be adored To conclude Let MARY be held in Honour but let God be Adored Now to this God who alone has infinite Perfections and is a God hearing Prayer let us ascribe as is most due Salvation and Glory and Power and Praise and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen FINIS ADVERTISEMENT Of Books published by the Reverend Dr. WAKE THere having been lately a little trifling Discourse concerning the Blessed Sacrament published and spread abroad in the Name of Dr. Wake dedicated to the Princess of Denmark it is thought convenient here to let the World know how great an injury has been done to him in it To prevent such Practises for the time to come the Reader is desired to take notice that the Doctor has yet published no other Books than what are here subjoined nor will ever hereafter set his Mark where he is not willing to write his Name Printed for Richard Chiswell AN Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church 4 to A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against Monsieur de Meaux and his Vindicator The SECOND PART A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is prefixed a Large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead A Continuation of the Controversie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a full Account of the Books that have been of late written on Both sides Preparation for Death being a Letter sent to a Young Gentlewoman in France in a Distemper of which she died Printed for William Rogers A Discourse concerning the Nature of Idolatry in which a late Author viz. the Bishop of Oxford's true and only Notion of Idolatry is considered and confuted 4 to The Sum of a Conference between Dr. Clagert and F. P. Gooden about Transubstantiation Published by this Author with a Preface Printed for Richard Chiswell and William Rogers TWo Sermons One before the King and Queen the other before the House of Commons Both Reprinted in this present Collection Other Tracts by the same Author A Sermon Preached at Paris on the 30 th of January S.V. 1681 5. The Present State of the Controversie Sure and Honest Means for Conversion of all Hereticks and wholsom Advice and Expedients for the Reformation of the Church The Preface by this Author A Letter from several French Ministers fled into Germany upon the account of the Persecution in France to such of their Brethren in England as approved the King's Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original French * Mat. xi 15 xiii 9.43 Mat vii 16 Luk. xiv 35 c. 2 Cor. v. 11 Mat. xiii 8 2 Tim. iii. 5 Joh. xv 22 1 Cor. i. 12 Ib. ver· 17 18 19· and 2 Cor. iv 13 2 Cor. iv 5 1 Cor. ix 22 1 Cor. vi 7 2 Tim. iv 3 Aristot. Eth. Nic. lib. 1. c. 1. Rom. xii 17 Mat. v. 44 Luke xi 41 xvi 9 1 Co. i. 18 21 23 25. John vii 17 Luke viii 14 Ib. Mat. xxii 15 Mat. x. 16 Andronic Rhod. Par. Eth. Nic. l. 1. cap. 4. Jo. v. 44 Jo. xii 42 43. Jo. viii 47 1 Joh. iv ver 6. col cum vers 4 5. John iii. 19 c. Acts xxiv 16. Rom. i. 28 See Pontif R. Ordo ad reconcil Haer. Luke xii 47 1 Cor. â—â— 14. Acts. xvi 14 Luke xi 13 See chap. xxxi 19 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‡ See Munster and Fagius on v. 1 of this Chapter Crit. M. Vol 1. Titus ii 11 Psal. lviii 5 Mat. xvi 26 Psal. 132.3 4. Hos. v. 15 Isa. xxvi 9 See the Commination used on Ash-wednesday 2 Cor. iv 5 1 Cor. iv 5 See 1 Cor. v. 1 See the Rhemists Annot. on this Chap. Catholick Scriptur Point 26. of Indulgences n. 6. Mat. vii 14 1 Tim. iv 8 Prov. iii. 17 Maâ— xvi 24 Psal. xiv 1 Morin de Poenir l. 8. c. 4. n. 26. 1 Jo. iii. 21 Psa. 130.4 1 Joh 19. Phil. ii 12 Card Perron See this more at large Serm. VI VII Collect for the iv th Sund. after Epiph. Jude iii. V. 1. V. 2. See the R. Pontific O. d. ad Reconcil Haerer Spondeo sub Anathematis Obligatione Mâ— nunquam Quorumlibet suasionibus vel quocunque alâ—o modo ad Reversurum Et si quod absit ab hâc me unitate aliquâ Occasione vel Argumento divisero perjurii Reatum incurrens aeternae obligatus poenae Inveniar c. Acts iv 19 II. Chap. ver 18. 2. 1 Cor. II 9. Mat. v. 44 1 Tim. ii 5 2 d Com. Aquin. his School 1 Cor. xiv Mat. iv 8 Heb. xi 25 26. Heb. xi 35 Dan. iii. 15. 16. 17. 18. Mat. x. 28 Matth. x. 32. 33. Acts xxiii v. 23 c. Ib. v. 12 14 16. Joh. xvi 2 Acts xxiv 23 v. 24 See Grotius and Dr. Hammond on that Verse which in our Translation seems to imply quite otherwise viz. That he had a perfect knowledg of the Jewish Law Josephus Hist. l. 20. Tacitus Hist. l. 5. Verse 2. Verse 24. Acts xvii 31 Rom. xiv 10 2 Cor. v. 10 1 Thess. iv 15 c. 1 Cor. xv Matt. xxv 31 c. Rom. ii 6 c. Gen. xviii 25 Wisd. v. 4â— 5. v. 24 2 Cor. v. 10 ‡ Tacitus Hist. lib. v. c. 9. says of him That per omnem saevitiam ac libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit Et annal l xii c. 54. cuncta malefacta sibi impune ratus tanta potentia subnixo * Joseph Antiq. Jud. l. 20. c. 5. pag. 616. Basil. 1544. The Account of which see above p. 159. Act. ii 37 Eccl. xi 9 Mat. xxv 41 The Socâ—nians 1st Deny Immortality to the wicked Smalc contr Frantz p. 415. Volkelius lib. iii. cap. 11.12 2dly They affirm That they shall be for ever destroyed Smalc l. c. Volk l. c. pag. 73. and cap. 33. pag. 133. Socinus in 1 John 2.17 Bibl. Fr Pol. p. 178. Woltzogen in Mat. iii. 12 and in Mat. xxv 46 And that 3dly By Fire Schlicting comm in Hebr. x. 27 apud Crellium in Bibl. Fratr Polon T. 1. see his Paraphr on the same vers ibid. Mat. xiii 42.xxii.13 xxv 41 46. Mar. ix 43 c· compared with Rev. xiv 10.xx.10 Rom. ii 5 6 8 9. Add for the reality of the pains Mat. xi
