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A58328
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Animadversions by way of answer to a sermon preached by Dr. Thomas Kenne, Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, in the Cathedral Church of Bath, on Ascension-Day last, being the fifth day of May, 1687
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Reed, John, Father.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing R665; ESTC R36704
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18,505
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40
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ANIMADVERSIONS By way of ANSWER TO A SERMON Preached by Dr. THOMAS KENNE Lord Bishop of BATH and WELLS In the Cathedral Church of BATH On ASCENSION-DAY last Being the Fifth Day of May 1687. With Allowance LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Thompson at the Entrance into the Old Spring-Garden near Charing-Cross 1687. TO THE MOST SACRED MAJESTY OF JAMES the II. KING of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. THIS little Treatise most Gracious and Dread Sovereign was occasion'd by a Sermon Preach'd the last Ascention-Day by a Bishop of the Church of England whose Tallent was so much commended that I was no less curious than desirous to hear him And so I did with attention I confess I am no competent Author to fasten an Opinion of his Lordship on any yet being not at all pleaed with his Doctrine I gave my best Friends the faithfullest report I cou'd of the chiefest Points of his Discourse His Lordship I own is Oratour enough and was sufficiently moderate for a great part of his Sermon till at last he flew to Controversies nothing material to his Text and much less Consonant to good Doctrine Then I was resolved to have a sharp Eye after him Sermon being done immediately I Recorded his chiefest Errours and endeavour'd at leasure to reduce them to the best and easiest method that was possible for me May it therefore please Your most Sacred Majesty to countenance this little Scroul in hopes that under Your Gracious Protection it may get the Credit to be worth the Reading I am most certainly sure it can never be set forth to the Publick advantage of Souls better than by Dedicating it to a KING who has done more in one day for God's Glory and the propagation of the Christian Faith than most of the Christian Kings have done in the whole course of their Lives It is well known that He has truly a Paternal Breast to all His Subjects and most particularly to them that profess any Zeal towards the Conversion of Souls having this Sentence of St. Denis deeply Engraven in His Royal Heart Divinorum Divinissimum est co-operari Deo in salutem animarum The Divinest of all Divine things is to cooperate with God for the salvation of Souls Now then Dread Sir I Consecrate my self and this little Paper together with all the Faculties of my Soul and Body to Your most Sacred Majesties Spiritual and Temporal Service for I never desire to live longer than I am able to serve Your Self and Your Royal Family And shall conclude with this hearty Address to Almighty God that as he has most Miraculously preserv'd Your Royal Person from so many Eminent Evident and hidden Dangers both on Sea and Land Abroad and at Home and settled Your Majesty in spite of Fate on the Throne of Your Royal Ancestors so He may settle Your Majesty and Your Royal Consort on a Throne of Glory in Heaven after living a full Century on years in all Prosperity on Earth to the perfect Conversion of all Your Subjects This with the blessing of a most Hopeful Prince who shall perpetuate Your Royal Names to the Worlds end shall be the constant Wishes and daily Prayers of Dread Sovereign Your Majesties most Dutifully Obedient Servant and most Loyal Irish Subject F.J.R. C.J. TO THE COURTEOUS READER IT happened Courteous Reader that I have been lately intreated by one of my best Friends to go hear a Church of England Bishop Preach I confess I had no great mind to go yet to please my Friend and may be yield something to curiosity I went. But seeing a Christian Prelate in the Pulpit begin as I thought a Christian Sermon and omit the characterical Sign of a Christian I was much astonished at such an odd sight being the first Preacher to the best of my Memory that ever I saw begin a Sermon without making the Sign of the Cross To this you will answer that in the Church of England they do not usually make the Sign of the Cross contenting themselves to make it once for all Viz. When they are Baptized but is that the Custom as well with Protestants as with all other Dissenters Yes well then I say that it is a very ill Custom which can never be otherwise then a most scandalous practise For my part I declare I was mightily scandalized to see one that pretends to be a Christian-Teacher begin to Preach and omit the Sign of a Christian This with his ill Doctrine made me observe him narrowly and sift thoroughly all his Discourse and endeavour to refute his chiefest Errours as you will see if you be pleased to read this following Treatise But this Advertisement is chiefly to shew that the practical omission of using the Sign of the Cross is a practical contradiction as well of the holy Bible as of the Primitive and modern Practice of the true Church of Christ But before I enter into any positive Proof either of holy Scripture or Antiquity I think it expedient to take away all doubts and scruples of the lawfulness of this holy Sign and thus I argue That practice can never be unlawful in it self which both Parties own to be once so lawful that it is against the Law of God to omit it But both Roman Catholicks and Protestants do own that it is against the Law of Christ to omit the Sign of the Cross at the actual administration of the Sacrament of Baptism Ergo the constant practise thereof must needs be lawful Nam quod ex natura rei semel est licitum semper est licitum for there is nothing less alterable than the nature of a thing which in Schools is called Quiditas rei that is the very Essence of a thing which cannot be changed without destroying the thing it self None therefore can deny the constant use of the Cross to be lawful seeing all confess it to be once absolutely necessary Viz. In the actual Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism so that whoever teacheth the contrary may see his own judgement in St. Paul 3. Chap. to the Phillip 18. v. Quos saepe dicebam vobis nunc flens dico inimicos Crucis Christi quorum Deus venter est finis interitus For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly Consider seriously this passage and beware never to despise the Sign of the Cross otherwise you will act directly against the express word of God As you will see in what followeth Read I pray the 7th of Revelations 3 v. Where one Angel said to four other Angels hurt not the Earth neither the Sea nor the Trees till we have signed the Servants of our God in their Foreheads Read again the 10th Chap. of St. Mark 16 Vers And he took them and blessed them The same is proved also out of St. Luke 24th Chap. 50. Vers
