Reasons perswaded me that in the Primitive Church they did not believe the real Presence with Transubstantiation as the Roman Church Teaches it The first of all was the Argument which the Holy Fathers used to prove the Idols of the Heathens not to be Gods The Idols you Worship so earnestly said (a) Arnobi lib. 6. Lactant. lib. 2. cap. 2. they to the Heathens are not Gods If they fall to the ground they cannot raise up again by themselves therefore they need the help of Men they can neither open their Eyes nor stir out of the place where they have been set nor give the least sign of respiration They are subject to Rustiness Worms and Corruption Mice come to gnaw them and work their holes even in the Idols themselves In fine The Doors of your Temples must be shut up with good Locks least Theives should steal those Gods of yours It is to be believed that men who spoke thus would hold the Body Soul and Divinity of Christ to be Really Present in the Holy Sacrament Would not they have had reason to fear that the Heathens who were very able men would use against them the same Argument and tell them Your Host is not a God neither you are not to Worship it for it is subject to the same conveniencies and accidents as our Gods are Would a Divine of the Church of Rome have the boldness to dispute against the Heathens with the same reasons which the first Christians used The People of Paris said about five or six years ago They have stolen to day God Almighty out of St. Sulpitius's Church out of the Parish of Boulogne out of I do not know how many other Churches could that people say by right that the reason why the Idols are not Gods is because they cannot defend themselves against the Theives who come to take them away Those who have composed the Rubricks of the Missal wherein they Teach what is to be done in case the Host is fallen upon the Ground in case that that which is in the Chalice be spilt would they say that the reason why the Idols are not Gods is because when they are fallen they cannot rise up by themselves Thomas Aquinas and other Doctors of the Roman Church who do suppose the Host may grow mouldy that Worms may breed in it should they dare say as did the first Christians that the reason why we are not to Worship Idols is because they are subject to Rustiness Worms and Corruptions A Man of the Church of Rome who knows that the Pope (a) Platina in Victori Victorinus the Third was Poisoned in Drinking that which was in the Chalice That Henry the Seventh Emperour was Murthered with a Consecrated Host and that (b) Math. Paris an 1154. Henry Arch-bishop of York was used after the same manner in taking the Sacrament Durst One who knows all these Stories say the reason why the Idols are not Gods is because some of them falling out of their places have bruised and hurt those who usually walked about them Words are the Expressions of our Thoughts if the Church of Rome hath the same belief and the same Doctrin concerning the Eucharist as the first Christians Why doth it not dare to urge the same things which were maintained by the first Christians Or if the first Christians had the same Faith as the Church of Rome now how came they to urge Arguments which the Church of Rome now dares not maintain It is easie to know how great a prejudice this Argument is against the Belief of the Roman Church so did it work a mighty effect in my Soul And because I thought it very hard to have a resolution to it I proposed it in publick Disputes at Paris and first the Professor denied that ever any of the Fathers had used such Arguments But for as much as I could not abide to take a Lye before so many People I sent for Arnobius his Book and I read therein proofs enough to maintain the Propositions I stood for then the Professor who was as much able to give Distinction to no purpose as he was ignorant in reading the Fathers brought distinctions upon distinctions till at last in denying or distinguishing propositions clearer than the Sun it self he had reduced the Dispute to some Philosophical Question to avoid Answering my Argument I proposed it again to several Learned Men I looked for some Answer and Solution in the Books of Divines and I found nothing no where that could satisfie me in that Difficulty II. Second Proof drawn out of the Reasons wherewith the same Fathers were wont to dispute against the Hereticks THe second Reason that perswaded me that in the Primitive Church they did not believe the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was the Argument the first Christians used to prove against the Hereticks of their Age that Christ had a true Body and that he was not a Ghost Jesus Christ saith Tertullian (a) Lib. 4. Cap. 40. cont Marci Took the Bread and divided to his Apostles he made his Body of it saying This is my body that is to say The Figure of my body But it could not be the Figure of his Body if he had not had a true Body since a thing in the Air such as a Ghost is not capable of any Figure And (b) Lib. 5. Cap. 1. Irenaeus disputing against the Hereticks who said Christ had not taken the Human Nature If it be so says he the Lord has not Redeemed us with his Blood the Chalice of the Eucharist is not the Communication of his Blood and the Bread we break is not the Communication of his Body for the Blood cannot proceed but from Veins Flesh and the rest of the Substance of a Man If these Fathers had believed the Real Presence with Transubstantiation they had spoken thus Had not they said the Eucharist is Christ's own Flesh his own Soul his own Divinity therefore Christ was not a meer Ghost since we have his Flesh in the Sacrament Had not this Argument been stronger than the other wherein they proved that Christ had a true Body because the Sacrament is the Figure of his Body Irenaeus ought to have supposed in the Chalice of the Eucharist Christs own Blood to be and not as he doth that the Chalice of the Eucharist is the Communication of his Blood he should have said the Bread we break is Transubstantiated into Christ Body and not that it is the Communication of the Body of Christ In a word he should have said that the Sacrament was Christs own Flesh Christs own Substance And though those Arguments of the Fathers are admirable and most cogent yet they would have betrayed the Truths if being perswaded of the Articles of the Real Presence with Transubstantiation of the Roman Church they had forgotten to speak of it I am very sure if the Ancient Heresies should come again into the Church there would be never a Divine to