but One God and one only Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus But our New-Masters are not thus content They set up if not more Gods yet I am sure more Objects of their Religious Worship more Mediators than one and teach men to address their Prayers more frequently through the Merits and Intercession of their new Advocates to whose Patronage they have committed themselves than through His who is the true Christians only Advocate Christ blessed for ever * Christianity forbids us to make any graven Images the likeness of any thing in Heaven above to Bow down before it and worship it These false Prophets set up their Images in every Church and bow down to the work of their hands For this end they consecrate them with many Abominations And however some think fit to dissemble it yet others speak it boldly out as the Doctrine of their Church That the very same Religious Worship is to be given to the Cross of Christ that is paid to Him that suffered upon it * Christianity commands us to pray in a tongue which the Church understands that so the unlearned may be able to say Amen at our giving of thanks Our New Guides direct men to pray in a tongue which to be sure the people do not and which sometimes even the Priest too that officiates understands as little as they * Christianity is a Religion that teaches men to be meek and humble not to think of themselves above what they ought to think but when they have done all to say they are unprofitable servants But our new Teachers have not so learnt of Christ. They know a little better how to value their own performances Instead of saying they are unprofitable servants they teach men to value themselves on the account of their Merits to look upon Heaven to be but an equal recompence of their Piety nay yet more that they may live so as to make God a Debtor to them beyond all the Glories of Eternity and to merit a Crown both for themselves and others * In short for there is indeed no end of the contradiction Christianity commands us to take bread to bless it and break it To take Wine bless it and pour it out and eat and drink at the Holy Table in remembrance of that Death and Passion which our Blessed Saviour once for all underwent upon the Cross for us But what now do our new Instructors They tell us here is neither Bread nor Wine to be eaten or drunk that they are I know not how converted into the very Natural Substance of Christ's Body and Blood That he was not offered up once for all but is here again as truly offered as ever he was upon the Cross That thereby a new Expiation is made for the Sins both of the dead and the living and thô our Saviour has as expresly commanded both kinds as either yet they declare that one is sufficient for the people to partake of and accordingly they give no more to them Thus you see how very little a Knowlege of our Lord and his Religion will suffice to show that there cannot be any just cause for any one to forsake the Communion of our Church to plunge himself into such an abyss of Error and Superstition as this And then if he be but equally advanced 2 dly In Grace too this will certainly secure him that no base motive no danger or Interest shall be able to prevail with him so to do Let the Seducer display all the seeming advantages of such a change Let him with his Master the Devil set us up upon the high mountain of our own vain imaginations There let him shew us all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the glories of them and to compleat the Parallel let him if he can add too All these things are mine and to whomsoever I will I can give them if thou wilt therefore renounce thy Faith and fall down and worship me all shall be thine By Grace we shall learn to despise them all This will convince us that there can be no true honour in dissembling a mans conscience and prostituting his Soul his Religion and his God to a little present advantage That the Riches of this world are but vanity that the true treasure is in Heaven In a word That the favour of the greatest Monarch is not worth the purchasing if to obtain that we must lose the favour of God for ever Let him shift the Scene instead of all these advantages let him set forth all the dangers that either the Devil can suggest or his own more furious Zeal invent By Grace we shall be able to despise even those too This will teach us that there is a God in Heaven who shall laugh them to scorn and whose Counsel it is that when all is done shall stand That if he pleases to protect us 't is not all their malice that can do us the least injury But that should he either for our Punishment or our Trial expose us to their rage yet still we ought with Moses to esteem the reproach of Christ beyond all the treasures of Egypt and chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season This was the brave resolution of the Saints of old They were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection When Nebuchadnezzar commanded the three Children in Daniel to worship the golden image which he had set up they regarded neither the Majesty of the King nor the Threats of his fiery furnace They told him plainly That they were not careful to please him in that matter that their God if he pleased both could and would deliver them out of his hand But if not yet Be it known to thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up And the same has been the spirit of our forerunners in the Faith they have overcome all the fiery darts of the Devil whilst that Blessed Saviour who first gave the Command has ever since inspired his followers with strength and resolution to fulfil it Fear not them who can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but fear him who can cast both soul and body into hell-fire yea I say unto you fear him Here then let us exercise our selves Let us be stedfast to our Faith and that we may be so Let us grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Seducers amongst us are many they are diligent and watchful by any means to draw us into their Nets and God knows both their Religion and their Arguments are but too much adapted to our Passions and our Interests and may therefore be but too likely to prevail upon us But Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware Behold I have
