which we have separated from the Church of Rome are not to be found among those Churches Such as the adoring the Consecrated Elements the denying the Wine to the People the saying Masses for Redeeming Souls out of Purgatory the having Images for the Trinity the immediate Invocation of Saints for the pardon of Sin and those blessings which we receive only from God Besides an infinite variety of other things Not to mention their denying the Popes authority And to turn this argument on them Those parts of their Worship in which they differ so much from the Eastern Churches do afford us very good arguments to evince that they are Innovations brought in since these ages in which those Churches held Communion with the Roman Church And do prove that at the time of their Separation they were not introduced in the Western Church For when we find such a keenness of dispute concerning one of the most indifferent things in the World as whether the Sacrament should be of Leavened or Unleavened Bread can we think that if the Latines had then worshipped the Sacrament they had not much rather have objected to the Greeks their Irreverence upon so high an occasion than have insisted on the matter of unleavened Bread As for the conclusion we do acknowledge it is such as becomes an Assembly of Bishops But whether it becomes men of their Characters of their Birth and of their Qualities to pretend to such gentleness and meekness when all the World sees such notorious proofs given to the contrary I shall not determine but will leave it to their own second thoughts to consider better of it We find both the King and the Clergy of France expressing great tenderness towards the persons of those they call Hereticks togetherwith their resolutions of gaining them only by the Methods of Persuasion and Charity and yet the contrary is practisâ—d in so many parts of France that considering the exact Obedience that the Inferiour Officers pay to the Orders that are sent them from the Court we must conclude these Orders are procured from the King without his being rightly informed concerning them And since we must either doubt of the sincerity of the Kings Declarations or of the Assemblies we hope they will not take it ill if we pay that Reverence to a Crowned Head and to so illustrious a Monarch as to prefer him in the competition between his credit and theirs and they must forgive us if we stand in some doubt of the sincerity of this Declaration till we are convinced of it by more Infallible proofs than words or general Protestations The Conclusion THus I have made such Remarks on these Methods as seem both just and solid I have advanced no assertion either of Fact or Right concerning which I am not well assured and which I cannot justifie by a much larger series of proofs than I thought fit to bring into a Discourse which I intended should be as short as was possible But if that be necessary and I am called on to do it I shall not decline it I have with great care avoided the saying any thing meerly for contentions sake or to make up a Muster of many particulars for I look on that way in which many write for a cause as some Advocates plead for their Clients by alledging every thing that may make a shew or biass an unwary hearer as very unbecoming the profession of a Divine and the cause of Truth which we ought to assert And there is scarce any thing that shews a man is persuaded of the truth he maintains more evidently than a sincere way of defending it For great subtilties and deep fetches do naturally incline a Reader to suspect that the Writer was conscious to himself of the weakness of his cause and was therefore resolved to supply those defects by the quickness and nimbleness of his parts But having now said what I think sufficient in the way of Remâ—rks upon the Letter and the Methods published by the late Assembly General of the Clergy of France I now go on to some Methods which seem strong and well grounded for convincing those in Communion with the Church of Rome that they ought to suspect the ground they stand on In which I shall observe this Method First I shall offer such grounds of just suspicion and jealousie as may dispose every considering man to fear and apprehend that their Church is on a wrong bottom from which I shall draw no other Inferences but that they are reasonable grounds to take a man a little off from the engagement of his former Education and Principles and may dispose him to examine matters in dispute among us with more application and less partiality And then I shall shew upon more demonstrative grounds how false the foundations are on which the Church of Rome is established both which I shall examine only in a general view and in bulk without descending by retail unto the pâ—rticulars in Controversie between us 1. And first It is a just ground to suspect any Church or Party of men that pretend to have every thing pass upon their word or authority and that endeavour to keep those who adhere to them in all the Ignorance possible that divert them from making Enquiries into Religion and do with great earnestness infuse in them an Implicite Belief of whatsoever they shâ—ll propose or dictate to them The World has found by experience that there is nothing in which fraud and artifices have been more employed than in matters of Religion And that Priests