be found in the Roman Church who durst prove against them as did Tertullian against Marcion that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the Figure of Christs Body and that consequently Christ was not a Ghost On the contrary a Protestant would be able to bring against those Heresies the same Arguments which the first Christians used and he would be warranted therein by all his Church From whence comes that difference if not from that that a Protestant believes nothing concerning the Sacrament but what they believed in the Primitive Church whereas a Divine of the Church of Rome acknowledges several articlesof Faith which were unknown among the First Christians and which consequently are the cause he cannot speak the same Language nor use the same Arguments they used These two Reasons seemed to me so much the stronger because I looked upon them not as the opinion of a single man who may be deceived or some place of a Book which may be corrupted and drawn into an ill sense but I looked upon these Reasons as the Reasons of all the Church and publick Weapons both of Learned Men and of the People to fight the Heathens and the Hereticks with all III. Third Proof drawn out of the manner whereafter the Fathers were wont to speak of this Holy Sacrament THat which confirmed me that in the Primitive Church they did not believe the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was the manner wherewith the Fathers both Greek and Latin were wont to speak of those Mysteries Theodoret (a) In 55 Quaestiosuper genesim says It is an extreme foclishness and extravagancy to Worship what one Eats 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the same in (b) Dialog 1. Intitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another place The LORD says he did the honour to the visible Signs to call them his BLOOD and his BODY not having changed their Nature but having added Grace to Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is there any appearance that the Fathers believed what the Council of Trent teaches A Divine of the Church of Rome who should say that it is an extreme extravagancy to Worship what one Eats That Christ hath not changed the Nature of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament would he not presently be sent to the Inquisition and condemned as an Heretick to be burnt a live The Eucharist say the Fathers of the Church (a) Cyprian de Caena cap. 6. is a visible Sacrament whereupon the Divine Essence imparts it self after an unutterable manner It (b) Idem cap. 2. is an Holy Nutriment capable of rendering us Immortal which is very much different from the ordinary Nutriments we are daily fed withal It keeps indeed the kind of a corporeal substance but it makes known by an invisible efficacy that it possesses the Presence of a Divine Vertue (c) Hilary de Trinit lib. 8. we are in Christ by his corporeal Birth and he is in us by the Mysteries of his Sacraments (d) August cap. 12. cont Adimant The Lord did not doubt to say this is my Body when he gave the Sign of his Body He (a) Idem in Psal 3. permitted Judas to be present at the Banquet wherein he committed and gave to his Disciples the Figure of his Body and Blood If a Roman Author should use these expressions which the Holy Fathers used would not a Bishop of the Roman Church zealous for the Interests of the Council of Trent say to him Sir 't is not enough to say with Cyprian tha tthe Divine Essence imparts it self in the Eucharist after an unutterable manner the Hereticks say all that You must say furthermore the Body and Soul of Christ are there really in the room of the substance of Bread 'T is not enough to say the Eucharist is an Holy Nutriment of a Divine Vertue the Hereticks do confess all that You must say moreover it contains the Real Presence of Christs Body and Blood 'T is not enough to say that Christ is in us by the Mysteries of his Sacraments the Hereticks do believe the same thing but you must say he is in us really his Body his Soul his Divinity In fine you must have a very great care of saying the Sacrament is the Sign and the Figure of Christ's Body and Blood as St. Austin said you must say to the contrary that it is not the Figure of Christ's Body and Blood you must say that it is Christ's own Body and Blood into which the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper is Transubstantiated Certainly this Bishop would speak well according to the belief of the new Roman Church but he would be far from the Doctrin of the holy Fathers He would forsake the Faith of the Primitive Church he would bring forth propositions of which the first Christians have been wholly ignorant he would even condemn the Belief of 330 Bishops of a general Council held at Constantinople in the year 754. for those 330 Bishops condemning as Idolatry the Worshiping of Images among the Reasons they brought did exhort the People to be contented with the Images that Christ has instituted giving in the Holy Sacrament Bread and Wine as Images and Figures of his own Body and Blood and speaking of the Bread of the Eucharist Behold there is said those Fathers the Image of his life-giving Body and a little after The Lord say they has commanded us to put upon the Table this Image especially chosen to wit the substance of Bread least Idolatry should slip in among the Christians if he had been represented under an Human Figure IV. Fourth Proof drawn out of the Novelty of the Doctrin teaching Transubstantiation ALl those Reasons perswaded me not only that the belief of the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was not the belief of the Primitive Church but furthermore that they were Articles of Faith newly devised And I knew afterwards they were no older than the beginning of the thirteenth Age when Pope Innocent the Third in the (a) Scotus in 4. Sent. dist 11. quaest 3. Council of Lateran in the year â—214 set among the Articles of Faith the Belief of Transubstantiation since we see that in the end of the Ninth Age about the Year of our Lord 870. Bertram or John Scot one of the most learned Men of that time wrote a Book by the command of Charles the Bauld King of France touching the question of the Eucharist wherein he maintains openly the Belief of the Protestant Church since we (a) Biblioteca Patr. de Div. Offi. find a letter of the Emperour Charles Magne to his Teacher Alcuinus wherein these words are to be read Jesus christ supping with his Disciples broke the Bread and gave it to them likewise the Cup in figure of his Body and Blood In fine since even in the Canon of the Mass instead of these words which are to be found there now Ut nobis Corpus Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui c. That it may become to us
the Body and Blood of thy most well-beloved Son c. These other words were to be read Fac nobis hanc oblationem ascriptam rationabilem acceptabilem quod est Figura Corporis et sanguinis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi which is the Figure of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ All that made me know that to establish the belief of Reallity with Transubstantiation in the Church of Rome there hath been need not only to corrupt the Scriptures and to give them an interpretation which is absurd impossible and ridiculous but moreover to withstand all Antiquity Ch. 2. §. 