few Exceptions that have sometimes been offer'd to justifie the doing of it This is a work both too large for such a Discourse and besides the design of my present Undertaking And that one Concession of many of our Brethren themselves who tho' they continue ordinarily to separate from us yet nevertheless freely allow of what they call Occasional Communion with us I think sufficiently shews how little real ground there is for those Scruples that have so long detain'd them in an unjust aversion to our Worship Blessed be God who has abundantly justified both the Purity of our Doctrin and the Innocency of our Worship not only by the general Approbation of the Reformed Churches abroad who both freely communicate with us in our religious Offices and have often given Testimony in favour of them but in the happy Conviction of many at Home who were once Enemies to our Constitution but who now go with us into the same House of God as Friends And indeed the things for which some forsake us now are no other than what they were in the Beginning of the Reformation when yet there was no such thing as Separation from our Communion But on the contrary the old Non-Conformists themselves tho' they disliked some things in our Worship yet freely declared they thought it a Crime to divide the Church on the account of them And they who at this day separate from us for the sake of those few Constitutions that have been made for the Order and Decency of our Publick Worship must for the same reason have separated from all the Churches of the Christian World for above 1500 years in none of which they might not have found as great that I do not say and much greater occasion of Offence than they can in Ours But yet since Mens Scruples are unaccountable and after all that can be said they will still differ even about indifferent things and be afraid many times where no Fear is and a too long Experience has already shewn us That if ever we mean to accomplish that Union so much recommended to us by our Apostle so advantagious to the Church at all times but especially at this time so necessary to our Peace and our Establishment that it seems to be the only way that yet remains to settle and to secure us and upon all these accounts so much to be desired by all Good Men we must seek it by that Rule which St. Paul here proposed to the Dissenting Christians of my Text We then that are strong in the faith ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves I cannot but think it a Reflection becoming every good Christian among us but in a more especial manner worthy the Consideration of such an Auditory as this Whether somewhat may not yet be done for the sake of Peace and to bring things to such a TEMPER that both Order and Decency may still be preserved and yet our Vnity no longer broken And for Exhortations to so Good and Christian a Work shall I set before you the Example of our Blessed Saviour recommended to us in the Text with what a mighty condescension he has treated Us how he came down from Heaven and took upon Him the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of a sinful man humbled Himself even to the Death upon the Cross for us How He still bears not only with our Infirmities but with our Sins too and by all these wonderful instances of his Love to us teacheth us says St. John How we ought also to love one another Or rather shall I shew you how far such a Blessed Vnion as this would conduce to the Glory of God to the Security of our Religion and to the Promotion of Peace and Charity and Piety among us I need not say what a dishonour our Divisions have already brought to the Reformation nor what a stop they have put to the progress of it Great to be sure is the Advantage which our Enemies either have or at least hoped to have made by those Contests which they have taken so much pains both to bring in and to keep up among us And methinks there should need no other Argument to stir up every true Friend to the name of Protestant to endeavour all he can to compose our Differences than this one thing That we are sufficiently convinced who they are that we please and whose Interests we serve by the continuance of them Let us add to this what great Obligations our Holy Religion lays upon us to follow after those things that make for peace and whereby we may edifie one another How our Saviour has set it down as the very Badge of our Discipleship By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another What Exhortations his Apostles have given us If it be possible as much as in us lies to live peaceably with all men But especially with reference to the differences about Religion To mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learnt and avoid them With what a scrupulous care did St. Paul manage himself