was not by telling them it was no sin but by shewing favour to the persons thus sinning because they allowed them maintenance 3. Again he will find that when they were accused by the Fathers for such errors it was ordinary with them to recriminate the Orthodox with the same things both for their frequent abstinences from flesh and some other Fruits and for their to some Persons at least recommending Virginity who in this matter were answered by them after the same manner as the Protestants objecting the same things are now by the Church Catholic See Chrysostom Ambrose and lastly Doctor Hamond on this place of Timothy understanding it of the same Heretics Lastly he will find that Faâ—stus the Maniches made the very same Objection to prove profess'd Chastity to be the Doctrin of Devils To whom St. Augustin thus answers I am now afraid in the behalf even of the Apostle himself lest he should seem to have introduced the doctrin of Devils into Iconium when by his Speeches be enflamed a young Maid already betrothed to a love of perpetual Virginity and when he pronounced damnation to Widows transgressing their Vow 12. To come home to the Celibacy of Priests in particular whereas the Doctor build much on the Authority of Paphnutius and the mind of the famous first General Council of Nice thereupon let him consider what an Author not partial he may be sure for the Roman Church has said of that Point that is The Patriaâ—e of Presbyterians Mr. Cartwright The Council of Nice says he did affirm and teach that to those who are chosen to the Ministry unmarried it was not lawful to take any wife afterward only being married before intrance into the Ministry it was lawful for them to use the benefit of that precedent Marriage And Paphnutius shews that not only this was before that Council but was an antient Tradition of the Church in which both himself and the rest of the Council rested for a motion being made by some in the Council that the married Presbyters such as were married before made Presbyters should after their Ordination be separated from their Wives this Paphnutius a Reverend Bishop and a Confessor though himself never married opposed saying Grave jugâ—m This was a heavy yoke c. and that perhaps such a strict rule of Continency could not be observed by all Clergy-mens wives But now mark what follows That it was sufficient that those who had entred into the Clergy before they had married Wives secundum veterem Ecclesiae traditionem according to the Churches antient tradition ' should afterward forbear from marrying But yet that none ought to be separated from his wife that he had married before when yet a Laick The story is in Socrates l. 1. c. 8. in Zâ—zomen l. 1. c. 22. Thus the Preacher gets not much advantage from Paphnutius 13. Now for as much as concerns the Controversie touching Marriage of Priests Bellarmin will grant That the vow of Continence was annexed to Holy Orders onely by the Churches Decree and consequently that it may be dispensed with Moreover that the Roman Church in several Cases hath permited the Grecian Priests the use of their wives to whom they were married before their Ordination And indeed considering the temper of the Eastern Countries far more enclin'd to such passions than that of the Europeans we find the Eastern Churches gave themselves far greater liberty than the Western Yet no antient Canon â—f either of the Churches can be â—ound that permitted Priests to contract Marriage after Ordination And even among the Grecians a cohabitation with their Wives was forbidden to Priests who attended the Altar 14. But what the universal belief and practise of the Western Churches was our Preacher may collect from the following Testimonies Therefore not to insist upon the generally esteem'd and resolved unlawfulnesse for Bishops and Priests after their Ordination to contract Matrimony of a dispensation from which not one example can be given It appears that a Matrimonial use of wives to the formerly married was forbidden 1. By the Second Council of Carthage express in this Point It was agreed unto by all the Bishops that Bishops Priests Deacons and such who dispense Sacraments should be Observers of Chastity and abstain even from their own wives that so what the Apostles taught and Antiquity observed we likewise may keep 2. The Second African Council thus decreed Whereas Relation was made of the Incontinence of certain Ecclesiastics though with their own Wives this Council thought good that according to former Decrees Bishops Priests and Deacons should contain even from their Wives which if they do not let them be removed from their Ecclesiastical Office As for other inferior Clarks they are not compell'd hereto But let every Church observe their own custom 3. Saint Ambrose witnesseth the same You says he who with pure bodies uncorrupted modesty and being estranged even from Conjugal conversation have received the grace of the holy Ministry know well that we must exhibit the same Ministry without offence without stain neither must we suffer it to be violated with any Matrimonial Act. This I have not omitted to speak because in certain remote plates some have prâ—created children when they exercised Priesthood And again the Apostle speaking of a Bishop sayes having children not getting them 4. Saint Hierom writing against Vigilantius sayes What shall the Churches of the East do What shall the Churches of Egypt do and of the See Apostolick all which receive Clerks either such as are Virgins or Continent or if they have wives such as cease to be husbands to them The like is said in the Conclusion of his book against Iovinian And he writes to Pamachius thus If married men like not this let them not be angry with me but with the holy Scriptures with all Bishops Priests and Deacons who know they cannot offer Sacrifice if they use the Act of marriage 5. We are wont says Saint Augustin to propose to them the continence of Ecclesiasticks who for the most part are compelled against their wills to undergo this burden and yet having received it they by Gods assistance bear it to their end I will conclude with the Spanish Council of Eliberis more ancient then St. Augustins time nay ancienter then the First General Council of Nice The Council hath thought good that it should be absolutely commanded to Bishops Priests Deacons Sub-Deacons to abstain from their Wives and not to beget children 15. That the Eastern Churches took to themselves anciently a greater liberty is to be understood not generally for in many of them aâ— great a strictness was observed as besides the forecited tâ—stimony of S. Hierâ—m concerning the Churches of the East and of Egypt appears from Origen Eusebius and Epiphanius who all require continence in Priests even from their wives if they have any And particularly S. Epiphanius says That to
assuming to himself such Authority over other Churches Here then are Seven of the Doctor 's Novelties confessed by Protestants themselves to have been the Doctrines of St. Gregory which the English here received with their Christianity which also sufficiently appears to those who are yet unsatisfied out of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England written about an hundred years after St. Gregory of whom the same Oâ—iander also relates That he was involved in all the Romish Errors concerning those Articles wherein saith he we dissent at this day from the Pope And for the Two others of the Doctor 's Points 1. Publick Prayers in an unknown Tongue And 2. Infallibility himself confesseth the first of these to have been in Gregories time For thus he The Publick Prayers of the Romanists have been a very long time in an unknown Tongue even as long as from the time of Pope Gregory the Great And the second he must grant to have been pretended to before Gregory in that the Preacher allows the proceedings of the Four first General Councils for these required several Points not before determined to be believed by all Christians under pain of Anathema and also inserted them into the body of the Christian Creeds Which thing the Doctor sometimes thinks unreasonable that any fallible Authority should assume to it self For surely upon this ground it is that he condemns the Council of Trent for presuming to make new Articles of Faith though they have put none such in our Creeds 13. By which it appears that this Sermon and all the severity practis'd against us in consequence of it might as justly have been preach'd and executed against our first Apostles St. Gregory and St. Augustin the Monk as against us And if against them then against the Vniversal Church both Eastern and Western since it is evident that in St. Gregory's time they were in perfect Unity both for Doctrine and Discipline And consequently if such pretended new Articles can justifie the English Separation from the present Church the same Separation ought to have been made from the universal Church above a Thousand years since I might go higher but this is even too too much That man surely must have a prodigious courage who dares venture his Soul and Eternity rather upon Scripture interpreted by an Act of Parliament or the 39. Articles than by the Authority and consent of the Vniversal Church for so many Ages I will conclude this so important Argument of Schism by a closer Application which may afford more light to discover on which side the Guilt lyes And this shall be done by making some Concessions and proposing some other Considerations c. CHAP. XXIV Of Causal and Formal Schism or Separation and the vanity of their Distinctions Considerations proposed for a clear Examination on which side the Guilt of Schism lyes The manifest Innocency of the Roman Church 1. FIrst As to the Preacher's so commended Distinction of Causal and Formal Schism it is borrowed from the late Archbishop The former member whereof only he applies to the Roman Catholick Church the later to no body He must give me leave to propose to his Consideration a Saying or two of St. Augustin thus writing to the Donatists Si possit quod fieri non potest c. If any could have which really he cannot possibly a just cause for which he should separate his Communion from the Communion of the whole World How do you know c. Aâ—d again in the same Epistle There is the Church where first that Separation was made which you after perfected if there could be any just cause for you to separate from the communion of all Nations For we are certainly assured that no man can justly separate himself from the communion of all Nations because not any of us seeks the Church in his own Iustice or Holiness as you Donatists do but in the Divine Scriptures where he sees the Church really become as she was promised to be spread through all Nations a City on a Hill c. Hence it is that the same Saint though he wrote several Books against the special Doctrines of the Donatists yet whensoever he treats of their Schism he never meddles with any of their Opinions but absolutely proves