is excommunicated by the Church for the Obstinate Denial of any Article of the Faith which the Church professes cannot justy be call'd a Member of the Church 1. In the Catholic Church there is and shall be a Continued Succession of Bishops Priests and Teachers from Christ to the End of the World This is manifest from these Words of St. Paul He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come in the Vnity of the Faith c. Eph. 4.11 12. 2. There is but one Catholic Church This is evident from Christ's own Words I have other Sheep which are not of this Fold Them also I must bring and they shall hear my Voice and there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd John 10.16 And from these Words of the Nicene Creed I believe One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church 3. One Communion as well as one Faith is Essential to the Being of one Church This is no less evident from the aforesaid Words of Christ who says that his Sheep will not only hear his Voice but also shall be brought all into one Fold than from the very Notion which as well protestants as Catholics have of a Church namely That it is a Congregation of the Faithful believing and practicing the same Things with due Subjection and Subordination to their Lawful Pastors This Truth the Gentlemen of the Church of England are very loth to own in their Disputes with the Roman Catholics and not without Reason For they are Sensible that all their Authority and Mission if any they have are deriv'd from the Church of Rome and that if Unity in Communion which as aforesaid implies a Due Subjection and Subordination to Lawful Pastors be essential to the Being of the Catholic Church they quite unchurch themselves since it is Manifest that in the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth They shook off all Obedience and Subjection to their Bishops who were all R. Catholics and Drove them all away and in some Years before in King Henry the VIII his Time what with Death and other Cruelties they compell'd most of Them to divide and separate from the Pope and all other Bishops in the World besides They wou'd therefore willingly pass by this sore place if possible but when the Dispute is with the Presbyterians this Truth is highly magnified These they look upon to be Schismatics because they separated from their Communion and erected Altars against their Altars and so far indeed they are in the Right if a Separation from a Separation may be called Schism However this I cannot but admire that they do not observe that in charging the Presbyterians with Schism they condemn themselves since it is notoriously known they are highly guilty of what they charge them with namely of separating from their own and all other Bishops in the World Whoever desires farther Satisfaction in this matter may consult Dr. Heilin's History of the Presbyterians Intitul'd Aerius Redivivus and the History of the Reformation by the same Author but more especially an Ingenious Treatise lately publish'd by a Learned Divine of the Church of England under this Title The Principles of the Cyprianic Age. In this the Author proves excellently well the Necessity of One Communion as well as of One Faith for the being of One Church I will transcribe some of his Words and leave the Reader to judge how well he proves my Postulatum Now they were thus united saith he speaking of all the Bishops in the Catholic Church by the Great and Fundamental Laws of one Faith and one Communion That the One Holy Catholic Faith is essential in the Constitution of One Holy Catholic Church is even this day a receiv'd Principle I think amongst all sober Christians But then I say that the Christians in St. Cyprian's Time reckon'd the Laws of one Communion every whit as forcible and indispensable to the Being of one Church as the Laws of One Faith It was a Prime a Fundamental Article of their Faith that there was but one Church and they cou'd not understand how there cou'd be but One Church if there was more than One Communion By their Principles and Reasonings a multiplication of Communions made unavoidably a multiplication of Churches and by consequence seeing there cou'd be but one true Catholic Church there cou'd be likewise but one true Catholic Communion All other Churches or Communions were false i. e. not at all Christian Churches or Communions Thus far this Learned Man and indeed very right For it was the constant Principle as well of all as of the Primitive Ages of the Church that One Communion was no less Essential to the being of One Church nor less necessary to Salvation than One Faith And here I cannot but observe two things by the way 1. How unjust that intolerable charge of uncharitableness is wherewith the Protestants incessantly Traduce the R. Catholics for denying them Salvation out of their Communion since it is manifest as this Learned Man says that one Faith and one Communion are equally necessary to Salvation And no less evident