may seem by human arguments yet must he himself as well as other Christians lay it aside if it be confronted by Catholik tradition the great and unresistable Rule of Christianity resign himself And it seems a principle of faith had delivered unto Christians this beleef that a soul once expiated goes to heaven Pope John tho he had reason to suspect so much so that he might hav abstained from propounding his thesis yet he did not propound it in councels where faith is determined but in Schools wher opinions are disputed and distinguisht from faith and upon that account was he justly to be excused Yet was that good Prelat so tender conscienced that he is said to have askt the world forgivenes at his death if they took any offence therat adding wthal that he did it only to give them occasion to search more narrowly whether the opinion were not consonant to tradition although it had not been yet heeded If then neither Pape nor councell can go contrary to the received waies of the Church in any thing how shall I be able to do it except I make shipwrack of my faith as S. Paul affirms Hymeneus to have don even by one fals opinion though otherwis a Christian 1 Tim. 1.19 For a lesser leak will drown a ship if it be not stopt or pumpt out so will any one errour in faith sink a self opiniating spirit For in the least we shall as truly resist God the first revealing verity as in the greatest and to gainsay him in any little thing who is equally infallible in all is no les than blasphemy and an insolence intolerable Sith it stands not wth his diety to be mistaken in the smallest matter or mislead his church therin LA. The church me thinks for the quiet and safty of a kingdom might well condescend to som opinions that be not so much materiall put case they were fals for in evills the les is to be chosen and that opinion cannot be so bad as the ruin of a whol Kingdom KN. The Church being a just depositary cannot teach otherways than she has receivd in any affair Besides Christ will hav his spous to be wthout spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5.27 and that opinion being against her tradition it cannot but make a wrinkle or spot or some such thing at least in her T is sacriledg wth us to rob or steal any thing out of a materiall temple what then would it be to purloin the Churches doctrin To rent her own seamles garment or make the least hole in it were an action unbeseeming the wisdom and modesty of the heavenly spous Shee will never do it nor no member of her body such as by Gods grace I am can do it without death and ruin to it self Try that will whosoever entertains but one particular misbeleef he shall soon find that being therby separated from the Catholik body he or his successours will soon attempt another and never lin till all be layd wast Besides the Church being but a depositaty or keeper of the doctrin committed to her charg hath not power over it to exhang distrain or make it away at her pleasur against the rules of honesty And if she should to content one sort of innovatours chang or relent in one thing others that would innovat in another may justly challeng the same favour and what should she then have had remaining to her self after so many innovations made by hereticks in so many ages I think very little or nothing at all by this time T is worth your consideration to ponder this For so you may perceiv both the integrity of this immaculat spous in conserving the doctrin wherwith she has been intrusted intire and wholly sincere and the madnes of all sectarys who would each in their wild fansys have the churches compliance wth them to her own ruin and being denied flew out into all exorbitances against her and forfeyted at once by their self opinions and obstinacy both the title of Catholik they had till then enjoyed and the security they had in the churches bosom This is a worthy and profitable speculation And therfor I shall indeavour to speak therof wth as much order method as can well be used in a matter of such disorder as the confused heap of heresys jumbled together may admit THe Churches doctrine is partly about the creation and Scriptures of the old Testament partly about our redemption and things peculiar to Christianity their persons or places precepts or counsells vices or vertues Sacraments and works either morall naturall or politicall in all wch severall hereticks have at times sought to bring in innovations wch had the church complied wthall she had had little or nothing left her by this time Nay she should have contradicted her self continually and said and denied the same things The extravagancys concerning the creation either opposed the autority of canonicall books or judgd amiss of the divine natur angels and souls the beginning of the world the condition of Adam and Eve our first parents Melchisedek and the like things wch wer antecedēt to our redēption Carpocrates and Cerdon in the time of pope Hygin rejected all the old Testament Ebion on the other side