excellent persons writing so many Books upon such a Subject should forget the principal as by a consort and common conspiration how happened it that in some place they did not speak to us of the Sacrifice of the Mass the pretended Soul of all Religion Of Transubstantiation which is the ground of it of the worshipping of the Host the heart of Devotion of the Veneration of Images of private Confession of the Invocation of departed Saints all exercises of Piety so exquisite and saving If you believe those of Rome Why have they not in some places commanded obedience to the Pope magnified his Authority the only hinge upon which their faith turns the life and Salvavation of humane kinde according to the Mximes of our Adversaries Now and some Ages pust there hath not been written any Book of Religion how little soever it hath been where these Doctrines have not always been met withal and indeed if they were of that importance which they make them it were to betray men to speak to them of piety without touching upon these Let then the Scriptures of the New Testament be if they please a Letter only of Credence an imperfect Rule and in sum what they will yet it consisteth of many Books of considerable bigness and it is no way credible but in some part or other there would have been some mention made of these Doctrines if these divine Authors had believed and taught them Secondly Above all if you consider that the particular designe of their Tracts and Disputes would evidently oblige them to speak of them in divers places where they say nothing of them For Example St. Paul making a long comparison between Christ and Melchisedec in the seventh Chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews and treating almost of no other thing in all that Divine Epistle but of the Priesthood was not he evidently obliged to speak of the Sacrifice of the Altar and of the Species under which he was offered and so mysteriously figured so many Ages before by the bread and wine of Melchisedec and nevertheless he saith not a word of it What do I say that he said not a word of it he hath done more For instead of saying these things so necessary to his Subject according to the Hypothesis of Rome he sayeth others of it which shakes it so rudely that the Devoto's of his Sacrifice were all scandalized at it their Doctors sweating unprofitably to make these agree with their belief Thirdly In the eleventh of the first to the Corinthians the Apostle chastiseth the irreverence of the Corinthians in the celebrating of the Sacrament who mixed their meals with the Communion of the Lord could he alledge to them upon this Subject any thing more to the purpose than the Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Sacrament shewing them that it is not bread which we receive in the Eucharist that it is the Lord of Glory the very body which was crucified for us upon the Cross What Romish Doctor is there who being to treat of this Subject doth not use this reason at the beginning middle and end of his Dispute But the Apostle saith nothing of it and that which is altogether strange very far from speaking so in speaking of the Sacrament he calls it Bread three times Fourthly in divers places of his Epistles as namely in the 12 Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the fourth of the Epistle to the Ephesians in the third of the Epistle to the Colossians and elsewhere he infers all along the duties of the faithful as well for their piety towards God as for their charity towards their Neighbours But he saith not a word of their secret Confession nor of their Invocation of Saints nor of their worshipping of Images nor of any such-like things Fifthly 1 Thes 4.13 In the first to the Thessalonians he speaks of our duties in the mourning which we use for departed friends but without speaking to us to pray for them which was the fittest place for it Sixthly In the first to the Corinthians he reprehends their divisions at the beginning but 't is without saying any thing to them of the Chair of St. Peter the only line of the Union of Christians as those of Rome say Sevently 1 Cor. 12.28 Eph. 4.11 In the twelfth of the same Epistle and in the fourth of the Epistle to the Ephesians he makes a Catalogue of the Charges which the Lord instituted in his Church he having given Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Doctors How in such a place should he have forgotten the Pope if he had known him 1 Tim. 3.1 2 3 8 9. Eightly In the first to Timothy and in the Epistle to Titus he writes at large the conditions requisite to to the Bishops and Deacons Tit. 1.6 How upon this point did he not speak of their not marrying if it were esteemed necessary in such charges Ninthly 1 Pet. 1.1 5.1 St. Peter in the beginning of his Epistle is qualified with the Title of the Apostle of Jesus Christ and in the last Chapter recommends to the Priests the duty of their charge and to make them value his admonition he alledges to them only that he is an Elder amongst them Why did he not take in such an occasion the name of Monarch of the Church or Of Servant of the Servants of God that is to say the first and highest of all the Officers of God which are in the world no body can be ignorant but that it would have been an imprudence near to stupidity of these holy Authors to have forgotten these things in such considerable places if they had believed them But their Writings although we knew no other things of them doth enough justifie to us their wisdom and dexterity in judiciously using every thing that might serve for their purpose Read St. Paul and the first Epistle of St. Peter and you will not demand other proofs for this It remains then that we say that their silence about these Doctrines of