as express terms To confirm this I shall in the next Assertion make it appear that in drinking the Chalice there is a different signification and a peculiar benefit which accrues to the Receiver very distinct from all that which issues from the receiving under the Species of Bread Which much commends the great love of our dear Redeemer to Mankind in Commanding us to Receive under both Species that so he might give us an entire and compleat repast and refresh us with all those Graces which correspond to each part thereof he doth not invite us to this Banquet of all Delicious Rarities with intention to feed our Souls by piece-meale and by halves but abundantly poureth forth the Treasures of his Merit and Satisfaction so to replenish our Souls with a full and compleat refection And to make us the more sensible hereof he chose to suffer that Ignominious Death upon a Cross and to permit the effusion of his most Sacred Blood though he could have wrought our Redemption without either for though as purely God he was not capable of Satisfaction nor Merit yet that Divine Word having by the Hypostatical Union assumed Humane Nature all his actions became Theandrical the least whereof was of an infinite value capable without Death or Passion to Redeem a Thousand Worlds for though he assumed the Nature of Man yet he took not upon him the Personality of Man there was but one Suppositum which was the Divine Hypostasis of the Word of God and this gave the poyse and value to all his actions which proceeded from one Person that was both God and Man as they proceeded from Man they were capable of Merit and Satisfaction and as they proceeded from God they were infinite in both kinds and so never to be exhausted So that by one act of love or any other Moral Vertue he might efficaciously have Redeemed us and yet he chose to do it by a bitter Death and Passion the better to accommodate himself to the weakness and imbecillity of our capacity for this more efficaciously strikes our fancy and imprints upon our Souls a more sensible feeling of his infinite Love towards us And for a more ample testimony hereof he hath left us his Sacred Body and Blood to participate thereof and to taste of the fulness of his Graces and Mercies thereby still renewing the Memory of his Passion Who then shall abridge us of these Favors by prescinding the one halfe and mincing the benefits bestow'd upon us by so liberal and munificent a Hand How great is the presumption of some Men who call all Christ's Actions in question and submit them to the scrutiny of their weak indagation They usurp his Infallibility they alter and change his Sacraments they Repeal his Laws they dispense in his Precepts and Impose upon him what he never Ordained Christ saith Except ye drink the Blood of the Son of Man ye shall have no life in you The Church of Rome saith Though ye drink not the Blood of the Son of Man so you eate his Body ye shall have life in you Whom shall we believe Christ or the Church of Rome Shall we desert a certain Infallibility to adhere to an uncertain and presumptive one Could not the All-knowing Word of God whose Prudence and Wisdom hath no bounds foresee all the Inconveniences that could or would come to pass And Could not his Infinite Providence order and dispose all for the best Is it to be presumed that Christ left his Work imperfect or not duly order'd to be compleated or reformed by the weak industry of Man Wherefore by what hath been said I conclude That the practice of the Roman Church in denying the Chalice to the Laity is an express violation of Christ's Precept The Second Assertion This kind of half-Communion Prohibiting the Sacrament under both Kinds is a high Injustice and very prejudicial and injurious to the Receiver This Assertion I prove first because all the Laity yeà and the Clergy also that are not Priests are rendred uncapable of fulfilling Christ's Precept at least as long as they shall remain in their Communion and though the Authors of this Prohibition are highly culpable and very unjust in denying the Faithful what Christ hath left them yet the Receivers also are transgressers for not fulfilling Christ's Precept But you will say How can they help themselves if the Priest refuseth to exhibit the Sacrament to them in both Kinds which is not in their power to procure neither can they be obliged to impossibilities I Answer That they who seriously endeavor to fulfill Christ's Precepts are bound in Conscience to forsake the Communion of that Church and to Imbrace the Communion of the Protestant Church where these Sacred Mysteries will be compleatly Administred to them for by this means they are capable of complying with Christ's Command which they are strictly obliged to do The Second Proofe They who never receive those Holy Rites but in one Kind not only transgress against Christ's Command but also incur the penalty that is annexed to it which is no less than the privation of eternal happiness Except you eate the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you shall have no life in you And what is consequent hereto they are liable to the everlasting torments of Hell How enormous therefore must the Injustice be of those that are Instrumental What do I say instrumental that are the principle cause of reducing men to that extremity that unavoidably they must violate Christ's Command and thereby incur