your Lordship be pleased to observe how in that most wicked time of the Synagogue speaking out of that Chair which Christ commanded to be obeyed they answer truly in matters of Faith and their chief Pastors Prophesie and why Because Christ commanded that Chair to be obeyed and did not he command the Church built upon the Rock to be obeyed also Witness these words of St. Matth. 18th Chap. 17th Vers And if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen man and a Publican Whence it is to be gathered that the Church of Christ cannot err in her spiritual Jurisdiction rogavi pro te Petre ut non deficiat fides tua As for my part I will never allow that Church to be the Church of Christ that owns her self fallible and this I am ready to Sign and Seal with the last drop of my Blood. The Protestant Church did and does still own her self fallible therefore it cannot be the Church establish'd by Christ on the Rock This shou'd be enough to oblige your Lordship to make it your sole business to find out truth and embrace it there is none that values his Eternal Felicity but will think it well worth his while it being that only unum necessarium so much recommended by our Saviour in his Gospel But all this my Lord might be answer'd much breifer in saying your Lordship mistook hugely in the Supremacy the Protestants of England give their King which you said to be only civil and politick as that of King Saul in the Jewish Church Read if you be pleased the Oath of Supremacy and you will find that the King is made in effect what the Popes pretended to have been heretofore in this Realm The Popes never pretended any civil or temporal Jurisdiction in England but a Spiritual one only which is the very Jurisdiction King Henry the Eighth super-added to his Temporal Power which was never done by any Christian King in England before nor elsewhere that ever I heard or read of Your Lordship therefore must allow a spiritual Supremacy in the King it is the only genuine sense it can have and not at all to be contradicted For alas If Supremacy were nothing then to own a Supream politick or civil Power in the King there is no Roman Catholick this day in his Dominions that wou'd loose any preferment either spiritual or civil on that accompt For we are not such fools as to expose our selves to suffer so many rude persecutions and undergo the loss of so many considerable imployments of both kinds for not taking the Oath of the Kings being Supream Politick and Civil Head of the Churches of all his Realms That I am very free to take my self tomorrow if I cou'd but share with your Lordship in the fat of your double Benefice Nay without any Spes lucri I swear with all my heart that I know no other Supream Politick or Temporal Power in all his most Sacred Majesties Dominions but what is in his Royal Person alone and do beseech God Almighty to bless and preserve Great James our Sovereign King Lord and Master on the Throne of his Royal Ancestors till he sees his Subjects in general and each individual person of them swear and protest the same and maintain to the loss of their Lives and Fortunes that true Allegiance due by the Laws of God and Nature to his most Sacred Majesties Civil and Politick Supremacy obedite prepositis vestris And so in paying to Caesar what is due to Caesar they 'll pay to God also his own due This is enough for that Point of your Sermon let us come now to the Controversie of the last Part which was with much vehemency against the Real Presence I thought indeed that matter had but little or no relation at all with the words of your Text God is gone up with a shout the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet But your Lordship knows best your own Reasons which I leave to your self and come to my Matter which is to refute your Objections and explain the Roman Catholick Doctrine concerning the Real Presence seeing you wedged that Mystery into your Discourse without any relation to your purpose I did no sooner hear your solemn protestation against this holy Sacrament then immediately I supposed you were an Abjurator ready to swear point-blank that Christs most sacred Humanity is not really and substantially on our Altars in Vertue of the Sacramental words For I saw you exhorted with passion your People not to be tottered by every blast of wind that shall say Christ is on this Altar or Christ is on that Altar for Christ is actually in Heaven and shall continue there till he comes to judge at the end of the World. As for this Point I answer first that if your Lordship means to perswade your poor People that he is not really present on your own Communion Tables you may swear it confidently and so may I too for I own no power in you to bring him nor intention to make use of any power to possess his most sacred Humanity really in your Communion Bread And it is our Roman Catholick Doctrine that without characterical power and lawful intention he cannot be really present on our Altars and much less on your Tables seeing you renounce all such power and intention But to say and swear his real Presence not to be on our Altars after Consecration done by a lawful Priest legally intentioned is the greatest fit of rashness in nature for none can say it with truth nor swear it without a most sacrilegious Perjury and that according to your own Rule of Faith which is Scripture expounded by every individual person of sound judgement There is nothing more rash nor that can come nearer madness then to say there is none of found Judgement nor ever has been amongst so many Learned and Eminent Roman Catholick Doctors who are and have been ready at all hours to maintain that most holy Mystery to the effusion of the last drop of their Blood as many have done rather then forswear themselves in denying the most positive Article of Faith we have in Scripture And no Protestant ought to find fault with this Doctrine seeing their Judgements give them that they can most favourably expound Scripture for the mystery of the Real Presence as you will see by so many positive Proofs drawn out of the Gospel But I wou'd fain know first what you are at concerning this Mystery I am mistaken if you did not intend to perswade your People that Roman Catholicks pretend to have Power by vertue of the Sacramental Words to bring down Christ Jesus his most Sacred Humanity on their respective Altars and rob the Saints in Heaven of the beatifical sight of that Sacred Pledge in which consists the plenitude of their Eternal Joy and Happiness For you exhorted your Auditory with such eagerness to stick to their Principles and not to be tottered here and