2. to pervert the Writings of the Holy Fathers even to suborn the Canon of the Mass which afore such monstrous corruption was slipt into the Church was but a certain number of Prayers devout enough and very reasonable Those horrible alterations which I discovered caused me to look with detestation upon the belief of the Roman Church and to mistrust it in every thing SECT II. The Belief of Rome about the Sacrifice of the Mass is contrary to the belief of the Primitive Church I. In what sense it is true to say that the Holy Sacrament is a Sacrifice A Little while after I discovered the consequences and the progressions of the Error and the Falshood of this other Article of the Council of Trent (a) Sess 2.2 cap. 1 2. can 1 2 3. The Mass is a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick and for the Dead To explain this Proposition we must suppose with the Scripture that Alms Prayers and Thanksgivings and the rest of our good Works are Eucharistick Sacrifices so the Prophet (b) Cap. 14. v. 3. Hosea calls the Thanks which we give to God The Calves of our Lips So David directs his Prayers unto God saying (c) Psal 141.2 Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my Hands as the Evening Sacrifice So (d) Ad Heb. 13.15 St. Paul following after David says Let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the fruit of our Lips giving thanks to the Name It is in that sense that all the Christians in the Scripture are called Priests Ye are (e) 1 Pet. 2.9 says St. Peter awchosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Parises of him who has called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light And St. John in his (f) Rev. 1.6 Revelations He has made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father From whence you see that the Sacrifices of the Christians are Prayers Alms Thanksgivings and good Works and that all the Christians are themselves the Priests who offer them to God In that sense I conceived very well that the Holy Sacrament being the Commemoration of the death of the Son of God was a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving of Praises of bounden Duty and Service as I have learned since more perfectly in the Book of Common-Prayer wherein immediately after having received the Holy Communion we say O Lord and Heavenly Father we thy humble Servants entirely desire thy Fatherly Goodness merceifully to accept this our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving And Although we be unworthy through our manifold Sins to offer unto thee any Sacrifice yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service And then I did embrace very willingly the Doctrin I took since out of D. D. H. Hammond his (a) Lib. 4. Sect. 4. Practical Catechism out of Arch-bishop Cranmer his (b) Lib. 5. p. 377. Answer to Bishop Gardner D. Sim. Patrick in his Christian Sacrifice viz. That the Propitiatory Sacrifice had been made by our Lord Jesus Christ only but that the Sacrifice of Commemoration and Thanksgiving is made now by the Minister and the People II. The pretended Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Roman church is contrary to the Scripture THe Doctrine of the Council of Trent touching this Question seemed to me very harsh They must believe that Christ is Immolated every day in the Sacrament that a Roman Priest doth offer the Son of God unto his Father and that he doth offer him as a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick and the Dead Alas said I is not that to wrong Christ's Priest-hood to give him so many Fellow-Priests and petti-Sacrificers St. Paul (a) Ad Heb. cap. 7.23 Teaches me that the difference betwixt Moses's Law and Christ's consists in this that in the Law of Moses there was need to keep several Priests for as much as being Mortal they were to be Successors one to another but in the Law of Christ our Saviour Jesus Christ who is the Priest himself has no need of a Successor since he is living for ever since he is Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec They truly were many Priests saith he because they were not suffered to continue by reason of Death but this Christ because he continueth for ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood after that who doth not see that the Roman Church which says that her Priests are true Sacrificers and Christ's Successors in his Priesthood wrong Christ our Lord supposing that his Priest-hood has the same Imperfection as that of Moses's Law St. Paul teaches me that the Reason why in Moses's Law they reiterated their Sacrifices because the Blood of the Beasts which were offered was not able to sanctifie Sinners The Law Ad Heb. 10.1 saith he can never with those Sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect For then would they not have ceased to be offered Because that the Worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of Sins What then Doth the Church of Rome mean that the Sacrifice of the Cross was not able to Sanctifie Sinners that it has no more virtue than the Sacrifices of Moses's Law which were to be very oft reiterated doth that Church intend to give the Lye unto the Apostle who says (a) Ad Heb. 10.10 That we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And that (b) Ad Heb. 10.14 By one offering he has perfected for ever them that are Sanctified If the Sacrifice of the Cross of Christ has sanctified us all there remains nothing to do but to gain to our selves by Faith an interest in the Merit of his Death and Passion What do then signifie all those reiterated Sacrifices And if Christ's Priest-hood is everlasting Christ being living for ever why do they appoint Successors in his Priest-hood Are not all the Masses of Rome as many Blasphemies which accuse the Death and Passion of Christ of insufficiency and imperfection And all those Romish pettiSacrificers erected without any Order or Vocation of God are not they the Usurpers of Christ's Priesthood III. What has given occasion to that Error and the Degrees of Corruption which brought forth that Belief TO discover the stock of that Error
are attributed or that they have been thereafter increased adulterated and filled with Corruptions But let it be what it could these Liturgies though corrupted are nevertheless works of Antiquity and since many of the Authors of the Roman Church hold them all authentical we may rightly urge those works against them to make them to acknowledge that in the time those Liturgies were written the manner of administring the Eucharist was entirely different from that of the Church of Rome in the abridgement of the Cup in the worshipping of the Host and in Celebrating in an unknown Tongue which is a strong Proof against the novelty of the now Roman Church II. The beginning of all the Errors of the Roman Church in the administration of the Sacrament BUt without farther insisting upon Proofs which may be said to be negative only which nevertheless are of great weight and have almost the force of a Demonstration in Questions wherein one Sect is accused of Innovation it is very easie to produce positive Proofs to shew the Novelty of those Errors since we know the time when they were brought into the World and that we know their beginning and their Authors 1. The beginning of the abridgement of the Cup. We know by (a) Consult de utraque spec pag. 1025. Cassander's report that the Eastern Church has always given the Communion under both kinds to every one of the Faithful and that even in the Roman Church the custom of distributing to every body the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament did last more than a Thousand years the erroneous custom of Abridging the Cup of Christ's Blood to all the People was born in the Council of Constance in the 13. Session wherein the Council after having acknowledge that it was the custom of the Primitive Church to communicate under both kinds established as a Law the custom of taking away from the People a part of the Sacrament and declared hereticks those who say That it is an error to withstand the custom of the Primitive Church the Example and Institution of CHrist and the Commandement to which he has boud us upon ternal Damnation viz. the Commandement of Drinking of the Chalice of his Blood This is will some say a very