these Ego Berengarius corde credo panem c. substantialiter converti in veram propriam vivificatricem carnem Domini c. In the former Roman Council an 1060. tho the words of the Recantation are Ego Berengarius anathematizo eam haeresin quae astruere conatur panem post consecrationem solummodo Sacramentum non verum corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi esse Yet that the Council meant the Bread to be Christ's Body not whilst being but by ceasing to be Bread methinks is sufficiently vindicated by what Lanfranck one of it and Guitmund and Anselm contemporaries say of this Council as I find them quoted by Bellarm. de Euch. l. 3. c. 21. Lanfran de Corpore Domini to Berengarius Nicolaus Papa comperiens te docere panem vinumque altaris post consecrationem sine materiali mutatione in pristinis essentiis remanere c. praecepti tradi scripturam tibi i. e. the Recantation nam'd before Guitmund l. 3. De Corpore Domini speaking of the same Council saith Panem in corpus Christi substantialiter converti non sicut delirat Berengarius corporis Domini figuras tantum esse umbras aut intra se latentem Christum tegere universalis Ecclesiae consensione roboratum est Anselm tho I grant 't is not necessary to understand this to be spoken of the former Council notwithstanding semper abhorruit some way involves it Panis substantiam post consecrationem in altari superesse semper abhorruit pietas Christiana nuperque damnavit in Berengario But Anselm dyed an hundred years before the Lateran Council Besides the force of these Testimonies 't is not probable that in the eighteen years space that interceded between these two Councils the Judgment of the Church in the later should be so much alter'd and that without any noise or opposition from the former § XLVIII 4. Concerning these Councils that have so strictly determin'd the manner of corporal presence Councils excusable in determination of the manner of Christ's presence in the Eucharist which many pious men have wished that the Church had rather left undefin'd permitting to every one the liberty of their private conjecture and only imposing silence on all to forbear curious disputes Yet we may consider That the same we say concerning this point of the Eucharist is said by Sectaries concerning Decisions of Councils in any other point wherein they differ from her Judgment So she is by several complain'd of for her too much curiosity and punctuality in the mystery of the Trinity in her addition a Filioque in concluding that hard and long-disputed point of Rebaptization c. That not private men but the Church her self is meetest to judg what is fit to be determin'd or not determin'd by her That curious disputes may indeed easily be prohibited but once on foot will never be actually laid but still multiply into new controversies till something most probable is setled by just Authority That as there were then on foot some opinions very destructive and diminutive to this ineffable Mystery as Berengarius his first Doctrine so others again very extravagant as that of Hypostatical union of the Deity to a new Breaden Body That these Councils did no more in this than other Councils from time to time have done in very subtle only if much controverted matters in not silencing the Disputants but as became a Judg confiding in the Holy Spirit 's assistance determining the point as seem'd to them truest That these Councils in this point after all things had been for a long time more exactly debated and sifted than in former Ages before giving any sentence thereon in their decision follow'd the words of our Saviour Mat. 26.26 in their simplest meaning and the commonest phrase of the Writings of Antiquity tho some Fathers in their judgment perhaps differ'd from the rest i. e. conversion or transmutation taken in the strictest sense That if we restrain the Church from determining any thing where Scripture seems ambiguous tho the testimony and exposition of Antiquity perhaps in the same point is not so her decisive Authority in matters once controverted will be made void because so often is Scripture ambiguous i.e. by several men severally understood And in matters not controverted 't is needless That there comes 〈◊〉 more Peace to the Church by such a definition and no danger to Christians from this thing defined if an Error supposing still corporal presence a truth from which also follows Adoration because 't is only a purely speculative mistake and no point of practice depending on it Lastly That in the general acknowledgment of so much obscurity and uncomprehensibleness of this mystery as the Church hath less light to judg of the exact manner thereof c. so have others less grounds to contradict her Judgment As for her making it an Article of Faith now which was not so heretofore which is much objected by some Reformed In what sence they impose it as an Article of Faith. see Chemnitius quoted before Sed quia transubstantiatio saith he pro articulo fidei sub paena anathematis proponitur necessario contradicendum est c. See Dr. Taylor p. 331. Before the Lateran Council saith he Transubstantiatio non fuit dogma fidei as Scotus saith and how it can be afterward since Christ is only the Author and finisher of our Faith and therefore all Faith was deliver'd from the beginning is a matter of highest danger and consideration Thus he I think it is sufficiently answer'd and the offence thereof taken away in my notes of Infallibility so that I need say little here Only this First They make this point of Transubstantiation no more an Article of Faith than their other Decrees to which they require assent under Anathema as they do to this For example 'T is made no more an Article of Faith by them than this is De Bapt. Can. 1. Baptismum Johannis non habere eandem vim cum baptismo Christi But if the Church may not be permitted to make thus new Articles of Faith she may not to make any new determination not formerly made nor to enjoin people to believe or assent to any thing which formerly was not enjoin'd nor believ'd But to explain the business a little We must know That all Divine Revelation any thing in God's Word whatever is eo nomine an Article or point of Faith and that as Article of Faith is taken for dogma verum and so credible for a divine truth which is creditable or which may be most surely believ'd So what Dr. Taylor saith is most true such it is not only after Decreed by a Council but at least from the time of our Saviour and the Apostles and nothing at any time thus an Article of Faith which is not so always And thus far doubtless was it from Scotus his thought That Transubstantiation at the Lateran Council began to be a divine truth when it was not so