made the old Testamēt to be of equal autority wth the new and out of the new he cast forth al S Pauls Epistles as erroneous Cerdon and Marcion disallowed all the Gospells besides S. Luke Cerinthus all but S. Mathew the Alogians received all but S. Iohn Luther cast away S. Iames Epistle and the books of Maccabees tho he knew that not onely S. Austin but the whole councell of Carthage had received them as canonical Severus the Acts of the Apostles Apelles taught that the Prophets spake contradictories and lies Montanus that they understood not what they said though they are called seers for their understandig Isa 1. and are said to speak as inspired by the holy Ghost 2. Pet. 1. With which of these should the church comply and how The Gnosticks would have two Gods one from whence issue good things the other author of evill The Anthropomorphits in the time of pope Damasus would have God to be truly corporeall as man is The Armenians becaus God had said that Cain should not be slain by any man would needs have him a lier becaus Cain slew himselfe Sabellius in the time of pope Sixtus 2. would not admit any more then one person in God Arrius in pope Sylvesters time opposed the equality of the three divine persons The Alogians acknowledged not the Son of God to be the word The Ignoites maintained that Christ was ignorant of som things in particular of the day of judgment Macedonius in the time of pope Liberius made the Holy Ghost inferiour to the Father and Son not of the same essence wth them but a creatur Petrus Abaylardus said that the Holy Ghost was the soul of the world The Greeks that he proceeded not from the Father
and Son Abaylardus again that power was not appropriated but proper to the Father wisedom to the Son and bounty to the Holy Spirit The Manichees contended that the devill is evill by his owne natur and not made so by his fall Origen that the devills should at length be deliverd from hell Hermannus Risswick in the year 1512. held wth much stiffnesse that neither the good Angels nor bad were created of God The church of God resisted all these could she do otherwise Others denied the creation of the soul imediatly by God Seleucus affirming that it is made by Angels of spirit and fire Tertullian that the soul of the Son is made by the soul of his Father as his body by his body The Gnosticks on the other side said it was made of the substance of God himself wch was afterwards defended by the Manichees the wild ofspring of Manes a Persian who affirmd himself to be both Christ the Paraclet too sent out his twelv Disciples about the world to spread abroad his haeretical dogmes who were much multiplied in the time of pape Foelix Tertullian thought that the souls of wicked men were after death turned into devills wch surely is an errour if he speak of a physical and not of a morall turning The Arabians on the other side affirmed that all souls quite perish wth their body wch atheism was also defended by the above named Rissnick the Hollander The Albigenses in the time of Pope Jnnocent 3. averd according to Pythagoras his doctrin that souls pas from one body to another Origen that they were created before the body and imprisond therin for some offence committed wch opinion is assuredly against the common judgment of Catholiks The Gnostiks that all bruit beasts were maisters of understanding and reason The church if she had desired to have done it would have found somthing to do to comply wth all these men Seleucus and Hermias would have the matter wherof the world was made to be coeternall wth God and not created Foelix a Manichean affirmd the same of the Earth Others of Water The Albanenses said that the world should never end Simon Magus as also the Gnosticks Manichees said that the world was made of the ill God and not by the good one and that corporall creatures and mans body were therfore evill in themselves and in their own substance Florinus in the time of Pope Eleutherius taught that God whom he acknowledgd to be both one good did notwthstāding evill things wth a positiv purpos of il as to harden mens hearts deceiv them Coluthius an Egiptian on the other side denied God to inflict so much as the evill of punishment Tatianus in the time of Pope Julius the first affirmed that Adam and Eve were for their sin perpetually damned And yet notwthstanding wisdom is said to have brought him who was first formed and father of the world out of his sin Sap. 10. Origen that Adam lost by sin the image of God wch was an errour surely if he spake properly of his image that is founded in natur and not of similitud founded in grace and blessednes Pelagius in the time of Honorius and Theodosius the younger avouched that Adam died not through demerit of his fault but condition of natur and so had died although he had not find The Armenians inhabitants of Asia betwixt Taurus and Caucasus after their separation from the Catholik church wch happend as I remember upon the councell of Chalcedon wherein Eutiches