credo nec servio but only as it is hypostatically united to the Divine Nature i. e. so intimately and vitally united to it as to make one Person with it with God himself one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so one Object of Worship and if the Sacramental Symbols or Species are to be adored with true latria not per se or upon their own account but by reason of the intimate Union and Conjunction which they have with Christ as they say not only with Christs body for that alone is not to be worshipt much less another thing that is united to it but with Christs Person and then there must be as many Persons of Christ as there are consecrated Wafers then these Species being thus worshipt upon the same account that Christs humanity is as Gregory de Valentia owns they must This Worship saies he belongs after a certain manner to the species as when the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is worshipt in the humanity which he assumed the Divine Worship belongs also to the created Humanity Pertinet per accidens suo quodam modo ea veneratio ad Species quemadmodum suo modo etiam hoc ipso quod adoratur Divinum verbum in humanitate assumptâ pertinet ejusmodi Divinus cultus ad illam humanitatem creatam secundario neque in hoc est aliqua Idololatria Valentia Disput 6. Quest 11. de ritu oblat Eucharist must be also united to Christ the same way that his Humanity is united to his Divinity so as to become with that one entire object of Worship as the Species are according to them with Christ in the Eucharist that is they must become one suppositum or one Person with Christ This is so weighty a difficulty as makes the greatest Atlas's of the Roman Church not only sweat by sink under it Valentia a De Idol l. 2. c. 5. owns the wonderful Conjunction the Species have with Christ but denies their being hypostatically united to him but then how are they to be worshipt Since it is owned by him and the Schoolmen that the very Humanity of Christ is to be worshipt only upon the account of its hypostatical Union and tho God be very nearly and intimately present in other Creatures yet they are not to be worshipt notwithstanding that presence because they do not make one suppositum or hypostasis with him or are not hypostatically united to him Bellarmine being pincht on this side removes the burden to t'other that is as sore and can as little bear it Christ says he b Longe a liter est Christus in Eucharistia in aliis rebus Deus Nam in Eucharistia unum tautum Suppofitum est idque Divinum caeteraque omnia ad illud pertinent cum illo unum quid faciunt licet non eodem modo Bellar. de Euch. l. 4. c. 30. is much otherwise in the Eucharist than God is in other things for in the Eucharist there is but one only suppositum and that Divine all other things there present belong to and make one thing with that If they do so then sure they are hypostatically united with Christ as T. G's learned Adversary charges upon Bellarmine from this place if they make but one suppositum with him and but one with him let it be in what manner it will they must be hypostatically united to him Bellarmines Licet non eodem modo tho not after the same manner is both unintelligible and will not at all help the matter 't is only a Confession from him that at the same time that he says they are hypostatically united to Christ and make one suppositum with him and one object of Worship that he does not know how this can be and that his thoughts are in a great streight about it so that he doubts they are not hypostatically united at the same time that he yet saies they are so for this is no way imposed upon him as T. G. saies notwithstanding his non eodem modo If in the Incarnation of Christ one should say That the Soul and Body of Christ are both united to his Divinity but that both were not united after the same manner but the Soul in such a manner as being a Spirit and the Body in another yet so that both made but one Suppositum with it and that Divine and that all his humane Nature belong'd to that and made one with that tho not after the same manner would not this be still an owning the hypostatical Union between Christs Divinity and his Soul and Body and so must the other be between Christs Divinity and his Body and the Species if they make one Suppositum and are as they hold to be worshipt as such Thus I have taken care to give you their Doctrine and state the Case with some exactness tho I am sensible with too much length but that is the way to shorten the Controversie and by this means I have cut off their common retreats and stopt up those little lurking holes they generally run to and in which they are wont to Earth themselves As that they worship only Christ in the Sacrament or Christ under the accidents of Bread and Wine and that 't is only Christ or the Body of Christ with which his Divinity is always present is the formal object of their Adoration in the Sacrament and that their Worship is given to that and not to the consecrated Elements or to the remaining Species of Bread and Wine it appears from their own Doctrine and Principles to be quite otherwise and if we take them at their own words they are sufficient to bear witness against them and condemn them of Idolatry but this will be found to be much greater and grosser when the whole foundation of this Doctrine of theirs of the Worship of the Host proves upon Examination to be false and one of the most thick and unreasonable Errors in the World to wit the belief of Transubstantiation or that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament are converted into the natural and substantial Body and Blood of Christ so that there remains nothing of the substance of the Bread and Wine after Consecration but only the Flesh and Blood of Christ corporally present under the Species and Accidents of Bread and Wine If this Doctrine be true it will in great measure discharge them from the guilt of Idolatry for then their only fault will be their joyning the Species which how thin and ghostly soever they be yet are Creatures together with Christ as one Object of Worship and unless they alter their Doctrine on this point from what it is now I see not how they can justifie their worshipping with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Worship due only to God not only the adorable substance of Christs Body but the very Veils and Symbols under which they suppose that to lye and yet when they teach as they do the adoring of the Sacrament they must adore the
visible and outward part of it as well as the invisible Body of Christ for without the remaining Species it would not according to them be a Sacrament and they have not gone so far yet I think as to deny that there are any remaining Species and that our senses do so far wholly deceive us that when we see something there is really nothing of a visible Object And the same Object which is visible is adorable too according to them If Christs Body were substantially present in the Sacrament tho it were lawful to adore it as there present but by no means either the substance or Species of Bread with it yet it is much to be doubted whether it were a duty or necessary to do so It would be present so like a Prince in Incognito that he would seem not to require that Honour which we ought to give him under a more publick appearance God we know is present in all his Creatures but yet we are not to Worship him as present in any of them unless where he makes a sensible Manifestation of himself and appears by his Shechinah or his Glory as to Moses in the burning Bush and to others in like manners and it would be very strange to make the Bread in the Eucharist a Shechinah of God which appears without any Alteration just as it was before it was made such and especially to make it such a continuing Shechinah as the Papists do that Christ is present in it not only in the action and solemn Celebration but extra usum as they speak and permanenter even after the whole Solemnity and Use is over that he should continue there as a praesens Numen as Boileau expresly calls it a de Euchoristiae Adorat p. 140. and be showed and carried about and honoured as such and dwell in the Species as long as they continue as truly as he dwelt in the Flesh before that was crucified this is strange and monstrous even to those who think Christ is present in the Sacrament but not so as the Papists believe nor so as to be worshipped I mean the Lutherans But to bring the matter to closer issue the Papists themselves are forced to confess that if the Bread remain after Consecration and be still Bread and be not Transubstantiated into the Body of Christ that they are then Idolaters So Fisher against Oecolampadius l. 1. c. 2. in express words So Coster in his Enchiridion de Euch. c. 8. In tali errore atque Idololatria qualis in orbe terrarum nunquam