the Armenian Archbishops of Constantinople of Amasea and Adrinople Attestation of the Patriarch of Cis at number 10. Attestation of the Armenians of Cairo Attestation of the Armenians of Ispahan in Persia at number 16. For the Church of the Syrians Attestation of the Patriarch of the Syrians concerning the Faith of their Churches in matter of the Eucharist 12. Condemnation of the Calvinists by the Church of the Syrians at Damascus Extract of an Arabick Manuscript of the Kings Bibliotheck shewing the Belief of the Jacobites concerning the Eucharist in the Tenth Age. For the Nestorians Attestation of the Patriarch of the Nestorians of the Town of Diabeker Extract out of the Missals and Prayer-Books of the Nestorians For the Church of Cophtes Attestation of the Patriarch of the Cophtes Another Attestation of the same concetning the Eucharist In particular These Attestations are to be found at the end of the Third Tome of the Perpetuity of the Faith either at length or by citation of other places of these Books I know not if Mr. Sphanhemius Professor at Leyden will yet be so bold as to say as he did in his Strictures against the Bishop of Condom's Book that no regard is to be had to all these Attestations as being given by the miserable Greeks who can be made to say any thing one pleases for Money A quibus nihil non pretio extorqueas And so we have ground to think that they continued still in the Opinion of the Calvinists concerning the Eucharist even when they seem to condemn it with the greatest zeal But I perswade my self there is no honest man but will conceive indignation at an Answer so unreasonable which leaves us no moyen to be assured of the Religion of any People The least that those deserves who makes use of it is to doubt whether they be Christians Jews or Mahometans there being left them no way to hinder us from believing that they are in their heart any thing we please to suspect them of But to deprive them of all means of being able by their most unjust and extravagant Calumnies to brangle those who shall read this little Treatise I shall chuse one only of all these Testimonies which is the Book of the Orthodox Confession whereof the History is set down in the General Answer Book 1. Chap. 9. in these terms If one should set himself on purpose to contrive the Idea of an Act proper to decide the matter in question betwixt us he could not in my Judgment require other conditions and other circumstances than those I am going to speak of 1. That it be signed and authorized by the four Patriarchs and by the principal Bishops and Ecclesiasticks of the Eastern Church 2. That it appear that those who made and approved it had not any intelligence with the Latins and that they continue in all the particular Sentiments of the Greek Church 3. That it was made for the particular necessities of the Greek Church without that the Latins had any hand in it 4. That the terms thereof be peremptory and contain so clearly the Doctrine of the Real Presence and Transubstantiation that Mr. Claud cannot elude them by his ordinary subtilties Now all these circumstances are exactly found in the Act which I shall here set down whereof a Patriarch of Jerusalem named Nectarius has taken the pains to make the History in a Letter at the beginning of it and here it is Peter Mogilas who had been ordained Archbishop of Russia by Theophanes Patriarch of Jerusalem having assembled three of the most Learned Bishops his suffragants and the most pious Theologues of his Archipiscopal City to banish away the Errours and Superstitions of his People resolved with them by unanimous consent to draw up a Confession of Faith on the Articles of the Christian Doctrine and to cause it be received and approved by the Church of Constantinople and by the Synod which was there assembled To bring this to pass they composed a Book on the Articles of Faith which they entituled The Confession of Faith of the Russians And then they entreated the Church of Constantinople to appoint those they should depute into Moldavia in quality of Exarcks to examine it together with those whom they should send on their side The matter was executed as it was thus projected The Synod of Constantinople did depute into Moldavia Porphyrius Metropolitan of Nice and Meletius Syrigus Theologue of the Great Church to whose Piety and Learning the Patriarch of Jerusalem gives very ample commendation And the Deputies of the Russians being met there that Confession of Faith was examined with all exactness possible But yet they did not content themselves with this examination and to render this piece more Authentick they thought fit to send it to all the four Patriarchs of the Eastern Church and to submit it anew to their Judgment These Patriarchs then having received and examined it found it so conform to the Belief of their Church that not onely they approved it and signed it with their own hands with many other Bishops but they appointed moreover that instead of the Title