how this can be since the accidents or outward species of Bread still remain I desire them to resolve these Questions How a thousand species can be reflected from the same Glass at once to a thousand Eyes at the same time How the same Glass being whole transmits one intire species and yet broken into many small pieces every piece reflects the same whole and intire species there being all the while but one subject and what that subject is wherein these species do subsist Or let them but give a true account of the nature of any small Particle of that matter which composeth the Vniverse before they pry too far into the secrets of Divine and supernatural Mysteries and think that God can do nothing but in such a manner as they can comprehend Therefore our Adversaries had good reason to say speaking concerning the Objections against the Trinity Incarnation and the Resurrection with identity of Bodies That if there were as plain Revelation of Transubstantiation as of those then this Argument were good and that if it were possible to bring a thousand more Arguments against Transubstantiation yet that we are to believe the Revelation in despite of them all Again That Those who believe the Trinity in all those Niceties of Explications which are in the Schools and which now a days pass for the Doctrin of the Church believe them with as much violence to the principles of natural and supernatural Philosophy as can be imagin'd to be in the Point of Transubstantiation And do not therefore insist upon the Point how far Reason is to be submitted to Divine Authority in case of certainty that there is a Divine Revelation for what they are to believe And that there are things haud pauca not few in number which we all believe that if human Reason be consulted do not seem less impossible and less manifestly contradictory than Transubstantiation it self Now that the words of our Lord This is my Body being understood in a proper Sense as in the ensuing Answer is prov'd they ought to be do necessarily infer Transubstantiation is manifest Because as is allowed by all that was Bread which our Lord took into his hands before he spoke those Words there must therefore a Change be made otherwise it could not Really become Christs Body nor that which he gave his Disciples be in a proper Sense so called And the Accidents or sensible species still remaining as before the change must be made in the substance This is what the Tridentine Council infers in these Words Because Christ our Redeemer did affirm that truly to be his Body which he offer'd under the species of Bread therefore it was ever believed in the Church of God which also the Holy Synod now again Declares that by the Consecration of the Bread and Wine there is a Conversion made of the whole substance of Bread into the substance of the Body of our Lord Christ and of the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood which Conversion is by the Holy Catholic Church fitly and properly called Transubstantiation The foregoing Inference will evidently appear to be true if we consider the proper and genuin Sense of every particular Word in that Proposition of our Lord This is my Body This here in its true and proper Sense signifies some Thing Essence Substance or Object in general under such an appearance as was Demonstrated to Sense For if by the word This were exprest the whole Nature of the Predicate in such a Proposition e. g. as This is Bread or This is my Body then the Proposition would be purely Identical or Tautological for it would be no more than if one should say This Bread is Bread or This my Body is my Body Whereas it is the property of the Attribute to extend and fully to determin the Idea of the Subject by adding clearness to it And we must remember that the English word This is exprest by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original Greek here as also in most other Languages not by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Masculine Gender so as to agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bread. Now tho' there be no distinction as to the Gender in the English word This Yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Bread as our Adversaries would have here meant is false Grammar In like manner the Word Is hath here it's proper Sense not as it is used sometimes for Signifies The Word My can have Relation to no other Person but our Lord who spoke it nor consequently to any other Body but his own truly so as to it's Substance and therefore truly exprest by the Word Body that which was before Bread at the beginning of the Enunciation This is my Body being now made to be his Body at its Conclusion because in Practical Propositions as this is with God to say and to do are the same thing and thus you see what is meant by each word in the Proposition This is my Body as explicated by Catholics tho' you do not believe the Mystery Let us now observe what a Late Expostulator hath said against this Explication He undertakes to prove that the Words This is my Body cannot be taken in a literal I conceive he means proper in opposition to Figurative Sense which he supposes his Enemies themselves of our Party will grant if he proves that the This here mentioned is Bread which he thus undertakes to do That saith he which our Saviour took into his Hands when he was about the Institution was Bread that which he blessed was the same thing that he had taken into his hands that which he brake was the same thing that he had blessed that which he gave them when he said it was his Body was that which he had broken But that which he broke which he blessed which he took into his hands was Bread Therefore it was Bread which he gave his Disciples and by This is meant This Bread. This Induction saith the Expostulator is so fair and so clear that I am sure you cannot evade it But what Sir if after all your mighty boasting This prove to be neither a fair Induction nor any Argument at all but a mere Fallacy or Illusion proceeding from what Logicians call Ignoratio Elenchi Ignorance of Argument or proof And just such a one as This would be if proposed to you That which the Butcher exposed to Sale was raw Flesh that which you bought was the same thing that the Butcher exposed to Sale that which you Eat was the same thing that you bought But that which you bought which the Butcher expos'd to Sale was raw Flesh therefore you Eat raw Flesh The Kitchin-Boy will tell you where the Fallacy lies and help you out at a dead lift But to make the matter yet more plain I shall give you some other instances in your way of Sophistry which the most ignorant at the first
their true and adequate objects and the mind about those which are proper to it is rational But to advance sense above reason and even Faith it self the Beast above the Man and the Christian too as the Author doth is such a piece of stupidity as is not to be parallel'd DISCOURSE It might well seem strange if any Man should write a Book to prove that an Egg is not an Elephant and that a Musket-bullet is not a Pike It is every whit as hard a case to be put to maintain by a long Discourse that what we see and handle and taste to be Bread is Bread and not the Body of a Man and what we see and taste to be Wine is Wine and not Blood And if this evidence may not pass for sufficient without any farther proof I do not see why any Man that hath confidence enough to do so may not deny any thing to be what all the World sees it is or affirm any thing to be what all the World sees it is not and this without all possibility of being farther confuted So that the business of Transubstantiation is not a controversie of Scripture against Scripture or of Reason against Reason but of downright Impudence against the plain meaning of Scripture and all the Sense and Reason of Mankind ANSWER Here the Author like another Lucian renouncing the Christian Faith begins to ridicule the most Sacred Mystery of our Religion I confess I am very unwilling to follow him in such dirty way as he takes It is not at all suitable to the retiredness wherein our Devout minds should be entertained when we conceive of a thing so truly Divine to speak slightly I must intreat therefore the Candid Reader to abstract his thoughts wholly from the Blessed Sacrament at such time as any of this froth is cast