that the Protestants separated themselves from that Communion and Faith which the R. Catholics believe and maintain to be the true Church How is it then consistent with their Principles to allow Salvation to the Protestants whilst they persist in their Separation Or how can they be deem'd uncharitable for judging according to the known Principles of the Primitive Christians who knew but one Faith and one Communion wherein Salvation was to be had 2. What miserable shifts the Church of England Gentlemen are driven to being forc'd to deny to the R. Catholics in their own justification what they so earnestly press upon the Presbyterians in order to reclaim them as constant and fundamental Principles in the Primitive Church 4. Whosoever separates from or is excommunicated by the Church for the obstinate Denial of any Article of the Faith which it professeth cannot reasonably be call'd a Member of the Church This is Self-evident as to the first part for to separate from the Church is to go away from it as the very Word imports and by consequence to be no more a Member of it It is likewise no less evident as to the second for to Excommunicate is to put out of Communion or to cut off from the Body of the Church So that whoever is Excommunicated for the Denial of any Article of Faith can no more be said to be united to the Church than an Arm cut off from a Man or a Branch from a Tree can be said to be united to the same Man or Tree All such then who wilfully separate from the Communion of the Catholic Church let their Pretence be never so plausible are properly Schismatics I say let their pretence be never so plausible for Dr. Hammond tells us as aforesaid that
Reason upon the consent of Mankind and the concession of our Adversaries and upon such known and evident matters of Fact as the most Impudent Wrangler wou'd be asham'd to deny As to the first That the Church of England is Heretical I prove thus Whatsoever Society of Christians obstinately denies any Doctrine believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith is Heretical but the Church of England denies obstinately some Doctrines believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith Therefore the Church of England is Heretical The Major or first Proposition is a known Principle which no Christian in his wits ever denied The Minor or second Proposition I demonstrate thus The Church of England obstinately denies Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass and many other Points but these are believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith Therefore the Church of England denies obstinately some Doctrines believ'd by the Catholic Church to be of Faith That the Church of England obstinately denies the said Doctrines or Points is matter of Fact and what She very much glories in That the same Points or Doctrines were all in the begining of the Reformation believed by the Catholic Church to be of Faith we have besides the unanimous consent of the Roman Greek and all the Eastern Churches the Testimony of several Learned Protestants who surely wou'd never have told a thing so favourable to their Adversaries if it had not been manifestly True And to shew that this is not said gratis I will Instance in some Hospinian faith Luther's Separation was from all the World Epist 141. White Popery was a Leprosie breeding so universally in the Church that there was no Visible Company of Men appearing in the World free from it Defence c. 37. p. 136. The aforesaid Doctrineâ— is what this good man is pleas'd to call Popery as all the World knows Bishop Jewel The Whole World Princes Priests and People were overwhelm'd with Ignorance and bound by oath to the Pope Sermon on Luke 11. Whitaker In times past no Religion but the Papistical had place in the Church Controv. 4.9 5. c. 3. Bucer All the World err'd in that Article of the real presence p. 660. Calvin They made all the Kings and People of the Earth Drunk from the First to the Last Justit 4. c. 18. Perkins During the space of 900 years the Popish Heresie had spread it self over the Whole World Exposit symb p. 266. The Sum of this cloud of Witnesses which yet is not the twentieth Part of what may be brought from the Reformation-treasure amounts to this that before the Reformation there was no other Religion in the Whole Christian World but the Roman Catholic or as they are pleas'd to term it the Papistical and that the aforesaid Points and many more which they call Popery Leprosie and Ignorance were universally believed as Articles of Faith by all the visible Companies of Christians in the World And if this be true the Church of England which obstinately denies these Points and many more must necessarily deny some Doctrines believ'd by the Catholic Church as of Faith and by consequence the Church of England is Heretical Touching the second viz. that the Church of England is Schismatical This is no less evident than the former For if Schism be a willful