eternal damnation and all this by denying them that which by Christ's Institution they have right to Can any Injustice be compared to this Can any damage be more prejudicial and injurious to the Receiver The Third Proof The Sacramental products of Communion under the Species of Wine are very different and heterogeneal from all the Graces and Favors conferr'd upon him that participates the Sacrament in the other kind only for this Spiritual refection hath a great analogy and proportionable similitude with the natural repast of the Body and their respective operations are reciprocal correlatives by way of similitude with each other and therefore the Original Instituter adapting these Mysteries to the procedure of Nature congruously Instituted them under the Symboles of Bread and Wine the Bread we esteem to be the Staffe of Mans Life because it Administers such vital and animal Spirits as are the substantial support of Mans Life and thereby it gives aliment vigor and growth to the body which is the principal part of nutrition The Wine makes the heart glad and enlivens it to exercise the functions incident to human imploy with more life and expedition it also supplies the radical heat and moisture with seasonable accesses of its innate qualities it delibutes the vessels and organs which are the vehicles of the Spirits and furnishes them with such proportionable qualities as are most accommodated to expediate the exercise of their nutritive Functions
the regulating of their Consciences yet these Men though never so Heterogeneal in Dialect and National differences make but one complex or collection of the Popes Negotiators whose main scope and design is to maintain and improve the Prerogatives of their great Master by all the subtle arts and sedulous industry they are capable of What plausible Arguments do they use to persuade people that their Church cannot Err and the illiterate Vulgar greedily swallow this Bait which confirms them in their servitude and slavery and makes them prompt to submit to all the Prescripts of the See of Rome not regarding the arduity thereof And among other marks of the Popes greatness this of Infallibility is chief for upon this Link hangs immediately his Supremacy his Temporal pretended Power over Kings and Princes c. because these Titles are deduced from his being universal Pastor which the non-erring Councils have declared him to be so that the Councils Infallibility is the Root of those Prerogatives it is the main Pillar which supports the Magnificence and Greatness of the Church and Court of Rome and if this should fail that Superstructure would fall to utter Ruine and Desolation This therefore is the great Bulwark which dreads no opposition this is the main Fort that still remains immoveable against all attempts this is the Ship of St. Peter which though tossed and agitated upon the swelling Billows by Raging and Tempestuous Storms yet never sinks Well may there be some attempts upon the out-works by light Skirmishes and Velitations in Controversies of less moment which if by immediate Arguments they cannot repel recourse may still be had to the main Fort and if that begins to open upon the Enemy by Thundring Infallibility in his Ears Lord who can withstand it This will soon defeat him and dissipate all his attempts But upon what grounds doth the Church of Rome arrogate to it self this high Character First Proof in exclusion of all others Why this is drawn from an irrefragable Testimony it being grounded on the Promises of Christ himself for this is the Church to whom Christ hath promised That the Gates of Hell should never prevail against it This is the Church to whom Christ's word is engaged to send it another Paraclite the Spirit of Truth that should lead it into all Truth This is the Church to whom Christ said I will be with you till the end of the World And finally this is the Church committed to the care of St. Peter first Pope thereof to whom Christ said Thy Faith shall never fail which is meant of all other Popes that by a lineal descent succeed him And who dare attempt to evacuate Christ's Promises Hence it comes to pass that the Bishops and Fathers assembled in a general Council though of themselves weak and subject to Error yet being the chief Members of the Church for Doctrine and Dignity and being the Representative of the whole are render'd Infallible as being backt by Divine Authority by virtue of Christ's Promise they do not now determine matters of Faith and dogmatical points as meer Men but are as it were Deifi'd in order to this Function by a supernatural quality infused into them and inherent in their Intellects or else by a previous disposition and concomitant operation of the Holy Ghost which determines them to Truth and protects them from Error They are but the Organ to deliver Truth but the Divine Oracle is the Dictator they are but the instruments which convey those Mysteries to the knowledge of Mankind but the Spirit of God is the principal Agent so that thâ—â— Canons and Decrees come from them full fraught with the Divinity which renders them Infallibly certain for the Holy Ghost every Session attends the motion of those great Men to regulate all their Proceedings by the never erring Rule of his infinite Veracity whence it ensues that to pick quarrels with their Definitions is a high Temerity it is to wage War with Heaven or