Abbot and Dioscorus Byshop of Constantinople were condemnd whos conciliary acts the Armenians would not receiv but made themselvs a primat of their own they fell into many errours amongst wch one was that Adam and Eve if they had not sind had never ingendred children and therfore they held marriage to be unlawful Philaster mentions others who maintained that Adam and Eve before they had sinned were blind Thes be blind guids for the church of Christ to follow How many wayes should she turn to trace all these mens steps In a a word not to insist longer upon the old Testament S. Austin and S. Epiphanius in their Books of Heresys mention som who taught that Melchisedeck was not a pure man but som diuine vertu or Christ himself T is easy to say any thing of every thing VIC O the father what a number of pretty opinions be here Truly I find in my heart to hold som of them They were most witty interpreters of Scriptur Pray go on sweet Sr Harry this is the best discours you ever made yet go on it delights me exceedingly according as it is written Thy lips drop as the honey comb Cant. 4. The more you speak the more my appetit encreases MIN. Pray Sr let us break this discours wch I was not aware of and com to matter I have furnisht my self wthall for your conversion This talk corrupts my wife VIC Earth to earth and ashes to ashes Pray be content let me be corrupted thē Thou fool that wch thou sowest is not quickend except it dye Look in the 15. c. of the Corinthians and expound me that place And then tell me first if in right Logick corruption go not before generation tell me secondly who is that same Thou fool LA. I could willingly have Sr Harry to go on in this his speech for it is not altogether unprofitable to hear it and I conceiv not dangerous to us For nothing I hope can hurt such as be well confirmd in their religion VIC No forsooth for it is written of protestants Independents If they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them Mar. 16. KN. The errours and wild opinions that have rose in Christianity about the particulars of the new Testament have been so many and various in severall ages of the church that it is hard to bring them into method Our Doctours set them down in every age as they rose naming wth them the Catholik divines who wrote against them the councels that condemnd them the time they lasted and the mischiefs they did in the world I shall endeavour as wel as I may to reduce them all according to my forementiond method unto three sorts errours namely against persons places and actions of Christian faith Persons as Christ our Lord the blessed Virgin Mary S. John the Saints Pope Councells c. As concerning Christ our Lord I. Ebion about the time of Pape Cletus maintained that Christ our Lord was but pure man against whom S. John intreated by the Byshops and Priests of Asia wrote his Gospell Wth Ebion joind Cerinthus and Carpocrates and after them Theodotus of Bizantium who being under persecution denied Christ also Paulus Samosatenus in Syria under Pape Victor wth his disciple Photinus II. Others on the other side denyd him to hav any human natur at all as Cerdon in the time Pape Higin and the Proclianites people of Galatia who taught that Christ came not in flesh III. Apelles
against this heresy and the councell of Lateran under Pape Innocent the third censurd it III. That no true miracles are done at Saints shrines was stiffly maintained by the Waldenses a company of men no les insolent than ignorant and indeed plaine idiots who denied any Miracles ever to have been wrought in the Church not knowing perhaps that our Lord had said In my name they shall cast out devills Mar. ult As cōcerning other persons in the church Byshops Priests judges Magistrates Religious I. Wicleph following the simple Waldenses and Huss following Wicleph taught that all Byshops are equall in autority and jurisdiction Luther being excomunicated by Pape Leo the tenth for his innovations and pertinacy therin following Huss said that the Pape was no more than another Byshop In the same errour for som time were the Grecians who for the heresies of Nestorius condemnd in the Ephesin Synod and of Dioscorus and Eutiches condemned in the Chalcedon councell had separated themselves from the unity of the Church as also the Armenians who had don the like upon contempt of the decrees of Chalcedon but in the councell of Florence under Pape Eugenius the fourth both the Greeks and Armenians after a long dispute submitted themselves to the Church and in that councell the Papes primacy was confirmed acknowledged by all both Greeks and Latins II. The Pseudapostoli Wicleph and Huss avouched that both Prelat and Prince by any mortall sin forfeited all their autority condemnd in the councell of Constance Sess 8. as also in the councell of Trent both under pope Paule Sess 7. and Iulius Sess 4. III. The Waldenses denied he had power of indulgences or remission of temporall penaltys censurd by the councell of Constance Sess 8. VI. The Pseudapostoli denied any obedience to be due either to Pape or Prelats or any one but Christ as also the Beguins and Bogards taught that a man that is come to the state of perfection is bound to obey no man V. The simple Waldenses and their ape Wicleph affirmd that neither the Apostles nor their successours had autority to make any decretalls or cannon Law Against these is the councell of Vienna under Pope Clement the fift and the councell of Constance Sess 8. 