between the dissenting parties in my Text What admirable Rules did he lay down for them to walk by And with what an affectionate earnestness did he enforce them If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like-minded having the same Love being of one Accord of one Mind And may I not beg leave tho' not with the Authority yet with the Charity of St. Paul to apply all this to those unhappy Divisions that at this day rend in pieces the Church of Christ among us and beseech you by all these endearing Considerations to pursue those things which may make for our Peace and for the closing of those breaches which the malice of our Enemies too successfully begun and our own weakness has too fatally kept up among us Never certainly was there a time since the name of Separation was first heard of among us in which we had greater reason to consider of such a Vnion or I hope a fairer opportunity to promise our selves an Accomplishment of it Only let us be on all hands as careful to improve it as I am persuaded we have all of us not only seem'd to desire but have indeed earnestly long'd for it Let us shew the sense we have of that wonderful Deliverance God has given us out of the hand of our Enemies by uniting our selves in the strictest League of Friendship with one another Hitherto we have defended our Church by our Arguments let us now by our Charity settle and establish it against the like Dangers for the time to come This will indeed render both our selves and our Religion Glorious to the World and may be a Happy Augury
were dangerous to profess Christianity they might freely deny it and judaïze rather than suffer Persecution If their Lusts disturb'd them it was natural and therefore lawful to gratifie them and it was a great mistake to think that they ought not to do so The truth is I am ashamed to repeat in this place what Ecclesiastical Writers have delivered down to us concerning them And I shall content my self to refer you only to this short Epistle for the Character both of them and their Religion For I am much mistaken if this alone will not suffice to shew what just cause our Apostle had to fear their prevailing and that such an easie Practice supported by such high Pretences might be but too apt to gain over Proselytes to its Party Let us see therefore in the last place 4 thly By what means it was that St. Jude here exhorted the yet Orthodox Christians to contend for their Faith and secure themselves in those dangerous Times And those are principally these five 1. By a close Adherence to that Doctrine which had been delivered to them 2. By taking heed of those that would seduce them from it 3. By building themselves on their holy Faith i. e. by adding Innocency of Life to the Purity of their Faith 4. By fervent Prayer to God for his Assistance And 5. By a serious consideration of their future state These are the means which St. Jude here exhorts them to make use of to secure their Faith and they are indeed such as if duly observed will not fail to have a prosperous Effect to the end for which they are proposed 1 st The First way to contend earnestly for the Faith is To keep close to that holy Doctrine which we have received This was what the Apostle in our Text advised them to do or rather not barely to keep close to it but as the Phrase here is to contend earnestly for it And that was then a most undoubted Security when the Apostles themselves taught them their Religion and so their Faith came to them without all dispute pure and uncorrupted And however we do not now pretend that Men should give up themselves so intirely to our Conduct as to stop their Ears to whatever can be said against us yet since we profess no other Faith than that which was once delivered unto the Saints since the Rule by which we go cannot be denied to contain that Faith and we desire not to be believed by you any farther than what we teach is found to be agreeable to that Rule I think we may very reasonably thus far at least make the Application even now That you ought not lightly to forsake a Faith which is built upon such a Foundation I am sure not for such a one as is built upon any other And though we are so far from encouraging a blind Obstinacy in any one that on the contrary we had rather all Men would search and see whether what we profess be not indeed that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints yet this deference we think every one ought to pay to that Church which first made him Christian and to those Guides whom God's Providence has set over him to build him up in the Faith as not lightly to forsake either them or their Doctrine but to presume for the Truth of what they already profess till they can be very clearly and evidently convinced of the contrary But 2 dly The next means proposed whereby they were to contend for the Faith was By taking heed of those who would have seduced them from it This is the general design of this whole Epistle and I have before shewn what great need there was of such a Caution Now by taking heed of Seducers I do not mean to imply that Men should be so obstinately wary as not to hearken to any thing that one of a contrary Persuasion is able to say either for his own Opinions or against ours For that were to lead Men by Faction not Reason But I mean these Two things First That we should not have our Ears so open as to hearken to every thing that any one shall think fit to offer to disquiet our Minds and disturb our Consciences without any just occasion for it Nay it may be upon the account