eat or drank himself yet his speech no more obstructs that drinking than his saying It is finished was incoherent with his dying soon afterward In the one he said he would doe no more what from a little afterward he would not doe in the other he said that was done which waâ— instantly to be done Deodate thereof interprets it thus This is the last meaâ— I shall make with you and notwithstanding this expression he did eat also after the resurrection by a certain dispensation which was not egestatis but potestatis and not to nourish his body but to feed our Faith in his resurrection and of this comestion after he was risen Chrysostom and Beda understand this to be meant untill I drink it new c. To that which Matthew and Mark say That the discovery of the Traytor was as they did eat and Luke speakes of the taking of the Cup after Supper and then followed the detection of the Traytor I answer That as St. Matthew saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they did eat when Christ discoursed of the Traytor verse 21. so he useth the same words at the Institution of the last Supper vers 26. as they were eating Jesus took bread therefore it seems that as they were eating which Matthew useth is not at great difference with after Supper as Luke expresseth it otherwise there could be no Harmony between the Evangelists reconcile therefore the 26 verse of Mathew with that of Luke and the 21. verse will soon come into the same agreement The truth is at the Passeover there were several Suppers or more properly according to our English idiom several courses As now among the modern Jews first the unleavened cakes are set on the Table then the pultiâ—ula or Pap which represents the straw and mortar in Egypt next the acetaria or Sallet of bitter herbs and then lastly the Lambe and discourses or prayers are interposed between the one and other as Buxtorfius relates Synag Judai cap. 13. and therefore the disclosing of the Traytor might be after one Supper and yet as they were eating of another Nevertheless I doe not think that at the first Institution of the last Supper or mention of the Traytor properly and in strictness of Speech any thing was eaten but manducantibus illis is well interpreted by Deodate while they were at the Table and by Maldonat Statim ut coena peracta est antequà m surgerent antequà m mensae ciborum rel quiae removerentur And whereas it is argued that it appears by Matth. 26.23 he that dippeth c. as also by giving the Sop John 13. that they were eating at the time when the Traytor was discours'd of it may be readily answered In locum that the dipping non notat praesentem actum sed consuetudinem as Paraeus Notatur non una certa singularis actio sed agendi consuetudo as Piscator It denoted no present action for that had signally discovered the Traytor without more inquiry of whom yet the Disciples remained ignorant and Judas himself did afterwards aske Is it I but those words did onely obumbrate one of those that usually did eat together with him and Jansenius observes that the Greek in St. Matthew is in the pretertense hath dipped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though Marke hath it in the present and he addes that our Lord intended not to shew what Judas did at present but to what familiarity he had admitted him that was about to perpetrate such a crime Sylvius in 3. q. 81. art 2. p. 331. not as a signe to discover the Traytor but to exaggerate his treason as Sylvius and it doth not prove that Judas at that time had his hand in the dish more than that David's familiar friend did eat of his bread at that instant when he said he lift up his heele against him Psal 41.9 Of the Sop we shall speak more amply anon But to prevent more altercation about the order of things in the several Evangelists we finde that Judas sate down among the Twelve Apostles who were not twelve without him our Lord gave to his Disciples and they did eat he bad all drink and all did drink where is there any mention of Judas his going forth before all was ended De non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est ratio in lege etiam divina We pursue our Quare impedit and ask what should cause a writ of Ne admittas to be sued forth against Judas who as Maldonat observs had he risen from Table before all had been ended he had bewrayed that treason which he laboured to conceale Here therefore are interposed two Arguments whereof the first seems to be raised de jure that he ought not the other de facto that certainly he did not communicate the first pleads That all those that then did partake of the Sacrament for them Christs body was broken and blood shed and they all were to drink new Wine with him in his Fathers kingdome But neither of these can be verified of Judas Ergo. Hereunto what if I should answer as Calvin doth to that of Matth. 11.21 a response which I confess I have heretofore asmuch acquiesced in as in any other solution rendred either by our Divines or the Dominicans That the Speech of Christ is applyed to the common conceit of mens minds and he speaks after the manner of men that is as men might morally think or judge and not out of his heavenly Sanctuary Themselves say that in case Judas were admitted Christ dealt as a man therein And indeed a man might morally have thought and judged that one of the chosen Apostles conversing so long with Christ taught by him and publickly teaching him and now eating the Passeover and his last Supper with him had his share in the prementioned privileges and then these words can be no more exclusive to Judas at the first Institution than now they be to any reprobate when by a charientisme and according to the judgement of charity like words are used in the subsequent Administrations But I neither will nor need to fix upon or to adhere unto the Answer The rule of Tychonius the Donatist De doctrina Christiana l. 3. tom 3. p. 13. which is the Second of his Seven Rules and which he calls de Domini Corpore bipartito but St. Augustine better names de permixta ecolesia will sufficiently satisfie this Argument viz. Quando Scriptura cùm ad alios jam loquatur tanquam ad eos ipses ad ques loquebatur videtur loqui vel de ipsis cùm de aliis jam loquatur tanquam unum sit utrorúmque corpus propter temporalem cemmixtionem communionem Sacramentorum What agrees to one part is often affirmed of the whole especially when it is the greater part and beside that the Apostles here represented the whole Church and that Christ in some respect interpretatively at least tasted death for every man propter susceptam communem