Rome so constant and so universal and even in places where it had been to the purpose to alledge them prove clearly that they did not know them 10. After all If it be not possible to shew by the Scriptures that these Doctrines have been revealed by the Lord and taught by his Apostles I do not see by what other means one can prove it For as for the Books of the Antient Doctors which they commonly call the Fathers their Authority is not great enough nor the testimonies which they render of these Doctrines evident enough to ground them upon and to oblige us necessarily to put them amongst the Articles of our Faith as we have in my Opinion sufficiently shewed in a Treatise which we have published upon this Subject And as to the Authority of the Roman Church which now is it is as doubtful and incredible as all the other Articles which they assert so that this cannot serve to prove that they
but those things which as well the Prophets as Moses had foretold that they would come to pass that it behooveth that the Christ should suffer †Acts 26.22 23. and finally how could he in another place assure the * 1 Cor. 15 34. Corinthians that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures that he was buried and that he rose again the third Day according to the Scriptures since it is evident that none of these propositions is literally and expresly so written in any of the Books of the Old Testament but only are gathered from thence by consequence Now if that which is drawn from the Scriptures by good consequence is really in the Scriptures why do you reject it since you confess with me that there is nothing in the Scripture but what is Holy True and Divine conclusions of Truth are not formally in their principles but one cannot deny them to be there in Vertue and Power so that admitting of a principle one admits also all things that can be inferred from it by that very act as for instance he who saith that we have four gospels saith also that we have two and two of them these numbers being evidently contained in that which he hath expressed And the Scripture saying that Jesus Christ is a man saith also by those very words that he hath a soul and body the two parts of the nature of mans 'T is very true that a man may sometimes lay down things the consequences of which he will not allow of but this proceeds from the weakness of his understanding which doth not see all the Lawful consequences which may be drawn from them God whose Wisdom is infinite never affirms any thing without Knowing all the consequences which can be drawn from it so that we need not fear that he will go back from his word or deny any Doctrine to be his that can reasonably be concluded out of his word Since then that all things that can be lawfully inferred from the Holy Scripture are unavoidably true and Divine it is clear that one doth sufficiently prove the truth and holiness of a Creed when he shews that it follows from the positions expressed in the Holy Scripture without any need as formerly the Arians and now the new Methodists pretend to shew it in so many words This is the first principle which Scholarius a Greek indeed but of the side of the Latins laid down at the beginning of his Dispute against those of his own nation concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost first a Scholar orat Henet 3. part Act. Conc. Flor. p. 580. then we must not exspect saith he to find all the proofs expresly and in so many words in the Scripture for this is an excuse which many Hereticks used to save themselves but if there be any thing that may be deduced from what is said in the Scriptures we must Also receive it with the same honour as the Scriptures it self Cardinal Bellarmin who alone hath more desert and reputation in the Roman party then all the Authors and defenders of this new Method have put them all together acknowledgeth this same truth That which one inferreth evidently from the Scriptures saith he is evidently true the Scriptures presupposing it b Bellar. l. 4. de Ec. c. 3. Melchior Canus c Can. loc Theol. l. b. c. 8. Bishop of the Canaries Vega d Veg. l. 9. dê justificat c. 39. Gabril Vasques e Vasques Tom. 1 in Thom. dispute 5.6 3. and disput 12. art 8.6 ◠Alfons Salmeron f Salmer T. 1 prolegum de Canc. 91. all very famous amongst our adversaries make the same judgment of it and the last especially speaks thus of it We ought to hold for Doctrins of Divine Authority and worthy to be received by Faith not only the things which are expresly contained in the Scriptures but those also which are inferred from them by an necessary and evident consequence Certainly 't is enough for us to prove to our adversaries the truth of our beliefs either that we read them in the Scripture or that we infer them from thence since they agree with us that 't is a book Divinely inspired CHAP. X. That this pretended Method takes away certitude from all humane Knowledge and plungeth Religion the Sciences and all the life of men into a horrible confusion But these men demand of us here how we can assure our selves that the consequences which we draw from the Scripture are good and lawful for say they reason is sometimes abused concluding from a principle that which cannot truely be inferred from it Arians and Eutichians who demand formal Passages of the Chatholicks did not they pretend to conclude their false and pernicious opinions from divers places of Scripture where notwithstanding they were not Nestorius Palagius and before them all Origen were deceived in the same manner and there is not perhaps any Heresie which hath not endeavoured to ground it self upon the Scripture by false and abusive discourse Reason then being faulty how can we be assured of the truth of the things which by its