his Church and People and he was still their God according to his promise Lev. xxvi 11 12. I will set my Tabernacle amongst you and will walk among you and you shall be my people and I will be your God And indeed God in Scripture is said to walk among them by his gracious presence in his Tabernacle 2 Sam. vii 6. 1 Chron. xvii 5. Psal ix 11. cxxxv 21. Es xviii 4. Joel iii. 21.2 Chr. vi 2. xxxvi 15. Psal lxxiv. 7. lxxvi 2. lxxix 7. Es xviii 4. Joel iii 17.2 King xiii 23. Hos xi 9. he dwelt among them by dwelling at Jerusalem in that Temple and that City or by continuing his special presence there and upon this account in Scripture the Temple is oft stiled his dwelling place Now even in the times of the Idolatry of Israel and Judah God still was present with them he walked and dwelt among them and was their God in Covenant he I say was still graciously preent with he walked and dwelt among them for yet he had not cast them from his presence he was still the holy one in the midst of Ephraim he was not yet departed from them for he by way of commination saith Wo unto them Hos ix 12. when I shall depart from them After that they had even broken God with their whorish hearts which had departed from him and with their eyes which went a whoring after their Idols yet the glory of the Lord was not departed from the Sanctuary but still appeared in the Temple Ezek. vi 9 13. Ezek. ix 3 4. x. 3 4. xviii 19. Ezek. xvi 20. and between the Cherubims they after this bare sons and daughters unto God Moreover that he was still their God in Covenant appears from those expressions of the Prophets when pleading in behalf of this backsliding people they speak thus Break not thy Covenant with us thou art our Father Jer. xiv 21. Es lxiv. 8 9. Jer. iii. 14. we are all thy people turn O backsliding Children for I am married to you and from innumerable places in which he owns them for his people still and is not yet ashamed to be called their God This will be farther evident from the New Testament for in the Church of Corinth there were many of the strongest Christians who being in thier Consciences convinced that an Idol was nothing and so could have no power to defile the meat which had been offered to it did upon this presumption sit down with others in the Idol Temples and eat and drink that which they knew was offered to the Idol This the Apostle plainly tells them was Idolatry that it was in effect to have communion with Devils 1 Cor. x. 7 11 â—0 21 to drink he cup of Devils and to be partakers of the table of Devils and yet he clearly doth insinuate that they who through that error or mistake were guilty of this Idol worship might still remain his Christian brethren and beloved Moreover that Babylon was the Mother of Harlots and Abominations that she commanded all her subjects to commit spiritual Fornication or Idolatry St. John doth frequently inform us Rev. xviii 4. and yet that even here God had his Church and People is evident from that voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people for how could God have said Come out of her my people had he not then preserved alive within this Throne of Satan a people to himself Lastly the Jewish Synagog in the days of our Saviour Christ had taken away the Key of knowledg Luke xi 52 Matt. xxiii 13. they neither entered themselves into his Kingdom who were the keepers of that key nor suffered others so to do That little knowledg which remained among them was damnably corrupted not only with the Saducean Heresie which mightily prevailed amongst the wealthiest of them but also with the leaven of the Scribes and Phraisees who had by their Traditions made void the Law of God Matth. xv 6 9. and rendered his worship vain these Scribes and Pharisees are by the Baptist styled a Generation of Vipers Matth. iii. 7. Matth. xxiii by Christ Blind foolish Hypocrites persons that coald not scape the damnation of Hell Of the whole people Christ pronounceth that they were of their father the Devil Joh. viii 44. and his works they would do and yet God had his Church even then among them in which both Zacharias Elizabeth the Virgin Mary and our Lord was born of which both he and his Apostles were then members and into which they were admitted by Circumcision Their Priests were owned by our Saviour who sent the Lepers to them Matth. viii 4. Matth. xxiii 2 3. he acknowledged that these Scribes and Pharisees still sat in Moses Chair and that obedience was therefore due unto them in all lawful matters Nor could it possibly be otherwise seeing Christs Church and Kingdom was not begun till after his own Resurrection nor do we read of any that were added to the Church till then Answ § VI 3. Tha the Church of Rome may be a true visible Church in that sense in which our English Protestants confess she is so i. e. as having truth of visible existence though not truth of doctrine and yet be guilty of Idolatry will be apparent from these considerations 1. That the notion of a visible Church which they lay down as the true ground of this their Charitable judgment containeth in it nothing inconsistent with the practice or allowance of Idolatry For to the visibility of a Church say they is only requisite an outward profession of those things which supernaturally appertain to the very essence of Christianity Eccl. Pol. l. 3. §. 