upon any Point they have taken for pretext of their separation from the Catholick Church to conclude that their belief in point of the Eucharist is false How remote soever these particular consequences seem to be from these Principles the two general Maxims we have fixed That it 's impossible this Mysterie should be known only by Hereticks and yet the Sacramentarians only deny the Real Presence joyns and knitts them together by an indissoluble knot Wherefore all the Proofs of other controverted Points are convictions of the errour of the Calvinists in point of the Eucharist And this is what ought carefully to be remarked that it 's sufficient to convince them of errour upon any article of Faith whatsomever to conclude the same of their Doctrine of the Eucharist As this Mysterie supports the whole Catholick Religion so the same whole Religion supports it all the Proofs which establishes the several Points that divides us from the Calvinists meet and joyn in this and consequently forms such abundance of light and conviction that it 's impossible those who sincerely open the eyes of their Soul to look upon it to restrain themselves from crying out in a rapture with the Royal Prophet Testimonia tu a credibilia facta sunt nimis Psal 92. SECT XI The Conclusion Where once more the invincible Strength of this Argument is exposed I Can hardly perswade my self that the Ministers who have so high an esteem of reasoning as that they ground their Faith upon it seeing they cannot find it in the Scripture but by the help of their consequences can resolve so to overthrow the Rules thereof as that not being able to find any thing of falshood either in the Major or Minor of a Regular Argument will yet hazard to deny the conclusion of it And at the same time I can less understand what they can say to obscure the clearness and evidence of what was proved in the Major and the Minor. It seems then there is good ground to conclude that they will be forced to acknowledge that in the Book of the Perpetuity it 's most solidly proved that the Faith of the Roman Church concerning the Eucharist which is the same with that of all the Oriental Churches is the ancient and perpetual Faith of the Christians of all Ages and that consequently their opinion which is contrary thereto is a manifest Heresy Yet this is a thing we do not hope for unless it be of some particular person whom God may touch by his Grace But as to the generality of the Ministers we know their Genius better than to promise to our self that they will yeeld to the Truth how manifest soever it may be they are too much infatuate with their ridiculous Opinion of being come out of Babylon as to be able to resolve to return again to it That which will seem most convincing to them will pass in their conceit for a song of Tyre which imitats the Tune of the songs of Sion or for a crafty seducing of the Beast of the Apocalypse whose horns are like those of the Lamb. They will rather choise to put out their own eyes than to be attentive to it They will say Mr. Claud has given satisfaction to all that and it 's only an idle repetition of what has been confuted by their most Reverend Brother and deserves no answer Or if they make any it will not be in answering directly and precisely to every Article and in representing sincerely the Proofs which support all what is asserted by referring to the Books whence they are taken being for brevities sake we were obliged not to set them down at length but they will do nothing but confuse and ravel the Dispute by new incidents to break the threed of it and thereby hinder the simple People of their Party from seeing so easily the truth through the clouds wherewith they will endeavour to cover it But do what the Ministers will I can hardly believe that these who have Wit Conscience and Honour amongst the Protestants will not be perswaded by this Argument that what we believe of the Eucharist and what all those great Societies of the East believes with us is the common and perpetual Faith of the whole Church and consequently that of the Apostles For as to the matters of fact which shows the agreement of these Churches either in Beringarius his time or at this time they are too well grounded to be questioned in sincerity so it 's not like they can doubt of the truth of the Major which is proved in Sect. 1. and 5. And as to the impossibility of an Invisible Change these matters of fact being supposed it appears so easily of it self as it would seem we ought not to have sought Reasons to make it be better perceived if Mr. Claud's pertinaciousness had not obliged us to it But yet we needed no more but to lay open the incredible absurdities which are naturally included in the imagination of this insencible change to set the falsehood of this Fable upon the highest Point of evidence All I fear Gentlemen is that the adherence you have from your Infancy to a Religion you thought true hinder you in the middle of this enquiry and that by a mistaken humility you dare not contradict your Ministers for your Fathers did not adhere to the new Reformers in forsaking the Church but because they had inspired them with that criminal presumption that they ought not make account of the Fathers or Councils but every one could and ought to make himself Judge of the Fathers and Councils by the light he should imagine to have found in the Scripture after having invocated the Holy Spirit it is most just you make use of the same Priviledge in respect of your new Masters seeing hitherto they have not taken the boldness to say they were the only men who might be followed with all security and without any ground of fear of being misled This is all I ask of you your Ministers have so often told you that you must not believe men in matter of Religion because all men are lyars Begine at them with the Practise of this Rule and with judging of the Rule it self for perhaps it 's not so generally true as they pretend but making it general they cannot say it 's not true in respect of them I doubt not but you will confess they have still represented to you Transubstantiation which they call a Monster and the adoration of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament which they call Idolatry as two things unknown to the whole world save only to the Roman Church and that neither the Greeks nor the Arminians nor the Russians nor the Jacobits nor the Ethiopians nor generally any Christian beside those who submit to the Pope believes any thing of these two Articles These are Mr. Claud's words Preface of his answer to Mr. Arnaud pag. 759 and as they all look upon him as the great Defender of the pretended Reformed Churches
