r Daillé hath writt a treatise intitled Faith grounded vpon the scripture wherein after having exposed all the articles of Faith professed by the Pretended-Reformed Church he Saith that They are without contest the Church of Rome professeth the beleife of them and true it is that they hold not all our opinions but that we hold all their beleefs Wherefore this Minister cannot deny our beleeuing all the principall articles of Christian Religion vnless he will destroy his own Faith But had not Mons r Daillé graunted this the matter proues it self since all the world knowes that we profess the beleife of all those articles which the Caluinists call Fundamentalls so that an ingenuous syncerity would allow vs without dispute this Assertion that we haue not waued or declined any of the Essential perswasions The Pretended-Reformers discerning the aduantages we may draw from this concession seeke to disapoint vs by alledging that we destroy those articles by asserting others which are inconsistent with them This is what they labour to euince by consequences they inferr from our doctrines but the same M r Daillé whome I produce to them not so much to conuīce them by the testimony of one of their most learned Ministers as in regard that what he saith being euident in it self teacheth them what they ought to beleiue of those sorts of consequences supposing that ill ones might be deriued from our Doctrine This is what he saith in his letter to Mons r de Monglat vpon the occasion of his Apologie Although the opinion of the Lutherans in point of the Eucharist inferres according to vs as well as that of Rome the destrūction of the humanity of CHRIST JESVS yet that consequence cannot be obiected to them without calumnie considering that they doe formally reiect it There is nothing more Essentiall to Christian Religion then the verity of the Humane Nature of JESVS-CHRIST and yet notwithstanding the Lutherans hold a doctrine from which is inferr'd a destruction of this Essentiall verity by consequences the Pretended-Reformers account euident they haue not scrupuled to offer them their communion in respect that their opinion hath no poyson in it as M r Daillé attesteth in his Apologie and their Nationall Synod held at Charenton in 1631 admits the Lutherans to their Communion vpon this ground that they agree in the principles and fundamentall points of their Religion It is therefore a maxime constantly established amōgst them that we ought not in this matter to consider the consequences which may be drawne from a Doctrine but simply what the party maintaineth and what he stateth who professeth it So that when by consequences they pretend to deduct from our Doctrine that we can not sufficiently acknowledg the souueraine glory due to God nor the quality of Saviour and Mediator in CHRIST JESVS nor the infinite dignity of Sacrifice nor the superaboundant plenitude of his merits we may easily defeate those consequences by this short answer which M r Daillé himself furnishes vs with by saying that the Catholique Church disclaiming them they can not be imputed to vs without calumny But I will vndertake further and clear to the Pretended-Reformers by the single explication of our Doctrine that so farr it is from ouerthrowing the Fundamentall articles of Faith either directly or by any just consequence that quite contrary our Doctrine hath established them in a manner so solide so euident that without palpable injustice the aduantage of a right vnderstanding them can not admit a question And to begin with the adoration due to God the Catholique Church teacheth that it consists principally in beleiuing that he is the Creator Lord of all things and in adhering to him with all the powers of our soule by faith hope and loue as to him who alone can conferr our Eternall happinesse by com̄unication of the infinite Good which is himself This interior adoration which we render to G'od in spirit and in truth hath its exterior markes of which the principall is Sacrifice which can not be offered but to God alone by reason the homage of Sacrifice is established in order to a publike confession a solemne protestatiō of the soueraingnity of God and of our absolute dependance on him The same Church teacheth that Religiōs Worship ought to terminate in God as being the necessary end and obiect thereof and if the honour she renders to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints may be termed an Act of Religion it is upon the ground that it relateth necessarily vnto God Before I explaine further in what this honour consisteth it will be vsefull to obserue that the Pretended-Reformers being press'd by the power of euident truth begin to acknowledg that the practise of praying to Saints and honoring their reliques was established in the Church euen in the fourth Century M. Daillé making this acknowledgment in the booke he writt against the Latine Church touching the obiect of Religious Worship accuseth S. Basile S. Ambrose S. Hierome S. John Chrysostome S. Augustin and diuers other great lights of Antiquity which did shine in that age and aboue