Church of England as to this point is Pag. 86 Our Authors exceptions against it Answered Pag. 87 II. What is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome and whether what this Author has said in favour of it may be sufficient to warrant their Practice as to this matter Pag. 91 Their Doctrine stated ib. The Defence of it unsufficient shewn in Answer 1. To his Protestant-Concessions Pag. 93 2. To his Catholick Assertions First Pag. 96 Second Pag. 99 Third ib. Fourth Pag. 100 Fifth Pag. 102 Sixth Pag. 103 Seventh Pag. 104 Eighth ib. 3. To the Grounds he offers of their Belief Pag. 105 The Lutherans Practice no Apology for theirs Pag. 106 Ground First Answer'd Pag. 108 Ground Second Answer'd Pag. 109 Ground Third Answer'd Pag. 113 Ground Fourth Answer'd Pag. 114 Ground Fifth Answer'd Pag. 115 Some Arguments proposed upon their own Principles against this Adoration Pag. 117 Conclusion Pag. 125 ERRATA PAG. xvii l. 10. fourth r. sixth p. xviii l. 10. in r. on p. xxii l. 33. r. they are p. xxiv l. 5. r. That thou p. 13. marg Hammond l. 6. p. 129. p. 64. marg Casaubon ib. l. 19. Body is of Christ p. 76. l. 24. dele which p. 80. l. 15. then that p. 91. l. 27. r. this Holy. p. 98. l. 16. for then r. the. p. 112. l. 18. Catholicâ l. 20. asks A few lesser Faults there are which the Reader may please to correct A DISCOURSE OF THE Holy Eucharist With particular Reference To the two GREAT POINTS OF THE REAL PRESENCE AND The Adoration of the HOST INTRODUCTION Of the Nature of this HOLY SACRAMENT in the General TO understand the true design of our Blessed Saviour in the Institution of this Holy Sacrament we cannot I suppose take any better course than to consider first of all what Account the Sacred Writers have left us of the Time and Manner of the doing of it Now for this St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 11.23 That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betray'd having first eaten the Passover according to the Law Exod. 12. Matt. xxvi 20. took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it * Matt. xxvi and gave it to the Disciples and said Take Eat This is my Body which is broken for you This do in Remembrance of Me. After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supp'd saying This Cup is the New-Testament in my Blood This do ye as oft as ye Drink it in Remembrance of me Such is the Account which St. Paul gives us of the Original of this Holy Sacrament Nor do the Evangelists dissent from it only that St. Matthew with reference to the Cup adds Drink ye ALL of it Matt. xxvi 27. to which St. Mark subjoins a particular Observation and which ought not here to be pass'd by That they ALL drank of it Mark xiv 23. It is not to be doubted but that the design of our Blessed Saviour in instituting this Holy Sacrament was to Abolish the Jewish Passover and to establish the Memory of another and a much greater Deliverance than that of the first-born now to be wrought for the whole World in his Death The Bread which he brake and the Wine which he poured out being such clear Types of his Body to be broken his Blood to be shed for the Redemption of Mankind that it is impossible for us to doubt of the Application And as God Almighty under the Law designed that other Memorial of the Paschal Lamb now changed into a so much better and more excellent Remembrance to continue as long as the Law its self stood in force So this Blessed Eucharist establish'd by Christ in the room of it must no doubt have been intended by Him to be continued in his Church as long as the Covenant seal'd with that Blood which it exhibits stands And therefore that since that shall never be abolish'd 't is evident that this also will remain our Duty and be our perpetual Obligation to the end of the World. This is the import of our Saviours Addition Do this in Remembrance of Me and is by St. Paul more fully expressed in those Words which he immediately subjoyns to the History of the Institution before recited 1 Cor. xi 26. For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew i.e. in the Jewish Phrase set forth Commemorate the Lords Death till his coming And that this Holy Sacrament now establish'd in the place of the Jewish Passover might be both the better understood and the easier received by them it is a thing much to be remarked for the right explaining of it how exactly he accommodated all the Notions and Ideas of that Ancient Ceremony to this new Institution I. In that Paschal Supper the Master of the House took Bread and presenting it before them instead of the usual Benediction of the Bread He brake it and gave it to them saying ‖ See Dr. Hammond on Mat. xxvi lit E. Casaubon in Mat. xxvi 26. c. This is the Bread of Affliction which our Fathers ate in Egypt In this Sacred Feast our Saviour in like manner takes Bread the very Loaf which the Jews were wont to take for the Ceremony before mentioned breaks it and gives it to his Disciples saying This is my Body which is broken for you alluding thereby not only to their Ceremony in his Action but even to their very manner of Speech in his Expression to the Passover before them which in their Language they constantly called * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Buxtorf Vindic. contr Capel P. 14. Hammond in Mat. xxvi l. e. c. the Body of the Paschal Lamb. II. In that Ancient Feast the Master of the House in like manner after Supper took the Cup and having given thanks gave it to them saying †Allix preparat a la Sainte Cene. cap. 2. pag. 16. This is the Fruit of the Vine and the Blood of the Grape In this Holy Sacrament our Blessed Lord in the very same manner takes the Cup he Blesses it and gives it to his Disciples saying This Cup is the New-Testament in my Blood his Action being again the very same with theirs and for his Expression it is that which Moses used when he ratified the Ancient Covenant between God and the Jews Exod. xxiv 8. compared with Hebr. ix 20. saying This is the Blood of the Testament III. In that Ancient Feast after all this was finish'd they were wont to sing a * Dr. Lightfoots Heb Talmud Observation Mat. xxvi ver 26 27. T. 2. p. 258 260. Hymn the Psalms yet extant from the cxiii to the cxix thence called by them the Great Hallelujah In this Holy Supper our Saviour and his Disciples are expresly recorded to have done the like and very probably in the self-same words See Matt. xxvi 30. Mark xiv 26. In a word Lastly IV. That ancient Passover the Jews were commanded to keep
matter could have lived so long in the world without hearing of so eminent a matter in our Church-History as this The Author is treating about the difference between the Article establish'd in King Edward the six's time Dr. Burnet's Hist of the Refomation Vol 2. Pag. 405. Ann. 1559. Edit 2. 1683. and those in Q. Elizabeth's In the Article of the Lord's Supper there is a great deal left out For instead of that large Refutation of the Corporal Presence from the Impossibility of a Bodies being in more places at once from whence it follows That since Christ's Body is in Heaven the Faithful ought not to believe or profess a Real or Corporal Presence of it in the Sacrament In the new Article it is said That the Body of Christ is given and received after a spiritual manner M S S. C. Cor. Christ Cant. and the means by which it is received is Faith. But in the Original Copy of these Articles which I have seen subscribed by the Hands of All that sate in either House of Convocation there is a further Addition made The Articles were subscribed with that precaution which was requisite in a matter of such consequence For before the Subscriptions there is set down the Number of the Pages and of the Lines in every Page of the Book to which they set their Hands In that Article of the Eucharist these words are added An Explanation of Christ's Presence in the Sacrament Christ when he ascended into Heaven made his Body Immortal but took not from it the Nature of a Body For still it retains according to the Scriptures the Verity of a Humane Body which must be always in One definite place and cannot be spread into many or all places at Once Since then Christ being carry'd up to Heaven is to remain there to the end of the World and is to come from thence and from no place else as says S. Austin to judge the Quick and the Dead None of the Faithful ought to believe or profess the Real or as they call it the Corporal Presence of his Flesh and Blood in the Eucharist But this in the Original is dash't over with minium yet so that it is still legible The Secret of it was this The Queen and her Council studied as hath been already shewn to unite all into the Communion of the Church And it was alledged that such an express Definition against a Real Presence might drive from the Church many who were still of that Perswasion and therefore it was thought to be enough to condemn Transubstantiation and to say that Christ was present after a spiritual manner and received by Faith. To say more as it was judged superflous so it might occasion division Upon this these words were by common consent left out And in the next Convocation the Articles were subscribed without them of which I have also seen the Original This shews that the Doctrine of the Church subscribed by the whole Convocation was at that time contrary to the belief of a Real or Corporal Presence in the Sacrament only it was not thought necessary or expedient to publish it Though from this silence which flowed not from their Opinion but the Wisdom of that time in leaving a Liberty for different Speculations as to the manner of the Presence SOME have since inferr'd that the chief Pastors of this Church did then disapprove of the definition made in King Edwards time and that they were for a Real Presence Thus that Learned Historian And here let our Adversary consider what he thinks of this Account and whether after so evident a Confutation from plain matter of Fact of his Objection before it appear'd we may not reasonably complain both of his Weakness and In-sincerity neither to take any notice of such a plain History of this whole Transaction or to imagine that so vain a Surmise of Q. Elizabeth's being a great propugner of the Real Presence would be sufficient to obviate so clear and particular an Account of this matter But though this might suffice to shew the continuance of the same Doctrine of the Real Presence in this Queen's that was before profess'd in her Brother's Reign yet it may not be amiss to discover a little further the truth of this matter and how falsly this Author has alledged those great Names he has produced I will therefore beg leave to continue my Proof with an Induction of the most Eminent of our Divines that I have at this time the Opportunity to consult to our own days And first for Bishop Jewel Bp. JEWEL though the part he had in the Convocation before mention'd may sufficiently assure us of his Opinion yet it may not be improper to repeat the very words of a Person of his Learning and Eminence in our Church In his Reply to Harding thus he expresses the Doctrine of the Church of England as to the Real Presence Vth Article of the Real Presence against Harding pag. 237. Lond. 1611. See also his Defence of the Apology of the Church of England pag. 219 c. Whereas Mr. Harding thus unjustly reporteth of us that we maintain a naked Figure and a bare Sign or Token only and nothing else He knoweth well we feed not the People of God with bare Signs and Figures but teach them that the Sacraments of Christ be Holy Mysteries and that in the Ministration thereof Christ is set before us even as he was crucified upon the Cross We teach the People not that a naked Sign or Token but that Christ's Body and Blood indeed and verily is given unto us that we verily eat it that we verily drink it that we verily be relieved and live by it that we are Bones of his Bones and Flesh of his Flesh that Christ dwelleth in us and we in him Yet we say not either that the Substance of the Bread and Wine is done away or that Christ's Body is let down from Heaven or made Really or Fleshly present in the Sacrament We are taught according to the Doctrine of the Old Fathers to lift up our Hearts to Heaven and there to feed upon the Lamb of God Thus spiritually and with the Mouth of our Faith we eat the Body of Christ and drink his Blood even as verily as his Body was verily broken and his Blood verily shed upon the Cross Indeed the Bread that we receive with our Bodily Mouths is an earthly thing and therefore a Figure as the Water in Baptism is likewise also a Figure But the Body of Christ that thereby is represented and there is offer'd unto our Faith is the thing it self and not Figure To conclude Three things herein we must consider 1st That we put a difference between the Sign and the thing it self that is signified 2. That we seek Christ above in Heaven and imagine not him to be present Bodily upon the Earth 3. That the Body of Christ is to be eaten by Faith only and none
He as the Master of the Feast took the Loaf Blessed and brake it and gave it to them and Bid them in like manner henceforward Do this in Remembrance of Him He certainly designed that by this Ceremony which hitherto they had used in memory of their deliverance out of Egypt they should now continue the memory of their Blessed Lord and of that deliverance which he was about to work for them That as by calling the Lamb in that Feast The Body of the Passover they understood that it was the remembrance of God's mercy in commanding the destroying Angel to pass over their Houses when he slew their Enemies the memorial of the Lamb which was killed for this purpose in Egypt so Christ calling the Bread his Body nay his Body broken for them could certainly mean nothing else but that it was the Type the Memorial of his Body which as yet was not but was now just ready to be given for their redemption This is so natural a reflection and in one Part at least of this Holy Sacrament so necessary too that 't is impossible to explain it otherwise This Cup says our Saviour is the New Testament in my Blood That is as * See Exod. xxiv 8. Heb. ix â—0 And this Allusion is applied by S. Peter 1 Ep. i 2. Vid. Hammond Annot. in loc lit a. Moses had before said of the Old Testament in the very same Phrase the seal the ratification of it Now if those words be taken literally then 1st 'T is the Cup that is Transubstantiated not the Wine 2ly It is changed not into Christ's Blood as they pretend but into the New Testament in his Blood which being confessedly absurd and impossible it must in all reason follow That the Apostles understood our Saviour alike in both His Expressions and that by consequence we ought to interpret those words This is my Body which is broken for you of the Bread's being the Type or Figure of his Body as we must that of the Cup That it was the New Testament in his Blood i. e. the sign or seal of the New Testament So naturally do all these Notions direct us to a figurative interpretation of his Words the whole design of this Institution and all the Parts and Ceremonies of it being plainly Typical in Remembrance as Christ himself has told us of Him. But now if we go on more particularly to inquire into the Expression its self This is my Body which is broken for you That will yet more clearly confirm this interpretation It has before been observed That these words of our Saviour in this Holy Sacrament were used by him instead of that other Expression of the Master in the Paschal Feast when in the very same manner he took the very same Bread into his Hands and blessed it and brake it and gave it to those who were at the Table with Him saying This is the Bread of affliction which our Fathers ate in Egypt And can any thing in the world be more plain than that as never any Jew yet imagined that the Bread which they thus took every year was by that saying of the Master of their Feast changed into the very substance of that Bread which their forefathers had so many Ages before consumed in Egypt in the night of their deliverance but being thus broken and given to them became a Type a Figure a Memorial of it So neither could those to whom our Saviour Christ now spake and who as being Jews had so long been used to this Phrase ever imagine that the pieces of that Loaf which He brake and gave them saying This is my Body which is broken for you Do this in Remembrance of me became thereupon the very Body of that Saviour from whose Hands they received it and who did not sure with one member of his Body give away his whole Body from himself to them but only designed that by this Ceremony they should remember Him and his Body broken for them as by the same they had hitherto remembred the Bread of affliction which their Fathers ate in Egypt I ought