granted by the very Allegation Nor indeed is it much denied by any Men of Learning Scio esse pervetustam hanc precandi pro piè defunctis consuetudinem saith Bucer in his Censure and after he had a little indeavoured to put off Tertullian S. Cyprian and Dionysius he adds Sed sit hic quantumvis vetustus Dionysius Et sit hujus atque aliorum S. Patrum authoritas quantumlibet magna attamen nostrum est tanto anteferre omni humanae authoritati divinam quanto Deus omni homine major est sapientia nostri charitate docendique nos omnia propensione Jam or are pro Defunctis nullae docent Scripturae sive verbo sive exemplo Et vetitum est quicquid his adjicere vel detrahere Deut. 4. 12. Solet nobis objici says Peter Martyr Ecclesiam semper pro Defunctis orasse quod quidem non inficior sed assero illius facti neque Verbi Dei neque Exempli quod desumitur ex Sacris literis auctoritatem habere in 1 Cor. 3. fol. 45. Ed. Tig. 1579. Verum est quod Papistae aiunt says Bullinger Dec. 4. Ser. 10. Veteres orasse sacrificasse pro Defunctis Scio quid Doctor Ecclesiae Insignis Augustinus quid Eloquentissimus Chrysostomus aliique viri vetusti ac clari hac de re scriptum relinquerunt Sed quaero num hi rectè fecerunt Scio damnatum fuisse Aerium quod hujusmodi Orationes Oblationes improbaret Afferunt secundum Maccabaeorum librum Sed is nihil probat cum non sit Canonicus Adjiciunt Traditionem Apostolicam Sed mihi id non videtur nec illi unquam in scriptis ita praecipiunt This is the Sum of the Case and honestly said and therefore I shall conclude this part with it Such is the Folly Passion and Inconsiderateness of Men that they many times bring such Causes to Tryal as upon their own shewing and hearing their own Evidence only appears to all intelligent and indifferent Persons to be against them And such I believe will this Cause of these Men appear to be to all competent Judges without more a do Notwithstanding for the more plain and full Conviction and Satisfaction of such as are less intelligent and more scrupulous and that those Honourable Persons to whose Consideration I present it may themselves judge of the Evidences which extort these Confessions from such as would elude them if they could I will produce so much as is sufficient for the purpose and that I be not tedious I will forbear all that which would prove it to have been a true Catholick Practice of the whole Church for above 1200 years last past and confine my self to the time allowed and approved by the Church and State of England that is the time of the first four * 1. Of Nice Anno 325. 2. Constant Anno 381. 3. Ephesus Anno 431. 4. Chalced Anno 481. general Councils and that preceeding to the time of the Apostles that is from that to the Year of our Lord 451. As for the succeeding Ages to this day that it was observed all along per totum Orbem and therefore believed to have been delivered by the Apostles as the most ancient Writers upon the Church Offices affirm I presume no Man will deny and therefore I shall only mention one Observation concerning those Ages I have made all the Search that possibly I could both by Manuscripts and printed Books to discover the most ancient Forms of celebrating the Holy Eucharist in the Latin Church and tho' I have met with divers Variations in other parts yet I never could discover any Alteration in that that is the principal part and as Dr. Barlow late Bishop of Lincoln says the most innocent part of the publick Office called The Canon of the Mass since Gregory the Great nor indeed by him 〈…〉 believe the whole Canon is not of less Antiquity than Gelasius or S. Ambrose if not much ancienter divers particulars of it being found in more ancient Authors It is not long since a very Reverend and Learned Bishop since deceased speaking to me of it said it was a Noble piece of Antiquity and Dr. Barlow hath left under his hand a just Censure of one who cut that part out of an ancient Missel at Oxford for an ignorant half learned Fellow This alone is an ample Evidence of the Practice of all the Latin Churches for these Ages which from thence I shall indeavour to trace back to its Original S. Austin and S Paulinus both lived within the time prescribed and died 20 years before the last of the said four Councils about An. 431. S. Augustin was a Person of great Natural parts acquired Learning Piety Holiness and of great Authority and Reputation in the whole Catholick Church especially in the Latin Church of which he is reckoned one of the chiefest Doctors He had in his younger time taught Rhetorick at Rome and afterward at Millan so that he was acquainted with the World as well as with Books and every way as well qualified to bear his Testimony in the Case as possibly could be S. Paulinus was a Person of great Quality and