15. VI. The Vadians or Anthropomorphits and after them the Waldenses held that neither pape nor church could enjoy any temporall possessions The same mischieuous doctrin was taught afterward by Wicleph the poor men of Lions shadow and after him by Luther that grand licker up of excrements who by that doctrine invited the German Princes to rob the goods of the Church This errour is condemnd also in the said councell of Constance Sess 8. VII Iohn de Wessalia condemnd at Mentz in the time of the emperour Frederick the third taught that both Pape Church might erre VIII Donatus in Africa in the time of Pope Liberius and emperour Constantius taught that none but good men were wthin the church This Donatus taking it ill that Cecilianus was ordaind Byshop of Carthage he calumniated him in things he could not prov or make good for the wch he was declared by the judges a jugling knave upon this ignominy he divided himselfe from the Church giving it out that the true Church was onely on his side and not wth them that favourd Caecilianus and so going on from one thing to another infected almost all Africa in the time of Pape Iulius This heresy of his was taken up by Rogatus and the Circumcellions and afterward by Huss and Luther and written against by S. Austin in very many places and condemnd at last by the councell of Constance Sess 15. IX That the noble senate of Christian Prelats met together in generall councells erred in their decrees and canons was the opinion first of Arrius who was himselfe condemnd in the councell of Nice then of Nestorius who had been censurd in the councell of Ephesus then of Eutiches and Dioscorus who had been judgd in the councell of Chalcedon then of Huss the Boheman Wicleph who was cast in the councell of Constance lastly of Luther whose wicked doctrin was anathematisd in the councell of Trent This heresy if it may not rather be stiled blasphemy against Christ and his church whom he promisd to confirm in all truth is largely confuted by Iohn Byshop of Rochester Iodocus Chlitoueus William Ockam Iohn Eckius and severall other Catholik doctours X. That all Priests are equall and a Byshop is nothing above an ordinary Priest was the errour first of Aerius then of the Waldenses Wicleph and Luther condemnd by S. Austin in his book of heresies c. 53. Whether Episcopacy be another order or onely another degree in the same order t is certain that in the old Law the chief priest or Byshop had distinct vestments and entred the Sancta sanctorum wch others did not and in the new Testament a Byshop constitutes Priests Tit. 1. not contrary nor is any Disciple in the Acts of the Apostles read to have used imposition of hands but onely the Apostles And so the second councell of Hispala declares that confirmation belongs onely to the Byshop XI Luther more fondly added that all Christians are equally Priests forgetting that Holy Scriptur expresly speaks of segregating or setting apart some from the rest to that function I left thee at Crete that thou shouldst constitute Priests Tit. 1. XII The filthy fellow added that Priests ought not to be unmarried or separated from women wherein he exceeded Iovinian who indeed equalled marriage wth virginity but blamed none for remaining single himself living so to avoid the troubles of wedlock This he taught the better to justify himself who being a Priest and a Religious man of the Hermits of S. Austin had revolting seduced a Nun. The same was done taught by Occolompadius who had been a monk of S. Brigit Bucer a Dominican fryar the rest of Luthers retinue Impiously wthout doubt for it was prohibited a Priest to marry in the very beginning of the church by the canons of the Apostles can 27. and afterwards by the Neocesarian councell c. 1. decret and it appears in sacred Scriptur it self that such was the practis of primitiv times XIII The Pepusians of old promoted women not onely to the Priest but Priesthood too XIV All universitys or generall studies for clargy men are condemnd by Wicleph as brought into the church by paganism forgetting that the Apostle exhorts Timothy a good Christian to remain permanent in the things he had learnd 2. Tim. 1. and that in the very Apostles days the Christians constituted schools at Antioch Act. 14. and afterwards at Alexandria wherin Panthenus was first prefect then Clemens then Origen And therfor the councell of Constance justly condemnd this errour amongst the rest sess 8. against the 29. articl XV. As also that other opinion of his wherin he taught that superiours be they Ecclesiasticall Prelates or Kings may be punnisht by subjects at their