all the rest S. Gregory Nazianzen who is styled the Deuine as a note of his excellency he taxeth all these with hauing changed in this point the doctrine of the preceding ages But surely it will seeme very improbable that M. Daillé should have better vnderstood the sentiments of the three first ages then those who did as it were inherite their doctrine immediately vpon their death and it is by so much the lesse to be beleiued by reason that the fathers of the fourth age were so farre from perceauing any introduction of new doctrines in this Act of Religion that this Minister himself citeth expresse texts by which they shew clearly that they pretended in praying to Saints to follow the example of their Predecessors But not to examin any longer the iudgments of three primitiue ages I rest satisfyed with the graunt of M. Daillé who yealds to vs so many eminent Doctors who did instruct and discipline the Church in the fourth Age. For though it is an easy matter twelue hundred years after their death to taint them by way of scorne with the title of a Sect calling them Reliquarists as persons who honored Reliques I will hope that those of his Communion will beare more respect to those eminent personages they will not presume at least to object that theyr praying to Saints and honoring their Reliques rendred them guilty of Idolatry or that they ouerthrew the confidence that Christians are to haue in IESVS-CHRIST and we may hope that hence forward they will forbeare those reproaches when they consider they can not apply them to vs without laying the same imputation vpon so many excellent persons whose Doctrine Sanctity they professe to reuerence But since it is my worke to exhibite here our Beleif rather then produce the Mantainers of it we must persue the explication of it The Catholique Church teaching the
preuent all scandal They haue concluded by this regulation that both kindes were not essentiall to the Communion by the institution of CHRIST for otherwise they would haue bin bound absolutely to refuse the Sacrament to such as were not able to receaue it compleat and not to giue it them in a manner contrary to that CHRIST JESVS had commanded and in that case their disability would haue sufficiently excused them But our Aduersaries haue conceaued that such a rigour would be excessiue if they did not allow at least one of the Species to such as were not capable to receaue the other and since this condescendence hath no ground in the Scripture they must needs confesse with vs that the words whereby CHRIST IESVS hath proposed to vs the two Species are liable to some interpretation and that the right vnderstanding of them ought to be declared by the Authority of the Church But it might seeme that this Article of their Discipline which is of the Synode of Poytiers held 1560 had bin reformed by the Synode of Vertueil assembled in the year 1567 where it is said that the company is not of opinion the Bread should be giuen to those who would not receaue the Cupp These two Synodes neuerthelesse are not at all opposite to one another that of Vertueil speaketh of those who Will not receaue the Cupp and that of Poytiers of such as Can not take it And indeed notwithstanding the Synode of Vertueil that Article remaineth in their Discipline nay more hath bin approued by a Synode later then that of Vertueil namely by the Synode of Rochelle in 1571 where the Article was renewed and putt into that state which it now remaineth in But supposing the Synodes of the Pretended-Reformers had differr'd varied in their opinions that would serue only to manifest that the matter in question is not a point of Faith but of that kind which the Church may order dispose of according to their own principles There remaineth now nothing but to expose what the Catholiques hold touching the Word of God concerning the Authority of the Church CHRIST IESVS hauing lay'd the foundation of his Church vpon the Preaching of his Disciples the Vnwritten Word was the first guide rule of Christianity when the writings of the New Testament were adioyned to them the former Word did not for all that loose its Authority which causeth vs to accept with the same veneration all that was taught by the Apostles be it by writing or by word of mouth according to what S. Paul himself hath expresly inioyned And the certain proofe that a Doctrine comes from the Apostles is its being accepted and embraced by all Christian Churches whilst its beginning can not be pointed mark'd out We can not choose but receaue all that is establish'd in this manner with the submission due to the Diuine Authority and we are confident that such persons of the Pretended-Reformed Religion as are not very obstinate haue the same perswasion in the bottome of their harts it being impossible to beleeue that a Doctrine setled and receaued from the beginning of the Church can flow from any other spring then that of the Apostles Wherefore our Adversaries ought not to wonder that we being zealously carefull to inherit all that our Fathers haue left vs doe conserue the Deposite of Tradition as well as that