promises though with some more particular and appropriate application upon performance of the condition Chamier Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 9. S. 18 Easdem res confirmare quae prius erant solis verbis conceptae est enim ea signorum natura ut quae Diplomata in membranis sunt fiant efficaciora sortianturque effectum suum Sacraments having some analogy with an Oath wherewith God confirms the promise willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs thereof the immutability of his counsel non suam naturam spectans sed nostram infirmitatem and therefore Paraeus calls our Sacraments In Hebr. c. 6. v. 17. p. 888. God's visible Oaths as the very words saith he manifests for Lawyers call a solemn Oath a Sacrament and therefore they are Gods Oaths in confirmation of his Promises Si verbum meum non sufficit ecce signum do addes Chrysostome but then even in confirming Faith objectivè they consequently not onely strengthen but beget Faith subjectively as a Seal in confirming the Writing begets a beleef of the validity of the assurance and so are meanes of Conversion producing a firmer assent to the truth of those Promises which before were not effectually laid hold of Dico sacramenta saith Chamier esse notiora efficaciora fidei faciendae Ubi supra S. 24. p. 42. observe he saith faciendae non tantùm confirmandae ipsa promissione codem modò quo sigilla regia sunt notiora â—fficaciora ipso diplomate nimirum quia solent apud nos esse cognitiora certioraque quae in oculos cadunt quà m quae auribus admoventur As then he that is not satisfied with a bare single promise may credit an oath and then that oath is properly the means whereby he is perswaded into a beleef and as when a naked Writing is not held a good Conveyance until it become a Deed sealed and delivered that sealing and delivery makes good the assurance and is that which invests the right and interest so when the Word preached doth not profit being not mix'd with Faith in them that hear it the Sacrament that superadds to the Dogmatical or Historical Faith a fiducial assent doth not onely confirm but cause that Faith which justifieth and brings peace with God And to say it cannot properly be said to doe this because it doth it not without precognition of the word is as if they should say that because a Deed is a writing sealed and delivered that it doth not therefore become of force from the sealing and delivery but from the writing read or that an incorporal estate did alwayes pass when the grant alone was read and was onely confirmed by the sealing and delivery Though most of their cunning lye in such generalities yet I shall not insist on it that Christ hath promised to be with us in all his Ordinances unto the end of the world And that there are general promises that their hearts shall live that seek God Psal 6.9.32 Prov. 8.17 Matth. 7.7 Lam. 3.25 Psal 75.4 that the Lord will be found of them that seek him and is good to them that wait for him and to the soul that seeketh him and they that dwell in his Courts shall be satisfied with the goodness of his house and that this is extensible and accommodable to seeking and waiting on him in all his wayes and Ordinances and as a general rule extends to and comprehendeth all particulars not specially and expresly excepted so they must shew by direct and explicit proof that the grace of conversion is denyed to this particular ordinance or else it is included in the affirmation of such grace to be annexed to ordinances in general As the generative faculty for propagation of the species is still supported and enlivened by influence of Gods benediction Be fruitful and multiply semel quidem dicta est semper autem fit saith Chrysostome so the converting power in the Sacrament for continuance and dilatation of the Church is maintained and verified by the power of Christ's blessing of the Elements to the remembrance of him which commemoration is efficacious to the engaging of the heart to him The Sacramental Elements are the Body and Blood of Christ and the Blood of the New Testament shed for many for remission of sins as well by signification as by obsignation and the obsignation is but an higher kind of signification they are the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ In locum signifying and sealing them accompanied with their effect and spiritual reality saith Deodate by virtue of the Holy Ghost And why should not the signification be really effectual in production of reall grace as the sealing to the causing of relative or the signification have no such effect in the Sacrament which is so efficacious when made in the Word Beside every promise made to the Word Homil. 3. aâ—â— Ephes c. 1. is extended to the Sacraments which are but visible words And when Chrysostome in his Exhortations to frequent communicating affirms not onely by these things set before us viz. the Sacrament but by Hymnes also doth the Holy Ghost descend he implyes that by the Sacrament the Holy Ghost more evidently came into mens hearts than by the other means and whether that of 1 Cor. 12.13 of drinking into one spirit which the Syriack Ambrose Augustine and others render drinking of one spirit and which Calvin thus expounds Participationem calicis huc spectare ut unam Christi spiritum hauriamus and Piscator Etsi verbi auditionem sacramentor legitimam c. brationem spiritus consolans sanctificans sequitur remunerationis ergo potiores â—amen esse in eo sacramentorum partes neque sane leviter praetereundum est quod Paulus dixit nos spiriâ—â— potari eui nihil unquam simile protulit cum de verbi praedicatione locutus est Thes Salmur part 3. p. 40. Calvin in loc Piscator in loc Gerhard loc com tom 6. c. 20. p. 173. Chrys in homil moral 24. Ut regenerentur ab uno spiritu viz. Sancto and Gerhard Ex uno calice bibimus ut unum spiritum accipiamus refer not to the conferring of real grace as well as relative and so whether those Testimonies of Chrysostome and other Fathers which if I should muster up for my defence I might like that Romane Vestal be oppress'd with the multitude of such Bucklers concerning the Sacrament calling it Fundamentum salus lux vita medicamentum immortalitatis antidotum non moriendi the saying of Ignatius Renovationis regenerationis causa which is Nyssen's vivificatio spiritûs which is Cyril's Saint as mentis which is Cyprians c. relate onely to confirming not begetting of Faith let men more learned judge but truly I cannot beleeve Can they deny that the Sacrament by shewing forth and signifying the Lords death and putting us in remembrance of him and his Body broken and his Blood shed for the remission of sins is a part of the Gospel or good
implicit Faith even of the death and resurrection of Christ as appeares John 20.9 and Luk. 9.44 45. and 24.7 8. neither doe we finde they had any other preparatory instruction concerning the Nature and ends of the Sacrament save what was collected from the words of Institution which we propound not as a sufficient extent of our knowledge or that we should content our selves with such a measure but as a restraint upon their rigor and that they should accept a lesse stint than what they exact But notwithstanding if some are weak in knowledge it is no unlikely way to improve it by frequent partaking of the Sacrament where the great mystery of the redemption of the World by the death of Christ is so sensibly shewed forth so as to suspend men because of their meane knowledge is as if they should deny them the meanes because they have not fully attained the end and if profession of Faith may serve in lieu of examination as the Apologists insinuate the very comming to the Sacrament and partaking thereof is a kinde of reall profession of Faith And Aquinas tells us Addit ad 3. q. 5. ar 2. Durand 4. d. 17. q. 14. Loc. com part 4. p. 194. Sacramenta sunt quaedam protestationes fidei or signa protestativa fidei as Durand an owning of Christ externally and engaging to beleeve in him they profess their Faith as touching the body of Christ nailed upon the Cross and his blood shed for their salvation saith Peter Martyr confession being to be made with outward actions not onely with the mouth And if any orall and explicite confession