years continuance Neither Charity nor Zeal nor the natural inclination Men has to tell the Verity nor Hatred nor Interest never makes any of the Latins nor any of the Greeks belye themselves The Latins are feared to offend the Greeks by this reproach even then when they are putting them to death and the Greeks are feared to offend the Latins on this point even when they are dying for their Religion or being in security they abandoned themselves to the greatest violence of their hatred And what is yet more wonderful is that the means by which the Latins are combined in this politick reservedness are so hidden that they could never yet be discovered in the least so far extended that they are practised by the Popes by the Cardinals by the Bishops by the Priests by the Monks by the Souldiers and by the curious Travellers and so efficacious that they never suffered any one person to bewray the secret They suffer all the other passions to act against the Greeks they suffer the utmost rigours to be exercised against them all kind of reproaches to be made to them even such as naturally seems by the thread of the discourse to lead to the accusing them of not believing the Real Presence if it could have been made with truth but it stops their Pen and Tongue precisely when it comes to the point of passing to that and this for the space of six hundred years not in one onely place one onely Town one onely Province but in the greatest part of the World. Here is what Mr. Claud endeavours to perswade those of his Religion and which he pretends to have rendred probable Without this twofold supposition of a timetousness of six hundred years domineering in all the Christians of the East and smothering all other passions and that of another Policy equally lasting amongst the Latins practised by them with an inviolable fidelity and suppressing also in them all the feelings and inclinations of Nature Himself must avow that the Greeks and other Oriental Societies believe the Real Presence This is what all his Answers are reduced to It is this rare invention which is the ground of the extraordinary satisfaction he declares he has of his Work. It 's by this he pretends to have overthrown the Argument of the Perpetuâ—ty But if he be a Man to feed himself with his own dreams I hope there are few who will be of his humour in that and who will not allow me to conclude against him 1 That the union of these matters of fact we have set down proves with an entire certitude that the Greeks and other Oriental Societies to whom they may be applied believes thâ— Real Presence as the union of thâ— same matters of fact proves that thâ— Calvinists believes the Trinity and Incarnation 2. That this consequence extendâ— farther and shews not onely that the Greeks and other Christians of the East are presently perswaded of that Doctrine but that they have been always perswaded of it since Berengarius and consequently that includes entirely the matter of fact which is found in the first Volume of the Perpetuity and that it destroys in particular the whole second Book of Mr. Clauds Answer to which he had given for Title Nullity of the Consequence And which is most easie and most important to make appear He strains himself in that Book to prove that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation could have been introduced amongst the Greeks and other schismatical Societies by the mixture of the Latin Church with them by the Missioners whom the Popes sent thither and by the power which the Latins had over the Christians of the East But granting to Mr. Claud all the matter of fact he alledges there needs no more but to tell him in one word That they prove exactly the quite contrary of what he pretends and that it cannot be better proved than by these very same matters of fact That which always deludes him is that whereas humane Things are tied to innumerable circumstances which most frequently renders them possible or impossible easie or difficult he disjoyns them from all the circumstances to which they are tied to make metaphysical Questions of them which he considers in a speculative and abstract manner as if the matter in hand were of a World separated from ours whereof we knew no news He examines in the Air that question Whether it was possible that Transubstantiation under which he will have the Real Presence comprehended though he dare not say it should be introduced since Berengarius in the Societies of the East And he thinks it enough to find some vagrant causes which has a remote and metaphysical proportion with that effect Hence it is that he tells us stories which are as useless for him as they are useful being turned against him But to undeceive him there needs no more but to oblige him to consider them such as they are and to cloath them with all the circumstances which are really annexed to them First therefore it is certain that the Latins have not totally reduced these Societies to an union with the Latin Church if they converted some particular persons they converted not the whole Body of them they were not able to make them quit their ancient Opinions nor change their ancient Discipline to which for the most part they adhere as closely as ever Let Mr. Claud then include in the first place this circumstance in the question he treats and let him examine not whether it be possible in general that the Latin Missioners perswaded all these People of the Doctrine of the Real Presence But whether it be credible that these Missioners not having been able to make be received in any of these Societies neither the Doctrines of the Roman Church nor the points of Discipline in which they disagreed from her nor to pacifie their minds toward that Church nor hinder them to treat her as heretical yet they generally succeeded in making be received in all these Societies a Doctrine so strange as that of the Real Presence must have seemed to those who had been Educated in another Belief He must besides add to this Questistion his double Supposition of a general timerousness amongst all the Oriental Christians and a general policy amongst the Latins during all the time he appoints for this change for as in the progress of this introduction it cannot be shewn that the Greeks and other Oriental People unconverted did withstand the Latins in this point or took thence ground to upbraid those who had not yet embraced their Faith Mr. Claud is bound to shew us that this introduction is possible with these two circumstances that is to say he ought to make appear it is possible that all the unconverted Eastern People seeing a new Doctrine spread amongst them did for fear of the Latins suppress all what natural Jealousie and the Principles of their Religion could furnish them of Reasons and Arguments against so strange a Doctrine and