of the Scriptures The Church being ordained by God to be the Depositary of the Scripture of Tradition we receaue from her hands the Canonicall Scriptures and we beleeue whateuer our Aduersaries say that it is principally the Church's Authority that determineth vs to reuerence as Diuine writt the song of Salomon which hath so few sensible markes of Propheticall inspiration and likewise the Epistle of S. Iames which Luther reiected and that of S. Iude which might be suspected by reason of some Apocriphall bookes cited in it in fine there can be no motiue but that Authority to perswade the receauing the whole body of the holy Scriptures which Christians accept as Diuine euen before the reading hath wrougt any feeling of the Spirit of God in those bookes Being then inseparably bound as we are to the Authority of the Church by meanes of the Scriptures which we receaue from her hand we are taught also by her Tradition and by the help of Tradition the true sense of the Scriptures So that the Church professeth to say nothing meerly of her self and likewise that she inventeth nothing new in her Doctrine that she doth but follow and declare the Diuine Reuelation by the interiour direction of the holy spirit which is giuen her for her Teacher That the holy Ghost expresseth himself by the Church the dispute raised about the Ceremonies of the Law euen in the time of the Apostles doth euidence and their Acts haue directed all succeeding ages by the manner that first contest was decided by what Authority all following differences are to be determined so that whensoeuer any dispute happens to deuide the faithfull the Church will interpose her Authority and the Pastours assembled will say after the Apostles It hath seemed good to the Holy Spirit and vs. And when the Church hath pronounced and determined her children will be taught not to examine a new the Articles resolued vpon but that they are bound to accept with all submission the Church's Decisions And in this methode we follow S. Paul and Silas who deliuered to the faithfull the first iudgment of the Apostles and were so farr from allowing a new discussion of what had bin decided as they trauell'd through the townes teaching to obserue the ordinances of the Apostles In this manner the children of God acquiesce in the iudgment of the Church beleeuing that by her mouth they hear the Oracle of the Holy Ghost and it is vpon the ground of this perswasion that after hauing profess'd in the Creed I beleeue in the Holy Ghost we ioine next to it The Holy Catholique Church by which protestation we oblige our selues to acknowledge an Infallible and Perpetuall Verity in the Catholique Church since the same Church which we beleeue perseuering throughout all ages would cease to be a Church if it left to teach the Truth reuealed by God so that such as apprehend least she should abuse her power by introducing Falsities haue little Faith in him by whose hand she is held and conducted And if our Aduersaries would consider discusse these matters in a fairer and more humane manner they would be forced to auowe that the Catholique Church is so farre from affecting to render herself Mistresse of her Faith as her Aduersaries charge her that quite contrary she hath laboured with all her power to binde her self and to exclude all means of In̄ouation since she doth not only submitt to the holy Scriptures but to banish for euer all Arbitrary interpretatiōs which would make the conceipts of men passe for Scripture declareth herself obliged
to vnderstand them in what relateth to Faith or Manners conformably to the sense of the holy Fathers from which she professeth neuer to depart declaring by all her Councells and by all her Professions of Faith already published that she admitteth no point of Doctrine which is not conformable to the Tradition of all preceeding ages Moreouer if our Aduersaries will examine their Consciences they will discerne that the name of the Church hath more authority ouer their minds then they dare auowe in their disputes and I am perswaded there is not any one prudent iudicious man amongst them who finding himself alone in his perswasion how euident soeuer it might seeme to him that would not be frightned with that Singularity so manifest it is that men haue need in these matters to be supported in their opinions by the Authority of some Society that is of the same iudgment And for this reason God who hath created vs and knoweth what is most proper for vs hath ordained for our benefit that all particular subiects should render obedience to his Church the Authority whereof is of all others vndoubtedly the best established not only by the testimony which God himself renders in proofe of it in the holy Scriptures but likewise by the euidencies of his Diuine protection which is manifested no lesse in the most inuiolable perpetuall subsistence then it was in the miraculous establishment thereof This Soueraigne Authority of the Church is so necessary to regulate the differences which arise vpon points of Faith and the right vnderstanding of the Scripture that our Aduersaries