strange Doctrine that a Council notwithstanding the Custom of the Primitive Church Christ's Example and the Commandement he has injoyned unto all the Faithful should dare forbid all Priests to give the Communion under both kinds and would have it be an heresie to obey our Lord Jesus Christ to be conformed to his Example and to follow the practice of the Saints who lived in the primitive Church This is a very Churlish and ungentile manner of dealing But what Reasons had that Council to forbid to administer the Communion under both kinds Are ye curious to know them I have learnt them of Chancellour * Tract contr Haeres de Cons. sub utraque specie Gerson 1. The Mens Beards which grow on their Lips 2. The loathsomness which one should have to drink after others 3. The costliness and difficulty of getting Wine 4. The inconveniencie of Frosts in Winter 5. The importunity of Flies in Summer 6. The trouble that the Deacons should have to bring Wine to the Faithful 7. The danger of spilling 8. And the Peoples unworthiness to equal Priests in receiving the Sacrament if he received it under both kinds These are the Reasons of great moment which have obliged that Council to withstand so directly the Institution of Christ and the holy Custom of all the Primitive Church Truly are these Reasons sufficient to abolish so express a Commandement which Christ has injoyned to all the Faithful to drink his Blood Are there some new inconveniencies which have happened since to alter the Form in which Christ has instituted the Sacrament Had not Men their Beards in the time of Christ Was there no body to be found in the Apostles time 'till the Council of Constance who had loathsomness to drink after others Is Wine dearer now in France Italy and Spain than it was then in Syria Graecia jerusalem and Constantinople Did not Wine freeze before the Council of Constance Is it but since that time Flies have vexed the People in Summer Are the trouble of the Deacons and the danger of spilling wine such things as Christ had not foreseen And are the Priests of the Roman Church more elevated in Dignity than Christ himself was and his Apostles that there should be need to set betwixt them and the People a difference which was never set betwixt Christ and his Apostles betwixt the Apostles and the rest of the Faithful 2. The Beginning of the Worshipping of the Host As for the worshipping of the Host not only we do not find that Christ or his Apostles ever worshipped the Sacrament or that this was the use of the first Faithful not only we do not find in all these Lyturgies whereof I have spoken any footstep of that worshipping But furtheremore we do know all the degrees whereby this Errour fair and softly slid into the World We know that it was Pope Innocent III. who first commanded that some Boxes should be kept in the Church wherein the consecrated Host should be conserved That it was Peope Honorius III. about the Year 1220 who renewed that Decree with this new Addition that upon those Boxes these words should be written Hìc Deum adora Here adore God and that the same Pope ordained that the Host should be Elevated We know it was Pope Gregory IX who added to that Elevation the Sound of a little Bell about the Year 1230. And in fine we know that it was Innocent IV. who ordained that the Host should be worshipped These are the degrees whereby that Error has been established in the Roman Church And if you would know what Engins they have used to give Authority unto that Worshipping you are but to read Platina and the * Ad Evam reclusam data apud Vrb Vet. 6. Id. Sept. An. Pontif. 3. Bull of Pope Urban IV. directed to a Nun called Eve and you shall see that about the ear 1264 this Pope Instituted the Feast which is called Corpus-Christi-Day upon the Revelation and the Request of that Nun to whom he sent the Book of the Office of the Sacrament which is said to have been framed by Thomas Aquinas We know that afterwards Pope Clement V. in the Council of Vienna ordained that this Festival Day should be kept by all those of the Roman Church And that about the Year 1360 they began at Pavie to make Processions and Tabernacles which was afterwards observed in all Towns that submitted to the Popes Authority Before the time that the Roman Church had corrupted the Word of God the Christians did receive the Sacrament with devotion with zeal and an holy greediness it was with a joy which cannot be expressed that they met in the Churches to participate of the true Body and true Blood
of Christ jesus There was before the Table of the Communion a great Curtain like to that Vail which was in the old time before the (a) Exod. 26.33 Ark of the Testimony and when the Curtain was drawn to set open to the sight of the People the Holy Mysteries the Faithful imagained they saw the Heavens opened as (b) Homil. 3. sup Epist ad Ephes St. Chrysostome speaks they consider'd the Table of Communion as an Altar imbrued all over with Christ's Blood they came to the Sacred Table with an holy horrour and a trembling like to that of Moses when he came nigh to the bush out of the midst whereof God spake with him they were all penetrated throughout with the light of their Faith and they breathed nothing but Fire of Charity which consumend them And in this manner they came near our Lord J. Christ to eat his own Body and to drink his own Blood they regarded the Minister who divided to them the Bread and the Wine of the Holy Sacrament as a Seraphin who was to put upon their tongues a coal of fire to quicken them with the Love of God and the Spirit of Christ But if somebody in that time should have worshipped the Sacr ament in stead of worshipping Christ who is received in the Sacrament he would have been lookt upon as an Idolater he would have been rejected out of the Church and dealt with as an Heretick or else they would have taught him that it is a dreadful Error to worship the Sacrament as if Bread and Wine were transubstantiated into Christ's Body and Blood and that the Faith of the True Church and of all the Saints is to believe That by the means of the Holy Sacr ament we are truly and really partakers of the true Body and of the true Blood of Christ who is in Heaven settled at the Right Hand of God his Father where we worship Him in receiving the Sacrament 3. The Beginning of the Celebration of the Eucharist in an unknown Tongue Now for the third Error which is to be found in the Roman Church in the Administration of the Sacrament we know that it is but fince the Popes have made themselves Soveraigns since they have raised themselves to be Arbitrators of Crowns since they took upon them to depose Kings from their Thrones and usurped that Temporal Power which they now injoy We know that it is but since that time that they have endeavoured as by Right of Conquest to oblige all Nations to speak the Roman Language as a Mark of their Bondage to the Pope following the Example of the old Roman Emperors who after they had reduced several Provinces and Nations under their Jurisdiction constrained them to speak the Roman language That Tyranny of constraining the People to celebrate the holiest of our Mysteries in a Tongue which they understand not is a thing so evidently contrary to that which the Holy Ghost teaches us in the * 1 Cor. 14.16 Scripture that almost all the Christian Churches which have received from the Apostles their Belief and