was thought fit to be made it was onely the joyning in the publick repeating of the Apostolique Creed which in the Easterne Churches usually preceded the Sacrament and therefore in the third Councell of Toledo it was decreed Cano. ◠Ante communicationem corporis Christi sanguinis juxta Orientalium partium morem unanimiter clarâ voce sacratissimum fidei recenseant Symbolum ut primùm populi quam credulitatem teneant fateantur Besides the adding Amen to the words of Consecration wherewith saith Ambrose the Elements were delivered quibus singulis vescentes confessionem fidei suae addebant respondentes Amen Chemnitius saith was a profession of the Faith Exam. Trid. Concil part 2. p. 107. Idem p. 111 112. and the same learned Man addes that therefore in Festis solennioribus tota multitudo ad majores Basilicas conveniebat ibi solennis quaedam Communio celebrabatur Ut quisque publicâ professione ostenderet se esse membrum ecclesiae and this he saith was enacted to be done by the Agathense Councell where observe that he speakes of tota multitudo not five of five hundred and so many at these times convened that one Church could not containe them and Leo prescribes that therefore sacrificii oblatio reiteretur and sure every mans proper reason will dictate to him how impossible it was that in such a confluence there could be a triall of every mans knowledge and holiness which could neither be perfectly known to them that in such manner administred De re Sacrament l. 2. p. 52. Hospinian speaking of the solemne communions upon the greater festivals tells us Nec malo consilio haec solennis communio instituta fuit sed ut hac publicâ professione declararent se esse membra verae ecclesiae admonerentur sicut unus est panis ita multos se unum corpus esse atque hoc modo consensus in doctrina fide retinerentur So when Erastus objected that sinners were called to the Sacrifices Beza answers Such sinners as testified their repentance by their sacrificing and if to sacrifice were a profession of repentance then to come to the Communion by the same proportion of reason is a profession of Faith and the Priest might have as rationally examined the truth of the Sacrificers repentance which he did not but charitably judged of the sincerity of his heart by the offerings of his hands as the Minister may now make research into the knowledge of Faith of the receiver § 10 And at the Passover the antitype and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lords Supper and the same in substance with it as themselves affirm we have not the least Evidence that there was but there are Arguments that there could be no such examination of the partakers Rivet Gerhard for though the owner had brought the Lambe to the Courts of the Temple to be killed by the Priests which the Learned deny yet it was eaten at home by the whole Family to whom the Master taught the end and use thereof but called none to account what understanding they had of that or any other mysteries Let them if they think it expedient and will afford the pains to do it examine men also of their aptness to profit by the word and of their proficiency thereby but as if men decline and will not come under such examination we cannot allow them to shut them out from hearing the Word so neither can we permit them to exclude all from the Sacrament that conform not to be examined in antecedency thereunto Yet if the Apologists would onely bring us all under the necessity of an unlimited examination of our knowledge to have peace with them we might be content interpretatively to put out our right eye and subject our selves to a suspicion of our ignorance But Ad populum phaleras Ego te intus in cute novi A satisfaction concerning mens knowledge and verbal examination in order thereunto is not onely nor principally contended for by them nor alone or chiefly questioned by us They insist on it to be satisfied of their Holiness and without real proof thereof they admit none to fellowship in the Sacraments which they tell us are the privileges onely of the Godly This is that Helena that chiefly sets us all at War and hath kindled those flames they suppose that to be a Church-member with a dogmatical faith gives not a right of being admitted to the Sacrament or is the Directory for them to admit him Neither is a negative holiness sufficient to be free of scandal but he must give positive signs of sound grace nor that it is enough they have nothing against him he must shew some evidence for himself of real holiness it avails not that they know nothing to the contrary they must have farther satisfaction they grant not that every intelligent member of the visible Church hath a right till he have forfeited it but allow no title till he have pleaded and approved it by some evidence that he is a member of the invisible Church They repel not men for notorious Crimes nor in any formal judicial way of Censure but because they are not satisfied concerning them or they have not merited their good opinion Nay I would particularly instance in some that after admission have been laid aside not for want of grace
16. p. 31. geneat sacramenta movent intellectum ad assentiendum veritati divinae ergo Major patet quia fidei est assentire veritati divinae Minor etiam facilè probatur movent enim intellectum qua signa sunt itaque significant significationis vis tota pertinet ad intellectum movent autem ad assentiendum quia signa sunt veracia non mendacia veritas autem quam significant est divina non humana so as this may set it in the clearest Sun that those which deny the Sacraments to be converting Ordinances in this point they are also speculative separatists from the communion of Protestants And as certain Princes in some straits of indigence have coyned Leather instead of Silver so this new-minted distinction of a converting and confirming Ordinance was stamp'd in such a distress and necessity for want of better Bullion and is not Sterling onely I have not read of Princes that have fallen into such an exigence at the Inauguration into their Principalities or was false Coyn rather borrowed from the Papists who deny this Sacrament to confer the first grace Suarez 2. in 3. disp 7. q. 62. Vasquez disp 205. c. 4. who cite Hales Durand Bonaventure Biel Paludanus Major and others for this opinion but to suppose him just that receives it I recognize that some interpose to tell us that what use or effect the Sacrament can have by representing may be acquired by seeing the Administration without partaking and then it might be sufficient for some to look on but I shall regest that to what end shall they look on if they can look for no fruit or good effect thereby And wherein can the Aspect be fruitfull or effectuall to men unconverted but as it shall be subservient and adjumentall to their Conversion And if the Sacrament may be thereby capable of any such efficacy by representing to the Eye onely it will be necessarily consequent that the efficacy thereof in order to that end must be farre greater when it workes also by signifying to the other Senses and the applying signes are also added to the representing but though we should not willingly turn out of the way yet farther to remove this block out of the way of freer admission to the Sacrament wee shall answer 1. That the Blessing of our Saviour sanctifies the Bread and the Wine in order to the taking of both and eating of the one