either keep me still from you or split me wth you LA. Wt shall we do wth you Sr Harry sith you decline scripture wch as it is the purest so t is the easiest way for your conversion VIC Shall I tell you he wil even go out of his way as Balam and his ass did I le show you the story as t is written in 22 chapter of numbers t is a very pretty one Ther you wil see how the ass confuted his rider and said unto him Am not I thine ass so prettily Read here from the 22 vers to the 36. If you go not in the right way Sr Harry as we would have you be sure you shall be checkt by a very ass When any such thing happens you may take it for a certaine sign that you ar out of your way KN. Scriptur is a good instrument to drawn men from paganisme to Christianity but no fit means to divert us from Catholik Religion to heresy That heavenly seed wch makes sons of God can never make children of perdition except it self be mischievously corrupted And therfore I decline it not at all but admit allow and embrace it as containeing that irrefragable doctrine wch eminent persons in the church of God penned wch industrious and religious persons in the same Catholik church coppied transcribed wth their owne hands above a thousand years together before printing was invented to keep that sacred letter alive and lastly wch by the Catholik body of the said Church hath beene authenticated and canonised and therfore it must needs be pure and holy being madâ— conserud and ratified by holy Church But its facility and easinesse that I do not so easily conceive or agree unto especially if you separate it from the Church whose book it is The mind and meaning of any writing no man can understand so well as the Authour no man can interpret aright contrary to the Authour no man where it is obscure and uncouth may peremptorily interpret wthout the Authour MIN. You will soon grant it to be easy if you consider that t is called a light to the understanding Wt thing is there more apparent than light And therfore t is said in the Ephesians if our Gospell be hid t is hid to them that are lost VIC Sweet heart you are mistaken that sayeing is not in the Ephesians but Corinthians 2. Ep. and the 4. c. LA. T is no matter Mr person so we find out your riddle tho it be by plowing wth your heyfer according to the saying of Samson Iud. 14. VIC I told you even now Madam that the ass will rebuk his rider when he goes astray KN. A light if it be set behind us or under a bushell or to an eye ill affected inlightens not and a prejudiced mind is a veyld understanding where light cannot enter I must say more he that goes out of the Church puts out his own eyes and he that never enterd in never had any but gropes in darknes Light is come into the world saith our Lord but men love darknes more than light Jo. 1. namely because they shut their eyes against it and no marvell that unto such the Gospell should be hid Catholikes all of them have indeed the whole Gospell by heart and comprehendit sufficiently for the life and spirit of it yet still the bark and letter of it hath obscurity enough wch is opend and manifested as far as is needfull upon occasion by the lips of priests wch preserve knowledg No man understands the mind of man but the spirit that is in man nor the meaning of scriptures can any comprehend but the spirit of that Catholik body whose the scriptures be For these be imediatly the word and doctrin of the Church and therfore called the Word of God because that Catholik body from whence it issued is animated by the spirit of Jesus Christ her naturall head who is God blessed for ever and the particular penmen therof being members of the sayd church were peculiarly illustrated by that spirit unto such an effect So then the word of God is a light and enlightens good Catholiks it enlightens not others that remain blinded in infidelity and separated from that holy mysticall body of Christ and yet t is a light still t is hid to them that are lost People that live in a family colledg or corporation by the daily sight and practis of things to be don therin do fully comprehend all that is to be said or acted there But others who be out of those societys shall never by bare reading of books written of such emploiments so long as themselves stay out attain to any satisfactory light therof but remain pusled in a wood of dark words and either mistake or not apprehend the reality and truth of things So our people wthin the Church see distinctly and clearly the truths of God in whose practis they are daily conversant so that words and writtings are not necessary unto such as be in a continuall exercise of their trade but sectaries paymins al infidels who be aliens and strangers to this Society out of the family altho they should look upon their book of statutes scripturs or laws yet will they still be pusling about words and never clearly understand the secrets of the