being rationally and Christianly principled and nothing averse to Piety till coming to the later Proposition That it became the wisedom and goodness of Christ to appoint a visible Judge Infallible upon Earth to determine Controversies He replied mildly we had reason to go warily in censuring the wisedom and goodness of God if this or that thing seeming to us expedient were not done in the government of the World for who can pretend to know the depth of the wisedom and knowledg of God Rom. 11.33 to search into his judgments and find out his ways This most rational advertisement took deep root in my heart ever thirsty of reason and open to receive it Neither did the modesty of the Proposer diminish but rather augment the weight of it It was in truth the first shock that touched me to the quick striking upon the very root of that Engine of Infallibility I leaned upon Reflecting upon the matter in my solitudes I perceived the weakness of the ground I built upon I saw that in like manner we may say it belongeth to the goodness wisedom and power of God not to permit that his Holy Law should be transgressed by vile creatures and his supreme dread Majesty offended by despicable vermine Nor that Pastors of Souls especially the Roman Pope deemed a Vice-God upon Earth should fall into errours and scandalize with wicked life the people And alas it is but too well known he permits this Shall we therefore waver in the Opinion of his goodness power and wisedom God forbid Why then should we think it a failure in his providence or goodness if besides Holy Scriptures abounding in all light and Heavenly Doctrine to such as are not wilfully blind he did not appoint some visible Judge universal for our direction St. Paul saying 2 Tim. 3.16.17 that Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works That Foundation alledging the necessity of a Judge visible universal and Infallible being thus weakned I proceeded to examine what right the Pope or Church of Rome could pretend to such infallibility the support of all their Incredible Doctrine And first the very inconstancy of their pretence to this priviledge and great dissention of their Authors in asserting it was to me a main reason of suspecting the truth of all and a concluding argument that they cannot be certain of having it Vide Bel l. 4. de Rom. Pont. c. 2. For some will have the Pope himself alone as Pope or as teaching from his chair to have this Infallibility of Doctrine Others will not allow it him but in conjunction with a Council either general or particular of Cardinals and Divines Others only attribute it to him in a General Council Others neither separately nor conjunctly and will only allow the Church Universal to be Infallible And finally others of the most Learned affirm even the Church Universal S. Tho. Turre â—â—â—mata Alphonâ—us a Cactâ—o apud Candi 4 〈◊〉 c. 4 concl 2. to be capable of a Material Errour by Probable Ignorance though not of a Formal and Heretical one which in substance is to allow the Church no more Infallibility than Origen Tertullian or any other particular true Christian Believer hath though subject to errors which Opinion if extended to make the Universal Church fallible even in Points Essential to saluation is false And upon so great an uncertainty of their Infallibility they will have us to build a certain Infallible Belief of all they please to teach us which is to build a house incapable of falling upon a sandy and ruinous Foundation Now for their grounds for this pretended Infallibility what is their warrant for it Divine Scripture they say for who but God could give such a Priviledge and what warrant have they for believing he Scripture saying so to be Divine and Infallible The Infallible Testimony of the Church say they again their own Roman Church they mean So they believe the Scripture is Infallible because the Roman Church doth testifie it and this Church to be Infallible because the Scriptures Testimony is for it A circle in reasoning which Logicians would hiss out of their Schools Neither may Becan's escape avail him that they deal with Christians who believe the Scripture for no Christian but such as they will make blind can believe that there is any Scripture favouring their case in this particular without clipping or corrupting it to serve their purpose For example Their main pillar for this Infallibility fetcht out of the 24th chapter of St. John John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth Their own Disciples who ordinarily know no more of Scriptures than what they are pleased to shew to them for their several purposes may think that Text to be pertinent for their pretentions But who will take the liberty to read the Context before and after will clearly find out that the very same Text destroyeth their whole design and taketh away all certainty of the Holy Ghost his assistance for rendring their Decrees Infallible The Text restored to its integrity saith thus in their own Bible If ye love me keep my commandments Mundus id est remanens amator mundi cum quo nurquam est amor Dei Gloss interlin Non habent spirituales oculos quibus Spiritum sanctum videant muâ—â—i amaâ—â—res Gloss ordinaria and I will ask my Father and he shall give you another Paraclete that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive By the first words you may see this to be a conditional promise limited to such as love God and keep his Commandments by the later words you see worldly and sinful men expresly excluded from receiving that gracious assistance of the Spirit of Truth therefore to be sure that the Pope and his Council have the assistance of the Spirit of Truth we must be sure that they love God and keep his Commandments but of this we cannot have security their own Histories relating and the world knowing enormous vices in them What they alledge out of St. Paul writing to Timothy Tim. 3.15 that the Church is the pillar and ground of Truth we freely admit it as due to the Universal Church not to any particular but less to one found guilty of so many and great errours such as the Romish is whose ambition in claiming and appropriating to it self all the commendations delivered of the Church Universal is no less reprehensible than as if the Scribes and Pharisees persecuting our Saviour should appropriate to their Synagogue all the praises given to Moses and Aaron Would not you wonder that their chief Champion Cardinal Bellarmine Bellar de sum Pâ—n l. 4 c 2. should bring for proof of the Pope's Infallibility that in the Old Law