means we have discovered in the Scripture for since it is often deceived who can tell us that it is not so now I do not think it strange that an Atheist should make this objection to us since his impiety obliges him to confound all knowledge in an infinite and remedisess incertitude But that men who make profession of the Christian Religion and whose interest t is to preserve Faith Assurance and Credulity in the world should propose to us a discourse which rums all these things from top to bottome in my opinion 't is either an impudence or an extream passion For consider I beseech you how far this fine discourse goeth reason say they is faulty therefore we cannot be assured of the conclusion which it draws from the Scripture But if this consequence be good what assurance can we have First what will become of this so much bragged of certainty of the Catholick Faith which they have alwaies in their mouths it will be accounted to them no other then a meer in discretion For whether they will or no 't is our understanding which receives the things of Faith which considers them and is lead to believe them by the reasons of truth which it seeth in them If our understanding by mistakes and abuses sometimes makes its aprehensions and conclusions uncertain our faith must necessarily be so too The consent of the people the ancient and uninterrupted successions of the Bishop of Rome the Majesty and brightness of the power Beauty Order and pomp of the ministers the light of the divine protection and such like considerations may perswade you that Rome is truely the Church of Jesus Christ but I say how can you be sure of it since this reason to whose report you give credit is false and if it may be faulty in other things why not in this and
14 and the Verb hath been made flesh and dwelt amongst us Phil. 2.6 7. Jesus Christ being in form of God he hath not reputed it rapine to be equal with God so he became nothing himself having taken the forme of a servant made in the likeness of man found in figure as a man he did I say abase himself 2 Cor. 8 9. You know the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord viz. that he made himself poor for you though he were rich that by his Poverty you might be rich John 8.58 Jesus said to them verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was made I am 3. That the Son sent for us is God St. John in the beginning of his Gospel speaking of the word which hath been made flesh vers 14. saith in the beginning was the Verb and the Verb was with God and the Verb was God Rom. 9.5 Christ who is God above all things blessed eternally Titus 2.13 We expect the happy hope and coming of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ 1. 1 John 5.20 He that is to say the Son is the true God and life eternal This is proved clearly thus he who hath created heaven and earth and who now preserveth them is the true God as Esay teacheth who makes the Lord speak thus I am the Lord who makes all things alone expanding the heavene rendring the earth from Esa 44.24 From whence it comes that the Scripture very often gives the quality of a creature to God as an elogy which doth not agree with him but only to distinguish him from all other things as in Esay these things saith the Lord God who hath created the heavens and stretched them out who hath conformed the earth and the things which spring from it Esa 42.5 and likewise Esa 45.12 and 48.13 and 51.13 Now the Son of God sent for us hath created the heavens and the earth and all the things which are in them and governs and sustains them by his power and wisdome St. John speaking of the Verb made flesh for us all things have been made by him saith he and without him nothing hath been done that hath been done John 1.3 and to vers 9 and 10. he is the true light which enlightens every man coming into the world he was in the world the world hath been made by him Col. 1.15 16. The Apostle speaking of the Son of Gods love who is the image of the invisible God first born that is to say Lord of every creature adds in him have been created all things in heaven and in earth visible and invisible be they thrones governments principallities or powers all things I say are created by him and in him and he was before all things and all consist by him Heb. 1.2 3. God hath spoken to us in these latter dayes by his Son whom he hath constituted heir that is to say Lord of all things by whom also he hath made the ages which Son being the splendour of the glory and figure of the substance of him and maintaining all things by his powerful word having made the purgation of sins is set at the right hand of Majesty in high places and vers 10 11. The Apostle appropriates to him these words of the Psalmist Lord thou hast founded the earth from the beginning and the Heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou art permanent and all shall grow old as a garment and thou shalt change them as a vesture and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years fail not it follows then that the Son sent for us is the true God 2. He who by his intelligence knows the thought of humane hearts truly is God as Solomon teaches 3 Kings Heb. 1 Kings 8.39 2 Chr. 6.20 Where speaking to God thou alone saith he knoweth the hearts of all the Sons of men now the Son of God knoweth the secrets of the hearts of men Reve 2.23 where he sayeth I am he who examine the reins and hearts and will give to every one of you according to his works One must then confess that he is the true God 3. He whomay and ought to be served and worshipped with a soverain worship properly so called is God for the Scripture teacheth us that this worship appertaines but to God alone Mat. 4.10 thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Now