1. p. 126. and are necessarily required in every Christian man So the judicious Mr. Hooker Now among the things which supernaturally appertain to the essence of Christianity they do not reckon Moral Righteousness and Honesty of life because although the want of these excludeth from Salvation yet are they not of supernatural Revelation but are discovered to us by the light of Nature they are the duties as well of Heathens as of Christians and so concern us saith Mr. Hooker not as Christians only but as men Hence they infer that every thing which excludeth from Salvation excludes not from the visible Church this therefore cannot be say they essential to the being of a Church visible that it doth hold or practise nothing which excludeth from Salvation For instance Despair want of Charity secret Infidelity the proud and envious spirit are all exclusive from Salvation but none of them exclude a person who outwardly professeth all the essentials of Christian Faith from being a true member of a Chuch visible Should we then grant that the Idolatry now practised in the Church of Rome was totally exclusive of Salvation it would not follow that she did not continue a true visible Church in the forementioned sense Agreeable to this we
of Baptism are so far joined with the Catholick Church and the Catholick Church in and by them bringeth forth children to God so the present Roman Church is still in some sort a part of the visible Church of God but no otherwise than other societies of Hereticks are in that it retaineth the profession of some parts of heavenly truth and ministreth the true Sacrament of Baptism to the Salvation of the Souls of many thousand Infants We must acknowledg even Hereticks themselves to be though a maimed part yet a part of the Church visible saith the judicious Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 3. §. 1. if the Fathers do any where saith he as oftentimes they do make the true Church of Christ and her companies opposite they are to be construed as separating Hereticks not altogether from the company of Believers but from the fellowship of sound Believers Lastly They also do assert that an Idolatrous Church may yet continue to be a true Church visible Lo say the Romanists Reconcil p. 64 65. we are of the true visible Church why then forsaken Ans Alass poor souls saith Bishop Hall do they not know that Hypocrites leud persons Reprobates are no less members of the visible Church what gain they by this but a deeper damnation to what purpose did the Jews cry the temple of the Lord whilst they despighted the Lord of that Temple They are of the viâ—â—â—le Church but shamefully Idolatrous in practice Our Saviour saith Mr. Hooker ubi Supra compareth the Kingdom of Heaven to a Net which gathereth together good Fish and bad and to a Field where Tares manifestly known and seen of all men do grow intermingled with good Corn and even so shall continue to the consummation of the world When the people of God worshipped the Calf in the Wilderness when they adored the Brazen Serpent when they bowed the knee to Baal and served the Gods of the Nations when they burnt Incense and offered Sacrifice to Idols true it is the wrath of God was most fiercely inflamed against them and they were forsaken of God in respect of that singular mercy wherewith he kindly embraceth his faithful children howbeit retaining the Law of God and the holy Seal of his Covenant the sheep of his visible flock they continued even in the depth of their disobedience and rebellion wherefore among them od always had a Church not only because be had thousands who never bowed the knee to baal but even they whose knees were bowed to Baal were also of the visible Church of God Of the same judgment are Bishop Davenant Dr. Primrose Zanchy and Episcopius in the fore-cited places § VII Now to admit the Church of Rome to be in the large sense a true visible Church of Christ serves no designs of Popery and is sufficient to justifie the Ordinations and succession of the Clergy of the Church of England For I. admit the first Reformers of our Church received their Ordination from those Bishops which were themselves guilty of Heresie or Schism or both and therefore no true living Members of Christs body nor any other ways to be reputed Members of the Church visible than Schismaticks and Hereticks may be This is abundantly sufficient to justifie our Ordination and Succession and our entrance into the visible Church by Baptism conferred by them For of the Baptism of Hereticks without exception and therefore of those Hereticks who by the judgment of the Universal Church have been esteemed