have been often guilty of the basest impostures And therefore it is a shrewd Indication that any sort of them that make this the first and grand principle which they infuse into their followers that they ought to believe every thing that the majority of themselves decree and do therefore recommend Ignorance and Implicite Obedience to their people and keep the Scriptures out of their hands all they can and wrap up their Worship in a language not understood by the vulgar are not to be too easily believed But that they may be justly suspected of having no sincere designs since Truth is of the nature of Light And Religion was sent into the World to enlighten our minds and to raise our understandings 2. It is a just ground of Jealousie of any Church if she holds many opinions which have a mighty tendenâ—y to raise the Empire and Dominion of the Clergy to a vast height A Reverence to them for their works sake is due by the light of Nature But if Priests advance this further to such a pitch that every one of them is believed qualified by his Character to work the greatest Miracle that ever was The change of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ besides all the other Consecrations by which Divine Vertues are brought down on such things as they bless If it is also believed necessary to enumerate all secret sins to them and
from that which animated the Church in the former and best ages The Reverend Prelates say in their Letter That they hold the same Faith with their Predecessors If this were true in all points it were indeed very hard to write an Apology for those that have separated from them I shall not engage in a long discussion of the sentiments of the Ancient Bishops of the Gallican Church yet that the Reader may not be too much wrought on by the confidence and plausibleness of this expressionâ— I shall only give a taste of the Faith of the first of all the Gallican Clergy whose works are yet preserved and that is Irenaeus I shall instance it in two particulars the one is the hinge upon which all our other Controversies turn that is whether the Scriptures or Oral Tradition is to be appealed to for determining matters of Controversie The other is the most material point in difference among us concerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament whether in it we really receive the substance of Bread and Wine or only the Accidents As to the first he directly appeals to the Scriptures which he says were the Pillar â—nd ground of Truth and adds that the Valentinians did appeal to Oral Tradition from which he â—urns to that Tradition that was come from the Apostles on which he insists very copiously and puts all the authority of Tradition in this That it was derived from the Apostles And therefore says that if the Apostles had delivered nothing in Writing we must then have followed the Order of Tradition And after he has shewed that the Tradition to which the Valentinians pretended was really against them and that the Orthodox had it derived down from the Apostles on their side he returns to that upon which he had set up the strength of his cause to prove the truth from the Scriptures Now the Scriptures being the foundation on which the Protestants build and Oral Tradition together with the authority of the Church being that on which the Church of Rome builds it will be easie to every one that considers those Chapters referred to in Irenaeus to gather upon which of those he grounded his belief As for the other particular he plainly calls the Sacrament that Bread over which thanks have been given and says our flesh is nourished by the body and blood of Christ and concludes that our flesh by the Sacrament has an assurance of its Resurrection and Incorruptibility More particularly he says Our blood is encreased by the blood of Christ and that he encreases our body by that bread which he has confirmed to be his body and that by these the substance of our body is encreased and from thence he argues that our bodies receive an encrease not by any internal or invisible way but in the natural way of nourishment and so concludes that our bodies being nourished by the Eucharist shall therefore rise again Every one that considers the force of these words must conclude that he believed our bodies received in the Sacrament a real substance which nourished them and not bare Accidents If then upon this essay it appears that the first Writer of all Gallican Bishops does agree with the Protestants both in that which is the foundation upon which they build their whole cause and also in that particular opinion which is believed to be of the greatest importance then the Reader has no reason to believe that the present Bishops of France hold the same Faith which their Predecessors taught who first preached the Christian Religion in that Kingdom But now I come to answer the main Question which is indeed the whole substance of the Letter Why have they made the Schism If such a Letter with such a demand in it had come from the Abassin or Armenian Churches or perhaps from the Greek Churches whose distance from us is such and the oppressions they groan under are so extreme that they have little heart and few opportunities to enquire into the affairs or opinions of others it could not have been thought strange but to hear it from these among whom