profession One artist or tradesman knows more by heart and practise than the whole world besides that is out of that body or not conversant in the society can ever attain unto by reading A man may demonstrat by Philosophicall reason that light it self enlightens not but by reflexion no more do the word and scripturs except they reflect upon us from the bosom of the Catholik body wch actuats them in their operation If you would seriously ponder these few words you should quickly perceive unto whom the scriptures be obscure and unto whome they be easy and how they be easy to Catholiks for the practise life and meaning of them tho the letter may still keep its obscurity as children of a family may clearly understand all the whol affaires and businesses of the house tho if books should be written therof they might not so easily understand the letter of those books Yet these have great advantage in the understanding of such books abov those who are not coversant in the affairs being aliens and strangers to the family For t is easier by the knowledg perfect comprehension of things to understand words that be written of them than by reading of words to perceiv things we are altogether unexperienced in But to speak abstractively of the letter of Scriptur wthout reference unto persons as if the case were that neither you nor I ever knew any thing of the Christian religion but what we get out of the Bible or new Testament put now into our hands Could either of us or all of us together see clearly in this letter the whole state of the Catholick Church or without obscurity discern wt is to be
said and done wt is to be thought and beleevd wt is to be hoped and feard wt concerns God and his creaturs wt angels and men wt earth and heaven wt our creation and redemption wt the beginning and end of things First where is the order and method to find out these things You will find that the story and doctrinall part goes hand in hand together wch is not the ordinary way of teaching If I peruse the story of Gospell by it self I shall scarcely find it answerable to my expectation whiles I find mention onely of one howr of Christs birth and not a word more for twelv years together and then but one single action of his appearing in the publick Schools and not a word again of his whole life till almost twenty years after and then onely some works he did in publick for the space of about three years so his death wch is far less than I should expect or desire to know And the doctrine our Lord deliverd is no more of it set down than what he spake incidentally in fields and streets and publick places the three years space of his publik appearance and not a word of any thing he taught his Schollers or Disciples in particular on set purpose without reference to publick speeches which was without all doubt the main doctrin primarily intended both by the Maister his disciples and most copiously explicated Moreover those publick speeches of or Lord we have set down in Gospell they are deliverd us but under certain generall heads and brief notes wthout any order or connexion at all that can appear to any the subtillest wit that is Our Lords Sermon on the mount is the largest piece of doctrin we hav of his deliverd at one time and most heavenly and divine it is like its authour but he that reads the sift sixt and seaven Chapters of S. Mathew where t is set down shall desire connexion And indeed the holy Evangolists collecting their Gospels as brief memorialls did it wthout all doubt the best way And t is sufficient and far better than if all had been set down in that order and fulness of discours our Lord deliverd it For the few separated notions of Christian morality set down in Gospell wer enough to give testimony to the traditionall doctrine the Apostles had methodically received from their master for his Church Finally those speeches of our Lord recorded in Gospell be only some brief sentences and parables questions and replies to interrogatories wch be far short to a whol body of divinity tho abundantly enough for a Church in whos bowels the Messias would imprint his law and intire will It appears then both by the mingling of the story and dogm together by the few parcells of the history it self by the want of that method and connexion in the dogmaticall part wch our dull capacities require for learning and the omission of great many things we should need to be imformd in far more amply than we can find it set down in Scriptur concerning the use of Sacraments government of the Church and a thousand difficulties rising about the exercises of charity and faiths I say it appears by these and such like things that the Scripture of the New Testament was never pend on any purpose to teach us our religion but rather to confirm and ratify by incidentall passages therein such religion and doctrin as should be deliverd by the Church the prime and sole mistresse of faith after God and in place of him in all clearnes of methodical beleef and