Idolaters Sess 7. cap. de Bapt. Can. 4. the Church of Rome in her Trent Council hath determined that it is valid and hath pronounced an Anathema on those who say the contrary Jews Hereticks Part 2. Cap. II. Sect. 24. and Infidels may confer true Baptism saith the Roman Catechism as many Antient Fathers and Decrees of Council teach particularly the General Council of Constantinople and the sixth General Council held in Trullo the Council held at Florence and the Lateran Council Moreover that the Ordination of Hereticks is valid Preface to his Answer to several Treat Sess 7. Can. 9.23 Can. 4. Cap. 68. Act. 1. the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet hath largely proved from the definition of the Trent Council from the Code of Canons of the African Church from the judgment of the second Nicene Council from the General reception of this Doctrine in the Roman Church for as Morinus witnesseth De Sacris Ord. Part 3. Exercit 5. c. 1. n. 12. the opinion of the validity of Orders conferred by Hereticks hath only obtained in the Roman Church during the last four Centuries to which I add the definition of the first Nicene Council in the Case of the Cathari Can. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con. Nicen. 2. Act. 1. p. 68. or the Novatian Hereticks that they returning to the Catholick and Apostolick Church should remain in that Order of Clergy in which they were only receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the imposition of hands for benediction and reconciliation and that if any of them were found either in Villages or Cities to be the only Bishops that were there Ordained they should continue in that same rank Whereas concerning the Pauliani who as St. Austin thinks De Haeres Cap. 44. did not observe the essentials of true Baptism the Council doth determine that if any of them should be found among the Clergy they should be Rebaptized and then receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ordination by some Bishop of the Catholick Church Can. 19. so that the Ordination of the Novatian Hereticks who were very numerous and whose Bishops had continued in a long Succession at Constantinople Ephesus Socrat. Hist Eccles l. 2. cap. 38. p. 114. l. 7. cap. 11. at Cyzicum and in most other places is by this great and holy Synod here pronounced valid and they who were Ordained by their Bishops were not received into the Church as Greeks or degraded into the rank of Lay-men whereas by reason of some fundamentla error in the case of Baptism it is determined that the Pauliani who were of their Clergy should be by Baptism admitted first into the Church and then by Ordination of the Bishop into the number of the Clergy The judgment of St. Austin is so clear in this point that we need nothing more to evidence the Faith and practice which then obtained in the Church For that the Ordination of Hereticks is valid he both asserts against the Donatists and proves by these two mediums 1. That their Baptism being valid according to the determination of the Church their Ordination must be deemed so there is no reason Lib 2. Contra Epist Parm. c. 13. saith he that they who cannot lose their Baptism should lose the power of giving Baptism to others for they both of them are Sacraments both of them are given by Consecration one when the person is Baptized the other when he is Ordained and therefore in the Catholick Church it is not lawful
2. saith that the Apostle seems to speak of a departure from the Catholick Faith not that all shall recede from it but that the major part shall do so Bellarmin adds that it is certain that it will be so L. 13. Doct. Prin. c. 2. L. 2. de temp nov c. 15. To the same purpose speak Stapleton Acosta with divers others And all this they ground upon those passages of the Revelation which seem very concluding to this sense and clearly to intend it as the slaughter of the two witnesses by whom the Orthodex members of the Church is understood the flight of the woman that is the Church into the Desert and the worship which the whole world will then pay to the Beast Where note that these Witnesses which represent the Church are but two and they at last are slain Rev. xiii 7 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aret. in locum and that the Dominion of Antichrist is over all Kingdoms Tongues and Nations and he is said to cause the earth and him that dwelleth therein to worship him and both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive his mark All which seemeth to signifie as much as the testiinonies forecited Now seeing it is Prophesied concerning Antichrist that he should exalt himself above all that is called God Rev. ix 20. and of the people of those Antichristian times that they should worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and of Brass and Stone and of Wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk Rev. xiii 12. and that the earth and they that dwell therein should become