Estate in great Esteem with the Emperor and of so great Devotion that imbracing our Saviour's Counsel he Sold all distributed it to the Poor and pious Uses and betook himself to a strict Religious Life in Poverty after he had been preferred to great publick Offices he was a Man of Parts and Learning and well acquainted with the Western parts especially Italy France and Spain and for his great Virtues and eminent Sanctity was by the Importunity of the People made Bishop of Nola in Campania so that he also was every way qualified for another Witness in this Case and these two I suppose sufficient for their time especially for the Latin Church S. Paulinus in an Epistle to St. Augustin says as much as need to be in few Words that * Vacare non posse quòd universa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consâ—evit ap Aug. de Cura pro Mort. pr. It cannot be in vain that the Vniversal Church is accustomed to pray for the Dead Not the Church but the Vniversal Church not only did at that time but was accustomed so to do that is time out of mind without any known beginning And what was it accustomed to do Not barely to commemorate but to pray and supplicate for them Vniversa pro Defunctis Ecclesia supplicare consuevit As ample a Testimony I think as can be expressed in so few words S. Augustin in confirmation of this alleadgeth the Book of Maccabees and addeth ‖ Sed etsi nusquam in Scriptuâ—is veteribus omnino legereâ—ur non parva tamen est Universae Ecclesiae quae in hâ—c consuetudine claret Authoritas ubi in preâ—ibus saceâ—dotis quae Domino Deo ad ejus altare funduntur locum suum habet etiam Commendatio Mortuorum S. Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis c. â— But altho'
Catholicks who had no Exceptions to the Matter or Form of it And in short to say the Truth the Abuse and Corruptions of the Publick Liturgy in these two particulars Of Prayers for the Dead and the Christian Sacrifice to mention nothing more are so gross and notorious that they alone are sufficient to make the Church of England inexcusably Guilty of Schism and justly obnoxious to Excommunication which may be the Enchantment it seems to lie under and unsafe for any pious Person after notice to hold Communion with it so that it seems not only expedient and prudent for the State to consider these Matters for otherwise nothing is to be expected from these Bishops but absolutely necessary And so I leave it with Your Lordships Your Lordships most Humble Servant Of the Practice of Prayers for the DEAD In the Christian Church THE Performance of any good Offices for the Dead even to their Bodies their Bones their Memories their Wills c. hath always been reputed a very commendable thing among all civilized Nations and whatever hath been acted to the contrary barbarous and inhumane and the only Neglect of such Offices by such as were under any special Obligation of evil consequence as if Mankind had some secret sense that Separate Souls were sensible of the Kindness or Unkindness of those who survived them and had some power to gratifie or revenge the Kindness or Injuries especially of their Relations and such as they had any special Interest in in their Life-time And if such inferior Offices to their Bodies and Memories have been so reputed much more may such good Offices as Prayers for the Souls departed deserve commendation And accordingly it hath been always commonly practised by all Nations Gentiles Jews Mahometans and Christians and that without any known Beginning but very probably by Tradition from the common * Concerning Matters transmitted from them and received and conserved by the Gentiles See Mr. Dodwell's 2d Letter § 8. Parents of Mankind being very agreeable to Nature and confirmed by Apparitions And certainly this is a thing so innocent so free from all appearance of Evil so desirable both for ones self and their Friends that it is very strange that any especially good People should be persuaded nay frighted from it and much more that any should so presume upon their own Opinion and Conceit as to offer to persuade them so contrary to the Practice of the whole World in general and of the whole Catholick Church without clearer Evidence in so obscure a Case as is that of the middle State of Souls to us Mortals which is not to be believed could ever have been without some secret Energy of those Powers of Darkness which have effected greater Mischiefs than this by the same Instruments It is the Practice of the Jews at this day and has been so without any known beginning was so before our Saviour's time as appears by the Book of Maccabces and their ancient Form of Prayer which 't is said they used in the Captivity still extant in their Talmud and never was reproved by our Saviour or any of his