their Separation unlawful from the Texts of Scripture and Promises of Christ which are absolute and unconditional So that the alledging Causes to justifie Separation for which there can be no just one is vain and fruitless And this way of Arguing is far more forcible against English Protestants than it was against the Donatists because all their sober Writers acknowledge the Church of Christ was and alwayes will be unerrable in Fundamentals and this as she is a Guide And further that the Roman is either this Church or at least a true Member of it 2. But Secondly whatever becomes of this Distinction his concession is That really a Formal Schism there is between us nay more that the Protestants made the actual departure and indeed they must put out their eyes who see it not The visible Communion between the now English Church and all other in being before it beyond the Seas is evidently changed and broken The same Publick Service of God which their first Reformers found in God's Church all the World over they refuse to joyn in for fear of incurring sin Most of the Ecclesiastical Laws every where formerly in force they have abrogated and without the consent of any other Churches have made new they were formerly Members of a Patriarchical Church which they esteem'd the only Orthodox Vniversal Church to the Government of this Common Body they acknowledged themselves subject And a denial of subjection to the Common Governors of this Body and especially the Supreme Pastor they judged to be a formal Act of Schism Lastly the common Doctrines of the Church they formerly embraced as of Divine Authority Traditionary only ancient and Primitive Now they called Apostatical Novelties Any of those changes conclude a Schism on one side or other but all of them more then demonstrate it A Schism then there is therefore one of the parties is guilty not of causing but of being Schismaticks properly formally Schismaticks Now would it not be hard for the Doctor to speak his conscience and declare once more at Court which of us two are properly Schismaticks It could not indeed be expected he should answer as a young maid did to my old Lady Falkland when she asked if she were a Catholick No Madam said she with a low curtesy if it please your Ladyship I thank God I am a Scismatick but withal his tongue would not readily pronounce Roman Catholicks to be Schismaticks from the English Reformed Church 3. That which is opposed to Schism is Catholick Communion We shew saith Saint Augustine by our Communion that we have the Catholick Church Therefore in discourse of Schism one while to talk of Innovations of Doctrine or of making a secession from
custome is most dangerous and altogether to be eschewed What sayes the witty Whitacre The Popish Religion is a patcht coverlet of the Fathers Errors sewn together And again to believe by the Testimony of the Church not excepting any Age is the plain Heresie of the Papists To conclude for I might quote all day long upon this Subject what sayes the Patriark of Protestancy Luther There never was any one pure Council but either added something to the faith or substracted And now what shall we say our selves in this confused variety Against some of our Adversaries we must cite antiquity or else we do nothing against others if we cite all the antiquity that ever was baptized we do nothing God deliver them from their cross and incertain wandrings and me from the weariness of following them in their wild chase 5. But if the Doctor means by shewing that Iota as to which c. that we have not so shewed it as to stop their mouths or to force them to confess and repent of their fault then there can be no shewing any thing by any one party to another as long as the dissention lasts between them In this sence they have never shewed one Iota to the Presbyterians Anabaptists Quakers c who after all their Books Canons Acts of Vniformity c. which those Sects call Antichristian tyrannical Popery as the Protestants did ours still persist in separation from them Then neither the Apostles antient Fathers or Councils ever shewed one Iota to antient Pagans or Heretics because for all their shewing others remained Pagans and Heretics afterward And yet even in this particular though a very unreasonable one we Cathâ—lics can confidently affirm that we have defeated this bravado of the Preacher For evident Truth on our side has extorted from the mouths and pens of a world of the most learned among the Reformed Writers a Confession both in general and in every particular Controversie that Antiquity declares it self for the Roman Church against them Thousands of such proofs may be read in the Protestants Apology the Triple Cord c. Books writen on purpose to reckon up such Confessions This is truly if well considered an advantage strange and extraordinary for I believe never did any of the Antieâ—t Hâ—retiâ—s so far justifie the Catholic Church No such confessions of theirs are recorded by the Antieâ—t Fathers which shews that above all former examples the Heretics and Schismatics of this last Age are most properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned by their own Consciences 6. But withall the Doctor must take notice of this one thing That it does not belong to us Catholics to be obliged to shew that Iota in which they who have set up a new and separated Church from us but the other day have left the word of God or Primitive antiquity or the four first General Councils aâ— it belongs to them who have thus divided themselves not only to shew but to demonstrate first most clearly that there is such a discession from those Scriptures Fathers and Councils by that former Church which they deserted not in an Iota but in some grand principle of our Faith which admitted no longer safety to them in her Communion because the Roman Catholic Church is in possession and by our Adversaries own Confession has been unquestionably so for above a Thousand years of all or most of her present Doctrins for which they have relinquished her Particularly the Pope has enjoy'd an Authority and Supremacy of Jurisdiction a longer time than any succession of Princes in the world can pretend to A Jurisdiction acknowledged as of Divine Right and as such submitted to by all our Ancestors not only as Englishmen but as Members of the whole Western Patriarchaâ— yea of the Vniversal Church and this as far as any Records can be produced He is now after so many Ages question'd and violently deposed from this Authority by one National Church nay by one single Woman and her Counsel the universality of her Clergy protesting against her proceedings and much more against her destroying a Religion from the Beginning establish'd among us and which had never been question'd here in former times but by a Wiclef or a Sir Iohn Oldcastle c. manifest Heretics and Traytors Now it is against all Rules of Law Iustice and Reason that such as are Possessores bonae fidei should be obliged to produce their evidences This belongs only to the Plaintiffs and no Evidences produced by them against such a Possession can be of any force except such as are manifest demonstrations of an Vsurpation yea such an Vsurpation as cannot either be exercised or submitted to without sin 7. The Doctor is likewise to consider thaâ— if ex super abundanti we should yield so far as out of Antient Records of Councils or Fathers to alledge any Proofs to enervate their claim to them and justifie our Possession Such Proofs of ours though considered in themselves were only probable yet in effect would have the force of demonstrations against English Protestants But on th' other side unlesse they can produce from Scripture or Antiquity evident demonstrations against us they are not so much as probabilities all this by their own confession For as has been shew'd they lay it for a ground and acknowledge the Catholic Church of which according to their own Doctrin the Roman is at least a Member to be in all fundamental Points infallible and that in all other Points now in debate which are not fundamental it would be unlawful for particular Churches to professe any dissent from her without an evident demonstration that she has actually and certainly erred in them yea moreover that she will admit none of the Dissenters into her Communion except such as though against their Consciences and Knowledge will subscribe to her Errors Errors so heynous as to deserve and justifie a separation 8. These things premis'd my last care must be to provide that in case a Reply be intended to this Treatise it may not be such an one as may abuse the world The Preacher must consider it is not such another blundering Sermon that will now serve his turn to give satisfaction so much as to any Protestant who has a Conscience guided by the light of Reason or thinks Schism not to be a sleight Pâ—ecadillo Therefore that he may know what Conditions are necessary to render an Answer not altogether impertinent and insupportable I here declare that in case he shall undertake a confutation of what is here alledged by me to disprove the charge of Noveltiâ—â— by him laid on the Roman Catholic Church and the excusing of Schism in his own he will be a betrayer of his own Soul and the Souls of 〈◊〉 those that rely on him unless he observe the Conditions following 9. The first is since if Protestants have in truth an evident demonstration that the Roman Doctrins for which they separate are indeed such pernicious errors and