of simple People and those who reasons little and dives not to the bottom of things Who then can doubt but that we ought to judge of the sence of these fundamental Words ordained to instruct us in the belief of this Mystery by that general and common Impression which these kind of People receives without so many reflections And consequently that these common Impressions are the rule of the meaning of these Words This is my Body seeing otherwise it would follow that Jesus Christ should have led into errour all those who following Nature and common Sence should have bonâ fide understood these Words in the sence they imprint naturally The Question then is only to find the simple and natural Impression which the Church has received by these words Now what more proper means could be made choice of to perceive the sence these words are taken in without Philosophy and without Metaphysick in following simply Nature and common Sence than to consult in what sence they were de facto taken since the Apostles to this day by all the Christians of the World who were not concerned with our Disputes And this is seen by the agreement of all Christian Societies in the belief of the Real Presence which we have so clearly and solidly proved in this Book for it 's manifest they entered not in that belief but in taking the Words of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament in a literal sence and in understanding that after the Consecration the Bread became the true Body of Jesus Christ They did not amuse themselves to play the Philosopher on the meaning of the word This on the meaning of the word Is on the meaning of the word Body they did not study the tropes and figures but without so many boutways and reflections they all conceived that it was the very Body it self of Jesus Christ This is what these words bred in their minds this is what they expressed by their Professions of Faith. Mr. Claud and several other Ministers would indeed perswade us if they could that there is nothing more natural and easie to find than their figurative sence they give to these Words For when there is no more to be done but to assert things boldly and to make shew of much confidence these Gentlemen never find themselves straitned But to see how little sincere they are in this matter there needs no more but to read what we have answered to them in the two first Books of the second Tome of the Perpetuity Certainly if that figurative sence was so easie to be found how came it to pass that all these Christians who compose those great Societies of the East and West and who for so long a time have believed the Real Presence did not perceive it How came it to pass that Luther * Epistola de argentinenses tome 7. Witemb fol. 502. Gravibus curis auxius in haec excutienda materia multum desudabam omnibus nervis extensis me extricare conatus sum cum probe perspiciebam hac re Papatui me valde incommodare posse ... verum me captum video nulla via elabendi relicta textus enim Evangelii nimium apertus est potens c. who sought after it so long time as a mean which he thought would be so advantageous for him to vex the Pope as he says himself could never find it And that after he had bent all his endeavours to that purpose totis nervis extensis he avows that the Text of the Gospel is so clear and so strong for the Real Presence that it was impossible for him to get himself rid of it How did this figurative sence I say so easie to be found not shew it self to this man who is reputed among them as Calvin Liv. du lib. arb pag. 311. in Opus assures us for an excellent Apostle of Jesus Christ who has erected their Church of new Finally how does Zuinglius who is also one of their Holy Fathers declare that several years after he had rejected the Real Presence he knew not yet how to explain these Words This is my Body by these words This signifies my Body and that he learned this famous Explication which he calls a happy Pearl foelicem Margaritam only from the Letter of a Hollander which he found in the Cloakbag of two of his Friends who came to consult him * Epistolam istam cujusdam docti pii Batavi soluta sarcina communicarum In ea foelicem hanc margaritam est pro significat hic accipi inveni Zuing. Ep. ad Pomeranum Tom. 8. f. 256. and that it was only by an advertisement he had in a Dream from a Spirit which he says he knew not whether it was white or black In subsidio Euchar. Tom. 2. f. 249. that he learned a passage of Exodus which he thought most proper to defend his Key of Figure as himself calle it if this sence was so natural and so easie to find Mr. Claud proposes in his third Answer Pag. 26. as a means which he pretends is infallible to assure him that beliefs concerning a Mystery such as is the Eucharist are not formaly in certain Passages where they are said to be to wit says he when the eyes do not perceive them and that they are not in them in equivalent Terms or are not drawn from them by necessary and evident consequents when common sence does not discern them therein And he adds that this proof although negative is of the highest degree of evidence and greatest certainty But not to stay here to shew the horrour as a Christian should have at this impious reasoning which justifies all Hereticks for they need say no more than Mr Claud does If the Truths he would have us believe were in Scripture in formal Terms our eyes would perceive them and if they were there in equivalent Terms or might be drawn thence by evident and necessary consequences our common sence would discern them c. For although they do ill in rejecting a Truth yet it 's true that they do not perceive it Not to insist I say on this I need no more but to make use of this Argument against him and tell him that if the Belief and figurative Sence of the Protestants were in formal Terms in the Words of Jesus Christ our eyes would perceive them if they were there in equivalent Terms or might be thence drawn by evident and necessary Consequences our common sence would discern them but after having made an exact search by all manner of ways our eyes and our common sence declares they are not there in any of these ways therefore they are not there at all What can Mr. Claud deny in this Argument Not the first Proposition for it is his own word for word nor must it be the second for it is undoubtedly true because certain it is that neither our Eyes nor our common Sense discovers to us that figurative sence and belief of Protestants