Apostles or of the Primitive Christians It is the Practice of the whole Catholick Church at this day and of all Christians except such as according to the unanimous Sentiments of the Ancients are gone and are out of it and hath been so without any known beginning in their most solemn Worship so that no Church can be assigned where they who scruple at it now could have had Communion without it And never was opposed contradicted or questioned by any one of any Reputation in the Catholick Church or by any one at all for near 400 years The first who is known to have questioned it was Aerius in the time of Epiphanius a Presbyter a frantick proud conceited Man discontented because he could not get a Bishoprick and thereupon 't is probable quarrelled not only at divers Practises of the Church but at Episcopacy it self an ill Man by the Judgement of all and Epiphanius and St. Austin reckon him in their Catalogues of Hereticks for his Opposition of this Practice especially The next whose Testimony is produced in this Cause is one Stephanus Gobarus and obscure Scribler and a confessed Heretick even by Vsher who alleadgeth his Testimony as well as by Photius from whom he takes it and who gives this Character of his Book that it seems a Work of much Labour but little Profit and a Study rather of Applause and Vain-Glory than any great Usefulness It was a Collection of the different Sentences of the Fathers in divers points of Doctrine and alleadged to prove such a Difference of Opinions in this Case and what was the true Sentence of the Church A special Witness and to much purpose an Heretick to prove the true Sentence of the Church and a vain-glorious Person who out of Ostentation of Parts and Learning seeks for Differences in the Fathers and sets himself up for a Judge which he might if he had pleased have done also in the Scripture it self But after all he doth not so much as declare his Opinion in the principal Question in this Case but only in a by-point A poor Cause that stands in need of such Supports If we set him aside as well we may who is neither a competent Witness of the Sentence of the Church nor doth declare his own in this Case we find not another in near 700 years after Aerius till Peter de Bruis and one Henricus a runagate Monk who took up a Trade of Preaching and spent what he got in Gaming and on Harlots They denied also the Baptism of Infants the Christian Sacrifice Publick Churches c. against them Petrus Cluniacensis a Man eminent for Learning and Sanctity wrote and St. Bernard preached and confirmed his Doctrine with so great a Miracle as convinced Multitudes who had been seduced by them After these arose one Waldo a Citizen of Lions very rich but unlearned who probably had a Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge and attributing too much to his own Opinion procured certain Books to be written in his own Language and distributing his Estate among the Poor took upon him the Apostolick Office of Preaching and began the Sect called after his own Name Waldenses and from their Place and Quality The Poor of Lions Among other Heterodox Opinions whereof some were peculiar to their own Sect and disallowed by all others this of rejecting Prayers for the Dead was one The Apostolici of that time I suppose were not a distinct Sect but the same who assumed that Name And the Albigenses who in the next Century encreased very much till by the secular Power and force of Arms they were suppressed seem to have been a Branch of the same Root however in this particular they agreed as they did in most others Since those I know not any Sect which hath arisen and which questioned or contradicted Prayers for the Dead till those
which have sprung out of what is called the Reformation For I do not find that Wickelif and his Followers here the Lollards or John Huss or Hierom of Prague who carried his Books and Doctrines into their own Country and were all three Men of Parts and Learning ever opposed Prayers for the Dead tho' among the Opinions attributed to Huss one is that there is no Purgatory Fire which is denied by others who yet are for Prayers for the Dead But by all the several Sects of the later Reformers since Luther began they have been questioned opposed and left out of their Publick Prayers Only here in England in the first Liturgy composed by English Clergy in the Reign of King Edward 6. which I therefore call The True English Liturgy the ancient Prayers for the Dead were retained both in the most Solemn Office of the Daily Sacrifice and at Funerals But these and other principal Parts of the Liturgy were soon after new-modelled in a clandestine manner by Cranmer Bucer and other Foreigners and Calvinian Sectaries and craftily imposed upon the Church and Nation And the Abuse