back again upon the Author which I heartily wish he had spared me the pains of doing and that he had kept his Egg and his Elephant to himself The Analogy would have been more easily made out by those who maintain that Grace and Vertue are the Body and Blood of Christ verily and indeed received for so an Egg is vertually at least an Elephant if according to the principle of the Philosopher Omnia animalia generantur ex ovo every Animal is generated out of an Egg then by such as hold with the Catholic Church that the Sacrament is not Bread and Wine but what verily and indeed it is the Real Body and Blood of Christ Now how to change a Musket-bullet into a Pike I confess I know not The Dragoons better understand that piece of Martial exercise Howsoever I must needs acknowledge with the Author that it seems strange that any Man should write a Book to prove that an Egg is not an Elephant and that a Musket-bullet is not a Pike therefore it is a thousand pities that so curious a Wit as his should be concern'd in so absurd an enterprise as he believes his to be And yet Good God what will not the confident presumption of some Men put them upon he undertakes a task fully as impossible to be performed as that and of infinitely more dangerous consequence to prove that not to be which by the power of God is really made to be in the Sacrament The Author knows that the Catholic Church grounds this wonderful change made in the Elements upon Divine Revelation which depends upon the Veracity of God So that it will not be so very hard a case to maintain by a discourse much shorter than this of the Author even our Lords Words of Institution that what we see and handle and taste as Bread is not Bread in substance but the Body of Christ and what we see and taste as Wine is not Wine in substance but the Blood of our Saviour And if this evidence may not pass for sufficient without any further proof I do not see why any Man that hath confidence enough to do so may not deny any thing to be what all the World sees it is or affirm any thing to be what all the World sees it is not since the Word of God is more Infallible than our senses and this without all possibility of being farther confuted for he that denies the Veracity of God can no ways conclude his senses to be veracious The denial then of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation is not a Controversy of Scripture against Scripture or of Reason against Reason but of down-right impudence against the plain meaning of Scripture and all the sense and reason of Mankind DISCOURSE It is a most Self-evident Falsehood and there is no Doctrin or Proposition in the World that is of it self more evidently true than Transubstantiation is evidently false And yet if it were possible to be true it would be the most ill natur'd and pernicious truth in the World because it would suffer nothing else to be true it is like the Roman-Catholic Church which will needs be the whole Christian Church and will allow no other Society of Christians to be any part of it So Transubstantiation if it be true at all it is all truth for it cannot be true unless our Senses and the Senses of all Mankind be deceived about their proper objects and if this be true and certain then nothing else can be so for if we be not certain of what we see we can be certain of nothing ANSWER The Doctrin of the real Presence or Transubstantiation is a Truth that is evident upon the Authority of the Revealer and there is no Opinion that the Author holds is more evidently false than this is evidently true For Faith is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. and the best natur'd truth in the World it is which conveys us infinite blessings Which unless it be so we have no reason to believe any thing else to be true a Truth like that of the Catholic Church which unless it be that which hath lived in Communion with and just obedience to her chief Pastors especially St. Peter and his lawful Successors in the See of Rome then there hath been no true Church upon the face of the Earth For so the real Presence or Transubstantiation unless it be true we cannot be assured of any truth It must be so if God be veracious that is unless what he reveals be false since the very truth of our Senses and all our Faculties depends upon his Veracity and if we be not certain of what he hath revealed though it seem to contradict our Senses we are certain of nothing DISCOURSE And yet notwithstanding all this there is a Company of men in the World so abandon'd and given up by God to the efficacy of delusion as in good earnest to believe this gross and palpable Error and to impose the belief of it upon the Christian World under no less penalties than of temporal death and eternal damnation And therefore to undeceive if possible these
deluded Souls it will be necessary to examine the pretended grounds of so false a Doctrin and to lay open the monstrous Absurdity of it ANSWER And yet notwithstanding all this there is a Sect of men in the World so abandon'd and given up by God to the efficacy of delusion as confidently to deny this revealed truth and to impose this strange Negative Article of Faith of theirs That in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after Consecration by any person whatsoever under no less penalties than the temporal loss of their Estates and Livelihoods the loss of their Lives the formal renouncing of the Catholic Faith and Religion which is dearer to them than their Lives and consequently Eternal damnation Therefore to undeceive which we hope is possible these deluded Souls it will be necessary to shew the real grounds upon which Transubstantiation is built that so the monstrous absurdity of the contrary Doctrin may be made to appear DISCOURSE And in the handling of this Argument I shall proceed in this plain method I. I shall consider the pretended grounds and reasons of the Church of Rome for this Doctrin II. I shall produce our Objections against it And if I can shew that there is no tolerable ground for it and that there are invincible Objections against it then every man is not only in reason excused from believing this Doctrin but hath great cause to believe the contrary FIRST I will consider the pretended grounds and reasons of the Church of Rome for this Doctrin Which must be one or more of these five Either 1st The Authority of Scripture Or 2ly The perpetual belief of this Doctrin in the Christian Church as an evidence that they always understood and interpreted our Saviour's words This is my Body in this Sense Or 3ly The Authority of the present Church to make and declare new Articles of Faith. Or 4ly The absolute necessity of such a change as this in the Sacrament to the comfort and benefit of those who receive this Sacrament Or 5ly To magnifie the power of the Priest in being able to work so great a Miracle 1st They pretend for this Doctrin the Authority of Scripture in those words of our Saviour This is my Body Now to shew the insufficiency of this pretence I shall endeavour to make good these two things 1. That there is no necessity of understanding those words of our Saviour in the sense of Transubstantiation 2. That there is a great deal of reason to understand them otherwise ANSWER In the handling of this Argument I shall proceed in this plain method I. I shall consider the solid grounds and reasons of the Catholic Church for this Doctrin II. I shall weigh the Objections which the Author makes against it And if I can shew that there is a real ground for it and that the Objections against it are weak and inconsiderable then every man is not only in reason obliged to believe it but hath great cause to reject the contrary First I shall consider the solid grounds and reasons of the Catholic Church for this Doctrin Which are at least these five 1st The Authority of Scripture 2ly The perpetual belief of this Doctrin in the Christian Church as an evidence that they always understood and interpreted our Saviours words This is my Body in this Sense Or 3ly The Authority of the Church in every Age to declare propose and exhibit when by misinterpretation of Heretics they are forc'd to it a more explicit Sense of the Ancient Articles of our Faith. Or 4ly The infinite Mercy and condescension of God to operate such a change as this for the comfort