vel visus vel auditus fuit Tolerabilior est enim error eorum qui pro Deo colunt Statuam auream aut argenteam aut alterius materiae imaginem quomodo Gentiles Deos suos venerabantur vel panum rubrum in hastam elevatum quod narratur de Lappis vel viva animalia ut quondam Aegyptii quam eorum qui frustum panis Coster Ench. c. 8. S. 10. Longe potiori ratione excusandi essent infideles Idololatrae qui Statuas adoraverunt Ib. If the true Body of Christ be not present in the Sacrament then they are left in such an Error and Idolatry as was never seen or heard for that of the Heathens would be more tolerable who Worship a golden or silver Statue for God or any other Image or even a red Cloth as the Laplanders are said to do or living Animals as the Egyptians than of those who worship a piece of Bread And again Those Infidel Idolaters would be more excusable who worshipt their Statues To whom I shall add Bellarmine a Sacramentarii omnes negant Sacramentum Adorandum Idololatriam appellant ejusmodi Adorationem neque id mirum videri deber cum ipsi non credant Christum reipsa esse praesentem panem Eucharistiae reipsa nihil esse nisi panem ex furno Bellarm. de Euch. l. 4. c. 29. who saies It does not seem strange that they call the Adoration of the Sacrament Idolatry who do not believe that Christ is there truly present but that the Bread is still true Bread If then the Bread do still remain Bread in the Host and the Elements in the Eucharist are not substantially changed into the natural and substantial Body and Blood of Christ then it is confest Idolatry and it is not strange according to Bellarmine that it should be so and then sure it will be true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bread-worship too if that be Bread which they Worship and be not the natural Body of Christ that which is there present that they adore and if that be only Bread then they adore Bread And here I should enter that controversie which has given rise to most of their abominable Abuses and Errors about the Eucharist the making both a God of it and also a true Sacrifice of this God instead of a Sacrament which Christ intended it and that is their Doctrine of Transubstantiation but a great man has spared me this trouble by his late excellent Discourse against it to which I shall wholly refer this part of our present Controversie and shall take it for granted as any one must who reads that that unless in Boileau's Phrase a Homo opiniosus cui tenacit as Error is sensum communem abstulit Boil p. 159. he be such a Bigot whose tenaciousness of his Error has quite bereaved him of common Sense which is an unlucky Character of his own Friends that Doctrine is false and therefore that the charge of Idolatry in this matter is by their own Confession true But there are some more cautious and wary men amongst them who out of very just and reasonable Fears and Suspicions that Transubstantion should not prove true and that they may happen to be mistaken in that have thought of another way to cover and excuse their Idolatry and that is not from the Truth but meerly from the Belief of Transubstantiation As long say they as we believe Transubstantiation to be true and do really think that the Bread and Wine are converted into the substance of Christs Body and Blood and so Worship the Sacrament upon that account tho we should be mistaken in this our belief yet as long as we think that Christ is there present and design only to Worship him and not the Bread which we believe to be done away this were enough to free us from the charge of Idolatry To which because it is the greatest and the best Plea they have and they that make it have some misgivings I doubt not that Transustantiation will not hold I shall therefore give a full Answer to it in the following Particulars 1. All Idolatry does proceed from a mistaken belief and a false supposal of the mind which being gross and unreasonable will not at all excuse those who are guilty of it there were never any Idolaters but might plead the excuse of a mistake and that not much more culpable and notorious one would think than the
be seen this very thing is to be adored There is no doubt says the Council c Ib. Nullus dubitandi locus relinquitur quin omnes Christi fideles pro more in Catholica Ecclesia semper recepto latriae cultum qui vero Deo debetur huic sanctissimo Sacramento in Veneratione adhibeant neque enim minus est adorandum quod fuerit a Christo Domino at sumatur institutum but that all faithful Christians according to the custom always received in the Catholick Church ought to give Supreme and Sovereign Worship which is due to God himself to the most Holy Sacrament in their Worship of it for it is never the less to be adored tho it was instituted of Christ to be received That which is to be received which is to be put into the Peoples Mouths by the Priest for since they have made a God of the Sacrament they will not trust the People to feed themselves with it nor take it into their hands and they may with as much reason in time not think fit that they should eat it this which was appointed of Christ to be taken and eaten as a Sacrament this is now to serve for another use to be adored as a God and it would be as true Heresie in the Church of Rome not to say that the Sacrament of the Altar is to be adored as not to say that Christ himself is to be adored But what according to them is this Sacrament It is the remaining Species of Bread and Wine and the natural Body and Blood of Christ invisibly yet carnally present under them and these together make up one entire Object of their Adoration which they call Sacramentum for Christs body without those Species and Accidents at least of Bread and Wine would not according to them be a Sacrament they being the outward and visible part are Lombard sent â—l 4. dist 10. according to their Schoolmen properly and strictly called the Sacramentum and the other the res Sacramenti and to this external part of the Sacrament as well as to the internal they give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Adoration to these remaining Species which be they what they will are but Creatures religious Worship is given together with Christs Body and they with that are the whole formal Object of their Adoration Non solum Christum sed Totum visibile Sacramentum unico cultu adorari says Suarez a In Th. Quaest 79. disp quia est unum constans ex Christo Speciebus Not only Christ but the whole visible Sacrament which must be something besides Christs invisible Body is to be adored with one and the same Worship because it is one thing or one Object consisting of Christ and the Species So another of their learned men b Henriquez Moral l. 8. c. 32. Speciebus Eucharistiae datur Latria propter Christum quem continent The highest Worship is given to the Species of the Eucharist because of Christ whom they contain Now Christ whom they contain must be something else than the Species that contain him Let him be present never so truly and substantially in the Sacrament or under the Species he cannot be said to be the same thing with that in which he is said to be present and as subtil as they are and as thin and subtil as these Species are they can never get off from Idolatry upon their own Principles in their Worshipping of them and they can never be left out but must be part of the whole which is to be adored totum illud quod simul adoratur de Euch. l. 4. c. 30. as Bellarmine calls it must include these as well as Christs Body Adorationem saies Bellarmine a Bellarmine de Euch. l. 4. c. 29. ad Symbola etiam panis vini pertinere ut quod unum cum ipso Christo quem continent Adoration belongs even to the Symbols of Bread and Wine as they are apprehended to be one with Christ whom they contain and so make up one entire Object of Worship with him and may be Worshipt together with Christ as T. G. c Cathol no Idolaters p. 268. owns in his Answer to his most learned Adversary and are the very term of Adoration as Gregory de Valentia d De Idol l. 2. c. 5. says who further adds that they who think this Worship does not at all belong to the Species in that heretically oppose the perpetual customand sence of the Church Qui censeunt nullo modo ad Species ipsus eam Venerationem pertinere in eo Haeretice pugnare contra perpetuum usum sensum Ecclesiae de Venerati one Sacram. ad Artic. Thom. 5. Indeed they say That these Species or Accidents are not to be Worshipt for themselves or upon their own account but because Christ is present in them and under them and so they may be Worshipt as T. G. says d Ib. with Christ in like manner as his Garments were Worshipt together with him upon Earth which is a similitude taken out of Bellarmine the Magazine not only of Arguments and Authorities but of Similitudes too it seems which are to Defend that Church Quemadmodum saies he e de