with any that would tell me I did not answer right or that I needed a supply from him to do it My Learned Opposers were wont to say that a man so long time exercised in School debates could hardly want an Answer to Arguments but that they suspected I was not my self satisfied and their suspicion there in was not erroneous I could continue farther giving answer to others but to the serious Proposals of my own judgment in the presence of God in favour of his truth I could not resist and to them I yielded I say Thirdly that many days before my Declaration for the Protestant Church I signified by Letter and Message to such as I thought fit to divulg it of the Romish Clergy and Nobility that although I was forced to come under the protection of the most Reverend Lord Archbishop of Cashell to avoid the popular fury raised against me yet I would not declare against Communion with the Roman Church while any hopes appeared of being satisfied in the Exceptions I took against the present practice of that Church and being they had among them my Writing containing the said Exceptions which in substance are those contained in the ensuing Discourse so long time as may suffice to have Copies of it I desired any that would pretend to resolve me upon those Exceptions should appear and that I would give a willing and unpassionate hearing to his reasons But none appeared for that purpose nor signified to have a mind to do it Neither indeed had I reason to hope that any of them could give me satisfaction having so long time and very carefully studied upon the reasons given by the most Learned Defenders of their cause and found no satisfaction in them and the rather that when my Paper came to their hands containing the exceptions I took against the Romish tenents but without any mention of separation in stead of a charitable conference with my self they stirred the people to fury against me saying I was already made Minister and to preach at the Protestant Church at Cashell the Sunday following which being a fiction of their own I told it was so in a Noblemans house where I had notice of that report without any promise made much less an Oath that I should never become a Protestant which was one of the very false impostures framed against me without fear of God or shame to be found in untruths For certainly I neither said that nor had any Question made to me that would occasion saying it But those stories so enraged the people that from worthy persons who tendered my safety I had notice given me of menaces made to destroy me or convey me where I should not appear speaking against the Romish party As to the former truly I could hardly believe that Christians Countreymen and Kinsmen whom I served and never offended and from whom I had many shews of love and honour should intend to destroy me for following the dictates of my conscience nor that passion should so blind them that being under a Government dissatisfied of their Tenents they should not be contented with the gracious toleration given to them but must insult with violence and malice upon such as following the light of their conscience do embrace the Religion established by the Law and Government which God has put over us As I heartily wish and tender their welfare I earnestly desire they may avoid this foul kind of proceeding withdraw their silly Rythmers Scoulds and Forgers of Calumnies and employ their good wits in examining soberly and seriously for the Glory of God manifestation of Truth and edification of the people the Points I handle in this Discourse and shewing wherein my Arguments against their Tenents are defective or what Arguments they repute of most strength for them and that with Authority of undoubted Canonical Scripture clear reasons grounded upon it or practice uniform of the Primitive Church Not by Hyperbolical expressions of some one or more of Ancient Authours Rhetorical Flourishes and Tropical Applications of Scriptures drawing them from their direct genuine meaning to others different by the help of some Figure At which rate of disputing the Alcoran of Mahomet and the Talmud of the Jews may be defended as plausibly as the Council of Trent The God of Peace and his Son Jesus who bequeathed it for inheritance to his Disciples make us appear to be of them living in peace and charity together in this Life that so we may joyn to praise him in Life everlasting Amen Mr. ANDREW SALL 's Declaration made in the Church of St. John in the City of Cashell the Fourth Sunday after Easter May the Seventeenth present the most Reverend THOMAS Lord Archbishop of Cashell and the Right Reverend HUGH Lord Bishop of Waterford VVHEREAS I Andrew Sall have been born and bred in the Communion of the Roman Catholick Church followed a Religious Life and compleated my Courses of Philosophy and Divinity in Colledges of the Order of JESUS in Spain and was imployed in teaching of the said Faculties many years I acknowledge that since by occasion of this Function I applyed my self to a structer enquiry and examining of matters and by frequent reading of the Holy Scriptures Fathers Councils and Histories of the Church my knowledge was farthered and my judgment ripened I began to doubt of the truth of several Articles introduced by the Vse and Authority of the Roman Church repugnant to human reason and not warranted by Divine Writ as Transubstantiation Indulgences Purgatory Worship of Images c. yet smothered my scruples while I was in Spain partly fearing the severity of that Countrey against Opposers of their Tenents partly amused with a supposition that the Church and Pope of Rome were infallible in their Decrees touching Faith and so may stand with security to their declarations But having arrived to this Countrey disputed often and closely of Religion with several Persons eminent in Learning and Integrity but principally with the most Reverend Father in God and mine truly in Christ his Grace Thomas Lord Archbishop of Cashell present who mindful of the duty of a good Pastor did procure to bring into his Fold this straying sheep with an unspeakable constancy and indefatigable charity suffering for six years of continual battery my obstinate resistance till at last by means of his solid doctrine and of the example of his pious and upright Life to the glory of God be I permitted to say thus much here the Lord was pleased to give me a more clear sight of the errours I was in yet a full assent I delayed to give partly fearing that the weakness I felt might be of my capacity rather than of the cause I maintained partly frighted with the confusions and dangers I conceived might wait upon my deserting of the Romish Communion and so betook my self to a must diligent study of the case leaving no stone unmoved to quiet the trouble of my conscience reading with indifferent eyes the
best Writers on both sides And though I heartily wished to find the cause I hitherto maintained justified for not to run into the terrible inconveniences which human considerations represented to me in a change yet assisted by Divine grace and taking for rule of my Actions the Service and Will of God and the Interest of Eternity I resolved constantly to adhere to the Party which with better ground would render me secure of this higher Emolument when being in these considerations suddenly issued out our Sovereign Lord the King's Proclamation for banishing the Roman Clergy wherewith I saw my self betwixt two Extremities either to continue farther in the Countrey with my ambiguities in disobedience to my Sovereign's commands or to go into Spain and there be forced to preach and practise Doctrines my conscience did not approve of and for a speedy resolution after earnest prayer to God for the assistance of his Divine light in so weighty a matter I penned down for better consideration the reasons I did hear read and conceive against the Romish Tenents controverted I did also carefully peruse and seriously reflect upon the 39. Articles Canons and Liturgy of the Church of England and all considered well I did conclude the way of the Church of England to be safer for my Salvation than that of the Roman Church Wherefore I resolved to declare as I do hereby seriously and in my heart without any equivocation or mental reservation in the presence of God and this Congregation declare that I do give my full and free assent to the 39. Articles of the Church of England for holy and wise grounded upon