it had before of Confession of Faith of the Russians it should be thenceforth called Confession of Faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church After the Letter of this Patriarch of Jerusalem containing the History above-mentioned we find at the very beginning of that Confession the Approbation and Subscription of four Patriarchs of nine Bishops and of all the principal Officers of the Church of Constantinople The Approbation of the four Patriarchs is dated in the year 1643 in the Month of March and that of the Letter of the Patriarch of Jerusalem which was prefixed only to the Print is only in 1662. This Confession no having been printed in Greek till long time after it was made and not being distributed before but in writâ— because the Turks permits no Printing in their Empire As to all the other Conditions we have pointed at they are likewise found in that Confession The Latins medled not in it any manner of way it was allenerly made for the utility of the Greek Church It was composed by the Greeks examined by all the Heads of the Estern Church These who composed it had no aim to gratifie any person It is now more than fourty years since it was made and more than twenty since it was printed Yea it appears the Hollanders were employed for the printing of it for certainly the Types are of Holland All the Doctrines controverted betwixt the Greeks and Latins are therein openly asserted and the Authors of this Confession can be no ways suspected to have had any sway or inclination for the Roman Church So that it 's hard to imagine or deny a Book less suspect more authorized more authentick and of which greater assurance can be had that it contains the true Sentiments of the Eastern Church There remains no more but to see what it contains And in this manner it begins to
of simple People and those who reasons little and dives not to the bottom of things Who then can doubt but that we ought to judge of the sence of these fundamental Words ordained to instruct us in the belief of this Mystery by that general and common Impression which these kind of People receives without so many reflections And consequently that these common Impressions are the rule of the meaning of these Words This is my Body seeing otherwise it would follow that Jesus Christ should have led into errour all those who following Nature and common Sence should have bonâ fide understood these Words in the sence they imprint naturally The Question then is only to find the simple and natural Impression which the Church has received by these words Now what more proper means could be made choice of to perceive the sence these words are taken in without Philosophy and without Metaphysick in following simply Nature and common Sence than to consult in what sence they were de facto taken since the Apostles to this day by all the Christians of the World who were not concerned with our Disputes And this is seen by the agreement of all Christian Societies in the belief of the Real Presence which we have so clearly and solidly proved in this Book for it 's manifest they entered not in that belief but in taking the Words of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament in a literal sence and in understanding that after the Consecration the Bread became the true Body of Jesus Christ They did not amuse themselves to play the Philosopher on the meaning of the word This on the meaning of the word Is on the meaning of the word Body they did not study the tropes and figures but without so many boutways and reflections they all conceived that it was the very Body it self of Jesus Christ This is what these words bred in their minds this is what they expressed by their Professions of Faith. Mr. Claud and several other Ministers would indeed perswade us if they could that there is nothing more natural and easie to find than their figurative sence they give to these Words For when there is no more to be done but to assert things boldly and to make shew of much confidence these Gentlemen never find themselves straitned But to see how little sincere they are in this matter there needs no more but to read what we have answered to them in the two first Books of the second Tome of the Perpetuity Certainly if that figurative sence was so easie to be found how came it to pass that all these Christians who compose those great Societies of the East and West and who for so long a time have believed the Real Presence did not perceive it How came it to pass that Luther * Epistola de argentinenses tome 7. Witemb fol. 502. Gravibus curis auxius in haec excutienda materia multum desudabam omnibus nervis extensis me extricare conatus sum cum probe perspiciebam hac re Papatui me valde incommodare posse ... verum me captum video nulla via elabendi relicta textus enim Evangelii nimium apertus est potens c. who sought after it so long time as a mean which he thought would be so advantageous for him to vex the Pope as he says himself could never find