of such things wherein we are certainly and evidently convinced that we are in the right Much less that we should seek occasion of Disputes and love to be perpetually raising Difficulties against our Religion lest we should at last provoke God to give us over to Delusion and punish our needless exposing our selves to Temptation by suffering us to be overcome by it Nor Secondly So far comply with such Persons as to give our selves up to their Seduction and become easie and willing to be deceived by them It is certainly a great weakness in any Man to go to his Enemy for the Character of his Religion To enquire concerning the Truth of those who are the profess'd Opposers of it If Men have Doubts or if their Curiosity must be gratified in starting of needless Scruples and one part only be consulted both Charity and Duty and I had almost said even common Civility too might satisfie them that they ought to be their Instructors whom God has set over them to be their Guides in Holy things rather than any others But if this be thought too great a Partiality to hear one side only and not enquire at all of the other yet at least if our Enemies may be admitted our own Guides sure ought not to be excluded but to be allowed at least to be as worthy our regard as their Adversaries Nor can I think any otherwise than that he is minded to be seduced who instead of taking heed of Hereticks seeks only to them instead of avoiding them avoids those from whom if not alone yet I am sure principally he ought to fortifie himself against them 3 dly The next means proposed for their contending for the Faith was By Innocence and Holiness of Life This St. Jude calls a Building up our selves upon our most holy Faith ver 20. And again a keeping of our selves in the love of God ver 21. And an excellent means no doubt it is to preserve the Purity of our Faith and to keep our selves from being seduced from it I shall not need to tell you how powerful a motive the want of Piety has been to most of those Errors that have infested the Church Whilst Men to gratifie their Passions have corrupted their Faith and Pride and Discontent Interest and Ambition Looseness and Indulgence more than want of Knowledge have made Men Hereticks And were we now to enquire what the true cause is that keeps up these Divisions in the Church at this day why Men should be so obstinate in Errors so plainly contrary to the very Nature of Christianity and I had almost said to the common Sense and Reason of Mankind that it even poses our
come frequently too When you shall begin effectually to perceive the Benefit of your Communicating in the still new encrease of Piety and Holiness in all your Actions When being full with a constant Sense of the Love of the Blessed Jesus here set forth to us you shall find it to be the Desire and Longing of your Souls to come often to this grateful and pleasing Declaration of it When in a Word being accustomed to consider the Blessings and Advantages of that New Covenant our Blessed Master has sealed to us in his Blood and here offers to renew with us in this Sacrament you shall wish if it might be every Day to repeat it and think you can never enough declare your Desires of being admitted into the Conditions and Advantages of it And thus have I offered to you what I suppose may suffice for the full Explication of the Words before us And from the Account of which we may now easily see What is the true Nature and Design of this Holy Sacrament Namely that it was instituted by our Saviour to be a Sacred and Solemn Memorial of that Death and Passion which he underwent for us and of the great Benefits and Advantages which accrue to us thereby That as by the Paschal Feast among the Jews God perpetuated the Remembrance of his preserving them from the destroying Angel first and then delivering them from their Egyptian Bondage and engaged them to a constant annual Return of Joy and Thanksgiving to Him for so great a Blessing So by this better Passover should we in like manner keep up for ever in the Church a lively and affectionate Commemoration of that better and more glorious Preservation which our paschal Lamb the Lord Jesus has by his own Blood obtained for us and set forth to the whole World that grateful and vigorous Sense which we have of so wonderful and blessed a Deliverance Now this being the true meaning and Design of this Holy Sacrament we may from hence see How great and dangerous the Mistakes are which some have run into concerning it with reference both to Faith and Practice For 1. If this Sacrament as we have before shewn was instituted as a Memorial of the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ It is then plain That it is not our very Saviour Christ Himself neither in the State of his death nor in any other that is here presented to us There have been in the Church since the time of Paschasius Radbertus one of the first considerable Innovators that we meet with in the Doctrine of this Holy Eucharist among others two different Opinions concerning the Real or Corporal Presence of Christ in this Sacrament and both maintained with no small contention at this day One That the Bread and Wine are converted into the very Natural Body and Blood of Christ so that nothing of the Bread and Wine themselves at all remain but only in shew and appearance which is what they called Transubstantiation the other That the true Substances of the outward Elements the Bread and the Wine do indeed remain but that the very Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in