the Son of God ought to be worshipped by men and angels with a Soveraign worship John 5.22 23. The Father hath given all judgment to the Son to the end that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father he who honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who hath sent him Heb. 1 6â— when he bringeth his first begotten Son into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Phil. 2.9 10. God hath Soverainly lifted up Jesus and hath given him a name which is above all names to the end that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in heaven in the earth and under the earth 4. That the Son of God is the same God who was worshipped heretofore in Israel and who is called the Lord or the Eternal in the books of the Old Testament 1. This appears first from what we have already shown that the Son is God For all the Scripture teacheth us that there is no other God but the eternal Lord known and worshipped in Israel Deut. 4.35 The Lord is God and there is no other besides him Deut. 6.4 Hear Israel the Lord our God is God alone Deut. 32.39 See now that I am onely and there is no other God but me Now Christ is God as we have shewn by the Scriptures It follows then that he is the same Lord or eternal who was worshipped heretofore by the Israelites 2. He whose glory Isaiah saw in the sixth chapter of his revelations is truely the Lord eternal worshipped by the Jews I see saith he the Lord sitting upon an High Seat and lifted up and this appears in the 3 5 7 and 11. verses now Jesus is he whose Glory Isaiah saw as S. John in the 12. Chapter of his Gospel witnesseth vers the 41. where having alledged some words of this passage of Isaiah he adds these things said Isaiah when he saw the glory of him viz. of the Lord Jesus and spake of him It follows than that Jesus Christ is this same eternal worshipped by the ancient people 3. The Lord of the Temple of Jerusalem is the eternal since the Templâ— hath not been consecrated to any but him as it appears through all the Old Testament Now Christ is the Lord of the Temple of Jerusalem as it appears by the Prophet Malachy who foretelling the coming of the Messias the Governor whom you demand saith he and the Angel of the Covenant whom you desire shall come to or into his Temple Malachy 3.1 Christ is then the very eternal
so many words the worshipping the Devil nor the second the casting himself down from the top of the Temple For in S. Matthew he alledgeth the law Mat. 15.4 honour thy Father and Mother and the ordinance he that curseth Father or Mother shall die the death against the traditions of the Scribes and Pharesies who hold that a child who is obliged by an oath or a rash vow not to give any assistance to its Father and Mother would not sin in refusing them the honour which is due to them And nevertheless neither of these two passages do formally and in so many words express what they would conclude from them To the Saduces who questioned him about the resurrection of the dead he produced that which God said in the Scriptures Mat. 22.32 I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob the Saduces remained confused and all the multitude admired the force and strength of this proofe Our methodists laugh at it and demand a formal passage and say that the consequences are faulty The Apostles follow faithfully the tracts of their Master they prove the truth of the gospel against the Jews not by formal passages of the old Testament but by consequences and reasoning which they drew from it In this manner holy Peter shewed the sending and comming of Christ to the world by the words of Moses Act. 3.22 Deut. 18.15 Act. 2.27.29 30 31. Ps 16 10. Rom. 4. Ps 32 1 2. Gen. 15.6 a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like to me his resurrection by that of the Psalms thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption so St. Paul concludes that a man is not justified by the law but by grace in those words of the Prophet blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven Rom. 9.8 and from that which is written that Abraham believed and t was imputed to him for righteousness Thus he proves in his epistles to the Romans and Galatians Gala. 4.28 that 't is by faith and not by workes that we are justified and by the word of the Lord to Abraham Gen. 21 12. Rom. 9.15.16 Ex. 33.19 in Isaac shall thy seed be called and that the calling of beleivers is not of him that willleth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy from that which God sayed to Moses I will be gracito whom I will be gracious and I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy In the same manner he shewes the rejection of the Jews by these words of the Scripture Rom. 9.23.33 Hos 2 23. Rom. 14.10 11. Esai 45.25 behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and the calling of the Gentiles by this I will call them my people which were not my people and the last judgment by these other as I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me What shall I say of his Epistle to the Hebrews all interwoven with proofs of his nature as when he sheweth the excellency of Christ above the Angels by the words of David Heb. 1.5 Psal 2.7 Heb. 5.7 tot thou art my son this day have I begotten thee his eternal preisthood by the History of Melchisedeck in Genesis the advantage of his alliance above the ancients by the oath set down in Psalms 21.10 the Lord hath sworn and well not repert of it Heb. 7.21 I must wholy transcribe the Epistles of this divine man if I would deny here all the examples where he furnisheth us with these sorts of proofs for he disputes every where thus and draws from the holy Scriptures by the force of reasoning thousands of conclusions which