That the manner of this Presence whether in or with the elements is inexplicable Lastly that the love and omnipotence of the same God are relied on to make good that Presence whereof the manner is incomprehensible Now if God incarnate were present on the Altar at the same time he is in Heaven by grace and influence only his flesh would be neither present on the Altar nor given us to eat No more mystery nor incomprehensibilitty could be discerned in his Eucharistical than in his Baptismal presence neither would there be such need of extraordinary love and omnipotence to perform his promised presence in this more than in any other Religious ceremony wherein all grant his presence to be only gracious Nay the whole paragraph were no better than a devout and solemn delusion Nor am I prevailed-on to alter my thoughts concerning this Bishop's present faith would he do himself his Order and Christianity that right as to profess it frankly and clearly by any retractation or correction published in the Edition of his Book 1â—86 That amounting to no more than a denyal of Transubstantiation not of a substantial Presence whereby I am perfectly confirmed that by inexplicable incomprehensible manner was intended the manner of the Flesh's being present not whether it were present or no and that it was this he could neither explain nor comprehend To proceed further in evincing affirmatively that the sense of the aforesaid Article Office and Catechism was a substantial presence the supremest and most authentic Interpreters that have appeared since the creation of the present Church of England may be produced 1. We begin with Queen Elizabeth the Parent of modern Prelatick Protestancy This Lady profess'd the Catholick Religion in her Sister's Reign and when she obtein'd the Crown was with difficulty perswaded to alterations in Religion as was long ago told the world from other intelligence and lately from Jewel's c Letters perused by Dr. Burnet in his Ramble In particular She own'd the Real presence to the Count of Feria and others and commended a Preacher for asserting it on Goodfriday 1565. A Real presence I say She patronized and such a one as was own'd by the ancient Fathers and had bin believed in the Church of England since the conversion of that Nation believed without either check or interruption till towards the setting of Edward the 6. when Zuinglianism seems to have bin introduced Now if She profess'd a substantial presence and if She that authorized the Liturgy and Articles did not do it till after she had fluxt them of whatever was malignant to a substantial presence to accommodate them to the majority of the Nation that with her self were so perswaded sure She intended they should be interpreted as her Self and the Most both thought and profess'd Can the genuine sense of the words be both a Substantial presence and a presence of Grace only Could a Nation in a moment believe by the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ spoke at the delivery of the Sacrament to them was meant on the one day that his Body was verily and indeed and in substance if this be more given to them and the next day understand by the same words that the Body of our Lord was not verily and indeed nor in substance but only in figure and benefit exhibited especially when they heard the imposer of such passages declare for the former sense saw her delete what opposed it and retain the self same language the Catholick Church their true Mother used in all times to convey her faith to their Minds Whereupon considering these things together with the miniated copy of Articles c seen by Dr. Burnet considering I say that the chief Pastoress had authority according to the Doctrine of Lay-Supremacy to impose and according to Dr. Burnet's deleted copy did impose her Judgment to be assented to and subscribed by the whole Clergy c. we may truly conclude not only as some have done that the chief Pastors of the Church but that the whole Church Head and Body Queen Clergy and People did then disapprove of or dissemble about the Definition made in King Edward's time and that they were for Real presence 2. Her Successor King James I. either understood the Article and Liturgy in the same sense according to the attestations of Bishop Andrews and Casaubon or where has the Church of England publish'd that she holds a substantial presence as those Learned Persons say she often has either no where if not here or with contradiction to what is here if elsewhere because the proper sense of the Article and Liturgy can't be both a substantial and but only a gracious presence But that Part of the Catechism which concerns the Sacraments and which was composed by Dr. Overal in this King's Reign determins the dispute as to this Prince's faith for tho the Catechism as almost any sentence may be wrested yet it cannot be rendred without absurdity and passing for a meer cheat in favour of any other than a substantial presence And Bishop Cosin's doctrine is some argument that Dr. Overal his Patron and Master did mean no other 3. As to King Charles the First if we may gather his judgment from either Books published by his command or Sermons preach'd before him He adhered to that Faith in this point which all his Christian Ancestors had profess'd Out of such Books and Sermons we present the Reader with two Instances so full to our design that if they can be eluded so may a Demonstration The former is in Archbishop Lawd's Conference with Father Fisher a Book highly esteemed by that Excellent tho calamitous King. And for the Church of England nothing is more plain than that it believes and teaches the true and real presence of Christ in the Eucharist unless A. C. can make a Body no Body and Blood no Blood but unless Grace be a Body and Benefit be Blood Dr. St. and the Answerer can make a Body no Body c. c. The other is in Dr. Laurence's Sermon before the King Charles I. p. 17 18. As I like not those that say He is bodily there so I like not those that say His Body is not there because Christ saith it is there and St. Paul saith t is there and the Church of England saith t is there and the Church of God ever said t is there and that truly and substantially and essentially c. For the Opinion of the Sons and Successors to this Prince concerning a substantial presence c t is out of question I presume What then we add is That either all these Heads and the Church of England believed the same or she has a miserable Faith wherein no Head since Queen Elizabeth produced Her durst either live or die It were a diffidence in this Proof or an affront to an intelligent Reader to offer him a Protestant nubes Testium as a further confirmation in this matter for then we must recount to
the same reason compel them to affirm Adoration follows their own Doctrine and therefore ours which forced Bishop Morton to say it followed the Lutheran 4ly Their deference to the certainty of sense must be adjusted with ours and Miracles must not be confined to its sphere 5ly Such language as this Minister uses must be forborn and his blasphemous Ironies receive the same detestation with them as they have with as For instance Pref. p. 6. l. penult That the Council of Lateran gave the Priests power of making their God for Church of England Priests if true Priests have the same power with the Catholick But neither pretend by Sacerdotal consecration to make the substance of Christ's Body but only to invoke the Holy Ghost to effect by its Almighty power that the substance of our Lord 's glorified body which now exists gloriously in Heaven may also exist Sacramentally on the Altar Is this making their God The Lateran Definition de Fide Catholica and the Council of Trent informed this Minister what part by Christ's institution not their gift as this man imposes the Priest has in the consecration if he had not bin willing to forget or mistake it for vile purposes Again p. 75. l. 8. That the Popish Real Presence is a meer figment and their Mass to be abhorred rather than adored Such putrid falshoods and conceited nonsense will be very indecent in a genuine Church of England man's mouth not only because of his Defender but of his Faith too For such a one to tell us of adoring the Mass and that He abhors it and accounts our Real presence a figment is both absurd and impious But this is the result of a Gallican vagary and of learning