that of Christ himself is very apt to take off the minds and confidence of men from that one Sacrifice performed so long ago which they have not seen and to fix them on that which their eyes daily look upon as the praesens numen that they can immediately apply themselves unto Thus they fear that insensibly all faith of the true Propitiation wrought by Christ is obliterated and that which they think an Idol set up in the room of it 10. And which further troubles them they are jealous that by this your fiction you quite overthrow the Testament of Christ which certainly no man ought to endeavour the disannulling of For whereas in this Sacrament believers come to receive from him the great Legacy of his body and blood with all the fruits of his death and Passion you direct them to be offering and Sacrificing of them unto God which quite alters the Will of our great Testator And very many other things there are wherein your Countreymen affirm that your Sacrifice is contrary to the faith wherein from Scripture they have been instructed and that in things of the greatest importance to their Consolation here and Salvation hereafter II. Neither is this all your request also lies cross to your Reason no less then to your Faith For your Sacrifice cannot be performed without a Supposition of a change of the substance of the bread and wine into the substance of the body and blood of Christ and the substance of that body and blood in every consecrated Host under the species of Bread and Wine Christ himself alive being in every Host and every particle of it Hence many things they say ensue which no man can possibly admit of without offering violence unto the main Principles of that Reason whereby we are distinguished from the beasts that perish Some few of them may be instanced in 1. Accidents subsisting without a Subject follows hence necessarily in the first place so that there should be whiteness and nothing white length and nothing long bredth and nothing broad weight and nothing heavy For all these accidents of Bread remain when you would have them say that the bread is gone so that there is left a white sweet long broad heavy nothing This your Countreymen cannot understand 2. Besides they say you hereby teach them that one and the same body of Christ which is in heaven is also on the Altar not by an impletion of the whole space between heaven and earth that some part of it should be in heaven and some on earth but that the one body which is in heaven and whilest it is there is also on the Altar in the Accidents of Bread which upon the matter is that one and the same body is two yea an hundred or a thousand according as in the Mass you are pleased to multiply it Now that one and the same body should be locally divided or separated from its self that whilest that one body is on the Altar that other one body which is the same should be in heaven your Countreymen think to imply a Contradiction 3. And so also they do that a body should be in any place and yet not as a body but as a Spirit For whereas you say that whole Christ is contained under each Species of Bread and Wine and under every the most minute part of either Species as your Council speaks you make the body of Christ to be whole in the whole and whole in every part when the very nature of a body requires that it have partes extra partes its parts distinct from one another and those occupying their distinct particular places But you make the body of Christ neither to be compassed in nor to fill the place wherein it is that is to be in a place and not to be in a place For if it be a body and be under the Species of bread and wine upon the Altar it is in a place and if it be not comprehended in that space where it is and doth fill it it is not in a place and therefore is there and is not there at the same time 4. And moreover we all know that the Consecrated wafer bears no proportion to the true natural body of Christ and yet this is said to be contained under that So that the body contained is much greater and farther extended then the body that contains it or the space wherein it is for it is so under the Host as not to be elsewhere unless in another Host. 5. Nâ—y it is in every minute part of the Host which multiplies contradictions in your Assertion 6. Of the same nature is it that you are forced to feign the same body in 10000. distant places at the same time and that with all contradictory adjuncts and affections Now your Countreymen think that these and innumerable other consequences of your Transubstantiation which you presuppose to your Sacrâ—fice or rather make it a principal part thereof are such as overthrow the whole order of nature and being of things and leave nothing certain among the Sons of men III. Their sense is equally engaged against you with their Reason Your Host is visible tangible gustible when they see it they see bread when they feel it they feel bread when they taste it they taste