not to omit it because it very much confirms the force of this Argument That what I have here said of this Analogy of the Holy Eucharist to the Jewish Passover was not the original remark of any Protestant or indeed of any other Christians differing from the Church of Rome in this point But was objected to them long before the Reformation by the * Vid. apud Author Fortalitii Fidei Lib. 4. Consid 6. Impos 10. Those who have not this Book may find the Quotation at large in the late Edition of Joan. Parisiensis in Praefat. pag. 73 74. Jews themselves to shew that in their literal Interpretation of these Words they had manifestly departed from the intention of our Blessed Saviour and advanced a notion in which 't was impossible for his Apostles or any other acquainted as they were with the Paschal forms ever to have understood him And if †Epistol xxiii ad Bonifac Vol. 2. pag. 29. Oper. Ed. Lugd. 1664. St. Augustine who I suppose will not be thought a Heretick by either party may be allow'd to speak for the Christians he tells us we are to look upon the Phrase This is my Body Just says He as when in ordinary conversation we are wont to say This is Christmas or Good-Friday or Easter-day Not that this is the very day on which Christ was born or suffer'd or rose from the dead but the return or remembrance of that day on which Christ was born or suffer'd or rose again It is wonderful to consider with what confidence our new Missionaries produce these words on all occasions and thereby shew us how fond they would be of the Holy Scripture and how willingly they would make it their Guide in Controversie did it but ever so little favour their Cause Can any thing say they be more express This is my Body Is it possible for words to be spoken more clear and positive And indeed were all the Expressions of Holy Scripture to be taken in their literal meaning I will not deny but that those words might as evidently prove Bread to be Christs Body as those other in St. John I am the Bread that came down from Heaven argue a contrary Transubstantiation of Christ's Body into Bread John vi 48 51. or those more usual instances I am the true Vine I am the door of the sheep That Rock was Christ prove a great many Transubstantiations more viz. of our Saviour into a Vine a Door and a Rock But now if for all this plainness and positiveness in these expressions they themselves tell us That it would be ridiculous to conclude from hence that Christ was indeed turned into all these and many other the like things they may please to give us leave to say the same of this before us it being neither less impossible nor less unreasonable to suppose Bread to be changed
that Debate stopp'd or at least he should have added some new strength to it But to send it again into the World in the same forlorn State it was before to take no notice either from whose Store-house he borrow'd it or what had been returned to it This is in effect to confess that they have no more to say for themselves And 't is a sad Cause indeed that has nothing to keep it up but what they know very well we can answer and that they themselves are unable to defend But to return to the Points proposed to be consider'd And First To state the Notion of the Real Presence as acknowledged by the Church of England I must observe 1st That our Church utterly denies our Saviour's Body to be so Really Present in the Blessed Sacrament as either to leave Heaven or to exist in several places at the same time We confess with this Author 1. Tract p. 19. §. 27. that it would be no less a Contradiction for Christ's Natural Body to be in several places at the same time by any other Mode whatsoever than by that which the Church of Rome has stated the repugnancy being in the thing its self and not in the manner of it 2dly That we deny that in the Sacred Elements which we receive there is any other Substance than that of Bread and Wine distributed to the Communicants which alone they take into their Mouths and press with their Teeth Answer to T. G's Dialogues Lond. 1679. pag. 66. In short All which the Doctrine of our Church implies by this Phrase is only a Real Presence of Christ's Invisible Power and Grace so in and with the Elements as by the faithful receiving of them to convey spiritual and real Effects to the Souls of Men. As the Bodies assumed by Angels might be called their Bodies while they assumed them or rather as the Church is the Body of Christ because of his Spirit quickening and enlivening the Souls of Believers so the Bread and Wine after Consecration are the Real but the Spiritual and Mystical Body of Christ Thus has that learned Man to whom T. G. first made this Objection stated the Notion of the Real Presence profess'd by us and that this is indeed the true Doctrine of the Church of England in this matter is evident not only from the plain words of our xxviii Article and of our Church Catechism but also from the whole Tenour of that Office which we use in the celebration of it In our Exhortation to it this Blessed Eucharist is expresly called The Communion of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ We are told that if with a true Penitent Heart and lively Faith we receive this Holy Sacrament then we Spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood. When the Priest delivers the consecrated Bread he bids the Communicant Take and eat this in Remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving In our Prayer after the Receiving We thank God for that he doâ—â— vouchsafe to feed us who have duly received these Holy Mysteries with the Spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and doth assure us thereby of his favour and goodness towards us and that we are very Members incorporate in the Mystical Body of his Son. All which and many other the like Expressions clearly shew that the Real Presence which we confess in this Holy Eucharist is no other than in St. Pauls Phrase a Real Communion of Christ's Body and Blood or as our Church expresses it Article xxviii That to such as rightly and worthily and with Faith receive the same the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ Hence it was that in the Prayer of Consecration in King Edward vi time the Church of England after the Example of the ancient Liturgies of the Greek Church used that Form which our Author observes to have been since left out Tract I. 2. And with thy Holy Spirit vouchsafe to Bless and Sanctifie these thy Gifts and Creatures of Bread and Wine that they may be unto us the Body and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ i. e. as the Sense plainly implies may Communicate to our Souls all the Blessings and Graces which Christ's Body and Blood has purchased for us which is in Effect the very same we now pray for in the same Address Hear us O Merciful Father we most humbly beseech thee and grant that we receiving these thy Creatures of Bread and Wine according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christs Holy Institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion may be partakers of his most Blessed Body and Blood. Between which two Petitions there is so near an Affinity that had not 〈◊〉 Author been very desirous to find out Mysteries where there are indeed none He would hardly have suffer'd his Puritan Friend to have lead him to make so heavy a complaint Pag. 3. about so small a Variation I will not deny but that some Men may possibly have advanced their private Notions beyond what is here said But this is I am sure all that our Church warrants or that we are therefore concern'd to defend And if there be indeed any who as our Author here expresses it do believe Christs natural Body to be as in Heaven so in the Holy Sacrament they may please to consider how this can be reconciled with the Rubrick of our Church That the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here it being against the truth of Christs natural Body to be at one time in more places than one In the mean time I pass on to the next thing I proposs'd Secondly To shew in Opposition to the Pretences of our Adversary that this has been the Notion of the Real Presence constantly maintain'd by our most Learned and Orthodox Divines And here because our Author has thought fit to appeal not only to our own but to the forreign Divines for this new Faith which he is pleas'd to impose upon us viz. Tract 1. §. 7. That the very Substance of Christs Body that his natural Body that that very Body that was born of the Blessed Virgin and crucified on the Cross c. is present as in Heaven so Here in this Holy Sacrament i. e. in both at the same time I must be content to follow his Steps and enquire into the Doctrine first of Mr. Calvin and his followers next of our own Country-men in this Particular And first for Mr. Calvin and his followers I cannot but observe what different charges are brought against them in this matter On the one hand we are told by Becanus the Jesuit that * Calvinistae negant corpus sanguinem Christi vere realiter substantialiter praesentem
599. Ibid. We do not say that in the Eucharist there is only a commemoration of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ nor do we say that in it we are made partakers only of the fruits of his death and passion but we joyn the ground with the fruits affirming with St. Paul that the Bread which by Gods appointment we break is the participation of the Body of Christ crucified for us the Cup which we drink the Communion of the true Blood that was shed for us and that in the very same Substance which he received in the Womb of the Virgin and which he carry'd up with him into the Heavens Then descending to the Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation It overthrows says he the truth of Christs Humane nature and of his Ascension So little did he suppose that Christs natural Body could be at the same time both in Heaven and in the Sacrament Hereupon he explains himself yet farther But now if any one should ask of us whether we make Christ absent from the Holy Supper We answer By no means But yet if we respect the distance of place as when we speak of his Corporal presence and of his Humanity we must we affirm says he that Christs Body is as far distant from the Bread and Wine as Heaven is from Earth If any one shall from thence conclude that we make Christ absent from the Holy Supper he will conclude amiss For this Honour we allow to God that though the Body of Jesus Christ be now in Heaven and not elsewhere and we on Earth and not elsewhere yet are we made partakers of his Body and Blood after a spiritual manner and by the means of Faith. Thus do's Beza in like manner expound their Doctrine of the Real Presence by a real communion of Christs Body and Blood and flatly condemns our Authors invention PETER MARTYR of his natural Bodie 's being either in the Symbols or any where else upon Earth The same is the account which †Respondâ—o pro meâ parte Corpus Christi non else Verè et substantialiter alibi quà m in Calo. Non tamen inficior Christi corpus verum sanguinem illius Verum quae pro salute humana cradita sunt in Cruce fide spiritualiter percipi in Sacrâ Coenâ Histoire Eccles. de Beze liv 4. p. 606. Anno 1561. Peter Martyr in the same conference gave of it and of whom * Vid. Hist de Beze ib. p. 599. Comment de stat rel p. 140. ad Ann 1561. Hospin pag. 518. Espensius one of the Popish delegates confess'd That no Divine of that time had spoken so clearly and distinctly concerning this Sacrament as he did And however ⸫ See Hospin of this whole matter pag. 520. Genebrard fasely pretends that the other Protestants dissented from him yet 't is certain they were so far from it that they all Subscribed the very same Paper out of which he read his Declaration But I will close this with the same words with which these Protestants did their final resolution in the Colloquy as to this matter Affirmamus nullam locorum distantiam impedire posse communicationem quam habemus cum Christi corpore sanguine quoniam Coena Domini est res coelestis et quamvis in terrâ recipiamus ore panem vinum vera scil Corporis sanguinis signa tamen fide spiritûs sancti operatione mentes nostrae quarum hic est praecipuè cibus in caelum elatae perfruuntur corpore sanguine praesente Et hoc respectu dicimus Corpus verè se pani conjungere sanguinem vino non aliter tamen quam sacramentali ratione neque locali neque naturali mode sed quoniam Efficaciter significant Deum illa dare fideliter communicantibus illósque side verè certo percipere Hospin l c. Comm. ibid. p. 142. Vbi sublicitur Haec est perspicua de Corporis sanguinis J C. Praesentia in Sacramento Caenae Ecclesiarum Beformatarum sentenria Beze Hist Eccles. pag. 615. where he adds that they reject not only Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation but also toute maniere de presence par laquelle le corps de Christ n'est colloquè maintenant reellemâ—nt ailleurs qu'au ciel And then adds why they thus use the word substance in this matter and what they mean by it See pag. 615. ad Ann 1561. We affirm that no distance of place can hinder the Communion which we have with Christs Body and Blood because the Supper of the Lord is a Heavenly thing and though upon Earth we receive with our mouths Bread and Wine viz. the true Symbols of his Body and Blood yet by Faith and through the Operation of the Holy Spirit our Souls of which this is the chief food being carry'd up into Heaven enjoy the Body and Blood present And in this respect we say that the Body do's truly joyn its self to the Bread and the Blood to the Wine but yet no otherwise than Sacramentally neither after a local or natural manner But because they do effectually signifie that God gives them to the Faithful Communicants and that they do by Faith truly and certainly receive them And thus far I have consider'd the forreign Divines produced by our Author and in which we find the very same Explication which our Church gives of the Real presence For our own Authors I shall insist the rather upon them both to take off any impression which the scraps here put together by those whose business it is to represent their own Sence not their Authors might otherwise be apt to make upon some Men and also to shew the exact concord there has been ever since the Reformation amongst us as to this matter Now for what concerns our Divines in King Edward vi ths time we have our Authors own confession that towards the latter end of the Reign of that excellent Prince they seem to have deny'd any such Real and Essential presence as he would fasten upon those of Queen Elizabeth's after For as the first days of this Prince 1 Treatise §. xxvi pag 19. says he seem to have been more addicted to Lutheranism so the latter days to Zwinglianism as appears in several expressions of Bishop Ridley and Peter Martyr And indeed the Articles agreed upon in the Convocation at London 1562. plainly shew it in the xxixth of which we find this express Clause Since the very being of humane Nature doth require that the Body of one and the same man cannot be at one and the same time in many places but of necessity must be in some certain and determinate place Therefore the Body of Christ cannot be present in many different places at the same time And since as the Holy Scriptures testifie Christ hath been taken up into Heaven and there is to abide till the end of the World it becometh not any of the faithful to believe or profess that there is a Real or Corporal
