applicable to the Church of England or to the Universal Church according to the notion given of it be these late Writers that a Man of the smallest judgment if Impartial cannot but see the fallacy thereof ART XXII Authority of the Holy See and of Episcopacy AS for his two other Articles The Opinion of the Church of England as to the Authority of the Church and that of the See Apostolic and Episcopacy I have nothing to say to him but to desire him to remember his promises Pag. 81. and to enquire what is the Authority the Antient Councils of the Primitive Church have acknowledged and the Holy Fathers have always taught the Faithful to give to the Successour to St. Peter and whether the first Four General Councils might not be termed neither General nor Free with as much Reason as the Council of Trent or those others acknowledged by all the Western World and most of the Eastern Churches before the new pretended Reformation The Conclusion I Come now to his Close in which he sums up all the Poison of his Book lays what he pleases to our charge and draws what Consequences he will to inflame his Reader He tells us of Bitter and Vnchristian Hatred we have conceiv'd against them Pag. 82. and desires to know what warrant we have for it I desire all unprejudic'd Persons to consider whether we have not more reason to complain than he Here was a Church established in England Truths delivered to her with Christianity it self were here Practis'd and Preach'd Religious Houses were here endow'd with ample Revenues c. when behold a Pretended Reformation comes destroys this Church dissolves all the Constitutions of it changes the established Doctrines and alters many of its antientest Practices pulls down Religious Houses and Churches alienates the Revenues turns the Religious Inhabitants into the wide World make Laws against all those who should defend that Doctrine Imprisonment loss of Goods and Fortunes nay even of Life it self are the Punishments ordained for them who are found guilty of Practising or Preaching that Religion And what less could such a Church do than Excommunicate they who thus Renounc'd her Doctrines Contemned her Authority and persecuted her Children But this Excommunication must be called Severity and unchristian hatred And if we declare that all those who forsake the Unity of the Church are guilty of Schism and they who will not acquiess to those Points of Faith which God has Revealed and the Church which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth has declar'd to have been so Reveal'd are guilty of Heresie and that Heresie and Schism will bring inevitable damnation to all those who die without repenting of them we must be esteem'd uncharitable I must therefore Retort his Popular Argument and ask him and all unprejudic'd Protestants what they can find in all our Doctrines when truly Represented to warrant that bitter and unchristian hatred they have conceiv'd against us a hatred which has occasioned so many Penal and Sanguinary Laws and still makes them use all endeavours to keep them in full force against
order to which the best Method will certainly be to keep close to the Point in Question which is whether the Bishop of Condom has truly represented the Doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church without either Palliating or Perverting it I say the Doctrine of the Church for we have nothing here to do with the Doctrine of the Schools Seeing therefore the Bishop of Condom professes to conform himself to the Doctrine of the Church as delivered in the Council of Trent to which all Catholics do submit They who will oppose his Exposition must if they will bring any solid Arguments against him shew he has corrupted that Council and given us a Doctrine which is neither conformable to that of this Council nor consistent with some other Public Authentic and Universally receiv'd Definitions and Decisions of the whole Church If any thing of this nature be produc'd I promise an Ingenuous return shall be made without the least Cavil or reflecting Language To aovid which I have one thing earnestly to beg of you that before you publish any thing of this nature you would be pleas'd to take the pains your selves to peruse the Authors cited by you and not to Transcribe Quotations nor take up things by hear-say You cannot be ignorant but it has ofen been objected to Protestant Writers by us that they are faulty in this and subject to great mistakes if not wilsul Prevarications I hope therefore you will hereafter consult at least your Reputations if the search after Truth be not a sufficient motive and take nothing from any of them without a serious examination of the Sence of the Authors quoted by them and a sincere Application of it to the Point in Question If you please to take that necessary Advice along with you for profitably reading Books of Controversie extracted out of Walsingham 's search into matters of Religion Part 3. c. 10. Printed at the end of the Second Edition of the Complaint of the French Clergy and follow it