and drinking of the other not to the seeing them administred to the doing this in remembrance of Him not beholding it done and he shall unwarrantably presume to expect the fruit of the Promise that performes not the Duty of the Precept the Sacramental Elements put Christ into all our senses as I have formerly cited out of Chamier not onely into our Eyes significatio quò est expressiâ—r hoc magis operatur as Chamier to him that ears not Tom. 4. l. 9. c. 10. S. 36. p. 246. it is no Sacrament for sacramenta ut relata non habent extra usum rationem sacramenti And Chaemier also approves a passage of Valentia to this purpose Scilicet rem sacram in proposito intelligi debere quae sanctificat hominem suscipientem rectè ipsum sacramentum Tom. 4. l. 1. c. 11. quod talis rei sacrae est signum ita ut intelligere dâ—beamus esse signum rei fanctificantis practicum quoniam significat rem quae in ipsa praxi usu talis signt sanctificat Secondly Definitions are the very essence of things and the Apostle defineth this Sacrament by the Communion the Bread which we break is the Communion of the Body of Christ not the Inspection and we are partakers of one Bread not beholders For the better amplification of the benefits of Christs Incarnation in special there was to be a Mystical Incarnation of Christ in us as well as a real for us Mede in 1 Cor. 10.3 4 5. p. 582. as Nazianzen-defines the Eucharist to be a Communion of the Incarnation of God which is not effected but by receiving this Body and Blood of his changing them into ours by way of nourishment St. Augustine tells us that without the similitude of the signe to the thing signified there is no Sacrament but the Analogy of the Eucharistical signes to the Body and Blood of Christ consist in the respect of aliment and nutrition which respect faileth without eating and drinking and a Sacrament being not ens Physicum sed rationis Tom. 4. l. 7. c. 7. S. 18. p. 174. may be a Sacrament to one and not to another as Chamier disputeth it is but common meat and drink until it be consecrated but the Consecration is not perfected nor in facto esse until participation as it is no compleat motion until it have attained its term Even Bellarmine Valentia and other Papists Tom. 4. l. 9. c. 10. S. 15. p. 245. make Consumption to be of the Essence of their fictitious sacrifice Nay Chamier goeth farther and denyes Ullum fructum ex Eucharistia participi videndo ratio facilis quia non sit instituta ut significet ea ratione sed aliâ quare cùm Eucharistia pertineat ad gustum sic Augustinus ridicule sophista Bellarminus dixit aequè significare per oculos id est videndo And when I shall finde their Appetite as well satisfied and their Stomachs as much filled by looking on a good Supper as by eating it I may be facile to assent to their Hypothesis and beleeve the Supper of the Lords may be alimental and refective to the soul by seeing as well as by partaking Thirdly As the benefit is not equal in seeing and eating In Eccl. l. 3. so the danger is alike in either if they be without Faith for since not onely as saith Hierom in this Mystery but in the reading of the Scripture we eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of Christ and the Word preached as I alleaged out of Casaubon is a Spiritual Table and another kinde of spiritual eating of Christ therefore to whomsoever or howsoever salvation by the death of Christ is represented if not laid hold of by Faith it turnes to his condemnation and he hath no life in him because he eates not the flesh of the Son of Man nor drinkes his Blood so that as a man may eat Christ spiritually and not sacramentally and have the rem signi without the signum rei so he that eates not spiritually contracts damnation though he be restrained from Sacramentall eating Fourthly Therefore saith Chrysostome not onely they that sit down at the Table but they that are present at the Feast without their Wedding Garment Mep ad Ephes Hom. 3. Tom. 4 p. 356. are subject to condemnation for the Master of the Feast will not ask How durst thou sit down but how durst thou come in not having a Wedding Garment Fifthly To be a spectator of the Celebration and not a partaker of the Sacrament as it hath no precedent
of manners and scandals though I shall not say that this is a Disease of Schisme in state or vigor for it may please God it may be without pertinacy neither are they Members wholly cut off but hang yet to the Body by some Nerves and Ligaments and thereby have communion with it in some things yet if it be not Schisme in the increment or at least the beginning they must cancelling the old give us a new definition of Schisme together with their new Discipline Thirdly when there is a numerous multitude of offenders St. Augustine sends forth a Ne procedas and a prohibition to Ecclesiastical Discipline Quicquid sceleris iniquitatis multitudinem inebriat amittet veritatis examen And this judgment he soundeth upon St. Paul's dealing with the Church at Corinth as is elsewhere shewed when there were many offenders Non iis praecipit Corporalem separationem Contra Donatist post collat c. 20. tom 7. p. 125. multi quippe erant non sicut ille unus longè aliter vitiosa curanda sananda est multitudo ne fortè si plebe separatur per schismatis nefas etiam triticum eradicetur And herein judicious Calvin consenteth with Augustine and Reason with both For as Lapidaries deal with precious stones if they have a small cloud or flaw they grind or cut it out but let it remain if it be so great that it cannot be taken off without much lessening and deteriorating of the stone so where a few are notoriously and obstinately peccant Discipline may justly and prudently be exercised for cutting them off but not where the Corruption is Epidemical Institut l. 4. c. 12. S. 13. for this were to cure the parts by destroying the whole If therefore the Plague of Leprosie have covered all the flesh and not a part onely let them be as clean according to the Law Lev. 13.13 And these Contemplations might have procured a Supersedeas not onely to their de proprietate probanda by putting men under tryal to prove their right to the Sacrament but also to their de leproso amovendo or casting out contaminated persons if those whom they have removed had seemed as they doe not the most of them defiled non per vana convitia sed per vera testimonia as St. Augustine speakes and from this Rule are they therefore also Heteroclites in declining to have communion with such a farre greater part of their Parishes as that those whom they admit are rari nantes in gurgite vasto and their number carries the proportion of but one to an hundred to those whom they reject so as if periere nocentes yet it was cum soli poterant superesse nocentes and this was onely as Lucan observes of Sylla to let out the corrupt blood when there was in a manner no other left in the body But they should rather have perpended as Bullinger adviseth that of the Apostle Data est mihi potestas ad aedificationem non ad destructionem and that of Seneca had not been unworthy their consideration Divina potentia est gregatim publicè servare multos occidere indiscretos incendii ruinae potentia est Let them set upon it never so specious a colour and blanch it with pretences of necessary Reformation and flourish it with the gloss of just zeal to the purity of Ordinances and purging out of dross and winnowing the chasse in