Euch. Venerat qui Christum in terris vestitum adorabant non ipsum solum sed etiam vestes quodam modo adorabant And are Christs Carments then to be Worshipt with Latria as well as Christ himself or as the Sacrament I think they will not say this of any of the Relicks they have of Christ or his clothes Did they who Worshipt Christ when he was upon the Earth worship his clothes too Did the Wise men worship the blankets the clouts and the swadling-cloths as well as the blessed Babe lying in the Manger Might it not as well be supposed that the People worshipt the Ass upon which Christ rode not for himself but for the sake and upon the account of Christ who was upon him as that they worshipt his clothes or his Sandals on which he trod or the Garments which he wore Bellarmines quodammodo adorabant shews his heart misgave him and that he was sensible the Similitude would not do when he used it but T. G. is a man of more heart and courage or front at least and he found the cause was in great need of it and so he saies boldly without any trembling quodammodo that they worshipt his Garments The humane Nature it self of Christ considered alone and being a meer Creature is not an object of Worship as St. Augustin saies a St. Aug. Serm. 58. De verbis Dom. Si natura Deus non est filius sed Creatura nec colendus est omnino nec ut Deus Adorandus Ego Dominicam carnem imo perfectam in Christo humanitatem propterea adoro quod a divinitate suscepta atque Deitati unita est Denique si hominem separaveris a Deo ut Photinus vel Paulus Samosatenus illi ego nunquam
that he would draw St. Pauls command of examining our selves before we eat to mean our adoring when or what we eat and that not discerning the Lords body and being guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ is the not worshipping the Sacrament which he never so much as touches upon among all their other faults Are there not many other ways of abusing the Sacrament besides the not worshipping it this is like his first Argument out of Ignatius his Epistles x l. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Smyr at ipsemet nos docet nihil nos diligere debere praeter Solum Deum that because he says the Sacrament ought to be loved therefore he meant that it ought to be adored At which rate I should be afraid to love this Gentleman however taking he was lest I should consequently adore him or because I am not to abuse him therefore it would follow that I must worship him 2. This Adoration was not in use in the Primitive Church as I shall show 1. From those Writers who give us an account of the manner of celebrating the Eucharist among the Ancient Christians 2. From the oldest Liturgies and Eucharistick forms 3. From some very antient Customs 1. Those most ancient Writers 1. Justin Marty 2. Apolog. versus finem Apostol Constitut l. 8. c. 11 12 13 14. 3. Cyril Hierosol Cateches mystagog c 5. 1. Justin Martyr 2. The Author of the Apostolick Constitutions And 3. St. Cyril of Hierusalem who acquaint us with the manner how they celebrated the Eucharist which was generally then one constant part of their publick worship they give no account of any Adoration given to the Sacrament or to the consecrated Elements tho they are very particular and exact in mentioning other less considerable things that were then in use the Kiss of Charity in token of their mutual Love and Reconcilliation this Justin Martyr mentions as the first thing just before the Sacrament y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Apol. 2. In St. Cyril's time z Catech. mystagog 5. Apostol Constit l. 8. c. 11. the first thing was the bringing of Water by the Deacon and the Priests washing their hands in it to denote that purity with which they were to compass Gods Altar and then the Deacon spoke to the people to give the holy Kiss then Bread was brought to the Bishop or Priest and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Martyr Wine mixt with Water in those hot Countries and after Prayers and Thanksgivings by the Priest to which the people to joyned their Amen b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Martyr Ib. The Deacons gave every one present of the blessed Bread and Wine and Water and to those that were not present they carried it home this says Justin Martyr we account not common Bread or common Drink but the Body and Blood of Christ c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. the blessed Food by which our Flesh and Blood is nourisht that is being turned into it which could not be said of Christs natural Body nor is there the least mention of any worship given to that as there present or to any of the blessed Elements The others are longer and much later and speak of the particular Prayers and Thanksgivings that were then used by the Church of the Sursum Corda lift up your heart which St. d Cyril Hierosol mystagog Cat. 5. Cyril saies followed after the Kiss of Charity of the Sancta Sanctis things holy belong to those that are holy then they describe how they came to Communicate how they held their hand e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. when they received the Elements how careful they were that none of them should fall upon the Ground but among all these most minute and particular Descriptions of their way and manner of receiving the Sacrament no account is there of their adoring it which surely there would have been had there been any such in the Primitive Church as now is in the Roman We own indeed as Boileau objects to us f L. 2. P. 106. that from these it appears that some things were then in use which we observe not now neither do the Church of Rome all of them for they are not essential but indifferent matters as mixing Water with Wine the Priest's washing the Kiss of Charity and sending the Sacrament to the absent but the Church may alter these upon good reasons according to its prudence and discretion but Adoration to the Sacrament if it be ever a Duty is always so and never ought upon any account to be omitted nor would have been so by the Primitive Christians had they had the same Opinion of it that the Papists have now 2. From the oldest Lyturgies and the Eucharistick Forms in them it appears that there was no such Adoration to the Sacrament till of late for in none of them is there any such mention either by the Priest or the People as in the Roman Missal and Ritual nor any such Forms of Prayer to it as in their Breviary Cassander g Cassandri Lyturgic has collected together most of the old Liturgies and Endeavours as far as he can to shew their agreement with that of the Roman Church but neither in the old Greek nor in the old Latin ones is there any instance to be produced of the Priests or the Peoples adoring the Sacrament as soon as he had consecrated it but this was perfectly added and brought in a-new into the Roman Lyturgy after the Doctrine of Transubstantiation was establisht in that Church which has altered not only their Lyturgy but even their Religion in good part and made a new sort of Worship unknown not only in the first and best times of the Church but for above a thousand years after Christ Boileau finding this tho a negative Argument press very hard upon them and sure it cannot but satisfie any reasonable man that there is no Direction in the ancient Lyturgies for adoring the Sacrament and it is very hard to require us to produce a Rubrick against it when no body thought of that which after Superstition brought in He would fain therefore find something in an old Liturgy that should look like that of their own and no doubt but he might have easily met with abundant places for their worshipping and adoring God and Christ at that solemn Office of the Christian worship the blessed Sacrament and therefore out of the Liturgy called St. Chrysostomes which he owns to be two hundred years later then St. Chrysostome he produces a place h Boil l. 2. p. 74. ex Chrysost Liturg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein it is said That the Priest and the Deacon worship in the place they are in and likewise the people but do they worship the Sacrament Is that or only God and Christ the object of their worship there Is there any such thing to determine this as they have taken