themselues after hauing discredited decryed it as an insupportable Tyranny haue bin at last necessitated to authorise establish it amongst themselues When those who are call'd Independants maintained openly that euery indiuiduall of the faithfull ought to follow the light of his conscience without being obliged to submitt his iudgment to any body or Ecclesiasticall assembly and that vpon this ground they refused to subiect themselues to Synodes that of Charenton held 1644. censured this Doctrine vpon the same reasons and in regard of the same inconueniences which moued vs to reject it That Synode obserueth in the first place that the Error of the Independants consisteth in their holding that euery single Church ought to gouerne it self by her own lawes without dependance vpon any person in Ecclesiasticall affairs and without any obligation to conforme to the Authority of Conferences and Synodes in point of their conduct regulation And in order thereunto the same Synode determineth that this Sect is as preiudiciall to the State as to the Church that it setteth open a dore to all sorts of irregularities and extrauagancies that it cutts off all means of applying any remedy and if it tooke place there might be as many Religions inuented as there are particular parishes or assemblies These last words shew cleerly that it was principally in point of Faith that this Synode intended to establish a Dependance since the great est inconuenience it obserues the faithfull would be lyable to by this independency is that there might be as many Religions formed and professed as there are parishes It followeth then of necessity by the Doctrine of this Synode that euery particular Church and much more euery priuate person ought to Depend in what belongs to Faith vpon a Superiour Authority which resides in some Assembly or Body of men to which Authority all the Faithfull subiect their priuate iudgments for the independants doe not refuse to submit vnto the Word of God in that sense they conceaue they ought to vnderstand it nor to accept the Decision of Synodes when after they haue examined them they conclude them reasonable and fitt to be obserued what they refuse to yeald vnto is to resigne vp their priuate iudgment vnto that of an Assembly vpon this ground which our Aduersaries haue lai'd for them viz that all Assemblies euen that of the Vniuersall Church is a company of Men subiect to Error vnto which consequently a Christian ought not to subiect his iudgment since he oweth his resignation but to God alone It is from this pretension of the Independants that all those inconueniences are inferr'd which the Synode of Charenton hath so well obserued for what profession soeuer be made to submit vnto the Word of God if euery one thinketh he hath right to vnderstand it according to his own iudgment though it be contrary to the sense of the Church declared in a Finall decree this pretension will open the way to all sorts of extrauagancies and exclude all means of applying any remedy since the Decision of the Church is no restraint to such as doe not conceaue themselues bound to submit vnto it and in fine it will open the way to frame as many Religions not only as there are parishes but euen as there are priuate heads For precaution against these incōueniencies from whence would ensue the ruyne of Christian Religion the Synode of Charenton is forced to constitute a Dependance in Ecclesiasticall matters and euen in points of Faith But this their designed Deference will neuer retrench those pernicious consequences they haue proposed to themselues the preuenting vnlesse they settle conformably to vs this maxime that euery particular Church and much more each single person ought to beleeue himself obliged to submit his priuate iudgment vnto the Authority of the Church And so we see likewise in the fifth chapter of the Discipline of the Pretended-Reformed Religion tit of Consistories art 31. that desiring to prescribe an expedient to determine the debates which might arise vpon any point of Doctrine or Discipline they decreed first that the Consistory shall endeauor to appease all without noise and with all the sweetnes of the Word of God and after hauing sett and rank'd the Consistory the Conference and the Prouinciall Synode as so many distinct degrees of Iurisdiction coming at last to the Nationall Synode aboue which there is no Authority amongst them they speake of it in these termes There it is that the Entier Finall resolution shall be taken according to the Word of God to which if they refuse to acquiesce in euery point and with a direct renouncing of their Errors they shall be cutt off from the Church Is it not then euident that the Pretended-Reformers doe not attribute the Authority of this Finall iudgment to the Word of God taken alone by it self and without dependance on the Authority of the Church since the Word hauing bin employ'd and consulted in the first conclusions they haue made vpō it they doe neuerthelesse admit an Apeale from it It is the Word as interpreted by the Soueraigne tribunal of the Church that frameth this last and Finall resolution vnto which whosoeuer refuseth to acquiesce from point to point though he boasteth his being authorised by the Word of God is no longer reputed but as a profane abuser and Corrupter thereof But the forme of those Letters