order to the restoring of an Holy Communion Epist 162. tom 2. p. 142. Nunquam sic errat genus humanum ut non agnoscat ventilatorem Parmnianum yet St. Augustine will confidently tell them Objiciuntur nobis crimina malorum hominum quae si vera praesentia videremus zizaniis propter frumenta parcentes pro unitate toleraremus non solùm nullâ reprehensione sed etiam non parvâ laude nos dignos diceret quicunque Scripturas sanctas non surdus audiret legant qui volunt legant qui possunt eloquia coelestia invenient omnes Sanctos Dei servos amicos semper habuisse quos in suo populo tolerarent cum quibus tamen illius temporis sacramenta communicantes non solùm non inquinabantur sed etiam laudabiliter sustinebant If we shall take our account and Epoche ab urbe condita from the first foundation of them De civit Dei l. 10. c. 4. De civit Dei l. 15. c. 5. yet ever permix'd were these two Cities as Augustine speakes and conjoyned in a Communion of Sacraments quà m porrò antiquus sit in sacrificando Dei cultus duo illi fratres Cain Abel satis indicant saith Augustine Cain primus terrenae civitatis conditor as St. Augustine calls him primogenitus diaboli et archetypus impiorum as he is commonly named hath some evidence to claim pre-possession of the Altar being the first that is recorded to have hansell'd it with sacrifice and it is very probable because he brought no holy dispositions to that service and carryed thence such malicious affections to his brother nemo repentè fuit turpissimus that he had rather formerly given signes that he was of that wicked one than demonstration that he was a Saint yet as a member of the visible Church being within the Covenant he was not without a capacity of sacrificing and though he could not wash his hands in innocency as he ought to have done yet he might compasse the Lords Altar The sacrifices before and under the Law being Seals of the Covenant between God and his People as expresly say the late Annotators could not be other than a kinde of Sacraments or analogous to them In Psal 50.5 Sum. contro tract 3. q. 1. p. 9. Loci com tom 4. p. 291. S. 71. Panstrat tom 4. l. 1. c. 6. 8.12 l. 3. c. 4. in Gen. c. 5. v. 3. p. 145 6. those two not onely agreeing in generali signorum notione as Rivet but also ratione finis as Gerhard and they not onely fall within the definition which St. Augustine hath given of Sacraments which makes Bellarmine to reject that definition but Chamier expresly disputes against Suarez that the Sacrifices were Sacraments because saith he they were Ceremoniae institutae à Deo significantes gratiam and he adds Omnia sacrificia quae ab hominibus in remissionem peccatorum offeruntur sunt sacramenta and before the institution of Circumcision the people of God had no Sacraments if sacrifices were not of that denomination and though we are not facile to credit what the learned P. Fagius relates out of the Rabbins That the fire consuming the sacrifices was formed into the figure of a Lion to emblem that the Lion of the Tribe of Juda should give himself a sacrifice in the fulness of time yet it is evident that the sacrifices not onely were Visibiles conciones de Messia ejúsque beneficiis solennis confessio peccatorum et solennis supplicatio ad Deum pro remissione as Paraeus
naturalizing or rather unnaturalizing this being a translation from the state of nature to that state of grace but those that were children of the faithful Dicimus saith Calvin Ecclesiae filios nasci ab utero reputari in Christi membris and this may aswel supersede the necessity of profession of their faith at the partaking of the Eucharist as he concludes it to do at the receiving of their Baptism And it seems to me to have asmuch reason that the parents should give evidence of their faith when they bring their children to Baptisme the Childrens right being rooted in their faith as when they offer themselves to the Lords Table but their constant conversation and fellowship in the Church makes them Confessors and they need not be made Martyrs by farther trial until justice convict them to be evil charity must conclude them to be good sicut difficilè aliquem suspicatur malum qui bonus est sic difficilè aliquem suspicatur bonum qui ipse malus est saith Chrysostom it is the Character of a strait heart and close hand to examine a poor beggar of his whole life before they think him worthy of a morsel of bread whereas it is better to feed divers that are unworthy than suffer one to want that is worthy Semper habet unde det cui pectus est plenum charitatis saith Augustine habere omnia Sacramenta malus esse potest habere autem charitatem malus esse non potest adds the same Father and though that of the wise man may seem a paradox Melior est iniquitas viri quam mulier benefaciens And that be an hyperbole that the worst Grecian is better than the best Cretian yet it is a just truth that the errors of charity are better than the best pretences of rigor and censorious uncharitableness and it is neerer the partaking of the Divine Nature to spare many for the sake of a few good men than to dissolve or shatter a whole Church for a few evil The Church of Corinth was a very corrupt Body Morbus est partium viventium corporis humani ad actiones naturales exercendas impotentia seu ineptitudo ab earundem constitutione praeter naturam ortum habens Sennertus and needed purging as much as any there were not onely Cacochymical humors mixt with the blood but they were gathered and ripened into Spiritual diseases there being an impotency or unaptness in the parts of that body to exercise spiritual actions springing from their constitution beside grace there were diseases in their state and vigor diseases of all kinds morbi intemperiei they were too hot at strife and contention 1 Cor. 3.3 11.18 And too cold in their love and zeal to the reverence of the Sacrament 1 Cor. 11. To the honor of the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.10 And to their weak brethren whom they scandalized 1 Cor. 8.12 They were too moist with intemperate drinkings 1 Cor. 11.21 and their profane distempers in receiving the Sacramental food of their souls which had brought them to an Atrophy and Apepsy together with their uncleanness fornication and lasciviousness wherein they had sinned already and had not repented were a compounded intemperateness 2 Cor. 13.21 There were morbi totius substantiae though not arising from occult qualities yet otherwise not onely as they were carnal 1 Cor. 3.3 But through their denial of the resurrection of the dead which is the life of faith and substance of Christianity quae est singularis fides Christianorum saith Augustine there were morbi compositionis in figura the immodest and irreverent habit of their women 1 Cor. 11. In magnitudine they were puffed up 1 Cor. 4.18 5.2 There were swellings among them 2 Cor. 13.20 In numero there was one member continued and cherished in that wickedness which was execrable to the heathens which should have been cut off 1 Cor. 5.1 In situ there were tumults 2 Cor. 13.20 Eating and drinking in the Church which they should have done in their own houses 1 Cor. 11.22 Eating in the idol temples and partaking the cup and table of Devils 1 Cor. 8.10 10.21 And lastly diseases solutae continuitatis in their envyings strifes divisions 1 Cor. 3.3 11.18 And going to law one with another for trifles and that before Infidels Chap. 6.1 2. Yet