by the weak scrutiny of humane discourse to examine the truth of such Mysteries as Heaven hath revealed which if they should contain any seeming Error or Contradiction yet our understanding must adhere to them as infallibly true because our Reason is guided only by obscure Notions and abstractive Acts which draws in foreign Species by the mediation of the Senses which give but a glimmering light to the Understanding and often suggest Falsity for Truth but the Decrees of Councils are sacred and carry the Seal of the Holy Spirit enstampt upon them by whose directions they are framed wherefore it is no less than a Sacrilegious Presumption to Question the Truth of them for this is to oppose Human Reason against Divine Authority This is the substance of their first Proof drawn from the Authority of Scripture which at first appearance seems great and glorious a specious pretence to work upon the credulity of the ignorant Vulgar The second Proof is grounded in Reason but before we propose it we must open the way by putting the Reader in mind that the Divine Word the Second Person of the Sacred Trinity considering the deplorable condition of Mankind by the Fall of Adam resolved upon an efficacious Remedy to assume Human Nature and by an Hypostatical Union to be Phisically United and become on with Flesh and Bloud and in that Nature to suffer death and thereby to offer to his Eternal Father an infinite Treasure of Merits and Satisfaction to make an attonement between God and Man and to satisfie for Mans transgressions even to the rigor of Justice because the satisfaction was made in the same specifical nature that offended and it was made to the full equality of the Crime because the Meritorious Cause thereof was a Divine Person of infinite Dignity and therefore his Actions were of infinite Worth But because it was not permitted to every individual Person to draw from that infinite Mass of Satisfaction and Merit in what measure he pleased this priviledge being reserved for the Pope alone to grant out of this stock by his Indulgences what quantity and to whom he deemed expedient therefore a Church must be ordained and a method prescribed how to apply the benefit of Christ's Passion to each one in particular To this end our great Redeemer instituted Sacraments to be the organs and vehicles to convey the Fruit of his Passion to the Receiver and this is secunda post naufragium tabula whence the Church of Rome saith in her Publick Office O felix culpa quae talem meruit Redemptorem This being supposed The second Proof is grounded on this consideration that the principal design of our Redeemer was to draw Souls to Heaven notwithstanding the loss sustained by Original Sin for to this end he offered his satisfaction to this end he merited habitual and sanctifying Grace transient and actual Graces prevenient concomitant and subsequent Graces to illuminate the Understanding to move and incline the Will to embrace Good and
of Hands for Priesthood The Order of conferring Priesthood practised by the Eutichians and the Jacobites THese two Sects I joyn together because they Profess the same Doctrine and differ only in name the Jacobites assume their denomination from one Jacobus a Syrian Disciple of the Patriarch of Alexandria which was a Profest Eutichian This Jacobus made it his chief endeavor to settle this Belief and by himself and his adherents did it so successfully that at length they were numerously entertained in at least Forty Kingdoms in the East and in Africa under the Patriarch of Alexandria The Eutichians therefore and the Jacobites agreeing in their Doctrine the same Liturgy and Ritual were common to both They both held That there was such mixture and confusion between the Divine and Human Nature in Christ by reason of the Hypostatical Union that there resulted a Third Nature distinct from both if taken apart which they call a Theandrical Nature Yet they deny that the Humane Nature was converted into the Divine Nature for that imports a destruction of the Human Nature without which no Conversion could subsist This Doctrine hath no less Conformity with the Monothelites than opposition with the Nestorians here being a sure ground for the Monothelites to work upon for if there be but one Nature in Christ then there can be but one Will and one Series of Operation which is the Doctrine of the Monothelites but all this is repugnant to the Doctrine of Nestorius who held Two Persons in Christ and proved it thus A Compleat Nature and a Person are the very same thing but in Christ there are two Compleat Natures and therefore Two Persons This Argument was very vexatious to the Fathers and hath puzled all our Antient and Modern Divines and yet to this day there is no Satisfactory Answer given to it But Eutiches in his Principles solved it cleerly by Denying the Minor for he held but One Nature in Christ and consequently but One Person But consented to Nestorius in the Major and so might institute a Sillogisme against him thus A Compleat Nature and a Person are the same but in Christ there is but One Compleat Nature and therefore but One Person But this is to destroy one Error by another Wherefore the Eutychians and Jacobites agreeing in Doctrine agreed also in their Rites and Ceremonies and from Three Manuscripts sent from Goa the Metropolitan City of the East Indies to Lisbon in Portugal this Ritual