an extraordinary and supernatural manner joyned to them so that in the Communion of them we do together with the Bread and Wine receive the true Body and Blood of Christ into our Mouths truly and really present which they call Consubstantiation Now however the latter of these be much the more pardonable Error of the two as neither doing any Violence to our Senses which evidently tell us That what we see and receive in this Sacrament is certainly Bread and Wine nor contradicting the many Passages of Scripture which declare to us the same thing yet are they both very great Mistakes The natural Body of Christ being not capable of existing in more Places than one at the same Time nor to be divested of the inseparable Properties of a Body such as Extension of Parts Space Figure and the like in which the very Nature of a Body as it is distinguished from a Spirit does consist But these Opinions do not only involve a plain Impossibility in the very Nature of the Thing it self but moreover do carry a manifest Incongruity to the Nature and Design of this Institution For if the End of this Holy Sacrament were as our Text shews to be a Remembrance of Christ a Sign and Figure of his Body broken and of his Blood shed for us then certainly as in all other Cases the Sign must be different from the thing signified so here the Sacrament of Christ's Body is not his Body but the Memorial of it the Sacrament of his Blood is not his very Blood but the Figure and Representation of it And thus these latter Words Do this in Remembrance of Me become the best and clearest Interpretation of the former This is my Body which is given for you and shew that we are to interpret it after the same manner as when we read in the like kind of Speaking in the Old Testament This is the Lord 's Passover i. e. the Memorial of that Action when the Angel passed over the Houses of the Children of Israel and destroyed them not when at the same Time he slew the Egyptians But here it may be asked Do we then exclude Christ altogether from this Holy Sacrament and leave only an empty Sign a meer ceremonial Remembrance of him and no more God forbid Nay but I dare say We esteem Christ to be no less present tho' in another manner than they Inasmuch as in this Sacred Ordinance he communicates Himself in the Benefits of His Passion in a more especial manner to every faithful Receiver of this Blessed Sacrament and makes the Bread which he eats and the Wine which he drinks become not indeed by any such needless and absurd Change as we before mentioned but by Grace and Blessing by his divine Power and Spiritual Communication his Body broken and his Blood shed for us to all the Effects of Piety and Justification The Elements are not altered they continue not only after the Consecration but in the very receiving of them the same they were before Bread and Wine without any bodily Substance besides either veiled under those Appearances or received together with them But by Faith at the same Time that we take these into our Mouths we take Him also whom they represent into our Souls Not as bringing Christ from Heaven but raising up our Minds and our Hearts to that Holy Place where he is we unite our selves to Him and have all the Benefits of his Death and Passion communicated to us for the Forgiveness of our Sins for the increase of his Grace and Favour to us here and to be at once both the surest Earnest and the most effectual Means to bring us to everlasting Happiness hereafter This is that real but divine and spiritual Presence of our Saviour in this Sacrament which we firmly believe and which secures
from Him As to the last Instance our not reciting the Anthems of our Lady I shall only say thus much That we know but of one Anthem that ever she made viz. that from whence our Text is taken and that we are so far from not reciting that we make it a Solemn Hymn in our daily Service Let them who recite more tell us if they can whence they had them and by what Authority they make use of Anthems in many places hardly to be heard without horror and such as to say no worse of them do by no means befit either the Humility of MARY to receive or the Piety of a good Christian to offer to her And this may suffice to shew that we are not wanting in the first point of our Honour to celebrate the Memory of God's Mercies to her The next proposed was Secondly To return Praises to God upon the account of them And here I am sure no one can say that we are defective The Foundation of all God's particular Favours to her being this That our Blessed Lord was to be born of Her And this is the Subject of all our Praises to him Every Thanksgiving we put up to Heaven is begun carried on and ended with it So that in effect all that part of our Religious Service which consists in giving Thanks to God for the Redemption of Mankind is but a continued Acknowledgment of the Honour and Favour done to the Holy MARY And if this be not enough I must then again remember what I just now observed not only that we are very careful to praise God for his Mercies to the Blessed Virgin and to our selves by her but every day make use of her own words to express our grateful Acknowledgment of them by establishing her Song of Eucharist to be the Form wherein we our selves should give Thanks to God in our Assemblies And then Thirdly For what is the last Instance of all of that Honour we owe to her the Imitation of her Vertues We may presume to say that in this we do not come behind her highest Votaries Not an Act of Piety