and benefit of those who receive this Sacrament Or 5ly The just dignity of the Priest whom God is pleas'd to make use of as his Minister for the working so miraculous a change 1st The Catholic Church hath always grounded the Doctrin of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation upon the Authority of Divine Revelation in these words of our Saviour This is my Body Now to shew the validity of this Proof I shall endeavour to make good these two things I. That there is a necessity of understanding these words of our Saviour in the Sense of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation From whence it will necessarily follow II. That there is no reason at all for the understanding them otherwise DISCOURSE First That there is no necessity to understand those words of our Saviour in the sense of Transubstantiation If there be any it must be from one of these two Reasons Either because there are no figurative expressions in Scripture which I think no man ever yet said or else because a Sacrament admits of no figures which would be very absurd for any man to say since it is of the very nature of a Sacrament to represent and exhibit some invisible grace and benefit by an outward sign and figure And especially since it cannot be denied but that in the institution of this very Sacrament our Saviour useth figurative expressions and several words which cannot be taken strictly and literally When he gave the Cup he said This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you and for many for the remission of Sins Where first the Cup is put for Wine contained in the Cup or else if the words by literally taken so as to signifie a substantial change it is not of the Wine but of the Cup and that not into the Blood of Christ but into the New Testament or new Covenant in his Blood. Besides that his Blood is said then to be shed and his Body to be broken which was not till his Passion which followed the Institution and first celebration of this Sacrament ANSWER First That there is a necessity of understanding those words of our Saviour in the Sense of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation For these two Reasons 1. Because although there be many figurative expressions in Scripture which all men allow yet this in relation to the Case in hand is not such 2. Although a Sacrament admits of Figures which no man is so absurd as to deny since it is of the very nature of a Sacrament to represent and exhibit some invisible grace and benefit by an outward Sign and Figure Yet the Figure doth not lie where the Author pretends it doth The Rule which men ought to observe in their discourse in relation to Figures is this That a Figure should not be used which the Auditor doth not easily apprehend to be so To compare therefore a Figure which all the World can easily understand to be so with an expression which no man can Construe to be a Figure according to the Rules of human Discourse is very absurd Yet such is the Authors instance from Scripture From whence he alledgeth that when our Saviour gave the Cup he
said This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed or more properly poured out for you and for many for the remission of Sins Did not our Lord plainly read in the minds of his Disciples that by the Cup they would understand that which was contained in the Cup If any one should advise the Author when he is thirsty to drink off his Glass would he be so inconsiderate as to swallow it together with the Wine Nay further so unhappy is the Author as to urge this instance of holy Scripture in the first place which alone is enough fully to clear the Point against him Neither the Apostles nor any men else could be so ignorant of the manner of human discourse as not to apprehend that our Saviour by the Cup meant what was contained in it which was most certainly Christs Blood for otherwise it could not be said of it as it is Luke 22. 20. that it was then poured out for the Apostles and for many for the remission of Sins it is said is poured out in the Present Tense not shall be poured out in the Future therefore here can be meant only the Blood of Christ as now poured out in the Sacrament for them not as it was afterwards shed from his Crucified Body upon the ground The Original runs thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where in construction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agrees with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Wine as a Figure only of Christs Blood or signifying its virtue could not be poured out for the remission of Sins You might with more congruity of Speech affirm of an Image of the Blessed Virgin This is that which conceived the Son of God because in this there is some plain resemblance to the Prototype Beza a great Critic in his way though an Adversary to the Catholic Doctrin in this Point not being able to deny this Proof would rather have the Scripture to be thought false although that be the whole Foundation of their Faith than change his Opinion and saith that it is a Solecism and should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He concludes that the holy Spirit or St. Luke that divinely inspired Pen-man the most eloquent of all the Evangelists could be sooner mistaken though in a matter of so great moment than himself or else he would have the Scripture to be falsified and corrupt in this place and not himself For he acknowledges that all the ancient Manuscripts which he had seen and even his own which was of great Authority and of venerable Antiquity venerandae Antiquitatis together with the Syriac Version to which he gives this Elogy that it was deservedly accounted to be of greatest authority maximae meritò authoritatis did conspire together to refer the effusion of Blood to the Cup. The Author therefore and all that separate from the Catholic Church in this Point must either at last be forced to confess here as Beza doth concerning those words of our Lord This is my Body That this saying thus exprest cannot be retained but it must prove Transubstantiation after the manner of the Papists or else that the Holy Scripture the Foundation of Christian Faith is made invalid So that it is plain from what hath been said that the Cup is here put for what is contained in the Cup and that the words so taken do signifie and operate a substantial Change not of the Cup but of the Wine in the Cup and that not into the New Testament or Covenant but into the Blood of Christ in which this New Covenant or Testament is made sealed and confirmed Besides that his Blood is said here then to be poured out and his Body then to be broken and given for us which they could not be unless they were then really in the Sacrament because the Passion wherein his Body was peirced only not broken as in the Sacrament and his Blood was shed from his Crucified Body upon the ground not only poured forth from one Vessel to another and drunk as in the Sacrament followed the Institution and first Celebration of this Sacrament DISCOURSE But that there is no necessity to understand our Saviour's words in the sense of Transubstantiation I will take the plain concession of a great number of the most learned Writers of the Church of Rome in this Controversie Bellarmin Suarez and Vasques do acknowledg Scotus the great Schoolman to have said that this Doctrin cannot be evidently proved from Scripture And Bellarmin grants this not to be improbable and Suarez and Vasques acknowledg Durandus to have said as much Ocham another famous Schoolman says expresly that the Doctrin which holds the Substance of the Bread and Wine to remain after Consecration is neither repugnant to Reason nor to Scripture Petrus ab Alliaco Cardinal of Cambrey says plainly That the Doctrin of the Substance of Bread and Wine remaining after Consecration is more easie and free from Absurdity more rational and no ways repugnant to the Authority of Scripture nay more that for the other Doctrin viz. of Transubstantiation there is no evidence in Scripture Gabriel Biel another great Schoolman and Divine of their Church freely declares that as to any thing express'd in the Canon of the Scriptures a man may believe that the substance of Bread and Wine doth remain after Consecration and therefore he resolves the belief of Transubstantiation into