Separation from the Church as it is defined by all Mankind as well Protestants as Catholics the Church of England is doubly guilty of this Crime First for separating from the Pope and their own Immediate Heads the Bishops of England Secondly for separating from the Communion of all other Bishops in the World besides The Bishop of Rome in the begining of the Reformation was acknowledg'd by all the World to be at least Patriarch of the West and by the Protestants themselves to have exercis'd Jurisdiction over the Church of England for 900 years and more even from the time of its Conversion to Christianity and surely so long a prescription is a sufficient Title tho' no other cou'd be shewn We find in the Acts of the third General Council held at Ephesus Binius Tom. 2. Apend 1. Cap. 4. a complaint exhibited by the Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus against the Patriarch of Antioch who wou'd force that Iland to submit to his jurisdiction and oblige its Metropolitian to receive the Grace of Ordination from him as the Council phrases it To this Complaint the Council answers That if the Bishops of Cyprus cou'd make out that the Patriarch of Antioch had never conferr'd Orders upon their Metropolitan it was unjust to pretend to it now And the Bus'ness being fairly prov'd in favour of the said Bishops the Council decreed That the Patriarch of Antioch had no Jurisdiction over them nor ought to pretend to any Whence it is manifest that if the Patriarch of Antioch cou'd prove that he had conferr'd Orders upon their Metropolitan at any time or exercis'd Lawful Jurisdiction over them the Council wou'd have Decreed the said Iland to be subject to him and that as it was a manifest Usurpation in the Patriarch of Antioch to pretend to any such Jurisdiction since he was not in Possession of it nor cou'd prove to have ever had it so likewise it wou'd be perfect Rebellion and Schism in them to withdraw from his Jurisdiction if he were Legally possess'd of it Now I would fain know if the same Council were to judge the Church of England and the Pope's cause what they wou'd think of it Pope Eleutherius sent some of his own Clergy to Convert the Brittans in King Lucius his Time St. Gregory sent Augustin the Monk and others to convert the Saxons and exercis'd Jurisdiction over them ordaining their Metropolitan or causing him to be ordained by his Orders and the Popes his Successors continued in peaceable Possession of this Prerogative and they the Clergy and People of England receiving and obeying his lawful Commands not only as Patriarch of the West but even as Head of the Church for the Space of 900 Years and more what wou'd this Council I say think of the Church of England's rising up against the Pope's Authority after so long a Prescription Certainly it wou'd look upon them to be Rebels against the Authority the best establish'd in the World Nor will it any way help them to say as they usually do that the King of England has Power to Transfer the Papal or Patriarchal Power from Rome and confer it upon the Archbishop of Canterbury For besides that it is most absurd to suppose such a Power in a King since it cannot be imagin'd whence such an Ecclesiastical Authority can be deriv'd to a Secular Prince we have an express Decree to the contrary in the fourth General Council held at Calcedon What gave Occasion to it was this The Bishop of Tyre was anciently Metropolitan of Phaenicia Concil Calced Act. 6. and as such exercis'd Jurisdiction over all the Bishops in that Province Marcianus the Emperor contrary to
Compass of Civility and Respect and wou'd have given no Man cause to complain if his Conduct had not as I conceive extorted some hard Words from me 'T is true no manner of Dispute or Controversie can Justifie a Man's being Rude or Vncivil yet I believe every one will allow that it is not possible to manage a Controversie of this Nature and at the same Time to shew the Respect that might be expected upon other Occasions without betraying the Cause I have indeed on purpose forborn to give him any other Title than that of Doctor because my Dispute with him is not as he was an Arch-Bishop but as a Dr. of Divinity and because I conceiv'd I might with less Disrespect use the necessary freedom of speech under that Notion However if any of my Readers will please to do me the favour to let me know wherein I have unnecessarily exceeded the Limits of due Moderation I shall take it very kindly and endeavour to make amends for my Fault To the Second That I never intended to provoke or exasperate any Man much less wou'd I provoke any of the worthy Members of the Church of England whom I am in Duty bound to Honor and Respect And if I wrote any thing that looks that way 't was the necessity of the Subject not my Inclination that forc'd me upon it My Design was only to lay before those of my own Perswasion the Truth of that Doctrine which they and their Ancestors have believ'd since Christianity