the Form of Celebrating the Eucharist do celebrate it unto this day in the Vulgar Tongue of the Countries whereof they are Inhabitants The Greeks have their Lyturgy in their own Tongue as every one knows the Christians of Moscovia who received of the Apostle St. Andrew the Faith of Christianity have their Lyturgy in the (a) Guagn de Relig. Moscov pag. 250. Slavonian tongue which is the vulgar Tongue of the Country they inhabit The Armenians converted for the most part by S. Bartholomew speak their (b) Cassander Lyturg. cap. 13. pag. 31. own Tongue in the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries The Jacobites who dwell in Syria speak 9c) Brerewood pag. 194. Syriack in celebrating the Eucharist The Abissine Christians celebrate the Divine Service and the Communion in the (d) Chytraeus pag. 28. Tongue of their Country Which makes me believe that all Christian Nations conformed themselves to the practice of the primitive Church and that they have wel perceived the Holy Ghost frobid the celebration of these holy Mysteries which consist in Blessings and Thanksgivings in an unknown Tongue to which the Unlearned could not answer Amen CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART The Articles of the Roman Church cannot be proved either by the Practice of the Primitive Church or by the Authority of the Ancient Fathers ALl those Reflexions which I made for my own particular Instruction and Edification brought a great Light into my Soul and overthrew in part the false principles wherewith the Errors of the Roman Church are ordinarily intricated and darkened First I began to mistrust that Church and then afterwards to draw some Consequences against the Errors thereof I thought since it is a thing very natural to mistrust one in all his Conduct after we have once surprised him in a Dault that after having discovered the Errors of the Roman Church concerning the Question of the Eucharist I might reasonably mistrust it in all the other Articles of Faith of which it makes a particular profession and so I saw nothing sure nothing fast in the Church of Rome I believed I might justly mistrust that this Church had done in the Doctrine of Indulgences Purgatory Prayer for the Dead and Invocation of Saints the same that it has done in that of Transubstantiation Reality and Sacrifice of the Mass that is to say I feared they were Articles which had been framed against the Doctrine of the Ancient Church the Testimony of the Holy Fathers and the Authority of the Word of God Moreover I thought that having remarked the Errors of Rome in the chief and most holy of all the Mysteries of Christianity I was not obliged to examine the other Articles and that that only was enough to make me suppose that it had erred in all the other Points of its Doctrine and that one must consequently forsake its Communion if he doth desire to be saved The desire of my Salvation was a desire which Grace had rooted very profoundly in my Soul but the thought of forsaking the Communion of a Church within which I had been brought up was a thought very contrary to my natural Inclinations I could not blind my self from seeing the Errors of Rome but I had not yet strength enough generously to forsake them to the peril of whatsoever could happen The Reasons which made me understand my Errors came every day to present themselves to my mind with some new Lights and Evidences The Church of Rome hereupon I look'd before as if it had been encompassed round about with the Truths of the Scripture grounded upon the Authority of the Saints of the Primitive Church appeared to me at that time bared of all those fine Testimonies But at last the same Pretence which caused me to defer my conversion when the Grace of God had made me understand that the Romish Faith was not grounded upon the Word of God
the people who trust to my knowledge and sincerity I have been a long while in doubt a long while examining 't is enough while I doubted I taught the people certain Doctrines of which I was not sure but now that God Almighty has lightened my eyes must I still withstand the light be stuborn and rebellious against truth Yet for all that God forsook me once more or rather I could not perswade my self I was not constant enough to oppose my self openly to the errors of the Roman Church Ah! I should have gone up to the Pulpit I should have said to all that people that certainly they lived in ignorance and Idolatry I should have said that the Eucharist is true Bread that Christ is in Heaven present corporally and that he is present upon the Earth only by Faith in the souls of the faithful who receive the Sacrament of his body and blood holily and worthily But I should have been sure in the mean time to be stoned presently or else if that people had dealt with me more moderately according to the forms of their laws I should have been sure to have heard pronounced against me a severe sentence of death at least a condemnation without mercy to be kept in a dark hole of a Prison and there make an end of a woful life in the middle of the Enemies of the Faith who would have unmercifully lookt upon me with horror and execration and thou didst not give me O my God! at that time the strength and the constancie wherewith thou hedgest and cloathest thy Martyrs I preached again afterwards some Sermons wherein I avoided as much as I could to speak of matter of Controversies at last finding my self not strong enough to make a publick profession of the gospel in the middle of the Enemies of the Faith I took a resolution to go dwell in a Country where I should be free to profess openly the purity of the Word of God §. 2. The difficulties I suffered and the oppositions I had to overcome I Was to sustain for that several combats and to overcome several difficulties I found my self in a very honourable establishment very convenient for a sure entertainment for study and for the Society of learned men and persons of quality all my superiours loved me I was very acceptable to all my fellows men both old and young earnestly sought to be acquainted and to converse with me every body treated me with very much esteem and honor I could not forbear to hear my friends saying that the people were well edified with my Sermons those of my Superiors who came to hear me were obsequious enough to flatter me and though I supposed the commendations which were given to me to be ill grounded yet I could not forbear to receive from them somewhat of vanity Alas said I with my self altogether thoughtful I shall be engaged to leave all my friends to forsake all my kinsmen may be I shall be reduced to such a condition that I shall have no provision nor security for the things of this present life I shall be called a Heretick and Apostate they will forge against me all that can be imagined of injuries and slanders those of my friends themost zelous for the Church of Rome will believe that they do a great service to God in cursing me with all kind of woes and cursings my own Mother will look upon me as a monster she will curse a thousand times the day wherein she brought me forth into the world and I shall hear from her every day that she is dying with the displeasure and the troubles she suffers upon my account Then it was I had need to call up all my resolutions all the attractions and the charmes which grace made me feel in my heart to counterbalance the inclination of nature and to overcome all its powerful impressions there was need to oppose God to the flesh and blood grace to nature and my salvation to all my natural satisfactions §. 