some other Revelation besides Scripture which he supposeth the Church had about it Cardinal Cajetan confesseth that the Gospel doth no where express that the Bread is changed into the Body of Christ that we have this from the Authority of the Church Nay he goes farther That there is nothing in the Gospel which enforceth any man to understand these words of Christ this is my Body in a proper and not a metaphorical Sense but the Church having understood them in a proper Sense they are to be so explained Which words in the Roman Edition of Cajetan are expunged by order of Pope Pius V. Cardinal Contarenus and Melchior Canus one of the best and most judicious Writers that Church ever had reckon this Doctrin among those which are not so expresly found in Scripture I will add but one more of great authority in the Church and a reputed Martyr Fisher Bishop of Rochester who ingenuously confesseth that in the words of the Institution there is not one word from whence the true Presence of the Flesh and Blood of Christ in our Mass can be proved So that we need not much contend that this Doctrin hath no certain foundation in Scripture when this is so fully and frankly acknowledged by our Adversaries themselves ANSWER The Author hath had very little Success yet in that which he calls a Discourse against Transubstantiation therefore because he would now do some Execution he is forc't to come down to his Adversaries
Transubstantiation Defended And Prov'd from SCRIPTURE IN ANSWER TO THE FIRST PART OF A TREATISE INTITLED A Discourse against Transubstantiation The First Part. S. Ignatius Ep. ad Smyrnaeos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They abstain from our Communion because they do not confess the Eucharist to be the Flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ that very Flesh which suffer'd for our sins which the Father of his bounty raised again Those therefore which contradict this free gift of God die scrupulously Questioning the matter amongst themselves Publish'd with Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Maiesty for His Houshold and Chappel 1687. The Principal Contents of the Introduction 1. Reasons why the Discourse against Transubstantiation lay so long unanswer'd 2. The Real or Essential Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament shew'd to be the Doctrin of the English Church 3. How the Catholic Church necessarily inferreth Transubstantiation from our Saviours words understood in a proper Sense 4. The Pretended Demonstration to the contrary from the Sense of the Word This in those Words of our Lord This is my Body so highly boasted of in the Expostulatory Letter to Mr. Sclater of Putney shew'd to be a mere Illusion AN INTRODUCTION To the ensuing ANSVVER SOme have wondred whilst others Triumph't and a late Writer particularly hath vainly boasted in a certain Letter to a Friend that Two great Doctors of the English Church had baffled their Adversaries of Rome even to the silencing of that Party and all this was because the Discourse against Transubstantiation lay so long unanswer'd The best account that I can give of the so long silence is that the more considerate knew that the said Discourse contained no new matter but only what had been very often objected against us since the Pretended Reformation of the English Church and as often fully Answered as also that there have been two large Volums Writen by a Learned Catholic Author and cited by the Discourser himself wherein the Objections against Transubstantiation are put much further than this late Discourse urges them and all clear'd beyond the Power of any solid Answer and we find none for many Years last past so much as offer'd at against the said Treatises nor yet to a more compendious one Entitled A Rational Discourse concerning Transubstantiation Publish't 1676. In which the chief Objections repeated since by the Discourser are fully clear'd Moreover the Doctrin of the English Church concerning the Real Presence being no less vigorously attacqu't by the late Discourser than that of the Roman Catholic it was thought more proper that some of them should have first return'd an Answer to it because they had the greater Reason to resent the injury done them since a wound from a pretended Friend is more grievous than from a profest Adversary Indeed I would not have the Genuin Sons of the English Church to think that we differ so much with them in this Point as some by Misrepresenting the thing would make us to do seeing that they do acknowledge with Bishop Andrews praesentiam non minus quam nos veram no less True Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament than we do and I am sure that is True enough our difference with them who deny Consubstantiation as is manifest from their Writings being only about the not admitting the Word Transubstantiation whereas they have so long freely acknowledged the thing For if the Body of Christ be Really present in the Sacrament and not with the substance of Bread it must be there without it under the External Species only of Bread and consequently such a change of substance as the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation must certainly be made and there can be no other Sense given of that Real Presence which hath been received in their Church Now that the Real Presence of Christs Body together with it's Vertue and Efficacy is the acknowledged Belief of the Greatest and most Learned Persons of the English Communion is certain notwithstanding the weak endeavor of an imperfect Answerer to the Animadversions upon the Alterations of their Rubrick lately Publisht to shew the contrary Which that it may the more plainly appear I shall add one Observation made by a Famed Doctor of their Church which will be the more Authentick because it was drawn from their Records It was proposed saith this Doctor to have the Communion Book viz. That put forth in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign so contriv'd that it might not exclude the Belief of the Corporal Presence I doubt not but they meant after a Spiritual manner as Catholics do suitably to St. Paul who uses the words Spiritual Body to signifie a Real Body existing after a Spiritual manner For the chief Design of the Queens Council was to unite the Nation in one Faith and the Greater part of the Nation continued to believe such a Presence which however seems to have been determin'd against in their former Articles and Rubrick Thereupon the Rubrick that explain'd the reason for kneeling at the Sacrament that thereby no Adoration is intended to any Corporal Presence of Christs Natural Flesh and Blood because that is only in Heaven which had been in King Edwards Liturgy is left out And in the Article about the Lords Supper the Refutation of the Corporal Presence was by Common consent left out And in the next Convocation the Articles were subscribed without them of which he tells us he had seen the Original Now whatsoever this Doctor whose usual Practice it hath been like the Snake in the Fable to bite and betray those that have cherisht him pretends to know of a Secret concerning this matter for which he doth not bring the least proof or Authority whereas he had seen the Original to be an evidence of what he had before said yet for my part I have more Deference for the English Church than to believe that the Real Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament was after so much consideration about the matter now behold the secret comes out left as a speculative Opinion as he saith and not determin'd but every Man left to the freedom of his own mind because an express Definition against the Real Presence might drive from the Church many who were still of that perswasion For then those studiously alter'd Articles and Rubrick had only been made as a Trap to draw Men into Idolatry and keep them in it if you will believe some of the great Modern Writers who live in Communion at present with the English Church and yet deny that Real Presence which was both in Queen Elizabeths time and ever since believed in that Church and tax those with Idolatry who Worship Christ thus present Therefore we have good Reason to allow what he tells us afterwards that some we are sure that many of the most Learned amongst them have since truly inferr'd that the Chief Pastors of the Church did then