which comprehend the expresse Doctrine of the Councel of Trent they would forbeare to obiect to vs that we injure the Mediation of CHRIST IESVS and that we inuoke Saints adore Images in a manner peculiar to God himself It is granted by reason that in some sense Inuocation Adoration and the name of Mediator are competent only to God and CHRIST JESVS that it is easy by a perverse vse of those termes to traduce our Doctrine and render it odious but if they are ingenuously receiued in that sense we haue exhibited these obiections loose all their force and if there remayne in the minds of the Pretended Reformers any lesse important difficultyes naturall equity and syncerity will oblige them to auowe themselues satisfy'd in the principall exceptions Besides this there is nothing more vniust then to charge the Church with the stating of all piety in this devotion to Saints since as we haue already euinced the Councel of Trent iudgeth it sufficient to informe and teach Catholiques that this practise is Good Vsefull without advancing it further so that the Churches intent is to condemn such as reiect this practise either by Contempt or Misconstruction and the Church is obliged to condemn them by reason that she ought not to indure the condemning of salutary and usefull practises nor that a Doctrine which all Antiquity hath authorised should be reiected by the Nouellists Doctors The matter of iustification will manifest yet a greater light how many difficulties may be avoyded by a syncere exposition of our opinions Those who are never so little acquainted with the history of the Pretended Reformation can not be ignorant that those who were the first Authors of it did propose this Article to all the world as the principall and as it were the most essentiall ground of their separation so that this seemes the most necessary point to be rightly understood First we beleeve that our sinns are forgiuen freely by the divine mercy for JESVS-CHRIST'S sake these are the expresse termes of the Councel of Trent which addeth further that we are said to be iustified freely because none of those things which precede our iustification either our faith or our works can merit this grace And by reason the holy scripture explains to us the remission of our sinns expressing it some times by saying that God couers them and others that he takes them quite away and effaceth them by the grace of the holy Ghost which renders vs new creatures we conceiue that we are to combine all these expressions to forme a compleate Idea or notion of the iustification of a sinner we doe therefore beleeue that our sinns are not only couered but intirely effaced by the blood of CHRIST IESVS and by the grace by which we are regenerated and this perswasion is so farr from detracting from that image we ought to frame of the merit of that blood as quite contrary it indeareth and eleuateth the value of it for by this meanes the righteousnes of Christ is not simply imputed but actually imparted to the faithfull by the operation of the holy Ghost in so much as they are not only imputed but euen rendered righteous by the grace of Christ. If our righteousnes were only in the sight of man it would not be the operation of the holy Ghost it must then be iustice euen before God since it is God himself who produceth it in vs by an effusion of his charity vpon our harts It is notwithstanding but too true that the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and we all offend in many things Wherefore albeit our righteousnes be a true one by the infusion of Charity yet is it no perfect one by reason of the combat between it our concupiscence so that the sighing and sorrowing of a soule repenting her sinns performes the most necessary duty of Christian righteousnes which obligeth vs to confesse with S. Augustin that our righteousnes in this life consists rather in the remission of our sinns then in the perfection of our virtues Wherefore as to the point of Merit imputed to our workes the Catholique Church teacheth that Eternall life ought to be proposed to the children of God both as a Grace mercifully promised by the meanes of our Sauior IESVS CHRIST and as a Reward which is faithfully rendred to their good workes and to their deserts in virtue of that promise these are the expresse termes of the Councel of Trent but least the pride of humane nature should be flattered by the opinion of a persuming Merit the same Councel determineth that all the worth and value of Christian good workes is deriued from that sanctifying grace which is freely conferr'd vpon vs in the name of CHRIST JESVS and that is an effect of the continuall influence of that diuine head vpon his depending members True it is indeed that the exhortations the promises the menaces and reproaches of the Gospel doe declare sufficiently that we are to worke our saluation