3. The reasons which I thought upon in my mind to defer my conversion I Will not blush to confess here my weaknesses I tottered I sought after reasons and pretenses to stay in the profession of the Roman Church which I knew to be the true Babylon and I thought I had found some It is not the will of God said I that a man should abandon himself evidently to be starved we are not masters of our lives God made us but Guardians of them and we cannot expose our selves to death when we please I cannot husband the ground I was never taught any trade to get my living I cannot in France after I have been a Priest profess the purity of the Gospel without making me guilty of a crime of high treason in that kingdom I shall be obliged to remove from thence into a strange Country and there dwell without Friends without acquaintance and without any help to live and is not that to destroy ones self without any order of God and tempt his Divine providence I will live in the Church of Rome as if I was not of the Church of Rome the Saints live in the world as if they were not of the world (a) 1 Cor. 7.31 they use this world as not abusing it I will profess in the bottom of my heart the purity of the Gospel (b) Joh. 4.24 God is a spirit I will worship him in spirit he will be satisfied with my good will I will protest before him every day secretly in the bottom of my soul that I abjure and forsake all the errors of Rome and that I do not intend to be partaker of all the Superstitions which it is stuffed withal I will never preach but matters of Morality I will never speak in my Sermons either of the Transubstantiation of Christ in the Sacrament or of the Invocation of Saints or of worshipping Images or of the infallibility of the Pope in making Articles of Faith or in canonizing whom he pleases or of Indulgencies or Purgatory since I know manifestly that they are errors which the Popes have devised as means to get mony by which have no foundation in the Word of God when I shall be obliged to bend by knees in the presence of the Sacrament I will lift up my spirit towards Heaven to direct my worshipping to Jesus Christ the Everlasting God full of majesty who reigns there in the midst of his Angels at last when I shall be obliged to say the Masse could not I rid my self of that function as of a meer ceremonie by which a blinded people has used to worship God and could not somebody imagine all the turnings and walkings of the Mass not to be much more criminal before God than David's dancing and leaping when he danced before the Ark to honour God Almighty his Majesty Is it my fault if the people will be deceived and will not have their hearts opened to the Purity of the word of God Can it
be possible that God should ask of me an account of the Salvation of those men who will stubbornly follow errors and who are all disposed to tear me in pieces if I dare publish the truth Am I better than I know not how many learned men who live in France who know wery well the errors of Rome who notwithstanding continue in the communion of that Church Am I better than a great many Doctors of Sorbon who are perswaded that the Church of Rome is fallen into a multitude of Errors and Corruptions even as many of them have often declared to their friends Am I better than several Bishops and Archbishops of France who suppose themselves equal in every thing to the Bishop of Rome who do not repute his decrees to be of an infallible determination In fine am I better than all those Gentlemen who compose that famous Society of Jansenists who are almost all the most learned writers the rarest men and most witty in all that kingdom Am I better said I than all those excellent men who are accounted even among the Papists as if they were perswaded of all the truths of the Protestant Church whom the Papists themselves accuse as if they intended to establish the purity of the Gospel to abolish those pretended Sacraments newly found out by the Church of Rome who are lookt upon as if they intended to introduce into that kingdom prayers in a vulgar tongue overthrow the Superstitions of the Mass and destroy the obligation of the secret confession unto a Priest For those Gentlemen for all that they know evidently the errors of Rome do not forbear to say the Mass to preach to write Books even in the matter of the Eucharist for the very doctrine of Rome to administer the Sacraments after the form of that Church and more than that they Dedicate their Books to the Pope himself to dazle the people and to make as if they would have acknowledged his jurisdiction and his Authority If so be that all those excellent and learned men do dissemble may not I dissemble withy them If they do deceive the people may not I deceive them also and perform but outwardly all the functions they expect of me §. 4. God makes me understand how great sin it is to withstand the Holy Ghost anâ—â—â—â—so makes an end of my conversion and brings me out of the Communion of Rome THese thoughts brought me into such a condition that I was very near staying still in the Roman Church the mind which one may have to live in quietness and security in the middle of his friends and kinsmen among a people of whom he is almost worshipped was a mighty prejudice which hindred me from discovering the error and falsehood of all those considerations But at last the grace of God did perform its uttermost endeavour to take me out I understood that God is Truth and that lying and dissimulation have no other Father than the Devil What! shall I spend all my life in seducing the people in perswading them what I do not believe my self Alas those good people will think that I speak from my heart that I preach the will of God that I declare to them his heavenly orders and I all the while should be but the instrument of the Devil those who have no convenient time nor opportunity to instruct themselves in the Holy Writings because they are treasures which the Pope has hidden from them will come to me to take advice upon their doubts I shall perceive sometimes in those innocent souls the rayes of Grace which is pleased to work sometimes mightily in the simplest Consciences as the Sun on the untilled lands shall I then withstand the Spirit of God deceive the ignorant with a lye coloured with several Sophismes to suffocate springing truths which Grace would have produced shall I say that God doth speak this when God doth not speak it and should not I be the most wicked in the world to abuse thus and deceive men who should come to me with so much of innocency and sincerity The examples of all those learned men whom I proposed to my self just now signifies nothing to answer at the great tribunal of God's severe Justice their sins will not be an excuse for me I thought then I heard all the maledictions (a) Jerem. 14.15 Ezech. 