have been made by their Learned Professors in the Publick Schools of both their Vniversities ever since this last Declaration was receiv'd whether they are not fully satisfied that they have been much more Positive for a Real Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament in a further Sense than the abovementioned Author and others in their Late Discourses against Transubstantiation declare themselves to be And I have the rather given the Sense before expressed of the last clause of their new Declaration which indeed is the only one it can truly bear because the Catholic Church Authoriseth it in the Council of Trent by Declaring there that these two things are not inconsistent viz. that Our Saviour according to his Natural way of Existing should sit at the Right hand of his Father in Heaven and that he should be in the substance Present to us Sacramentally by that manner of Existence which altho' it can scarcely be expressed in words yet our mind enlightened by Faith can be brought to conceive that it is possible with God. I hope therefore that Christian Charity may in time put a happy end to the tedious Disputes which have been so long held about the Blessed Sacrament that so the Sacred Symbols of Peace and Vnity may no longer be made the Subject of Contention Especially when we consider that tho' when the strange Opinion of there being only some certain Vertue of Christs Body in the Sacrament and not that very Body it self was first privately held about eight hundred and eighteen Years after our Saviours time by some Persons that erred through ignorance yet they were asham'd publickly to contradict as some in this last Age have done that Real Presence which the whole Christian World believ'd and confest and concerning which none had ever before erred in the Church but those who had erred concerning Christ himself Likwise that altho' the fourth Great Council of Lateran one of the Greatest which ever was held in the Christian World that they might put an end to the contentions then arisen and maintain Christian verity and peace amongst the Faithful did in declaring the Faith of the Church concerning the Blessed Sacrament make use of the word Transubstantiated to express precisely that Great and Supernatural change therein made which the Catholic Church had in all precedent Ages even from Christs time believed as being necessarily deduced from our Saviours words and exprest by the Primitive Fathers in several other terms signifying the same thing yet the Catholic Church thought it not necessary to determin any thing concerning those nicer speculations about the modes of this wonderful change which have exercised the more subtle Wits even before the time of the Lateran Council and ever since And of this excellent moderation used by the Catholic Church we have a clear evidence from the proceedings of the Council of Trent in reference to this matter which as Padre Paul himself notwithstanding he was no great friend to Catholics in his Historical Relations of the Proceedings of this Council relates determin'd to use so very few and those Universal terms in the Article of the Blessed Sacrament as might satisfie both Parties viz. the Scotists and Thomists and be fitly accommodated to the Sense of each of them but not so as to establish their distinct private speculations Cardinal Pallavicino likewise tells us speaking concerning the circumspection of the Tridentin Fathers that they would have nothing determin'd concerning the modus or manner of the Sacramental Presence of Christ So far were they from prejudicing either of the Theological Classes or from offering to declare those things as Articles of Faith which were not the Revelations of God but the speculations of Men. So that if we can agree that this great supernatural change is made in the Sacrament without the admission of which those of the English Church can never prove that Presence of Christs Body in the Holy Eucharist which they acknowledge to be no less true than we do they will be yet left at liberty and need not determin rashly concerning the manner of it nor so much as anxiously to inquire into this Point For indeed Transubstantiation is a great mystery of Christian Religion so is the Doctrin of the Trinity so is the Incarnation of our Lord to which the Primitive Fathers do so often compare the supernatural change made in the Sacrament so is the Resurrection of our Bodies yet these Articles of Christian Faith are to be believed upon the Authority of the Revealer and not too curiously to be pried into I shall insist only upon the Resurrection at present to shew how little ground they have to believe this upon the account of natural Reason who reject the belief of Transubstantiation by Vertue of which we receive the Instrument and pledge of our Resurrection Christs Real Body in the Sacrament Both these indeed may seem contrary to Reason before enlightned by Faith For how can that convince us that the same Body which dies shall rise again since some that eat Mans Flesh in the extremity of Famin or as the Cannibals out of luxury have the substance of the Bodies that they eat converted into the substance of their own Bodies by the way of nourishment And several other ways there be by which the reduced parts of our Dead Bodies are changed into the substance of other Human Bodies even so that the same Bodies may be claimed by many at the Resurrection Notwithstanding we believe that we shall rise with the same Bodies we had whilst living Dim sighted Reason will ask how this can be since it is against the Nature of a Body to be in two places at the same time Yet Nature and experience prepare us for the belief of the Resurrection which seems to be against Nature by the example of those things which are obvious to Sense Seed as the Apostle instanceth is cast into the ground it corrupts and yet riseth again for God giveth it a Body and to every Seed it 's own Body So to dispose us to the belief of the supernatural change made in the Sacrament nothing is more familiar than Natural Transubstantiation for our life is sustained by a dayly change of the substance of other Creatures into that of our Bodies we should soon die without this Nay we cannot breath but the substance of our Bodies is converted into Air and he that denies this Transubstantiation confutes himself while he speaks Thus Bread also was dayly Transubstantiated into our Lords Body whilst he fed upon it here on Earth All which may dispose us to believe that the Bread in the Sacramental Consecration as Gregory Nyssen teacheth us passeth into the Body of Christ the Word not indeed as it did by the way of manducation and nourishment but being suddainly transform'd into the Body of the Word as is said by the Word This is my Body And if our curious Inquirers shall further ask
to sharpen his blunt Weapons Which notwithstanding will prove no advantage to his Cause He here then tells us in his first Period That he will take the plain Concession of a great number of the most Learned Writers of the Church of Rome in this Controversie that there is NO necessity to understand our Saviour's Words in the Sense of Transubstantiation But what if it manifestly appear from the Words of these Writers that he takes this by force which they never gave him since they all thought themselves bound to accept the Words in that Sense which they acknowledge the Church to have given of them as deducible from Scripture by necessary Consequence tho' not so plainly prov'd from the bare Words consider'd by themselves as you shall see from their Authorities hereunder cited Then he proceeds like a false Mustermaster to make up the number of his List by calling Men that are not in it to answer to other Names than their own Bellarmin Suarez and Vasquez do acknowledge Scotus c. Again Bellarmin grants this not to be improbable and Suarez and Vasquez acknowledge Durandus to have said as much Here they are wheel'd about a second time to make the greater Show yet there are but two Men in effect after all this calling The Author says Bellarmin and Suarez and Vasquez say Such a Man said such a Thing Why such a blundering sort of an Evidence would be flung out of any inferior Court of Judicature it faulters so manifestly at the very beginning