is continued to this day This is the true Original and Succession of all the Opposition which hath ever been made to this Practice of all Mankind in general and of the whole Catholick Church of Christ by Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks and the meanest of all those not a Man amongst them of any Eminence for Piety or any Virtue or so much as Parts or Learning much less any Man of Note in the Church much less any Church Party or Part of the Catholick Church who were or who continued in Communion with The Catholick Church or any Particular Catholick Church as they anciently distinguish'd them from the Assemblies and Associations of Hereticks and Schismaticks in the same City It is very observable wonderful and a great Evidence of unquestionable or undeniable Truth that in so many Ages when there had been so many so considerable Parties of Hereticks and Schismaticks and so malicious spiteful and inraged as many of them were against the Church that none of the most considerable of them should ever seek to advantage their Cause by such a Question which doubtless they would not have failed to have done had they apprehended any color of Truth or Advantage in it that none in all the Parts of the World should ever oppose it but such an obscure inconsiderate and inconsiderable Generation of People till the late Reformers sprung up who thought they could never reform enough or pick quarrels too much till they had brought that which might have been a considerable Cause if well laid and managed to an indefensible brable Amongst them indeed there have been many Men of sufficient Learning but but few of that Ingenuity Impartiality freedom from Prejudice temporal Interest or Fear of Displeasing and of that Generosity as to assert the Truth plainly without respect of Persons or Parties and those few have been very much born down among us especially by the Violence and Headiness of Parties and Factions Yet such is the Power and Evidence of Truth in this Case that it hath found Advocates amongst the most learned of all Parties Of this I think it not improper to produce an instance or two in this Place The first shall be an eminent Person both for Learning and Virtue Bishop Forbes the first Bishop of Edenburg promoted by King Charles 1. who is reported to have said of him That he had found out a Bishop who deserved that a See should be made for him In his Considerationes Modestae Controversiâ de Purgatorio cap. 3. § 17. coming to speak of Prayers and Oblations for the Dead Sed hic primum c. But here first saith he is to be reproved the Opinion of some rigid Protestants who do altogether censure and condemn Prayers for the Dead because they find no Precept or Example of such Prayers in the Old or New Testament Certainly even those who are most against it dare not deny that it is a most ancient Custom and most universally received in the whole Church of Christ that in the Publick Prayers of the Church Commemoration should be made for the Dead and Rest be prayed for to God for those who died piously and in the Peace of the Church And having cited divers of the Ancients for it he adds This most ancient Custom was full of Piety and most truly did Cassander say This was always fixt in * Note Then this was agreed among All. All Christian Minds That the Spirits of those who being initiated in the Sacrament of Christ departed this Life in the Confession of his Name with signification of Repentance should be commended to the Mercy of God that Remission of Sin Eternal Rest and a Part with the Elect might be intreated for them †This second part is so cited in Vsher p. 246. as is apt to lead the Reader into mistake as if they were not agreed in more than the Author did intend And altho' concerning that State of Souls for which those things were profitable it was neither sufficiently manifest nor agreed among all yet all judged this Office as a Testimony of Charity toward the Deceased and a Profession of Faith concerning the Immortality of Souls and Resurrection to come to be grateful to God and profitable to the Church Then he saith This most Ancient and Vniversal Custom of the Church very many and most learned Protestants do not disallow and cites the Apology of the Augsburg Confess Chemnicius Mentserus Luther Gerard Vrbanus Regius Vorstius Vossius Dr. Field Bishop Andrews and passing over in silence very many others as he saith he recites the Words of the Liturgy of Edward 6. both in the Office for the Communion and that for Burials laments that such most ancient and pious Prayers should by the Persuasion of Bucer and others be expunged and wisheth that the Church of England which hath shewed great Moderation in many other things of less moment had rather conformed her self in this