years labour neither eloquence of false Teachers nor force of civil powers has been able so wholly to pervert our Nation as to the belief of that high mystery of the real presence but even still there remain a considerable number retainers of the antient belief And can you think that not in a much greater space of time to wit betwixt the sixth and nineth Century all the Christian world could be perswaded to admit so strange a doctrin to nature and reason and yet no man by vertue of History or Tradition should be able to give any account what Orators prevailed with the world to relinquish the belief of their Ancestors or what power of civil Magistrates forced them to it Especially seeing there have not wanted Ecclesiastical Historigraphers who have made mention of matters of far less note than such a change of Faith must needs have made But what place will there remain for doubting that this high mystery was always believed if not only all writers be silent as to any change but also the seventh and eighth Age yea the most Primitive times do positively attest this very mystery by the pens of the chiefest Champions of the Christian Church who have left us any memorials of their learning and piety in their deservedly admired works I shall faithfully recount their words be your own judge what their sentiment was In the first place then glorious Saint and great Doctor S. Augustin tell us your Faith concerning the Holy Eucharist Is it Bakers bread or the body of our Lord and God I remember saies the holy Doctor in his 28. Ser. de verbis Domini when I treated of the Sacraments I told you that before the words of Christ that which is offered up is called Bread but when the words of Christ shall have been pronounced now it is no longer called bread but the body of Christ. And explicating those words of the Royal Prophet Psal. 98. v. 5. Exalt ye our Lord God and adore his foot-stool for it is holy Now what is this Foot-stool of God why saies this great Doctor The Earth is his Foot-stool But how is the Earth holy and to be adored by us The Saint goes on and tells us how Our Lord took Earth of the Earth because Flesh is of the Earth and he took Flesh of the Flesh of Mary And because he walked here in Flesh and gave to us that very Flesh to be eaten by us to our Salvation but no body eats that Flesh unless he shall first have adored it And indeed what could we expect that S. Austin should teach and believe concerning this divine Sacrament but what he had been taught by his Father and Instructor in Christ the glorious St. Ambrose And what was that Hear his words lib. 4. De Sacramentis Thou wilt perhaps say nnto me my Bread is ordinary Bread but that bread is bread before the Sacramental words but when Consecration has been made of bread it is made the Flesh of Christ. But how can bread be the body of Christ By Consecration Consecration by what and whose words is it perfected By the words of our Lord Jesus For all other things which are said Praise is given to God By prayer supplication is made for the people for Kings for the rest When the time is come that the Venerable Sacrament is to be made now the Priest does not use his own words but the words of Christ therefore the word of Christ makes this Sacrament But what word of Christ That word by which all things were made Our Lord commanded and Heaven was made our Lord commanded and the Earth was made Our Lord commanded and the Seas were made Our Lord commanded and every Creature was produced Doest thou see then how operative the word of Christ is If then there be so great force in the word of our Lord Jesus that it could make things which were not begin to be how much rather is it operative that those things which were should be and be charged into another thing Heaven was not the Sea was not the Earth was not but hear him saying He said the word and they were made he commanded and they were Created That therefore I may Answer thee the body of Christ was not before Consecration bâ— after Consecration I say unto thee that now the Body of Christ is He said it and it was made He commanded and it was Created And in chap. 5. of the same Book Before the words of Christ the Chalice is full of Wine and Water but when the words of Christ have bad their operation then it is made the blood which Redeemed the people See then in how many kinds of things the word of Christ is able to change all things Moreover our Lord Jesus himself testifies unto us that we receive his body and blood ought we then to doubt of his testification Add to S. Austin and S. Ambrose the Learned S. Hierom in his Epistle ad Heliodorum Far be it from me saies the Saint that I should speak amiss of those who succeeding the Apostles do make the body of Christ with their sacred mouth And in his 85. Epistle to Enagrius By whose prayers the body and blood of Christ is made Take notice that these three Holy Fathers lived not four hundred years after our B. Saviours death S. Cyprian yet nearer the Apostles age does no less clearly nor fully attest the same verity in his Serm. de Caena Domini That bread which our Lord gave to his Disciples being changed not in shape but in its nature by the Omnipotency of the Word was made Flesh. And in his Book de Lapsis reprehending such as were angry with the Priests of God who refused to admit them to the holy Communion of the B. Sacrament after they had polluted themselves with the profane Sacrifices of Heathen Idolaters expresses their sin in these words He that has fall'n from his Faith threatens them that have stood firm Sacrilegious wâ—etch he is angry with the Priests of God that he is not prosently admitted with defiled hands to receive the Body of our Lord or to drink his blood with his defiled mouth And this was the very doctrin of his learned Master Tertullian who yet nearer approached the holy Apostles lib. de Resur cur The Flesh is fed with the body and blood of Christ that the soul may be made fat with God And in his Book de Idololatria he complains of the prosaneness of some Christians who made no scruple to day to be working in their Shops making Idolatrous Statues for the Heathens and yet to morrow would presume to come into the Christian Congregations and receive the Sacred mysteries of our Lords body and blood and communicate them to others His words are these To touch the body of our Lord with those hands which give bodies to Devils Nor is this all their Crime would be less did they only receive from the hands of others what they contaminate and pollute