that we may assure our selves it can never speak clearly Let us see therefore what Scotus saith for himself his Words are these If you say that Christ by saying This is my Body doth plainly teach us that the Bread doth not remain for then the Proposition would be false this is not cogent for supposing so that 't is but a Supposition still the Substance of Bread did still remain the Substance of Bread is not demonstrated here but what is contain'd under the Bread as now the Accidents are shew'd for then the Proposition would be false but the Sense is that which shall be contain'd under this sensible Sign is my Body Mark how much Scotus favors the Author's Opinion of the Senses being Judges of what is in the Sacrament Again he saith The truth of some things that are to be believ'd is more explicitly set down than in the Apostolic Athanasian or Nicene Creed and in brief whatsoever is by the Catholic Church propos'd to our Belief is to be held of the substance of Faith after a solemn Declaration made by the Church he gives the Reason afterwards Because the Scriptures are Expounded by the same Spirit by which they were made And thus he concludes telling us in plain terms That the Church therefore chose this Sense of Transubstantiation because it is true for it was not in the Power of the Church to make it true or false but of God Instituting it But the Church Explain'd the Sense which was deliver'd by God. And if it be so that Transubstantiation was the true Sense and that before the Declaration of the Council then there was a necessity to understand our Saviour's Words in the Sense of Transubstantiation according to Scotus as well before as after the Council since 't was the Sense deliver'd by God. Therefore when the Author saith he hath the plain Concession of a great number of the most Learned Writers of the Church of Rome reckoning Scotus in the first place that there is NO necessity to understand our Saviour's Words in the Sense of Transubstantiation he saith that which is not true Bellarmin indeed grants what Scotus said of the substance of Bread remaining notwithstanding its being converted into the substance of Christs Body as I shall presently shew that it is not ALTOGETHER improbable Non omnino improbabile altho' there may be great Improbability in the thing notwithstanding mark the Word which the Author is pleas'd to leave out that there is no place of Scripture extant so express as that without the Declration of the Church which notwithstanding clears the whole matter can evidently compel us to admit of Transubstantiation viz. in the Sense of the Thomists whose way of Explication of it is somewhat different from Scotus's But that not being of Faith there ought to be no Controversie about it and therefore the Council of Trent directly Condemn'd neither of these Ways And Durandus himself after he has Discours'd Problematically upon the Point like a Schoolman at last concludes solidly That that is not always to be chosen in matters of Faith which hath fewest difficulties consequent to it That the substance of Bread and Wine is chang'd into the substance of Christs Body That that only is principally effected in this Sacrament which is signified by the form of the words viz. of Consecration Which Argument being urg'd by him from Scripture for Transubstantiation is a plain Evidence that he did not deny the necessity of understanding our Saviours words in that Sense For he concludes positively from Scripture that both these things are made to be in this Sacrament viz. The Existence of the Body of Christ and the Conversion of the Bread into it And what is this but Transubstantiation Therefore what the Authors abovemention'd say concerning Scotus and Durandus is to be applied rather to their particular manner of explicating the Doctrin of Transubstantiation than to the thing it self since many other Authors do not think them to be mistaken in the Point Ocham seems to allow that the substance of Bread may remain tho' it forsake its accidents and the substance of Christ's Body doth not forsake them and this according to him was one way of solving Transubstantiation which he is far from saying to be contrary either to Reason or Scripture Petrus ab Alliaco Cardinal of Cambray was of Opinion that it was possible and not repugnant to Reason nor the Authority of the Bible nay that it was more easie to be understood and more reasonable that the substance of Bread should remain there where the Body of Christ begins to be and that so the substance of the Bread should be said to pass into the subsance of the Body of Christ So that here is Transubstantiation still plainly maintain'd in his Sense and he doth not believe that there was need of any other Revelation for it than Scripture Gabriel Biel tells us that although it be expresly deliver'd in Scripture that the Body of Christ is truly contain'd under the Species of Bread and receiv'd by the Faithful yet it is not found expresly in the Canon of the Bible how the Body of Christ is there whether by the Conversion of something into it or whether the Body of Christ begins to be with the Bread without Conversion the substance and accidents of the Bread remaining But he doth not deny the former of these ways to be
Protestants and particularly the Author would have them to be must need be allow'd to be obscure and difficult because they differ so much among themselves as well as from the Catholic Church about the meaning of them and yet none of the Evangelists nor St. Paul altho ' varying in expressing the Words of Institution have inserted any words which in the least explain the Sense to be Figurative or Parabolical hence it follows That the Church hath great reason to understand them properly 2. Because now just upon our Lords Passion it was the Time for Figures and Shadows to vanish and for Truth and Reality to appear And our Lord was Instituting the Great Sacrament of Christian Religion he could not therefore speak with too much force and efficacy especially since he now spake to his Apostles in private to whom he was used at such times to speak very plainly 3. Because Christ was making his Last Will and Testament which was to be expressed in such plain and distinct Terms that there might be no just reason for his Children to contend about their Legacy And can we be so unworthy as to imagin that in this his Last and Kindest Bequest he left us no more but a Morsel of Common dry Bread to eat and a little ordinary Wine and Water to drink in remembrance of him whereas a kind and good natur'd Man will leave his most precious Jewel to his dear Friend to remember him by when he departs from him to take a long Journy and to make any considerable stay A good Father when he is to dye thinks all his best Goods and Possessions too little to leave his Children He was also delivering a Commandment to observe which that it might be rightly executed ought to be promulged in a manner very intelligible 4. Our Lord was near his Death and therefore it was a time to avoid Obscurity in Speech since he was not to continue any longer amongst them to interpret it 5. Our Saviour in the choice of these words had not only regard to the Apostles but he likewise spake them to all the Church in all succeeding Ages and knew certainly when he pronounced them how they would always construe them and yet for the confirmation of the Sense of the Reality did never suffer it to be call'd in question so much as privately for almost a Thousand Years when also the whole Body of his Pastors who were endu'd with extraordinary Light and Assistance of his Holy Spirit to enable them to interpret aright the Divine Misteries had already just before in Three Councils agreed upon this Sense as that which had been constantly receiv'd in the Church ever since our Saviours Time and which was more explicitly declared against that one Dissenter who sometime after appear'd against it but was ashamed of his Opinion and recanted Lastly if we consider as hath been now fully prov'd That all the places of Holy Scripture as also all other Forms of Human Discourse which are alledged by our Adversaries as like to this of our Lords Institution are wholly different from it shewing them the quite contrary to what they pretend them for and that our Saviour did neither before at or after