business as also in some others to the most ancient Custom of the Universal Church than for some Errors and Abuses which had by degrees crept in plainly rejected it and wholly taken it away to the great Scandal of almost all other Christians I need add no more after this Learned and Apostolick Bishop only in short take notice of what Vrbanus Regius saith that None reject it but Epicureans and Sadduces and Vorstius that No Good Man can dislike it and Bishop Andrews that There is little that can be said against it and conclude this matter with the Words of the learned and famous Hugo Grotius The use of Praying for the Dead received through all Churches of the East no less than of the West ought not to be condemned And after some reasons for it and something concerning the Jews he adds The Ancient Liturgies are not to be condemned since Christ himself did never reprehend the Prayers
for the Dead commonly used among the Jews of which there is a Form extant in the Talmud made as is believed in the Babylonian Captivity and mentioned in the second Book of the Maccabees It will be replied That as great a Man and of the Church of England as any of those hath written against it the famous Vsher Arch-Bishop of Armath It is very true he hath and imployed and strained all his Learning all his Parts and all his Skill and a little too much to oppose it and all to very little purpose for his own Cause but to very good purpose against it For it is a great Evidence and Demonstration of what Bishop Andrews truly said That there is little that can be said against what this great Man takes such pains to oppose The sole Question between him and his Adversary was Whether the Fathers of the first 400 or 500 Years held that Prayer for the Dead is both commendable and godly as appears by the Challenge which was in those very Words and no other How and where doth he answer this plain Question His Title of that part of his Answer is general Of Prayer for the Dead He saw well enough how little he had to say to that plain Question and therefore resolved to take more Liberty to say something of the matter of his Title tho little or nothing to the Question He spends three score and ten pages upon the general matter but if I mistake not not ten lines directly and closely to the special Question * To use his own words p. 170. He alleadgeth indeed a number of Authorities to blear Mens Eyes with all which being narrowly looked into will be found nothing at all to the purpose Which is to abuse not so much his Adversary as his Reader with a specious appearance of an Answer which in truth and reality is nothing to the purpose That which comes nearest to the purpose is what he saith pag. 246. These Two Questions saith he must necessarily be distinguished Whether Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead and Whether the Dead did receive any peculiar Profit thereby In the latter of these he the Reader shall find great Difference among the Doctors in the former very little or none at all This is indeed to the purpose but his Resolution of the former Question tho' very true is a plain Confession against himself For if they be agreed that Prayers and Oblations were to be made for the Dead then certainly they held that that was commendable and godly which is all that his Adversary did affirm then and that I do principally assert now for what I have to alleadge farther is but a Consequence of that And his Resolution of the latter Question is manifestly false and a disingenuous Assertion for if among so great a number of Doctors in so many Years he could have assigned five or six or ten who had really differed in that point from the rest which those few he cites rightly understood did not had that been a Great Difference And if some Authors do say that some or that many in their time were doubtful in the point is that a sufficient proof that it was still a Question in the Church when they name not one Person in particular much less any Doctor nor tell us so much as of what quality they were who had those Doubts When a Difference is Great there must be some proportion between the Contenders and where a Question is continued there must be some Disputes Contention or Debates But if Peoples secret Doubts must be taken for Questions in the Church that is the ready way to bring all Religion into question and it is not to be doubted but such dealings in Controversies hath had its share in producing this growth of Scepticism and Atheism of late That such a Man as this should put Colours upon Causes should hold up Contentions should be so addicted to Parties as in favour to them to confirm People in Opinions which if false are mischievous and if true of little Advantage and contrary to so great Authority as is on the other