by the motion actings of our own wills concurring with the Grace of God which assists vs but it is a fixt principle that free will can performe nothing in order to Eternall beatitude but by the same degrees it is moued and eleuated by the holy Ghost Whereupon the Church knowing that it is the holy spirit which worketh in vs by his Grace all the good we doe she ought to rest perswaded that the good workes of the faithfull are very acceptable to God of great estimation in his sight and she doth rightfully vse the terme of Merit concurrently with all Christian Antiquity cheefly to signify the value dignity of our workes which we performe by the motion of his Grace But by reason all their sanctity is deriued from God who workes them in vs the same Church hath receiued from the Councel of Trent as the Doctrine of the Catholique Faith this saying of S. August that God crowns his own Gifts when he crowns the Merits of his seruants We intreate all such as loue truth peace to be pleased to read the whole context of the Councel of Trent's words that they once be disabused and deliuered from those wrong impressions which are suggested to them of our Docctrine Notwithstanding we discerne cleerly say the fathers of that Councel that the holy scriptures esteeme so much Good woorks that IESVS-CHRIST himself promiseth that a cupp of cold water giuen a poor body shall not want its reward and that the Apostle declareth that a moment of light payne suffered in this world shall produce an Eternall weight of glory yet God forbid that a Christian should trust glory in himself and not in our Lord whose goodness towards Man is so aboundant that he allowes his own Guifts to them to be accounted their Merits This Doctrine is spread through the whole Councel which teacheth in an other session that we who are not sufficient to doe
this solemne Com̄emoration IESVS-CHRIST hath ordained vs to make doth exclude the Reall presence of his Flesh that the contrary is euident that this tender reflexion he would haue vs make at the holy table on him as offered vp for vs is grounded vpon his Flesh's being Really receaued since in effect it is not possible for vs to forget that he hath giuen his Body vp in sacrifice for vs when we finde that he continueth still to giue vs dayly that victime for our orall manducation Shall Christians vpon pretence of celebrating in the Supper the Memory of our Sauiour's Passion retrench from this pious Commemoration that part which is the most affectiue and most efficacious therein Ought they not consider that CHRIST IESVS doth not command that we should barely remember him but that we should remember him by feeding on his Flesh and Blood Lett vs reflect vpon the consequence and powerfulnes of the words Christ saith not simply as the Pretending Reformers seeme to vnderstand him that the Bread and the Wine of the Eucharist should be a Memorial of his Body and Blood but the telleth vs that in doing what he prescribed that is in taking his Body and his Blood we should be Mindful of him And can there be any thing in effect more powerful to produce in vs the remembrance of it If children reflect so tenderly vpon their father and his kindenes when they approach the tombe where his body is enclosed how powerfully ought our loue and memory to be excited and indeared when we possesse vnder those sacred couerings and vnder that mystical tombe the Flesh it self of our Sauiour immolated for vs that liuing and life-giuing Flesh and this Blood still warme by the feruor of his loue and full of spirit and grace If our Aduersaries persist to alledge that he who commandeth vs to remember him doth not giue us his proper Substance we may desire them to agree amongst themselues They professe not to deny the Reall communication of the proper Substance of the sonne of God in the Blessed Sacrament if their profession be serious if their Doctrine be not a meere delusion they must needs auowe with vs that Remembrance doth not exclude all manner of Presence but only that which moueth the senses and so their answer is the same with ours since when we affirme that IESVS-CHRIST is present we accord at the same time that he is not existing in a sensible manner And if we are ask'd the reason we beleeuing as we doe that there is nothing to satisfy our senses in this mystery why we doe not grant that it is sufficient CHRIST IESVS should be present in it by our Faith we may very easily answer cleare this equivocal demande It is one thing to say that the son̄e of God is present to vs by Faith and an other to say that we know by Faith that he is present The first manner of speaking imports only a Moral presence the second doth signify a very Reall one because our Faith is most certaine and this Reall presence known by our Faith sufficeth to worke in the iust who liueth by Faith all the effects which I haue specified But to defeate at once all the equiuocations vnder which the Caluinists couer their opinions in this point and to discouer at the same time how neere they approach to vs although I haue vndertaken only to deliuer and explicate the Doctrine