qu'il répondit qu' il la tenoit pour un Monstre Et comme ils luy demanderent comment done il en avoit écrit si amplement si doctement il repliqua qu'il avoit deployé toutes les Adresses de son Esprit poâ— colourer cet abus pour le rendre plausibile qu'il avoit fait comrre ceux qui font tous leurs Efforts pour defendre une manvaise Cause Your Highness says He may believe me if you please But I can assure you with all sincerity and truth that if the late Cardinal du Perron has convinced you of the Truth of Transubstantiation he has convinced you of that of which he could never convince himself nor did he ever believe it For I have been informed by certain Persons of Honour and that are in all respects worthy of belief and who had it from those that were eye witnesses That some friends of that Illustrious and Learned Cardinal who went to see him as he lay languishing upon his Bed and ill of that distemper of which he died desired him to tell them freely what he thought of Transubstantiation To whom he answer'd That 't was a MONSTER And when they farther ask'd him How then he had written so copiously and learnedly about it He replied That he had done the utmost that his Wit and Parts had enabled him to COLOUR OVER THIS ABUSE and RENDER IT PLAUSIBLE But that he had done like those who employ all their force to defend an ILL CAUSE And thus far Monsieur Drelincourt I could to this add some farther circumstances which I have learnt of this matter but what is here said may suffice to shew what the real Opinion of this great Cardinal after all his Voluminous Writings as to this Doctrine was unless some future Obligations shall perhaps engage me to enter on a more particular account of it To these two great instances of another Nation I will beg leave to subjoyn a third of our own Country Father Barnes the Benedictine Catholico-Romano-Pacificus Oxon. 1680. Pag. 90. Assertio Transubstantiationis sâ—u mutationis substantialis panis licet sit Opinio communior non tamen est fides Ecclesiae Et Scripturae Patres docentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficienter expoâ—â— possant de admirandâ— supernaturali mutatione Panis per Praesentiam Corporis Christi ei accedentem sine substantialis Panis desitione Et. P. 95. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illam in Augustissimo Sacramento factam plerique graves antiqui Scriptoresita explicant ut non fiat per desitionem substantiae panis sed per receptionem supernaturalem substantiae Corporis Christi in substantiam Panis V. pl. who in his Pacific Discourse of most of the points in Controversie between us and the Papists expresly declares That the Assertion of Transubstantiation or of the substantial change of the Bread though it be indeed the more common Opinion is yet no part of the Churches Faith And that the Scripture and Fathers when they speak of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be sufficiently Expounded of that admirable and supernatural change of the Bread by the presence of Christ's Body added to it without the departure of the substance of the Bread it self It appears by these words how little this Monk thought Transubstantiation an Article of Faith. But a greater than he and who not only did not esteem it necessary for Others to receive it but clearly shews that he did not believe it himself Illustriss atque Reverend Pâ—de Marea Parisiens Archiep. Dissertationes Posthumae De Sanctissimo Eucharistiae Sacramento dissertatio in sne is the Illustrious Monsieur de Marca late Archbishop of Paris and well known to the World for his great Learning and Eminence His Treatise of the Eucharist was publish'd with Authority by one of his near Relations the Abbé Faget at Paris 1668. with some other little Tracts which he had received from the Archbishops own hands In the close of that Treatise he thus delivers his Opinion †Species Pâ—nis est Essentiâ Naturâ distincta à Corpore Christi sibi adjuncto licet ratio Eucharistiae id exigat ut substantia Panis interior conversa suerit in illud Corpus modo quodam qui omnem cogitationem exsuperat Caeterum mutatio illa non officit quin Panis qui videtur id est Accidentia suam Naturam Extantiam Essentiam SIVE SUBSTANTIAM retineat naturae verae Proprietates inter quas est alendi corporis humani facultas Vnde consequitur rectè observatum à Gelasio Sacramenta Corporis Sanguinis Christi divinam rem esse quia Panis Vinum in divinam transeunt substantiam S. spiritu persiciente nempe in Corpus Christi spiritale sed ex alia parte non desinere substantiam naturam Panis Vini sed ea permanere in suae proprietate Naturae Quoniam scil postquam Panis in divinam substantiam transivit NON INTERIIT INTEGRA PANIS NATURA QUAM SUBSTANTIAM QUOQUE VOCAT NEC DESIVIT SED in suae proprietate Naturae permansit ad alendum Corpus idonea quod est praecipuum confecti panis munus Note That in the Paris Edition they have put in those words printed in the Black Letter id est Accidentia and omitted those that I have caused to be set in Capitals But in the Original leaf which I have left in S. Martin's Library to be seen by any that pleases and which was cut out for the sake of this passage it stands as I have said and as it is truly represented in the Holland Edition The species of the Bread is in its Essence and Nature distinct from the Body of Christ adjoyn'd to it although the reason of the Eucharist requires that the inward substance of the Bread should be converted into that Body after a manner that exceeds all Imagination But yet this change hinders not but that the BREAD which is seen still RETAINS its own NATURE BEING and ESSENCE or SUBSTANCE together with the proprieties of its true Nature among which one is the faculty of nourishing our Bodies c. Whence it follows that it was rightly observ'd by Gelasius that the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ was a Divine thing because the Bread and Wine being perfected by the Holy Spirit pass into the Divine substance viz. the spiritual Body of Christ but on the other side that the SUBSTANCE and NATURE of the BREAD and WINE do not cease to be but continue still in the propriety of their own Nature And here I suppose any one who reads this passage alone of this Treatise might without the help of * Baluze 2 Lettre à Monsieur le Presid Marca S'il est vray ce que j'ay de la peine à croire que feu Monsigneur ait composé les Traittez que M. Faget a fait imprimer sous son nom dont il se vante dans la Preface
in the same design to worship God as the Paschal Lamb of one Family was not the Lamb of another although both the one and the other were to accomplish the same Mystery Thus for instance on Corpus Christi-day the Sacrament of S. Germain d' Auxerrois where the perpetual Vicar consecrates the Host and Monsieur the Dean the first Curé carrys it the Procession under a rich Canopy crown'd with Flowers this Host is not the same with that of S. Paul's which is carried after another manner viz. the Image of that Apostle made of Silver gilt falling from his Horse at his Conversion under the Sacrament of Jesus Christ hung up in rays of Gold and carried under the covering of another stately Canopy and so of all the other Churches As for the stories of several Hosts that have been stabb'd with Penknives and have bled they serve only to bring in some superstition contrary to the word of God which never pretended that there was material Blood in the consecrated Bread because it is the Body of Jesus Christ in a mystery of Faith. For what is said of an Infant that was seen in the stead of the Host and of the figure of Christ sitting upon a Sepulshre instead of the same Host are meer Fables suggested by the Father of Lies It is further reported of certain Robbers that carrying away the Vessel in which the Host is kept they have thrown the Host it self upon the ground and trampled it under foot sometimes have cast it into nasty places without any fear that it should avenge it self This is a most horrible thought and of which we ought not to open our mouths but only to detest so dreadful a profanation The same must be said of those Hosts which have been cast up as soon as received whether by sick persons or sometimes by debauched Priests disordered with the last nights intemperance both which have sometimes happened not to say any thing of those other terrible inconveniences remark'd in the Cautions concerning the Mass All which shew that Men have carry'd things too far without any warrant from the Word of God. It is not therefore so easie as some imagine to maintain the Doctrine of the Real Presence out of the Use against the Opinions of any Opposer In the mean time the Truth is terribly obscured and few give themselves the trouble to clear it On the contrary it seems that among the many Writers of the Age there are some who make it their whole business to hide it and to keep themselves from finding it out as if they desired never to be wiser than they are The vanity of lying flatters them but too much in all the Humane passions which sway them There are nevertheless some faithful Disciples and Apostolick Souls who are exempted to obey God by his Grace and to give glory to his Name It was not long before his departure that David said Every man is a lyar Psal 115.2 and S. Paul to the Romans 3.4 to show that God only is true adds immediately after from Psalm * Li. 4. 50.6 Thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest Such was the Opinion of Monsieur de Marolles as to this point I should too much trespass upon the Reader 's patience to insist thus particularly upon others of lesser note The Author of the late Historical Treatise of Transubstantiation has fully shewn not only his own Opinion but the Tradition of all the Ages of the Church against it And though I dare not say the same of whoever he was that set forth the ‡ Il nous suffit que J.C. qui est la Verité meme nous ait assuré que ce Sacrament est veritablement fon Corps qu'il ait ordonne de manger sa chair boire son sang car il faut absolument qu'il y soit puis q'il il nous ordonne de l'y manger sans s'embarasser l'Esprit de quelle maniere comment cela se fait 2. Part p. 102. Moyens surs Honnestes c. that he did not believe Transubstantiation himself yet this is clear That he did not desire any one should be forced to believe it or indeed be encouraged to search too nicely into the manner how Christ is Present and Eaten in the Holy Sacrament Whether Monsieur de Meaux believes this Doctrine or not his authority is become of so little importance that I do not think it worth the while to examine Yet the first French * Advertissement n. 14. p. 22. Mr. B. Speaking of that Edition Il n'y avoit en aucun lieu de l'Article ni le terme de Transubstantiation ni cette proposition que le pain le vin sont changez au corps au sang de J.C. dans la derniere Edition apres ces mots le propre Corps le propâ—e â—ing de J.C. il a ajoute ausquelles le pain le vin sont changez cest ce qu'on appelle Transubstantiation Answer to his Exposition observes that in the suppress'd Edition of it he had not at all mentioned that the Bread and Wine are turned into the Body and Blood of Christ those words in the close of that Paragraph which we now read viz. that the Bread and the Wine are changed into the proper Body and proper Blood of Jesus Christ and that this is that which is called Transubstantiation being put in ‡ Monsieur de Meaux Letter of his alterations Vind. p. 13. 117. pour l'ordre pour une plus grande netteté du discours du style for the greater neatness of the Discourse and Stile since But now for his Vindicator 't is evident if he understands his own meaning that he is not very well instructed about it * Vindication of the Bishop of Condom's Expos Pag. 83. It is manifest says he that our dispute with Protestants is not about the manner How Jesus Christ is Present but only about the Thing it self whether the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ be truly really and substantially present after the words of Consecration under the species or Appearance of Bread and Wine the substance of Bread and Wine being not so present In which words if his meaning be to exclude totally the manner How Jesus Christ becomes present in the Eucharist as his expression is from being a matter of Faith it might well have been ranged amongst the rest of their new Popery 1686. But if he designs not to exclude the manner of Christ's Presence but only the mode of the Conversion as he seems by some other of his words to insinuate viz. whether it be by Adduction c. from being a matter of Faith he ought not then to have deny'd the manner of Christ's Presence in the Eucharist which their Church has absolutely defined to be by that wonderful and singular Conversion so aptly called Transubstantiation but more precisely to have explain'd his School-nicety and
all their Senses tell them is but a bit of Bread to the hinderance of whose Conversion so many things may interpose that were their Doctrine otherwise as infallible as we are certain it is false it would yet be a hundred to one that there is no Consecration in a word how they can worship that which they can never be secure is changed into Christ's Body nay when as the examples I have before given shew they have all the reason in the World to fear whether even the Priest himself who says the Mass does indeed believe that he has any Power or by consequence can have any intention to turn it into the Flesh of Christ And the same consideration will shew Thirdly How little security their other Plea of Concomitance which they so much insist upon to shew the sufficiency of their Communicating only in one kind viz. that they receive the Blood in the Body can give to the Laity to satisfie their Consciences that they ever partake of that Blessed Sacrament as they ought to do Since whatever is pretended of Christ's Body 't is certain there can be none of his Blood in a meer Wafer And if by reason of the Priest's infidelity the Host should be indeed nothing else of which we have shewn they can never be sure neither can they ever know whether what they receive be upon their own Principles an intire Communion And then Lastly for the main thing of all The Sacrifice of the Mass it is clear that if Christ's Body be not truly and properly there it cannot be truly and properly offer'd nor any of those great benefits be derived to them from a morsel of Bread which themselves declare can proceed only from the Flesh and Blood of their Blessed Lord. It is I know an easie matter for those who can believe Transubstantiation to believe also that there is no hazard in all these great and apparent dangers But yet in matters of such moment Men ought to desire to be well assured and not exposed even to any possible defects De defectibus cirea Missam De defectu panis Si panis non sit triticeus vel si triticeus sit admixtus granis alterius generis in tantâ quantitate ut non maneat panis triticeus vel sit alioqui corruptus non conficitur Sacramentum Si sit confectus de aqud rosaceâ vel alterius distillationis dubium est an conficiatur Et de defect vini Si Vinum sit factum penitus acetum vel penitus putridum vel de uvis acerbis seu non maturis expressiom vel admixtum tantum aque ut vinum sit corruptum non consicitur Sacramentum I do not now insist upon the common remarks which yet are Authorized by their own Missal and may give just grounds to their fears That if the Wafer be not made of Wheat but of some other Corn there is then no Consecration If it be mixed not with common but distill'd Water it is doubtful whether it be Consecrated If the Wine be sowre to such a certain degree that then it becomes incapable of being changed into the Blood of Christ with many more of the like kind and which render it always uncertain to them whether there be any change made in the blessed Elements or no * Du Moulin in the place above cited mentions one that in his time was burnt at Loudun for Consecrating a Host in the name of the Devil Thes Sedann Th. 97. n. 10. p. 846. Vol. 1. the Relations I have given are not of counterfeit Jews and Moors who to escape the danger of the Inquisition have sometimes become Priests and administred all the Sacraments for many years together without ever having an intention to Administer truly any one of them and of which I could give an eminent instance in a certain Jew now living who for many Years was not only a Priest but a Professor of Divinity in Spain and all the while in reality a meer Jew as he is now The Persons here mention'd were Men of undoubted reputation of great learning and singular esteem in their Church and if these found the impossibilities of Transubstantiation so much greater than either the pretended Authority or Infallibility of their Church certainly they may have just cause to fear whether many others of their Priests do not Live in the same infidelity in which these have Died and so expose them to all the hazards now mentioned and which are undeniably the consequences of such their Unbelief But these are not the only dangers I would desire those of that Communion to reflect on upon this occasion Another there is and of greater consequence than any I have hitherto mentioned and which may perhaps extend not only to this Holy Eucharist but it may be to the invalidating of most of their other Sacraments * Eugenii IV. decret in Act. Concil Florent Ann. 1439. Concil Labb Tom. 13. p. 535. Concil Trident. Sess VII Can. 2. It is the Doctrine of the Roman Church that to the Validity of every Sacrament and therefore of that of Orders as well as the rest three things must concur a due matter a right form and the Person of the Minister conferring the Sacrament with an intention of doing what the Church does Where either of these is wanting the Sacrament is not performed If therefore the Bishop in conferring the Holy Order of Priesthood has not an intention of doing what the Church does 't is plain that the Person to be ordained receives no Priestly Character of him nor by consequence has any power of consecrating the Holy Eucharist or of being hereafter advanced to a higher degree Now the form of conferring the Order of Priesthood they determine to be this †Ibid. pag. 5â—3 Catech. Concil Trid. de Sacr. Ord. n. xxii p. 222. Item n. L. p. 228. The Bishop delivers the Cup with some Wine and the Paten with Bread into the Hands of the person whom he Ordains saying Receive the Power of offering a Sacrifice in the Church for the living and the dead in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost By which Ceremony and words their Catechism tells us He is constituted an Interpreter and Mediator between God and Man which is to be esteemed the chiefest Function of a Priest So that then the intention necessary to the conferring the Order of Priesthood is this to give a Power to consecrate i. e. to Transubstantiate the Host into Christ's Body and so offer it as a Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead If therefore any of their Bishops for instance Cardinal du Perron or Monsieur de Marca did not believe that either the Church or themselves as Bishops of it had any Authority to confer any such Power they could not certainly have any Intention of doing in this case what the Church intends to do Having no such Intention the Persons whom they pretended to Ordain were no Priests