is drawn out Presbyter quando ordinatur stat coram Altari subter gradus ipsius caput habens apertum inclinatum donec perficiatur oblatio Tunc Episcopus tondet in formam crucis capillos ejus qui ordinatur traditque eum institutori suo praeceptum dat illi de perfectione doctrinae suae ordinis sui c. Statim postea apprehendit Episcopus manum ejus dexteram dicitque Spiritus Sanctus vocat te cumque introducit ad Altare procumbere facit super duo illius genua coram Altari manus habentem junctas ante se orarium Diaconatus super se c. Archidiaconus hoc praeconium proclamat Gratia Domini Nostri Jesu Christi quae omni tempore perficit defectus nostros secundum voluntatem Dei Patris in virtute Spiritus Sancti adsit iis qui hic offeruntur c. Ipsa est quae vocat offert ex Ordine Diaconorum ad Ordinem Presbyteratus N. Presbyterum ad Altare Sanctum divinum domus genetricis Dei Mariae c. Precemur igitur omnes ut descendat super eos gratia illapsus Spiritus Sancti c. ter Kyrie Eleison reliqua Episcopus ponit manus suas super mysteria extendit brachia sua colligitque contrahit ea tribus vicibus super corpus sanguinem accipiens ex calice in pugillum suum dum colligant ea cooperiunt peplo seu linteo Sacro Postea revertitur ad illum qui est ordinandus imponit manus super caput ejus easque illi admetitur iterumque attollit manus porrigens brachia sua in altum easque deprimit tremulas super caput ejus hocque tribus vicibus facit Episcopus ipse oculis ipsius desuper cum timore aspicientibus Post hoc ponit dexteram suam super illius caput tegit manus caput illius qui ordinatur cum Phaina Dextera illius ponetur super ejus caput sinistra hinc hinc movebitur circumferetque sinistram suam tribus vicibus super cervicem ipsius faciem c. Invocatio Spiritus Sancti c. Postea revertitur Episcopus ad occidentem ad eum qui ordinatur imponitque dexte ram suam super caput ejus eum signat inter oculos sic dicens Ordinatus est in Ecclesia Sancta Dei. Archidiaconus dicit N. Presbyter ad Altare Sanctum domus genetricis Dei. Episcopus addit N. Presbyter ad Altare Sanctum c. Episcopus In nomine Patris c. Cum autem confecerit tria crucis signa tunc qui consecratur Sacerdos redit ad Altare hanc mystecè dicens orationem Suscepimus gratiam tuam Domine c. Post haec redit Episcopus ad cum qui ordinatur eumque apprehendit per manum suam dexteram erigit Archidiaconus autem dicit benedic Domine Episcopus accipit orarium quod super ipsum positum est traducit illud super humerum ejus dexterum à parte anteriori dicens Ad laudem honorem decorem exaltationem Trinitatis Sanctae consubstantialis ad pacem aedificationem Ecclesiae Sanctae Dei. Respondent Clerici Ad laudem c. Et cum pompa defert casulam tunicam zanadas singulam dicitque Ad laudem c. Deinde tradit ei thuribulum praecipit ut imponat adoramenta Apprehendit autem Episcopus manu eum qui ordinatus est adducit ut osculetur mensam vitae eaque salutata manum Episcopi deosculatur qui ipse pacem illi donat jubetque ut caeteri omnes pacem illi donent Et statim obsignat Episcopus consummationem corporis Sancti cum poculo eumque communicat praecipit ut ipse congregationem communicet Cruce autem signabit finiet Episcopus Eutichians c. WHen a Priest is Ordained he stands before the Altar under the steps thereof having his head uncovered and inclined till the Oblation is performed Then the Bishop cuts the hair of him that is to be Ordained into the form of a Cross and delivers him to his Tutor and gives him a Precept concerning the perfection of his Doctrine and Order c. forthwith afterwards the Bishop takes him by the right hand and saith The Holy Ghost calls thee and brings him to the Altar and places him on both his knees before the Altar having his hands joyn'd before him and a Deacons Vestment upon him c. The Archdeacon speaks aloud this Prayer The
for that Matter and Forme as we suppose by the second part of the Dilemma is not capable to confer upon him such a dignity notwithstanding the Promise SECT V. The Order of Priesthood according to the present Institution cannot be validly conferr'd by touching the Vessels with this Forme Accipe potestatem c. THe Ordinations and Institutions of Christ none can attempt to abrogate or alter without a Sacrilegious temerity for they carry with them an irrefragable Autority they are Juris Divini of Divine Right they are Sacred and therefore no Human Power upon Earth can make any change or alteration in them and more especially when by Divine Institution Supernatural effects are produced by Natural causes as it falls out in the Ordination of Priests for when it is validly conferr'd there is communicated to the Receiver a Spiritual capacity to exercise all the Functions of Priesthood there is a Power granted to him over the Real Body and the Mystical Body of Christ the first by Consecration in the Eucharist the second by Relaxing and Retaining sins There is also imprinted upon the Soul of the Ordained a Character which is a Real Physical and Supernatural quality neither is it Supernatural only quoad modum in the circumstances of producing it but quoad entitatem the very Intrinsecal Nature and Essence of it is Supernatural because no exigence of Nature can ever challenge it as due in any circumstances whatsoever From the same cause also proceeds an increase of Sanctifying and inherent Grace in the Soul of the Ordained as also a plentiful supply of Actual