the Doctrine of the Church of England from Hugonotal conversation Tales and Fathers Pag. 72. l. 1. That the alterations which have bin made in our Rubric were not upon the account of our Divines changing their Opinions c. Tho it signify little whether the Alterations in the Article and Liturgy and the Disgrace of the Rubric were or were not from a change of opinions so long as the Doctrine of the Church was changed tho this I grant may well be and the other not according to the gloss of subscribing not with assent but for peace and tho too t is a strange casualty for Divines remarkable for resolution and famous for immutability to flit their sentiments as ordinarily as the Moon does her appearances yet the Proof brought that those Divines did not imitate Cranmer in compliance and submission of judgment to the present Possessor of White-Hall is no more than an heap of this Minister's conjectures stampt with the superscription of a Rational account when-as Dr. Heylin equal to Dr. Burnet in abilities and industry and incomparably more honest than that perfidious Fugitive reports that the changes were made lest in excluding a carnal Presence they the Divines sure might be thought to reject such a Real presence as was defended in the writings of the Ancient Fathers Nor is the design of reconciling Parties inconsistent with a change of opinions A comprehension-affair may be pursued by Real Presence-men as well as Zuinglians As to the Copy of Articles perused by Dr. Burnet and out of him mentioned pag. 58. we say again that it ought to be concluded from that rased Monument rather that the Divines did than did not change their Opinions for he that reverses a subscription voluntarily is likelier to have altered his resolution than to have retain'd it especially when induced to expunge what had bin agreed on by an Authority whereto by the Principle of Lay-Supremacy lately assumed by the Prince and submitted to by themselves their judgments were to conform and whose sentiments in Religion they were to believe and profess For Queen Elizabeth had by a dreadful example just then told the world as after she had like to have done in the Lambeth-Articles-Affair that She would not hear the Church but tho a woman be heard by it in matters of Faith and would neither consult with nor follow but controll and prescribe-to Convocations in causes of meer Religion Had She not refused to hear the voice of the whole Clergy in her first and the last Canonical Convocation In a Convocation acting agreeably not only to the institution of Christianity and rules of the Catholick Church but of all other Convocations that ever were in the Nation unless a few in Hen. 8. and Edw. 6. time in a Convocation acting according to all Laws Ecclesiastical and Civil then in force in this Kingdom and representing the Church of England by Law established How then could its Declaration be illegal as the Reflecter on the Historical Part of the Fifth part of Church-Government p. 82. will needs esteem it What could the Queen under a penalty justly prohibit them the use of that Authority both Christ and the Laws of the Land had setled on them alone If this were not tyranny where shall instances of it be found But that Reverend and Catholick Assembly understood both its own power and duty better than so and despising the temporal terrors that only a Tyrant in that case would threaten and a Persecutor execute discharged it self with constancy as became men entrusted with the souls of the Nation tho deprivation were the reward of their Confession Her new and parasitical Ministers understood then what they must do and that for that very end She had raised them up even to think and act at her appointment In return to the conjectures wherewith the Answerer strives to blanch o're a soul defection from the Catholick faith we will relate how we apprehend Religious affairs were managed At Edward the Sixths coming to the Crown the Doctrine of the Church of England was a substantial Presence the manner of that Presence was Transubstantiation but thro the Ambition and Avarice of Governing Parties some quickly began to contest and forsake this Faith vet by degrees rejecting first the manner and afterwards the Presence being assisted in this Apostasy by a few and opposed by most of the Clergy and Laity hence tho there were Assemblies and deliberations had yet no Canonical determinations pass'd or are extant unless such approbations may be deemed Synodical that were obtained by terrors and deprivations of many the most eminent Bishops and dignified Ecclesiasticks for relucting at what derogated from Christian Truth and Church Authority All was done by the conduct and influence of the evil Spirit and neither Scripture nor Antiquity rightly consulted or observed only herein the diligence and craft of those destroying Reformers must to their eternal infamy be own'd that they distinguished points immediately obstructing their gain and licentiousness from others more indifferent rejecting chiefly such as debarred them from spoiling the Church and gratifying their sensual appetites Thus as superstitious or idolatrous prayer for the Faithful deceased that Chanteries the Mass that the furniture of Altars c might be alienated
the nourished it makes us partakers of his Life which being immortal and glorious renders ours such also And 3. Other Food being either inanimate or having a Life inferior unto and differing from ours this Body of his is become superior more Divine than ours and is a quickning Spirit And therefore we should receive his Body and Blood after the manner of natural bodies which the Capernaites and our sensual Doctors can apprehend it would profit us nothing as to the great effects promised by our Receiving in the Eucharist And these effects are true and real not notional or imaginary or by Faith only apprehended yea much more than the Manna Faith being an assent in the understanding is quite different from enjoyment in the will and affections And Faith i. e. a believing either that our Lord was the true Messias or Messenger from the Father for else he could not be the true Bread which came down from Heaven or that this which is given us is the real Body of our Saviour for else it would be only common Bread precedes the Receiving yet is not any part of it much less the enjoyment of any of the effects of it Again If eating by Faith whatever it signifies be all that is meant in the Eucharist how comes it to be preferr'd before the Manna which was a continual Miracle and daily exercise of their Faith And why would our Lord suffer so many of his Followers to go away from him when he might in so few words have inform'd them of the Truth without a Metaphor Why should he use such sublime and spiritual expressions repeating it to be his body and blood that it came down from Heaven that he would give it for the life of the world c. and not once explain the meaning of those to them obscure phrases And if the Church Catholick and even the Church of England till the last of King Edward VI. had not conceiv'd some great Mystery why would she keep the words so obscure and really as they suppose improper of the Institution so precisely even till the Church of England made the breach and by the Expressions different from the whole Church profess'd her self not to be a Member of it But of this sufficient is said before and in the Reformation of the Church of England from § 148. Wherefore the Catholicks speaking of the real presence of our Lord mean◠the very essence substance