the infallible Word of God acknowledging the Romish Tenents against them to be false and superstitious especially that of Transubstantiation as forcing upon Christians a belief of monstrous miracles repugnant to human reason and not grounded upon Divine Testimony nor necessary either for verifying Christ's Words in the Institution of this Blessed Sacrament or for the effects of it not for verifying the words whereas Christ saith in the like tenour that he is the true vine without real alteration in his Person or in the vine nor for the effects of the holy Sacrament Christ being able to annex unto the receiving of Bread and Wine what spiritual Grates he pleaseth without alteration of the Elements as he doth afford the spiritual Grace of Regeneration in the Waters of Baptism without alteration in the substance of the Water And lest an imagination of some temporal or sinistrous intention in this my Declaration upon the present conjuncture may hinder the spiritual benefit which souls may reap by it I have grave testimonies to shew and did already shew them to my renowned Lord Archbishop his Grace which assureth I did enjoy in Spain and may now enjoy with more advantage going thither upon the account I was to go such degree of honour and commodity as possibly I may not expect elsewhere so as looking upon a Voyage thither continuing my former Profession nothing occurred to my mind but pleasure applause and honour and turning my eyes upon my present resolution mountains of crosses and dangers did fright me But in this perplexity I have chosen rather to suffer crosses here with sarisfaction of conscience than to enjoy honours that other way accompanied with the tortures of a checking conscience and the unworthiness of a dissembling life Wherefore I humbly beseech your Grace that I may be admitted into the Communion of this Church and that I may be absolved for my so long continuance in Errour resisting the pâ—werful Caâ—ling of God which granted I hope by the Grace of Almighty God assisting me that I shall never withdraw my self for farther confirmation of all this I have hereunto subscribed my Name Andrew Sall. St. MAT. xxiv 15 16 17 18. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prephet stand in the holy place whoso readeth let him understand Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains Let him which is on the house top not come down to take any thing out of his house neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes ON all occasions I conceive it to be the Duty of a Preacher to search diligently after the genuine and direct meaning of the word of God he takes in hand to expound that grounding his discourses upon it rather than upon private fancie they may carry more weight for the benefit of souls But when the very Text doth warn us of this duty and exhorteth to the right understanding of it self as ours at present doth whose readeth let him understand then certainly we have a special obligation of searching carefully for the right sense of it which I have endeavoured to do and found three several opinions among ancient and modern Interpreters touching that Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy place mentioned in our Text. The first opinion followed by St. Jerome is that by this Abomination of Desolation may be understood the Image of Caesar which Pilate set up in the Temple of Jerusalem Or the Statue of the Emperor Adrian which he affirmeth to have stood in the most sacred place of the Temple the holy of holies to his own time which to the people of God was most abominable rendered the Temple desolate and void of Divine praises the faithful deserting the City and Temple that they might not be partakers of the prophane Idolatry practised in it as our Saviour councelleth in the words of our Text. The second Opinion followed by very learned Interpreters and attributed to St. Chrysostom is that by this Abomination is understood the Roman Army under Titus coming to besiege Jerusalem and ready to fill the City with their Banners bearing in them the Image of Caesar and his Eagle which to the Jews were Abominable and Prophane The third Opinion followed by the Gloss Interlineal is that the foresaid words of our Text do relate to the times of Antichrist 2 Thess 2.3 when that man of sin shall be revealed Dan. 11.36 2 Thess 2.4 who shall exalt himself and magnifie himself above every God and who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God as St. Paul saith At whose appearance our Saviour exhorteth the faithful to shun the place where they see it predominant All which three Opinions though different in expressions do concur to the same purpose of our spiritual instruction and will contribute to the right grounding the Points I intend to raise upon our Text to that end The following words of our Text do set forth the hast and diligence wherewith our Saviour would have the Faithful to shun the place infected with that Evil. Gerson Tract in Magnifi cat pag. 97. The Buildings of Judea had commonly plain Roofs to walk upon as Gerson relateth now who should happen to be on such Roofs is councelled by our Saviour not to stay for going by
chapter of St. Luke who having lavished away his substance with riotous living in a forreign countrey Luke 15.15 he joyned himself to a Citizen who employed him in feeding his swine and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat How so that delicate youth who loathed the plentiful fare of his Fathers house now fancy the husks that swine did eat Is that a proper food for a man and such a man no but the company of swine made him put off his own nature and wear theirs And when he came to himself so followeth the Text. What did he leave himself yes saith ingenious Peter Chrysologus à se migrat transit in bestiam Chrysol Ser. 2. living with beasts he left himself and turned beast That is the ordinary effect of bad company to turn into its own condition the nature of such as adhere to it To presume the contrary is to pretend to a miracle and tempt God It were indeed a miracle and a singular one that a person living in a bad company should not conform to it Our Saviour to confirm his Doctrine with an uncontrolable miracle against the obstinate Jews who condemned as Sorceries his other miraculous works got innocent children to blaze his glory in the Temple of Jerusalem according to the Prophet David Mat. 21.16 in the eighth Psalm Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise This miracle wrought deeply upon the Jews and confirmed them in the belief of the others preceding as St. Matthew relates St. Mat. â—â— 19. And when the chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the Temple saying Hosanna to the Son of David they were sore displeased What made them take more notice of these innocent Elegies of the children than of the other wonders he wrought 〈…〉 Euthymius glâ—ssing upon this passage answers that in other occasions they suspected Christ might have deluded their eyes with appearances of things not really existing but that their own children bred by themselves and living among them should break out into Elogies of one they saw ever contemned and reviled by them was a miracle they knew not how to controll That ears continually beaten with calumnies and opprebries against Christ should entertain any favourable opinion of him was a wonder which malice and envy it self could not suspect So strange it is that any should not act according to the temper