bread and yet you tell them it is not bread whom shall they believe if things be not as they see them feel them taste them it may be they are not men nor do go on their feet but are deceived in all these things and suppose they see perceive and understand what they do not You tell them indeed that the bread is changed into the body of Christ that body that was born of the blessed Virgin and was crucified at Jerusalem that all taste length breadth weight is taken away from it and that the taste and weight of the bread is continued which are the things they see feel and taste but they likewise tell you that your perswasion is an inveterate prejudice which you have blindly captivated your minds unto and that if you would but give your selves the liberty of exercising any reflex thoughts upon your own acts you would find that upon the suppositions you proceed on you have not any just grounds to conclude your selves to be living men For you teach men to deny and question all that from Reason or Sense you can insist upon to prove that so you are Ou these and the like accounts the Encomiums you give of your Sacrifice will scarce prevail with your Countreymen to relinquish all the worship of God wherein they find daily comfort and advantage to their souls for the embracement of it CHAP. 20. Of the Blessed Virgin UNto the sixteenth Chapter of the Animadversions directed to your Paragraph of the Blessed Virgin you can find it seems nothing to say and therefore betake your self to clamorous revilings All that you say in your Fiat on this head is but an heap of false accusations
what and you seem both in your Fiat and in your Epistola to obscure it as much as you are able 1. You call it an incruent Sacrifice which 1. Shews only what it is not and that in one only instance which is a very lame description of any thing and this also may be affirmed of any Metaphorical Sacrifice what ever as offering unto God the calves of our lips it is an incruent Sacrifice 2. Your Expression implyes a contradiction Every proper Propitiatory Sacrifice was bloody and an incruent proper Sacrifice such as you would have this to be is a proper improper Propitiatory Sacrifice 2. You say it was instituted by our Lord to figure out his Passion 1. This is a weighty proof of what you have in hand being the only thing to be proved 2. I suppose in the examination of it it will appear that you Sacrifice that very body and blood of Christ in your own conceits which himself offered unto God and how you can make any thing to be a figure of it self as yet I do not perfectly understand 3. That the Lord Christ appointed the Sacrament of his body and blood and our Eucharistical Sacrifice therein to be a Commemoration of his death and Passion is the Doctrine of Protestants where with your Sacrifice hath a perfect inconsistency as we shall find in the Consideration of it This is the substance of what you are pleased to acquaint us with about this great business of our Religion But because you shall perceive that it was not without good grounds and reasons that I affirmed the Scripture to be utterly silent of this that you make the great work of Christianity I shall a little further enquire after the nature of it that I mean which by you it is fancied to be for it is a mere creature of your own imagination 1. You alwayes contend that it is a proper Sacrifice which you intend The first Canon of your Council accurseth them who deny it to be verum proprium Sacrificium a True and proper Sacrifice wherein as they say before Christus inimolatur Christ is Sacrificed Many things in the New Testament in respect of their Analogy unto the Institutions of the old are called Sacrifices even almost all spiritual actions that are acceptable unto God in Christ. The preaching of the Gospel unto the conversion of sinners is termed Sacrificing Rom. 15. 16. So is Faith it self Phil. 2. 17. So Prayers and Thanksgiving are an oblation Heb. 5. 7. chap. 13. 15. and good works are called Sacrifices Heb. 13. 16. Phil. 4. 18. And our whole Christian Obedience is intimated by Peter so to be In the Sacrament of the Eucharist it is that you seek for your Sacrifice And if you would be contented to call it and esteem it so upon the account of its comprizing some of the things before mentioned or meerly as a spiritual action appointed by God and acceptable unto him there would be an end of this contest But you must have it a proper Sacrifice like those of Aaron of old not a remembrance of the Sacrifice of Christ but a Sacrifice of Christ himself wherein Christus immolatur Christ is sacrificed as the Council speaks 2. The Secrifices of old were of two sorts 1. Eucharistical or Oblations of the fruits of the earth or other things whereby the Sacrificers acknowledged God as the Lord and Author of all good things and mercies with thanksgiving 2. Propitiatory for the atoning of God the reconciling him unto sinners for the turning away of his