the very thing it self is there present taken and eaten by us and not only the benefits of his Passion believ'd by us And in the Church's sense we use in this Discourse the words really really present c. and yet not naturally locally or any other manner of its being according to the qualities of a natural body § 2 And note secondly That these Writers and others pretending to be of the Church of England by their spiritual by Faith mystical eating which they sometimes also call Sacramental intend a sense contrary and opposite to eating the natural body of our Lord spiritualiz'd and that is all the eating they acknowledg The Catholick Church also useth the same word spiritual in opposition to real or sacramental meaning thereby the reception of some spiritual grace or encrease of it As the Fathers in the Wilderness did eat the same meat Manna and the Rock-water spiritually in as much as these were Types of spiritual things under the Gospel by receiving whereof they also obtain'd the graces of Gods Spirit And this spiritual reception of Grace is not only in the Eucharist but in all the other Sacraments in all actions of Devotion and Piety and all manner of well-using Grace once given But this is not all the Sacramental receiving tho contain'd in it So that there are two manners of receiving Grace and our Saviour 1. Spiritual only which our Replier says is all 2. Spiritual and real or Sacramental because proper to the Eucharist The real without the spiritual profiteth nothing yea it is also damnable For except a man come to the Eucharist well prepar'd i. e. by Mortifications Devotions Acts of Religion i. e. in a state of Grace he eats and drinks condemnation to himself The spiritual receiving without the real profiteth indeed but neither so much nor in such manner as when they are join'd both together For spiritual receiving is of more Grace upon well-using the former is only in general and in the inner man therefore difficultly discern'd and more subject are we to be deceiv'd in it But real receiving as all other Sacraments is instituted to help the weakness and imperfect discernment of our spiritual and internal condition by the visible signs of invisible Grace therein bestow'd The spiritual eating gives us a right and title to Grace but the other is the very instrument of conveying it Also in that Grace is given according to the measure of the Receiver's disposition and that Grace also which is of the same nature with those dispositions But in the Sacraments are given new and peculiar Graces as in Baptism the forgiveness of all sins already committed and admission into the Church of Christ and all the rights and benefits thereof So in the holy Eucharist there is conferr'd also forgiveness of sins and a nearer incorporating us into our Lord himself more intimately and consequently a more certain hope and confidence of eternal life by receiving himself into us who is now become a quickning Spirit unto us working by his body receiv'd the seed of immortality all things necessary or useful to our happy progress thither Be pleased therefore to consider Whether they who acknowledg no other than a spiritual receiving do not either quite evacuate the power and efficacy or at least diminish much and weaken the force of this divine Sacrament And also that whoever they are who endeavour to subject or reduce Religion to the Rule of Reason do not in effect deny and despise the wisdom of God declar'd in the mystery of our holy Religion § 3 Note Thirdly That Catholicks trouble not themselves to reconcile Religion to Philosophy Their endeavour is to understand the true sense of what God hath revealed and to this purpose they make use of all the helps which others do but principally depend upon what the Church Catholick and her Doctors from time to time have receiv'd and declar'd i. e. how they to whom our Lord committed his Mysteries have from the beginning believ'd and deliver'd that charge deliver'd unto them how the practice hath interpreted the Law and how the Holy Spirit by his Instruments the Clergy of the Catholick Church hath continued it down to their time Nor do they regard what either private interpretation or what Philosophy or Principles fram'd by men's understandings out of their experience or frame of Languages suggest They leave these to them who affect to diminish the unfathomable knowledg communicated to us by God in his Revelations to Arians Socinians Latitudinarians and other Doctors of Sensuality But
before But as Article of Faith is taken for dogma necessario credendum for a divine truth necessary when known to be so to be believ'd or not oppos'd So a divine truth may be an article or object of my Faith to day which was not yesterday So he who by what means soever knows that something is said in Scripture which he knew not yesterday may be said to have to day a new article of his Faith or a new point no way to be opposed or denied but assented to and believ'd by him § L When therefore a thing is said to be no dogma fidei before and at such a time to begin to be so the meaning is That is is now a dogma fidei or object of Faith necessary to be believ'd which it was not before necessary to be believ'd not for the matter thereof as if the actual knowledg and faith thereof were absolutely necessary to Salvation thus a few points only some think not all those of the Creed are necessary and nothing thus necessary at any time that is not always so but necessary ex accidenti because we have a sufficient proposal thereof that it is a divine truth Not that the error in or ignorance of such a point even after such proposal doth derogate from our having absolutely necessary faith any more than it did before nor that in disbelieving or dissenting from it we are more defective in the necessarily salvifical principles of divine truth but that we are defective in our obedience to and acceptance of divine truths made known to us by the Church as some way conducible to Christian edification to the peace of the Church or to some other good end Therefore the duty she requires to many of her decisions is not so much an actual knowing of them as the not denying opposing contradicting them when made known to us Therefore for example should any one after the definition of the Tridentine Council thereupon hold John's and our Saviour's Baptism to have in every thing the same virtue and effect such a one whilst not knowing this definition of the Council is excusable in his error supposing it be not contracted from any careless neglect or if it be so contracted yet he is not guilty thereby of a point of infidelity as concerning necessary faith but only of the sin of negligence Neither when the Church requires the belief of Transubstantiation hence doth it follow that she saith the belief thereof is necessary to salvation but that she thinks it fit for some good ends of Christian edification not to be opposed and therefore Suarez his confessing that to believe Transubstantiation is not simply necessary to salvation quoted by Archbishop Laud p. 287. methinks well consists with the Church's determining it tho the Archbishop there thinks according to the Roman principles it is otherwise And as Bellarmin saith there are many things in Scripture which tho they are necessario credenda quia scripta sunt yet are not scripta quia necessario credenda so may I say of Church definitions Neither upon this may we collect that she is tyrannical in abridging the liberty of mens judgments if the belief of the points she determins be not