perswade Unbelievers to acknowledge the true Faith but only professes that by these her members are sanctified For example we say by Baptism as an outward and visible sign is wrought an invisible grace in the soul of the person Baptized Though view the Child as much as you please you can by none of your senses perceive any mutation to be wrought In like manner the Church professes to believe the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God that our Lord Jesus though to outward appearance a mere man was also true God and yet by no sense was the Hypostatical Union of his soul and body to the Second person of the blessed Trinity discernable This was no doubt a great Miracle yea the miracle of miracles wrought amongst us but the end of its working being not by it as a motive to draw the world to Christianity but to constitute a fit person for the working of the salvation of the world it was not necessary it should be the object of our senses The same Lord and Saviour telling us that he was God though we could discern no Characters of Divinity in him by any of our senses he saying that he was God proving by other Miracles to our senses that he was sent from God to teach us nothing but Truth this was sufficient to secure our belief of his Deity In like manner in the mystery of the holy Eucharist this miraculous change being not wrought to allure Strangers to the Christian Faith but to sanctifie Believers and to work all those spiritual effects in them above-mentioned by being received by them and offered up in their presence for them c. it was not requisite this change should be the object of our senses Nay it was necessary it should not be the object of our senses For it being wrought to the intent we should eat and drink our dear Lord his body and blood it was necessary only the substance of bread and wine should be turned into the substance of our Lords flesh and blood the accidents of bread and wine remaining for that otherwise we should have a horror to eat raw flesh and drink true appearing blood As to the confirmation of the Argument that hence it would follow we cannot trust our senses and consequently not be certain of any miracle wrought by our Saviour To this I Answer We may alwaies trust our senses about their own objects and in due circumstances and when we have not positive grounds to think either God Almighty by himself or by an Angel or permissively by a Devil represents things otherwise then they are The three Children in the fiery Furnace might really think themselves in the midst of scorching Flames though they felt them not because they had reason to surmise God Almighty wrought a miracle out of those circumstances they had no reason to believe any thing to be ordinary fire which should not burn as fire Nor must they for this for ever after be in doubt whether they were not environed with Flames of fire or no. Nor must Abram because once in a particular circumstance he mistook three Angels for three men therefore never after believe his eyes whether he saw a man or no unless he first pinched him by the arm and felt that he had flesh and blood as himself Nor must one who in the presence of a Conjurer had taken pibble stones for grapes for ever after be doubtful whether he saw grapes or no till he tasted them Nor does it follow S. Mary Magdalen could not be certain she ever saw our B. Saviour because once her senses were mistaken concerning him taking him for the Gardener And in our present case our B. Saviour telling us that the Holy Eucharist is his body we have all reason to think that by miracle he makes it to be so whatsoever it seems to our senses Nor do Catholicks therefore out of such a circumstance doubt of all the bread they see whether it be not their Lords body or no Though I must tell you even here your senses are not mistaken for they do perceive what they seem to perceive that is the Accidents of bread and wine which remain and affect them in the same manner as when the substance under them was the substance of bread and wine but now is the substance of our Lords body and blood Substances are not discernable by any sense only we conclude by a Physical certitude such a substance is under such a complex of Accidents when we have nor positive grounds that God Almighty works a miracle as here we have he saying expresly of this object before us 'T is his body and 't is his blood But if there be so much to be said for this great mystery how comes it to pass so many have so great difficulty to believe it It is not because the mystery is not highly credible but it is partly from Nature and partly from Education and partly from want of a serious and frequent consideration of those Arguments which strongly evince the credibility of it and partly for want of strange desires of the happiness of the other life and of a heart void of inordinate affections to the things of this life Pleasures Riches and Honors 'T is partly from Nature I say For 't is not more difficult to our senses to practice Sobriety Temperance Chastity and Fasting then it is to our understanding to assent to Truths which seem to shock our reason and senses though proposed by never so great Authority Should you have seen our B. Saviour sucking his Mothers Breast in the Stable of Bethlehem whosoever should have told you the little Infant there was God Almighty the maker of Heaven and Earth Nature would have found a great difficulty to believe so strange an assertion and no less then it does now to believe that a little Wafer in the hands of a Priest is the same Christ both God and man veiled under the appearance of the common accidents of bread But had it been moreover from your infancy continually noysed in your ears by such as you reverenced for their learning and skill in divine matters that it was impossible for God to become man this would strangely have encreased your difficulty to believe a little Infant in nothing different as to outward appearance from other Children should be God But if to all this you should add never or very seldom and slightly to consider the positive Arguments for the belief of that mystery of the Incarnation but were ever still poring upon the difficulty and unlikeliness and seeming impossibility of any such thing 't is not possible you should ever come to the belief of it though the mystery be never so true in it self nor the Arguments to prove it never so evident and cogent But this is the case of us generally in England as to the mystery of the B. Sacrament and therefore no vvonder if generally it be not believed by us but we