cannot be read there expressly And if one cannot prove by the Scriptures except it speaks in so many words as the new method pretends how did the same Apostle dispute by the Scripture against the Jews of Thessalonica that it behoveth that Christ must suffer Act. 17.2.3 Act. 18.28 and that he should rise from the dead and that this Jesus viz. he who was crucified in Judea was the Christ and how did the Apostles demonstrate the same proposition by the same Scriptures certainly this proposition that Jesus is the Christ is found couched in these terms in no places of the old testament as every one confesseth How comes it then that Paul and the Apostles shewed it by this ancient Scripture it is be cause they shewed divers things in the Scripture from whence it necessarily followed for they gathered together all the marks of Christ contained in the books of the old Testament from whence they formed this proposition he who has such and such qualities who is born at such a time and in such a place who doth suffers and teaches such and such things is the Christ this being once so put they consequently apply to their Jesus all the marks and qualities of the Messias proveing by clear and irrefragable witneses that he had exactly in him all that the prophets had attributed to the Messias from whence the conclusion follows of it self that Jesus is then the Messias this is that which S. Luke calls to declare propose in the book of the Acts Acts. 17.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 useing two words most proper for this subject the first of which signifies to open the second to put one thing neer another to tell us that the Apostles prove these conclusions by the Scriptures first in making the prophecies appear clear and shewing the true sence of them and then in examining them with the events and comparing the figures with the things and the shadow with the body from whence the light of the truths of the Gospel shine forth of themselves Since the Lord and his Apostles used this way we must acknowledg that a proposition is lawfully and valuably proved by the Scriptures when one showeth that it evidently follows from the things which are contained in it although it be not there it self expressly except one were so desperate as to accuse the Soveraign Wisdome and his most faithful and intimate Ministers of having imployed vain and frivilous Sophisms instead of good and sollid deemonstrations But besides their examples they have authorized this way of proof by their command For our Lord according to the exposition of the most parts of the antient and modern Interpreters commanded the Jews in the fifth of St. Joh. 5.39 John to search the Scriptures Why should he command that we should search for other things then those which are directly expressed there all the circumstances of the passage shew that he wisheth them to learn who is truly the Christ But this cannot be drawn from antient Scriptures but only by consequences It follows then that the Lord expects that we should learn not only that which it tells us directly but also that which may be concluded from it by good and valid consequences Mat. 22.29 31 32. And in Matt. 22. disputing
the Son and the Holy Ghost are three it must of necessity be that they have in them three Substances For upon this account I can also reason more truely if the Father and the Son are one according to that which he saith himself I and the Father are one how is there more then one Substance but you have not been willing at all to enter into this way of Dispute in demanding of me a passage where the word Consubstantial was exactly and properly laid down 'T is then for you also by the same reason to read to us the three Substances properly and expresly set down in the Scriptures a Ibid. p. 476. infrmed And upon this debate of the manner of the proofs which should be used by both parties the Author of this Dialogue caused a good man whom they made arbitrator of their Disputes to pronounce this judgement In as much as it appears by your Dispute that you cannot shew formally and expresly in the Scriptures neither you the word Consubstantial nor you that of three Substances to the end then that we may not lose more time in a childish debate of superfluous things leave of demanding of one another a formal passage and gather from the authority of the Scriptures by the reason of consequences that there is either one or three Substances in the Trinity b Ibid. p. 477. ante med and at the beginning of the following Sessions repeating the result of the foregoing dispute he saith that they did agree to prove the confession of one or of three Substances by the consequence of Holy Letters passing by the demand of a passage where the word is found Properly and Nakedly laid down a Ibid. med Judge if this be not the very Image of the Disputes of our Methodists do not they demand of us as the Arians do of the Catholicks formal passages upon every point of our differences Do not they reject with the same importunity the consequence and conclusions drawn from the Scriptures Do not they reproach us with the same injustice that these are tricks in logick with which we endeavour to save our seves b Ibid. p. 475. fin Arius de Athan Do not they press us with the same opiniatrety either to read exactly what we believe or to quit the belief of it blessed be God that our cause is found to be like that of the ancient believers And the procedure of our adversaries like that of the old Hereticks Since they choose the method of the Arians let us keep our selves to the desence of the Holy Fathers and by their example let us put our Methodists upon their own rack You demand of us Gentlemen formal passages Let us then have the same liberty Shew us