Article of Faith or Essential part of Christian Worship which this of the Sacrament must be if it be any part at all it is sufficient that we have the Scripture for us or that the Scripture is silent and speaks of no more than what we own and admit In other external and indifferent Matters relating meerly to the Circumstances of Worship the Church may for outward Order and Decency appoint what the Scripture does not But as to what we are to believe and what we are to Worship the most positive Argument from any humane Authority is of no weight where there is but a Negative from Scripture But we have such a due regard to Antiquity and are so well assured of our cause were it to be tryed only by that and not by Scripture which the Church of Rome generally demurs to that we shall not fear to allow them to bring all the Fathers they can for their Witnesses in this matter and we shall not in the least decline their Testimony Boileau Musters up a great many some of which are wholly impertinent and insignisicant to the matter in hand and none of them speak home to the business he brings them for He was to prove that they Taught that the Sacrament was to be adored as it is in the Church of Rome but they only Teach as we do That it is to be had in great reverence and respect as all other things relating to the Divine Worship that it is to be received with great Devotion both of Body and Soul and in such a Posture as is to express this A Posture of Adoration that Christ is then to be worshipped by us in this Office especially as well as he is in all other Offices of our Religion that his Body and his Flesh which is united to his Divinity and which he offered up to his Father as a Sacrifice for all Mankind and by which we are Redeemed and which we do spiritually partake of in the Sacrament that this is to be adored by us but not as being corporally present there or that the Sacrament is to be worshipt with that or for the sake of that or that which the Priest holds up in his Hands or lyes upon the Altar is to be the Object of our Adoration but only Christ and his blessed Body which is in Heaven To these four Heads I shall reduce the Authorities which Boileau produces for the Adoration of the Host and which seem to speak any thing to his purpose and no wonder that among so many Devout Persons that speak as great things as can be of the Sacrament and used and perswaded the greatest Devotion as is certainly our Duty in the receiving it there should be something that may seem to look that way to those who are very willing it should or that may by a little stretching be drawn further than their true and genuine meaning which was not to Worship the Sacrament it self or the consecrated Elements but either 1. To Worship Christ who is to be adored by us in all places and at all times but especially in the places set apart for his Worship and at those times we are performing them in the Church and upon the Altar in Mysteriis as St. Ambrose speaks w De Spir. St. l. 3. c. 12. in the Mysteries both of Baptism and the Lords Supper and in all the Offices of Christian Worship x Orat. II. de Gorgon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen y said of his Sister Gorgonia that She called upon him who is honoured upon the the Altar That Christ is to be honoured upon the Altar where we see the great and honourable work of mens Redemption as 't was performed by his Death represented to us is not at all strange if it had been another and more full word that he was to be worshipt there 't is no more than what is very allowable tho it had not been in a Rhetorical Oration 't is no more than to say That the God of Israel was worshipt upon the Jewish Altar or upon this Mountain For 't is plain She did not mean to worship the Sacrament as if that were Christ or God for She made an ointment of it and mixt it with her tears and anointed her Body with it as a Medicine to recover her Health which she did miraculously upon it Now sure 't is a very strange thing that she should use that as a Plaister which She thought to be a God but She still took it for Bread and Wine that had extraordinary Vertue in it and it is so called there by Nazianzen the Antitypes y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. of Christs Body and Blood which shews they were not thought to be the substance of it and she had all these about her and in her own keeping as many private Christians had in those times and there was no Host then upon the Altar when she worshipped Christ upon it for it was in the night z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. she went thus to the Church So St. Chrysostom a Vid. Bo leau c. 7. l. 1. ex Chrysost in all the places quoted out of him only recommends the worshipping of Christ our blessed Saviour and our coming to the Sacrament with all Humility and Reverence like humble Supplicants upon our Knees and with Tears in our Eyes and all Expressions of Sorrow for our Sins and Love and Honour to our Saviour whom we are to meet there and whom we do as it were b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in 1. Ep. Cor. 10. c. see upon upon the Altar which is the great stress of all that is produced out of him That we do not truly see him upon the Altar the Papists must own tho they believe him there but not so as to be visible to our Senses and he is no more to be truly adored as corporally present than he is visibly present St. Ambrose c In Sermone 56 Stephanus in terris positus Christum tangit in caelo says of St. Stephen that he being on Earth toucheth Christ in Heaven just as St. Chrysostom says Thou seest him on the Altar and as he and any one that will not resolve to strain an easie figurative Expression must mean not by a bodily touch or sight but by Faith d Non corporali tactu sed side and by that we own that we see Christ there and that he is there present 2. Adoring the Flesh and Body of Christ which tho considered without his Divinity it would be worshipping a Creature as St. Cyril of Alexandria says e In actis Concil Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet as it is always united to his Divinity 't is a true object of Worship and ought to be so to us who are to expect Salvation by it f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Homil. 108. even from the Blood and the Body and Flesh of Christ and therefore as we inwardly trust
and the Vermine deface them and the Birds would defile them with their excrements even in their own Temples q Quanto verius de diis vestris animalia muta naturaliter judicant mures hirundines milvi non sentire eos sciunt rodunt insultant insident ac nisi abigatis in ipso Dei vestri ore nidificant Araneae vero faciem ejus intexunt Minut. Octav. p. 75. And could not this be said of a breaden Deity is not that as subject to all these mischances and therefore as liable to all those Reproaches will not a Mouse or Rat run away with it tho if it do so they have taken care if they can catch the sacrilegious Thief to have the Sacrament drawn out of its entrails and religiously disposed of r Antonin de defect Miss in Bishop Jewels reply but however if no such misfortune come to it it will in a little time if it be kept prove sowre and grow mouldy and when it does so what should then thrust out the Deity and bring in again the substance of the Bread that was quite gone before is an unaccountable Miracle and that which is taken of it into our Bodies is not like one would think to have any better or more becoming treatment there than by the other ways so that upon all these accounts this which is worshipped by Christians is in as ill Condition as that which was worshipped by Heathens and those witty Adversaries Celsus and Porphyry and Julian would have thrown all that the Christians had said against the Heathen Idols back upon themselves and have improved them with as great Advantage and retorted them with as much force had the Christians in those times worshipt the Host or the Sacramental Elements as the Papists do now and 't is more than a Presumption no less than a Demonstration that the Christians did not because none of these things that were so obnoxious and so obvious were ever in the least mentioned by the Heathens or made matter of Reflection upon them when they pickt up all other things let them be true or false that they could make any use of to object against them But the Primitive Christians gave them no such occasion which was the only Reason they did not take it As soon as the Church of Rome did so by setting up the worship of the Host ſ Apud Dionys Carthus in 4. dist Nullam se sectam Christiana dereriorem aut ineptiorem reperire Quem colunt Deum dentibus ipsi suis discerpunt ac devorant Averroes the Arabian Philosopher in the 13th Century gave this Character of Christians that he had found no Sect more foolish or worse than they in all his Travels and Observations upon this very account For they eat the God whom they worship and t Bullaeus Gultius in Itin. Mange Dieu a later Historian and Traveller tells us that 't is a common Reproach in the Mouths of the Turks and Mahumetans to call the Christians Devourers of their God and a Jew in a Book Printed at Amsterdam in the year 1662 among other Questions put to Christians asks this shrewd one If the Host be a God why does it corrupt and grow covered with Mold and why is it gnawn by Mice or other Animals v Si Hostia Deus est cur situ obducta corrumpitur curagliribus umribus correditur