wrath and the impetration of the pardon of sin This was done typically and Sacramentally by virtue of their respect unto the oblation of Christ by the old bloody Sacrifices of the Law really and effectually by that bloody Sacrifice which the Lord Jesus Christ once offered for all Now because in the Sacrament of the Eucharist it is our Duty to offer up unto God our thankeful prayers for his unspeakable love in sending his only Son to dye for us we do not contend with any who on that accont and with respect unto that peculiar act of our duty in it shall call it an Eucharistical Sacrifice yea affirm it so to be But you will have it a propitiatory Sacrifice a Sacrifice of Atonement like that made by Christ himself a Sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead making reconciliation with God obtaining Pardon of sin and eternal life things peculiar to the one Sacrifice of Christ in his death and passion 3. Though you usually exclude the communion from it wherein you do wisely that it may have no affinity with the Institution of Christ yet you do not precisely determine your Sacrifice unto any one act or action in your Mass but make it comprize the whole with the manner of its celebration from the first setting forth of the Elements of bread and wine mixed with water unto the end of the Offertory after their Transubstantiation and religious adoration thereupon and their offering up unto God the body and blood of Christ under the accidents of bread and wine The presentation of the bread and wine you would prove to belong unto your Sacrifice from the example of Melchisedeck Your Transubstantiation is also of the essence of it for it is required in a Sacrifice sayes your Bellarmine that the sensible thing to be offered unto God be changed and plainly destroyed de Miss Lib. 1. cap. 2. which you esteem the substance of your bread and wine to be in your Transubstantiation Your religious adoration of the consecrated â—â—st belongs also unto it for that in the Canon of the Mass immediately ensues your Transubstantiating Consecration before the oblation it self and so must necessarily be a part of your Sacrifice Your offering up unto God of Jesus Christ praying him to accept of him at the Priests hands supra quae propitio sereno vultu respicere digneris accepta habere belongs also unto it So doth your direction of it to the propitiating of God and the expiation of the sins of the Quick and the Dead The Ceremonies also wherewith your Masse is celebrated as I suppose most of them belong to your Sacrifice and those who believe them not to be duties of Piety are accursed by your Council of Trent The Priests eating of the Host belongs to the Sacrifice yea saith Bellarmine it is pars essentialis Sacrificii though not tota essentia an essential part of the Sacrifice though the whole Essence of it doth not consist therein I know you are at a great loss and variance among your selves to find out what it is that is properly your Sacrifice or wherein the essence of it doth consist Some of your discrepant opinions are given us by your Azorius Lib. 10. Chap. 19. Sunt saith he qui putant rationem sacrificii totam constitui in verbis precibus ceremoniis ritibus qui in consâ—oratione adhibentur eo quod Sacrificii ratio inquiunt nequit in
the only Church of Christ in the earth at least that others are so only so far as they agree with us we being our selves the Rule and Standard of all Gospell Church state laying weight upon what we differ from others in for the most part exceedingly above what it doth deserve Were the Same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus the same frame of spirit that was in his blessed Apostles we should be willing to try the effects of his love and care towards all that profess his Name by a Sedate Consideration at least how far he hath instructed them in the knowledg of his will and what effects this learning of him may produce And to tell you truly I do not think there is a more horrid monster in the earth than that opinion is which in the great diversity that there is among Christians in the world includes happiness and Salvation within the limits and precincts of any party of them as though Christ and the Gospell their own faith obedience and sufferings could not possibly do them any good in their station and condition This is that Alâ—cto Cuitristia bella Iraque insidiaeque crimina noxia Cordi Odit ipse pater Plâ—ton odere sorores Tartareae Monstrum Tot sese vertit in ora Tam saevae facies tot pullulat atra Colubris Whereever this opinion takes place which indeed bidâ— defiance to the Goodness of God and the blood of Christ with a Gigantick boldness for men to talk of Moderation Vnity and Peace is to mock others and to befool themselves in things of the greatest importance in the world altera manu ostentant panem alter a lapidem ferunt for my own part I have not any firmer perâ—wasion in and about these things nor that yields more