it And that after he had bent all his endeavours to that purpose totis nervis extensis he avows that the Text of the Gospel is so clear and so strong for the Real Presence that it was impossible for him to get himself rid of it How did this figurative sence I say so easie to be found not shew it self to this man who is reputed among them as Calvin Liv. du lib. arb pag. 311. in Opus assures us for an excellent Apostle of Jesus Christ who has erected their Church of new Finally how does Zuinglius who is also one of their Holy Fathers declare that several years after he had rejected the Real Presence he knew not yet how to explain these Words This is my Body by these words This signifies my Body and that he learned this famous Explication which he calls a happy Pearl foelicem Margaritam only from the Letter of a Hollander which he found in the Cloakbag of two of his Friends who came to consult him * Epistolam istam cujusdam docti pii Batavi soluta sarcina communicarum In ea foelicem hanc margaritam est pro significat hic accipi inveni Zuing. Ep. ad Pomeranum Tom. 8. f. 256. and that it was only by an advertisement he had in a Dream from a Spirit which he says he knew not whether it was white or black In subsidio Euchar. Tom. 2. f. 249. that he learned a passage of Exodus which he thought most proper to defend his Key of Figure as himself calle it if this sence was so natural and so easie to find Mr. Claud proposes in his third Answer Pag. 26. as a means which he pretends is infallible to assure him that beliefs concerning a Mystery such as is the Eucharist are not formaly in certain Passages where they are said to be to wit says he when the eyes do not perceive them and that they are not in them in equivalent Terms or are not drawn from them by necessary and evident consequents when common sence does not discern them therein And he adds that this proof although negative is of the highest degree of evidence and greatest certainty But not to stay here to shew the horrour as a Christian should have at this impious reasoning which justifies all Hereticks for they need say no more than Mr Claud does If the Truths he would have us believe were in Scripture in formal Terms our eyes would perceive them and if they were there in equivalent Terms or might be drawn thence by evident and necessary consequences our common sence would discern them c. For although they do ill in rejecting a Truth yet it 's true that they do not perceive it Not to insist I say on this I need no more but to make use of this Argument against him and tell him that if the Belief and figurative Sence of the Protestants were in formal Terms in the Words of Jesus Christ our eyes would perceive them if they were there in equivalent Terms or might be thence drawn by evident and necessary Consequences our common sence would discern them but after having made an exact search by all manner of ways our eyes and our common sence declares they are not there in any of these ways therefore they are not there at all What can Mr. Claud deny in this Argument Not the first Proposition for it is his own word for word nor must it be the second for it is undoubtedly true because certain it is that neither our Eyes nor our common Sense discovers to us that figurative sence and belief of Protestants
upon any Point they have taken for pretext of their separation from the Catholick Church to conclude that their belief in point of the Eucharist is false How remote soever these particular consequences seem to be from these Principles the two general Maxims we have fixed That it 's impossible this Mysterie should be known only by Hereticks and yet the Sacramentarians only deny the Real Presence joyns and knitts them together by an indissoluble knot Wherefore all the Proofs of other controverted Points are convictions of the errour of the Calvinists in point of the Eucharist And this is what ought carefully to be remarked that it 's sufficient to convince them of errour upon any article of Faith whatsomever to conclude the same of their Doctrine of the Eucharist As this Mysterie supports the whole Catholick Religion so the same whole Religion supports it all the Proofs which establishes the several Points that divides us from the Calvinists meet and joyn in this and consequently forms such abundance of light and conviction that it 's impossible those who sincerely open the eyes of their Soul to look upon it to restrain themselves from crying out in a rapture with the Royal Prophet Testimonia tu a credibilia facta sunt nimis Psal 92. SECT XI The Conclusion Where once more the invincible Strength of this Argument is exposed I Can hardly perswade my self that the Ministers who have so high an esteem of reasoning as that they ground their Faith upon it seeing they cannot find it in the Scripture but by the help of their consequences can resolve so to overthrow the Rules thereof as that not being able to find any thing of falshood either in the Major or Minor of a