and examining Antiquity and were as willing to make it speak on their sides as the Preacher was But as ill Consciences as they had they were convinced and forced publickly to confess that the Fathers were against them and focus And in particular Opposition to his Claim of Antiquity like Bishop Iewels for the first six Centuries Doctor Fulk is so far from concurring with him or Bishop Iewel that he is so choleric at the suspition of such a charge that he addresses himself to his Adversary in this civil language I Answer saies he if he charge me with confessing the continuing of the Church in incorruption for six hundred years next after Christ he lyeth in his heart 3. One passage there is of that famous Andreas Duditius which truly I cannot read without extream compassion and astonishment at the dreadful judgment of God and it may do Doctor Pierce much good if he sadly reflect on it Many years he had lived in great esteem for learning and prudence a Catholick Bishop of Petscben in Hungary called Quinque Ecclesiae present he was at the frameing the Decrees of the Council of Trent But at last falling in love with a Maid of honour in the Queen of Hungaries Court to marry her he quitted both his Bishoprick and Religion This poor man in his declining Age could not abstain from confessing in a Letter to Beza his unsatisfaction in his new Religion vainly hoping some either Cordial or Opiate for his distressed Conscience from one as deeply plunged and by the very same motives engaged in the same change I pray observe his words Si veritas est saies he quam veteres Patres c. If that be truth which the antient Fathers by mutual consent have professed it will entirely stand on the Papists side For if heretofore any Controversies out of a beat of Disputation arosâ— between the learned among them an end was presently imposed thereto by Decrees of Councils or even of the Pope alone But what strange people have we among us They are alwaies wandring toss'd with every wind of Doctrine and being hurried into the main Deep they are carried sometimes this way sometimes another If you would inform your self what their Iudgment to day is touching Religion you may perhaps come to know it But what it will be to morrow on the same Argument neither themselves nor you can certainly affirm Thus Duditius And what Cordial against this scrupulous Melancholly does Beza his good friend afford him Take it from himself Scio speciosum esse venerandae velustatis nomen c. I know the name of venerable Antiquity is very specious But whence shall we fetch the beginning of that Title but from the Prophets and Apostles For as for Writers that come after them if we will take their own advice we will believe them on no other terms but as far as they shall evidently make good what they deliver out of the Holy Scriptures That is in effect have but the Christian modesty and humility to prefer your own sense of Scriptures before all the Fathers and Councils of Gods Church and then nothing they say need to trouble you Antiquity venerable Antiquity will be on your side You may confidently say of all your Adversaries Doctrins From the Beginning it was not so 4. Many other Confessions of the like nature might be added but for brevity-sake I will content my self with onely one more and that is as it seems to me a secret acknowledgement of the Church of England in her publick Liturgy directly contrary to the Preachers pretension and applications of his Text by which she after a sort imputes Novelty to her self and confesses the Roman to be that Church which was from the beginning In the Order for Morning-prayer there are these Versicles and Responds V. O. Lord save the King common-prayer- R. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee V. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness R. And make thy chosen people joyfull V. O Lord save thy People R. And bless thine Inheritance Then follows a Versicle for Peace Now these as almost all the other Prayers are mafestly translated out of the Roman Office But that which ought to be observed is That in the Roman Office there is a Versicle and Respond immediately following these and going before the Versicle for Peace which the English Church has studiously left out and that is this V. Be mindfull of thy Congregation O Lord. R. Which thou didst possess from the beginning Now the ground why this special Versicle or Prayer for the Church was left out is not so mysterious but it may be very probably guess'd at The first Reformers did not love to put God in mind of that Church which was from the beginning Or rather they were desirous the People should forget the Church which was from the beginning They had rather no Prayers at all should be made for the Church than for one that was from the beginning because apparently that could not be the Reformed Church of England whose beginning themselves saw 5. Notwithstanding such plain Confessions of these Pillars of Reformation yet the Doctor confidently stands with a little contraction and abatement to Bishop Iewel 's Challenge He indeed mentions 27. Points of which 22. are about circumstantial matters touching the Eucharist and two more of them viz. 1. That Ignorance is the Mother and Cause of true Devotion and Obedience 2. And that the Lay-people if he speaks of them in general are forbidden to read the Word of God in their own tongue are Calumnies The other are three indeed of the Preacher's points viz. 1. Supremacy of the Pope 2. Worship of Images 3. Common-prayers in a strange tongue though the only fault he can find in this last is That the later Church hath adhered too close to Antiquity that the hath not varied in the language of her Devotions from her Predecessors and after A. D. 600. continued to say her Prayers in the same Language she did before But then this Bishop as being somewhat better experienc'd in Antiquity than Doctor Pierce had not the confidence in this his Catalogue to reckon as Novelties either the Infallability of the Church Invocation of Saints Purgatory or Prayer for the Dead Celibacy of the Clergy or Sacrifice of the Mass. So much more courage had the Preacher than even Bishop Iewel himself Well between both all antiquity is for them and nothing but novelty on our side No doubt but his admiring and believing Hearers assured themselves that some never-before-examined Witnesses some hitherto unknown or un-observed Records had been found out by their learned and confident Preacher to justifie their deserted claim of Antiquity I mean by way of aggression and not simple defence But when the Sermon is publish'd nothing appears in the Text or Margins but Assertions and Quotations an hundred times before produced and as often silenced many of which too as he explains them have no regard
mercifully than their sins deserve not to be doubted For this the universal Church observes as a Tradition of our Fathers that for those who are dead in the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Prayers should be made when at the holy Sacrifice their Names are in their due place rehearsed and that it should be signified that the Offering is made for them And when out of an intention of commending them to Gods mercy works of Charity and Alms are made who will doubt that these things help towards their good for whom Prayers are not in vain offered to God It is not therefore to be doubted but that these things are profitable for the Dead yet only such as before their death have lived so as that these things may profit them after Death And again For Martyrs the Sacrifice is offered as a thanksgiving and for others as a propitiation 14. The Doctor cannot but know in his Conscience for he is no Stranger to the Fathers what a great Volume may be written to confirm this And that not one expression can be quoted against it Therefore whereas he said without any ground that Tertullian borrowed from Montanus I would ask him From whom did he borrow the omission of this charitable duty to the Dead but from the Heretie Aerius Nor is this to be considered as a voluntary courtesie don them which without any fault may be omited On the contrary St. Epiphanius will tell him the Church does these things necessarily having received such a Tradition from the Fathers And St. Augustin we must by no means omit necessary Supplications for the Souls of the Dead For whether the Flesh of the dead Person lye here or in another place repose ought to be obtained to his Spirit 15. If these Souls were believ'd to be in Heaven would it not be ridiculous If in Hell would it not be impious to offer the dreadful Sacrifice to make Supplications to be at charge in Alms for the obtaining them repose pardon of their sins refreshment of their sufferings a translation into the region of Light and peace and a place in the bosom of Abraham But if they be neither in Heaven nor Hell where are they then He cannot deny a third place unless he thinks them anihilated He will not say that third place is Purgatory because the Church calls it so But suppose the Church dispence with him for the Name I would to God he would accept of such a dispensation one pretence of Schism would quickly be removed 16. To conclude If all the Liturgies of the Church all the Fathers have not credit enough with him to perswade that this is no Novelty yet greater Antiquity for it he may find in the Iewish Church an expresse Testimony for which we read in the Book of Macchabees He will say it is not Canonical at least let him acknowledge it not to be a Romance and however the universal Tradition and practise of the Synagogue will justifie it From the Jews no doubt Plato borrowed this Doctrin and from Plato Cicero and from both Virgil. Nay even natural reason will tell him that Heaven into which no unclean thing can enter is not so quickly and easily open to imperfect Souls as to perfect nor have we any sign that meerly by dying sinful livers becom immediatly perfect 17. To fill his learned Margins he quotes certain Contradictors of Bellarmin as the Bishop of Rochester Polydor Virgil Suarez and Thomas ex Albiis but since both Bellarmin himself and all his Contradictors agree with the Church in contradiction to the Preacher that there is a Purgatory what other inducement could he have to mention them unlesse it were that his Readers might see what his Hearers could not that he was resolved to pretend but was not able indeed to produce any thing to purpose against the Catholic Church CHAP. XI Of Transubstantiation or a Substantial Presence of our Lords Body in the Sacrament Iustified by the Authorities of the Fathers c. The Preacher's Objections Answer'd 1. THe three next supposed Novelties of the Catholic Church all regard the most holy Sacrament That blessed Mystery which was instituted to be both a Symbal and instrument to signifie and to operate Vnity is by the cunning of the Devil and malicious folly of men becom both the work and cause of Dis-union 2. Touching this Subject the first of the three Novelties the Doctor says is Transubstantiation So far from being from the beginning that it is not much above four hundred years old that it was first beard of in the Council of Lateran For in Pope Nicholas the Second's time the submission of Berengarius imports rather a Con then Transubstantiation But evident it is That it was never taught by our Saviour since he in the same breath wherewith he pronounced This is my Blood explain'd himself by calling it expresly the fruit of the Vins and there needs no more to make the Romanists ashamed of that Doctrin than the concession of Aquinas who says That it is impossible for one body to be locally in more places than one From whence Bellarmin angrily infers that it equally implies a Contradiction for one body to be so much as Sacramentally in more places than one 3. In order to the giving some satisfaction touching this matter I will as before set down the Churches Doctrin concerning this most holy Sacrament which will extend it self to all his three pretended Novelties In the Profession of Faith compiled by Pope Pius iv out of the Council of Trent it is said I profess that in the Masse there is offered to God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and Dead And that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly and Substantially the Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Iesus Christ and that there is a Conversion or Change of the whole Substance of Bread into his Body and of Wine into his Blood which change the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation Moreover I confess that under one of the Species alone whole and entire Christ and a true Sacrament is received 4. And if he will needs have it so let it be granted that the Latin word Transubstantiation begun commonly to be received among Catholics at the Council of Lateran Though there was a Greek expression exactly importing as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as old as his Beginning that is in the time of the first General Council But for God's sake let not a new word drive him out of God's Church as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did the Arians He may observe with Cardinal Perron that the Church only says the change made in the holy Sacrament is usually called Transubstantiation So that on condition he allow a real Substantial change the word it self shall not hinder us from being good Friends 5. The Doctor sees now what our Church holds concerning this Point