of the company he lives in A wonder passing all wonders Such is the influence bad company hath over minds adhering to it And herewith I conclude the first Point of my Discourse how justly our Saviour in the words of our Text was so earnest in exhorting his Disciples to shun the Abominations of Jerusalem given over to corruption and reprobate obstinacy that they might not be perverted by them and that if we should see any of those three Abominations declared by the three Opinions of Interpreters related in the opening of our Text that is to say Idolatry Cruelty or Impiety or all three practised in a Church or Congregation we are to shun it with all speed and diligence Now I will proceed to the Second Point proposed of my discourse which is to declare how I saw and by what means God was pleased to let me see that all these three abominations are generally practised in the Roman Church as it stands at present to wit Idolatrie in their Manner of Worship Cruelty in their conduct of Souls and Antichristian Impiety in extolling men above God That so my receding from the Communion of It may be justified as no more nor other than a dutiful obedience to the Councel of Christ declared in our Text. But before I enter into this Point I desire my judicious hearers not to conceive I come here to scold or Insult upon my former Brethren of the Roman Communion I may not hate Them without hating my self my flesh and blood and dearest friends being among them with tender compassion I lament their Errour I could not in piety abandon the Mother at whose brest I sucked the Belief of a Christian if with tears or sweat I could hope to wash away the stains which corruption of time has cast upon her face once fair and glorious but seeing her disease appears both incurable and contagious I was forced to a divorce Mean faults could not give a just cause to it they must be grievous ones which I cannot declare without giving them their own names the same our Text and declaration of it puts into my mouth for just cause of the like seperation Idolatrie Cruelty Impiety How I came to perceive the present Practise of the Roman Church to be guilty of these faults I will endeavour to declare with the brevity and sincerity duty requires being to speak in so Illustrious an Auditory Gods Providence leading me in my younger years to the Schools of greatest credit in Spain and disposing so that having compleated in them my courses of Philosophy and Divinity I should be imployed many years in teaching the same Faculties The exercise of those Reasoning Sciences joyned with my own Genius not fit for Pythagoras his School where ipse dixit was the rule and knowledge must be taken upon credit of the Master got me a habit of demanding reason for the belief of Doctrines proposed This assisted by frequent reading of Holy Scriptures Fathers Councels and Histories of the Church made me doubt of the Truth of several Tenents introduced by the use or Authority of the Roman Church repugnant in my esteem to common reason and not warranted by Divine testimony to captivate my understanding to the belief of them Of the Truth of Holy Scriptures of the Apostles Creed of that of Nice and Athanasius I never doubted Therein I acknowledged the Heavenly gift of Faith received in the Holy Sacrament of Baptism and lifting my heart and eyes to Heaven gave thanks to God for this Soveraign benefit in those words of the Psalm Psal 4. v. 6. Signatum est super nos lumen vultûs tui Domine Thou hast lifted upon us O Lord and printed in our hearts the light of thy countenance Without which certainly an understanding accustomed to search exactly into the nature of things their Essential constitutes the proportion of causes with effects and to measure by these rules the credibility of them would never give so free and easie assent to the ineffable mysteries of Trinity and Unity in the Divine nature of the Incarnation Resurrection Ascention of Christ our Saviour of the Descent of the Holy Ghost in tongues of fire upon the Apostles and other mysteries contained in Holy Scripture and the Creeds On the other side the reluctancy I found in assenting to those Tenents of the Roman Church as opposite to other Christian Congregations was to me an occasion of suspecting they might not be grounded upon Divine institution all my understanding
God commanded Two Hebrew words Exod. 20. or Two stones signifying Doctrine and Truth to be put in the breast plate of the High Priest And what then will you infer thence more Infallibility in the Pope than in those High Priests you bring for example Will you make them all Infallible even Caiphas If we will speak in earnest I would suppose these words so inserted were an advertisement to the High Priest that he was to exercise Doctrine and Truth as becoming his place The same advertisement I allow the Pope should have and I wish he did always do accordingly This is the utmost That Text can afford And of this weight are the other Texts they bring to assure us of the Infallibility pretended to build all our Belief on This main Foundation of the Romish Church being thus weakned I began with more liberty to pry into and examine exactly the Mysteries and Tenents of both parties Protestant and Romish To which purpose if I had no other notice of the Protestant cause than that afforded by Popish Writers and Informers as long time I had not I should have been for ever kept from adhering to it Here I perceived a great Insincerity of dealing in the proceeding of Romanists who to make odious their Adversaries gathered up out of the Writings of some particular persons a heap of some extravagant doctrines adding thereto humane frailties of their private lives whether true or false I will not debate now but certainly such as any wise and modest Protestant would abhor no less than any of themselves And if he were to repay them in the like coyn he may by their own mouth do it superabundantly For Two certain Families or Orders of them reputed the most learned and grave of all but very opposite in doctrine passing from the Gravity of Scholastick Disputes to the Scurrility of Infamatory Libels have published of late such damnable doctrines and hideous vices the one of the other as any humane and more a Christian heart would tremble to hear Which lest I should defile this sacred place or your ears or my own mouth I will not relate now But I thought it fit to insinuate to them that this foul and killing Armour of their own against themselves is in a readiness if our necessary defence would require to draw it but such a necessity not intervening I think it unbecoming an Evangelical Preacher to stir that dung and indeed no effective way to conclude with serious minds upon so weighty a matter being certain that in all Congregations of men there are defects in particulars The true and proper way being to deal as becomes men of solid and serious temper is to examine these Tenents wherein each party doth generally agree with publick Uniform consent which I have done And beginning with the Church of England I find the eminent persons of it by Uniform consent of word and writing Article 20. assert the summe of their Faith and Religion to be the Word of God contained in the undoubted Canonical Scripture besides which the plain indubitable consequence of it they require nothing to be believed as matter of Faith What rule could be imagined more sacred and excellent than this for the instruction of men in Faith and good manners if