notwithstanding all this Contr. Donat. post Collat. c. 20. Tom. 7. p. 125. there were many pure and precious souls among them tamen omnes ad unum altare accedebant eadem Sacramenta communicabant qui eadem vitia non communicabant saith Augustine What then doth the Spiritual Hippocrates to whom might more plausibly be applied what Macrobius attributed to the Coan Nec falli potest nec fallere he first acknowledgeth them to be the Churches of Christ and a society of Saints he doth not Unchurch or Anathematize them and although the same men that did partake of the Table of Divels were partakers also of the Table of the Lord and though they met together for the worse and in effect did not eat the Lords Supper but held a kind of Bacchanal rather yet he denies not this promiscuous Communion he doth not command nor permit such as found themselves precious Vbi supra p. 126. to separate from those they saw vile non corporaliter separat sed spiritualâ—ter separare non cessat Nolite seduci corrumpunt bonos more 's colloquia prava non eorum congressum sed consensum timet saith Augustine he increpates not the Church-governors for admitting such nor lays any injunction of excluding so many of them nor gives any advice to suffer none to pass to the Lords table but through the Strainer of Examination but he allows them to continue the use of the Lords Supper and onely corrects the abuses whereby they provoked the Lord and lost the fruits of their refection being not strengthned in Spirit but rather made weak and sick in body and soul too some of them who did eat and drink damnation onely to themselves and when he saith to themselves Vbi supra p. 125. quid aliud nisi istos vaniloquos cogitabat saith Augustine ut ei non sufficiat dicere judicium manducat bibit nisi adderet sibi nè hoc etiam ad illos pertineret qui pariter quidem sed non judicium manducabant he wills them not to resrain the Supper but their sins to amend their stomacks not to leave their meat to use some preparatives not to lay aside the main Physick he prescribes them to examin themselves not to subject them to the examination of another but so to eat not abstain In 1 Cor. 11. p. 438. and so to eat without any forain examination Nec dicit abstinete igitur à pane hoc c. saith Musculus hoc pacto malum quod reprehendit non emendasset si Medicus dicat aegroto quia comedis ac bibis secùs quà m valetudini tuae
concernment can it hâ—ld with duty to take Physick enforced upon them when they are not sick and to receive a Salve that is proper for another sore that which may be a wholesome medicine for curing a disease in one may cause it in another this may be a proper recipe for an ignorant person but renders a man of knowledge interpretatively ignorant like as Myrth stops a bleeding vein makes a sound to bleed and Trifolium laid to a wound made by a Viper heals it but put to whole flesh causeth the same pain that the stinging of a Viper doth What obligation of duty can it have to give proof of that which cannot be doubted to satisfie those that are already convinced and to translate the Stage into the Church making some Histrionically to personate that which they are not and a knowing man to play the part of an ignorant only for a shew and in a kind of pageant And the Marcionites who used to give Baptisme to men after they were dead that had not received it in their life and set one under the bed to answer interrogatories for him might have defended their pageant which Chrysostom and Epiphanius so deride with this specious pretence that it served to set forth the necessity of Baptisme in respect of the Precept and to excite others that were alive to partake it as well as the Catechizing of men grounded in and approved for knowledge is here supported by this counterfeit colour that it conduceth to supple others that may need to undergo this tryal They cannot by overmuch Charity be prodigal of Church Priviledges and therein of Christs blood Aquinas 22. q. 119. art 3. I shall not remember them that it is determined not only in the Ethicks but in the School that the Covetous man is more deteriorate than the prodigal and that upon this score of reason because prodigality is beneficial to many and more approximate to liberality a more plausible and endearing habit and more easily to be rectified though these circumstances perchance might not ineptly be applyed to this case but I shall first deny that there is any inordination of giving beyond the measure of reason to whom and for what and as it ought not for time place or manner which carries the definition of prodigality when the Sacrament is exhibited to those that are not cast out for notorious wickedness but is rather an act of justice as it respects their debt and of charity as it regards anothers good and to prove this this whole discourse is a medium 2. It seems then that Baptisme is no Church privilege Dr. Morton Cathol appeal for Protest l. 2. c. 22. sect 15. p. 108. and that Ambrose affirming that in Baptisme there is the invisible blood of Christ and Augustine saying that every one Baptised before he eat of the Bread of the Eucharist is notwithstanding by vertue of Baptisme partaker of the body and blood of Christ were both grosly mistaken though our Divines have alleaged those testimonies against the Papists to shew the Fathers spake the same of the Sacramental Element of Water which they did of those Bread and Wine Or else in Baptizing all the Infants of their Congregations they have a commission to be prodigal only of such Church privileges and of Christs blood also in such manner as they shall think fit and expedient and as it shall be subservient to their ends and interests 3. Not to insist on here what hath been considered elsewhere how farre the partaking of the word and prayers is a Church-privilege yet the blood of Christ is as well held forth and offered to us in the word preached as in those visible and tangible words the Sacrament and we drink the blood of Christ when we hear his word as Origen expresseth it it is the same thing in both though in a different manner as hath been formerly demonstrated Paul was jealous and afraid Diodat Annot. in utrumque locum In locum Ardenter vos in Deum depereo Menoc annot in loc yet not uncharitable Paul had indeed a jealous care of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 11.2 but it was not so much a distrust as a desire to keep them in union with Christ Ambio vos Dei zelotypia metaphora à zelo parauymphi pro gloria sponsi salute sponsae saith Piscator non patier aemulos pseudo-apostolos qui vos quasi virginem meam ambiunt as A Lapide and consonantly Aquinas and Estius and Ostendit saith Calvin cur desipiat gloriando nam hominem zelotypia quasi transversum rapit and he was afraid of the Galatians Gal. 4.11 for declarat pro iis suam solicitudinem saith Estius and solicitudo is onely rationabile sludium ad aliquid consequendum but let it be properly fear which is any expectation of an impendent evill or ex imaginatione futuri mali corruptivi 〈◊〉 dolorem inserentis perturbatio quadam ac dolor there was evident ground and cause sufficient for such a fear and we do not dream that a just fear cannot be compatible with charity but nevertheless that fear did onely move to an admonition or reproof and there did rest it did not transport him to divine of their estate and suspend them from the Sacrament we impugne not all