those live who have so often both in Writings and Discourses answered this question so copiously is really somewhat unaccountable Yet this is not all but it is added That the Protestants upon trial finding they could not shake their Doctrine have charged them only for their ill lives as if that were the ground of the Separation This it must be confessed had better become the affected Eloquence of a Maimbourg than the sincerity of so many eminent men of whom the mildest censure that can be past in this particular is That some aspiring Priest being appointed to pen this Letter that was better accustomed to the figures of a clamorous Rhetorick than the strict measures of Truth gave it this turn hoping to recommend himself by it and that the Bishops signed it in haste without considering it well Who of all the Protestants have made that Experiment and found that the Faith of the Church of Rome was not to be attackt and that she can only be accused for the ill lives of some in her Communion If this were all we had to object we do not deny but that all that the Fathers retorted on the Schismaticks particularly the Donatists did very justly fall on us and that we could neither answer it to God to the World nor our own Consciences if we had separated from their Church on no other account And this is indeed so weak a Plea that the Penner of the Letter shewed his skill at least if he was wanting in his sincerity to set up a pretence which he knew he could easily overthrow though the reasons he brings to overthrow it are not all pertinent nor convincing But this in conclusion is so managed as to draw an occasion from it to complement the present Pope some way to make an amends for their taking part with their King against him All that is to be said on this Head is That Protestants are not so unjust as to deny the Pope that now reigns his due praises of whose vertue and strictness of life they hear such accounts that they heartily wish all the Assembly of the Clergy from the President down to the Secretaries would imitate that excellent Pattern that he sets them A Zeal for converting Hereticks does not very well become those whose course of life has not been so exemplary that this can be imputed to an inward sense of Religion and to the motives of Divine Charity But in this point of the corruption of mens lives we may add two things more material The one is if a Church teaches ill Morals or at least connives at such Casuistical Doctrines as must certainly root out all the principles of moral vertue and common goodness out of the minds of men then their ill Morals may be improved to be a good argument for a Separation from them How much the Casuistical Doctrine of those
guilty of which is to worship that as a God which we do believe is only a piece of Bread 2. In this very Article it is plain that our Opinion is the surer side For as to the Spiritual efficacy of the Sacrament and due preparation for it which is all that we hold concerning it by their own Confession there can be no sin in that whereas if their opinion is false they are guilty of a most horrid Idolatry So there is no danger in any thing we do whereas there may be great danger on their side all the danger that is possible to be on our side is that we do not adore Christ if he is present which may be thought to be want of Reverence But that cannot be reasonably urged since we at the same time adore him believing him to be in Heaven and if this objection against us had any force then the Primitive Church for twelve hundred years must have been in a state of damnation for none of them adored the Consecrated Elements nor has the Greek Church ever done it 3. It is clear this general Maxime of taking the surer sidâ— is against them There is no sin in not worshipping Images whereas there may be a sin in doing it They confess it is not necessary to invocate the Saints and we believe it is sinful They do not hold that it is necessary to say Masses for redeeming Souls out of Purgatory and we believe that it is an impious profanation of the Sacrament They do not hold it is necessary to take away the Cup in the Sacrament we think it Sacrilegious They do not think those Consecrations by which Divine Vertues are derived into such a variety of things to be necessary we look on them as gross Superstitions They do not think the Worship in an unknown tongue necessary whereas we think it a disgrace to Religion So in all these and many more particulars it is clear that we are of the surer side 4. We own that Maxime That nothing is necessary to Salvation but what is plainly set down in the Scriptures but this is not to be carried so far as that it should be impossible by sophistry or the equivocal use of words to fasten some other sense to such passages in Scripture for then nothing can be said to be plain in any Book whatsoever But we understand this of the genuine meaning of the Scriptures such as a plain well-disposed man will find out if his mind is not strongly prepossessed or biassed with false and wrong measures 5. The Confidence with which any party proposes their opinions cannot be a true Standart to judge of them otherwise the Receipts of Mountebanks will be always preferred to those prescribed by good Physicians and indeed the modesty of one side and the confidence of the other ought rather to give