worshippers of the Beast and of his Image therefore it must be also Prophesied that Idolatry should reign and spread it self over the Christian World CHAP. IV. The Contents Ob. 3. That if the Church be guilty of Idolatry the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against her Answered by shewing that by this phrase the Gates of Hell errors in Doctrine or Corruption in manners cannot be understood but only the state of death § I. Ob. 4. That if the Church be Idolatrous she cannot be Holy Answered by shewing what is the Holiness of the Church visible § II. Ob. 5. We grant the Papists may be saved and consequently must grant they are not guilty of Idolatry Answered I. by shewing that moderate Papists grant that Protestants may be saved whom yet they charge with Heresie and Schism and such like damning sins § III. 2. That their Repentance for their unknown sins and consequently their unknown Idolatries may obtain mercy for those who wanted means of better information § IV. 3. That in the same circumstances we believe that Idolaters may be saved ibid. Ob. 6. The Church of Rome cannot be guilty of Idolatry because we do acknowledg her to be a true Church Answered I. By shewing that true Church may still continue so to be when it is guilty of Idolatry § V. 2. That the Church of Rome may be a true Church in that large sense in which the Protestants confess she is so and yet be guilty of Idolatry they only saying that she is a true visible Church in that sensein which Heretical and Idolatrous Churches may be so § VI. To admit the Church of Rome to be in this sense a true visible Church is sufficient to justifie the Ordination and Succession of our Clergy I. Because the Ordination of Hereticks is valid § VII And so is also the Ordination of Idolaters § VIII Some of our Divines acknowledg that in the Church of Rome when Luther first begun his Reformation there was a saving profession of the truth of Christ § IX This acknowledgment is explained and the inference thence made that the Church of Rome was not then Idolatrous though Idolatry prevailed much in it ibid. Ob. 7. That if the Church of Rome be truly charged with this crime she must be guilty of Heathenish Idolatry answered by shewing that she is so only in that sense in which all Idolatry may be stiled Heathenish § X. And 2. by divers instances of such Idolatry which in the judgment of the Romanists themselves is not exclusive of salvation ibid. § I Ob. 3 AND this is all that is needful to be said in answer to this Argument p. 125. But yet ex abundanti I will add some remarks upon those Arguments which T. G. and R. H. do further offer to demonstrate 1. That the whole Church of Christ cannot be guilty of Idolatry which is the minor proposition of this objection And first T. G. thus Argues that if the Church which is Christs Kingdom could Apostatize so far as to enjoyn and allow the belief and practice of Idolatry the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against it but the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against it Ergo. Answ These words the Gates of Hell do not contain a promise of preservation of the Church from sin or error of what kind soever but only signifie that all true Christians who die in the Lord shall be delivered from death and shall obtain a joyful Resurrection For the Gates of Hell in Scripture phrase do never signifie the power of Heresie or Satan sin or error but both in the Old Testament the Jewish writers and the Antient Heathens it constantly is used to signifie the state of death as will be evident to any person who consults the places cited in the Synopsis and doth with them compare the passages in which this phrase is used in the Old Testament and in the Jewish writers I said Es xxxviii 10. saith Hazekiah in the cutting off of my days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall go to the Gates of Hell I am deprived of the residue of my years and what is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gates of death is by the Septuagint Translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gates of Hell Chap. xvi 13. Mac. v. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praepar Ev. l. 1. c. 3. p. 7. D. Job xxxviii 17. Thou hast the power of life and death saith the Author of the Book of Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou bringest down to the Gates of Hell and raisest up again They cryed to the Lord to have mercy on them now being even at the point of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Gates of Hell Nor did Eusebius doubt the truth of this exposition of the words for he declares that God had hereby promised that the Church should not be overcome by death and that by virtue of this one voice Vpon this rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her the Church continues not subdued by her enemies nor yielding to the Gates of death 2 This Scripture may concern the Church considered as invisible Ecclesia in iis est qui aedificant supra petram i. e. qui audiunt verba Christi faciunt Aug. de unit Eccl. c. 16. c. 18. De Bapt.