side and so expose his Judgment or Integrity is a great Unhappiness to himself and a Scandal to others It is possible what others may have observed in this great Man for 't is a scurvy thing to be ingaged in an ill Cause may have taught them more Wisdom for for ought I can find as well in the Controversial Writings of late as in the Disputations at the University the Old Cause An Preces pro Defunctis sint Licitae is quite deserted and that Question is turned into another An Preces pro Defunctis antiquitus usurpatae inferant Purgatorium Papisticum It is well Men have learned so much Wisdom for themselves as to mend their Cause so far as that and it is to be wished that they may also learn so much Honesty as to undeceive the People and restore to them for themselves and their Friends the Comfort and Benefit of that ancient Catholick Practice Mr. Thorndike one of the learnedst Persons this Church hath produc'd and a late Bishop of St. Asaph have done well to do what they could and restore it upon their own Tomb-stones tho' they could not do it in the Church and if all who believe well would but do so well as profess what they believe which certainly they ought to do we should soon see the Truth revive and flourish beyond Expectation and so much of our Contentions abated Thus concerning the Persons who have opposed this Practice and set up themselves against the Authority of the whole Catholick Church I come now to consider the Opposition it self their Allegations and Reasons Such is the Wit of Man and the Subtilty of Satan that scarce any Truth is so evident but they can find out some specious Appearances to set up against it But such is the Mercy and Wisdom of God that he hath provided sufficient means for Direction for all such as keep within the Bounds of Humility and Obedience that is in Subjection not only of their Wills but also of their Intellects and Understandings to his Orders Ordinances and Prescriptions the very Business of their Lives in this World for Preparation for another And to such besides the Common Means he will kindly vouchsafe a special Guidance sufficient for their Circumstances Of the Danger our Saviour and his Apostles have given to all fair Warning and great Caution acquainting us with the End why the most Wise and Gracious God permits it for Tryal and Exercise the Danger and Subtilty of the Ministers of Satan such as should deceive if it were possible the very Elect the special Marks to know and avoid them viz. Their Fruits specious Pretences Sheeps Clothing and Distraction and Disagreement among themselves crying Here is Christ and There is Christ and special Directions Believe them not Go not out after them All this Provision hath the Devil attempted to
undermine partly by raising real Scandals and Offences and partly by strongly representing Imaginary ones But against all this Humility and Charity will fortifie us and the Grace special Guidance and Mercy of God will preserve us if we be careful to continue in those Graces It was Pride and Arrogance and Discontent in Aerius which gave the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epiphan p. 905. a. Devil Advantage to instigate him to the first Opposition of such a Catholick Practice It was Pride Vanity and Ostentation of Parts by which he set Gobarus to work to shew his Learning and Acuteness in finding out Differences of Opinions among them who perhaps in many of those things differed no more than the Writers of the Sacred Scriptures seem to do For I do not find that he made any special Opposition against this Practice But I doubt it was not imaginary but real Scandal and gross Abuses of a good Practice by which Waldo and his Followers and the Albigenses were moved to oppose all without Distinction tho' there seems to have been in him with a Zeal for God but without Knowledge a Mixture of Pride and Conceitedness And it was real and not imaginary Scandal by which Luther was at first moved to oppose Indulgencies and his Followers at first to oppose even this innocent and commendable Practice But in such Men as Vsher and Bucer it was the Reputation of the Cause they had espoused in gross and Compliances with the Times and their particular Interests by which they were moved But let us but carefully follow our Saviour's Admonitions and Directions wisely distinguish the Ingredients of the Composition of Truth and Falsehood and honestly imbrace hold fast and own the Truth when we have the Opportunity and we shall not want sufficient Light and Evidence to find it The specious Appearances set up against this Catholick Practice of the Church of Christ are these 1. That there is no Scripture Authority for it 2. That the Ancient Practice was to Pray for all such as were at Rest 3. That the Ancients were