of the Catholique Church it will not be amisse here to insert theirs Their Doctrine is deuided into two partys or sects the one speaks only of the Figure of the Body and Blood the other of nothing but the Reality of them both we shall examine in their due orders each one of these different parties In the first place they alledge that this great miracle of the Reall presence which we admit is no way needful that it sufficeth for our saluation that IESVS-CHRIST dyed for vs that this Sacrifice is sufficiently apply'd by our Faith and this application is fully certified by the word of God they and further that if this word ought to be cloath'd with sensible signes the giuing vs simple and bare Symboles such as water in Baptisme would haue bin sufficiēt without the necessity of drawing down from heauen the Body and Blood of CHRIST IESVS Nothing seemes more easy then after this manner to explicate the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper and yet our Aduersaries themselues haue not iudged that they ought to rest and acquiesce in this exposition They know that the like imaginations haue drawn the Socinians to deny the miracle of the Incarnation Those Heretiques alledge that God could haue saued vs without going so farre about he had nothing to doe but forgiue our sinns he could haue instructed vs sufficiently both in point of Doctrine and Manners by the Words and by the Example of a man fill'd with the holy Ghost without being obliged for that effect to make a God of him But the Caluinists as well as we haue discern'd the weakenesse of this argument which is euident first by reason that it is not our part to deny or assure the mysteries of Religion according to our own iudgment of their being vsefull or vnnecessary for our saluation God alone is possess'd of the secret and our part is the rendring them profitable and beneficiall to vs by beleeuing them such as God promiseth them and in receauing his graces and fauours in the same manner as he bestoweth them Secondly without entring into this question whether it was possible for God to saue vs by any other meanes then the Incarnation and Death of his sonne and embroyling vs in that vselesse dispute which the Pretending Reformers debate so teadiously in their schooles it sufficeth to haue learnt by the holy scriptures that the sonne of God hath bin pleased to demonstrate his loue by effects which to vs are incomprehensible This loue was the motiue of that so Reall vnion by which he made himself Man This loue perswaded him to immolate and offer vp for vs his body as Really as he assumed it All these designes are consequent to one an other and this infinite loue holds the same height throughout all the strayns motions thereof So that when he shall be pleased to bring each single child of his by vniting himself to him particularly to tast and partake the goodnesse which he hath express'd to all in generall he will find meanes to accomplish his will by things as powerfull and efficacious as those which he hath already fulfill'd for our saluation We ought not therefore to wonder at his giuing vnto euery one of vs the Reall Substance of his Flesh and Blood He intends by it to imprint in our harts this verity that it was for our sakes that he assumed them and offered them vp in Sacrifice This preceding goodnes renders all the sequence easy to be beleeued the order of his mysteries disposeth vs to credit all this and his expresse
celebrating the Memory and applying the Virtue of that Oblation Whereby the same Church professeth that all the merit of the Redemption of mankind is annexed to the Death of the son̄e of God certainly by all that hath bin already said it ought to haue bin vnderstood that when we say to God in the celebration of the divine Mysteries We offer you this holy host we doe not pretend by this oblation to make or present to God a new payement of the price of our Saluation but to employ towards him the merits of IESVS CHRIST there present and the infinite price he hath at once pay'd for our Redemption vpon the Crosse. The Professors of the Pretended-Reformed Religion doe not beleeue that they offend CHRIST IESVS in offring him to God as present by their Faith as in case they did beleeue he were truly and Really present what repugnance could they haue to offer him as being Effectually present So that to argue ingenuously the dispute in faire dealing ought to be reduced singly to his being Present This supposed all the false images and conceptions the Pretended-Reformers frame to themselues about the Sacrifice we offer ought to be effaced they should in iustice acknowledge fairely that the Catholiques pretend not to frame for themselues a new Propitiation to appease God againe as if he were not sufficiently reconciled by the Sacrifice of the Crosse or in order to make some new supplement to the price of our Saluation as if it were imperfect All these imaginations haue no admission into our Doctrine by reason that all this is intended by way of Intercession and Application in that manner I come from deliuering explaining After this cleer