practise To you saith our Lord to his Apostles Luc. 8.10 it is given to known the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven to others in parables that seeing they may see and not understand The Apostles and the Church derived from them were made acquainted wth the mysteries and secrets of Christian religion for their beleef and practise and the same Church clearly knows and understands them as the mysteries of her own profession and art wch she hath receivd and practisd from the beginning to this day But to others that be aliens and out of the Chuâ—ch it seems our Lord so orderd his speech that they should hear and yet not understand nor everfully perceiv his will till beleeving they were incorporated into his mysticall hody unto which alone all the mysteries of religion are delivered in perspicuity and clearnes This generall purpos and intention of penning the Gospell and other parts of the New Testament as short manuall notes for Christians within the Church or such as are to be congregated unto it from wch Churches hands they have both a larger explicit declaration of their faith and a full and ample practis thereof in her bosom must needs infer such an obscurity as shall obstruct all possibility out of the Church of God by this bare letter ever to arrive to a clear understanding of the waies of Christian Religion This is the first and great cause of that obscurity scripture carries with it unto such as come to seek their religion in a Book wch was never made to teach it nor written for such a propos The churches doctrin as it comes out of her lips that is the thing that converts nations and regenerats unto heavenly life and this written word is a good milk to nurs us up after we are regenerated wch made S. Peter to exhort Christians 1 Pet. as new born babes to desire that sincere milk of the word that they may grow by it 1. Pet. 2. But it is not the thing that givs us the first life Indeed the Scriptur does little or no good but as it is presented by the Church and received with her interpretation and practisd in her bosom wthout wch three things I wil be bold to say it is not the Word of God nor hath it any vertue at all The Ark of God so long as it was upheld by the Priests it comforted and sanctified them but touched or lookt into by others it destroyd them nor was it unto them an Ark of salvation but an offence and occasion of fall If we descend to particulars we shall espy reasons enough of obscurity such as will frustat all desire of any perspicuous discovery of faith to be made by any man wthout the churches help The very history doth afford disputs enough hardly to be answered by the learnedst of divines as they will easily grant that have examind them The Prophesies and mysteries of faith containd therein who is able to trace them And the morall or dogmaticall part tho it seem familiar yet hath it a profoundnesse beyond all human writting Indeed by this it is demonstrated to be the Word of God wch must needs be like himself unsearchable Out of the abundance ef the heart the mouth speaketh saith our Lord and where the heart is immense the word is also incomprehensible I doubt not but there be too many amongst our people in England who read the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in fractione panis in his breaking of bread Luk. 24.35 For that religious work they knew was done by none but Christ himself or his Priests This discours upon the words of Scriptur I hav somwt inlarged beyond my custom not to teach Catholiks for altho the Greek should be rendred by them in templo they know well enough that every place where that most sacred rite is done is a temple and so t is indifferent to them to translate it either in templo or in sacro but to let others who be not Catholik understand that more is implied in such expressions than they do ordinarily think of and that the religion of the primitiv Christians was not preaching wherof here is no mention at all but prayers supplications sacrifice or fraction of bread Wch religious emploiment is in another place of the sam chapter yet more fully exprest They were saith he firmly persisting in the doctrin of the Apostles and in comunion and in fraction of bread and supplications v. 42. They firmly persisted both in the Apostles doctrin unanimously united in faith wthout schisme division or any singularity of opinions wch might separat them from the main body into particular conventicles and also in comunion one wth another both by fraternal charity Ecclesiasticall obedience and Christian Sacraments in Fraction of bread wch was the great Cardinall capitall work of their faith and the very quintessence of Christianity and in supplications in the plurall number both for living and dead both for pastour and people for every degree for every necessity This was a right Catholik body and the right exercise of their Catholik faith And such and no other is the faith religion of all Catholiks to this day those I meane who are