not agreed in their Opinions concerning the State of Separate Souls or the general Intention of the Church in those Prayers To detect the Fallacy Falsity and Impertinence of these Allegations as briefly as may be To the first I say it is a meer Fallacy and grounded upon a false Supposition that nothing is to be admitted in Doctrine or Worship but what there is Scripture Authority for if it be understood of a special Authority and their usual Pretences of not Adding or Diminishing are to be understood of those particular Parts or Books of the Scripture as is plain by the Additional Writings and Practices of Holy Men afterwards 2. It is inconsistent with the Tradition of the Doctrine and Institutions of the Gospel and of the Ordinances of the Apostles which were all by Word and Deed without Writing as the Common Laws of this Nation were at first settled and much of what was written was written upon special Occasions and much with that Brevity and Conciseness by the special Providence of God as was sufficient for them for whom it was intended and yet so as should need an Authentick Explication to preserve the Authority of the Catholick Church 3. It is contrary to the express Directions of the Scripture to contend for the Doctrine once delivered to the Saints in general and to hold the Traditions they had received whether by Word or Epistle c. And if it be understood of a general Authority the Allegation it self is false For it is contrary to all those Scriptures which declare the Authority of the Church and require Obedience to Superiors And either way it is contrary to the Sentiments Testimony and Practice of the Ancient Christians who in Questions of Difficulty and Contests with Hereticks always inquired not only what was written by the Apostles but also or principally what was delivered by them to the Churches which they founded in all Parts of the World of which the Catholick Church doth consist which the Scripture it self stiles the Pillar and Basis of Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 v. Grot. not only for the Sense and Meaning of the Scripture as Lawyers with good reason do when in doubts about the Construction of Writings they inquire how the Usage hath gone for in that case the Writing is the Principal Evidence but in this case what was delivered to the Churches which were compleatly and plainly instructed and ordered by the Apostles was the principal Inquiry and the Scriptures but an accessory Evidence as our Year-Books are of the Common Law in Questions concerning the Common Law But I doubt not but there was a special Providence in it that so much was written and no more and that it was written in such a manner Lastly This hath been the Practice and Pretence of Hereticks and Schismaticks in all Ages to the intent with the better colour to set aside the Authority of the Catholick Church that they might so make way to set up their own private Opinions and Conceits in the Place thereof but never more grossly nauciously and scandalously than by some of the Principal of the late Reformers Calvin especially on the one side inculcating and crying up The Pure Word of God The Pure Word of God and on the other abusing it by straining wresting it to serve their own turns and eluding and evading what is plainly contrary to them which is now past all doubt not only by the Confessions of Mr. Baxter and Le Blank but the many of all Parties who have deserted divers of those Assertions which were so hotly contended for under that specious Pretence a plain Evidence and Demonstration that they were no better than their Predecessors in that Pretence But besides all this what I am now doing if I be not much mistaken will be a particular demonstration of the Truth of what I say To the other two Allegations I say they are both impertinent to the Question under consideration here which is only concerning the Matter of Fact and Practice I do not say that they are impertinent to the Subject in general to be considered upon other Occasions but to this special Question and therefore to insist upon them in this Case instead of directly answering to the Question is fallacious captious and an abuse to the Reader to impose upon him distract him and withdraw him from the proper Question There might be Difference in Forms and various Intendments and all consistent Certainly there was no such Difference or Variety either of Forms or Intendment as there is this day amongst Protestants of both in their greatest Solemnity of the Sacrament But if the matter of Fact be certain it may be in the Power of the Church to order the Form and at Liberty for every one to construe the Intention or make his Inferences or Observations for his own Use as well as of the Scripture And the Matter of Fact is