23.6 which God has pronounced against the false Prophets who seduced his people And what doth a Priest who says the Mass in the Roman Church and who is fully perswaded of the truth of the word of God doth he not cause the people to believe that there is no bread in the Sacrament that the bread is Transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ is not such a Priest guilty before God of all the Idolatries of the people and of all their errors c Those last hindrances being overthrown after Grace had overcome the shifts which my natural inclinations had before devised I took the resolution to forsake entirely the Church of Rome and to retire into some country where I might freely and publickly make profession of the purity of the Gospel I did very well foresee that I was to bid an everlasting farewell to all the satisfactions of this world to take my leave of all the delights and recreations of the earth and wait for nothing but crosses troubles sorrows and all kind of persecution from the Enemies of the Gospel I did foresee that I undertook the greatest and most important business of all my life but the hope of my eternal Salvation quickned me and the inward comfort I felt in following the light of the Spirit of God made me undergo all kinds of troubles and difficulties Thus I went out of the Church of Rome these are the means wherewith God Almighty has been pleased to work my conversion such has been the goodness of God towards me this is the fulness of his abundant mercies not only he made me understand my errors lightned my mind with the marvellous light of his Holy Word but furthermore he drew me out of those errors by the Almighty strength of his arm and brought me into a land full of light and truth a Church which is Jesus Christ's peculiar kingdom where we disown detest and abhor those impious and pernicious errors of the Church of Rome those doctrines which are destructive of true Christianity The God of all mercies keep us in this Holy faith and call home such as are willfully or ignorantly gone astray and give them grace to receive the love of the truth that the number of those whom he has chosen from the beginning may increase more and more to the Honor and Glory of his most Holy Name Amen FINIS
the Bridegroom and the Foundation of the Church as he is stiled (b) De Pontif. Roman lib. 2. cap. 31. by Bellarmin if they do signifie that the Pope is Infallible that he has the power to make new Articles of Faith (c) 2.2 q. 1. art 10. as Thomas Aquinas doth hold If those places of Scripture signifie all these Propositions they are very dark we must confess it is a very hard matter to follow these Consequences since they are contrary even to common Sence That place of St. Paul (d) 1 Corinth 11.24 This is my Body If these Words are to be expounded after the same manner that those other words of the same St. Paul in the same Epistle in the next Chapter (e) 1 Corinth 12.27 Ye are the Body of Christ this place is very easie but if these words signifie that the substance of Bread in the Holy Sacrament is transubstantiated into Jesus Christ his own Flesh into his own substance as it is written (a) Sess 13. cap 4. can 2. in the Councel of Trent that place is very obscure there is not in all the Scripture such another And if we are to give to all the Texts of Scripture which are alike to that so rough an explication to understand them after the same manner the Council of Trent understands that of St. Paul we must needs say that all the substance of Christ is Transubstantiated into the substance of a (b) Joh. 10.7 door that Christ is truly and really a (c) Joh. 1.29 Lamb that the spiritual Rock which followed the Children of Israel in the Wilderness had but the appearances the colour the hardness the resemblance of a Rock but truly and really it was Transubstantiated into the Body into the Blood into the Soul and the Divinity of Christ because the Scripture saith (d) 1 Cor. 10.4 That Rock was Christ And how horrid an absurdity would it be to draw such consequences Ah we must confess the Scripture is very difficult if we are to receive such Interpretations Besides that I did find in the Scripture many Insufficiencies Insufficiencies of the Scripture I thought it was an Article of Faith to believe that the Roman Church is the true Church which Christ has established and in all the Scripture I did find nothing of it I knew it was an Article of the Faith of Rom to believe that it is an Holy thing godly acceptable to the Lord and profitable to Men (a) Sess 25. To call upon the names of the Saints (b) Sess 25. decr 2. To Worship their Images Bones and Reliques according as it is decreed in the Council of Trent And I did not find in all the Scripture any Prayers directed to the Saints after their Death I did not find in all the Acts of the Apostles nor any where else that the first Christians had any Images in whose presence they said their Prayers neither do we read they had any Caskets or Shrines wherein Reliques were kept to bring them abroad in solemn Processions to set them in the middle of their Churches and to Worship them there Wherefore I said sometimes to my self Alas If We keep the same Faith as the first Christians why do We the things which the first Christians never did Why do We call upon the names of Saints Why do We Worship their Images and Bones I found not in all the Scripture Indulgencies or Purgatory in short I thought my self obliged to beieve several Articles of Faith of which there is no mention in the Scripture That made me think that the Scripture was an insufficient Book and that every thing which is necessary to believe for our Salvation is not contained in it But I did not perceive my errors nor the falshood of my discoursing and that whereas I did conclude that the Scripture was insufficient because I did not find in it all those Articles I should rather and more rightly conclude that all those Doctrines are not Articles of Faith since they are not to be found in the Word of God These first glimpses of Truth made a mighty Impression in my Mind though under pretences of Doubts Difficulties and Insufficiencies Contradictions of the Scripture to which were added even many contradictions which I found in the Places of the Scripture whereby the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is utterly subverted in that place of (a) 1 Tim. 4. St. Paul to Timothy Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lyes in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with a hot Iron forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God has created to be received with Thanksgivings You would say that the Apostle did see by the Spirit the Errors of the Roman Church which he condemns before-hand as Doctrines of Devils Who doth not understand that these words do utterly destroy the Doctrine of the Popes in the Decree of Gracian (a) Distinct 82. can Propos can Propos can Plurimos wherein the Marriage of Church-men is stiled a defiling and a Sacriledge Doutterly destory the Commandements of the Roman Church wherein it is commanded to abstain from Meats upon the pain of a Mortal Sin These Words of (b) 1 Cor. 10.16 17. St. Paul to the Corinthians The BREAD which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ We are all partakers of that one BREAD and in the next Chapter (c) 1 Cor. 1◠v. 26 27 28. As often as you Eat that BREAD c. Let a man examin himself and so let him Eat of that BREAD All these Testimonies of the Holy Ghost were a mighty weight to incline me to believe that the Holy Sacrament was the Bread which is broken Ch. 1. §. 3. But at last error did come again to extinguish this sparkle of Light which began to shine in my Soul and whereas it is the belief of Rome which is to be ruled modified and accommodated to the Truth of the Word of God I did perswade my self that these places of the Scripture were to be ruled modified and accommodated to the belief of Rome and so I was obliged to look upon all those Words of Scripture as so many Contradictions §. 3. Circumstances which did contribute to hasten my Conversion IN that condition I found my self divided betwixt Error and Truth betwixt the Word of God and the Belief of the Church of Rome But Error brought forth some pretences to persist stubbornly May be said I the reason wherefore I come to so many Difficulties Insufficiencies and Contradictions in the Scripture is because I have not read what the Theologians write concerning such Questions may be the Study of Divinity will make plain all these Difficulties supply all these Insufficiencies and reconcile all these Contradictions So I was like to that blind Man whom Christ