necessary for salvation but only if no way at all beneficial to be known For the wilful opposing of which if we afterwards incur her Anathema's which exclude from heaven thus we miss of salvation not for want of necessary faith but obedience she Anathematizing us not for an error but a vice i. e. a causlesly disturbing her peace and resisting her authority Should any one after the Apostolical Synod and Decrees Act. 15. some of which were about matter of small account yet not without good reason commanded for a season at least to be observed have resisted their Injunctions in the matter of blood and things strangled holding it still lawful notwithstanding such prohibition to eat those things such an one doubtless notwithstanding the levity of the matter would justly have incurred the Church'es censure and without repentance bin liable to damnation not for want of any faith necessary thereto but of due submission and obedience to the decrees of a just Authority § LI 5. Lastly concerning our obedience to these Councils in such their decisions Obedience due to such decisions see what I have said in my Notes concerning that subject and in those of the obligation of not acting against conscience where I think t is sufficiently evidenced that we are bound to submit at least to all such points where we are not certain of the contrary as especially in this by most-confessed ineffable mystery we can little pretend to it considering what hath bin said in this paper But indeed such a submission will be found either a duty to all the Churches decisions or to none For if we obey only so many of her Canons as we in our judgment think truth rejecting the rest our submission is not to her authority deciding but a yeilding to the verisimility of the thing decided Again such a submission is either a duty to all Councils I mean which are in their authority equal or to none upon the same reason For for us to judge first of the orthodoxness of a Council which is appointed to direct us what is orthodox what a preposterous thing is it And if we go to this play once to receive only so many Councils as we like of their doctrines then as the Lutheran only admits of six Councils the Calvinist of only four so the Eutychians now in Asia upon as good grounds I mean as to any obligation to their Authority do admit only of three Councils Again the modern Nestorian of two only lastly the modern Socinian of none at all The Objection that may be made here What if a man's conscience be perswaded that the contrary to the Councils decree is evident in the Scriptures The objection of contrary perswasion of Conscience considered as what if one think that the Church in the Tridentine Council enjoyns adoration not to Christ but to the Symbols or that the worshiping of Christ as corporally present in the Sacrament is flat idolatry which is much urged by Daille as a sufficient ground for a discession from the former Church see the latter part of 8. c. of his Apology p. 55. I have answered in those Notes before-named I will only here retort it Suppose an Eutychian Nestorian Ariam plead the same excuse for dissenting from the ancient Councils for I hope he will grant some of them may be perswaded in conscience as they profess If he answer such perswasion of a conscience wilfully misinformed and refusing the guides God hath appointed to instruct it better excuseth them not from the guilt of heresy I reply neither will it in this point excuse the other especially for the business of corporal presence if they be found to go against the stream of present and former Church from whom we ought in all
serves the turn 3. Because from a thing prov'd useless sometimes or to some persons from some incapability of the subject c. it follows not that it is so altogether and to others As it follows not that such a Diet not nourishing or also hurting a languishing stomach therefore doth not profit to a sound To illustrate it a little in our present subject By Baptism or also by Faith and Repentance before Baptism or the fervent desire of Baptism when it cannot be had we are regenerated and united to Christ and made members of his body yet will any therefore say that in Baptism we enjoy as much a communion of the body and blood of Christ as in the Eucharist Or that the Eucharist is inutile Therefore hath Christ given us also the symbols of his body in vain Therefore do we possess no more of his grace and goodness by believing and receiving also the Sacrament of his body and blood than only by believing on him But the if receiving him spiritualiter by Faith and sacramentaliter be better than spiritualiter only why may not sacramentaliter and coporaliter be also better than sacramentaliter only Who can demonstrate it That the faithful receive no more benefit from the Divine good pleasure by faith and the body of our Lord substantially present than he should by faith and the body only typically present since all depends on God's good pleasure Why may it not be his will to confer the complement of our union with him and the perfection of grace and charity in us and the last seal of our immortality and incorruptibility in us not by the receipt of the symbols of his body but by his very body united and join'd to our souls and bodies and yet not these to all that receive it neither because it acts not physically or irresistibly but to the worthy Calvin as he is very inconstant in his expressions concerning this Sacrament seems to hint something to this purpose Instit l. 4. c. 17. s 9. s 11. Quae omnia non posse aliter effici intelligimus quin Christus totus spiritu corpore nobis adhaereat that we may be membra corporis ejus ex ossibus ejus carne ejus magnum istud arcanum Eph. 5. and s 11. Quo i. e. exhibitione sanguinis corporis ejus primum in unum corpus cum ipso coalescimus deinde participes substantiae ejus facti in bonorum omnium communicatione virtutem quoque sentimus See B. Forbes l. 1. c. 1 s 26 27. much to this purpose Prisci fideles ante Christi incarnationem carnem Christi spiritualiter edebant in manna rebus aliis figuratam sufficienter pro statu Oeconomiae illius ad salutem 1 Cor. 10. Sed nihilominus per communicationem carnis Christi in Eucharistia multo altius solidius nos Christianos incorporari Christo quam priscos fideles qui spiritualiter tantum seu per solam fidem carnem Christi manducabant credidit semper Ecclesia Catholica nos cum edimus eundem Christum fide quidem utili sed fide rei praesentis quae actu ipso non sola spe nobis cum pane exhibetur modo tamen ineffabili c. câ—rtum est per manducationem mysticam corporis Domini nos multo efficacius plenius sublimius augustius strictius arctius corpori sanguini Christi uniri quam perilla i. e. verbum fidem baptismum c. Quam ob causam Hoc sacramentum dicitur per excellentiam communio quia scil hunc modum per manducationem mysticam Christus instituit longe efficacissimum perficiendae unionis conjunctionis quam arctissimae inter sese membra sua c. I conclude therefore that very transcendent may the effect of this corporal presence of our Saviour be beyond a spiritual and symbolical only as the effect of a spiritual and also symbolical in the. Sacrament is granted to be more than of a spiritual only tho the virtue thereof by God's good pleasure be obstructed and denyed to the unworthy even as his blood shed on the Cross and given for all yet is not effectual or beneficial to many To the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel Supposing for the present § LV what Dr. Taylor and others contend