and Transient Graces whereby his Understanding is Illuminated and his Will Fortified in all occasions conducing to the Functions of his Order all which are according to their Intrinsecal Nature Supernatural And yet the causes from which these strange effects proceed are of themselves purely Natural having no proportion to such Supernatural products They have only a Radical Obediential capacity to be assumed and elevated above their Nature by the powerful hand of the Omnipotent to produce joyntly with him any effect that involves not a contradiction Thus the Natural Element of Water is Instituted by Christ to produce Spiritual and Supernatural Grace and to destroy Original Sin And in our present case the Imposition of Hands though Natural in it self was appointed by Christ our Redeemer to produce the forementioned effects waving the question whether the Causality of Sacraments be Physical or only Moral which the Divines Dispute And as there is no power upon earth that can abrogate or alter Christs Institutions or devest those Natural Causes of that Efficacity which by an Irrevocable Decree the Author of Grace hath given them so there is no Created Power neither Human nor Angelical that can validly institute appoint ordain or determine any Natural Cause whatsoever to produce any Supernatural effect because all Created Power how great soever is limited and confin'd within the bounds of Nature and so neither formally nor virtually nor eminently contains that Supereminent Vertue or proportion with Supernatural Effects which are far above its Sphear How then can it Communicate to other Causes that High Vertue which it no way contains in it self Hence it ensues that as all the power of Nature though it summon and muster up all its strength can never deprive those Natural Entities Instituted by Christ of this Supereminent Prerogative nor hinder their effects when duly applyed to Subjects capable according to Christs Institution so likewise neither can it remove or transfer this operative quality from those causes to which Christ hath affixt it and place it upon others of its own invention and determination For no pure Creature can alter change or abrogate a Divine Law And in this case the word Incarnate is the Legislator or Law-giver and therefore none but himself can make any Change in his own Law Except Man that is but a meer Creature will wage War with his Creator and Usurp to himself a Power that never was nor ever will be granted him it being peculiar to God alone The ground of this Doctrine is not New but Admitted by All and is common to both Churches For this is the Argument that St. Augustin used against the Pelagians who held a proportion in our Natural Acts to Merit Glory and the Semipelagians or Massilienses endeavouring a Moderation attributed to our Natural Acts a power of Meriting Supernatural Grace and this obtained rendered us capable of Meriting Glory Which Opinions are both condemned as Heretical chiefly upon this Principle That whatsoever is Natural hath no proportion with things Supernatural which common Reason dictates Thus far in General now we 'll descend to Particulars The Question in agitation is whether the touching the Vessels that is the Chalice with Wine and Water in it and the Patene with an Hoast be the Essential Matter and Forme of the Order of Priesthood I Assert that it is not because it was never assum'd nor appointed by the Divine Institutor for that end This being a thing of Fact must be made out by the Testimony of those that best knew None are more competent Witnesses nor were better acquainted with the Transactions of Christ then his Apostles who were eye-Witnesses of his proceedings and to whom Christ communicated such things as chiefly concerned his Church And they have left their Testimony in Writing to be inviolably observed in future times and yet have no where left the least mention of this Matter and Forme If any such thing had been Instituted by their Divine Master it is most unlikely and wholly incredible that in a matter of such moment and high concern wherein the very being of the Church depended they should have past it over in deep silence and never have given the lest intimation of it neither in Word nor Writing to those of the Primitive Church that immediately succeeded them But so it is the Apostles never mention it All Antiquity is wholly ignorant of it search all the Minutest Passages of Scripture read all the Authors of the Infancy and Growth of the Church Examine all the Liturgies and Rituals of Ordination the Latines Greeks the Syrian Maronites the Nestorians the Eutichians the Jacobites the Cophticks the Aegyptians the Babilonians the Aethiopians c. Peruse all the Records of Councils and you shall find nothing but a profound Silence and Ignorance of any such thing till about 700 years since as you may see above Section II. in the Ritual of Constantinus Caëtanus In the Antient Rituals as well of the Latines as the Greeks and others there is frequent mention made of the Imposition of Hands in Ordination which was ever held Essential to the Order of Priesthood but of Touching the Vessels not a word Whence we may certainly conclude that those Vessels were never Instituted by Christ as the Essential Matter of Priesthood nor the Words annexed thereunto as the Essential Forme Let us now Collect what hath been proved in this Section