doubtings or suspitions of others if the signes from whence they result be not light nay we have conceived that in order to cautell or admonition for avoiding a detriment or applying a remedy even doubtful things may be interpreted in the worst part Silvius in 22. q. 60. art 4. p. 317. not definitively judgeing another to be ill but suppositively fearing he may be such and demeaning themselves externally in these respects as if he were such for such acts neither are nor include a judgement of another as evill but involve onely a judgement that they ought to be cauâ—ious and wary and tender of them but we only limit prescribe them to abstain from what may be defamatory and poenall for else they will goe farther than the Apostles example or any line of Scripture will reach or extend unto What they say of the Angel of the Church of Ephesus his trying some we have elswhere made triall of and shewed it can be no Angel tutclar for them or their course Charity they say is not blind but sure it is so dul-sighted in nothing as in prying into and censuring other mens faults and especially their state and condition it hath eyes clear from all vitiating humors which receive the species according to their tinctures and dispositions it hath no close nor contracted pupill whereby according to the Opticks mens faults seem bigger than they are but large and dilated whereby they rather appear less and is contrariwise affected toward their graces They are not bound to hope contrary to their knowledge and experience then it seems they have broken the bands in sunder that Charity laid on them for it is the property and Eulogy thereof to
a bad servant mihi accusatio etiam vera contra fratrem displicet as Hierom and though Noah were drunken yet Cham was accursed for discovering his nakedness and however perchance illi quod meruere sed quid tu ut adesses and Lactantius tells us that we murder him in whose death we take complacency though executed by a righteous sentence But though in the natural body the blood and spirits run to cherish any wounded part yet in politick bodies we find it is rather as in an Arch where if a stone be loose the whole frame sets upon it with all its weight and most men are too ready to seeth a kid in his mothers milk that is as Philo interprets to add affliction to the afflicted turpes instant morientibus ursi Et quaecunque minor nobilitate fera est We wisht it were the worst thereof that some men like the unspunne silk of Chies would draw and suck up all moisture we more fear lest this he some of the teeth of that worm that lies at the root of Ministery and that this pretended sweeping and garnishing of the house is onely to make way for seven more wicked spirits and that some men are so blind like Sampson unawares to grind for the Philistines and are deceived by the wooife in sheeps cloathing to seek to hang up the doggs upon pretence they are dumb or mangy and are so fascinated like him at Constantinople whom Nicetas mentions that supposed he had been pushing upon a Serpent when he broke in pieces his own earthen vessels so some may think they are strising at the old Serpent when they are breaking vessels of the Sanctuary Certainly the Jesuites will not be decieved or discouraged from attempting upon this Church by a supposall that because we cast out so many we had Ministers enough to defend the truth against their machinations as the Gaules were disanimated to pursue the seige of the Capitol as not reducible by famine because the Romans cast out over the walles all their provision of bread Lastly They bear false witness against us by mis-interpreting our words and then spiâ—in our face and buffet us they accuse us to say that they shape Presbytery to Popery and this they say is the dreggs of this bitter Cup. And this had been dreggs indeed yea crassi gutta veneni had it dropt from our pen and had made it a cup of abomination if this had lain in the bottome thereof but sure it is the dreggs of the cup of their fancy and like to Alexander the sixth the cup they have mixed for us will envenome themselves Nihil est Antipho quin male narrando possit depravarier tu id quod boni est excerpis dicis quod mali est The Apologists carry some analogy with the Samaritaus when the Jewes prespered then they were brethren but if they were under water the Samaritan would drench himself in water if he had but toucht a Jew so if the Presbyterians be about the Zenith they are calculated also for the same Meridian so as in their own words to be neerer to them than to Independents but if in the Nadir they are Antipodes to them having fitted their Church way in such a latitude as to suit with every elevation formed it like the Giraffa made up of a Libbard Hart Buff Camel that none can well know what to call it of late though intruth they are onely dow-baked Independents and like the froggs generated of dust after it is fermented with certain showers are but half made up part earth and part conformed yet most often they take the livery of Presbytery and the paper upon that supposition inferred that their way being obtruded under that notion gave occasion to some that took that for the face which was but a vizor to suspect that Presbytery was modelled and cast into the like mould as Popery Sands Europae speculum p. 3. where the Prelates made their greatness wealth and honor the very rules whereby to souare out the Canons of faith and then set Clerks on work to devise arguments to uphold them and this odious suspition in others was a spring of grief to the friends of Presbytery who could not without indignation hear some say of Presbytery as that Cardinal did at the bustling and factions Elections in the Conclave Ad hunc modum fiunt Romani pontifices Of this pinch of the inference they will not be sensible nor do seek to clear their way of this stumbling block viz. that it is a way which leads onely to their own ends of power and greatness but turning out of the way extravagantly tells us that men that like not the restraint of their lusts and we must needs be those men or whosoever else they be perchance they cannot think fit that their lusts be restrained by giving liberty to others lusts and letting them do what they list as Vives saith Philostratus corrected Homers lies by greater lies by any Church government for if they like not theirs of necessity they will not abide any cry out of Popery Covetousness Ambition Praelacy c. which are but fig leaves to cover their nakedness But their paper leaves are not worth a figg to vail that cause which they have left naked of defence for si hac Pergama dextra if this plea may defend a government then all una hac defensa fuissent this might be pleaded in defence of any the most tyrannous governours they might also inferre that because some like not the restraint of their lusts by any government therefore themselves do not govern according to their lusts and Bellarmine might with as much reason conclude that whereas Cyprian saith Heresies and Schismes have no other spring but onely because the Priest of God is not obeyed nor one Priest and Iudge for the time in the Church is reminded to be In the stead of Christ therefore the Bishop of Rome usurps no unjust authority nor is a tyrant in the title or exercise of his power A man that is not fond of Presbytery that is such a man as themselves so coldly and disaffectionately they speak it may say this for Presbytery what ever it be else a suspitious Aposiâ—pesis as if it were somewhat else which I lle quidem caelare cupit turpÃque pudore Tempora purpureis cogit velare tiaris is the strongest barre that ever was set against Popery We shall plead nothing in bar to that supposition being farre from going about to lessen their good opinion of Presbytery which we would rather cherish and do wish they did like and love it better and were more Presbyters but we cannot illis dare nominis hâ—jus honorem and may rather expostulate quid pulchra vocabula pigris Obtendis vitiis or complaine with Cato in Salust I am pridem equidem nos vera rerum vocabula amifimus so as Aristippus said of precious ointments malè sit Cynaedis qui diffamarum beshrew them that by incrusting