recorded in her Life but our Church exhorts us to transcribe it into ours We may and God knows we do come very much short of her in our practice But 't is our own Infirmity not any defect in our Churches Doctrine and Directions that we do so Such then is the Honour which we now suppose due to the Blessed Virgin and which accordingly we pay to Her Let us go on and see in the next place II. Secondly What that additional Worship is which those of the other Church pretend is due to Her And because I would state the difference as clearly as I could I will consider this Point in the same two parts I did the foregoing I. Of their farther Esteem in their Opinions of Her II. Of their Practices in conformity to their Opinions For the former of these First Their Opinions of the Blessed Virgin It is hardly to be imagined to what prodigious Excesses some Mens Superstition hath carried them as to this particular I have before mentioned some of the glorious Titles by which they call her in their very publick Addresses to her Should I to these add the Sentiments of some particular Men in these later Ages famous in their Generation and for nothing more famous than for their extraordinary Devotion to the Holy Mary I should soon run beyond the bounds of such a Discourse as this I will rather chuse here to confine my self to a very few and those only general Remarks And First It is the very foundation of all that Superstitious Service which is now-a-days paid to her in the Church of Rome to suppose the Excellency of the Blessed Virgin to be incomparably above that of any other Saint whatsoever So that whereas all other Saints are to be worshipped only with that inferior Religious Worship which they call Dulia the Blessed Virgin alone is to be served with a Hyperdulia or a Super-eminent sort of Religious Service And that upon these three accounts which therefore one of their own Authors has set down for us 1. In that when God dignified her with the Excellency of being the Mother of JESUS he therewith created her the Queen of Angels Patroness of the Church and Advocate of Sinners And that therefore as such she ought to be honoured above them 2. Because the Veneration we give to MARY redounds to JESUS all Honour given to the Mother tending to the Glory of the Son And 3. For that Holy MARY as the Mother of God is accomplished with all Natural Moral and Supernatural Perfections which are and possibly may be dispersed among all pure Creatures Men and Angels and therefore as she is more Holy and Perfect than All so is she acceptable to God above All and therefore ought she to be reverenced by us above them All. From hence it is Secondly That they look upon her as a Person most worthy to be called upon in all their Devotions Insomuch that the Author I but now mentioned recommending to his Votary the practice of Piety towards her lays down among others these Two Rules 1. That he should have a private Oratory dedicated to the Veneration of Holy MARY And 2. That he should not enter on any Business of what ever Nature without first consulting MARY by humble Prayer recommending its whole Progress to her Protection and assuming her as a Guide in the pursuance thereof And indeed tho' they do as they have occasion pray to other Saints too as well as to the Blessed Virgin yet such a peculiar Confidence have they in her that in all their publick and private Addresses the beginning and ending and in a Word the whole Performance for the most part is divided betwixt God and her Thus in the Canon of the Mass in all their Liturgies in the most solemn Exercises of Confession Absolution Thanksgiving in their Litanies and salves still Holy MARY is set up as no small part of their Worship And the reason whereof their Council of Basil tells us is for that she as she is the most exalted so she is the most ready to regard us too And Suarez stating this very Point Whether we ought to pray to the Blessed VIRGIN tells us it is a matter of Faith that we ought so to do that the Church is sensible how much the Intercession of the Blessed VIRGIN above any others is the most useful to us and therefore that she above all others ought to be invoked by us Now this being without Controversie both the constant Opinion and Practice of the Church of Rome That the Blessed Virgin is to be called upon in all Places and upon all Occasions and by all Persons they must by consequence suppose 3. That by whatsoever means it is some way or other she do's know and can attend to all the Prayers that are every where made to her and is capable
not well see how they will be able to clear themselves altogether of those Follies which they so readily encourage and not only neglect to correct themselves but will not suffer those who would to do it Nay but we must not stop here They have given a yet greater encouragement to the dishonour of our Saviour than this If we look into their Churches and there view their Pictures and their Images those Books of the Ignorant as they are pleased to call them what can be either more wretched in it self or more apt to seduce unthinking Votaries than every where to see Holy MARY with our Saviour still an Infant in her Arms as if he were never to get out of the state of his Pupillage And this were yet tolerable if they thereby took care to call back their Minds to the condition of his Infancy once when on Earth But alas I must add what exceeds all Extravagances besides that they set him out still as a Child in Heaven Nor is there any thing more common in the Lives of their Saints