in memory of their Deliverance out of Egypt The bitter Herbs were a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remembrance of the bitter servitude they underwent there Exod. i. 14. The red Wine was a †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Memorial of the Blood of the Children of Israel slain by Pharaoh And for this they were expresly commanded by Moses Exod. xiii 8. to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SHEW i.e. to annunciate or tell forth to their Children what the Lord had done for them And so in this Holy Sacrament Christ expresly institutes it for the same end * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do this says he in remembrance of me which St. Paul thus explains 1 Cor. xi 26. For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do or rather do ye * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SHEW the very word before used the Lords death till his coming So clear an Allusion does every part of this Sacrament bear to that ancient Solemnity and we must be more blind than the Jews themselves not to see that as that other Sacrament of Baptism was instituted by Christ from the Practise and Custom of the ‖ See Dr. Hammonds Practical Catechism Lib. 6. pag. 115. Oper. fol. Lond. 1684. Jewish Doctors who received their Proselytes by the like washing so was this Holy Eucharist establisht upon the Analogy which we have seen to the Paschal Supper whose place it supplies and whose Ceremonies it so exactly retains that it seems only to have heightned the design and changed the Application to a more excellent Remembrance I know not how far it may be allow'd to confirm this Analogie That it was one of the most ancient Traditions among the * Vid. Fagium in Annotat in Exod. xii 13. where he renders their words thus Et in eadem die viz. xv mensis Nisan sc Martii redimendus est Israel in diebus Messiae Vid. Vol. 1. Critic M. p 498. Jews of old that the Messiah should come and work out their deliverance The very same night in which God had brought them out of Egypt the night of the Paschal Solemnity But certainly considerable it is that as God under the Law the same night in which he deliver'd them instituted the Passover to be a perpetual Memorial of it throughout their Generations so here our Saviour instituted his Communion not only in the same Night in which he deliver'd us but immediately after having eaten His last Passover to shew us that what that Solemnity had hitherto been to the Jews this Sacrament should from henceforth be to us and that we by this Ceremony should commemorate ours as they by that other had been commanded to do their Deliverance This the Holy Scriptures themselves direct us to by so often calling our Blessed Saviour in express terms The Lamb of God Joh. i. 29. St. Peter speaking of our Redemption wrought by Him tells us that it was not obtained by corruptible things such as silver and gold but by the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. i. 18. And St. Paul so clearly directs us to this allusion that no possible doubt can remain of it Christ says he our Passover is sacrificed for us theresore let us keep the Feast 2 Cor. 1. v. 7. And now after so many Arguments for this Application as being joined together I think I might almost call a Demonstration of it I suppose I may without scruple lay down this foundation both for the unfolding of the nature of this Holy Sacrament in the General and for the Examination of those two great points I am here to consider in particular viz. That our Saviour in this Institution addressing himself to Jews and speaking in the direct form of the Paschal Phrases and in a Ceremony which 't is thus evident he designed to introduce in the stead of that Solemnity The best method we can take for explaining both the words and intent of this Communion will be to examine what such men to whom he spake must necessarily have conceived to be his meaning but especially on an occasion wherein it neither became him to be obscure and the Apostles silence not one of them demanding any explication of his words as at other times they were wont to do clearly shewing that he was not difficult to be understood This only Postulate being granted which I think I have so good reason to expect I shall now go on to examine by it the first great Point proposed to be consider'd viz. Of the Real Presence of Christ in this Holy Sacrament and that 1st As established by the Church of Rome 2dly As acknowledged by the Church of England PART I. CHAP. I. Of TRANSUBSTANTIATION Or the Real Presence Establish'd by the CHURCH of ROME TRansubstantiation is defined by the * Concil Trid. Sess 13. cap. 4. Can. 2. Council of Trent to the A WONDERFVL CONVERSION of the whole Substance of the Bread in this Holy Sacrament into the whole substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood the Species or Accidents only of the Bread and Wine remaining For the better understanding of which Wonderful Conversion because the Church of Rome which is not very liberal in any of her Instructions has taken †Catechismus ad Parochos Par. II. cap. de Euch. Sacr. n. 39.41 45. particular care that this should not be too much explain'd to the People as well knowing it to be a Doctrine so absurd that even their credulity could hardly be able to digest it it may not be amiss if from the very words of their own Catechism we examine a little farther into it Now three things there are which they tell us must be consider'd in it I. * Catech. ibid. n. xxv Sect. Primum That the true Body of Christ our Lord the very same that was Born of the Virgin and now sits in Heaven at the right hand of the Father is contained in this Sacrament Now by the true Body they mean not only his Human Body and whatsoever belongs to it as Bones Sinews c. to be contain'd in this Sacrament ‖ Ibid. n. xxxi Sect. Totus Christus ut Deus Homo in Eucharistia continetur But the intire Christ God and Man so that the Eucharistical Elements are changed into our Saviour as to both his Substances and the consequences of both his Blood Soul and Divinity its self all which are really present in this Sacrament * Ibid. n. xxxiii Sect. Per Concomitantiam in Euch. quae sint the Body of Christ by the Consecration the rest by Concomitance with the Body Again When 't is said †Ibid. n. xxxix Sect. Conversio quae sit in Euchar. c. That the whole Substance of the Bread is changed into his whole Body and the whole Substance of the Wine into his whole Blood this is not to be
so understood as if the Bread did not contain the whole Substance of his Blood as well as of his Body and so the Wine the whole Substance of his Body as well as of his Blood (⸪) Ibid. n. xxxv Sect. Christus totus in qualibet particula n. xlii c. seeing Christ is intire in each part of the Sacrament nay in every the least Crumb or Drop of either part II. The * Ibid. n. xxv Sect. Secundum second thing to be consider'd for the understanding of this Mystery is That not any part of the Substance of the Bread and Wine remains tho nothing may seem more contrary to the Senses than this in which they are certainly in the right III. †Ibid. n. xxv Sect. Tertium n. xliv Sect. Accid sine subjecto const in Euch. That the Accidents of the Bread and Wine which either our Eyes see as the Colour Form c. or our other Senses perceive as the Tast Touch Smell all these are in no Subject but exist by themselves after a wonderful manner and which cannot be explain'd For the rest the Conversion its self ‖ Ibid. n. xxxvii Sect. Primo natione It is very difficult to be comprehended How Christs Body which before Consecration was not in the Sacrament should now come to be there since 't is certain that it changes not its place but is still all the while in Heaven Nor is it made present there by Creation * Ibid. n. xxxix Sect. Conversio quae sit in Euch. c. nor by any other Change For it is neither increased nor diminish'd but remains whole in its Substance as before †Ibid. n. xliii Quonam modo Christus existat in Euchar. Christ is not in the Sacrament Locally for he has no Quantity there is neither Great nor Little. (**) Ibid. n. xli Sect. De Transubstant curiosius non inquirendum In a word Men ought not to inquire too curiously how this Change can be made for it is not to be comprehended seeing neither in any natural Changes nor indeed in the whole Creation is there any Example of any thing like it Such is the Account which themselves give of this Mystery From all which we may in short conclude the State of the Question before us to be this That we do not dispute at all about Christ's Real Presence which after a Spiritual and Heavenly manner we acknowledg in this Holy Eucharist as we shall hereafter shew nor by consequence of the Truth of Christs Words which we undoubtedly believe But only about this Manner of his Presence viz. Whether the Bread and the Wine be changed into the very natural Body and Blood of Christ so that the Bread and Wine themselves do no longer remain But that under the Appearance of them is contain'd that same Body of Christ which was Born of the Blessed Virgin with his Soul and Divinity which same Body of Christ tho extended in all its parts in Heaven is at the same time in the Sacrament without any Extension neither Great nor Small comes thither neither by Generation nor by Creation nor by any local Motion forasmuch as it continues still at the right Hand of God in Heaven at the very same instant that it exists whole and intire in every consecrated Host or Chalice nay more is whole and intire not only in the whole Host or the whole Chalice but in every the least Crumb of the Host and every the least Drop of the Chalice here upon Earth And here it might well be thought a very needless indeed an extravagant undertaking to prove that those Elements which so many of our Senses tell us continue after their Consecration the very same as to what concerns their natural Substance that they were before are in reality the very same That what all the World Sees and Feels and Smells and Tasts to be Bread and Wine is not changed into the very natural Flesh and Blood of a Body actually before existent had it not entred into the Minds of so great a part of the Christian Church to joyn in the maintaining of a Paradox which has nothing to defend it but that fond Presumption they have certainly done well to take up That they cannot possibly be in the wrong and without which it would be very difficult for them to perswade any sober man that they are here in the right To shew that those words which they tell us work all this Miracle and are the only reason that engages them to maintain so many absurdities as are confessedly the unavoidable Consequences of this Doctrine have no such force nor interpretation as they pretend I must desire it may be remembred what I before remark'd That this Holy Sacrament was establish'd by our Saviour in the room of the Jewish Passever and upon the very Words and Ceremonies of it So that if in that all things were Typical the Feast the Customs the Expressions merely allusive to something that had been done before and of which this sacred Ceremony was the memorial we ought in all reason to conclude that both our Saviour must have designed and his Apostles understood this Holy Sacrament to have been the same too Now as to the Nature of the Passover we have already seen that it was appointed by God as a Remembrance of his delivery of the Jews out of the Land of Egypt when he slew all the first-born of the Egyptians Exod. xii The Lamb which they ate every year in this Feast was an Eucharistical Sacrifice and Type of that first Lamb which was slain in the night of their deliverance and whose Blood sprinkled upon the Posts of their Doors had preserved their Fore-fathers from the destroying Angel that he should not do them any mischief The Bread of Affliction which they broke and of which they said perhaps in the very * Vid. Cameron Annot. in Matt. xxvi 26. in illa verba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter critic pag. 780. l. 24. same manner that Christ did of the very same Loaf Take eat this is the Bread of affliction which our Fathers ate in Egypt they esteem'd a Type and Figure of that unleaven'd Bread which their Forefathers so many Ages before had eaten there and upon that account called it * Allix Serm. pag. 503. The Memorial of their delivery out of Egypt †Hammond Pract. Catechism lib vi pag. Ed. fol. The Cup of Blessing which they blessed and of which they ALL drank in this Feast they did it at once in memory both of the Blood of the Children of Israel slain by Pharaoh and of the Blood of the Lamb which being sprinkled upon their doors preserved their own from being shed with that of the Egyptians Now all these Idea's with which the Apostles had so long been acquainted could not but presently suggest to them the same design of our Blessed Saviour in the Institution of this Holy Sacrament That when
all Metaphor only just two or three words for their purpose Literal But that which raises our wonder to the highest pitch is that the very fifty first Verse its self on which they found their Argument is two thirds of it Figure and only otherwise in one Clause to serve their Hypothesis I am says our Saviour the living Bread which came down from Heaven This is Figurative If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever That is they say by a Spiritual Eating by Faith And the Bread which I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the life of the World. This only must be understood of a proper manducation of a real eating of his Flesh in this Holy Sacrament It must be confessed that this is an Arbitrary way of explaining indeed and becomes the Character of a Church whose dictates are to be received not examined and may therefore pass well enough amongst those with whom the supposed Infallibility of their Guides is thought a sufficient dispensation for their own private Consideration But for us who can see no reason for this sudden change of our Saviours Discourse nay think that the connexion of that last Clause with the foregoing is an evident sign that they all keep the same Character and are therefore not a little scandalized at so Capernaitical a Comment as indeed Who can bear it V. 60. They will please to excuse us if we take our Saviours Interpretation to be at least of as good an Authority as 't is much more reasonable than theirs V. 62. Do's this says he Offend you Do's my saying that ye must eat my flesh and drink my Blood scandalize you Mistake not my design I mean not any carnal eating of me that indeed might justly move your Horrour It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life He that desires a fuller account of this Chapter may please to recur to the late excellent †A Paraphrase with Notes and a Preface upon the Sixth Chapter of Saint John Lond. 1686. Paraphrase set out on purpose to explain it and which will be abundantly sufficient to shew the reasonableness of that Interpretation which we give of it I shall only add to close all that one Remark which * De Doctrin Christian Lib. 3. Cap. 16. Saint Augustine has left us concerning it and so much the rather in that it is one of the rules which he lays down for the right Interpreting of Holy Scripture and illustrates with this particular Example If says he the saying be Preceptive either forbidding a wicked action or commanding to do that which is good it is no Figurative saying But if it seems to command any Villany