easily misled Soulâ— should be instructed in their Duâ—ies both as Christians and Subjects by plain Catechisms and Instructions prudently and sufficiently with all plainnesse gather'd out of Scripture then that the Bible should be put into their hands a Book the tenth part whereof scarce concerns them to know and in which the several Points wherein they are concern'd are so dispersed in several places so variously and somtimes so obscurely and so dubiously expressed that all the learning and subtilty of Doctors since it was written till these daies have been exercised in enquiring comparing discussing several Texts and clearing the true Doctrine of them fit for the conception of vulgar capacities The whole Direction necessary to govern Pastors in their permiting others to read the Holy Scriptureâ— is fully and excellently containd in that on Text of the Second Epistle of St. Peter 3. 16. Wherein the Epistles of St. Paul there are certain things hard to be understood which the unlearned and unstable pervert as also the other Scriptures to their own perdition Two sorts of Reaâ—ers are here plainly forbidden by the Apostle for certainly none oâ— them who we know are apt to pervert the Scriptures should be permitted to read them Consider then how far these two words reach unlearned and unstable I doubt to ninety nine of every hundred in England Which if admitted not above one in a hundred were good discipline observ'd would be allowed to read the Bible Nor can it be Objected as usually Protestants do that the Scriptures are safely clear to every one in Fundamentals and mistakable onely in Points of lesser consequence since the very Text saies they are both hard to be understood and pervertible to the perdition of their Readers and if such Points as import Salvation or Damnation be not Fundamental I 'm utterly ignorant of the meaning of that word Let then the Learned and the steâ—dy Christian read and study and meditate thâ— Bible as often and as long as he will every Catholic will commend him but by no means should that liberty be given to the unlearned and unstable lest the Scripture it self condemn it as a boldnesse that may endanger their eternal Salvation And 't is observeable in King Henry the 8 th who after he had caused the English Bible to be publish't so as to be read by all without any restraint was forc't again after three years experience wherein he saw the many strange and horrid opinions rising among the ignorant people by occasion thereof by a new Act of Parliament to abridge the liberty formerly granted and to prohiâ—it upon the penalty of a months Imprisonment toties quoties that any Woman Husbandman Artificer Yeoman Servingman Apprentice or Iourny-man Labourer c. should read them to themselves or to others privatly or openly See Stat. 34 35. Hen. 8. 1. Because saith the Preface of that Statue his Highness perceived that a great multitude of his Subjects most especially of the lower sort had so abused the Scriptures that they had thereby grown and increased in diverse naughtie and erroneous Opinions and by occasion thereof fallen into great Divisions and Dissentions among themselves And if you say the Opinions the King calls here erroneous were the Protestant Doctrines discovered by the Vulgar from the new light of the Scriptures you may see the very Opinions as the Bishops collected them in Fox pag. 1136. un-ownable by any sober Protestant or Christian. A thing perhaps not unworthy the serious consideration of the present Governors who have seen the like effects in these daies 5. But as for other Lay-persons of better judgement and capacities and of whose submission to the Churches Authority and aversion from Novelties sufficient proofs can be given our Ecclesiastical Governors are easily enough entreated yea they are well enough enclin'd to exhort them to read the Scriptures themselves in their vulgar Tongues and are forward to assist them in explaining difficulties and resolving doubts that may occurr 6. And now let Doctor Pierce speak his Conscience if he dare do it Is not this way of managing the Consciences of Christs Flock and this prudent dispensing of Scripture very desireable yea actually in their hearts here in England that it may be in practise among them But it is now too late Their first Reformers found no expedient so effectual to call followers to them out of God's Church as by wastfully powring this Treasure into their hands and accusing the Church for not doing so not fore-seeing or not caring if in future times that which was an instrument of their Schism from the true Church would be far more effectual to multiply Schisms from their false one For the making an ill use of Scripture by ignorant or passionate Laicks is not altogether so certain or probable to follow in the Catholic Church where men are bred up in a belief and most necessary Duty of Submission even of their minds to her Authority for the delivering of the only true sence of Scripture Whereas in such Churches as this in which not any one Person ever was or can be perswaded that the sence of Scripture given by them can challenge an internal assent from any or that it may not without sin be contradicted to give the Scripture indefinitly to all who can read or are willing to hear it read without a Guide to tell them the true sense which they are bound to believe is to invite them to ascend into Moses Chair which such Reformer's themselves have made empty and vacant for them 7. The second Part of this pretended Novelty concerns Public Praying in an unknown tongue which says he may be fetcht indeed as far as from Gregory the Great that is ever since this Nation was Christian But is as scandalously opposite to the plain sence of Scriptures as if it were done in a meer despight to 1. Cor. 14. 13. c. And besides Origen it is confess'd by Aquinas and Lyra that in the Primitive times the public Service of the Church was in the common Language too And as the Christians of Dalmatia Habassia c. and all Reformed parts of Christendom have God's service in their vulgar tongues so hath it been in divers places by approbation first had from the Pope himself 8. I will acknowledge to Dâ—ctor Pierce that this is the only Point of Novelty as he calls it of which he discourses sensibly and as it were to the purpose But withall I must tell him it is because he mistakes our Churches meaning For he charges the Catholic Religion as if one of its positions were That Gods publick Service ought to be in an unknown Tongue or as if it forbad people to understand it And truly if it were so we could never hope to be reconciled with that passage of Scripture out of St. Paul 1 Cor. 14. 13 c. But all this is a pure mis-understanding Therefore I desire him to permit himself for once to be informed how the
matter stands in this Point with the Roman Catholic Church 9. We Roman Catholics I. do willingly acknowledge that in the Primitive times the Public Service of God was generally speaking perform'd in a Tongue better understood than now it is yet not then for many places and Countries in their vulgar or native or best understood tongue For it is evident by St. Augustin that in Afric it was in the Latin tongue not in the Punic which yet was the only Tongue the Vulgar understood So the Liturgy of St. Basil was used in the Greek Tongue in most parts of the Eastern Churches And yet it appears as well out of later History as out of the Acts 2. 8 9 10. c. 14. v. 11. That Greek was not in those antient times the vulgar tongue of many of those Eastern Countrys no more than Latin was of the Western 2. We professe it was not nor yet is the intention of the Church that the Public Devotions should therefore be in Latin because it is not vulgarly understood but this has hapned as it were by accident besides her intention and onely because the Latin Tongue in which it was first written by revolution of times and mixture of Barbarous Nations in Europe has been corrupted and ceased to be a so commonly understood Language by unlearned people for indeed probably it was never so well understood as that other native Language which they used before it or with it 10. Matters standing thus yet the Church does not think fit to change with the times but continues Gods publick Service as it was at first And this we may conceive she does 1. Because no example can be found in antiently-established Churches that any of them changed the Language of Gods public Service entirely The Greeks now use the Antient Masse of St. Chrysostom written in pure Greek as much differing from the Vulgar as Latin from the Italian Spanish c. The like may be said of the Syrian Cophtites c. among whom the Mass is celebrated in the oâ—d Language far from being vulgarly understood Yea the Iews continue their Devotions to this day in the Hebrew understood by few among them 2. Because though the Latin be not now in any place a vulgar Language yet there is no Language so universally understood in Europe as that And a great fitnesse there is that the most Public Service should be in the most public Language in which all Nations may joyn every where And by those who most frequently recite the Divine Service in the Catholic Church viz. the Clergy and other Religious for whose proper use a great part of this Service was composed the Latin Tongue is well understood 3. Because the Latin â—ongue now that it is not vulgar being thereby becom unchangeable the Churches Doctrins contain'd in her Litâ—rgies are so much the more freed from the danger of being innovated Whereas vulgar Languages almost in every age become un-intelligible or at least sound very unpleasing in mens ears as we now see in King Edward the sixth's common-prayer-Common-prayer-book would it not seem an odd translation now to read that Saint Philip baptiz'd the Gelding and Paul the Knave of Iesus Christ yet this was once the English Scripture Nay more within this twenty years we find many words and phrases have quite changed their former sense So that all Nations must be ever and anon altering