was planted among Them and which I see now they have many Temptations to quit And in this I think I do but follow the Example of the Apostles and Primitive Fathers who in the greatest Heat of Persecutions and Fiery Tryals as the Scripture phrases it took more care than ever to inculcate to the Christians the Truth of their Religion and to Arm them with the Hopes of a future Life that they might the better be able to bear up against the Temptations and Rage of the World and suffer with Joy as St. Paul saith the Pillage and Plunder of their Goods Rapinam bonorum vestrorum cum gaudio suscepistis However if I have sin'd on that hand I have that confidence in the Equity and Goodness of the Church of England that my Fault which is peculiar to my self will not be requir'd at the hands of Those of my Perswasion whose Consent or Approbation I never desir'd I am not ignorant That our Lives and Fortunes are at the Mercy of the Law and may be depriv'd of Both when it shall please our Magistrates to put them in Execution But such is their Lenity and Goodness that they overlook us and suffer us to live which we accept always and in all places and with all Thankfulness and earnestly beseech Almighty God to bless and prosper them for it The Better Sort which blessed be God are also the Greater are sensible that our only Crime is our Conscience which we cannot help and which I trust in God we shall ever prefer to all that is most dear to us in this World They desire our Conversion because they think us in an Error and we likewise desire and earnestly pray for their's because we are perswaded they are in the wrong They know we have made no Innovations in Religion nor broach'd any New Doctrines but only stick to and to use St. Paul's Words hold fast the Profession of that Faith which we received from our and their Ancestors A Plea which secur'd the very Pagans in the Possession of their Lives and Fortunes when the Christians got the better of them and which I trust in God and in the Goodness of our Governours will ever secure us We are not therefore insensible of the Clemency and Good Nature of the Worthy Men of the Church of England nor are we so dull as not to take notice of the Connivance and Liberty they are pleas'd to allow us but we think we cannot make them a more suitable Return a more charitable I am sure we cannot than to lay before them the Dangerous Consequences of their Errors and the desperate State of their Souls We see the horrid Sacrileges committed by their Ancestors and the Schism and Heresie into which they fell and we conceive it our Duty to them who tho' they shou'd use us never so ill are still our Brethren to mind them of the great Danger and Hazard they run in following the Steps of their Fore-Fathers and in persisting in those Things which we conceive are very great Impieties And if in handling these Matters we are forc'd to use such Expressions as may seem to give Offence 't is the Necessity of the Subject not our Inclination that extorts them from us Bad Things must have bad Names and Words must bear some Proportion with the Things they are put to signifie else they wou'd not give us a just Idea of them And therefore in speaking to things that are confessedly Bad namely Heresie and Schism if any Expressions in this Treatise may seem to shock or give Offence I hope they will be look'd upon as necessary and unavoidable and consider d as Vinegar intended only to Cleanse the Wound but not to Vex the Patient tho' it shou'd prove Vneasie to him which I call the Great GOD of Heaven to Witness was the Author's Design ERRATA PAge 2. Line 3. read Ingenious p 6 l 12. r seemingly p 7. l 19. r Patrlarchs p 1â— l 33. r demonstration p 17. l 30. r according p 25. l. 1. r â—â—â—ebians p 39. l ult r Hominâ—m p 52. l 1â— r Cateraâ— p 55. l 17. r as p 8. l 28 r pray'd p 106. l 2. add it p 119. 16. r this is ibid. l 13. r be p 129. l 34. r reâ—â—â—'d p 131. l. 24. r Scurrilous p 157 l. 29. r too p 158. l 10. r Incredulous ibid. l 15. r Divest p 174. l 24. r added p 175. l 33 r tell p 183. l 26. r was p 184. l 28. r practice ibid. l 30. r given p. 100. l 1. r Question p 193. l 2. r left p 200. l 21. dele must p. 204. l 27. r Calvinists p 207. l 33. r Captivity p 208. l 14. r Eastern ibid. l 18. r Common p 215. l 14. r hundred p 216. l 24. r probiâ—y p 220. l 18. add it is 222. l 24. r Test p 225. l 32 r appear p 228. l 20. r Solemâ— p 251. l 3. 〈◊〉 p 261. l 18. r proportion p 262. l 15. r graâ—eful p 297. l 32. for these r the. A Modest and True ACCOUNT OF THE Chief Points in Controversie c. The Introduction IT is commonly said and our own Experience teacheth it us that good Language goes far in gaining Credit to whatever is said and that a smooth polish'd Discourse when Gravely delivered seems to carry the Face of Truth though it should happen to be otherwise Words when handsomely laid together have I know not what of Charming in them and do