or Wickedness or forbid what is profitable and good it is Figurative This saying Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you have no Life in you seems to command a Villanous or Wicked Thing It is therefore a FIGVRE enjoining us to communicate in the Passion of our Lord and to lay it up in dear and profitable Remembrance that his Flesh was crucifi'd and wounded for our sakes And now having thus clearly I perswade my self shewn the Weakness of those Grounds on which this Doctrine of the substantial Change of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in this Holy Sacrament is establish'd I shall but very little insist on any other Arguments against it Only in a Word to demonstrate that all manner of Proofs fail them in this great Error I will in the close here subjoin two or three short Considerations more to shew this Doctrine opposite not only to Holy Scripture as we have seen but also 1. To the best and purest Tradition of the Church 2. To the Right Reason and 3. To the Common Senses of all Mankind I. That this Doctrine is opposite to the best and purest Tradition of the Church Now to shew this I shall not heap together a multitude of Quotations out of those Fathers through whose hands this Tradition must have past He that desires such an Account may find it fully done by one of the Roman Communion in a little * A Treatise of Transubstantiation by one of the Church of Rome c. Printed for Rich. Chiswell 1687. Treatise just now publish'd in our own Language I will rather take a method that seems to me less liable to any just Exception and that is to lay down some general Remarks of undoubted Truth and whose consequence will be as evident as their certainty is undeniable And I. For the Expressions of the Holy Fathers It is not deny'd Such are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Note there is hardly any of these Words which they have applied to the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist but they have attributed the same to the Water in Baptism but that in their popular Discourses they have spared no words except that of Transubstantiation which not one of them ever used to set off so great a Mystery And I believe that were the Sermons and Devotional Treatises of our own Divines alone since the Reformation searcht into one might find Expressions among them as much over-strain'd * See Treatise first of the Adoration c Printed lately at Oxford Which would make the World believe that we hold I know not what imaginary Real Presence on this account just as truly as the Fathers did Transubstantiation And doubtless these would be as strong an Argument to prove Transubstantiation now the Doctrine of the Church of England as those to argue it to have been the Opinion of those Primitive Ages But now let us consult these men in their more exact composures when they come to teach not to declaim and we shall find they will then tell us That these Elements are for their * It is not necessary to transcribe the Particulars here that have been so often and fully alledged Most of these Expressions may be found in the Treatise of Transubstantiation lately published The rest may be seen in Blondel Eclaircissements Familiers de la Controverse de l' Eucharistie Cap. iv vii viii Claude Rep. au 2. Traittè de la Perpetuitè i. Part. Cap. iv v. Forbesius Instructiones Historico-Theolog lib. xi cap. ix x xi xii xiii xv Larrogue Histoire de l' Eucharistie liv 2. cap. ii substance what they were before Bread and Wine That they retain the true properties of their nature to nourish and feed the Body that they are things inanimate and void of sense That with reference to the Holy Sacrament they are Images Figures Signes Symbols Memorials Types and Antitypes of the Body and Blood of Christ That in their Vse and Benefit they are indeed the very Body and Blood of Christ to every saithful Receiver but in a Spiritual and Heavenly manner as we confess That in
propriety of speech the Wicked receive not in this Holy Sacrament the Body and Blood of Christ although they do outwardly press with their teeth the Holy Elements but rather eat and drink the Sacrament of His Body and Blood to their damnation II. Secondly For our Saviours words which are supposed to work this great Change 't is evident from the Liturgies of the Eastern Church that the Greek Fathers did not believe them to be words of Consecration This Arcudius himself is forced to confess of some of the latter Greeks viz. That they take these Words only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Historically See his Book de Concord Lib. 3. Cap. 27. And indeed all the ancient Liturgies of that Church plainly speak it However both He and Goar endeavour to shift it off in which the Prayer of Consecration is after the words of Institution and distinct from it So in Liturg. S. Chrysostom Edition Goar pag. 76. n. 130. 132. are pronounced the Words of Institution Then pag. 77. numb 139. the Deacon bids the Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who thereupon thus consecrates it He first signs it three times with the sign of the Cross and then thus prays 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so the Cup afterwards but to be the same in this Holy Eucharist that the Haggadah or History of the Passover was in that ancient Feast That is were read only as an account of the Occasion and design of the Institution of this Blessed Sacrament not to work any Miracles in the Consecration And for the * The same seems to have been the custom of the African Church whose Prayers now used see in Ludolph Histor l. 3. cap. 5. Where is also the Expression mentioned n. 56. Hic Panis est Corpus meum c. African Churches they at this day expound them in this very Sacrament after such a manner as themselves confess to be inconsistent with Transubstantiation viz. This Bread is the Body of Christ III. Let it be considered Thirdly That it was a great debate in the Primitive Church for above a thousand Years Whether Christs Glorified Body had any Blood in it or no Now how those Men could possibly have questioned whether Christ's Glorified Body had any Blood at all in it See this whole matter deduced through the first Ages to St. Augustine whom Consentius consulted about this very matter in a particular Treatise written by Monsieur Allix de Sanguine Christi 8vo Paris 1680. had they then believed the Cup of Eucharist to have been truly and really changed into the Blood of his Glorified Body as is now asserted is what will hardly I believe be ever told us IV. We will add to this Fourthly their manner of opposing the Heathenism of the World. With what confidence could they have rallied them as they did for worshipping gods which their own Hands had made So Justin Martyr Apol. 2. Tertul. Apolog. cap. 12. Arnobius lib. 1. Minutius Felix p. 26. Octav. Julius Firmicus pag. 37. Edit Lugdunens 4to 1652. Hieron lib. 12. in Esai St. Augustinus in Psal 80. in Psal 113. Lactantius Instit lib. 2. cap. 4. Chrysostom Homil 57. in Genes c. That had neither Voice nor Life nor Motion Exposed to Age to Corruption to Dust to Worms to Fire and other Accidents That they adored gods which their Enemies could spoil them of Thieves and Robbers take from them which having no power to defend themselves were forced to be kept under Locks and Bolts to secure them For is not the Eucharistical Bread and Wine in a higher degree than any of their Idols were exposed to the same raillery Had their Wafer if such then was their Host any voice or life or motion Did not their own Hands form its substance and their Mouths speak it into a God Could it defend its self I do not say from publick Enemies or private Robbers but even from the very Vermine the creeping things of the Earth Or should we suppose the Christians to have been so impudent as notwithstanding all this to expose others for the same follies of which themselves were more notoriously guilty yet were there no * And yet that none did the Learned Rigaltius confesses Not. ad Tertul. l. 2. ad Vxor c. 5. Heathens that had wit enough to recriminate The other †See Tertul. Apol. c. 21. Et de carne Christi c. 4.5 Justin Martyr Apol. 2. Arnob l. 2. Orig. contr Cels l. 1. Articles of our Faith they sufficiently traduced That we should worship a Man and He too a Malefactor crucified by Pilate How would they have triumph'd could they have added That they worshipped a bit of Bread too which Coster himself thought a more ridiculous Idolatry than any the Heathens were guilty of Since this Doctrine has been started we have heard of the Reproaches of all sorts of Men Jews Heathens Mahometans against us on this account ‖ See du Perron de l' Euchar l. 3. c. 29. p. 973. Were there no Apostates that could tell them of this secret before Not any Julian that had malice enough to publish their Confusion Certainly had the Ancients been the Men they are now endeavour'd to be represented we had long ere this seen the whole World filled with the Writings that had proclaimed their shame in one of the greatest instances of Impudence and Inconsideration to attacque their Enemies for that very Crime of which themselves were more notoriously guilty V. Nor does their manner of Disputing against the Heretical Christians any less speak their Opinion in this Point See this fully handled in a late treatise called The Doctrine of the Trinity and Transubstantiation compared c. 1687. than their way of Opposing the Idolatry of the Heathens It was a great argument amongst them to expose the frenzy of Eutyches who imagined some such kind of Transubstantiation of the humane nature of Christ into the Divine to produce the Example of the Eucharist That as there the Bread and the Wine says P. Gelasius Being perfected by the Holy Spirit pass into the Divine Substance yet so as still to remain in the property of their own Nature or substance of Bread and Wine This Argument is managed by St. Chrysostome Epist ad Caesarium Monachum By Theodoret Dial. 2. pag. 85 Ed G. L. Paris 1642. Tom. 4. Gelasius in Opere contra Eutychen Nestorium He thus states the Eutychian Hereâ—â—e ' Dicunt unam esse naturam i.e. Divinam Against this he thus disputes Certe Sacramenta quae sumimus corporis sanguinis Christs divina res est Et tamen non definit substantia vel Natura Panis Vini Satis ergo nobis Evidentur Ostenditur hoc nobis de ipso Christo Domino sentiendum quod in ejus imagine profitemur Vt sicut in hanc sc in divinam transeant S. Spiritu perficiente substantiam permanentes tamen in suae proprietate naturae sic c. So here the
esse in Eucharistiâ Becani manuale l. 3. c. 9. p. 501. Ed. Luxembergi 1625. The Calvinists says he deny the Body and Blood of Christ to be truly really and substantially present in the Eucharist On the other Here is one will prove that they believe his very Body his natural Body now in Heaven to be nevertheless at the same time in the Holy Sacrament It were to be wish'd that they would let us once know what 't is they will stick to and not by such contradictory charges shew to all the World that both their Accusations may be false but that it is utterly impossible they should both be true And indeed in this very instance they are both false CALVIN The Calvinists hold neither the one or other of these Extreams In the Edition of his Institutions printed at Basil 1536. Mr. Calvin thus delivers his Opinion of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist We say Dicimus verè Efficaciter exhiberi non autem naturaliter Quo scil significamus non substantiam ipsam corporis seu verum naturale Christi corpus illic dari sed omnia quae in suo corpore noâ—is Beneficia Christus praestitit EA est corporis PRAESENTIA quam Sacramenti ratio postulat Edit Basil 8o. 1536. that they are truly and Efficaciously exhibited to us but not naturally By which we signifie not that the very Substance of his Body or that the true and natural Body of Christ are given there but all the Benefits which Christ did for us in his Body THIS is that PRESENCE of his Body which the nature of the Sacrament requires But because I do not find these words in the Editions of that Book since least any one should thereupon conclude that he had also changed his Opinion we may observe the very same delivered by him in * Dilucida explicacio c. Contra Westphalvir Edit Anno 1561. another of his Books and which will be so much the more considerable in that it was written purposely for the clearing of this matter Now in this he affirms †Christi corpus non modò semel fuisse datum in salutem nostram dum ad explanda peccata immolatum in cruce fuit sed quotidiè nobis in alimentum porrigi ut dum ipse habitat in nobis bonorum etiam eius omnium societate fruamur Apud Hospin Hist Sacram. Part 2da Ann. 1561. p. 477. That Christs Body was not only once given for our Salvation but is also every day reached out to us for our Sustenance that so whilst he dwells in us we may also enjoy the Fellowship of all his goods Then he explains How Christ is our food viz. †Rursum alimentum à nobis vocatur hoc sensu quia incomprehensibili spiritûs Virtute nobis vitam suam inspirat ut fit nobis communis non secus atque à radice arboris vitalis succus in ramos se diffundit vel à capite in singula membra manat Vigor Ibid. Imprimis obstaculum de corporis immensitate submovere necesse est Nisi enim conster finitum esse caelóque comprehendi nulla erit dissidii conciliandi Ratio p. 478. Christus sicuti in gloriam coelestem semel est receptus ita lecorum intervallo quoad carnem est à nobis dissitus Divinâ autem Essentiâ—â— virtute gratiâ etiam spirituali caelum terram implere Idem ergo Corpus quod semel filius Dei Patri in sacrificium obtulit quotidie nobis in Coena offert ut sit in Spirituale Alimentum Tantùm de modo tenendum est non opus esse descendere carnis Essentiam è coelo ut eâ pascamur sed ad penetranda impedimenta superandam locorum distantiam sufficere Spiritùs virtutem Commenta procul facessant qualia sunt de Corporis ubiquitate vel de occultâ sub panis symbolo inclusiâ—ne vel de substantiali ejus in terris praesentiâ Hâ—spin p. 478. Haec omnia refert ex illo Calvini loco because by the incomprehensible Vertue of the Holy Spirit he inspires his Life into us that he may communicate it to us no less than the vital juice is diffused from the Root into all the Branches of the Tree or than Vigour flows from the Head into all the members He declares Christs Body to be finite and enclosed in Heaven and therefore as to his Flesh to be distant in place from us That it is not necessary that the Essence of his Flesh should descend from Heaven that we may be fed with it but that to remove all such impediments and overcome the distance of places the Virtue of the Spirit is sufficient In short that all inventions contrary to this are to be rejected such as The Vbiquity of Christs Body the inclosing of it under the Symbol of Bread and his Substantial presence upon Earth BEZA By all which it sufficiently appears that Mr. Calvin was no friend to our Authors Fancy but evidently explained the Real Presence after that Spiritual manner we have before laid down For Beza and the rest as he calls them of the same Sect we cannot better learn their Opinion than from the Acts of the Colloquy of Poissy and which chiefly lay upon this Point At this conference the most eminent Men of the Calvinian Party were assembled the first of them which spoke was Beza In that part of his Discourse which referr'd to the Holy Eucharist his words were much like those which our Author has quoted out of him And by his own Exposition of them we shall be better able to judg of his meaning than by his Adversaries Gloss * See Hospin Hist Sacram. Part. 2. ad Ann. 1561. p. 515. Edit Genev. 1681. Comment de statu Relig. reipub in Galliâ ad Ann. 1561. p. 112. Et postea pag. 138. ita se exprimit in eundem planè sensum affirmamus J. C. adesse in usu Coenae in quâ nobis offert dat verè exhibet Corpus suum sanguinem suum operatione Spiritus Sti. nos verò recipimus edimus bibimus spiritualiter per fidem illud ipsum corpus quod pro nobis mortuum est eùmque illum sanguinem pro nobis effusum Edit Ann. 15â—7 8o. Beze Hist Eccles. pag. 595 596. For all this see Beza's own History ad Ann. 1561. p. 524. And when in the Conference D' Espense pressed them with departing from Calvin Beza declared that they were not at all contrary to him That for the word Substance which he sometimes used in expressing Christs Real Presence it was only to signifie that they did not seign any irraginary Body of Christ or fantastick reception or communion of His Body in this Holy Supper But that for the rest they all believed that no one could participate of him otherwise than Spiritually and by Faith not in taking Him into the Mouth or earing him with the Teeth See pag.