their Liturgies to the great danger of changing the Churches belief And which is not altogether inconsiderable for the present good husbandry of the world to the infinite expenâ—es of moneys in printing c. 11. I doubt not but he will reply that not any one or all these commodities can answer and satisfie for an express and as he calls it a scandalous opposition to the plain sense of Scripture 1 Cor. 14. I grant it All these commodities are to be despised rather than so to oppose the Apostles Doctrin But what is his Doctrin For I evidently perceive the Doctor has not well search'd into it much lesse rightly apply'd it The Apostle says If I pray in an unknown tongue my Spirit prays but my understanding receives no benefit c. And how can an unlearned Person say Amen to such Prayers In which passage seems involved a tacite prohibition at least of publick Prayers in an unknown tongue All this is granted but yet with this exception mention'd by the Apostle himself unless either he that prays or some other interpret Therefore before he took on him to charge the Catholic Church with a scandalous opposition to this passage of Scripture he ought to have examin'd better her doctrin and practise otherwise he himself will be found guilty of a Scandalous opposition to God's Church Now for a tryal of the Churches sence let him observe the Ordinance of the Council of Trent touching this very Point the words are these Though the Mass contain instruction for Gods faithful people yet it seem'd not expedient unto the Fathers that it should be celebrated every where in the vulgar tongue wherefore retaining in all places the Churches antient Rite approved by the holy Roman Church the Mother and Mistresse of all Churches lest Christ's Sheep should hunger and Children asking bread none should be found to break it to them the Holy Synod commands all Pastours and all that have care of Souls that during the celebration of Mass they should frequently either by themselves or others expound some part of those things which are read in it and among other things let them explain the mystery of this most Holy Sacrifice especially on Sundays and Feasts The Preacher here may see that the Church does not make such a secret even of the most sublime Mysteries of her Office as the Court believ'd upon his report 12. Likewise between this speaking in an unknown tongue mention'd by St. Paul and the Churches publick Latin Service there is this great disparity that this later is always a known Language to several of those present if not to all and there are alwayes those who understandingly say Amen And again being a known set-form in one set-language recurring continually the same according to the Feast those who are ignorant of it at first need not continue so but by due attention and other diligence may arive to a sufficient knowledge at least of the chief parts thereof they having also in their Manuals Primers Psalters c. ready translated both the Psalms Hymns and Prayers c. and there being several Books both in English and all vulgar languages that expound the Church-service even to the meanest capacity Neither is the Latin tongue by reason of its affinity with many vulgar tongues and of the constant use hereof a language unknown to such a degree in Catholick Conntries as our English Nation imagin it and therefore is so much scandalized Neither is there the same motive for some dispensation of a change in those places as perhaps would be in a Country less
acquaintance as St. Augustin believ'd his Mother did for him Likewise they will grant that though they be in Heaven they may either by Gods revelation or by relation from Angels be informed of the Prayers made to them by any others on earth and that supposing such a knowledge they will become Intercessors for them in particular 6. But you 'l say since there is no general certainty that they understand our Prayers or wants or interesse themselves in the particular necessities of the living Therefore though it be not unlawful as prejudicial to the honor and duty we owe to God to invocate them in particular yet it may be call'd unlawful in regard it is uncertain To this Scruple Catholicks acknowledg the Church by no Decision hath declar'd that the Saints generally hear all the particular prayers of us on Earth And consequently that it is not any Article of our Faith to believ they do so Yea several moderate Catholics refuse to say peremptorily that it is so yet in all Catholics Opinion this does not nor ought to hinder them from acknowledging that the practise of Invocating Saints by name is very beneficial to us though they should have no particular knowledge of your Prayers 7. And the grounds to prove this to be rational are these First Because though it were so that the Souls of glorifi'd Saints did not hear our prayers or know our particular necessities yet at least it is certain the Holy Angels are continually present with us on Earth and that it is by them we are defended from the Divels malice who otherwise having such a wonderful strength exceeding ours would destroy us all in our sins Now since God does not ordinarily interpose his power immediatly in natural actions nor substract his universal influence on his Creatures it cannot be imagin'd since the Devils will not be hindred by any Law or prohibition by what other power but that of Angels they should be restrained from executing their malice against us Adde to this that History tells us Magicians have the Divels alwaies ready to come at their call Why then should not Angels be witnesses of our actions and especially our prayers which as the Scripture saies They offer as Incense to God being alwaies assistant in the houses of Prayer This being supposed we are not to imagin that those holy Spirits stand upon niceties and will not do any good unlesse particularly call'd upon But on the contrary will be charitably officious in helping and delivering us whensoever we implore the assistance of any of their fellow Citizens And it is upon this matter that St. Augustin not doubting at all that great good arrives unto us by invocating the Martyrs c. for the beginning of his Discourse is Although that Question doth exceed the power of my understanding How Martyrs succor those which certainly are in effect aided by them c. very subtilly Disputes whether the Saints themselves hear us or the Angels for them And whether when they seem to appear unto us it be not the Angels which take their shape 8. Again How great the Spheare of the activity of the Saints glorified may be in respect of this whole visible World we know little That it is finite we know But how far it may be extended viz. their faculties of seeing hearing and operating especially since the Ascension and Glorification of our Lord we know not Thus the Archbishop of Spalato no great Patron of Invocation of Saints I do not think it unprobable saith he that there should be assigned to every Angel and beatified Soul very vast spaces both of the Superior and Inferior World wherein they may operate And perhaps the whole sensible world may be no more to one of them than its proper body is to a humane Soul informing it And thus Vossius interprets St. Hieroms Speech of them That he held beatified Souls present at their Tombs and like Angels passing most swiftly through spaces wonderfully distant moreover that they there know the necessities and hear the request of those who have recourse to them But suppose their agency and intelligence as Spirits confined only to the Circuit of Heaven yet how great the knowledge of these Saints standing continually in Gods presence may be by way of Revelation of things absent or future of mans thoughts c. in the same manner tho' in a higher degree as also some special Saints have on earth who can determine If God said of Abraham a Pilgrim on earth Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do How much more may we imagin that he hideth not the mighty works of his Providence Mercy and Justice here on earth from those his Domestick Servants So we read not onely an Angel but every one of the Twenty four Elders to have in their hands golden Censers aud Vials full of odors which are the Prayers of Saints that is of their Brethren on earth 9. Again though there were no certainly in this that even the Angels are present to us and execute the things we pray for yet the practise of Invocating Saints ought not to be neglected because considering the unquestionable proofs of a world of miraculous effects of such Prayers both in modern and ancient times recorded by the most Learned Prudent and Holy among the Primitive Fathers of many of which themselves were eye witnesses and the rest confirm'd by Testimonies irrefragable Miraculous effects I say not only of Prayers here directed to God with relation to the acceptablenesse and Intercession of such Saints but also of Prayers directed to the Saints themselves as appears by the Quotations below We may be assured that this practise pleases Almighty God and is very benefical to us Among other witnesses of this I will only name St. Gregory Nyssen and Theodoret for the Greek Church and St. Augustin for the Roman The first of these in his Oration on the Martyr St. Theodorus The second through his whole 8 th Book intituled of Martyrs and St. Augustin in his 22th Book de Civitate Dei through several Chapters shew both that frequent Addresses were made to and many wonderful Miracles perform'd by the Intercession of Saints especially Martyrs which Miracles were shew'd rather in the places where those Martyrs were particularly honour'd and where their Reliques reposed then in others and upon those who Invocated their Intercession and assistance then on others c. which are demonstrative proofs that the Veneration and Invocation of them are acceptable to God St. Augustin relates that the multitude of Miracles which were done at Hippo the Seat of his Bishoprick at the Memory of St. Stephen and that within the two first years after some part of his Reliques were brought thither from Ierusalem by Orosius was so great who also caused them to be enrolled and for God's and the Saints glory to be recited to the People the next Festival after they were done of some of which also