exactly and expresly in the Scriptures that the Pope of Rome is the spouse of the Church and the Monarch of the World that out of his communion there is neither Grace nor Salvation that his judgements are infallible oracles and that in matters of Faith 't is impossible he should err That 't is from his hand only that we ought to receive the Scriptures and that without the Testimony which he gives them they should have no more weight with us then Aesops sables or the Alcoran of Mahomet Shew us written in any one of the books of the Old and New Testament that there is a place bordering upon Hell where some souls sanctified by the blood of the Son of God are burned that there are Altars upon the earth where Jesus Christ is realy sacrificed by a mortal man for the remission of our sins Let us see a passage which saith expresly that we ought to render adoration to your Host which you Name Letrcia or that we ought to worship the Images of Saints departed and kneel down before them invoke their Spirits and acknowledge them for our Mediators I would not have you say that all this can be concluded from Scripture I demand according to your example precise and formal passages either permit me to prove my Faith by consequences or renounce yours full of so many things of which you cannot read one word in the Scriptures Here you have much more interest then I. For my Faith consisteth of less Articles then yours and the Articles which I believe are for the most part so clearly and expresly laid down in the Scriptures that I need no logick to draw them from it 'T is enough for our eyes to read them there In stead of which the beliefes which you and I contest about are so far from the words and sense of the Scriptures that the greatest logick in the world is not sufficient to draw them from it Here to unravel your selves from these straits you will not fail to alledge the authority of your Church But besides telling me of that you go about to perswade me doubtful things by that which is as much or rather more doubtful and by this you evidently renounce the procedure of them whom you call your Fathers for if the authority of the Church ought to decide matters here why did not they interpose it in their Disputes And if it be an ill proceeding to say either prove your Faith by express and formal passages of Scripture or suffer me to prove mine by consequences why did they use it against the Arians say what you please you cannot turn it so but it will manifestly appear to be a great precedent for me against you to prove that you Dispute like the Arians and I like the Holy Fathers CHAP. IX That that which is concluded evidently and necessarily from the Scriptures is veritable and Divine and is part of the Scripture NOw to come to the bottom what can one Imagine more unreasonable then this wilfulness of you the Arians Macedonians and and Eutichians not to receive for true and divine that which is concluded from the Scriptures For since from a truth nothing can be inferred but what is true confessing as you do the truth of the Scriptures is not this an intangling of your selves in an evident contradiction to make a doubt of what is drawn from the Scriptures is not this an offence either to the Scriptures in suspecting it to be alse in certain places or to the truth in accusing it to produce sometimes lyes and bring forth in a manner monsters That which one gathers out of the Divine Scriptures is there or not there if it be not there how could it be drawn from it since 't is not possible to draw from a subject any other thing but what is there nothing giving that which it hath not if it be not there why did our Lord say speaking of the Scriptures of the Old Testament that they bare witness of him †Joh. 5.3.6 and how could he declare by all the Scriptures biginning with Moses and so through all the Prophets the things concerning himself * Luke 24.27 and again how could his Apostles protest that he had said nothing
Religion which he hath given us to obtain this consists in Faith and Charity that the Father appeased by his Obedience receives to mercy all those who knowing their misery and repenting of their Sins do confide in his bounty and believe in his promises that he pardons them gratis all their faults and treats them as if they had never offended and these being animated and enlivened by Faith live afterwards holily and Christianly in Piety towards God and Charity towards their Neighbours according to the Gospel of Christ For he wills that all his Faithful love and serve God with one love and soveraign adoration and that they have a true Charity towards all men carefully keeping themselves from violating their dignity Life Chastity Estates or Honour neither in Deed Word nor Thought every one subjecting themselves to their Order and Laws of their Civil Societies and to the state of the Country where they live but that they entertain a particular amity with the rest of the Faithful cherishing them as their own Brethren uniting themselves to them that so there may be but one Body in Religion and that for this end there be amongst them Pastors and Supervisers who have the overlooking of their Communion administring to them as well the divine Doctrine as the holy Sacraments which the Lord hath left as tokens of his grace and marks and seals of his Covenant having commanded that his faithful Servants should be baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the remission of their sins and that they should eat the Bread and drink the sanctified Wine in commemoration of his Death and communication of his Flesh and Blood We believe that although the truth of these things is most clear yet men are so blinded by the Passion of their malice that they would never understand