Presence as they phrase it of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist I shall therefore produce only a Witness or two of this King's Reign and so pass on to those that follow And 1st A. B. A.B. CRANMER Cranmer in his Answer to Gardiner Bishop of Winchester objecting to him That he deny'd the Presence of Christ in this Holy Eucharist replies That it was a thing he never said nor thought My book in divers places saith clean contrary Answer to Gardiâ—er Bishop of Winchester Fol. London 1551. That Christ is with us spiritually present is eaten and drunken of us and dwelleth within us although Corporally he be departed out of this World and gone into Heaven pag. 5. Pag. 5. As he giveth Bread to be eaten with our Mouths so giveth he his very Body to be eaten with our Faith. And therefore I say that Christ giveth himself truly to be eaten chawed and digested but all is spiritually with Faith not with Mouth pag. 9. Pag. 9. As the washing outwardly in Water is not a vain Token but teacheth such a washing as God worketh inwardly in them that duly receive the same so likewise is not the Bread a vain Token but sheweth and preacheth to the godly Receiver what God worketh in him by his Almighty Power secretly and invisibly And therefore as the Bread is outwardly eaten indeed in the Lord's Supper so is the very Body of Christ inwardly by Faith eaten indeed of all them that come thereto in such sort as they ought to do which eating nourisheth them unto Everlasting Life And in his Treatise of the Holy Sacrament Assertio verae Catholicae Doctrinae de Sacramento Corporis Sanguinis J. â—hristi Servaâ—â—ris nostri Liâ—â—ae 8 vo 1601. Lib. 3. where he sets himself particularly to state this very Question How Christ is present in this Holy Sacrament He declares Cap. 2. That whereas the Papists suppose Christ to be under the Species of Bread and Wine we believe him to be in those who worthily receive these Holy Elements They think him to be received by the Mouth and to enter with the Bread and Wine We assert that he is received only by the Soul and enters there by Faith. That Christ is present only sacramentally and spiritually in this sacred Mystery p. 116. That since his Ascension into Heaven he is there and not on Earth p. 118. and that he cannot be in both together 128. In short he gives us this Rule for interpreting the Expressions of the Fathers where it is said That we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ That we receive in the Holy Sacrament the very body that hung on the Cross c. cap. 14. p. 180. These says he and other Expressions of the like kind which speak Christ to be upon Earth and to be received of Christians by eating or drinking are either to be understood of his Divine Nature which is every where or else must be taken figuratively or spiritually For he is figuratively only in the Bread and Wine and spiritually in those that receive this Bread and Wine worthily But truly and as to his Body and Flesh he is in Heaven only from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead Thus did this Learned and Holy Martyr understand our Doctrine of the Real Presence Bp. RIDLEY and the same was the Idea which his Companion both in Doctrine and Suffering Bishop Ridley has left us of it In his Discourse of the Lord's Supper pag. 33. he tells us Ridlei de Caenâ Dominicâ Assertio Genevae apud Jo. Crispinum 1556. That the Substance of the Bread continues as the Matter of this Sacrament but so that by reason of its change as to Vse Office and Dignity it is turned Sacramentally into the Body of Christ as in Baptism the Water is turned into the Laver of Regeneration That the Humane Nature of Christ is in Heaven and cannot in any manner lye hid under the form of Bread p. 34. Then he enquires whether therefore we take away the Presence of Christ's Body from the Sacrament p. 35. And utterly denies that this is either said or thought by him The Substance of the true Body and Blood of Christ says he is always in Heaven nor shall it depart thence before the end of the World. Now this Substance of his Body and Blood being conjoyned to his Divine Nature has not only Life in it self but can and is wont to bestow it upon all those who partake of it and believe in his Name Nor is it any hindrance to this that Christ still remains in Heaven and that we are upon Earth For by Grace that is Life as S. John interprets it c. 6 and the Properties of it as far as may be profitable to us in this our Pilgrimage here below he is with us to the end of the World. As the Sun who though he never leaves his Orb yet by his Life Heat and Influence is present to us pag. 36 37. Hitherto then there can be no doubt but that both the Church and the Divines knew no other Real Presence than what has been before acknowledged to be still our Doctrine We must now go on to the times of tryal the days of Q. Elizabeth and her Successors I. Tract §. IV. pag. 4. when our Author supposes that Men of different Judgments had the Power Now for proof of this besides the Expressions of particular Men which we shall presently consider we have Two General Presumptions offer'd to us One That Dr. Heyliâ—â— and others have observed he says of this Queen that she was a zealous propugner of the Real Presence which may be very true and yet but little to the purpose if she propugned it in the same sense that her Brother King Edward the 6th and the Church of England had done before and not in the new Notion imposed upon her by this Author but without any manner of proof to warrant his suggestion The other That upon the Re-view made by her Divines of the Common-Prayer and Articles I. Treatise pag. 2. §. I. and again p. 22. §. XXXI they struck out of the One the Rubrick against the Adoration of the Sacrament and the Passage before mention'd being of the same temper as the Declaration in the Liturgy out of the xxixth Article and which has accordingly been omitted ever since And here I cannot but again take notice of the disingenuousness of this Author in dissembling the true Account that has so largely been given by our late accurate Compiler of the History of our Reformation of this whole matter only for the advancing so pitiful an Insinuation of what I dare appeal to his own Conscience whether he did not know to be otherwise I will beg leave to transcribe the whole Passage and shall then leave it to the indifferent Reader to judge whether a man so well acquainted with Books and so interested in this
otherwise I shall not trouble the Reader with any more of our Divines who lived in the beginning of this Queen's Reign Mr. HOOKER and subscribed the Article before-recited but pass on directly to him whom our Author first mentions Tr. I. cap. 2. §. 10. Pag. 6. the Venerable Mr. Hooker and whose Judgment having been so deservedly esteemed by all sorts of men ought not to be lightly accounted of by us And here I must observe that this Learned Person is drawn in only by a Consequence and that no very clear one neither to favour his Opinion Difference between the Protestant and Socinian Methods in answer to the Protestants Plea for a Socinian pag. 54. The truth is he has dealt with Mr. Hooker just as himself or one of his Friends has been observed to have done on the like occasion with the incomparable Chillingworth has pick'd up a Passage or two that seemed for his purpose but dissembled whole Pages in the same place that were evidently against him For thus Mr. Hooker in the Chapter cited by him interprets the words of Institution If we doubt says he what those admirable words may import let him be our Teacher for the meaning of Christ to whom Christ was himself a School-master Let our Lord's Apostle be his Interpreter content we our selves with his Explication My Body the Communion of my Body My Blood the Communion of my Blood. Is there any thing more expedite clear and easie than that as Christ is termed our Life because through him we obtain Life So the parts of this Sacrament are his Body and Blood because they are Causes instrumental upon the receit whereof the participation of his Body and Blood ensueth The Real Presence of Christ's most blessed Body and Blood is not therefore to be sought for in the Sacrament but in the worthy Receiver of the Sacrament And again p. 310. he thus interprets the same words This Hallow'd Food through the concurrence of Divine Power is in verity and truth unto faithful Receivers instrumentally a Cause of that mystical participation whereby as I make my self wholly theirs so I give them in hand an actual possession of all such saving Grace as my sacrificed Body can yeild and as their Souls do presently need This is to them and in them my Body And this may suffice in Vindication of Mr. Hooker Those who desire a fuller Account may find several Pages to the same purpose in the Chapter which I have quoted Bishop ANDREWS 1 Tract pag. 7. §. xi n. 1. The next our Author mentions is the Learned Bishop Andrews in that much noted passage as he calls it in the Answer to Bellarmine And indeed we need desire no other Passage to judge of his Opinion in this matter in which 1st He utterly excludes all defining any thing as to the manner of Christs Presence in the Eucharist 2. He professes that a Presence we believe and that no less a True one than the Papists 3. He plainly insinuates that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist was much the same as in Baptism the very allusion which the Holy †Habemus Christum praesentem ad Baptismatis Sacramentum habemus eum praesentem ad Altaris Cibum Potum Augustin Stola quae est Ecclesia Christi lavatur in ipsius sanguine vivo i. e. in lavacro regenerationis Origen Statim baptizatus in sanguine agni Vir meruit appellari Hieron Christi sanguine lavaris quando in ejus mortem Baptizaris Leo. P. c. Fathers were wont to make to express his Presence by in this Holy Sacrament which since our Adversaries can neither deny nor yet say is so real as to be Essential or Corporeal they must of necessity allow that there may be a true Presence which is all the Bishop affirms without such a Substantial one as this Author here contends for But to shew that whatever this Bishop understood by the Real presence it could not be that Christs glorified Body is now actually present in this Sacred Mystery will appear demonstratively from this that he declares it is not this Body which we either Represent or partake of there insomuch that he doubts not to say that could there be a Transubstantiation such as the Church of Rome supposes it would not serve our turn nor answer the design of this Sacrament 'T is in his Sermon on 1 Cor. See Sermon vii on the Resurect pag. 454. Serm. Lâ—nd 1641. v. 7 8. We will mark saith he something more That Epulemur doth here refer to Immolatus To Christ not every way consider'd but As when he was Offer'd Christs Body that now is true But not Christs Body as now it is but as then it was when it was offer'd rent and slain and sacrificed for us Not as now he is glorified for so he is not he cannot be Immolatus For as he is he is immortal and impassible But as then he was when he suffer'd death that is passible and mortal Then in his passible State he did institute this of outs to be a memorial of his Passible and Passion both And we are in this Action not only carry'd up to Christ sursum Corda so that Christ it seems is not brought down to us but we are also carry'd back to Christ as he was at the very instant and in the very Act of his offering So and no otherwise doth this Text teach So and no otherwise do we Represent him By the incomprehensible power of his Eternal Spirit not He alone but He as at the very act of his offering is made present to us and we incorporate into his death and invested in the Benefits of it If an Host could be turned into him now glorified as he is it would not serve Christ offer'd is it Thither must we look to the Serpent lift up thither we must repair even ad Cadaver We must Hoc facere do that is then done So and no otherwise is this Epulare to be conceived And so I think none will say they do or can turn him Whatsoever Real presence then this Bishop believed it must be of his crucified Body and as in the State of his death and that I think cannot be otherwise present than in one of those two ways mentioned above by Arch-Bishop Cranmer and both of which we willingly acknowledge either Figuratively in the Elements or Spiritually in the Souls of those who worthily receive them And from this Account of Bishop Andrews Opinion we may conclude what it was that Casaubon and King James understood by the Real Presence ASAVBON KING JAMES A. Bishop of Spalato who insist upon that Bishops words to express their own Notion and meaning of it Nor can we make any other judgment of the Arch Bishop of Spalato See the 1. Tra. who in the next § xi note 2. pag. 7. * Vol. 3. de Rep. Eccles. lib. 7. cap. 11. pag. 200. 201. to that cited by our Adversary is
very earnest against those who receive unworthily this Holy Sacrament and by consequence ties not Christs natural Body to the Bread and declares it to be after a Spiritual imperceptible and miraculous manner As for the term Corporaliter which he there uses and which Melancthon and some others had used before him that may be well enough understood in the same Sence Celess ii 9 17. as verè or realiter and is often so used both in Scripture and in the Holy Fathers As when St. Paul says of Christ that in Him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead Bodily that is really in opposition to the Shechinah or Presence of God in the Tabernacle And again The Body of Christ that is the substance See Hammend in Coloss 1. Annot. d. the reality opposed to the types and sigures of the Law. And so in the Hebrew Exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used for Essence as well as Body Arch-Bishop LAWD and applied to Spiritual as well as Corporal things Nor can I see any more reason to understand Arch-Bishop Lawd in any other Sence He asserts the true and real Presence of Christ in this Sacred Feast 1 Tract §. xiv pag. 8. but he do's not say that Christ's natural Body which is now in Heaven is also in this Holy Sacrament or in the worthy receiver nor have we any reason to believe that he understood it so to be * MONTâ—GVE Origeres Eccles. Tom. prior par postor p. 247 249 250. c. Panis in Sanaxi fit corpus Christi Sed et Corpus Christi CREDENIES nunt Ad eundem utrumque moduin mensuram sed non Naturaliter Itaque nee Panis ITA est Corpus Christi Mystice tantum non Pâ—â—sice vid. plur And the same must be said of †Bishop HALL Bishop Hall Bishop Montague and Bishop Bilson MONTAGVE BILSON in whose expressions as they are quoted by our Author I find nothing that proves the Sence he would impose upon them and whose works had I now by me I might possibly be able to give some better account of them Though after all should one of these in his violence against his Adversaries or the others in their pacifick design of reconciling all Parties as to this Point have said more than they ought to do I do not see but that it ought to have been imputed to the circumstances they were in and the designs they pursued rather than be set up for the measure either of their own or our Churches Opinion And now I am mentioning these things Bishop FORBES I ought not pass over one other eminent instance of such a charitable undertaking and which has given occasion to our Author of a Quotation he might otherwise have wanted in that excellent Bishop of St. Andrews Bishop Forbes concerning whose Authority in this matter I shall offer only the censure of one than whom none could have given a more worthy Character of a person who so well deserved it as that good Bishop did I do not deny Author of the Life of Bishop BEDEL in the Preface but his earnest desire of a general Peace and Vnion among all Christians has made him too favourable to many of the Corruptions in the Church of Rome But though a Charity that is not well ballanced may carry one to very in iscreet things yet the principle from whence thdy flow'd in him was so truly good that the Errors to which it carry'd him ought to be either excused or at lest to be very gently censured There remain now but two of all the Divines he has produced to prove his new fancy which he would set up for the Dâ—ctrine of the Church of England and those as little for his purpose as any he has hitherto mentioned Bishop TAYLOR Bishop Taylor and Mr. Thorndyke For Bishop Taylor I cannot acquit our Author of a wilful prevarication since it is evident that he has so plainly opposed his Notion and that in the very Book he quotes and which he wrote on purpose to shew our meaning of the Real Presence Polemical discourses p. 182. London 1674. that he could not but have known that he mis-represented him I shall set down the state of the Question as it is in the beginning of that Treatise The Doctrine of the Church of England and generally of the Protestants in this Article is That after the Minister of the Holy Mysteries hath rightly pray'd and blessed or consecrated the Bread and the Wine the Symbols become changed into the Body and Blood of Christ after a Sacramental i.e. in a Spiritual Real manner So that all that worthily communicate do by Faith receive Christ Really Effectually to all the purposes of his Passion It is Bread and it is Christs Body It is Bread in in Substance Christ in the Sacrament and Christ is as really given to all that are truly dispos'd as the Symbols are p. 183. It is here as in the other Sacrament for as there natural Water becomes the laver of Regeneration so here Bread and Wine become the Body and Blood of Christ but there and here too the first Substance is changed by Grace but remains the same in nature We say that Christs Body is in the Sacrament really but Spiritually They the Papists say it is there really but Spiritually For so Bellarmin is bold to say that the word may be allowed in this Question Where now is the difference Here By Spiritually they mean present after the manner of a Spirit by Spiritually we mean present to our Spirits only that is so as Christ is not present to any other Sence but that of faith or spiritual susception They say that Christs Body is truly present there as it was upon the Cross but not after the manner of all or any Body But we by the real Spiritual Presence of Christ do understand Christ to be present as the Spirit of God is present in the Hearts of the faithful by Blessing and Grace and this is ALL we mean besides the tropical and figurative presence Such is the Account which that Excellent Bishop here gives not only of his own but as he expresly terms it of the Church of England's and the Generality of the Protestants Belief in this Matter Our Author's dissimulation of it is so much the more inexcusable Treatise 1st p. 20th by how much the more zealous an Advocate he makes him of his Cause when all this that I have transcribed was in the very same Section and almost in the same Page with what he has cited For his little Remark upon the Title of the Bishops Book where he calls it of the Real Presence and Spiritual whence he would infer a difference between the two Terms and find something Real that is not Spiritual in this Sacrament it is evident that the Design of that Distinction was this There be several sorts of Real Presences the Papists the Lutherans the Church of England all