animautibus mutis vias rationis accipite c. Arnob. l. 6. p. 202. for Swallows and other Birds cast forth their dung upon them bearing no reverence towards either their Jupiter or Aesculapius their Minerva or Serapis Blush at the last saith Arnobius and learn the ways of reason from these mute creatures and let them teach you there is no Divinity in these Images which they do not avoid nor fear to dung upon following the Laws and instinct of their nature this is another sensible demonstration from which he tells them they may learn the vanity of all that service which they pay unto them How many things do these mute creatures saith Minutius judg touching your Gods p. 26. The Mice the Swallows and the Kites perceive they have no sense they gnaw them they tread they sit upon them and if you do not drive them thence will nest within the very mouths of your supposed Deities Are thieves so foolish as to fear Priapus saith Lactantius L. 2. p. 153. In Ps 11◠Con. 2. when even the birds do sit and dung upon him Better it were saith Austin to worship Mice and Serpents and such like Creatures for they after a sort do judg of Heathen Idols in which because they see no life they do not fear the human shape Now that these things may happen to the Romish Host is evident from their own Canons which speak thus Si Hostia consecrata dispareat ab aliquo animali accepta Missal de defect Miss C. 3. S. 7. Ibid. C. 10. S. 5. vide supra If any Consecrated Host be snatched up by some beast and cannot afterwards be found another shall be Consecrated If a Fly or such like Creature fall into the Chalice he shall be taken out and burnt or swallowed by the Priest and reason good because whole Christ being contained in every particle of the blood the little insect if he drink any thing must have him wholly in his Guts Gages New Survey of the West-Indies p. 447. T was this occasioned the Conversion of Mr. Gage a Romish Priest viz. his seeing a bold Mouse come from behind the Altar and snatch a way his Wafer-God and eat half of him up before he could be rescued from his teeth This also is evident from reason for will not any Mouse or Rat Dog or Cat following the laws or instinct of their nature gnaw eat devour the Roman Host provided that the Mass-Priest do not drive them from it And if it be so horrid to conceive according to St. Austin and Arnobius that birds should nest even in the mouth of God must it not be more horrid to conceive that God should be received and drawn into the mouth and stomach of a beast Would any of them scruple think you if they had occasion and convenience to dung upon the Host or in the Chalice And is it not then evident according to St. Clemens that these beasts do bear no reverence toward the Roman God Do they not perceive according to Minutius and St. Austin that it hath no sense May we not wonder with St. Clemens that Romanists have not yet learned from these birds their Host is an insensate being May not this sensible demonstration teach them according to Arnobius that there is no Divinity in any Host and that their worship of it is a vain and fruitless service Once was the time when Aegypt was made ashamed of their chief God Theodoret Hist Eccl. l. 5. cap. 22. when they saw Mice creeping out of his belly what would they have said if they had seen their God creeping down as the Mass-God doth into the belly of those Mice or Flys CHAP. II. The Contents 8. The Scriptures and Fathers deride the Heathen Deities and say that we may knew they are no Gods because they have no use of their outward senses § I. 9. Because they are made Gods by Consecration and by the will of the Artificer part of that matter which is Consecrated into a God being exposed to common uses § II. 10. Because they were imprisoned in their Images or shut up in obscure habitations § III. 11. Because they lighted Candles to them § IV. 12. Because they clothed their Gods in costly Raiments § V. 13. Because they might be metamorphosed § VI. All this may truly be affirmed of the Roman Host from § I. to § VI. The Roman God being eaten may be vomited up again and voided at the draught § VII An expostulation with the Worshippers of the Host in the words of Arnobius § VIII All that the Fathers say against the Heathen Gods is in the person of a Heathen retorted on the Adorers of the Host § IX Corollaries from what hath been already praved 1. That the Doctrine of Transubstantiation or of the Aderation of the Host as God was not acknowledged by the Antient Fathers § X. A confirmation of this Corollary from three Considerations 1. That the Heathens could not be ignorant of this supposed Article of Christian Faith or of this practice of the Church provided that they Antiently believed and practised as doth the present Church of Rome § XI 2. That the Jews and Heathens left nothing unobjected which could with any shew of reason