the Institution any ways prepare or dispose his Disciples to understand these words in a Figurative Sence it must needs be very evident to any Man that will impartially regard things that because Christ ever spake reasonably and in a manner conformable to good Sense and his Power infinitely exceeds the capacity of our Minds therefore there is no Reason to understand those words of our Saviours THIS IS MY BODY and THIS IS MY BLOOD in a Metaphorical Sense as the Author and the Sacramentarins do but an evident necessity to believe them in that proper Sense which necessarily inferreth Transubstantiation as the Catholic Church doth since Scripture interpreted by the Rules of Human Discourse as also the Tradition and Authority of this Church oblige us so to do The latter of which is to be the Subject of the Second Part of the Answer to the Discourse against Transubstantiation The Contents of the First Part of the Answer to the Discourse against Transubstantiation 1. IT is shew'd that our Adversary doth not rightly state the Point Page 1 2. What is meant by Transubstantiation 4 3. The Argument from Sense shew'd to be Senseless ibid. 4. The Catholic Faith is ridicul'd by the Adversary 7 5. The Real Presence and Transubstantiation depends on Gods Veracity 9 6. No Transubstantiation an Article of Faith with our Adversaries and establish'd with Penalties 10 7. The Method of the ensuing Discourse 11 8. The Necessity of understanding our Lords words in the Sense of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation 13 9. The Sense of the Schoolmen corrupted and their Problematical Discourse mistaken for their Conclusion by the Adversary 16 10. The Disparity between the Figurative Expressions in Holy Scripture and the words of Institution This is my Body shews that the Latter are to be taken properly 25 c. 11. Principles upon which the ensuing Discourse is grounded ibid. 12. How Catholics interpret the words of Institution and how Protestants 26 13. In what Sense Catholics allow a Figure in the Sacrament 28 14. Rules to judg of Metaphorical Expressions by 31 2. 15. The Application of the forgoing Rules by which it appears that those merely Metaphorical Expressions of our Saviors being a Door a Vine c. are not at all like to the Form of Consecration This is my Body 33 c. 16. A Metaphor conveys no Spiritual Vertue Page 36 17. The Exposition of Pharaoh's Dream doth not resemble the Sacred words of Consecration This is my Body ibid. 18. Distinctions and Rules for the following Discourse of the Nature of Signs ibid. 19. Application of the foregoing Rules and Distinctions 37 20. The Analogy which the words of Institution This is my Body might have to the Paschal Form in Scripture or to those Phrases cited from Esdras or any of the Rabins doth not prove that Christs words here are taken Figuratively and not in a proper Sense 40 21. A Deeds being call'd a Conveyance doth not prove that the words This is my Body are not to be taken properly 46 22. Texts of Scripture examined and prov'd not at all to favour the Sense of the Author of the Discourse against Transsubstantiation 47 23. Christ's Body being broken and his Bloud being poured out for the Remission of Sins before he was Crucified proves the Sense of the Reality or Transubstantiation 52. 24. The 6th Chapter of S. John's Gospel interpreted as relating to the Blessed Sacrament 54 c. 25. The words Do this in Remembrance of me explain'd 59. 26. The Real Vertue of Christs Body in the Sacrament cannot be prov'd from Scripture unless the Real Presence of his Body it self be admitted 60 27. Further Reasons from Scripture for the proper Sense of the words of Institution which necessarily
Himself or by his Disciples if no more had bin meant than so as he did in the case of Parables less difficult to understand than this would have bin if it had bin by our Lord proposed as one but proceeds to deliver this profound Mystery to them in more express words using a vehement Asseveration to confirm the truth of it Verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day For my Flesh is truly meat my Blood is truly drink He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father So he that eateth me even he shall live by me This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are Dead He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever All which words being used by our Lord to clear the doubt and answer that Question of the Jews How can this man give us his Flesh to eat I cannot imagin how the Real Presence of Christs Body and its Manducation in the Sacrament could have bin more fully Asserted in order to the disposing of his Disciples to believe the Sense of the Reality when he should Institute his blessed Sacrament And so the Fathers interpret this place And do not say that the Manna mentioned in the 58 verse which was miraculously sent from Heaven was a Type of ordinary Bread made by the Hands of Men and set upon the Table which is of a far more Ignoble Nature and less Significant than the Manna which thus came down from Heaven but of the Real Body of Christ in the Sacrament which was the true Bread from Heaven that nourished to Immortality After our Saviour had spoke thus to them many of the Disciples themselves to whom Christ did not think fit as yet to reveal the manner of feeding upon his Body in the Blessed Sacrament thinking that he meant that his Body was to be eaten in a gross manner like the Capernaites cried out this is a hard saying who can hear it To whom as well as to the Jews who before are said to murmur at him because he said I am the Bread which came down from Heaven and that ask how this Man could give them his Flesh to eat our Lord replies doth this offend you and then clears the Doctrins to them as far as he judg'd convenient for the confirmation of such high Mysteries about which they were to exercise a strong and a lively Faith by saying thus v. 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before As if he should have said if you do not yet believe that the Son of Man came down from Heaven yet when you see him ascend thither again you will be more ready to believe that it was really God who came down took Flesh and dwelt amongst you which Solution had relation chiefly to the former of the Mysteries viz. his Incarnation but withal insinuates that such as believe not his words touching the holy Sacrament and think it impossible for him to give his Body to be eaten in so many places at once being yet on Earth would be much more Scandalized and Tempted after they saw or knew him to have Ascended into Heaven Therefore to clear the latter Mystery and Solve their doubt who thought like the Capernaites that Christ was to have cut pieces of flesh from his body and to have given them to be eaten or that thought his Body to be that of a mere Man he tells them v. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing that is the Flesh which he had told them before that they must eat altho' not in the gross manner without the Spirit profiteth nothing not but that by the Spirit quickning it it profits very much Suitable to that of St. Paul. 1 Cor. 8. 1. Knowledge puffeth up but Charity edifieth that is Knowledge without Charity puffeth up altho' when Chariy is joyned with it to enliven it it edifies and Charity it self edifieth by Knowledge For if these words of Christ were to be taken in the Sense of the Sacramentarians they would derogate no less from his Incarnation Manhood and Death than from the Real Presence of his Body in the Sacrament in all which without doubt the flesh profiteth very much Wherefore our Lord goes on to tell them here that the words which he spake unto them were Spirit and Life therefore not to be understood in the gross carnal Sense before mentioned which some of his Disciples took them in For it is the use of the Scripture to call Mans natural Sense carnal Reasoning and resisting or not reaching to the belief of Supernatural Truths Flesh and Blood as Matth. 16. 