guide it into all Truth surely it will not be wanting to it in this Point which is the most material of all others But I suppose the Dr. grounds his Argument upon this Axiom no Man ought to be Judge in his own Cause If he shou'd hence conclude that the supreme Judge cannot decide a Controversie concerning his own Prerogative he must certainly be a great Stranger to all Civil Laws and Constitutions in the World The King and Parliament together are the Supreme Judge of all Causes in England Now if we suppose the Rest of the people of England shou'd Dispute that Prerogative this Controversie according to the Doctor 's Principles can never be ended Not by the King and Parliament for it is their Own Cause nor yet by the Rest of the People of England for it is not Reasonable they shou'd be Judge and Party Who must judge it then No Body So that if we stretch that Axiom thus far we must leave undecided that without which nothing can be lawfully decided The true Sense of it then is this No Man ought to be Judge in his own Cause that is no Private Man who lives under Laws and Government ought to Judge for himself or be his own Carver but must have Recourse to the ordinary Judges whose Sentence he and his Adverse Party are bound to obey But this is by no means to be extended to the Supreme Legislative Power whose very Essence is to Judge all others and to be Judg'd by None As to what he says that a Controversie Who this Infallible Judge is cou'd never yet be decided in the Church of Rome I answer there never was any Controversie in the Church of Rome concerning what is of Faith in this Point namely that the Church is this Infallible Judge and what the Church is surely no Roman Catholic ever disputed Vol. 3. Edit post obit pag. 32. Object 4. If God had thought it necessary That there shou'd be an Infallible Church he wou'd have reveal'd this very thing more plainly than any particular Point whatsoever but this he has not done therefore he did not think it necessary Answ Let the Socinians for once answer or rather Retort this Argument upon the Doctor Had God say they thought the Knowledge of Three Persons really distinct each of them perfect God and yet but One God necessary to be believ'd by the Faithful he wou'd have reveal'd this very Thing more plainly than any particular Point whatsoever because it is look'd upon to be the Chiefest Mystery of Christianity but this He has not done Therefore he did not think it necessary to be believ'd Will the Doctor allow this Argument to be good If not I hope he will give me leave to have the same Thoughts of his Argument For I am certain there is no Text in Scripture that proves a Real Distinction of Three Persons whereof each is Perfect God and all but One God so plainly as it proves many other things which are not so necessary to Salvation But has not God plainly reveal'd that the Church is Infallible Tell the Church and if he will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and Publican When the Spirit of Truth cometh He shall guide you into all Truth Go teach all Nations And lo I am with you alway even unto the End of the World The Church is the Ground and Pillar of Truth Are not all these clear and plain Has not Christ's own Mouth and his Apostle's reveal'd all These concerning the Church Surely then he judg'd the Infallibility of the Church necessary to be believ'd And this is to a Reasonable Man instead of a Thousand Arguments that He thought it not only necessary but even laid it down as the Chief Fundamental Point of our Belief because this once firmly establish'd wou'd easily clear the Obscurity of any other Object 5. pag. 77. We have as great need of Infallible Security against Sin and Vice in matters of Practice as against Errors in matters of Faith but we have no Infallible Security against Sin and Vice in matters of Practice consequently nor against Errors in matters of Faith Answ This Comparison is in one sense Just and Reasonable and in that sense I will be content to stand or fall by it viz. That as the assistance of the Holy Ghost infallibly secures the Church from Error so the assistance of God's Grace together with the cooperation of our Wills which is always in our power is an infallible security against Sin if put in ure For is not every Sin voluntary And if voluntary surely we may abstain from it it wou'd not be voluntary else For if we cannot abstain from it it is no more voluntary but necessary and therefore no Sin and have not we in several places of the Scripture a promise of the Assistance of God's Grace which is never wanting to our sincere Endeavours and if we have God's Grace and are able at least by this assistance to abstain from sin certainly we have an infallible Security against Sin and Vice or if we have it not how can it stand with the infinit goodness of God to condemn us eternally for that which we cannot avoid In short as it is most agreeable to his infinit goodness and mercy to condemn no Man for what he cannot help so it is but