Lib. quaest Resp The only way the Papists have to bring themselves off from these manifest Absurdities is only a running farther into greater and their little Shifts and Evasions are so thin and subtil Sophistry or rather such gross and thick falshoods that it could not be imagined that the Heathen Adversaries could ever know them and therefore be so civil as Boileau would make them a Cap. 10. l. 2. de ador Euch. as not to lay those charges upon them as others do nor can any reasonable and impartial man ever believe them for they are plainly these two That they do not worship what all the World sees they worship And that they do not eat what they take into their Mouths and swallow down Which is in plain words an open Confession that they are ashamed to own what they plainly do We do not worship the Bread say they for that we believe is done away and turned into the natural Body of Christ and so we cannot be charged with Bread-worship But do ye not worship that which ye see and which ye have before ye and which is carried about And would not any man that sees what that is think ye worship Bread or Wafer And could you ever perswade him that it was any thing else And if notwithstanding what you think of it against all Sense and Reason it be still Bread then I hope it is Bread that ye worship and till others think as wildly as ye do ye must give them leave to think and charge ye thus But if it were true that ye did not worship the Bread yet ye must and do own that ye worship the Species of the Bread and how ye should do that without being guilty of another very gross Absurdity ye do not know your selves for ye must make them so united to Christ as to make one Suppositum and so one Object of Worship as his Humanity and Godhead are and then according to this way of yours Christ may as well be said to be Impanated and United to Bread or its Species as Incarnated and United to Flesh as some of you have taught w Bellarm. de Ruperto Abbate Tuitiensi l. 3. de Euch. c. 11. that the Bread in the Eucharist is assumed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the humane Nature was But not to mention these which wheresoever ye turn ye stare ye full in the face and should make ye blush one would think had ye not put off all shame as well as all sense in this matter grant ye what ye would have that it is not Bread but the substantial Body Flesh and Blood of a man that is in the Host will this help much to mend the matter or to lessen the Absurdity and not rather increase and swell it For besides the incredible wonder that a bit of Bread should by a few words of every common Priest be turned immediately into the true and perfect Body of a man nav into ten thousand Bodies at the same time which is a greater Miracle than ever was done i' th' World and is as great almost as creating the World it self out of nothing and if it were true would make she Priest a God certainly and not a man and much rather to be worshipt than a bit of Bread as Lactantius saies of the Heathen Idols He that made them ought rather to be worship than they x Meliorem esse qui fecit quam illa quae facta sunt si haec adoranda sunt artificem a quo facta sunt ipsum quoque multo potiori jure adorandum esse Lactant.
A DISCOURSE Concerning the ADORATION OF THE HOST As it is Taught and Practiced in the CHURCH of ROME Wherein an Answer is given to T. G. on that Subject And to Monsieur Boileau's late book De Adoratione Eucharistiae Paris 1685. LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1685. A DISCOURSE OF THE ADORATION of the HOST c. IDolatry is so great a Blot in any Church whatever other glorious Marks it may pretend to that it is not to be wondred that the Church of Rome is very angry to be charged with it as it has always been by all the Reform'd who have given in this among many others as a just and necessary Reason of their Reformation and it must be confessed to be so if it be fully and clearly made good against it and if it be not it must be owned to be great Uncharitableness on the other side which is no good Note of a Church neither a grievous Slander and most uncharitable Calumny which will fall especially upon all the Clergy of the Church of England who by their Consent and Subscription to its Articles and to the Doctrine of its Homilies and to the Book of Common-Prayer do expresly join in it For it is not the private Opinion only of some particular and forward men in their Zeal and Heat against Popery thus to accuse it of Idolatry but it is the deliberate and sober and downright Charge of the Church of England of which no honest man can be a Member and a Minister who does not make and believe it I might give several Instances to shew this but shall only mention one wherein I have undertaken to defend our Church in its charge of Idolatry upon the Papists in their Adoration of the Host which is in its Declaration about Kneeling at the Sacrament after the Office of the Communion in which are these remarkable words It is hereby declared that no Adoration is intended or ought to be done either unto the sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or unto any corporal presence of Christs natural Flesh and Blood for the sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians Here it most plainly declares its mind against that which is the Ground and Foundation of their Worshipping the Host That the Elements do not remain in their natural Substances after Consecration if they do remain as we and all Protestants hold even the Lutherans then in Worshipping the consecrated Elements they worship meer Creatures and are by their own Confession guilty of Idolatry as I shall show by and by and if Christ's natural Flesh and Blood be not corporally present there neither with the Substance nor Signs of the Elements then the Adoring what is there must be the Adoring some things else than Christs body and if Bread only be there and they adore that which is there they must surely adore the Bread it self in the opinion of our Church but I shall afterwards state the Controversie more exactly between us Our Church has here taken notice of the true Issue of it and declared that to be false and that it is both Unfit and Idolatrous too to Worship the Elements upon any account after Consecration and it continued of the same mind and exprest it as particularly and directly in the Canons of 1640 where it says a Canon 7. 1640. about placing the Communion Table under this head A Declaration about some Rites and Ceremonies That for the cause of the Idolatry committed in the Mass all Popish Altars were demolisht so that none can more fully charge them with Idolatry in this point than our Church has done It recommends at the same time but with great Temper and Moderation the religious Gesture of bowing towards the Altar both before and out of the time of Celebration of the Holy Eucharist and in it and in neither a Ib. Cant 7. 1640. Vpon any opinion of a corporal presence of Christ on the Holy Table or in the mystical Elements but only to give outward and bodily as well as inward Worship to the Divine Majesty and it commands all Persons to receive the Sacrament Kneeling b Rubric at Communion in a posture of Adoration as the Primitive Church used to do with the greatest Expression of Reverence and Humility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Cyrill of Hierusalem speaks c Cyril Hierosolym Catech. Mystag 5. and as I shall shew is the meaning of the greatest Authorities they produce out of the Ancients for Adoration not to but at the Sacrament so far are we from any unbecoming or irreverent usage of that Mystery as Bellarmine d Controv. de Eucharist when he is angry with those who will not Worship it tells them out of Optatus that the Donatists gave it to Dogs and out of Victor Vticensis that the Arrians trod it under their Feet that we should abhor any such disrespect shown to the sacred Symbols of our Saviours Body as is used by them in throwing it into the Flames to quench a Fire or into the Air or Water to stop a Tempest or Inundation or keep themselves from drowning or any the like mischeif to prevent which they will throw away even the God they Worship or the putting it to any the like undecent Superstitions 'T is out of the great Honour and Respect that we bear to the Sacrament that we are against the carrying it up and down as a show and the Exposing and Prostituting it to so shameful an Abuse and so gross an Idolatry We give very great Respect and Reverence to all things that relate to God and are set apart to his Worship and Service to the Temple where God is said himself to dwell and to be more immediately present to the Altar whereon the Mysteries of Christs Body and Blood are solemnly celebrated to the Holy Vessels that are always used in those Administrations to the Holy Bible which is the Word of God and the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Sacrament is his Body and the New Testament in his Blood to the Font which is the Laver of Regeneration wherein we put on Christ as well as we eat him in the Eucharist and if we would strain things and pick out of the Ancient and Devout Christians what is said of all these it would go as far and look as like to adoring them as what with all their care they collect and produce for adoring the Sacrament as I shall afterwards make appear in Answer to what the a Jacob. Boileau Paris De Adoratione Eucharistiae Paris 1685. latest Defender of the Adoration of the Eucharist has culled or rather raked together out of the Fathers It seems from that Declaration of our Church that some were either so silly or so spiteful as to suppose that by