you fancy Infallibility or Antiquity what more Infallible or Ancient than the eternal Word of God if Sanctity and Wâ—sedom what can be imagined more holy and wise than the councels of Christ our Saviour the sentences of holy Prophets and Apostles if the Lustre of Miracles what more admirable and certain than those wrought by our Saviour and his Prophets and Apostles in confirmation of their doctrine if Universality all true Christians do agree in embracing and honouring Canonical Scripture Now as to the Roman Church the Tenents of it as opposite to the Protestant shall be considered for the present to be reducible to these seven heads First the Infallibility and Supremacy of the Pope Secondly the Mystery of Transubstantiation Thirdly the Worship of Images Fourthly the Praying to Saints and Angels Fifthly the Half Communion denied to the Laity Sixthly the use of Indulgences and doctrine of Purgatory Seventhly the celebrating of publick Divine Worship in a Language generally unknown to the people and prohibiting the generality the reading of the Holy Scriptures Pope's Infallibility As to the First we have already declared how ill grounded their pretence to Infallibility is St. Tho. 22. q. 13. Art 3. â—â—iman â—â— 4. tr â—0 c. 6. Now it remaineth to shew how heinous a crime it is to attribute it to the Pope or his Council Their own Divines with St. Thomas Aquinas do agree in asserting that of all sins Blasphemy is the greatest 1 p q 16 ar 18 30. The same Divines do accord in saying it is Blasphemy to attribute to any creature what is proper to God whereas God's Attributes are indistinct from himself and so to ascribe any of them to a creature is to make such a creature God Now that Infallibility is one of Gods chief Attributes incommunicable to any creature 1 p. q 16. ar 8. the same St. Thomas teacheth expresly grounding his Opinion upon these words of the Eleventh Psalm Psal 11.1 according to the Latine Translation Quoniam diminutae sunt veritates à filiis hominum that verities are maimed among the children of men To which is consonant the English Translation of the same Text that the faithful fail from among the children of men Psal 115. v. 11. but more resolutely the hundred and fifteenth Psalm declareth that all men are lyars Therefore the Romanists Attributing Infallibility of Doctrine to their Pope are guilty of Blasphemy the most hainous of all crimes which is evidently deduced from premisses of their own Theologie This hainous Blasphemy of parallelling the Pope with God in the Attribute of Infallibility is raised to a higher degree in their practice of making him Supreme and Absolute Judge and Arbiter of the Law of God and his Holy Scripture So as for the belief and practice of all we must stand to his Declaration in such degree Bellarmin li 4. de Rom. Pont. c. 5. that Bellarmine sticketh not to say if the Pope did command Vices and prohibit Virtues the Church would be obliged to believe Vice to be good and Virtue bad Nay the Council of Constance professedly commandeth the Popes Decrees to be preferred to the Institutions of Christ Whereas confessing that our Saviour did ordain the giving of the Sacred Communion under both kinds to the Faithful people and that the Apostles and Primitive Church did practise it so notwithstanding they command Concil Constan Sess 13. that for the future it be not given to the Laity but under one kind Proposing no other reason for it than that the precedent Popes and Church govern'd by them practised it so though contrary to the practice of Christ and His Apostles Whereby they extol the Pope to a
nature of Bread and Wine And truly an Image and similitude of the Body and Bloud of Christ is celebrated in the Action of the mysteries I am to suppose it will be replyed for some exception must be conceived against evidences so clear and executive that these testimonies of the Fathers are not to be seen thus in their more corrected editions which I have reason to believe having seen the venerable writings of the most ancient and grave Fathers of the Church both Greek and Latine defaced with large blots wheresoever they were found opposite to the present Tenents and practice of the Roman Church according to the direction of the Roman Expurgatory They pretend that Protestants have inserted into the Books of the Fathers those clauses favouring their own Doctrine But who can believe that so many weighty Volumes making up great Libraries should be newly printed to receive those supplies that so many clear sentences concording with the context should be so artificially conveyed into the very heart and marrow of the Homilies of the Fathers The contrary is the more credible to me I having seen very ancient Libraries which never came under the hands of a Protestant expurged of such clauses and sentences according to the Rule of the Roman Expurgatory Besides this Scot. in 4. dis 11. q. 3. Ocham ib. q. 6. Biel lect 40 in Canon Missae Râ—ffens c. 1. o. 1. controv captiv Balil Scotus Ocham Biel Fisher Bishop of Rochester Bassolis Caietan Melchior Canus and others many eminent Schoolmen have affirmed that the doctrine of Transubstantiation is not expressed in the Canon of the Bible And certainly it was no Article of Faith before the Lateran Council declared it for such 1200. years after Christ as Scotus and others do affirm And even after this declaration several of their chief Teachers continued affirming that Article not to be contained in Scripture Bassolis Caiâ—tan apâ—d Suar. to 3 Disp 46. sec 3. Caâ—us loâ— com l. 3. sun 2. especially â—assolis Caietan Melchior Canus and so they coined it of their own heads for they could not declare it to be revealed if it was not in Scripture Their doctrine of Transubstantiation and Corporal Presence of our Saviour in the Sacrament of the Altar being thus ill grounded consider how desperate is their resolution in giving to the consecrated wafer the Worship of Divinity nay greater than ever they give to the true undoubted God as is well known to such as have seen the sumptuous pomp of Spain and other Popish Countries in adoring the Consecrated Host Even standing to their own principles they can never be absolutely certain of Christ's Corporal Presence under those Forms of Bread That depending as themselves teach from the intention of the Priest consecrating and his due Ordination and this later again depending from the intention of the Bishop that ordained him and his legal Ordination and so upward of endless requisites impossible to be known certainly upon any occasion as Bellarmine Vega and all their Writers commonly do confess Bellar. li. 3. de justif c. 8. What blindness therefore is it to give Divine Worship to a thing they know not certainly to be more than a piece of bread Vega lib. 9. de justif c. 17. Some pressed with this Argument did answer that they were free from Idolatry in their practice herein because they believe that host to be God But upon this account the Egyptians worshipping the Sun for God and the Israelites adoring the Golden Calf believing it was the true God that brought them out of Egypt and the grossest Idolaters that ever were may plead for excuse from Idolatry alledging unwilful mistake To this again some of them reply that they do not barely suppose Christ to be really present under the Form of bread but that they know and believe it upon the same ground and motives upon which they believe that Christ is God and consequently to be adored Whereby certainly they give great advantage to the enemies of Christ's Divinity seeing they make the truth of these two things equal that is Bellar. de Christo l. 1. c. 4. the Divinity of Christ and Transubstantiation And of the untruth of this bold Assertion I will take learned Bellarmine for judge who when he proves the Divinity of Christ goes through nine several classes of Arguments of which six are wholly out of Scripture with uncontrollable strength and admirable clearness But being to prove Transubstantiation out of Scripture his only argument is from those words of our Saviour Matth. De Sacr. Euchar. l. 3. c. 19. 