he was himself an eye-witnesse so great I say as that those that were registred amounted to near 70. whereof he sets down a considerable number in that 8 th Chapter and those done at Calama to a far greater number It is not yet two years since the memorial at Hippo Regius was erected whereas the Books delivered in to us concerning these miraculous effects yet many other as we are most certain not being given in even to the time when I am writing this amount to some seventy But at Calama where the Memorial was set up sooner and the Books brought faster they are incredibly more in number At Uzala too a Colony adjoyning to Utica we have been witnesses of sundry things of note done by the same Martyr whose Memorial was erected there by Bishop Evodius long before ours And St. Theodoret also who was a member of the 3 d. and 4 th General Council speaks of the peoples frequent repairing and presenting their requests to the Martyrs for so many Miracles received by them on this manner Neither do we resort hither once or twice or five times in a year but frequently in them we keep our Festivals yea oftentimes for many daies together we sing Lauds and Hymns to the Lord of these Martyrs Where such as are in health petition the Martyrs for the continuance thereof such as are sick petition them for health c. Not conceiting that they approach to Gods but praying to these Martyrs of God as Divine men invocating and petitioning them for their Intercessions with God And that such who have devoutly and faithfully invocated them do obtain their requests those several guifts do witnesse which such obliged by their Vows do bring thither being clear evidences of their unfeigned cures For some hang up their Tablets of eyes some of feet others of hands made of gold or silver These things therefore exposed to the view of all do evidence the driving away of their diseases These I say do demonstrate what the power of those Martyrs is which are buried there c. Thus Theodoret whom tho' some of the Reformed upon a negative Argument because Nicephorus mentions not this Book amongst others but so he omits some which Gennadius mentions deny to be the Author of this Book yet Rivet is more candid saying Libris de Graec. affect curand nonnulla addita esse malim dicere quam de Authore dubitare And lastly St. Gregory Nyssen speaks thus on the same Subject After one hath thus delighted his eyes with the building he desires further to approach the Monument it self believing the very touching thereof to bring a benediction and hallowing along with it But if any be suffered to take away any of the dust gathered from off the Martyrs Sepulchre such dust is taken for a great guift and this very Earth laid up as a precious Treasure But if at any time such a happinesse befalls any as to have the priviledge to touch the Reliques how earnestly such a thing is to be wished and desired being the reward of much importunitie they know well who have sought and obtained it For then they view and embrace this body as if it were alive and fresh apply it to their mouth their ears and the other Organs of all their Senses Moreover powring out tears of duâ—y and affection upon the Martyr as if he appear'd to them sound and entire they offer up their humble prayers that he would intercede as an Advocate for them begging of him as a Courtier of Heaven and invocating him as one that can obtain any thing he pleaseth To what Prince is there such honour given 10. In the third place I will adjoyn further expresse Testimonies out of the ancient Fathers all living within the Doctors determinate times and shewing the lawfulnesse and usefulnesse of this practise of Invocating the glorified Saints Thus then saies St. Basil Whosoever is in any pressure let hin fly to the assistance of these Martyrs And again whoever is in a state of joy let him pray to them The former that he may be delivered from misery The latter that he may be preserved in prosperitie Thus St. Chrysostom The Emperor who is cloathed with purple takes a journey to visit these Sepulchres of St. Peter and St. Paul and laying aside his pomp presents himself to make supplication to them to the end they may intercede to God for him be whose Temples are encompassed with a Diadem praies to a maker of Tents and a Fisherman as his Protectors And to the same purpose of the same Emperor speaks Ruffinus Thus St. Ambrose We ought to pray to the Angles which are given us for guards We ought to pray to the Martys whose Bodies seem to be as it were gages and hostages that we may challenge their Patronage and protection c. Let us not therefore be asham'd to employ them as Intercessors for our Infirmitie for they themselves by experience knew the infirmitie of our bodies even then when they surmounted it This St. Ambrose writ not as Bishop Andrews imagins when he was a Neophite but a Bishop See Voss. de Invocat Disp. 2 Thes. 1. and Forbs de Invocat cap. 3. their more candid concessions concerning this Father Thus St. Hilary It is not the nature of God but our infirmitie that stands in need of the Intercession of Angels For they are sent for the benefit of those which shall inherit Salvation God himself not being ignorant of the things which we do but our infirmitie needing this mystery of a spiritual intercession for the imploring and obtaining for us what is good for us In which Testimony so much is clear that the Angels know our necessities c. And this is sufficient to infer the lawfulnesse of requesting them also to intercede for us To these many more Testimonies may be added out of other holy Fathers as likewise the actual Prayers to Martyrs made and recorded by St. Basil St. Gregory Nyssen St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Ephrem Theodoret St. Hierom St. Paulinus Prudentius c. To which I hope Dr. Pierce will forbear to return the usual evasion that all these are but Rhetorical Apostrophe's Since other expressions of the same Fathers viz That they are well perswaded that those Saints to whom they addresse these Requests have an inspection from Heaven on their affairs That they do relieve the necessities of those who supplicate to them That the people make addresses to these heavenly Courtiers as to those who obtain guifts from God when they please And that if the Lamb be every where these Saints which are with the Lamb ought to be believed to be any where or every where as they please Since I say these expressions do not consist with such a pretence of their invocating them only in an empty flourish And since this is a put-off too vain to get any credit with sober men to say that such grave and holy Bishops when preaching to the people
would make petitions to these Saints to exercise their Rhetorick and yet without any cautioning their hearers that they did it in such a manner which if done seriously would have been an injury to God to Christ our Redeemer yeâ— Idolatry c. And lastly since the Doctor may find Vossius and Forbes for some of them at least condemning this evasion 11. To these Testimonies I may adjoyn the expresse confessions of Protestants That Invocation of Saints was commonly in use in the Greek Church long before the 3 d. and 4 th General Councils For which besides the confession of Chemnitius Vossius also is clear whose words are About the year of Christ 370. those to whom the care of instructing the people was committed did by their practise lead them to invocate the Saints departed And indeed in the Greek Church the first or at least very near the first of those which gave such Examples were Basil Nyssen Nazianzen And in the West at the same time Ambrose of Millain a diligent Reader and Imitater of the Greeks followed the same custom Now since Dr. Pierce professes so ready a submission to the Judgment of the four first General Councils and must grant that several of these Fathers whom Vossius acknowledges to have been Patrons of Invocation and to have used it even in the publick Assemblies for which they were never censured did precede many years two of these General Councils I would gladly know if such a Question had been made before the third or fourth Council concerning Invocation of Saints as was before that of Trent Whether he can perswade himself that those Fathers would not have justified such Invocation for lawful in those Councils which they practised as lawful out of and before them and would not have produced at least as high a stating of that Point as the Council of Trent did And indeed a particular knowledg and agency of Saints deceased in in human affairs seems to be acknowledged in the fourth General Council and Invocation in the third Person Whose words are Let Flavian be had in everlasting memory Behold Vengeance i. e. on his murderers Behold the Truth Flavian lives after death Let Flavian the Martyr pray for us 12. It remains in the last place that an Answer be given to the only Aâ—gument out of Antiquitie produced by the Doctor against this Doctrine and to prove it's Noveltie For saies he St. Augustin denies invocation of Saints to have been in his daies And his only proof that he does so is from those words of his The men of God that is Sainâ—s departed are named indeed in their due place and order but they are not invoked by the Priest who Sacrifices 12. To this passage our Answer it 1. That sure the Preacher had forgot he was to reckon presently after the Sacrifice of the Masse among Novelties introduced after the fourth General Council when he produced this Testimony that expresly proves the contrary Here is a Sacerdos brought in and here he is brought in both praying and Sacrificing and yet saies the Doctor no such thing as any Christian Sacrifice Or if a Sacrifice only a Sacrifice perhaps of praise and thanksgiving But St. Augustin will contradict him who as hath been said calls this indeed a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving in regard of glorified Saints commemorated in it but a Sacrifice propitiatory in regard of the faithful departed with some stains of sins remaining 2. The same thing St. Augustin means here i. e. That Saints are not soveraignly invocated by way of Sacrifice as the Supream Donors and Fountain of all good that descends to mankind is taught by the Catholic Church even where she professes Invocation of Saints in the same sense as St. Augustin allows it that is as of our fellow-members and citizens making efficacious intercessions for us to this Supream Deity to whom we Sacrifice For thus saies the Council of Trent Although the Church be accustomed to celebrate Masses somtimes in the honour and memory of Saints yet she does not teach that the Sacrifice should be offered to them but to God alone who has crown'd them And hence it is that the Priest is never wont to say O Peter O Paul I offer this Sacrifice to thee but to God to whom he gives thanks for their Victories and implores their patronage that they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in Heaven whole memory we celebrate on earth A part of which Decree is taken out of S. Augustin himself in the same Treatise quoted by the Preacher 3. Dr. Pierce could not possibly have made a worse choice of a place from whence to select a Testimony as he would have us believe denying all Invocation of Saints whenas in the two Chapters of the same Book immediately preceding this many stories are largely recounted to certifie the great good that Christians had found by the intercession of Saints and all this whilst in their Oratories they begg'd their intercession 4 Perhaps he will not yet be content but with Bishop Andrews will urge it is not here said by St. Austin That the Saints are not Sacrificed to but that they are not so much as invocated at the Altar And if it be unlawful to invocate them there it will be as well unlawful any where else Hereto it is answered That all this taken in a right sense is granted For first To this day in the Masse there is no kind of Invocation of Saints yea more according to the Council of Carthage till the Consecration be perfected there are no Prayers directed to the Son of God nor to the Holy Ghost but only to God the Father 2. But this argues not that if the Church had so order'd it it might not have been lawful even at the Altar to have Invocated the Saints by such an inferiour Invocation or Compellation as the Church has determined which is only according to Card. Perron prier pour prier to desire them to pray for us As even in the Masse it self the Priest requests the Assistants saying Orate fraires ut meum ac vestrum Sacrificium acceptabile fiat apud Deum c. To whom the people Answers Suscipiat Dominus Sacrificium de manibus tuis c. 3. But as for the Supream sort of Invocation which St. Austiâ— only intended in this passage and which he calls Culium latriae this is only due to God and without impiety cannot be made to Saints And thus St. Austin writing against Faustus the Manichean fully justifies what he saith in this passage 5. But after all this that St. Austin allows Invocation of Saints in an inferior way do but examin only these places in him c. 4. De curâ pro mortuis a Book which he wrote in Answer to a Quere of Paulinus Whether it doth benefit any one after his death to have his body buried in the Memorial of some Saint When as saith he such consolations of the living are