be offered from any other Doctrine or Practice of Christianity against the Deity and Worship of our Lord and yet say nothing against this Doctrine or this Practice § XII 3. That the Fathers of the Church do largely answer all other scruples of Hereticks and Heathens which made them to suspect the Deity of Christ but never say one word of this § XIII This never was objected by Heretick or Heathen as an absurdity till the Eleventh or Twelfth Century ibid. 2. Corol. That the Host cannot be truly God and consequently that Church by which it is Worshipped as God is guilty of Idolatry § XIV The proof of this Corollary is a sufficient vindication of the Church of England in the point of Schism and a sufficient confutation of the whole Mass of the Roman errors § I 8. THE Psalmist smartly doth deride the the Heathen Gods Psal exv 5 6 7. because they have no use of any of their outward senses They have mouths saith he but they speak not eyes have they but they see not they have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not they have hands but handle not feet have they but they walk not Ch. xv 14 15. The worshippers of Idols saith the Book of Wisdom are most foolish and are more miscrable than very Babes for they counted all the Idols of the Heathen to be Gods which neither have the use of eyes to see nor noses to draw breath nor cars to bear nor fingers of hands to handle and as for their feet they are slow to go They are upright as a Palm-Tree but speak not saith the Prophet Jeremy Chap. x. 5. Baruch vi 7. As for their tongue it is polished by the
because they seemed to be pleased with the blood and fat of beasts he very honestly confesseth that Heathens might plausibly object the like against the God of Israel Contra Julian l. 4. p. 125. D. because he also did require such Sacrifices to be offered to him The very same objection is taken notice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril contra Jul. l. 1. p. 9. A. and answered by Cyril of Alexandria Again the Fathers frequently object unto the Heathens that diversity of Sects and of opinions which was to be found among their Philosophers but then they spare not to acknowledge that this objection may be retorted against them and then proceed to give what answer they think fit unto it And when Tertullian had argued that the Heathen Gods must be unjust Hot utique in Deum vestrum repercutere est Apol. c. 41. if they by reason of the faults of Christians were induced to hurt their own Votaries he adds that Heathens might retort this argument upon the Christians God and then proceeds to vindicate his God from that objection And yet if in his days the Romish Sacramental God had by all Christians been acknowledged and adored not only this particular but almost all that he and the forementioned Fathers had offered against the Heathen Deities might have been evidently retorted as we have seen already on the Christians God Why therefore did they not confess ingenuously in all those cases hoc in Deum nostrum repercutere est that they might be retorted on the Christians God and spend some time in vindication of their Sacramental God from these retorts § XIV 3. From what hath been discoursed Gorol II. we have as great assurance as sense and reason and the concurrent judgment of mankind can tender that the Host cannot be truly God and consequently that the Trent Council doth oblige all Christians as much as in them lyes to worship that as God which is not truly so and that the Members of the Roman Church are guilty of Idolatry by giving to it that worship which is due to God alone This charge I know doth very much afflict the Romanists because they clearly see that if it be made good against them our Church is justified in her refusal of communion with them seeing without consenting to and frequent practice of Idolatry we cannot be admitted to communion with them whence it will naturally follow that their Church must be as truly guilty of a wretched Schism as Jeroboam and his ten tribes were and consequently that the Major part of the Western Church may be Schismaticks by virtue of these impositions and that no persons separating on the account of the Idolatry required by the Church of Rome from the external communion of that Church can incur the guilt of Schism that the Roman and other Western Churches united with it and the supposed head thereof St. Peter's imaginary Successor is not that true Church-guide to which we are obliged to submit that a reformation may be lawful against the definitions of that Church that abuses in Doctrine and practice may be reformed by a National Church against and then much more without that Authority that National Churches and Councils are not absolutely subject to Patriarchal Hence doth it plainly follow that the doctrine of Transubstantiation the Sacrifice of the Mass the half Communion must be false hence also it is evident that we cannot safely acquiesce in the judgment of the Major part of our