26. Take eat this is my body And finding that proof not clear enough appeals to the Authority of Councils and Fathers concluding the chapter thus Though in the words of the Lord there may be some obscurity or ambiguity that is taken away by the Councils and Fathers of the Church and so passes to that kind of proof But whatsoever be of Scripture for Transubstantiation it is intolerable boldness to say there is the same reason for the adoration of the Host as for Christ's Divinity it self whereas for the one we have a plain command in Scripture and for the other nothing like it St. Paul tells that all the Angels are commanded to worship the Son of God Heb. 1.6 and that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in Heaven Phi. 2.10 in Earth and under the Earth And St. John telleth from his Master's mouth that the Heavenly Father commanded that all men should honour the Son even as they do the Father Jo. 5.23 But where is the least intimation given that we are to worship Christ in the Sacramental Bread supposing him present there If you answer the general command extendeth to him where ever he is present I say you may upon that account as well worship him in the Sun and in the Moon and in any other bread for in all he is present as God I will conclude this Point with answering the argument I saw taken for the most weighty against our Doctrine hitherto declared of taking the Sacrament of the Altar for a commemoration of our Saviour and spiritual partaking of his blessed Body and Bloud for the food of our souls to life everlasting without any real transmutation of the substances That if the Jews did take his words in this sense they could not in reason strive among themselves saying John 5.52 How can this man give us his flesh to eat nor his Disciples say This is an hard saying who can hear it And Christ replying did not reprehend their misunderstanding his words but repeated his former doctrine saying Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man ye have no life in you This argument I once over-valued but considering it better I look upon it as a tacit censure of Christ's reply for non pertinent to satisfie the Objection of his Hearers Shall we pretend to understand their meaning better than Christ
to whom they spake or is it impossible that the malice of the Jews would not or the simplicity of the Disciples could notunderstand the heighth and mysterious sense of the words of our Lord viz. that the Elements of Bread and Wine consecrated and taken in a Sacramental way in remembrance of his Death and Passion should feed to life everlasting the Faithful taking them with due preparation as Protestants do understand in conformity with the Fathers of the Primitive Church before related but that rather they understood them of a corporal and fleshy eating of his Body as Papists do and so represented Difficulties which reason dictated against the like expression such as we did in the beginning of this Discourse You say he did not correct such understanding but he did apparently replying to the Objection of his Disciples so 6.63 It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life Wherewith he draweth them from an apprehension of a corporal eating to that of spiritual feeding conducing to the everlasting life of their souls His reply to the Jews signifies they understood him as we do of a spiritual eating and miraculous operation which they would not believe and so he repeateth the same doctrine to them with the commination annexed that if they did not eat his flesh they should not have life in them Worship of Images As to the third point of worshiping Images it is clearly prohibited by God in the second precept of the Decalogue Exod. 20.4.5 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image thou shalt not bow down thy self to them This Precept they have put out of their Catechism to give place to their own of worshipping of Images with the same honour due to the persons represented by them and consequently the Image of God and Christ with latria of the Virgin Mary with hyperdulia of Saints with dulia according to the graduation they express This to be the general Tenent with them Azor declareth in these words Constans est Theologorum sententia imagines eodem â—â—nore 〈◊〉 honorari câ—li quo colituâ— id cujus est image Azâ—r instit mor. 〈◊〉 1. l 9 c. 6. It is the constant judgment of Divines that the Image is to be honoured and worshipped with the same honour and worship wherewith that is worshipped whereof it is an Image Nay they will have us believe that God did ordain so much in the first commandment and so contradicted himself prohibiting in the second commandment what he commanded in the first Lau Vaux in his Catechism to to this Question Who breaketh the first commandment of God by irreverence of God giveth this Answer they that do not give due reverence to God and his Saints or their reliques and Images What reverence they pretend due to Images Decissione casuum conscientiae p 1. l. 2. c. 2. sect tâ—nult Vet. dâ—gma Theto 5. l 15. c. 3. s 1â— c. 14 s 8. Jacobus de Graffijs declares fully according to what has been said before But Dionysius Petavius one of their most warrantable Antiquaries telleth us that for the four first Centuries and farther there was little or no use of Images in the Temples or Oratories of Christians and such as was Pope Gregory declareth it was only for Historical use for information of the unlearned not to worship them and so writing to Serenus Bishop of Marsile who brake down the Images that were in his Church Gre. regist li 7. Epâ—s 2â—9 ad Serenum seeing the people worshipping them saith thus We commend you that you have that zeal that nothing made with hands should be worshipped but yet we judge that you should not have broken those Images for Painting is therefore used in Churches that they which are unlearned may yet by sight read these things upon the walls which they cannot read in books therefore your brotherhood ought both to preserve the Images and restrain the people from worshipping them This difference betwixt making an Image and worshipping of it is confirmed by the example of the brazen Serpent Num. 21.9 2 Kin. 18.4 which God himself ordered to be made which when onely made and looked upon was a Medicine but when worshipped it became Poison and was destroyed Learned Vasques acknowledgeth that the worship of God by an Image is clearly prohibited in the second Commandment and not only the worship of an Idol saying that it is plain in Scripture Vasq in 3. p. dis 94. c. 3 that God did not only forbid that in the second Commandment which was unlawful by the Law of Nature as the worship of an Image for God but the worshipping of the true God by any similitude Nic. ph l. 8. c 53 Nicephorus Calixtus relating the Heresie of the Armenians and Jacobits says they made Images of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which he censures as a most absurd thing quod perquam absurdum est yet they do it in the Roman Church But S. Clement of Alexandria of Images in general declareth thus Li. 7. Hom. in paraen We have no Images in the world it is apparently forbidden to us to exercise that deceitful art for it is written thou shalt not make any similitude of any thing in Heaven above c. They confess it is sinful to worship an Image terminativè or in it self but pretend it lawful to worship it relative or for God or the Saints sake who is represented A strange way of serving God! to transgress his Commandment to please him Saul was reprehended and severely punished for this kind of officiousness when being commanded to destroy all that Amalek had he spared sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord. But that fair pretext could not excuse his disobedience and what he thought religious devotion was declared to be no better than Idolatry Samuel intimating to him this fearful Verdict 1 Sam. 15.22 23. Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams for Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubborness is as iniquity and Idolatry This being so when God is so clear and absolute in commanding not to bow down to Images adding to this Precept beyond others special expressions of jealousie and commination of severity against infringers of it how can bowing down to them be justified with colours of devotion or excused from rebellion or stubborness which is censured to be Idolatry Besides the worship of an Image terminativè and not relativè includes a contradiction the very essence of an Image including relation to another whereas nothing can be an Image of it self Wherefore the same precept that prohibits a terminative worship excludes a relative But whatsoever may be intended by these expressions how many of the commonalty take notice of that
Doctrine of Indulgences being not found in the Holy Scripture as now declared you ought not to build upon it the hopes of your Salvation but endeavour with fear and trembling to secure it by exact keeping of the Commandements of God and following the Councels of Christ towards a perfect life and true repentance of your sins Publick Prayer in an unknown Language I will conclude this survey of Romish Tenents with the seventh and last point proposed of their Latin Mass and prohibiting their flock the reading of Holy Scripture And as to the former of having publick prayers in a Language generally unknown to the people certainly the whole 14th Chapter of St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians is clearly against it For whatsoever may be cavilled touching the Object of his discourse his reasons do evidently conclude our purpose shewing with admirable arguments and very apposite examples how improper and absurd an undertaking it is to speak to a people in a Language they understand not pretending to teach or edifie them The purpose of nature by speaking is to communicate the sense of him that speaketh to the hearer But how can that be if the hearer perceiveth not the meaning of the words he speaketh 1. Cor. 14. v. 17. Even things without Life saith the great Apostle giving sound whither pipe or harp except they give a distiction in the sound how shall it be known what is piped or what is harped For if the Trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself for the battle so likewise you except ye utter by the tongue words easie to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken for ye shall speak unto the air If we were to frame our selves a reason to make out our Doctrine to the full what other could we devise more apt and suitable to our pretention than this Is not prayer ordained to raise up our minds to God that is wont to be given for the definition of it elevatio mentis in Deum a raising up of our minds to God to praise him or ask favours of him will it not be conducent and necessary for this purpose to understand the signification of the Psalms and prayers wisely ordered to this end to say Amen to a prayer you do not understand may seem like the setting of your hand to a writing without knowing what it contains What if a Jewish or other impious Minister did say a prayer containing Blasphemies against Christ or curses of the Christian people present must they say Amen to all If a Persian or some other that never heard of such proceedings did come into a Church and hear a congregation speak loud and see them make gestures and should be told that none of them knew what the other said would not he justly think them to be mad and that the builders of the Tower of Babel were there revived St. Paul calleth such a practice madness laying for foundation 1. Cor. 14. v. 26. that in the Church all things ought to be done to edification And what edification can sovls receiue by the noise of words they understand not more than by the ring of Bells St. Augustine declareth how absurd a thing it is to speak in a Language the Hearer does not understand Aug. de doctrin Christ li. 4. c. 10. in these terms Quid prodest locutionum integritas quam non sequitur intellectus audientis cùm loquendi nulla sit causa si quod loquimur non intelligunt propter quos ut intelligant loquimur What profiteth any excellency of speech if not understood by the Hearer no cause being for speaking if what we speak be not understood by them for whose sake we speak that they may understand And to our purpose we may in like manner ask what profiteth the admirable providence and good Order of the Church in distributing the select part and choice substance of Holy Scripture upon the Offices to be read in Churches throughout the year if the people whose edification is pretended by such Offices do not understand the contents of them I shall desire such as are not resolved to be blind and to shut their eyes against light and stop their ears to reason that they consider what advantage the Protestant people have for improving their souls in this particular They have the word of God clearly and intelligibly beaten into their ears dayly in their Liturgy The Psalms Prayers Epistles Gospels and lessons of the old and new Testament most exactly distributed upon respective days and Festivities contain so much of Heavenly wisdom and piety as alone may suffice to make a well disposed soul both Holy and wise and very hard must the heart be that with such continual showers of Heavenly doctrine will not be mollified to piety and the fear of God When the poor simple flock following the Romish Priest wanteth all these powerful helps of piety vertue Their whole exercise of Religion speaking of the vulgar which is the far greater part being to hear a Mass now and then and not understanding a word of it and very seldom hearing any declaration of it do return home as wise as they went I saw often some of their pious people extol the happiness of some few among them that had knowledg of Latin to understand the word of God read before them for more elevating of their minds Why will they not reflect upon the happiness of the children of the Protestant Church in this particular as in many others and open their eyes to see their delusion Their leaders alledge Antiquity for the practice of Divine Service in Latin But Antiquity goes thus In the Eastern Empire the Liturgy was in Greek because that was the mother tongue in Constantinople the Court and head City of that Empire And inferiour Provinces must endeavour to conform in publick exercise both of Church and State with the Court Language In the Western Empire the Liturgy was in Latin because it was the mother Tongue in Rome that was Court and Head of this Western part And Rome under Popes pretending no less command in the Provinces of Europe than it had under Emperours must force all to conformity of Language with it self in the publick worship of God and will exact more obedience in that point than the Emperours did For it was not for any priviledge or sanctity conceived in the Greek and Latin Tongue that Liturgies were ordered in them but because they were the Languages more generally understood in both Empires And therefore exceptions from that rule were granted to Provinces that could not conveniently observe it So Pope John the eighth allowed to the Prince of Moravia to have their Liturgy in the Sclavonian Tongue because St. Paul saith Let every Tongue praise the Lord which was the reason given by the Pope in his Letter related by Baronius Baron to 10. Anno 880 n. 16. Strabo de re eccles c. 7. And Walefridus Strabo tells that in