according to the foresaid limitations One may be excused from assenting to Decisions of General Councils about Points not of necessary Faith in case they be gainsaid by men of worth place and esteem So that if any such persons do contradict General Councils whether in or out of the Council He mentions not ignorant men may lawfully join with them and in comparison esteem all other Pastors of God's Church to be of less worth place or esteem What a broad Gate yea how vast a breach have these Doctors with all their learning and prudence made in the walls of God's Church to let in all manner of confusion Can any Protestant now deny Smeâ—â—ymnuus Mr. Prinn the Rump Parliament to have been persons of worth place and esteem At least the generality of England once thought them so and themselves challenged those Titles and whilst they were the strongest enjoy'd them To what miserable straits a necessity of justifying the English Separation reduced such wise and learned men 4. In the third place according to the same Writers Position all manner of Decisions made by Councils both in necessary and unnecessary Doctrines cease to be obligatory in case something appears that may argue an unlawful proceeding in the Council out of passion interest want of liberty c. But still who shall be judges of Councils proceedings Among Catholicks when there are perhaps suspicions of some irregular proceedings yet if the Points decided be embraced by the particular Catholick Churches generally speaking they then have the force of unquestion'd Catholick Doctrines But as for those who are enemies to Councils in which their Doctrines have been condemn'd such will be sure to charge them with unlawful proceedings For did not the Arians urge that Plea against the Council of Nice The Nestorians against that of Ephesus The Eutychians against that of Chalcedon 5. This clause in all probability was put in to exclude the Authority of the Council of Trent against the proceedings of which therefore very loud and very unjust clamors were made by Protestants imputing especially to the Court of Rome many policies and attempts either to intimidate the Fathers of the Council or to induce them to favour and enlarge the Grandeurs of the Pope But who ever shall unpassionately read the History of that Council compiled by the most learned and eminent Cardinal Palavicino from authentick Records yet extant will be satisfied 1. That the liberty of the Bishops was only straitned by their own respective temporal Princes and not by the Roman Court 2. That the Pope was so far from gaining an access to his Authority that when a far greater number of the Bishops would have concurr'd thereto the Pope himself forbad it meerly because the French Bishops inconsiderable for their numbers did joyn to oppose it 6. But there is no necessity that Catholicks should trouble themselves with making Apologies for that Council 1. Because all the Doctrines of it opposed by Protestants as Novelties were manifest in the general Writings and Practise of the Western Church long before that Council and most of them in the Eastern 2. Because they are now actually embraced by all Catholick Congregations as Declared Doctrines of the Church in which case by the Archbishop's own Concessions they are to be esteem'd infallibly true 3. Because the principal Doctrines censur'd in the Preacher's Sermon had been expresly determin'd by former either General or at least Patriarkical Councils admitted in this Kingdom as Transubstantiation Veneration of Images Prayers not in a vulgar tongue Communion under one Species Celibacy of Priests the universal Iurisdiction of the Pope c. 4. And lastly because in condemning the Protestant Doctrines opposite to them the Bishops of the Council of Trent are found even by Padre Paulo's Relation no favourer of that Council unanimous in their Judgment which the Reader may there see if he please to examine their Votes concerning those Points Neither did nor needed the Pope or his adherents to use any artifice herein to gain the Suffrages of a Major part And this is in that History of his only pretended to be done in other matters of Contest among Catholicks themselves 7. Therefore it would certainly be much more for the good of Consciencious Protestants to reflect seriously on the method of their Reformations and then let them be Judges of the legality of their proceedings and the disinteressedness of their first Reformers I speak not now of Presbyterian Reformations which in all Countreys have been usher'd in with Tumults Rebellions Murders Rapines Dissolution of Monarchies c. but of the English Reformation only which though free from such horrible Crimes yet how legal it was how free from worldly and carnal Interests let their own Historians be Judges 8. And first This Relation is made of it in general by Dr. Heylin In Queen Elizabeths time saith he before the new Bishops were well setled I need not mind the Reader here that all her former Bishops save on had deserted her and the Queen assured of the affections of her Clergy went that way to work in Her Reformation which not only her two Predecessors but all the godly Kings and Princes in the Iewish State and many of the Christian Emperours in the primitive times had done before her in the well ordering of the Church and People committed to their care and government by Almighty God And to that end she published her Injunctions Ann. Dom. 1559. A Book of Orders 1561. Another of Advertisements 1562. All leading unto the Reformation with the Advice and Consent of the Metropolitan and some other Godly Prelats who were then about Her these were those newly Ordained the former Bishops being ejected by whom they were agreed on and subscribed unto before they were presented to Her But when the times were better setled and the first difficulty of her Reign passed over she left Church-work to the disposing of Church-men who by their place and calling were most proper for it and they being met in Convocation and thereto authorized as the Laws required did make and publish several Books of Canons c. Thus that Doctor the sum of which is That the Queen finding no foundation to build upon because all the Innovations begun by her Father and young Brother had been utterly demolished by her Sister Queen Mary and withal perceiving the main Body of her Clergy as well as her Bishops except such as the caused to be made de novo to be generally averse from her proceedings was fain to do all the Ecclesiastical work her self assisted with some of her New Bishops without the Concurrence of any Synodal Authority till having first by her Orders sufficiently purged the Clergy she saw she could securely now do Church-work by Church-men 9. But Mr. Fuller is more punctual in delivering the retail of these her first proceedings which he extracted out of the authentick Synodals 1559. He tells us then That in the beginning of her Reign the
how to express the Catholick Doctrine in such words as might best instruct the people and prevent Hereticks from abusing them Hence it was St. Athanasius said We meet here not because we wanted a Faith i. e. were incertain what to hold but to confound those who go about to contradict the Truth Which Rule if Councils observe I think the Doctor would scarce refuse to obey them and our only difference in this point I hope is he thinks they do not observe this Rule and I think they do CHAP. XXVI The Preacher's boasting Catholicks cannot justly be obliged to shew from Antiquity Evidences of their Doctrines Conditions necessary to be Observed by the Doctor in case he Reply Of the Name Protestant 1. THus I have gone through and examin'd except to those who love to be contentious sufficiently all the pretended Novelties imputed by Dr. Pierce to the Roman Catholick Church I have likewise brought to the Test all the Allegations made by him either to excuse the English Churches Separation from the Roman Catholick or at least to perswade us not to call it Schism And it seems to me I have demonstrated him unsuccessful in both Nay more which is a great misery if he would consider it with that seriousness which Eternity deserves I think I have prov'd that the fearful crime of Schism will lye heavie upon his Church though he had shew'd all the Points by him mention'd to be Novelties And having done this I must say with St. Augustin Vtinam verba ista infuderim non effuderim But considering the present temper of this Age I doubt I shall have reason to fear according to the same holy Father's expression lest when I beg them to afford their ears they should make ready their teeth 2. However I hope the Doctor will no more be believed with any reason to complain as he doth in his Sermon of one remarkable infirmity in the Popish Writers They ever complain we have left their Church but never shew that Iota as to which we have left the Word of God or the Apostles or the yet uncorrupted and Primitive Church or the Four first General Councils Truly this Speech of his seems to me so vain and rash and shameless a boast that I cannot but blush for him when I read it and tremble for him when I see Truth so little consider'd by a Preacher sustaining God's Person as he pretended 3. But perhaps I understand not his phrase of shâ—wing that Iota as to which they have left c. If he mean we have not demonstrated their deserting Antiquity or that we believe not even since we have seen their Answers that our