reasonable we shou'd believe he has given us such means as will infallibly secure us if it be not our own fault both from Errors in matters of Faith and from Sin and Vice in matters of Practice But with this difference that Free-will without which there can be no reward or punishment by not cooperating with Grace falls into Sin and Vice whereas the assistance of the holy Ghost depending of no such condition as to its effect infallibly attains its end and preserves the Church from Error in matters of Faith Object 6. All things necessary to be known either in Faith or Practice are clear and plain in Scripture therefore there is no need of an Infallible Church Answ This is a Fundamental Principle I think I may truly say with all Protestants The Dr. I am sure repeats it several Times and lays great Stress upon it But in establishing this Principle he does two things which I suppose he wou'd not willingly allow of had he but well consider'd them 1. He makes any Man of sense that can read the Scripture as infallible as the whole Catholic Church pretends to be 2. He justifies in a great measure all the Heretics that ever denied any Points of Faith on pretence that they are not plain in Scripture 1. He makes any Man of sense that can read the Scriptures as Infallible as the whole Catholic Church pretends to be For the Catholic Church pretends only to be Infallible in necessary Articles of Faith Now if all things necessary to be known in Faith and Practice be clear and plain in Scripture there is no Man of sense that
Inconvenience I confess it is but if we shou'd conclude the Existence or non-Existence the Truth or Falshood of things from their conveniency or inconveniency the World wou'd be brought to a sine pass 'T is very inconvenient that God shou'd condemn all Mankind to death to all the other miseries and infirmities to which human Nature is now obnoxious for the eating of one single Fruit yet it is never the less True 'T is very inconvenient that a Man shou'd be condemn'd to eternal Flames for one only Sin wherein he dies unrepented yet no Man ever question'd this Truth We must not then conclude from the inconvenience that attends a Thing that is therefore false but we ought to weigh the Reasons and Motives whereby we are induc'd to believe it is so Now the Roman Catholics believe that those among the Greeks and Eastern Churches which are not in communion with the Church of Rome together with the Protestants are no true Members of the Catholic Church because they have the most Authentic Records and the most invincible Proof that any matter of Fact is capable of that the said Greeks Eastern Churches and Protestants fell into Heresie and Schism in which they do as yet actually persist What allowance God-almighty may make for the invincible Ignorance and want of Capacity in a great many of these People and how far he will be merciful and pardon the other defects of those who endeavour to live up to what they know and want necessary means to come to the knowledg of the Truth He alone knows None I am sure is more willing to judge favourably of their Salvation than Roman Catholics But to flatter them with hopes of Salvation whilst they persist in their Errors and have necessary means to come to the knowledg of the Truth and to tell them they may be saved with such Errors when we are convinc'd in our Consciences they cannot is surely no Christian Charity but the greatest of Heathenish Cruelty 5. In consequence of the Truth of this Proposition and of the importance of it to the Salvation of Souls they ought to produce express mention of the Roman Catholic Church in the ancient Creeds of the Christian Churches But this says the Dr. they are not able to do on the contrary Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope Pius the second says that before the Council of Nice little Respect was had to the Roman Church Answ Just so the Arians used to object to the Catholics that if the word Consubstantial were of that importance as it was pretended they ought to produce express mention of it in the ancient Creed of the then present Church but as the Catholics then answer'd that it was enough the thing meant by that Word was in the Creed tho' not the Word it self so say we to the Protestants that in these Words of the Creed I believe the holy Catholic Church is implied what we mean by the Words Roman Catholic Church tho' the Word Roman be not there What Aeneas Sylvius might in passion or upon some private quarrel with the Pope have Written against the Roman Church consider'd with respect only to the Diocess of Rome I am not much concern'd For I am sure he never said nor writ that the Roman Church as it includes all the Christian Churches in communion with the See of Rome in which sense the Dr. cou'd not be ignorant we always take it was not the true Catholic Church Besides if it be true that Aeneas Sylvius said what the Dr. makes him here speak let the Holy and Learn'd Martyr St. Irenaeus