off as he would the Worshippers of the Host by the meer adding of more thick Grosness and more Absurdities to their other mistakes He will have b P. 322. the Israelites to take the golden Calf for God and the Egyptians the Sun to be God and perhaps some of the most stupid Heathens did take their very Images for Gods and by his way these were the most excusable because they were the most mistaken These mistakes would after this rate do great and extraordinary things for Idolaters and would be much better security for the Roman Church than her pretended Infallibility and indeed 't is these must bring off her and her Members from the guilt tho not from the Acts of Idolatry as well as from other things or else she and they are in a very sad and desperate Condition But now I dare appeal to any man who shall take in all those Considerations I have mentioned together whether the Papist's adoring the Host upon the supposal and belief of Transubstantiation if that be not true will excuse them from Idolatry and whither if a mistake in this Case will excuse them it will not excuse the grossest Idolatry in the World Notwitstanding all the little Shifts and Evasions that T. G. uses to wriggle himself out of this streight and difficulty into which his learned Adversary had driven him HAving considered the Adoration of the Host as it is Taught in the Church of Rome I shall now consider the Practice of it which is more plain and evident and notorious to all the World however they would palliate and disguise their Doctrine According to their Missal which is wholly different in this as well as other things from the old Lyturgic and Eucharistic forms as I shall show by and by the Priest a Celebrans hostiam inter pollices tenens genuflexus eam adorat tum usque in terram genuflexus hostiam ipsam veneratur sic de calice reponit calicem super corporale genuflexus sanguinem reverenter adorat illum populo ostendens adorandum Sacramentum genuflexus veneratur in Canon Miss genuflexus reverentiam facit Sacramento in every Mass as soon as he has consecrated the Bread and Wine with bended Knees he adores the Sacrament b Missale Romanum c. 9. Sacramentum genuflexus adorat Capite inclinato versus Sacramentum dicit Intelligibili voce Agnus Dei qui tollis peccati mundi miserere nobis Da nobis pacem that which he has consecrated that very thing which is before him upon the Paten and in the Chalice and gives the same Worship and Subjection both of Body and Mind to it as he could to God or Christ himself for with his Head and his Soul bowing towards it and his Eyes and Thoughts fixt upon it and directed to it he prays to it as to Christ himself Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World have Mercy upon us Grant us Peace and the like then the Priest rising up after he has thus adored it himself he lifts it up as high as conveniently he can above his head and with Eyes fixt upon it he shows it to be devoutly adored by the People c Sacerdos postquam ipse hostiam genuflexus adoravit continuo se erigens quantum commode potest elevat in altum intentis in eam oculis populo reverenter ostendit adorandam who having notice also by ringing the Mass Bell as soon as they see it fall down in the humblest Adorations to it as if it were the very appearance of God himself and if Christ himself were visibly present before them they could not show more acts of Reverence and Devotion and Worship to him than they do to the Host they Pray to it and use the very Forms of Perition and Invocation to that as to Christ himself such as these O saving Host or blessed Sacrament which openest the door of Heaven give me strength and and power against dangers and against all my Enemies d O salutaris Hostia quae caeli pandis ostium bella premunt hostilia Da robur fer auxilium Hymnus in Festo corporis Christi in Breviaâ— Rom. e Adoro te devote latens Deitas quae sub his figuris vere latitas tibi se cor meum subjicit Deum meum te confiteor Fac me tibi magis credere in te spem habere te deligere praesta menti de te vivere te illi semper dulce sapere Rythmus St. Thom. ad Eucharist in Missal Make me always more to believe to hope in thee to love thee Grant that my Soul may always live upon thee and that thou mayst always tast sweet unto it Thus both the Priest and the People are several times to Adore and Worship both the Host and the Cup in the Celebration of the Eucharist and they will not disown nor cannot their directing and terminating their Devotions and Prayers upon the Sacrament which is before them Prayers they call them to the Eucharist f Ad Sacram. Eucharistiam Rythmus Rom. breviar and 't is become a common form of Doxology amongst them instead of saying Praise be given to God to say Praise be given to the most holy Sacrament g Laus sacratissimo Sacramento as 't is in one of their Authors instead of ye shall pray to God ye shall pray to the Body of Christ i. e. to the Sacrament h Orlandinus hist Sanders in his Book of the Supper of the Lord i Corpori sanguini Christi sub Speciebus panis vini omnis honor Laus Gratiarum actio in secula seculorum Sanderus de caena Dom. instead of Glory be to the Father Son and Holy Ghost turns it thus To the Body and Blood of our Saviour under the Species of Bread and Wine be all Honour and Praise and Thanksgiving for evermore as if it were another Person of the blessed Godhead This Adoration is not only in the time of Communion when it is properly the Lords Supper and Sacrament but at other times out of it whenever it is set upon the Altar with the Candles burning and the Incense smoking before it or hung up in its rich Shrine and Tabernacle with a Canopy of State over it And not only in the Church which is sanctified they say by this Sacrament as by the Presence of God himself k Bellarm. de sanct c. 5. but when it is carried through the Sreets in a solemn and pompous Procession as it is before the Pope when he goes abroad just as the Persian fire was before the Emperor l Curt. l. 3. S. 3. meerly by way of state or for a superstitious end that he may better the be Guarded and Defended by the company of his God m Ad capitis illius sacri custodiam praesidialem patronalem Perron de Euch. l. 3. c. 19. In all these times it is to worshipped and adcred by all persons as it
in it so we ought to adore it as no doubt the Angels do in Heaven and as we are to do in all the Offices of our Religion tho that be in Heaven yet we are to worship it upon Earth and especially when it is brought to our minds and thought by that which is appointed by Christ himself to be the Figure and Memorial of it the blessed Sacrament there and in Baptism especially when we put on Christ and have his Death and Rising again represented to us and have such great benefits of his Death and Incarnation bestowed upon us in these Mysteries we are as St. Ambrose g Caro Christi quam hodie in Mysteriis adoramus Ambros l. 3. de Sp. San. c. 12. apud Boil p. 32. says to Adore the Body and the Flesh of Christ to which we immediately and particularly owe them and which we may truly call our Saviour St. Ambrose and St. Austin h August Enar. in Ps 98. his Scholar after him supposing that there was a great difficulty in that passage of the Psalms worship his footstool for so it is in the Latin i Adorate scabellum pedum ejus without the Preposition at his footstool they laboured to reconcile this with that command of Worshipping and Serving God alone and to give an account how the Earth which was Gods footstool could be worshipt and the way they take was this to make Christs Flesh which he took of the Earth to be meant by that Earth which was Gods footstool k Invenio quomodo sine Impietate adoretur terra scabellum pedum ejus suscepit enim de terra terram quia caro de terra est de carne Mariae carnem accepit August Ib. and this say they we ought to worship his Apostles did so whilst he was upon Earth and we do so now whilst he is in Heaven We worship the Flesh of Christ which was crucified for us and by the benefit of which we hope for Pardon and Salvation we worship that tho