demonstrations are unanswerable there are extant whole Libraries of our Controvertists sufficient to overwhelm him Particularly before he say so again let him enquire out and consider a Book written by Simon Vogorius Counseller to the French King entituled An Assertion of the Catholick Faith out of the Four first Oecumenical Councils and other received Synods within that time Or even let him review what is quoted against him here concerning one of his own Points Celibacy of the Clergy out of the Four first General and several other as ancient Provincial Councils Before all which Councils there is found an Injunction of it as high as Calixtus his dayes about A. D. 220. which also Doctor Peirce mentions Doth not this prohibition of the Priests from Marriage amount to the magnitude of an Iota with him How comes it then to be one of his Grievances in this Sermon and that under no milder a phrase than the Doctrine of Devils Or will not such Antiquity pass for Primitive and Antiquity Antique enough to use his words Unless he will shrink up Primitive Antiquity from the 6th Age to the 4th from the 4th to the 3d. where few Writings being extant less of the Churches Doctrines and Customs can be shewn in them Or from the 3d to the 1st Age and the Apostles times as the Presbyterians in the Plea of Antiquity treat the Prelatists For on this manner even the most learned of the Protestant Writers when they are straitned with proofs are wont to retire So Bishop Iewel long ago made a bold challenge to be tryed by Antiquity for the first 600 years But after many hot Encounters between the Controvertists and after Antiquity better discover'd to the later Pens on the Protestant Party than to the first A. Bp. Lawd more cautious contracts the Protestants Challenge somewhat narrower to the Fathers of the first 400 years or thereabouts The Protestants saith he offer to be tryed by all the ancient Councils and Fathers of the Church within the first 400 years and somewhat further And since the A. Bp. Doctor Hammond makes his Plea of Antiquity yet shorter viz. for the Fathers of the first 300 years For the particular Doctrines saith he wherein we are affirmed by the Romanists to depart from the Vnity of the Faith we make no doubt to approve our selves to any that will judge of the Apostolical Doctrines and Traditions by the Scriptures and consent of the first 300 years or the Four General Councils And again We profess saith he to believe so much and not to be convinced by all the Reasons and Authorities and Proofs from Scriptures or the first Christian Writers those of the first 300 years or the Four General Councils Where by submission to the Four first General Councils he means only to the bare decisions of these Councils in matters of Faith concerning our Saviour and the Holy Ghost not obliging himself also to the Authority of those Fathers who flourished in the time of these Four Councils and sate in them For though the last of these Councils was held in the middle of the 5th Age yet he claims a tryal by the Fathers only to the end of the 3d Age. Again by this submission to the Writers of the Three first Ages only he bars most of the chief Fathers and all those that are more large and Voluminous from bearing any witness against Protestants and leaves scarse half a score Authors of Note now extant and several writing only some short Treatises or Epistles whereby they are content to try all the Doctrine and Discipline of Antiquity 4. But these were timorous Souls that would fain be thought to deal civilly with antiquity let us hear two or three bolder spirits that speak plain and freely What sayes Doctor Willet Let not your Majesty be deceived by the Popish Arguments of supposed antiquity as Joshua was with the old and mouldy bread of the Gibeonites and the reason is given for Anti-christ began to raign in the Apostles dayes in St. Pauls dayes What says Acontius Some of us are come to that that they will fill up their Writings with the Authority of the Fathers which I would to God they had performed with prosperous success as they hopefully attempted it c. I onely think this
Novelties we readily grant they are not obliged to subscribe them And it being supposed by the Archbishop c. that without such a certainty it would have been unlawfull for Protestants to question or censure such former Doctrins of the Church The Doctor is bound and â—here adjure him to declare expresly as in the presence of Him who is Supreme Head of the Church and will revenge severely all calumnious persecutions of it that he is demonstratively certain that in all these Points charged by him on the Church of later times as Novelties and Errors introduced since the four first Councils she is manifestly guilty and that nothing appears in this or any other Catholic book of his Acquaintance which deserves to be esteem'd so much as a probable proof to the contrary For my part I here protest on the other side that I find not any one concluding allegation in his Sermon nor believe there can any be produced which can warrant him to make such a Declaration 10. The second Condition is That in like manner he professe he can or hath demonstratively proved by Scripture or Primitive Antiquity the main grounds upon which they pretend to justifie their separation to be no Schism to wit these 1. That the universal Church â—epresented in a Lawful General Council may in points of doctrin not fundamental so mislead the Church by errors that a particular Church c. discovering such errors may be obliged to separate externally 2. That a particular Chrâ—stian or a Congregation Diocesan may lawfully reverse Decisions formerly made by a Nationaâ— Synod and assented to by it and that a Nationaâ— Council may do the like in regard of a Patriarchical or any of them in regard of an Oecumenical formerly accepted and admitted If these Assâ—riâ—ous he Innovations as in our perswasion they are it is clear they destroy all possible unity If they be not let some demonstrative Proofs and Examples be produced out of Antriquity that a reversing of such order and subordination has been practised and approved in the Catholic Church 3. That a particular Church c. in opposition to the Vniversal can judg what Doctrines are fundamental or necessary to all Persons 〈◊〉 Communities c. and what not And that a Catalogue of such Doctrines be given by the Respondent or demonstrative reasons alledged why such an one is not necessary 11. Thirdly if he will deny the Church of England has separated externally from the present Vniversal Church but only from the Roman then to make this good he is obliged to name what other visible Member of the Vniversal Church they continue in Communion with in whose public Service they will joyn or can be admitted and to whose Synods they ever have or can repair And since at the time of their first Separation they were only in Communion with the Roman-Catholic Church and the Members of it be must shew how when and where they entered into any other new Communion Lastly Since the English Church by renouncing not only several Doctrines but several Councils acknowledged for General and actually submitted to both by the Eastern and Western Churches hath thereby separated from both these he must find out some other pretended Members of the Catholic Church divided from both these that is some that are not manifestly heretical with whom the English Church communicates 12. A fourth Condition is that he must either declare other Calvinistical Reformed Churches which manifestly have no succession of lawflly Ordained Ministers enabled validly to celebrate and administer Sacraments to consecrate confirm preach God's Word c. to be no heretical or Schismatical Congregations Or if they be he must demonstrate how the English Church can acquit her self from Schism since her Bishops and Divines have authoritatively repaired to their Synods and a general permission is given to any Protestant Writers to acknowledg them true reformed and sufficiently Orthodox Congregations 13. The last shall be that he abstain from imputing to the Catholic Church the opinions or sayings of particular Writers The Church her self having sufficiently declared her Doctrines in her Councils especially that of Trent If he will combate against her there he has a fair and open field and charity requires that he affix to her Decisions the most moderate and best qualified sense Otherwise he will declare himself as one who is sorry his Mother should not be ill reputed Now in exchange I for my part am extreamly willing to proceed in the same manner with the English Church I would sain charge her with nothing but her own declared Doctrines and Decisions But truly I know not where to find them except only in the little Primmer and Catechism for Children For the 39. Articles being almost all Negatives may as well be reputed the Doctrines of Iewish or Turkish Congregations since these also deny the Sacrifice of the Masse Purgatory Infallibility of Councils c. other Reformed Churches have published reasonably large Professions of their Faith they have declared their own positive sense in almost all Points of Christian Belief as the Huguenots in France c. the Lutherans in Germany c only the English Church seems to have made a secret of her Faith upon what motive I am unwilling to guess 14. These Conditions in themselves so reasonable and even according to Protestants grounds also so necessary if the Replyer shall refuse to perform he will in the judgment of all discerning Readers be himself the Answerer and Conâ—uter of his own Reply and withall will shew it is not Truth or Peace he aims at but the satisfying his own or others interests passions and revenge against those who least deserve it All subterfuges all involved intricacies in answering all discourses which are not open candid and sincere will be confessions of guilt He may perhaps hide the weaknesse of his cause from credulous Women Trades-men or possibly the more unlearned part of our Gentry but to all considering Readers his Art of hiding will be his most manifest discovery Aristotle saies the Sepiâ— is the wisest of all Fishes because she conceals her self by casting forth round about her a black humour which hinders the sight of her But on the contrary Iulius Caesar Scaliger affirms she is of all Fishes the most imprudent Quia cum se putat latere prodit seipso latibâ—lo for the Fishermen are sure to find her under her inky humour 15. And now having finished our Answer to the substance wherein we differ let us conclude with the Name that distinguishes us He puts us in mind of the reason why the Lutherans and from them other Reformerd took the name Protestants for protesting against the bloody Edict of Worms Spires c. we find little ground why the Reformers in England should borrow that title Against what Armes or Armies did they ever protest What Edicts were made against them We Catholics might rather assume such a title if it were of any special honor having