Church Governours concerning either the sense of Scripture the Doctrine of the ancient Church or the consent of Fathers or any article of faith defined by them nor safely practise all they do impose and consequently we may rest assured they are not infallible and therefore that there is no necessity for preservation of the Church from Sects and Heresies that they should be infallible nor is there any promise of an infallible assistance in their definitions in the Holy Scripture nor can it possibly be necessary to Salvation to believe the determinations of those Councils which by the Romanists are styled general Hence also it is evident that there can lye upon us no obligation to believe or yield assent to any Doctrines defined by them and consequently that this submission is not the only means of suppressing Heresies and Sects that to dissent from any Doctrine received or defined by them can be no mark of Heresie that there may be great hazard to the vulgar in adhering to the decisions of that Church that a right judgment may be assured that these Church Governours have erred in making this decision that Christians without this infallibility may be sufficiently secure in points of faith that certainty from sense and reason may rationally be pleaded for some Doctrines against the definitions of that Church and her supposed General Councils that all that R. H. hath said for confirmation of any of these propositions must be false And lastly that if a Church committing and teaching Idolatry is no true member of the Catholick Church the Church of Rome must cease to be so CHAP. III. The Contents The objections of the Romanists against the charge of Idolatry are considered and answered as 1. The Objection that the Prophets have foretold that all Idolatry should be extirpated by the preaching of Christ and his Apostles is answered § I. Obj. 2. That if the Church of Rome be guilty o Idolatry then the whole Church of Christ for many Ages before Luther must be charged with the same guilt answered first in general § II. In particular by shewing 1. That Image Worship was not then received in the greatest part of the Western and in some part of the Eastern Church § III. 2. That the worship of Saints departed with mental prayer or upon supposition of their acquaintance with the secret desires of the supplicant was then no article of faith in the Western Church nor is it yet received in the Eastern Church as such § IV. 3. That many in the Western Churches did not then and that the Eastern Churches do not yet give Latria to the Host § V. That this practice is no necessary consequent of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation nor is it necessary that they who do maintain a Doctrine must practise every thing which follows from it ibid. A large account of the Greek Mass § VI. A full answer to all that R. H. offers from that Mass to prove the Host is worshipped with Latria by the Greeks § VII In the times of Arianism Idolatry prevailed over the major part of the Church Catholick and both the Fathers and the Romish Doctors teach that in the time of Antichrist it will prevail much more § VIII § I THESE being therefore unavoidably the consequences of this crime of which they are accused not only by the Church of England but all other Protestants they do with all their wit and subtilty endeavour to demonstrate the falseness of this accusation and muster
the Sacrament when Christ invisibly is present but also when it is placed upon the Altar and there a Sacramentum Eucharistiae non servatur apud nos in templis ut fit hic apud Europaeos Christoph Licanatus Aethiopum legatus apud Hotting Hist Eccl. Sac. 16. p. 44. vide Damian à Goes de Moribus Aethiop p. 506. reserved in the Pyx and when it is carryed in Procession The Eastern Churches have no such custom of placing it upon the Altar in a little Box or carrying it in b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Metroph Critopulus Pomp to be adored by the people now in these adorations performed to the reserved Hosts consisteth more especially and plainly the Idolatry of Roman Votaries § VIII But 2. If by the Christian world R. H. and others do understand all Christians without exception declaring for and practising those things which we esteem Idolatrous we say that no such Idolatry hath been admitted by the whole Church of Christ but if they understand only the greater part of Prelates or the most numerous part of Christians and say as R. H. doth Cuid di c. 2. c. 5. §. 