allow a Real Presence in the Sacrament but after different Manners it was therefore necessary to add somewhat more to shew what kind of Real Presence he undertook to maintain and he knew no word more proper to express it by than Spiritual which does not therefore imply a Distinction from but Limitation of the other Term Real And thus he explains it N. 6. and 7. of that Section Pag. 183. where he shews that the Spiritual is also a Real Presence and indeed more properly so than any other In short thus he concludes the State of the Question Pag 186. in the same Section between us and the Church of Rome so that now says he The Question is not Whether the Symbols be changed into Christ's Body and Blood or no For it is granted on all sides But whether this Conversion be Sacramental and Figurative Or whether it be Natural and Bodily Nor is it whether Christ be taken Really but whether he be taken in a Spiritual or in a Natural Manner We say the Conversion is Figurative Mysterious and Sacramental they say it is Proper Natural and Corporal We affirm that Christ is really taken by Faith by the Spirit to all real Effects of his Passion this is an Explication a little different from our Authors They say he is taken by the Mouth and that the Spiritual and the Virtual taking him in Virtue or Effect is not sufficient tho' done also in the Sacrament Hic Rhodus hic Saltus If this does not yet satisfie him that he has injur'd this Learned Man in the Representation of his Opinion directly contrary to his Sense I will offer him yet one Passage more taken from another part of his Works and which I hope will throughly convince him It is in the 5th Letter to a Gentleman that was tempted to the Communion of the Church of Rome He had proposed to the Bishop this Question Whether without all danger of Superstition or Idolatry we may not render Divine Worship to our Blessed Saviour as present in the Blessed Sacrament or Host according to his Humane Nature in that Host The Question is certainly every way pertinent to our present Purpose let us see what the Answer is that he makes to it See Pâ—lâ—mi◠〈…〉 â—ag 6â— 70 We may not render Divine Worship to him as present in the Blessed Sacrament according to his Humane Nature without danger of Idolatry because he is not there according to his Humane Nature and therefore you give Divine Worship to a Non Ens which must needs be Idolatry Well Treat 1st Pag. 10. but still it may be the Bishop does not intend to exclude the Corpus Domini but only the Corporal or Natural Manner of that Body Let us therefore hear how he goes on For Idolum nihil est in mundo Saith St. Paul and Christ as Present by his Humane Nature in the Sacrament is a Nonâ—ens For it is not true there is no suchthing What not as Christ there no way as to his Humane nature No he is saith the Bishop present there by his Divine power and his Divine Blessing and the Fruits of his Body the real effective Consequents of his Passion but for any other Presence it is Idolum it is nothing in the World. Adore Christ in Heaven for the Heaven must contain him till the time of restitution of all things This then is Bishop Taylor 's Notion of the Real Presence and now I am confident our Author himself will remit him to the Company of those Old Zuinglian Bishops Cranmer Ridley and the rest who lived before that Q. Elizabeth had propugned the Real Presence of his new Model into the Heads of the Governours of the Church of England And now I am afraid his Cause will be desperate unless Mr. Thorndyke can support it Mr. THORNDYKE And how unlikely he is to do it he might have learnt from what has been answered to T. G. on the same Occasion ⸪ T. G. Vialogue 1st Pag. 21. T. G. Had in his first Dialogue quoted the same place which our Author has done since to prove his belief of the Real Presence His * Answer to T. G's Dial. Pag. 92. Adversary confesses this but produces another that explains his meaning †THORNDYKE Laws of the Church Ch. 4. Pag. 30. if it can any way be shew'd says he that the Church did ever pray that the Flesh and Blood might be substituted instead of the Elements under the Accidents of them then I am content that this be accounted henceforth the Sacramental presence of them in the Eucharist But if the Church only prays that the Spirit of God coming down upon the Elements may make them the Body and Blood of Christ so that they which receive them may be filled with the Grace of his Spirit then is it not the Sence of the Catholick Church that can oblige any man to believe the abolishing of the Elements in their bodily substance because supposing that they remain they may nevertheless come to be the instruments of Gods Spirit to convey the operation thereof to them that are dispos'd to receive it no otherwise than his Flesh and Blood convey'd the Efficacy thereof upon Earth And that I suppose is reason enough to call it the Body and Blood of Christ Sacramentally that is to say as in the Sacrament of the Eucharist Thus Mr. Thorndyke expresses himself as to the Real Presence But yet after all I will not deny but that this Learned Person seems to have had a particular Notion in this matter and which is far enough from what our Author would six upon him He thought that the Elements by Consecration were united to the Godhead of Christ much after the same manner as his Natural Body was by Incarnation and that so the very Elements became after a sort his Body See his Just Weights and Measures 4 to Lond. 1662. Pag. 94. The Church from the beginning did not pretend to consecrate by these bare words This is my Body this is my Blood as operatory inchanging the Elements into the Body and Blood of Christ but by that Word of God whereby he hath declared the Institution of this Sacrament and commanded the use of it and by the Execution of this Command Now it is executed and hath always been executed by the Act of the Church upon God's Word of Institution praying that the Holy Ghost coming down upon the present Elements may make them the Body and Blood of Christ Not by changing them into the Nature of Flesh and Blood as the Bread and Wine that nourished our Lord Christ on Earth became the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God by becoming the Flesh and Blood of his Manhood Hypostatically united to his Godhead saith Gregory Nyssene But immediately and ipso facto by being united to the Spirit of Christ i. e. his Godhead For the Flesh and Blood of Christ by Incarnation the Elements by Consecration being united
to the Spirit i. e. the Godhead of Christ become both one Sacramentally by being both one with the Spirit or Godhead of Christ to the conveying of God's Spirit to a Christian And thus have I consider'd the several Divines produced for this new Conceit concerning the Real Presence and shewn the greatest part of his Authors to be evidently against it some not to have spoken so clearly that we can determine any thing concerning them but not one that favours what they were alledged for viz. to shew that they believed Christ's Natural Body to be both in Heaven and in the Sacrament only after another manner than the Papists It were an easie matter to shew how constant our Church has been to the Doctrine of the true real spiritual Presence which it still asserts and which it derived from its first Reformers whose words have been before set down by a cloud of other Witnesses as may be seen by the short Specimen I have put together in the * Reformatio legum Eccles ex Authorit Henr. 8. Edw. 6. Lond. 1641. Tit. de Sacram. cap. 4. pag. 29. Morton de Euch. part 2. Class 4. cap. 1. §. 2. pag. 224. Lat. 1640. 4 to Fr. White against Fisher pag. 407. Lond. 1624. Fol. A. B Vster's Answer to a Challenge c of the Real Presence p. 44 45. Lond. 1625. Id. Serm before the House of Commons pag 16 1â— c Dr. Hownand Pract. Catech. part ult Answer to this Question the Importance of these wâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 the Bâ—dâ— and 〈◊〉 of Christ are verily and indeed taken and receivâ—â— p. 132. 〈◊〉 Lond Fol. 1634. Dr. Jachson's Works Tom. 3. pag. 300 302. Lond. 1673 Dr. Jo. Wâ—â—â—â—â—'s Way to the True Church Lond. 1624. §. 51. N. 1â— pag. 2â—9 Cosens Hist Transubst p. 3 4 12 c. Edit London 1675 8vo Margent But I have insisted too long already on this matter and shall therefore pass on to the Third thing I proposed to consider viz. Thirdly That the Alterations which have been made in our Rubrick were not upon the account of our Divines changing their Opinions as is vainly and fasly suggested To give a rational Account of this Affair we must carefully consider the Circumstances of the Times the Tempers and Dispositions of the Persons that lived in them and what the Designs of the Governing Parties were with reference to them and then we shall presently see both a great deal of Wisdom and Piety in the making of these Alterations allowing the Opinions of those who did it to have continued as we have seen in all of them the same When first this Rubrick was put into King Edward's Liturgy the Church of England was but just rising up out of the Errors and Superstitions with which it had been over-run by the prevalency of Popery upon it It had the happiness to be reformed not as most others were by private persons and in many places contrary to the desires of the Civil Power but by a Unanimous Concurrence of the Highest Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical of Church and State. Hence it came to pass that Convocations being assembled Deliberations had of the greatest and wisest Persons for the proceeding in it nothing was done out of a Spirit of Peevisnness or Opposition the Holy Scriptures and Antiquity were carefully consulted and all things examined according to the exactest measures that could be taken from them and a diligent distinction made of what was Popery and what true and Catholick Christianity that so the One only might be rejected the other duly retained Now by this means it was that the Ancient Government of the Church became preserved amongst us a just and wise Liturgy collected out of the Publick Rituals Whatever Ceremonies were requisite for Order or Decency were retain'd and among the rest that of receiving the Communion kneeling for One which has accordingly ever since been the manner establish'd amongst us But that no Occasion of Scandal might hereby be given whether to our Neighbour-Churches abroad or to any particular Members of our own at home That those who were yet weak in the Faith might not either continue or fall back into Error and by our retaining the same Ceremony in the Communion that they had been used to in the Mass fancy that they were to adore the Bread as they did before For all these great Ends this Caution was inserted that the true Intent of this Ceremony was only for Decency and Order not that any Adoration was thereby intended or ought to be done unto any Real or Essential Presence of Christ's Natural Flesh and Blood which were not there but in Heaven it being against the Truth of Christ's Natural Body to be at One time in more places than One. And this is sufficiently intimated in the words of the Rubrick to have been the first Cause and Design of it Thus it continued the remainder of King Edward's time But now Queen Elizabeth being come to the Crown there were other Circumstances to be consider'd Those of the Reformed Religion abroad were sufficiently satisfied both by this publick Declaration which had stood so many years in the Liturgy of our Church and by the Conversation and Acquaintance of our Divines forced by the dispersion in the foregoing Reign to seek forrefuge among their Brethren in other Countries of our Orthodox Faith as to this Point Our own Members at home had heard too much of this matter in the publick Writings and Disputations and in the constant Sufferings of their Martyrs not to know that the Popish Real Presence was a meer Figment an Idolum as Bishop Taylor justly stiles it and their Mass to be abhorred rather than adored There was then no longer need of this Rubrick upon any of those Accounts for which it was first establish'd and there was a very just reason now to lay it aside That great Queen desired if possible to compose the Minds of her Subjects and make up those Divisions which the differences of Religion and the late unhappy Consequences of them had occasion'd For this she made it her business to render the publick Acts of the Church of England as agreeable to all Parties as Truth would permit The Clause of the Real Presence inserted in the Articles of her first Convocation and subscribed by all the Members of it to shew that their belief was still the same it had ever been as to this matter was nevertheless as we have seen struck out for this end their next Session The Title of Head of the Church which her Father had first taken her Brother continued and was from both derived to her so qualified and explained as might prevent any Occasion of quarrelling at it by the most captious persons That Petition in the Litany inserted by King Henry viii From the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable Enormities Good Lord c. struck out And in conformity to what was done in the Articles as to this Point this Rubrick