us a biass for the one against the other especially if it is visible that Interest is very prevalent in the confident party The Third Method IS to confer amicably with them and to shew them our Articles in the Scriptures and Tradition as the Fathers of tbe first Ages understood both the one and the other without engaging in reasonings or the drawing out of Consequences by Syllogisms as Cardinal Bellarmin and Perron and Gretser and the other Writers of Controversie have done which ordinarily beget endless disputes It was in this manner that the General Councils did proceed and thus did S. Austin prove Original sin against Julian To this end says he O Julian that I may overthrow thy Engines and Artifices by the opinions of those Bishops who have interpreted the Scripture with so much glory After which he cites the passages of the Scripture as they were understood by S. Ambrose S. Cyprian S. Gregory Nazianzene and others Remarks 1. WE do not deny but amicable Conferences in which matters are proposed without the wranglings of Dispute are the likeliest ways to convince people And whenever they shew us their doctrines directly in the Scripture and Tradition we will be very unreasonable if we do not yield upon that Evidence When they give us good authorities from Scripture and Tradition for the Worship of Images and Saints for adoring the Host for dividing the Sacrament for redeeming Souls out of Purgatory for denying the people the free use of the Scriptures for obliging them to worship God in a Tongue not understood by them we will confess our selves very obstinate men if we resist such Conviction 2. The shewing barely some passages without considering the whole scope of them with the sense in which such words were used in such ages and by such Fathers will certainly misguide us therefore all these must be also taken in for making this Enquiry exactly Allowances also must be made for the heats of Eloquence in Sermons or warm Discourses since one passage strictly and philosophically expressed is stronger than a hundred in which the heat of Zeal and the Figures of Rhetorick transport the Writer And thus if the Fathers disputing against those who said that the Humane Nature of Christ was swallowed up by his Divine Nature urge this to prove that the Humane Nature did still subsist that in the Sacrament after the Consecration in which there is an Union between the Elements and the Body and Blood of Christ they do still retain their proper nature and substance such expressions used on such a design leâ—d us more infallibly to know what they thought in this matter than any thing that they said with design only to beget Reverence and Devotion can do 3. The Ancient Councils were not so sollicitous as this Paper would insinuate to prove a Tradition from the Fathers of the first Ages They took great care to prove the truth which they decreed by many arguments from Scripture but for the Tradition they thought it enough to shew that they did innovate in nothing and that some Fathers before them had taught what they decreed We have not the acts of the two first General Councils but we may very probably gather upon what grounds those at Nice proceeded by what S. Athanasius wrote as an Apology for their Symbol in particular for the word Consubstantial which he proves by many consequences drawn from Scripture but for the Tradition of it he only cites four Fathers and none of those were very ancient They are Theognistus Denis of Alexandria Denis of Rome and Origen and yet both that Father Hilary and S. Basil acknowledge that Denis of Alexandria wavered much in that matter and it is well known what advantages were taken from many of Origen's expressions So here we have only two undisputed Fathers that conveyed this Tradition We have the Acts of the third General Council yet preserved and in them we find a Tradition indeed alledged but except S. Cyprian and S. Peter of Alexandria they cite none but those that had lived after the Council of Nice and Pope Leo's Letter to Flavian
Inâ—allibility was not so obstinately lodged with them that a company of lewd and wickeâ— Prieâ—ts could not mis-leaâ— the people aâ— they did in the Doctrine concerning the Messias From all which it may be well inferred that how large soever the meaning of those disputed passages that relate to the authority of the Church may be supposed to be yet a tacite condition must be still implyed in them That while Church-men continue pure and sincere and seek the truth in the methods prescribed by the Gospel they shall not err in any point of Salvation And it is not reasonable to expect that our Saviour should have left a more effectual provision against Errour than he has done against Sin since the latter is certainly more pernicious and destructive of those ends for which he came into the World So that as he has only left sufficient means for those who use them well to keep themselves from Sin in such a manner that they shall not perish in it so has he likewise provided a sufficient security against Errour when such means of Instruction are offered that every one who applies himseâ—f to the due use of them shall not err damnably 4. Another foundation on which they build is Oral Tradition which â—hey reckon was handed down in every Age since the Apostles days This some explain so as to make it only