in the Records of the Miracles of the VIRGIN and even in their Offices and Books of Devotion than to hear of the Son of God brought down in the Arms of his Mother and still behaving himself as a little Child towards her Votaries And what mean and low Opinions such things as these must needs create in Superstitious and Ignorant Minds of the Saviour of the World is very natural to conceive and the Devotion of the People towards the Blessed VIRGIN compared with their Notions and Zeal towards the Holy JESVS does but too fatally demonstrate But Secondly This Consideration is not only thus important in it self but of a more especial concern with regard to us Were the Votaries of the Blessed VIRGIN content with a Speculative Opinion of her Excellencies or would they be satisfied to pay her what Homage they thought fit themselves without forcing others to joyn in it this Matter though very Scandalous to our Religion yet would not so much concern our Practice But now that the very Publick Devotion of the Church is wholly over-run with this Abuse so that 't is impossible to pray to God with them unless you will be content to pray to Holy MARY too it was certainly very necessary for us to understand the danger of such an Error which is thus combined with the most publick and solemn Piety of a whole Body of Christians And then Thirdly This is a Point not only of very great moment in it self and of a particular concern to us but very plain too and easie to be understood In other things though our Arguments are strong to those that comprehend the force of them yet many times the Subject is obscure and the Disputation past the Capacity of the ordinary Christian. Thus in their Doctrines about the Church the Authority Vnity Infallibility and other either real or pretended Privileges of it The Argument is nice and easily perplexes an uninstructed Capacity But here the Advice is evident and the whole Subject easie The only hardship is to bring them to own their Doctrine but afterwards the most Vulgar Christian is able to discern the falseness of it Those first Rudiments of Christianity Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed There is one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus and the like being abundantly sufficient to shew how impossible it is that those should not have departed from their first Faith who give Religious Honour to the Virgin MARY and set her up as a Mediatrix in Heaven Now this being once proved it will from hence presently follow Fourthly That all the Pretences of the Church of Rome against us are vain and that we not only had sufficient Reason but that it was our Duty to reform as we did from them For to consider this Argument in one word If the Church of Rome be actually and undoubtedly Erroneous in this Point then let her fancy what she please 't is plain she can Err and is not what she says Infallible If she be not Infallible then there can be no Obligation to believe and follow her at all Adventures without examining what she teaches whether it be true or false If we may examine her Doctrine then the End of all Examination being to find out the Truth and to cleave unto it it must follow that when upon the Enquiry we had discovered her to be involved in grievous Errors it was our Duty to abandon her Corruptions and to declare against them And thus this one Point alone being well cleared does in the Consequence of it plainly prove a Vindication of the whole Work of the Reformation and is alone sufficient to satisfie any unprejudiced Mind what just Cause we had for it And let us then Bless God who has opened our Eyes to discover such Abuses as these and which had almost subverted the very chief Principles of Christianity And let us as we ought value nothing so much as that Purity of Religion in which we have the happiness to exceed most Christians in the World Let our Adversaries if they please revile us let them call us Hereticks and Schismaticks Despisers of the Church and Haters of the Blessed Virgin let them fill Heaven and Earth with their Anathema's against us because we will not joyn with them in these and the like Abominations But let us stand fast in the Lord and in the Religion which we have received knowing from whom we have received it and what is the rule and measure of it And that though I do not say They or We or any other Church or Society of Men whatsoever but though an Angel from Heaven though St. Peter himself should come to us and preach any other Gospel he is to be accursed I shall conclude all with those excellent words of an Ancient Father of the Church against some who began in his time to Honour the Blessed VIRGIN though not with any part of that excess that these Men now do yet more than he supposed was fitting for them 'T is true says he MARY was Holy but she was not therefore God She was a Virgin and highly honoured but she was not set forth to us to be worshipp'd And therefore the Holy Gospel has herein arm'd us before hand our Lord himself saying Woman what have I to do with thee Wherefore does he say this But only left some should think of the Blessed VIRGIN more highly than they ought He called her Woman as it were foretelling those Schisms and Heresies that should arise upon her account But God permits us not to worship Angels how much less the Daughter of Anna Let MARY be held in Honour but let the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Worshipped Let no one Worship MARY for though she were most fair and holy and honourable yet she is not therefore to