places at once till the Papists can demonstrate the possibility thereof by Testimony of Holy Scripture or the ancient Tradition of the Primitive Church or by apparent Reason We need not suppose that they said this doubting whether it implied a Contradiction but because the certainty of the Contradiction secured them against the possibility of any such Proof * This is evident in B. Taylor who thought that God could not do this because it implied a Contradiction Real Presence §. xi n. 1. p. 230. and Ibid. n. 27. He saith 't is utterly impossible So also Dr. White professes that according to the Order which God has fixed by his Word and Will this cannot be done Confer pag. 446 447. and before pag. 181. to this Objection That tho in Nature it be impossible for one and the same Body to be in many places at once yet because God is Omnipotent he is able to effect it We answer says he It implieth a Contradiction that God should destroy the nature of a thing the nature of the same thing remaining safe See 〈◊〉 p. 180 181. White 's Works Lond. 1624. And now I know but one Objection more that is or can be offered against what I have said and which having answered I shall close this Point For if this be all the Church of England understands when it speakes of a Real Presence viz. A Real Sacramental Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Holy Signs and a real Spiritual Presence in the inward Communion of them to the Soul of every worthy Receiver will not this precipitate us into downright ‖ See 1. Treatise pag. 23. §. xxxii p. 24. §. xxxii p. 25. §. xxxvi xxxvii c. Zuinglianism and render us after all our pretences as very Sacramentaries as they Indeed I am not able directly to say whether it will or no because I find the Opinion of Zuinglius very variously represented as to this matter But yet First If by Zuinglianism he means that which is more properly * Smalcius de Coen Dom. p. 347. Id Disp 9. de Hypocr p. 289. Volkelius lib. iv cap. 12. p. 304 319 c. Socinus in Paraenesi c. iv Sclichtingius disp de Coeu Dom. p. 701. Socinianism viz. a meer Commemoration of Christ's Death and a Thanksgiving to God for it 't is evident it does not forasmuch as we positively confess that in this Holy Sacrament there is a Real and Spiritual Grace communicated to us even all the benefits of that Death and Passion which we there set forth And this or somewhat very like it I find sometimes to have been maintained by †Zuingl See de Provid Dei cap. 6 c. Zuinglius But now Secondly If by Zuinglianism he understands such a Real Prefence as denies only the Coexistence of Christ's Natural Body now in Heaven at the same time in this Holy Sacrament but denies nothing of that Real and Spiritual * And this our Author seems to insinuate See the places above cited And indeed others have alledged this as the true Opinion of Zuinglius See Calvin Tract de Coen Dom. Defens Sacram. Admonit ad Westphal Passim alibi Vid. insuper libr. de Orthod Consens c. 7 And especially Hospin p. 42 55 177 c. Hist Sacr. paâ—â— 2. Communion of it we have be fore mentioned this is indeed our Doctrine nor shall we be ashamed to own it for any ill Names he is able to put upon it But yet I wonder why he should call this Zuinglianism since if the common name of Catholick or Christian Doctrine be not sufficient he might have found out a more ancient Abettor of this Real Presence than Zuinglius and the truth is one of the most dangerous Opposers both of their Head and their Faith that ever was I mean St. Paul who has not only clearly express'd himself against them as to this Point of the Eucharist 1 Cor. x. 16. but in most of their other Errors left such pernicious Sayings to the World as all their Authority and Infallibility let me add nor all their Anathema's neither will not be able to overcome I shall close up this Discourse of the Real Presence acknowledged by us in this Holy Sacrament with a plain familiar Example and which may serve at once both to illustrate and confirm the Propriety of it A Father makes his last Will and by it bequeaths his Estate and all the Profits of it to his Child Vid. Cosens Hist Transubstantionis cap. v. §. 5. p. 57. He delivers it into the Hands of his Son and bids him take there his House and Lands which by this his last Will he delivers to him The Son in this case receives nothing but a Roll of Parchment with a Seal tied to it from his Father but yet by virtue of this Parchment he is intituled to his Estate performing the Conditions of his Will and to all the Benefits and Advantages of it And in that Deed he truly and effectually received the very House and Lands that were thereby conveyed to him Our Saviour Christ in like manner being now about to leave the World gives this Holy Sacrament as his final Bequest to us in it he conveys to us a right to his Body and Blood and to all the Spiritual Blessings and Graces that proceed from them So that as often as we receive this Holy Eucharist as we ought to do we receive indeed nothing but a little Bread and Wine into our Hands but by the Blessing and Promise of Christ we by that Bread and Wine as really and truly become Partakers of Christ's Body and Blood as the Son by the Will of his Father was made Inheritor of his Estate Nor is it any more necessary for this that Christ's Body should come down from Heaven or the outward Elements which we receive be substantially turned into it than it is necessary in that other case that the very Houses and Lands should be given into the Hands of the Son to make a real delivery or conveyance of them or the Will of the Father be truly and properly changed into the very Nature and Substance of them PART II. CHAPTER III. Of the Adoration of the Host as prescribed and practised in the Church of Rome WE are now arrived at the last Part of this Discourse in which I must thus far change the Method I pursued in the Other Subject as to consider First What the Doctrine of the Church of England as to this Point is and what our Adversaries Exceptions against it are Secondly What is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome and whether what this Author has said in favour of it may be sufficient to warrant their Practice as to this Matter For the former of these The Doctrine of the Church of England we shall need go no farther than the Rubrick we have before-mention'd wherein it is expresly declared with reference to this Holy Sacrament Rubr. at the end of the
Communion That no Adoration is intended or ought to be done either to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or to any Corporal Presence of Christ's Body and Blood For that the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their very Natural Substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all Faithful Christians and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here it being against the truth of Christ's natural Body to be at One time in more places than One. This then being sufficiently cleared let us see what this Author has to observe against it 1. He supposes that we will grant Treatise 1. Ch. 4. §. 39. p. 27. that if there were a Corporal Presence of Christ's Natural Body in this Holy Sacrament then Kneeling and Adoration would be here also due upon such an Account He means that were Christ himself here in his Body actually present He ought to be adored and this he need not doubt of our readiness to grant 2. Tho the Corporeal Presence of Christ's Body Ib. §. xl i.e. of its being there ad modum Corporis or clothed with the ordinary Properties of a Body be deny'd as it is not only by the English Divines but by the Lutheran and Roman Yet let there be any other manner of Presence known from Divine Revelation of the very same Body and Blood and this as Real and Essential as if Corporeal and then I do not see but that Adoration will be no less due to it thus than so Present Now to this I shall at present only say That the Supposition being absurd do's not admit of a rational Consideration Those who deny a bodily Presence of Christ's Body in the Eucharist and ask whether Adoration may not be paid to his Body which is confess'd not to be bodily present there supposing it to be there some other way ought to have no other satisfaction than this that they suppose an Impossibility a thing which cannot be and therefore concerning which no reasonable Answer can be given Some I know have been more free and allowing for the unreasonableness of the Supposal have resolved contrary to our Author But I think it very needless to dispute of the Affections of a Chimera and wrangle about Notions that have neither Use nor Existence 3. Treatise 1. p. 28. §. xli He observes lastly That the Church of England hath believed and affirmed such a Presence he means of Christ's Body in the Eucharist to which they thought Adoration due I presume it was then in the Times of Popery for since the Reformation I have shewn before that she has always held the contrary But our Author will prove it and that since the Reformation Ibid. For he says he has in his time met with no less than five of our Writers and those of no mean Account neither that have been of this Opinion This indeed is a very notable way of proving the Doctrine of our Church But what now if I should bring him fifteen Others that have deny'd it then I hope the Doctrine of the Church of England may be as fair for the contrary But we will examine his Evidence First Treatise 1. §. xlii p. 28. Bishop Andrews he says declares that tho we adore not the Sacrament yet we adore Christ in and with the Sacrament besides and without the Sacrament and assures the World that K. James looked upon Christ to be truly present and truly to be adored in it How this Bishop thought Christ truly present in the Sacrament we have seen before and may from thence easily conclude how he supposed he might be adored there viz. As in all other Holy Offices in which we confess Him by his Divine Power to be present with us but especially in this Sacred Mystery And thus we all adore him both in and with and without the Sacrament we confess him to be truly present and therefore truly to be adored by us But now for Christ's Natural Body of which and not of Christ himself our Dispute is if that be any otherwise truly present than as we before shew'd let it be remembred that according to this Bishop it must not be his Glorified Body See above his Body as it now is but his Body Crucified his Body as offer'd for us and in the State of his Death so He expresly affirms and this I believe our Author himself will confess in his sense to be impossible His next Witness is Bishop Taylor We worship Treatise 1. §. xliii p. 28. He means says this Author the Body or the Flesh of Christ in the Eucharist But is he sure the Bishop meant so If he be I am sure the Bishop thought we all of us committed Idolatry in so doing For being consulted as we have seen above whether without all danger of Idolatry we may not render Divine Worship to our Blessed Saviour as present in the Blessed Sacrament or Host See Polemical Discourses 5. Letter at the end p. according to his Humane Nature in that Host He expresly declares We may not render Divine Worship to Him as present in the Blessed Sacrament according to his Humane Nature without danger of Idolatry because he is not there according to his Humane Nature and therefore you give Divine Worship to a Non Ens which must needs be Idotry And indeed this our Author knew very well was his Opinion who himself in his next Treatise cites the xiiith Section of his Real Presence Treatise 2. p .9 §. vi n. 2. which was written on purpose to prove the unlawfulness of worshipping Christ's Body in this Sacrament But dissimulation of other Mens Opinions in matter of Religion is perhaps as lawful on some Occasions as if it were their own And why may not an Author prevaricate the Doctrine of his Adversary in defence of the Catholick Faith since I have read of a * The Story was publish'd in the Memoirs of Monsieur D'eageant printed with permission at Grenoble 1668. pag. 246 I will set it down in his own words Il'y avoit deja quelque tems que D'eageant avoit gagné l'un des Ministres de la Province de Languedoc qui etoit des plus employez aux Affaires meneés de ceux de la R. P. R. en l'Estime particuliere de Monsieur de Lesdiguiers Il avoit meme secrettement moyenne sa Conversion obtenu un Bref de Rome portant qu' en core qu' il eut etè receu au giron de l'Eglise il luy etoit permis de continuer son Ministere durant 3 Ans pourveu qu'en ses preches il ne dit rien de contraire à la creance de la vraye Eglise qu' il ne celebrât ponit la cene Le Bref fût obtenu afinque le Ministre pût estre continué dans les Emplois qu'il avoit decouvrir les
meneés qui se faisoient dans le Royaume Protestant Minister who in the Troubles of France being brought over to the King's Interest was secretly reconciled to the Church of Rome and permitted so far to dissemble his own Opinion as not only to continue in the outward profession of the Protestant Religion but even to exercise the Functions of his Ministry as before and that by the express leave of his Holiness for three whole Years the better to carry on the Catholick Cause in betraying the Secrets and managing the Debates of his Brethren As for Bishop Forbes and the Arch-bishop of Spalatto it is not to be wondred if Men that had entertained the Design of reconciling all Parties were forced to strain sometimes a little farther than was fit for the doing of it And for Mr. Thorndyke we have seen that his Notion of the Real Presence was particular and widely different both from theirs and ours and therefore that we are not to answer for the Consequences of it But however to quit these just Exceptions against them Will he himself allow every thing to be the Doctrine or not of the Church of Rome which I shall bring him three of their Authors to affirm or deny If he will then Transubstantiation is not their Doctrine for I have already quoted above twice three of their most Learned Men against it To adore an Vnconsecrated Host by mistake is Idolatry for so S. Thomas Paludanus Catharine and others assure us To worship the Host supposing their Doctrine of Transubstantiation false a worser Idolatry than any Heathens were ever guilty of so several of their Writers confess But now if our Author will not allow this to be good arguing against them with what reason do's he go about to urge it against us Secondly We must in the next place consider what the Doctrine of the Church of Rome as to this Point is and whether what this Author has advanced in favour of it may be sufficient to warrant their practice of this Adoration For the Doctrine of the Church of Rome I find it thus clearly set down by the Council of Trent Concil Trid. Sess xiii cap. 5. p. 57. Nullus itaque dubitandi locus relinquitur quin omnes Christi fideles pro more in Catholicâ Ecclefiâ semper recepto Latriae cultum qui Vero deo Debetur huic Sanctissimo Sacramento in veneratione exhibeant Neque enim ideò minùs est Adorandum quòd fuerit à Christo D. ut sumatur institutum Nam illum eundem Deum praesentem IN EO adessâ— Credimus quem Pater aternus introducens in Orbem Terrarum dicit Et adorent eum omnes Angeli Dâ—i Hebr. I. There can be no doubt but that all the Faithful of Christ after the manner that has ever been received in the Catholick Church ought to give that Supreme Worship which is due to the true God to his Holy Sacrament For it is nevertheless to be adored because it was instituted by our Lord Christ that it might be received Forasmuch as we believe the same God to be present in it of whom the Eternal Father when he brought him into the World said And let all the Angels of God worship him That therefore according to this Council is to be worshipped which Christ instituted to be received and in which they believe Christ to be present But 't is no other than the Holy Sacrament as these Trent-Fathers here expresly and properly stile it which we all confess Christ instituted to be received and in which they suppose Christ to be present And therefore 't is the Sacrament which is to be adored Card. Pallavicino Istoria del Concilio di Trento parte seconda l. 12. c. 7. pag. 298. Ora è notissimo che accióche un Tutto s'adori con adorazione di Latria basta che una parte di quel rutto meriti questo culto Come dunque non douremo parimente adorare questo Sacramento il quale è un Tutto che contiene come parte principale il Corpo di Christo Which reasoning I find Card. Pallavicini thus improving in his History of this Council It is well known says he that to make a Whole Adorable with the Supreme Adoration it is sufficient that One part of that Whole merits such a Worship This he illustrates in the Example of Christs Humanity and thence concludes How then ought we not in like manner to adore this Sacrament which is a Whole that contains as its principal part the Body of Christ It is therefore as I conceive the undoubted Doctrine of the Church of Rome that the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist for the Reason here given is to be adored with that Supreme Adoration that is due to the true God. Now to warrant their Practice in this Matter our Authour thus proceeds in proof of it I. He premises some Propositions which he calls Answer to his second Discourse Protestant Concessions II. Some others which he stiles Catholick Assertions And then III. Goes on to shew what warrant they have for that Belief on which this Adoration is founded I shall distinctly follow him in every one of these In his first Part which he calls I. Part Protestant Concessions Protestant Concessions I will go on with him thus far 1st * §. I. pag. 1. That Supreme and Divine Adoration is due to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2dly †Ibid. §. II. That where-ever the Body of our Lord now is there must also his whole Person be And therefore 3dly ‖ Ibid. §. III. That where-ever Christ's Body is truly and really present there his Divine Person is supremely adorable But now for his next Assertion * §. V. n. 1. p. 2. That it is affirmed by many Protestants especially those of the Church of England that this Body and Blood of our Lord is really present not only in Virtue but in Substance in the Encharist †See Treatise 1. p. 5. §. 7. If he means as in his former Treatise he explain'd himself that the very natural Body of Christ that Body that was born of the Virgin and crucified on the Cross and is now in Heaven is also as to its Substance truly and really present on Earth in the Holy Eucharist or to the worthy Receiver I have in the foregoing Chapter fully shewn this new Fancy to be neither the Doctrine of the Church of England nor the Opinion of those very Writers whom he produces for proof of it And as to the ‖ Disc 2. p. 8. §. vi n. 1. adoration of it upon any such account I have just now declared his Mistake of them in that Point too And I shall not follow our Author 's ill Example in repeating it all over again For his * §. vii p. 10. fifth Remark That the Lutherans affirm that Christ's Body and Blood are present not only to the worthy Communicants but to the Consecrated Symbols and