we must know that the custom of the First Christians was thus Before they might participate of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ they came to present their Offerings Bread Wine Oyl Fruits and other things and those Offerings were called by the Fathers of the Church Sacrifices as it is evident by the reading of (a) Lib. 4. cap. 32.34 St. Ireny (b) Epist 34. Item Lib. de Oper. et Eleem. St. Cyprian (c) Lib. 5. cap. 17. Theodoret the second Council of (d) Can. 4. Mascon about the Year 587 as it is to be seen in (e) Lib. 1. cap. 7 8. Rebanus Maurus his Instructions of Church-men Let the Sub-Deacons says he receive the faithful Peoples Oblations in the Temple of God and give them to the Deacons to be put upon the Altar and this was the reason why they called the Table of Communion an ALTAR because of the Oblations they offered upon it Such was the belief the use and the simplicity of the Primitive Church But alas how much has error defaced this Holy Practice in the Roman Church How great alteration is happened from the belief of the first Christians 1. Instead of Bread the First Faithful offered upon the Lords Table they offer in the now Roman Church only some slender Hosts like to Wafers and it is that of which the Author of the Exposition of the Roman Order and Constitutions complains as (a) In his Comment upon the Capitular of Charlesmagne lits B. Monsieur Pithou relates In some Churches says he the Oblation of Bread which according to the Ancient Custom of the Church was offered by the Faithful People upon the Lords Table for the usage of the Sacrifice is at this time reduced to a very small and very light form to the form of a little piece of Money which has neither the Figure nor appearance of the true Bread And it is to authorize such error that in several Pictures of the Lords Supper Christ is to be seen with all his Apostles having every one upon his Plate a little Hoste of the bigness of one Farthing Is not that a mighty alteration in the Roman Church to offer to the Lord some little Hosts that have not any appearance of Bread instead of the true Bread which was offered in the Primitive Church And is it not a monstrous boldness worthy of punishment to make the World believe that Christ instituting the Holy Sacrament hath not taken ordinary Bread but some little Wafers alike to those they use in the Roman Church 2. Whereas in the Primitive Church the Oblations which were made were Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and Duty and that the Holy Sacrament was look'd upon but as a Sacrifice of Commemoration according to the belief the Church of England keeps still we have seen since altogether with the belief of Reality and Transubstantiation the belief of a Real and Propitatory Sacrifice in the Mass which has obliged the interessed to hold as they-did since in the Council of Trent That Christ was every day truly Sacrificed I do not know how many times for our Sins and that the Roman Priests were true Sacrificers and all that without any ground in the Scripture without any advowing or authority of the Primitive Church whose belief was very far from that of the Roman Church as it is proved in all this Section IV. The horrid abuse of the Roman Church to offer Sacrifice in the honour of Saints is a practice contrary to that of the Primitive Church FOr as much as Error is the Mother of Blindness as one deep calleth another Psal 42.9 and all the design of the Devil is to bring men to Impiety and to the Destruction of the Kingdom of Christ Whereas in the Primitive Church they directed their Oblations only to God Almighty they celebrated the Sacrifice of the Lords Supper only for the honour of his Divine Majesty the Church of Rome carried on Error to such excess as to hold that in the Sacrifice of the Mass which they do pretend Christ himself is Really Sacrificed that that Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ Really and Substantially present is offered Durst I rehearse such a Blasphemy that it is offered in honour of Saints and one comes boldly to say to a Priest who prepares himself to say the Mass Sir you must say the Mass of St. Peter The Mass of St. Paul Of St. James or some other that is to say You must Immolate Jesus Christ to day to the honour of St. Peter to the honour of St. Paul of St. James of St. Barnabas or of some other and that you may not think that I do impose upon the Church of Rome you are but to read upon that matter which you please of the Books of the Roman Theologians or to hear what the Priest says every day in his Mass when he reads the Canon thereof and you shall hear him saying with a low voice these words after he has recited the names of several Saints Ut illis proficiat ad honorem That it may profit them to honour he doth pray God that this Sacrifice be profitable to their honour If in the Old testament any should have offered Sacrifices to God in the honour of Abraham Isaac and Jacob would not they have stoned him in that very instant to expiate by his death the Impiety of this Blasphemy Alas in the Law of Moses there were in the Sacrifices only some Beasts whose throat were cut When Christ began to shew unto his Disciples how that he was to go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief-Priests and be killed to appease the wrath of his Father provoked against the Sins of Men St. Peter was presently filled with Zeal and could not abide that his Master should go unto Jerusalem to be Sacrificed there (a) Math. 16.22 Be it far from thee Lord said he this shall not be unto thee Oh! should St. Peter be upon the Earth and some body should come to tell him Peter this Priest who goes to say the Mass is going for your sake to worship you to Sacrifice Christ himself his own Body and Blood Would not he hear the news with a mighty horrour Would not he say with much more reason Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee thou shall not be Sacrificed for my sake for my honour We do read in the Acts of (a) Cap. 14. the Apostles that some people of Lycaonia having seen the Miracle that St. Paul had wrought were ready to offer a Sacrifice to him and that the Priests of Jupiter brought Oxen and Garlands unto the Gates and would have done Sacrifice with the People in honour of Barnabas and Paul which when these Apostles heard of they rent their Clothes and ran in among the People crying out and saying Sirs why do ye these things we also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that ye