them if the HOLYSPIRIT true God eternally blessed with the FATHER and the SON did not inlighten their understanding opening their hearts that the light of this heavenly Doctrine may enter in and that God affords them this grace of his own good pleasure giving it when to whom and in what measure it seemeth good to him We believe that to those who shall have believed and lived according to this holy doctrine God will give his Salvation preserving them and taking care of them and when they depart this Life gather their Souls into his repose expecting the last day in which having raised their Bodies will lift them up with Jesus Christ their Head into an incorruptable Heaven there to live eternally in his Glory but the Wicked and incredulous shall perish being punished with the Devil and his Angels in the torments of Hell Reader if thou art conversant in reading the Holy Bible say in thy Conscience whether it be not too great a boldness to deny that these things are clearly contained there onely hearing them named do you not as soon perceive that these Divine Books and especially those of the New Testament are full of them How hard is it to find one verse which layes not down some of these instructions Nevertheless because they will have it so we verifie them Article by Article and to the end that they should not as t is their custome wrangle with us about words we will produce passages of Scripture in those very words into which the Interpreter of our Adversaries hath translated them and then say a little upon every point contenting our selves to mark the rest in the Margint For if we should gather together all the places of Scripture where these Doctrines are positively laid down or hinted we must transcribe almost all of them and as to the Scripture it self we suppose the truth of it without disputing it in this Treatise where the business is only to prove that the Articles whose belief we esteem necessary to Salvation are all found in the Book which we hold for the Rule and principle of our Faith For that is sufficient to bring to nothing the calumny of these new Disputants who to convince the Scripture of imperfection and constrain us by the same means to have recourse to the Authority of their Church crying incessantly that we our selves who make so much account of Scripture cannot prove by it all the things which we believe necessary to Salvation CHAP. II. Of the Essence and Nature of God Of his Qualities and Works 1. FIrst then as to the Article of the Essence and Divine Nature the Scripture layes down at the first word that there is one God in saying that he created the Heaven and the Earth in the beginning and speaks of him every where as of a thing whose being and subsistance every one knows and understands holding them not only for impious and irreligious but for meer fools and sense-less creatures who think there is none Psal 13. Heb. 14. 1. The Scripture makes him Act and speak in infinite wayes and manners from the beginning to the very end teaching not onely that he is but that there is none besides him who truly is all the rest not being but in him and by him So long then as there are passages in Scripture which attribute to God some quality action or word and of this kind there are an infinite number they are so much the stronger and evident proofes of this truth See Duet 4.39 6.4 â—sa 45.5.6.21 John 17.3 and many other places Heb. 11.6 It behoveth him that comes to God to believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him Act. 17.27 28. God is not far from any one of us for in him we live move and are 1 Cor. 8.6 We have one God who is the Father from whom are all things and we in him Exod. 3.14 The Lord said to Moses I am that I am then he said thou shalt tell the Children of Israel he that is hath sent me to you Esaiah 37.16 Lord of Armies the God of Israel who art set upon the Cherubims thou art alone God of all the Kingdoms of the earth thou hast made the Heaven and the earth Esaiab 43.10 11. There was no God formed before me nor shall be after me I am I am the Lord and there is none other Saviour but me Psal 89. Heb. 90. 2. Before the Mountaines were made and the earth and world were formed from age to age thou art God 2. That Godis Eternal Gen. 21.33 See Ex. 15.19 Job 36.26 Psal 9. Heb. 10 8.37 38. Heb. 90.2 Abraham c. called upon the name of God Eternal Psalm 101. Heb. 102. 27 28. The heavens shall perish but thou shalt be permanent and all of them shall wax old as a garment and thou shalt change them as a vesture and they shall be changed but thou art the same thou art and thy years fail not Rom. 16.26 Esai 41.4.43.10.44.6 and 48.12 1 Tim. 1.17 Re. 1.8 By the commandment of the Eternal God 1 Tim. 6.16 God onely hath immortality 3.
New Testament in my blood which shall be shed for you Concil Trid. Sess 22. c. 2. shewing evidently by the Future-Tense in which he puts the Verb which shall be shed that he attributes this effusion not to the Cup but to the blood of Christ which was shed some time after whereas the Chalice was shed at that very hour He ought then to apply the effusion to the blood of Christ and not to the Cup and to translate this passage thus This Cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you And they ought not to alledge that the Participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is spilt is in another case as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Blood the first being in the Nominative and the other in the Dative as the Grammarians speak For though this sort of Construction be extraordinary in the Greek nevertheless 't is in use in the Books of the New Testament as in the 8th Chapter of the Revelation Revel 8.