his time the Divine Office was performed among the Scythians in the German Tongue Origen cont Cess li. 8. p. 402. which was common to them and the Germans Nay Origen affirmeth that in the primitive Churches all publick Offices of Religion were performed in the proper Language of every Countrey Scripture prohibited And lest they should learn in their Houses what they cannot in their Churches they are prohibited to read Scripture in their own Tongues without licence under the hand of the Bishop or Inquisitor by the advice of the Priest or Confessor touching the person's fitness for it and who presumes to do otherwise is to be denied absolution This is commanded in the Fourth Rule of the Index Index li. prohib Alex 7. Rom. An. 665. published by Order of the Council of Trent and set forth by the Authority of Pius the Fourth and since by Clement the Eighth and lately enlarged by Alexander the Seventh Mat. 4.4 This is cruelty to souls Christ declaring the Word of God to be their food And Scripture it self so often inviting us to the reading of it St. Peter thus exhorteth to it 2 Pet. 1.19 We have also a more sure Word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place till the day dawn St. Paul commendeth to us the reading of Scripture as written for our instruction and comfort Ro. 15 4. 2 Tim. 3.15 Act. 17.11 and as able to make us wise unto salvation St. Luke praiseth the Inhabitants of Berea in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily The Holy Fathers of the Primitive Church were of the same spirit of exhorting the Faithful to the reading of Scripture for their comfort and direction St. Clement Clement Epist ad Corin. p 58. for remedying a dissention happened among the Corinthians writes thus to them p 61. Look diligently unto the Scriptures which are the true Oracles of the Holy Ghost He addeth after Take St. Paul 's Epistles into your hands p. 68. and consider what he saith and praises them for being skilled in the Scriptures Beloved says he ye have known and very well known the Holy Scriptures and ye have throughly looked into the Oracles of God Ignatius epist ad Philad Policar Epist ad Philip. Clem. Alexand. Strom. 7. p 72. therefore call them to mind Of the same mind was Policarp Ignatius and the other Ancient Fathers Clemens of Alexandria mentioneth the reading of Scriptures among Christians before their Meals and Psalms and Hymns at them What makes the present Church of Rome so vigilant to the contrary in keeping their Flock from reading Scripture One reason they give and another they keep to themselves the reason they give is that Heresies did arise from the abuse of Scriptures Be it so but who were the abusers certainly Priests Monks and Fryars more frequently and of them the most Learned Turn to Records and you shall find it to be so Then if this Argument proves any thing it will obtain the banishing of Scripture from among the Learned and out of all the world Proving so much which is too much it proveth nothing Meat and drink is the ruine of many shall they be banished therefore out of the World No let the creatures of God serve his servants and let the abusers of them have their punishment in the very abuse they commit Let this Heavenly Lanthorn which God set up in his House the Holy Church to guide us in the dark ways of this life shine to all Christians And that weak eyes may not be dazled by the brightness of it let this be the general rule for all to read Scripture Where they find it clear let them embrace it devoutly and frame their lives accordingly where it appears obscure let them humbly pray the Lord he may help them with light to understand it and wait patiently upon his pleasure for doing so In the mean time they may be assured that all necessary knowledge for Faith in God to serve and praise him is fully contained in what is clear of Scripture So St. Augustine affirmeth Aug. de Doctrin Christ. l. 2. c. 9. In iis quae apertè in Scripturâ posita sunt inveniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque vivendi Whereof St. Paul giveth an ample testimony saying 2 Tim. 3.15 The holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus and are profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works The Holy Fathers do agree with St. Paul in this his Opinion of the profit of Scripture for our spiritua◠instruction St. Basil commends them as the best remedy for all the passions of the mind Basil in Psal 1. St. Chrysostome reflecting upon that great meekness of David in letting Saul go free when he had him at his will in the Den commends to all the memory of that example Chrysost Homil. 1. de Davide Saule saying It is impossible that a mind conversant with this kind of Histories should be overcome with passions St. Jerome saith that infinite evils do arise from ignorance of Scriptures From hence most part of Heresies have come from hence a negligent and careless life and unfruitful labours The reason given by Papists against reading of Scripture being thus confuted would you know what reason it is that they have and keep to themselves Very many say it is for keeping the people blind-folded that they may not see the Ignorance of their Ministers nor the Corruption of their Mysteries It seems they have declared so much themselves in a Council of Bishops met at Bononia for restoring the dignity of the Roman See Conc. de stabilien Rom. fid p. 6 apud Stilling-fleet opere de Idololatria Rom. ecc pag. 201. by Order of Pope Julius the Third the chief advice they gave was that by all means as little of the Gospel as might be especially in the vulgar Tongue should be read in the Cities under his jurisdiction Adding that Book to have been the cause of that great decay of their former lustre and concluding thus And in truth if any one diligently consider it and compare it with what is done in our Churches will find them very contrary to each other and our very doctrine not onely to be different from it but repugnant to it Thus God was pleased they should discover their intention that it should be published for undeceiving the misled by them as written by several grave Authors who I suppose would not publish it but upon sufficient ground And is not this to use Tyranny over souls Third Point Now I will come to the third and last Point proposed of my Discourse which is to conclude from what is said hitherto that the resolution I took