rather wonder at their stupidity and fond credulity who can believe any such thing But to get a right strong and well grounded Faith concerning this high mystery what must we do First Reflect we are Christians and as such must necessarily believe very many strange things unless we will renounce Christianity For example we must believe that there are three distinct Persons and every one of these is God and yet there are not three Gods but only one God We must also believe this one God is infinitly merciful and yet he will permit millions of souls to lament and howl amidst scorching Flames for ever though with a word he could ease them of all their pains Moreover we must believe that 1600. years ago one of the three divine Persons was incarnat and became a true mortal man flesh and blood as we are and after 33. years which he lived upon our Earth he was nailed to a Cross Hands and Feet till he died and after three daies came to life again and after 40. days ascended into Heaven where he remains to this day These would seem strange things to believe to one that should never have heard them before and yet stranger to one that from his Childhood should have been taught to laugh at such stories as mere Fables and idle fictions of cheating Priests who knew them well enough to be such but for their own gain and interest seem'd to believe them and with a great deal of Confidence taught them for infallible Truths to the credulous multitude Which being so Reflect 2d y. No Christian must bogle at any thing as to the belief of it merely for the strangeness of it and seeming unlikeliness to his senses or reason But must consider what grounds he has to judge the strange mystery he is required to believe was taught his Fore-fathers by our B. Saviour and his Apostles and if he find he has good grounds for this he must immediately submit his understanding and believe it 3dly Let us reflect upon the state of our own Country as it is at present and as our Annals represent it to have been ever since our first Receiving of the Christian Faith At present we have a considerable number of Families who believe Transubstantiation and have believed it from their Fore-fathers time out of mind and they say ever since the first planting of the Christian Faith amongst us We have also far greater multitudes who do not believe it but yet so as there 's scarce one who is fifty years old whose great Grand-father did not believe it but when his great Grand-father or his great Grand-fathers Ancesters began to believe it we are able to give no acconnt Moreover two hundred years ago in all the several Shires or Provinces of England we all universally Bishops Priests and People Rich and Poor Learned and Unlearned believed it And this not as a new Doctrin found out by themselves by reading the holy Scriptures No. They were Enemies to all Novelties and professed they must hold fast what had been taught by their Fore-elders and interpret Scripture in the sense their Fore-elders had done Now how is it possible they should come to believe such a strange Doctrin unless it had been taught them from their Fore-fathers and the first Preachers of Christianity in our Nation Especially they not reading the holy Scriptures as we do now nor having such store of Bibles that they might perhaps by their private reading have come to believe this hard and high mystery contrary to what had been taught them by their Fore-elders How came they to learn it then Did they some strange morning or other all awake of a different belief from what they had been of the Evening before Or did it come into some Schollars head by studying the holy Scriptures reading for example those words This is my body so often repeated in the Evangelists S. Paul and he hereupon was convinced they had all been in an Error for so many years and by Preaching and Disputing perswaded others But how comes it to pass then we having had Historians that have mentioned far less Matters yet say not a word of any such thing Or did the Britons before S. Austin the Monk believe no such thing How came they then not to clash about it or if they did how comes it to pass other differences are recorded and this is omitted Besides if S. Austin taught it our Ancesters he confirm'd the Religion he taught by miracles as all our Stories testifie And also he lived within the first 600 years to which Dr. N. N. in one of his Sermons appeals Nor did that blessed man pretend to teach us a new Religion neither newly found out at Rome but what was alwaies believed ever since S. Peter 4. Let us consider why we are Christians and we shall find if we be so rationally and groundedly and not merely because we were so brought up from our Childhood I say we shall find our Faith to be grounded upon such principles as if we be true to them they will force us as strongly to believe Transubstantiation as the Incarnation the Real presence as the Deity of our Saviour For example I believe the man Jesus Christ who lived 1600. years ago was also God And why Because he said he was so and proved by evident miracles that he was sent to teach the World Truth and nothing but Truth And why all this Because it could not stand with the providence of God to suffer a Deceiver to work such miracles as he wrought teaching withal and practising such sanctity as he did For then the most sincere desirers to know the Truth would be most subject to miss of it But how do I know Jesus Christ wrought such miracles Because I find them Recorded in certain Books which several Nations all over the World have immemorially looked upon as faithful true stories ever since the time the miracles are said to have been wrought Now 't is not possible but the men then alive must needs certainly know whether he did work such strange miracles or no. And if they had known no such thing was wrought by him but that these things were at first feigned by some of his Friends and afterwards committed to writing by them they could never contrary to the evidence of their own knovvledge have told unanimously such notorious Lyes to their Posterity and have made them believe them as they did Nor could have recommended the Books vvherein they vvere Recorded to their Children and have made them reverence them as unquestionable and infallibly certain Histories as they did But hovv do I knovv that Jesus Christ taught that he vvas God vvhy certainly the Apostles understood him vvhat he said concerning himself vvhether he vvere only a holy man like to their great Moyses or else vvere true and substantially God and consequently to be Worshipped by them as such And no doubt but they taught their first Converts vvhat they had learnt