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 1.5 the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died where the Participle having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not agree with the Noun of Creatures in this Case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which nevertheless it it is clearly applied one being in the Genetive and the other in the Nominative and in the first Chapter of the same Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Jesus Christ the faithful Witness where these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faithful Witness which are in the nominative are applied clearly to the Name of our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ though it be in the Genetive as all Interpreters acknowledg Those who understand the Greek tongue may remark other passages where these Divine Authors do construe alike the words different in Case and in number Luke 5.9 9.53 John 21.12 1 John 4.3 Mark 12.38 40. Apoc. 3.12 21. 1 Tim. 4.1 2. One may here then likewise without staying ones self so scrupulously to the Grammar construe the word shed with the blood and not with the Cup and translate This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you Bazil Ethic. definit 21. and 't is just so that the holy Bazel reads it ancienter than us more than 1256 years where he mentions it in his Morals 5. But they make shew likewise to stand upon the words of St. 1 Cor. 10.17 18 21. Paul in the 10th of the first to the Corinthians comparing the Table of the Lord with the Altar of the antient Hebrews and with the prophane Altars of the Pagans For in doing this say they doth he not give us to underderstand that the Eucharist is a true and properly named Sacrifice as those which they offered upon the Altars of the Hebrews and the Gentiles But if this must be thus urged I will then conclude that the Eucharist is a bloody Sacrifice since those of the Jews Pagans with whom they pretend that it is compared were of the same nature Who seeth not that the Apostle in all these places doth not compare the action of the Hebrew and Gentile Sacrificers offering their Sacrifices with the action of Evangelical Ministers blessing the Eucharist But the action of the Hebrews and Gentiles every one eating the bread and drinking the Chalice of the Supper And that he compares them only in this point that as one was a publike protestation which the Hebrews and Gentiles did to participate with the Altars upon which had been sacrificed the flesh whereof they eat and to the Divinity to which they had sacrificed them so also the second was a solemn and authentique act the Communion of which the faithful have with Jesus Christ and of the part which they pretend in his flesh and in his blood So that since 't is impossible to have Communion with Jesus Christ and with the Devils together the Apostle concluding that to eat meats sacrificed to the Devil is a thing inconsistent with the marks and profession of Christianity behold how far he designe of the Apostle extends and no farther 6. Lastly They endeavour to establish their pretended Sacrifice upon this Divine Altar which we have saith the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of which those who serve at the Tabernacle have no power to eat Heb. 13.10 But the circumstances of the passage and even the most celebrous Writers amongst * Nic. de Lyra Thomas and others upon this passage our Adversaries teach us that the holy Apostle spake in that place of the mystical Altar of the Church Jesus our Priest our Victim and our Altar the vertue and life of which those who are yet under the shadow of Moses and the Service of his earthly Sanctuary have no part in as aforetime under the Old Testament Lev. 16.27 the Ministers of the Mosaical Tabernacle eat not of the flesh of the Victims sacrificed for sin CHAP. IV. That the pretended Transubstantiation of the Holy Eucharist is not taught in the Scriptures SO it appears that the pretended Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass is not in the Scriptures it being as impossible to draw it from thence by Consequences as to read it there in formal terms Let us see if this marvellous change which they presuppose of the Substance of the Consecrated Bread into that of the body of Christ may be found more easily there First then Matth. 26.26 Macrk 14.22 Luke 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 They seek it in the words which the Lord pronounced in his instituting the Eucharist for having taken and blessed it he said This is my Body From whence they conclude that the bread hath then lost the Substance of bread because otherwise it could not be the body of Christ But what necessity is there in this Consequence St. Paul said of the Church the same which is said of the bread of the Eucharist that she is the body of the Lord 1 Cor. 12.27 Eph. 1.23 1 Cor. 6 15. and saith particularly of the Corinthians that they are the body of Christ and nevertheless no one concludes from thence that the Church hath lost its first Substance nor the Corinthians theirs The same saith well that our bodies are the members of Christ and every one confesseth that they have not changed their Substance because of that And then why shall one conclude that the Eucharist is not bread because it is called the body of Christ Cajetan in Thom. q. 75. art 1. Scot. cite per Bellard l. 3. c. 23. of the Eucharist The Cardinal Cajetan one of the most famous Writers of the Church of Rome confesseth himself that there was no necessity for it there There appears nothing in the Evangelist saith he which constrains us to take the words literally Scotus holds it likewise And it will avail nothing to reply that the Lord said that it was his body which should be delivered for us which cannot be