and that carries the worst ignominy for Simpliciter pateat vitium fortasse pusillum Quod tegitur majus creditur esse malum Whether those are endearments and Charientismes likely to charm and winne upon their affections Ignosci aliquatenus iguorantiae potest contemptus veniam nou meretur whether this be not a provoking of their children to wrath graviùs contumeliam ferunt homines quam detrimentum whether this be not obloquious to themselves that they have not meliorated nor lickt them into a better shape all this while since by the law Falcidia the parents were punisht for the continued faults of their children whether this being a judgment not of men by external actions but by the hidden causes thereof and their secret intentions which cannot be evident to them by any violent signes and at most there can be oâ—ely a probable suspition that the actions spring from such a fountaine be not temerarious judgment and a judging of the heart since such a suspition is sufficient onely to spring a doubt not to support an absolute determination which must be founded onely upon manifest grounds and as long as things are but doubtful they are not manifest and the most rational doubts are to be interpreted in the better part as hath been formerly demonstrated and then whether the Apologists have just cause to complaine of or can have hope to be condoled for the hard thoughts and untempered words which thâ—y say they suffer from others since Judicium si quis quae fecit perferat aequum est as Vespasan thought it punishable Senatoribus maledici but not regardable remaledici of all these if the Apologists will not consider others will take notice What they diaper their margin with out of Mr. Baxter of the desperate opposing and villfying and scurrilous railing at desired discipline is but as Urias his letters in the sacred story or Bellerophons in the prophane which are destructive to themselves for their dear brethren and such as are germane to them in principles are most engaged in that guilt which in that place is most reflected on who have endeavoured to make that Oath of union according as they have called it an old Almanack fitted to the interest of State or impiously as Cusanus saith the Scriptures are fitted to the time and practice of the Church so that one time according to the current the they are expounded one way and when that rite of the Church changeth then the sense is changed They conclude the Section with intimation of fear to suffer in their estates aswel as their names and quiet for adhering to those principles and proceeding in this way As they have not hitherto felt any detriment so we cannot see any imminent danger thereof but whether the pluralities of a Church and a Congregation which springs an income aswel of offerings as of tythes have not brought some advantage and improvement or whether a pastoral Church and a gathered Church may not countervaile two Benefices or the Semestrian visitations of some of them may not ballance the Triennial visitations of the Bishops especially since as he said of Grotius Odi sapientem qui sibi non sapit and also In steriles campos nolunt juga ferre juvenci I shall not pretend to know though I am not ignorant quantus tota rumor in urbesonat I shall onely say They accuse their people to be time-servers or observers but can they say soberly as Pope Paul the 3d. did of his son Petrus Aloysius Haec ille vitia non me commonstratore didicit for though they suspect them yet it is manifest of it selfe and very obvious that there is much Quicksilver in the composition of them and that mettal doth never endure the fire and being liquid is conformable to any mould and I hope therefore they will as did the Romans make fortunam fidei comitem and as the King of Navar profest to Beza not advance beyond the possibility of a safe retreate Hectora non nosset si faelix Troja fuisset and it is adversity can onely try what friends they will be to their way and whether they affect Alexander or the King Sure I am their undertakings are not like the Ceraunia a Jewel onely bred in a storm They suppose and publish that authority is for them or not against them but if the superiour bodies should have different aspect and influence whether they would then turn tables again or not and whether they would be like the regina aurarum quae obsistit ventis immobilÃsque contrà nititur adversantibus as Nieremberge or like the hedge Bore that having many hoses to his den doth alwaies stop that which is toward the bleate wind that would be the question and in order to some perhaps no very difficult question Contra Ep. Parmen l. 3. c. 6. Cont. lit Petil l. 2. c. 98. But whatever they would undergoe as St. Augustine to his Donatists let them take heed lest perchance Coecis vendatur reprobus lapis pro gemma pretiosa l. carnalis duritia pro spirituali patientia and that non fortiter sed pertinaciter non timetis Quoniam qui pro pace Christi omnibus terrenis caruerit deum habet qui autem pro parte Donati vel paucos nummos perdiderit cor non habet But I shall for conclusion remark that to excuse the omission of administring the Sacrament in their Churches they say it hath been supplied by holding forth Christ in the word and giving souls to eat and drink his flesh and blood in the word whence it follows that it is the same thing that is exhibited in both but in different manner All to whom Christ is offered in the word receave him not nor are qualified to do so aswell as all embrace him not 〈…〉 he is propounded in the Sacrament nor are conditioned to do it those 〈…〉 we not perfect understanding in the word yet to all them it is preacht that they may understand and believe for it is verbum practicum why then by a parity of reason should not the Sacrament be administred to those who by the word have attained an historical and dogmatical faith are intelligent of the nature use end of the Sacrament without further scrutiny whether they have a true faith seeing that true faith may be wrought by reception of that which is signum practicum why then should the one be the privilege of Saints more than the other why should it be prodigality of Christs blood in holding it forth to all in the Sacrament and not when they tender if to all in the word seeing the same blood is offered in the one and other unless this be even such another crotchet as the Papists grate our eares with who tell us that the blood of Christ represented by the cup is also exhibited with the bread which signifieth his body by a certain concomitancy but yet the Laity that partake of the bread may not for some great mysteries participate of