who liv'd very neer two hundred years before the Council of Nice teach him the contrary Every Church says he that is the Faithful on every side must have recourse to this Church the Roman by Reason of her more powerful Principallity Loco sup cit CHAP. IV. Of Transubstantiation WHat we hold to be of Faith concerning this Point is this That the whole Substance of the Bread and Wine is after Consecration chang'd into the Body and Blood of Christ without any Alteration in the Accidents or outward Forms This is to all our modern Sectaries a Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offence Against this they have whetted their Pens and Tongues and pointed all the Shafts of their Art and Eloquence in order to pull down an Edifice whose Builder and Maker is God himself But however they agree to destroy this mysterious Fabrick yet what to substitute in its Room or how to expound those Texts of Scripture on which it is founded none can with greater Heat and Passion even to the most injurious and provoking Language be divided nor fall into more manifest Absurdities and Contradictions than these Pretenders to Reformation And indeed if the Disagreement of Witnesses be an Argument of their Falshood as the Evangelists assure us it is we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that these are false Witnesses For I am sure none ever disagreed more not only in the Circumstances but even in the very Nature and Substance of their Evidence Martin Luther and his Adherents expound these Words This is my Body litterally and therefore believe the Real Presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament but being however resolv'd to Incommode the Pope Epist ad Calvin as Luther says they add that the Substance of the Bread and Wine is likewise there And to extricate themselves from a difficulty which attends the Real Presence they affirm moreover that the Body of Christ is every where And thus they have brought forth two New Points of Faith never before heard of namely Consubstantiation and Vbiquitie And this the Church of England Writers call an absurd and monstrous Doctrine Calvin and his Sectators in Contradiction to this expound the same Words Figuratively and therefore believe a Real Absence or which is all one that the Eucharist is but a Type or Figure of the Body and Blood of Christ Zuinglius tells us himself was the first that found out this Exposition by the help of a certain Angel which appear'd to him but whether he was black or white he says he cannot tell So that for ought he knew it may be the Doctrine of a Devil I am sure Luther at least did think it so for he calls Calvin a Devil Epist ad Calvin and worse than a Devil for offering to obtrude this Doctrine upon the World and for wresting the plain Words of our Saviour to such a Sense The Church of England neither expounds those Words litterally nor yet figuratively for She neither believes Transubstantiation nor Consubstantiation neither Real Presence nor yet Real Absence And to deal ingenuously I do not well know what she believes in this particular And what is worse to the best of my Understanding nor she herself For in the Catechism which is put into the Children and common people's Hands where surely the Articles of Faith must if any where be clearly and plainly expounded she teaches
1 Chron. 29.20 Adorate Scabellum podum ejus Psal 99. Adore ye His Footstool Here is Adoration with a Witness and all to one given to meer Creatures and tho' in all these Phrases the very Term is used in the Hebrew and Greek as well as in the Latin which the Scripture uses to express the Supream Adoration given to the true God yet no Man ever said that these Creatures ought to be ador'd in the strict Propriety of Adoration or Supream Worship but the Sense is that they ought to be worship'd with the Honor and Respect that is due to Them In like manner tho' we say in Scripture Language Crucem Adoramus we do not mean nor intend to give the Cross any other Worship than that which is due to a Type or Figure which represents our Saviour and Redeemer to us Thus much concerning this Ingenious Man's Exceptions to Images I now come to Dr. Tillotson's Objections And here his Difficulties are neither great nor many in number Two things only I observe in his Sermons that deserve some consideration The first that worshiping of Images is as point blank against the Second He shou'd have said the First Commandment Vol. 2. pag. 7â— as a deliberate and malicious killing of a Man is against the Sixth Fifth wou'd have been more true The Second 〈…〉 edit post ob pag. 291. That to secure the People from discerning our guilt in this matter we are put upon that shameful shift as he is pleas'd to term it of leaving out the Second Commandment in our common Catechisms and Manuals lest the People seeing so plain a Law of God against so common a Practice of our Church shou'd upon that discovery have broken off from us As to the First I answer