for That our Saviour speaks only of a spiritual feeding on him by faith and not of the sacramental at all Yet as the Doctor will grant that this Chapter contains in it nothing prejudicial to our attaining some benefit by receiving the sacrament and the symbols of Christ's body therein tho it is most true of these symbols that they of themselves profit nothing as to confer on us an eternal life without the participation also of the spirit of Christ communicated only to believers So I return that it contains nothing in it prejudicial to our obtaining some benefit from the sacramental receiving of our Saviour's very flesh Tho it is most true also of this very flesh that receiv'd alone without the spirit as it is by all the unworthy communicants it doth help nothing at all to make a man live for ever The whole passage in Joh. 6. seems to be thus When our Saviour had told the Capernaites upon occasion of their boasting how Moses gave them Manna to eat that much beyond those Manna-eaters that were dead he whosoever should eat the flesh of the Son of man should live for ever they conceiv'd his meaning to be that whoso could get a piece of his flesh and eat it should by virtue thereof for ever be preserv'd in life And this seem'd to them so unreasonable and so barbarous a thing either that he should any way feed them with his flesh or that they that fed with it should by the strength and force thereof live for ever that they forsook him and his doctrine Upon which he instructs them further in this mystery as it seems to me to this effect 1. That they should not eat his flesh at all in such a manner as they imagin'd i. e. in its natural condition but that he should ascend up to Heaven where he was before and so that his flesh with him see ver 62. upon which ascent the Spirit should come upon all true believers which Spirit should give them this life see Joh. 7.38 39. 2. That his flesh if eaten then or whenever it should be eaten in such manner as he should communicate it to them could give them no life alone or by its own virtue but only by his Spirit which is the fountain of life eternal join'd with and accompanying his flesh and that not to all receiving his flesh but to the believer of his words which words therefore in the close of ver 63 when believ'd in he calls spirit and life i. e. conferring the Spirit from which is receiv'd that life See ver 63. wherein that you may the better understand the usual expression of this Evangelist see Joh.
Christ so that neither for her Faith nor the imposition of it was her communion to have bin broken unless it were unlawful for her to impose the worshipping of What is no creature which is God. Ibid. l. 32. I cannot see what his cause would gain by it the certainty of the six Concessions The advantage gain'd by these concessions is considerable because thereby the Dispute is reduced to narrower and certain bounds and so many Objections prevented as also Opponents silenced such as hold a substantial presence surely that I see not what the Conceders have further to alledge against Adoration Can they plead we want a due object occasion precept or president to adore All then but Zuinglians a few of the latter brood of Protestants are on our side and these by the so much greater suffrage of Christendom are convicted of obstinacy in resisting so credible a judgment Pag. 96. l. 14. This t is true the Papists affirm c. In a kind fit we are allowed by this liberal man to affirm a sign to remain in the Eucharist after consecration distinct from the thing signified but then he speedily retracts so much as will make his concession a cypher For tho we affirm That nothing can outwardly and visibly signify in any Sacrament but what is perceivable by some sense or other and next That whatever is perceivable by any sense together with all the natural properties remains unchanged in the Eucharist And 3ly That we consecrate in the same elements wherein our 0203 069 Lord instituted the Sacrament yet because in defiance to Tradition Reason Revelation and the universal profession of all times and Churches till Luther arose we cannot believe that the same thing can be substantially Bread and Flesh and because we cannot think that substance to be there which sense cannot tell us is there and Scripture c assures us is not there therefore this Minister denies ours to be such a symbol as our Lord instituted and to be brief declares it really nothing Thus nothing must be an object of sense and all that is symbolical in the Eucharist must be the substance of the Elements which no sense can immediately perceive Pag. 97. l. 32. This is indeed a sort of new Divinity I always thought c. Alass That People should be so disrespectful as not to conform their Notions to this Answerers and so rude as to write Divinity wherein he is not vers'd But Old Divines reply The incivility or oversight is not in them but in this Minister who mounts the chair when he should be in a lower Form and will needs be scribling controversie before he has stay'd a due season in his Study For to their knowledg the word Sacrament has a manifold sense and is a complex term used therefore variously with respect to the subject of which Authors treat just as they do Christ Emanuel c. sometimes signifying by them God alone sometimes Man sometimes both Whereupon Bishop Bramhall and Mr. Thorndike tho more knowing are less nice than this Minister and without scruple admit the word Sacrament to be capable of more than one sense which might have protected the former part of the Assertion from derision as the 6th Canon of the 13th Sess of the Council of Trent does advance the other part viz. that by worshiping the Sacrament Catholicks understand worshipping Christ in the Sacrament beyond a private which the Man concedes to a Catholick Assertion which he is loath to yeild How shall we assure Protestants concerning our Faith if a Canon of the Council of Trent so sacred and authentick amongst us in matters of Faith be refused Here 's a Canon accurately publishing what all the Members of the Catholick Church must assent-to and profess and yet lest he be depriv'd of the opportunity of slandring us this Minister will not resolve that we believe as it prescribes Hard is our case since neither our selves nor our Divines nor yet our Councils must be regarded but any silly conceited Sectary shall be better able to tell what we believe than we our selves or those that guide our Souls What we do not hold that is our Faith and what we do believe that is not our Faith according to our Adversaries and why so if not that their false Accusations may continue and improve an odium on us and delusion amongst the Multitude Pag. 100. l. 6. I must then deny his Assertion viz. That the ground of our Adoration is Christ present not present after this or that manner The Answerer will have the 3d Assertion capable of being taken two ways passing the one and opposing the other But what if they be coincident If Christ be the object of our worship as seems tho saintly to be granted under the 2d Assertion then a Real presence of him and not the manner of that presence is the ground and occasion of our adoration without any regard whether He be solitary or attended by another substance Christ we say not the manner of existence in the Virgin 's womb in a Manger on the Cross in the Grave in Glory or in the Eucharist is the motive and object of our worship For if any one manner of existence were our inducement to adore when that ceases we should owe no adoration whereupon