explication those great obiections drawn out of the Epistle to the Hebrews which our Aduersaries seeke to enforce so much against vs will appear weake vnreasonable that it is in vaine they strayne themselues to proue by the meaning of the Apostle that we nullify the Sacrifice of the Crosse but as the most certain proof that can be had that two Doctrines are not opposite to one an other is to discouer in the expounding them that no proposition of the one is Contradictory to the proposalls of the other I conceaue my self inuited in this occasion to expose in short the Doctrine of the Epistle to the Hebrews The Apostle designed in this Epistle the teaching vs that a sinner could not escape from death other wayes then by subrogating in his place one that should dy for him that while men did supply in their stead but the Bloodshed of Beasts their Sacrifices had no other operation but the making a publick profession that they had deserued to dy and that by reason the divine Iustice could not be satisfied with so disproportionate an exchange those Bloody Victimes were euery day offer'd and repeated which was a certain proofe of the insufficiency of that exchange and subrogation but that since CHRIST IESVS had bin pleased to dy for sinners God being fully satisfyed by the voluntary substitution of so worthy a person could no more require the price of our ransome from whence the Apostle concludes that we ought not only to cease from offring any other Victime after CHRIST IESVS but that CHRIST himself was to be offer'd vp to death but one single time Let the Reader then who is sollicitous of his Saluation and is a freind to truth recolect seriously what we haue deliuered of the manner wherein CHRIST IESVS offereth himself to God for vs in the Eucharist and I am confident he will not find in it any propositions contrary to those of the Apostle which I come from delivering or any that infirme his proofes so the most can be vrged against vs is his Silence But such as will consider the wise distributions God maketh of his secrets in the many and seuerall bookes of his Scripture would not surely restraine vs to receaue from the single Epistle to the Hebrews all our instruction concerning a matter which did not necessarily relate to the subiect of that Epistle since the Apostle intendeth in it to explaine the perfection of the Sacrifice of the Crosse and not the different meanes God hath giuen vs to apply it vnto our selues And to preuent all Equiuocall sense if we take the word offer as it is vnderstood in this Epistle in that sense which implyeth the Actual death of the Victime we confesse aloud that IESVS-CHRIST is no longer offer'd so neither in the Eucharist nor any where else But as this same word hath a larger signification in other places of Scripture where it is often said that one Offereth to God what one presenteth before him the Church which doth not frame her language her doctrine by the single Epistle to the Hebrews but by the whole body of the Scriptures doth not scruple to affirme that CHRIST JESVS offereth himself to God in all places where he appeareth for our sakes before him and consequently that he offereth himself vp in the Eucharist according to the expression of the holy Fathers of the Church Now to conceaue that this man̄er wherein CHRIST IESVS presenteth himself to God can at all detract from the Sacrifice of the Crosse is what can not possibly be inferr'd vnlesse one will ouerthrow the whole Scripture and especially that Epistle which they seeke so much to straine against vs. For by the same reason we ought to conclude that when CHRIST IESVS vowed himself to God entring into the world to substitute himself instead of those Victimes which were not pleasing to him that he iniured the action by which he deuow'd himself vpō the Crosse and so when he continueth to appeare for vs before God he detracteth from the Oblation in which he appeared once by the Immolation of himself and that not ceasing to intercede for vs he accuseth that Intercession of Insufficiency which he made at his Death with so many teares and so great cryes Would not all these inferences be ridiculous We must therefore vnderstand that CHRIST IESVS who did offer vp himself once to become the humble Victime of the Diuine iustice doth continue still offering himself for vs that the infinite perfection of the Sacrifice of the Crosse consisteth in this that whatsoeuer preceded it as well as what follows it are intirely relating vnto it that as what preceded was its Preparation so what doth follow is its Consummation and Application that true it is the payment of the price of our ransome is not reiterated by reason it was fully discharged the first time but what Applieth that Redemption is incessantly continued repeated and in fine we must know to distinguish those acts which are reiterated as being imperfect from such as are perpetuated as being perfect necessary We coniure the followers of the Pretended-Reformed Religion to make some little reflection vpon what I haue said concerning the Eucharist The doctrine of the Reall Presence hath bin