the conveyance of the Exposition of the Scriptures though others stretch it further as if it might carry down Truths not mentioned in Scripture And for finding this out two Methods are given The one is Presumptive when from the Doctrine of the Church in any one age it is presumed from thence that those of that age had it from the former and the former from those who went before them till we run it up to the Apostles days The other Method is of particular proof when the â—onveyance in every age appears from the chief Writers in it I shall not here run out to shew upon either of these hypotheses the unfitness of this way of conveying Doctrines nor the easie door it opens to fraud and imposture but shall only shew that they cannot prove they have a competent Evidence of Oral Tradition among them And first it is certain that we have not handed down to us a general exposition of the Scriptures and that almost all the Ancient Expositors run after Allegories according to the way of the Greek Philosophers For some whole ages we have not above two or three Writers and those lived very remote and what they say chiefly in the passages that are made use of in the later Disputes fall in oft on the by and seem rather to have dropt from them than to have been intended by them so that this cannot be thought decisive And when it is likewise confessed that in their Disputes with the Hereticks of their days they have not argued so critically from those places of Scripture which they considered more narrowly It will not be reasonable to conclude too positively upon those things that rather fell in their way occasionally than were the designed subjects of their enquiries So that it is not possible to prove an Oral Tradition by the Instances of particular Writers in all the ages and corneâ—s of the Church For almost an age and a half we have not one copious Latine Writer but Tertullian and Cyprian that both lived in Carthage And it is not very clear of what persuasion the former was when he wrote the greatest part of his Treatises That he was a Heretick when he wrote some of them is past dispute Now can one think â—hat if God had intended that the Faith should have passed down by such a conveyance there would have been such uncertain prints left us by which we might trace it out As for the other Method of Presumption or Prescription it is certainly a false one for if in any one particular it can be made appear that the Doctrine of the Latin Church has been in these latter ages contradictory to that of the primitive times then this of Prescription is never to be any more alledged and of this I shall give two Instances that seem demonstrative The first is about the worshipping departed Saints or Martyrs which has been the practice of the Lâ—tin Church for several ages And yet in the second Century we have the greatest evidence possible that it was not the Doctrine of that age and that not in any occasional word let fall by some single Writer but in a Letter writ by the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of their late Biship S. Polycarp In which there appears that warm affection for his person and honour for his memory that we cannot think they would have been wanting in any sort of respect that waâ— due to the ashes of so great a Saint And what they say to this purpose is deliberately brought out for it being suggested by the Iew that had set on the Heathens against that Martyr that it was necessary to destroy his Body lest the Christians should worship him They reject that imputation in these words They being Ignorant say they that we can never forsake Christ who died for the salvation of the World nor worship any other for we adore him as the Son of God But for the Martyrs we do worthily love them as the Disciples and Followers of our Lord for their unconqâ—ered love to their King and Master and therefore dâ—sâ—re to be their Partneâ—s and Disciples To this I shall add another Instance that is no lesâ— evident which is concerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament The Tradition of the Church can be best gathered from the Liturgies which are the publickest the most united and most solemn way in which she expresses her self In S. Ambrosâ—'s time or whosoever else was the Author of the Book of the Sacraments that goes under his name we find that the Prayer of Consecrations as it is cited by him differs in a very essential point from that which is now in the Canon of the Mass In the former they called the Sacrifice that they offered up in it the figure of the Body and Blood of Christ but since that time they have changed that phrase and instead of it they pray that It may be to us the Body and Blood of Christ. We cannot tell in what age this change was made but we may certainly conclude that the Latin Church in S. Ambrose's time had a very different opinion concerning the presence of Christ from that which is now received among them and that then she only believed a Figurative Presence And thus it is certain that the Presumptive Method for finding out Oral Tradition is a false one and that the particular proof of Tradition by enquiring into the Doctrine of every age is impossible to be made 5. I shall enlarge a little further upon one particular Instance which is concerning one of those propositions lately condemned by the Assembly