it must necessarily follow that we should as much adore if Consubstantiation were as now Transubstantiation is the mode of Presence we believe because this is not the presence it self but a circumstance of it not at all considered in the act of adoring neither as object which nor as reason why we adore Or thus to Jesus Christ existing substantially in the Eucharist we direct our adoration without respect to the coexistence or absence of any other substance for if we worship'd him upon the account that another substance is or is not coexistent we must condemn worshiping in either our selves or the Lutherans which we do not they worshiping with a belief that another substance is we that no other is there Whereupon as if no substance of the elements remains after consecration they are only mistaken in their faith not in their worship only misbelieve do not commit Idolatry so if the substance do remain this will only affect our perswasion not impair our adoration we err about a creature we do not idolize it Nay were our worship directed to Jesus Christ as alone and so confusedly or in general to the whole substance of the Eucharist and it should chance to be true that our Lord is not the only substance present under the species yet hence a just charge of Idolatry could not be drawn against us because the precise object of our worship is not any created substance but the divine person of our Redeemer and the other concomitant substance whatever it may by accident does intentionally no more share in the honor we pay than would the Scarlet Robe should our Lord have bin adored instead of derided therein He that adored him at
But how could our Councils be Parties when they Defined no otherwise than they had receiv'd from Fathers both Greek and Latin that had written the same both Synodically and as particular Doctors How could they be Parties when they Defin'd just as all Christians One single Berengarius and some perverted by him excepted then believ'd and profest Who refused their Determinations If they had not an universal Presence of Prelates yet the general acceptation of their Decrees is equivalent to it and demonstrates their Doctrine without peradventure true unless every Christian may in so great a point of Faith fail and the Gates of Hell prevail over the Promise of our Saviour and be more powerful than the conduct of the Holy Spirit which leads if not the chiefest and most yet some Christians into all truth even to the end of the world There is neither error nor opposition in the Formulary profest by Berengarius the difference between them is no disagreement in Doctrine but only a condemning the different errors of that unhappy Man. That of Nicholas II. establisht a Real presence against the first error of Berengarius which was what the Sacramentaries now hold The Sence wherein the Council intended and St. Lanfrank explains it is Orthodox and own'd at this day That under Greg. VII defined Transubstantiation against the second error of Berengarius which was Consubstantiation This is told our Adversaries by our Divines particularly by the Cardinal de Sacr. Euch. l. 3. c. 21. as the Form it self cited by the Answerer in 's Margent p. 111. had done his Reader if he had not shamefully fallify'd it by omitting both the word substantialiter and others of singular moment We shall convict him of his wilful Fraud if in two Columns we annex what Berengarius profest and what this Man says he did BERENGARIUS his Profession in the 6th Council at Rome under Greg. 7. 1079. Lup. pars quinta p. 312. The Form entire Ego Berengarius corde credo ore confiteor panem vinum quae ponuntur in Altari per mysterium sacrae Orationis verba nostri Redemptoris substantialialiter converti in veram propriam ac vivificatricem carnem sanguinem Jesu Christi Domini nostri post consecrationem esse verum Christi corpus quod natum est de Virgine quod pro salute Mund. oblatum in cruce pependit quod sedet ad dextram Patris verum sanguinem Christi qui de ejus latere effusus est non tantum per signum virtutem Sacramenti sed in proprietate Naturae veritate substantiae Thus Berengarius profess'd The Form as mutilated by this Minister Confiteor panem vinum converti in veram ac propriam carnem sanguinem I. C. D. N. post consecrationem esse verum corpus Christi non tantum per signum virtutem sacramenti sed in proprietate Naturae veritate substantiae This speaks of a conversion but of what kind it says not Thus the Minister castrates the Profession made by Berengarius Does the true Form mention nothing of the manner of the conversion in the Eucharist Does it not say as clearly as if written with a Sun-beam that t is a substantial conversion of bread and wine into that body and blood which were born of the Virgin c If this be not not only a corporal presence which serves our purpose but also transubstantiation which this man would suppress we must despair of producing expressions intelligible and satisfactory to our Adversaries in any matter But how can we wonder at this corruption and palpable untruth when we consider it was necessary to sustain many others industriously written by this Answerer in this very Pamphlet Such is the Hyperbole in his Praef. p. 6. That Transubstantiation was unknown to the Church for above one thousand years when not only Paulus Diaconus about 774. relates these words of St. Greg. 1. Praescius conditor nostrae infirmitatis ea potestate qua cuncta fecit ex nihilo panem vinum aqua mistum manente propria specie in carnem sanguinem suum Spiritus sui sanctificatione convertit Strabus Auctor Glossae ord in Gloss cap. 11. prioris ad Cor. Nos incerta relinquentes quod ex authoritatibus certum est profitemur sc substantiam panis vini in substantiam corporis sanguinis Dominici converti modum vero conversionis nos ignorare non erubescimus fateri Quae autem remanent de priori substantia accidentia sc color sapor forma pondus nec ipsum corpus Christi afficiunt nec in eo fundantur This Divine lived about 840. and asserts Transubstantiation and the separate existence of the Accidents separate I say not only from the former substance but from the Body of Christ so as not to affect it or be supported by it And Stephanus Eduensis also about 950 writes Oramus ut oblatio panis vini transubstantietur in corpus sanguinem Christi I say not only these Writers prove that Transubstantiation was known to the Church before a thousand years after our Lord's birth but many more in Centuries precedent to these might be produced As St. Ambrose himself in the 4th Age l. De iis qui initiantur mysteriis c. 9. says etiam benedictione natura ipsa mutatur His co-temporary St. Greg. Nyss uses the same expression as does too the Ancient Sermon de coena Dom. amongst St. Cyprian's Works cited and much relied-on in the 9th Age as both very ancient and very orthodox It says the Bread given by our Lord to his Disciples changed not in effigie but natura was by the omnipotence of the Word made Flesh Nay our Answerer that he may consist with himself within a few lines confesses that a Monk was laying the foundation of it in the 7th Age which Monk did not speak so highly of the Eucharist as St. Cyril of Jerusalem St. Ambrose or St. Chrysostom had done long before him as may easily be discerned by such as please to compare their expressions and besides t is ridiculous to fancy such did not believe a substantial presence the point in hand who are taxed to be founding or erecting the superstructure of Transubstantiation He goes on confessing against himself that a General Council carried on Transubstantiation in the 8th and another Monk the great Protestant eye-sore Paschasius formed it into a better shape in the 9th century yet all this while the Founders the carriers-on those that furnished features and drapery never heard of what they were designedly at work about Nay tho some of the Agents were General Counsellors and even General Councils themselves i.e. the whole Church was in a plot against truth and piety and was ignorant of the conspiracy This Minister was resolved to be absurd beyond imitation Again such another Hyperbole is what he says of Peter Lombard in the Margen of this 111th p. for the Master often professes that the