it be now in Heaven we worship it in the Solemn Offices of our Religion l Ipsam carnem nobis manducandam ad salutem dedit nemo autem illam carnem manducat nisi prius adoraverit Aug. Ib. that Flesh which he gave to be eaten by us for our Salvation that we worship for none eates that Flesh but he first worships Worships that if they please tho St. Austin do not expresly say that but we will own and we will be always ready to Worship the Flesh of Christ by which we are saved and we will do this especially at the Sacrament and that more truly and properly than they themselves will own that we eat and manducate it as St. Austin says not with our Teeth as we do the Bread but eat it and worship it too as it is Heaven St. Hierome m Epist ad Marcel Ibant Christiani Hierosolymam ut Christum in illis adorarent locis in quibus primum Evangelium de patibulo coruscaverat says of some devout Christians That they went to Hierusalem that they might adore Christ in those places where the Gospel first shone from the Cross They went that they might adore Christ in those places not that they believed him to be corporally present in those places much less that they worshipt the places themselves but they made a more lively impression of Christ upon them and made them remember him with more Passion and Devotion and so does the blessed Sacrament upon us and we therefore worship Christ whom we believe to be in Heaven in the Sacrament as they worshipt him in those places where they were especially put in mind of him Thus St. Hierome says He worshipped Christ in the Grave and that Paula worshipped him in the Stall n Ad Paul Eustoch and so we may be said to worship him on the Cross or on the Altar or in the Sacrament and yet not to worship the Cross or the Altar or the Sacrament it self 3. Other places out of the Fathers brought by him for the Adoration of the Host mean only that the Sacrament is to be had in great reverence and esteem by us as all things sacred and set apart to religious uses are that a sngular Veneration is due to the Eucharist as St. Austin says o Eucharistiae deberi singularem venerationem Epist 118 c. 3. and as is to Baptism also of which he uses the same word We venerate Baptism p Baptismum ubicunque est veneramur Id Epist 146. as we ought to do all the Rites and Ordinances of our Religion this is meant by Origen in that first place of him produced by Boileau q De Euch. Ador. p. 10. ex Orig. Homil 13. Nostis qui Divinis mysteriis interesse consuestis quomodo cum suscipitis corpus Domini cum omni cautela veneratione servatis ne ex eo parum quid decidat ne consecrati muneris aliquid dilabatur Reos enim vos creditis recte creditis siquid inde per negligentiam decidat Ye that are wont to be present at the Divine Mysteries know how when ye receive the Body of Christ ye keep it with all Caution and Veneration that no part of the consecrated gift be let fall for ye think and that rightly that ye should be guilty of a fault if any of it should be let fall through your negligence And Christans have this Care and Veneration of those consecrated Symbols of the Body and Blood of their Saviour of these wonderful Pledges of his Love that they would not willingly spill them or let them fall to the ground through their carelesness and neglect they that have that due regard to the Holy Bible which they ought would not trample it under their feet or show any such disrespect to it it was this which Origen was recommending in that place from that example of their care and respect to the Sacrament Elements that they should give it also to the Word of God r Quod si circa corpus ejus tanta utimini cantela merito urimini quomodo putatis minoris esse piaculi Verbum Dei neglexisse quam Corpus ejus Ib. But if ye use such care and that very deservedly about keeping his Body how do ye think it to be a less fault to neglect the word of God than to neglect his Body The Comparison here made between the Word of God and the Sacrament so plainly shows that he no way meant its Adoration that I wonder this Person was not ashamed to pretend just before it that he Å¿ Alienum esse ab institutis meis ullum in medium adducere patrem quin conceptis verbis propitium Boil p. 10. would bring no Authority but what was expresly for his Opinion and use none but t Animo decreverim argumenta invictissima concludere invincible Arguments but Roman Faith must be defended with Roman courage and confidence which
is the only invincible thing they have The words of Theodoret are a great deal more plausible and seem at the first glance to look more fairly than any for their purpose The Elements are understood to be what they are made and they are believed and reverenced as those things which they are believed v 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. Dialog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Boil p. 64. Here our Faith makes the Sacrament to be what it signifies to become to us the res Sacramenti as well as a sign and Representation of it and that thing is to be adored by us in the use of the Sacrament which is the true sense of Theodorets words and that he cannot mean in the Roman sense that the Elements are converted into another substance the substance of Christs Body is plain from what immediately goes before and utterly destroys what they would catch from half his words for he says That the Elements or the mystical Signs do not after sanctification recede from their own but remain in their former substance w 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. Thus their best Witness that seems to speak the most for them yet speaks that against them which destroys their whole cause as he must own whoever reads the Dialogue and considers the design of it which was to answer the pretence of those who said that the Body of Christ was after his Ascension turned into a Divine substance and lost the true nature of Body x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Symbols of Christs Body and Blood are changed say those Hereticks into what they were not before Yes saies he Now ye are taken in your own net for they remain in their former nature and substance afterwards and so does Christs Body If then the change of these sacred Elements be only as to their use and vertue but not as to their substance according to Theodoret then he could not mean that they should be adored but only reverenced by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just as the Holy Bible y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liturg. Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acta Concil Ephes is said to be reverenced and the Priest themselves by the very same word z. 4. Some of the Fathers words imply that when we come to the Sacrament it should be with the greatest lowliness both of Body and Mind and as the Primitive Church used to do and as the Church of England does in a posture of Worship and Adoration in the form and manner of Worship as St. Cyril of Hieros speaks a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catech Myst 5. or as St. Chrysostome In the form of Supplicants and Worshippers b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Homil. 7. in Matth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homil. de Phil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homil. in c. 10. Ep. 1. ad Cor. of Christ as the Magi were when they came to bring their presents to him do thou then present him with humility and a lowly and submissive heart and be not like Herod who pretended he would come to worship him but it was to murder him but rather imitate the Magi and come with greater fear and reverente to thy Saviour than they did This is the whole design and substance of what is produced out of St. Chrysostom c Boil c. 7. l 1. And this is the plain meaning of Origen d Hom. 5. in N. T. Tunc Dominus sub tectum tuum in greditur tu ergo humilians teipsum imitare hunc Centurionem dicito Domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum that when we come to receive Christ in the Sacrament we should do it with all Humility for consider says he That then the Lord enters under thy roof do thou therefore humble thy self and imitate the Centurion and say Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof When the Fathers would give us the Picture of a devout Communicant they draw him in the greatest Posture of Humility and Reverence looking upon and e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom in Serm. 31. in natal Dom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Johan Hieros apud Chrysost apud Boil p. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. adoring his Saviour who died for him upon the Cross prostrating his Soul and his Body before him and exercising the highest acts of Devotion to him and with Tears in his Eyes and Sorrow in his heart standing like a Penitent before him trembling and afraid as sensible of his own guilt with his Eyes cast down and with dejected Looks considering that he is but Dust and Ashes who is vouchsafed to this Honour and inwardly Groaning and Sighing and Panting in his Soul saying Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof and the like And thus they may find all devout Communicants in our Church behaving themselves during the whole Solemnity and Celebration of that blessed Sacrament in which Mystery they always adore Christ and that Flesh of Christ which was crucified for then as St. Ambrose and St. Austin speak when their minds are all the while inflamed with the most devout Affections and they are performing all the inward and outward Acts of the highest Devotion to God and their Saviour then they are upon their Knees offering up most ardent Prayers and Thanksgivings but not to the sacred Symbols which are before them or the Sacrament it self as the object to which but as the Circumstance at and in which all this Devotion and Worship is performed And there is a great deal of difference from all this in the Church of Rome when they direct all this to the Sacrament it self and to the consecrated Elements when they terminate their Worship upon what is before them and direct their Intentions to that as an Object and therefore whenever they have this Object appear to them they immediately fall down and worship it not only in the time of the Communion when it finds them at their Devotion but at all other times when they are standing or walking in the Streets and are in no present Temper or Posture of Devotion yet all of a sudden as soon as they see the Host coming by they must put themselves into one and Adore that very Object that appears to them The Fathers always speak of Persons as coming to the Sacrament and partaking of it and worshipping Christ and the Body of Christ in the Celebration of those Divine Mysteries but it never enter'd into their minds or thoughts to perswade or encourage their hearers in their most devout Discourses to Adore the Host as the Church of Rome does either in or especially out of the time of that sacred Solemnity and tho it be very easie to make a Book out of the Fathers and to heap Authorities out of them to little purpose yet it is imposible to prove by all the places produced out
of them by T. G. f Chap. 1. Of the Adoration of the blessed Sacrament or more largely by Boilean that they meant any more than what we are very willing to joyn with them in that Christ is to be worshipt in the Sacrament as in Baptism and the other Offices of our Religion and that his Body and Flesh which he offered for us and by which we expect Salvation is also to be adored as being always united to his Divine Nature and that the Sacrament it self as representing the great Mystery of our Redemption is to be highly reverenced by us and that we should come to receive it with all Humility and in the most decent Posture of Worship and Adoration as the Primitive Christians did But that the Sacrament it self is to be adored as well as Christ that which the Priest holds in his hands or lies upon the Altar before us that this is to be the Object of our Worship and to have all manner of Latria both of Body and Soul directed to that as to God himself that the consecrated Elements or the sacred Symbols of Christs Body and Blood are to be worshipt by us when we receive them or when without receiving them we see them set upon the Altar or carried about in Procession this which is the Controversie between us not one Father says but above three hundred of them together in a Council say g Concil Sept. Constant Act. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That to prevent Idolatry Christ appointed an excellent Image and Representation of himself in the Sacrament without any manner of humane shape even the plain and simple substance of Bread But they resolve that Idolatry shall not be prevented but they will be so sottish as to commit it with that which was designed to prevent it and which one would think should not in the least tempt any man to it with a bit of Bread The Absurdities of which upon a general view of the whole I shall now for a Conclusion represent and offer as the last Argument against it and tho that alone might be sufficient since God never imposes any thing that is really foolish and ridiculous to be believed or practiced by his Creatures yet I thought it the fittest to be produced after we are well assured that neither Scripture nor Antiquity have required any such thing And however unwilling Bellarmine h Bell de Sacram. Euchar. l. 3. c. 10. is to admit of Arguments of this nature from the Absurdity of the thing as knowing how very liable the Church of Rome was to them and tho 't is the most unjust Reflection upon Christianity to say that any thing that is a part of that is so which they are too ready to insinuate and so bring a reproach upon the common Christianity rather than part with their own ridiculous Opinions yet after we have thoroughly imformed our selves that there is nothing of a Divine Authority as one can hardly think there should be for what is so absurd in it self then an Argument from the folly and unreasonableness of the thing must be allowed to be very proper and till men have lost all their Reason it will always be very cogent and here it is so very strong and presses so hard upon their Adoration of the Host that 't is no wonder that they love to set by and except against reason whenever this matter is to be tryed but it is most sad to consider that they should have so little regard and concern for the Credit and Reputation of the Christian Religion as by this means so shamefully and notoriously to expose it to the Reproach and Contempt of the wisest Men. How must a Jew or a Turk who are great enemies to all Idolatry be prejudiced against Christianity when he sees those who profess it fall down and worship a Wafer and make an Idol of a bit of Bread When he lives in those places where he sees it carried about with Candles and Torches before it in most Solemn and Pompous Processions and all Persons as it goes by falling upon their Knees and saying their prayers and using all acts of Devotion to it would he not wonder what strange and new God that no History ever mention'd the Christians adored Mankind indeed when very ignorant used to worship a great many Creatures that were very useful to them and when they were very hungry if they lighted upon Bread it was no great wonder but sure it can be no more fit to be worshipt by those who better know God than any of his other Creatures or any of the most dumb and senseless and pitiful Images for which the Christians so often and so justly laught at the Idolatrous Heathens especially those of them who were so foolish and such true belly-Gods as to eat and feed upon what they worshipt and deified This the first and most learned Christians charged as the highest degree of folly in the Egyptians to eat the same Animals whom they worshipt i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig contra â—elsum I. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tatian Orat. contra Graec. A pim bovem adoratis pascitis Minut. Octav. p. 94. And a wise Heathen could not think any would be so mad as to think that to be a God with which he was fed k Ecquem tam amentem esse putas ut illud quo vescatur Denm esse credat Tally de natura Deorum It was the ingenious Opinion of a very learned Father that God made the difference between the clean and unclean Beast to prevent this Egyptian and Brutish folly in the Israelites who lived among them Because saies he by their abominating the unclean they would not deifie them and by eating the clean they would be secured from ever worshipping them for it must be the extreamest madness to worship what they eat l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret in Quaest in Genes How did the Ancient Apologists for Christianity with great wit and smartness ridicule the other Idols of the Heathens as being the works at first of the Carver or the Painter and particularly for being such Gods as were baked at first in the Furnace m Incoctos fornacibus figulinis Arnob contra Gent. l. 6. of the Potter and it had been much the same had it been in the Oven of the Baker for being Gods of Brass or of Silver n Deus aereus vel argenteus Minut. Octav. p. 74 And yet they counted the Silver or the Brass no more a God o Nos neque aeris neque auri argentique materias Arnob. ut supra than others do the Bread as I have shown above How at other times did they think sit to expose their impotent and senseless Deities because they could not preserve themselves from Thieves p Deos vestros plerumque in praedam furibus cedere Lactant. Institut l. 2. c. 4. nor yet from rotteness but the Worms would still gnaw