17. Flesh and blood revealed not this to thee c. but the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and Life therefore not to be carnally understood But as by the Word of God the World was Created and Nature hath been since often chang'd so there is no doubt but Christ could by it change the Bread into his Body as he did daily by ordinary Natural Nutrition but here in a supernatural way Our Lord therefore said unto them that their Fathers did Eat Manna in the Wilderness which was but a Type of this Heavenly Manna in the Sacrament and yet they did Spiritually feed upon Christ the Messias for it is said 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. That they did all eat the same Spiritual Meat and did all Drink the same Spiritual Drink for they Drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ and yet they are Dead all of them a Temporal some of them an Eternal Death also and those of them which now live the Life Eternal received this Life from the Son of God who hath now given us the Antitype of that Manna which the Children of Israel did eat viz. his own Body in the Sacrament something of a far more excellent nature to feed upon which will be to our Bodies as well as to our Souls the Seed of Immortality the Instrument and Pledge of our Resurrection Ascension and Glorification Yet as our Lord said to his Disciples there are some of you which believe not so we may say still of the Sacramentarians who notwithstanding all that Christ hath said will admit of nothing but Signs and Figures of imaginary vertue whom nevertheless our Saviour hath no further instructed in any such easie Sense as this which might certainly have prevented their relapse as well as that of the Jews his Disciples and which if any such Sense had been to be admitted would most certainly have been given that they will not believe our Lord and therefore they go
away and will walk no more with him in the Communion of his Church Having thus made it to appear that these words of Christs Institution This is my Body according to the Rules of human discourse ought to be taken in a proper Sense not only if considered in themselves but especially if we regard what Christ hath said before touching the Sacrament to dispose his Apostles thus to believe them it will necessarily follow that those words also of the Institution This do in remembrance of me which relate chiefly to the Priests Power and Duty as the other did to the Body of Christ in the Sacrament and which St. Paul explains in these words As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye shew the Lords Death till he come ought not to be considered as a determination of the former words of the Institution in a Figurative Sense after the Sacramentarian way but as a Declaration of one great end of the Sacrament viz. The calling to mind and setting forth of Christs Death till he comes which is so far from being a Reason to prove that Christs Body is not Really there that on the contrary this Commemoration and Annunciation is founded upon the Real Presence of Christs Sacrificed Body and Blood in this Sacrament since without this it could not be done so effectually in Christs Church as now it is For as the Jews in eating the Peace-Offerings did remember that they were slain for them so by Offering here the Real Body of Christ after the manner of an unbloody Sacrifice we commemorate and set forth in this lively Exemplar that Bloody Sacrifice which Christ himself offered in a different manner upon the Cross and receive the benefit thereof which we need not to question since he gives us daily of this Victim to feed upon in the Blessed Sacrament tho' without the horror of Blood. Shall Christians then under a pretence of Celebrating the Memory of the Passion in the Eucharist evacuate Christs Institution by taking away from this pious Commemoration that which he out of his tender love hath given us as most efficacious in it for the good of our Bodies into which this Sacrifice of Christs Body being received Sanctifies them and Consecrates and prepares them for a Glorious Resurrection as wells as for the good of our Souls Ought we not to consider that Jesus Christ doth not only Command us to remember him but likewise that we should do this by feeding upon his Sacramented Body and Blood since he doth not say that Bread and Wine should be a Memorial of his Body and Blood but that in doing what he prescribes us to do which is that in Receiving his Body and Blood we should remember him And what more precious and lively Memorial could he give to his Disciples and to all his beloved Children what better Legacy could he bequeath them at his departure out of the World than this If the the Primitive Christians were inflamed with Zeal and Devotion when they approached to the Monuments where the Bodies only of Holy Martyrs lay Intombed more especially if they could but touch any of their precious Reliqus being by this means stirred up to a Pious Memorial and imitation of their Holy Lives and Deaths and therefore did Religiously preserve the smallest pieces and even the Nails of that Cross upon which Christ suffered Commemorating thereby his Holy Passion how much more then should our Memory and Love be excited when we approach to the Holy Altar and know that we Receive there tho' veiled under the Sacred Symbols the very Body and Blood of our Lord who Sacrificed himself for us enlivened and quickened by his Grace and Spirit I could now proceed to shew for the further confirmation of what I have here alledged from the Authority of Holy Scripture that unless the words of St. Johns Gospel above mentioned as also the words of our Saviours Institution be taken in the Sense of the Reality or Transubstantiation that there is no promise to be found in Holy Writ of any Spiritual vertue to accompany this Sacrament so that our Adversaries whilst they are so eager to oppose the Reality do as much as in them lies destroy the nature and end of this Blessed Institution and have no argument at all to use against the Socinian who denies the Real Vertue as well as the Real Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament Which is the reason why I do sometimes term this Vertue which the Author without ground conceives to be in this Ordinance tho' separate from Christs Real Body Imaginary because there is no reason to conclude the vertue of the Body to be here from Scripture unless the Body be so too not that I would derogate at all from the vertue of Christs Body which by reason of the Hypostatical union is Infinite But this task is already performed by a Learned Modern Author And the Reader may easily discern the Truth of what I have here asserted by inspecting such places of Holy Scripture as relate to this Sacrament into the number of which they will not allow the sixth Chapter of St. Johns Gospel to be admitted Having therefore thus explained those places of Holy Scripture which relate to the Blessed Sacrament as also those other Forms of speaking both of Divine and Human Authority which the Author is pleas'd to compare with the Words of our Lords Institution and shew'd upon comparing them together that they will not at all fit his purpose but prove the quite contrary to what he would have them to do I shall now sum up such of the Reasons and Arguments for the understanding the Words in which our Saviour Instituted this Blessed Sacrament in a proper Sense as the Catholic Church expounds them as are plainly deduced from the Nature and End of this Holy Institution and the Manner of expressing it in Holy Scripture which I intreat the Christian Reader seriously to consider of and so conclude this Head of Discourse 1. Because Christ the great Lover of Souls never spake to his Apostles and Disciples in Figures and Parables which had any obscurity or difficult Sense especially if the Discourse related to the Practice of a necessary Duty with an intention to keep them in Ignorance but that their humble and well disposed minds might be the more excited and inflamed with a desire of inquiring into and understanding the true meaning of what he said and that they might the better retain it And because in all such cases even of less difficulty than this of the Sacrament as particularly in the Parable of the Sower of Seed altho' the Mystery concerning the success of the Gospel which was herein prefigured was not necessary for every one to know as that of the Eucharist was Christ did fully explain himself to his Disciples who were also to instruct others Therefore since the words of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament if understood Figuratively as the