63. n. 2. that they must be reputed as the whole I Answer that Idolatry may in this sense prevail over the Christian Church as formerly it did over the Church of Israel and Judah For as in the days of Elias there was so great Apostacy as that the Prophet said I only am left alone and yet God had his Church preserved in those 7000 who bewed not their knees to Baal so may it also be in the Church of Christ there may be an Apostacy so great as to prevail on the most numerous party in each Christian Church and yet there may remain besides those numerous Churches and Persons we have reckoned up even many thousands of the Roman Church who did not in their hearts believe or in their practices submit to their Idolatry The Roman Doctors as well as Antient Fathers do acknowledg that this hath been the state of Christians and that it shall be so again they do acknowledg that when Arianism prevailed thus it was Act. 6. p. 409. the second Nicene Council informs us that Arius Aetius Eunomius Eudoxius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and others were the men by whom the Devil brought again into the Christian world that Idol-worship which had been rooted out and that through the as2istance of the Emperors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. the disease grew strong and prevalent so that all principalities contended for it saith the Latine were over-powered by it saith the Greek and when almost all the world had joyned themselves to the prevailing part God raised up St. Basil as an Elias under Ahab to support the Priesthood which dfter a manner was now fallen This is the relation of that great Apostacy made by Gregory Nyssen who lived in these times and approved by the Second Nicene Council and more particularly by the Author of the answer to the Constantinopolitan Synod v. Whitbies Ans to Cressie ch 9. §. 21. p. 118. and the truth of this assertion hath been proved already from the clear testimonies of Nazianzen Basil Vincentius Lyrinensis and divers others to whom add that of Athanasius who compares the Pious and Orthodox in his time to Elias and the Prophets Ep ad Solit. vitam agentes hid by Obadiah in a Cave and who tells us that where there were any Orthodox persons they did either thrust themselves into the Dens and Caverns of the Earth or solitarily wander in the Deserts Gaide disc 2. ch 2. §. 26. n. 2. Ibid. §. 27. n. 3. Now let the indifferent Reader judg whether from such sayings we find no ground to affirm that Arianism at any time had infected or pessessed a major part of Christianity as R. H. confidently saith and whether when these things were spoken no question could be made but that the major part of the Prelates of the Vniversal Church professed the Catholick Faith I am sure the words of the forementioned Fathers by no means will admit of such a sense and therefore R. H. thought fit not to produce them but to spend a long Harangue full of intolerable faults in confutation of their testimonies under the Covert of confuting Protestants Moreover it is the judgment both of the Fathers and of Roman Catholicks that when the reign of Antichrist prevails Ep. 71. p. 864. the Church will be reduced to the like Estate St. Basil considering the wonderful prevalency of Arianism crys out hath the Lord quite deserted his Church is it the last hour and doth the defection now take place by which the Son of perdition is to be revealed In Sophon c. 2. St. Jerom saith however it may seem at the first view absurd he that considereth that of the Apostle in the latter days there shall be perillous times c. and that of Christ when the Son of man cometh shall he find Faith upon the earth will not wonder at the extreme desolations of the Church Chap. xviii 18. which by the reign of Antichrist will be brought to solitude Theophylact on that of Luke shall he find Faith on the earth speaks thus the Lord asketh the question because then there shall hardly be found any Faithful Op. imperf in Matt. Hom. 49. for so greatly will the Son of perdition prevail as to seduce if it were possible the very Elect And St. Chrysostom adds that the sacrifice of Christians will be destroyed by Antichrist Christians will fly to the Deserts none being left either to enter into the Church or offer an Oblation to God Ep. 80. ad Hesyc p. 236. P. 219. Edit Colon. A. P. 1603. Add to this that Prophetick testimony of St. Austin that in the time of Antichrist the Church shall not appear being eclipsed by the persecutions of ungodly men and that of Ephraim Syrus or whosoever is the Author of that Tract which bears his name that men should ask whether the Gospel be continued upon earth and answer should be returned in the negative v. Hieron in locum And thus that place in Daniel Ch. ix 27. He shall cause the Sacrifice and the Oblations to cease is expounded by Hilary and by Hippolytus and by Apollmarius of the time of Antichrist And in this the Fathers are followed by whole Troops of Papists in the times of Antichrist saith Pererius there shall be no sacrifice in publick places In Dan. p. 888. Non quod omnes sunta fide catholicâ sicut exponunt aliqui recessuri sed quam major pars credentium discedel à fide De Pontifi Rom. l. 3. c. 7. neither shall any publick honor be given to it the Holy Fathers tell us saith the same Pererius that then all Christians shall be either Martyes or Apostates or shall lie concealed like wild beasts in Dens and Solitudes Lyra upon the Thessal ii