traduced by frivolous people under the notion name of Papists wch is a barbarous word and neither Latin Greek or Hebrew nor yet good English and if it signify any thing it is as much as to say Fatherists because they persist unanimously and firmely in the doctrine of Apostolical pastours and fathers in comunion with them in fraction of bread and supplications day by day persevering in sacro and breaking the bread at their houses wch they take together in exultation and singlnes of heart praysing God and having grace towards al good people Pray God bless thē all To make themselvs worthy of this Holy comunion our Catholiks do frequently examin and clens their consciences as P. Paul advises to do wch clensing and examining of conscience none but Catholiks know wt it means This sacred Action and venerable service of God was by the first Christians named Missah a notion they had out of the old Testament where the Sacrifice of the Messias peculiar onely to his people and religion by way of constitution distinction from all others is so named and the Latin and western part of the church did ever keep the name as well agreeing to the Latin tongue But the Eastern and Greek churches called it ordinarily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Liturgy wch was their own language and o word wherby that sacred action was exprest in the new Testament In the Acts of the Apostles t is frequently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breaking of bread The primitiv Christians gave it severall names the Eucharist the Synaxy the Dominicum and the like changing the word as souldiers do the watchword that uncircumcised paynims should not know wt they meant as our Catholiks now in England use some by-expressions therof for concealment And the antient doctours of the church wrote very cautiously of it especially in such books as they thought might haply fall into the hands of pagans as may be seen in severall places of Origen S. Austin and others I observed the last time I read over S. Austin de civitate Dei a very notable passage to this purpose tho I have not now the book to turn to it where speaking accidentally of the venerable bread of Christians he presently recalls himself saying they know wt I mean whose bread this is and in whose cause I write And a certain Roman prelat in antient times denied to send by writing an answer of som doubts propounded by ultra-marin Christians concerning some circunstances of the mass least the pagans intercepting his letters should therby discover the mystery of Christian Religion but he promist to send a messenger to the petitioners who should inform them by word of mouth So carfull they were not to cast this pearl before swine Yet as soon as Paganism was subdued their writings came abroad copiously and gave ample testimonies therof S. Ambrose was in the third age of the church and yet he began to be bold and writ not onely of the substance of the thing but betrayed the very name wherby it was generally known and called namely missa or mass But they all frequently spake of the Altar and Priests the Sacrifice and service of the most high God performd in Christian Religion and the like And the writers of the last twelv hundred years speak so amply and so plainly therof that the very citation of their evidences would fill a volume For this divine service were all our churches in England erected by Catholiks in the form of a cross the high Altar now called the Chancell being placed in the head of the church and the Tabernacle over it for the body of our Lord to repose on for Christian mens solace wth candles and lamps before it below it was the quire for the clargy to sing prayses night and day before their redeemer on both sides of the church lesser Altars for other priests to celebrate in at their devotion and the nave or body of the church kept clenly and vacant for the people to kneel in continue wth one accord in their supplication and prayer according as it is written My hous is the hous of prayer If churches had been onely buylt for preaching and hearing Sermons they would not have been made in the form of a cross as they be but of a theater or amphitheater rather wth scaffolds about for that purpose and such stalls or pews below as now all our churches are pesterd wth in Catholik times utterly unknown And if a man look into the places of devotion the Christians resorted unto in times of paganism before they had any churches erected wch were for the most part in dens and caves bottoms of mountains wherof many are still to be found in all Kingdoms of Europ he shall easily discern what their busines was there I once saw one of them in a hill neare Paris cald mount Dammartin wch descended as I remember three score steps into the hill at the bottom there is a place of the bignes of a chamber and an Altar stone at the head of it in part still remaining and a hole in the same rock over the Altar for the Priests chalice to stand in And generally wher ever such