satisfaction and contentment unto my mind in reflections upon it than this that if a man sincerely beleive all that and only that wherein all Christians in the world agree and yield obedience unto God according to the guidance of what he doth so beleive not neglecting or refusing the knowledg of any one Truth that he hath sufficient means to be instructed â— he need not go unto any Church in the world to secure his Salvation Hic murus aheneus esto It is true it is the Duty of such a man to joyn himself unto some Church of Christ or other which walks in professed subjection unto his institutions and in the observation of his appointments But to think that his not being of or joyning with this or that Society should out him off from all hopes of a blessed eternity is but to entertain a viper in our minds or to act suitably to the Principles of the old Serpent and to put â—orth the venome of of his poyson Some of the Antients indeed tell us that out of the Catholick Church there is no Salvation And so say I also buâ— withall that the beleif mentioned of the Truths generally embraced by Christians in their present divisions in the world I still speak of the most famous and numerous Societies of them and its profession do so constitute a man a member of the Catholick Church that whilest he walks answerably to his profession it is not in the power of this or that no not of all the Churches in the world to divest him of that Priviledge Nor can all these cryes that are in the world We are the Church and we are the Church you are not the Church and you are not the Church perswade me but that as every Assembly in the generall notion of it is a Chorch so every Assembly of Christians that ordinarlly meet to worship God in Christ according to his appointment is a Church of Christ Haec mi pater Te dicere aequum fuit id defendere when you talked of Moderation and Unity such Principles as these had better become you than those which you either privately couched in your Discourse or openly insisted on Men that think of Reducing unity among Christians upon the precise terms of that Truth which they suppose themselves insolidum possessors of Ipsi fibe somnia fingunt do but entertain themselves with pleasant dreams which a little Consideration may awake them from Charity condescension a retrenchment of opinions with a rejection of secular interests and a design for the pursuit of generall obedience without any such respect to the Particular enclousures which diversity of opinions and different measures of Light and Knowledge have made in the field of the Lord as should confine the effects of any Duty towards the Disciples of Christ unto those within them with the like actings of minds suited unto the example of Jesus Christ must introduce the desired Vnity or wee shall expect it in vain These are some of my hasty thoughts upon the Principles of Protestants before mentioned which you and others may make use of as you and they please In the mean time I shall pray that we may amidst all our Differences love one another pray for one another wait patiently for the communication of farther Light unto one another leave evil surmizes and much more the condemning and seeking the ruine of those that dissent from us which men usually do on various pretences most of them false and coyned for the present purpose And when we can arrive thereunto I shall hope that from such generall Principles aâ— before mentioned somewhat may be advanced towards the Peace of Christians and that there will be so when the whole concernment of Religion shall in the Providence of God be unravelled from that worldly and secular interest wherewith it hath been wound up and entangled for sundry Ages and when men shall not be ingaged from their cradles to their graves in a precipitate Zeal for any Church or way of Profession by outward Advantages inseparably mixed and blended with it before they came into the world In the mean time to expect unity in profession by the Reduction of all men to a precise agreement in all the Doctrines that have been and are ventilated among Christians and in all Acts and wayes of worship is to refer the Supream and last Determination of things evangelical to the sword secular power and violence and to inscribe vox ultima Christi upon great guns and other engines of war seing otherwise it will not be effected and what may be done this way I know not Sponte tonat coeunt ipsae sine flamine nubesâ— CHAP. 10. Further Vindication of the second Chapter of the Animadversions the remaining Principles of Fiat Lux considered IT is time to return and put an end unto our review of those Principles which I observed your Discourse to be built upon The next as laid down in the Animadversions p. 103. is That the Pope is a good man one that seeks nothing but our good that never did us harm but hath the Care and inspectirn of us committed unto him by Christ. In the Repetition hereof you leave out all