If He means by Worship to give the Supream Worship and Adoration to Images which is dâ—o only to God he is very much in the right and I hope shall never be contradicted by me But if He understands by Worship to give Images that Honor and Respect which is due to Things that represent Jesus Christ and His Saints he is contradicted by Scripture by all Antiquity and even by his own Church as well as by us Now that we give Images no other Worship than the latter or that the Decrees of our Church enjoin no more I think I have already sufficiently prov'd Touching the Second I answer that we never left out any of God's Commandments either in Catechism or Manual and that that which he says is left out which yet is not the Second Commandment but part of the First is to be found in hundreds of Manuals and Catechisms in England it self And at this Time I have upon my Table a Manual and Catechism wherein all He says we left out are contain'd The first bears this Title a Manual of Prayers and Christian Devotions the later An Abridgment of Christian Doctrine with Proofs out of Scripture c. The first Edition printed Anno. 1649. Now a Man that can dispense with his Conscience and honor so far as to publish from Press and Pulpit untruths so easily discover'd what Paradox may not he undertake to maintain 'T is true there are some Manuals and Catechisms in which the Ten Commandments are comprehended as it were in so many Verses that Children and People of weak Capacity may learn them with more case But in no Manual or Catechism that pretends to give the Commandments was ever the Second Commandment left out That which he calls the Second Commandment viz. Thou shalt not Make to thy Self any graven Image c. is undoubtedly part of the First only added to inculcate to a Gross Ignorant People what they were to avoid in consequence of the One God which the First Commandment obliges them to have For 't is evident that in these Words Thou shalt have no other Gods but me is necessarily imply'd that they shou'd not make to themselves any Graven Images or Idols to Worship them which to do were to have other Gods And therefore these two Negatives make but one Commandment Unless the Dr. will have it that it is a distinct Commandment from the first because it begins a Verse or contains some Words which are not express'd in the first But he may please to consider that the Law of Moses was extant at least a Thousand Years before it was digested into Verses or that any Points were added to it during which Time there was nothing to distinguish one Commandment from an other but the very Reason and Nature of the things commanded and then since this which the Dr. wou'd have to be the Second Commandment is altogether of the same Nature with the First and prohibits nothing but what the First prohibits namely the having or worshiping more than one God we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that it is but One and the same Commandment with the First And thus all our Ancestors and all the Ancient's Comments upon this Chapter of Moses at least as many as I have seen understood it and even Martin Luther in those Books which he wrote against the Church of Rome makes but one Commandment of the Doctor 's First and Second But if He will have it that it is a distinct Commandment because it has a distinct prohibition then it will follow that we must have as many Commandments as we have distinct Prohibitions in that Chapter besides the affirmative Precepts and then we shall have 13 or 14 Commandments at least Thou shalt not make to thy Self any graven Image must be the Second thou shalt not how down to them the Third thou shalt not take the Name of thy Lord thy God in vain the Fourth remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day the Fifth thou shalt do no manner of Work the Sixth and so on But as the Dr. wou'd not I suppose allow of this distribution so He may please to give us leave to stick to the Old Ten Commandments in the same order manner we receiv'd them from our Ancestors of Blessed Memory CHAP. IX Of Purgatory WHat we hold as of Faith concerning this Point is thus declar'd by the Council of Trent That there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detain'd are help'd by the Prayers of the Faithful but especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Mass Here the Council do's not determine what sort of Place Purgatory is or what manner of Pain Souls endure in it nor whether they are purg'd by material Fire or by other Torments or Anguishes of Mind but is content to declare with the Ancient Fathers that there is a Place wherein Souls departed are detain'd without entering upon curious need less Questions concerning the Manner or Duration of the Pains they there suffer In handling therefore this Argument I shall endeavour to tred in the Steps of the Ancient Fathers and follow the Pattern of this Council waving all superfluous and needless Questions relating to this Subject