precisely I hope you your selves will one Day see the Truth and to the Glory of God profess it However this benefit will come by it that you will save others the pains of examining so many different Authors that you will remove that just occasion which is now given of censuring your Religion as not maintainable without such sinister doings and lastly you will free me from that troublesome and ungentile Office of demonstrating to the World that unsincerity which you have shewn in your Quotations the falsications of which I would not have taken notice of in this had not Truth and Religion been at Stake FINIS THE CONTENTS PART I. COntaining an Answer to the Preface Pag. 1 PART II. Art 1. Introduction 22 Art 2. Religious Worship is terminated in God only 27 Art 3. Invocation of Saints 29 Art 4. Images and Relics 31 Art 5. Of Justification 46 Art 6. Of Merits 48 Art 7. Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences 54 Art 8. Of the Sacraments in general 59 Art 9. Of Baptism 61 Art 10. Of Confirmation 63 Art 11. Of Penance and Confession 64 Art 12. Of Extream Vnction 68 Art 13. Of Marriage 70 Art 14. Of Holy Orders 71 Art 15. Of the Eucharist 72 Art 16. Of the Sacrifice of the Mass 94 Art 17. Of the Epistle to the Hebrews 96 Art 18. Reflections upon the foregoing Doctrine 97 Art 19. Communion under both Species 98 Art 20. Of the written and unwritten Word 100 Art 21. Of the Authority of the Church 101 Art 22. Authority of the Holy See and of Episcopacy 106 The Conclusion Ibid. A Catalogue of Books Printed for Henry Hills Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. And are to be Sold next door to his House in Black-fryers at Richard Cheese's REflections upon the Answer to the Papist Mis-represented c. Directed to the Answerer Quarto Kalendarium Catholicum for the Year 1686. Octavo Papists Protesting against Protestant-Popery In Answer to ā Discourse Entituled A Papist not Mis-represented by Protestants Being a Vindication of the Papist Mis-represented and Represented and the Reflections upon the Answer Quart Copies of Two Papers Written by the late King Charles II. Together with a Paper Written by the late Dutchess of York Published by his Majesty's Command Folio The Spirit of Christianity Published by his Majesty's Command Twelves The first Sermon Preach'd before their Majesties in English at Windsor on the first Sunday of October 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. P. E. Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict and of the English Congregation Published by his Majesty's Command Quarto Second Sermon Preached before the King and Queen and Queen Dowager at Their Majesties Chappel at St James's November 1. 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict and of the English Congregation Published by his Majesty's Command Quarto The Third Sermon Preach'd before the Kind and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's on the third Sunday in Advent Decemb. 13.1685 By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congr Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Published by His Majesties Command Quarto Sixth Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's upon the first Wednesday in Lent Febr. 24.1685 By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congregation Publish'd by his Majesty's Command Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversie By the Right Reverend James Benigne Bossuet Counsellor to the King Bishop of Meaux formerly of Condom and Preceptor to the Dauphin First Almoner to the Dauphiness Done into English with all the former Approbations and others newly published in the Ninth and Last Edition of the French Published by His Majesties Command Quarto A Sermon preach'd before the King and Queen in Their Majesties Chappel at St. James's upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady March 25.1686 By Jo. Betham Doctor of Sorbon Published by His Majestics Command Quarto An Abstract of the Douay Catechism for the Use of Children and Ignorant People Now Revis'd and much amended Publish'd with Allowance Twentyfours A Pastoral Letter from the Lord Bishop of Meaux to the New Catholies of His Diocess Exhorting them to keep their Easter and giving them neeessary Advertisements against the False Pastoral Letters of their Ministers With Reflections upon the Pretended Persecution Translated out of French and Publish'd with Allowance Quarto The Anser of the New Converts of France to a Pastoral Letter from a Protestant Minister Done out of French and Publish'd with Allowance Quarto The Ceremonies for the Healing of them that be Diseased with the Kings Evil used in the time of King Henry VII Published by His Majesties Command Quarto in Latin Twelves in English A Short Christian Doctrine Composed by the R. Father Robert Bellarmin of the Society of Jesus and Cardinal Published with Allowance Twelves ERRATA PAge 8. l. 15. dele to p. 10. l. 23. r. Are the men p. 22. l. 18. r. Misrepresentations p. 98. l. 14. r. Efforts p. 108. l. 31. r. is it not