this is to be worshiped with Divine worship 2. For the signs species or visible accidents to which no other worship is due besides that reverence which belongs to the instruments of holy worship 3. For both the sign and thing signified together and thus understood the Sacrament is not properly said to be worshiped tho improperly it may because part of it the res Sacramenti is to be worshiped and that which belongs to the principal part is ordinarily attributed to the whole as a man understands thinks argues c tho these be only the actions of the Soul. The like distinction serves also for the word Hoast Hostia which these writers seem to lay as a stumbling-block before the ignorant For it is sometimes used for the outward signs species or whatever is visible before consecration and is not to be worshiped sometimes for the Lord himself as in Eph. 5.2 who alone in proper speaking is to be worshiped But having occasion by God's blessing in convenient time to speak more copiously upon this subject we shall here add no more § 5 Thus have we briefly set down what we conceive necessary to explicate the Doctrine of the Catholick Church in this great mystery sufficiently also we hope to instruct them who intend their salvation who are not desirous a lye should be the truth nor prefer their own uncertain conjectures against God's Church Whom also we seriously admonish to beware of those teachers who debase and lower the great grace and mercy of God communicated to us by our Lord who is made unto us wisdom as well as justice and sanctification by debasing it to their own fancies which they call reason as did all the ancient Hereticks and Mahomet himself that great false Prophet To take away all mystery out of Christian Religion is to vilify it and to abolish the virtue of faith and advancement of the understanding and thereby also of piety and devotion For it is no wonder that those sublime and holy passions or operations experienced by devout persons are by such people ridiculed to say no worse For if the Heroical acts of Faith are denied and despised it must needs follow that those great favours bestowed by God upon his best servants must neither be enjoyed nor credited But omitting these matters let us proceed to examin some such few particulars in the Replier's Discourse as seem to contain something considerable For it would be too much abusing the Reader 's time and patience to discover or reprehend all the errors of that Pamphlet wherein I know not if there be any one period that is not obnoxious § 6 To omit the first Chap. containing nothing of consequence we will take notice of the second which seems to be to purpose Our Author 's chief design was to shew the Alterations of the Church of England after her departure from the Church Catholick both in Doctrine and Practice taking this one Article as an instance in both In this chapter the Replier takes notice of these alterations and tho he would gladly deny them yet is it a thing so manifest that he rather thinks fitting to diminish them and notwithstanding the alterations to affirm that the Church of England never changed Little alterations he calls them and yet saith they are the terms of her communion Nothing certainly is little in the Church'es forms especially in our most venerable and solemn worship and the very chiefest and most important service of God even the only holy sacrifice of our Religion and admitting us to and feeding us at his own Table not little that Article upon which they chiefly justify their departure from the Church and by which they continually keep their subjects in disobedience unto and alienation from Her not little which contains the terms of the Church'es communion so that he who assents not to these however differing in their several seasons i.e. he that did not believe the Real presence at the first setting forth the Common Prayer-book and he that did believe it at the second was holden as excommunicate Not little to the disobedience whereof such severe Penalties were imposed both by Acts of Parliament and Canons of 1603. Again if so little why would they for them change those of the Ancient Church except it were for an extreme itch of separating from God's Church the formality and essence of Schism Ib. This design is impertinent No it was the very primary intention of the Author as is plain enough But admit the Church of England hath wavered in her Doctrines as our Author proves irrefragably it follows that she disclaims the authoritative conduct of her subjects by whose doctrines except they submit to so many changes they can never be secure and they who do change cannot keep the unity of the faith which themselves alter but are more like to children unconstant uncertain hurried about with every new blast of doctrine as a powerful person of a different perswasion or interest pleaseth to command This is not the end for which our Good Lord ordained the Clergy his Successors In the beginning of King Edward VI. Reign at the framing of a new Common prayer-book was asserted the Real presence of the body and blood of our Lord in the Eucharist as hath already and by God's assistance shall be more shew'd by and by In his latter end this doctrine was changed to Zuinglianism In Q. Elizabeths time both were joyned in the form of the Liturgy but the declaration against Real presence was omitted which in the Rubric in 1661 was lick'd up again Likewise also the Catechism was changed In King Edward's time the Eucharist was expressed in Zuinglius's notions which in Q. Elizabth's time were omitted and in King James's time those for a Real presence inserted The Articles also were new modell'd the first that I can find were towards the later end of King Edward against the Real presence Q. Elizabeth altered them again leaving out those things seeming to her scandalous and against the Real presence And indeed the Articles were not framed to declare the true doctrine of Religion according to the word of God interpreted by the Catholick Church but for avoiding diversities of opinions amongst themselves establishing some sort of consent and healing the increasing ulcers amongst the teachers of the newly changed Religion Again why doth she punish Dissenters since her self dissents frequently from her self and consequently hath taught that which is false So who can have confidence that in believing her faith or obedience to her commands he endangereth not his salvation Even at this day the Replier and his party teach contrary to the former learned men of their own Church and by their own practice confirm this accusation against their Church Adore the Elements Either the Replier knows that all Catholicks declare which none but God and themselves can disprove that they detest the adoration of any creature and of the Elements in the Eucharist and then he voluntarily calumniates