Regular Argument will yet hazard to deny the conclusion of it And at the same time I can less understand what they can say to obscure the clearness and evidence of what was proved in the Major and the Minor. It seems then there is good ground to conclude that they will be forced to acknowledge that in the Book of the Perpetuity it 's most solidly proved that the Faith of the Roman Church concerning the Eucharist which is the same with that of all the Oriental Churches is the ancient and perpetual Faith of the Christians of all Ages and that consequently their opinion which is contrary thereto is a manifest Heresy Yet this is a thing we do not hope for unless it be of some particular person whom God may touch by his Grace But as to the generality of the Ministers we know their Genius better than to promise to our self that they will yeeld to the Truth how manifest soever it may be they are too much infatuate with their ridiculous Opinion of being come out of Babylon as to be able to resolve to return again to it That which will seem most convincing to them will pass in their conceit for a song of Tyre which imitats the Tune of the songs of Sion or for a crafty seducing of the Beast of the Apocalypse whose horns are like those of the Lamb. They will rather choise to put out their own eyes than to be attentive to it They will say Mr. Claud has given satisfaction to all that and it 's only an idle repetition of what has been confuted by their most Reverend Brother and deserves no answer Or if they make any it will not be in answering directly and precisely to every Article and in representing sincerely the Proofs which support all what is asserted by referring to the Books whence they are taken being for brevities sake we were obliged not to set them down at length but they will do nothing but confuse and ravel the Dispute by new incidents to break the threed of it and thereby hinder the simple People of their Party from seeing so easily the truth through the clouds wherewith they will endeavour to cover it But do what the Ministers will I can hardly believe that these who have Wit Conscience and Honour amongst the Protestants will not be perswaded by this Argument that what we believe of the Eucharist and what all those great Societies of the East believes with us is the common and perpetual Faith of the whole Church and consequently that of the Apostles For as to the matters of fact which shows the agreement of these Churches either in Beringarius his time or at this time they are too well grounded to be questioned in sincerity so it 's not like they can doubt of the truth of the Major which is proved in Sect. 1. and 5. And as to the impossibility of an Invisible Change these matters of fact being supposed it appears so easily of it self as it would seem we ought not to have sought Reasons to make it be better perceived if Mr. Claud's pertinaciousness had not obliged us to it But yet we needed no more but to lay open the incredible absurdities which are naturally included in the imagination of this insencible change to set the falsehood of this Fable upon the highest Point of evidence All I fear Gentlemen is that the adherence you have from your Infancy to a Religion you thought true hinder you in the middle of this enquiry and that by a mistaken humility you dare not contradict your Ministers for your Fathers did not adhere to the new Reformers in forsaking the Church but because they had inspired them with that criminal presumption that they ought not make account of the Fathers or Councils but every one could and ought to make himself Judge of the Fathers and Councils by the light he should imagine to have found in the Scripture after having invocated the Holy Spirit it is most just you make use of the same Priviledge in respect of your new Masters seeing hitherto they have not taken the boldness to say they were the only men who might be followed with all security and without any ground of fear of being misled This is all I ask of you your Ministers have so often told you that you must not believe men in matter of Religion because all men are lyars Begine at them with the Practise of this Rule and with judging of the Rule it self for perhaps it 's not so generally true as they pretend but making it general they cannot say it 's not true in respect of them I doubt not but you will confess they have still represented to you Transubstantiation which they call a Monster and the adoration of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament which they call Idolatry as two things unknown to the whole world save only to the Roman Church and that neither the Greeks nor the Arminians nor the Russians nor the Jacobits nor the Ethiopians nor generally any Christian beside those who submit to the Pope believes any thing of these two Articles These are Mr. Claud's words Preface of his answer to Mr. Arnaud pag. 759 and as they all look upon him as the great Defender of the pretended Reformed Churches