Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A52905
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Three sermons upon the sacrament in which transubstantiation is impartially considered, as to reason, scripture, and tradition to which is added a sermon upon the feast of S. George / by N.N. ... Preacher in ordinary to Their Majesties.
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N. N., Preacher in Ordinary to Their Majesties.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing N60; ESTC R11075
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101,855
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264
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Iohn 6. ch writes Jesus the Son of Joseph S. Luke 3. ch explains it Jesus being as was supposed the Son of Joseph Our Saviour frequently invites the thirsty to him promises them living water S. Iohn in the 7. ch explains it He spoke this of the spirit which they who believd on him should receive But these words which we read in all of them are not explain'd by any one of them From whence 't is easy to inferr that all these sacred Pen-men never understood our Adversaries figurative sense They literally understood it as we do believd it as they understood it writ as they believ'd it S. Mark 4. ch 34. v. says of our Saviour that when they were alone He expounded all things to his Disciples If then our Saviour us'd a Figure when he said This is my Body 't is certain that when they were alone at least he expounded this figure to them Perhaps the four Evangelists the Apostle knew well enough this exposition but forgot to write it This will not serve the turn Our Saviour promis'd them their memory should ever be assisted by his holy Spirit In the 14. ch of S. Iohn * v. 26. the Holy Ghost says he shall bring all things into your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Perhaps they every one thought of it when they writ but did not think it worth the writing But if our Adversaries well consider the sixth Article of Reformation which tells us all things necessary to Salvation are contain'd in Scripture they will scarce find room for this reply because this exposition would have been so necessary to prevent the Idolatry which they accuse us of consequently necessary to Salvation Since therefore this Interpretation never could have been forgot if ever they had known it Since it could not be omitted if they had remember'd it it follows clearly that this explication was never known amongst them but only is a new invention of the modern Reformation directly contradictory to Scripture I cannot but admire when I reflect how thick a mist mens passions and prejudices raise before their eyes And this is undoubtedly the reason why so many able men of the reforming Party study Transubstantiation in Scripture search with diligence great appearance of sincerity yet never find it If they were equal impartial judges of the Texts which lie before them they soon would see how grievously they are mistaken in the true intent meaning of them By the example of this instance they would judge the rest acknowledge the injustice of the Reformation return home joyfully to their old Mother-Church full of admiration of God's mercy to them * 1. Pet. 2.9 shew forth the praises of Him who call'd them out of darkness into his wonderfull light which guides us through this vale of misery to the everlasting joys of Heaven Amen A SERMON Preacht before the KING AT WORCESTER August 24. 1687. Interroga Majores tuos dicent tibi Ask thy Elders They will tell thee Deut. 32.7 T Is now no less than six thirty years Most Sacred MAJESTY since our City of Worcester has been honour'd with the Presence of our King. Our Loyalty was then sufficiently try'd and now it is aboundantly rewarded ward Our Loyalty which then was so well known to all the world invited your Royal Brother to this Refuge And we employ'd our best endeavours to preserve his sacred Person But 't was too great an Honour for us The Almighty took it wholly to himself and by a surprising miracle of Providence afterwards granted to our earnest Prayers what He before denied to our unfortunate Arms. As we have never forfeited the credit of our Loyalty we hope your MAJESTY is well assured we shall be always ready to expose our lives fortunes in your MAJESTY's service It is not in the power of Subjects to give their Prince a more convincing assurance that they always will be Loyal than that they always have been so I only wish with all my heart that we had ever been as Loyal to the Church as to the State and that we had as zealously opposed the Reformation of our Faith as we withstood the Alteration of our Government When I first appear'd in this Place I made it my business to prove that according to principles of Natural Philosophy the Mystery of Transubstantiation is neither contrary to Sense nor Reason In my second Sermon I endeavour'd to shew it is so far from being contrary to Holy Writ that no judicious Reader who is free from prejudice can understand Scripture without it And this being my third appearance where it is expected I should finish what I have begun I now undertake to prove it is so far from being contrary to the purer faith of the first Ages that for the first eight Centuries the Fathers universally believ'd it Remember the days of old says Moses Consider the years of many generations Ask thy Fathers they will shew thee thy Elders they will tell thee My time is short considering the work I have before me But yet I hope it will not be accounted losse of time to spend one moment on my knees in begging the assistance of my Saviour and desiring his Virgin-Mother with all the Blessed Spirits to accompany my prayers upon Earth with theirs in Heaven FIRST PART * Before I enter upon our proofs of Transubstantiation it will be worth observing how almost all our Adversaries are mistaken upon a groundless supposition that if they can find expressions in the Fathers which import that the Sacrament is a type a sign a figure They need not seek any farther The question is already decided The Fathers never believ'd the mystery of Transubstantiation Now I must needs conless if we denied the Sacrament to be a type a sign or figure we ought to stand corrected Or if all this were inconsistent with the mystery of Transubstantiation we ought to own our Fathers Belief was contrary to ours But if in both these points our Adversaries are mistaken we must beg their pardon if we still persever in our ancient Faith. * If they would only consider the difference betwixt the inward substance the outward form betwixt the infide the outside of the Sacrament They would easily reconcile the different expressions which they meet with in the Fathers writings When the Fathens were intent upon the outward form They call it a type a sign a figure They say it is not his Body Blood but that it signifies it represents it contains it * S. Austin in his 23. epistle to Bonifacius says the Sacrament of the Body of Christ is in some manner Christ's Body .... as the Sacrament of Faith is Faith. The parity is good betwixt the outward form of bread and Baptism in this respect that both are signs Only this difference there is the first contains what it signifies the other dos not So in his book against Adimantus
upon the Confirmation chang'd their joy into grief All the Officers complain'd of the losses they should receive in their offices if that Reformation were executed ... Supplications also Memorials were given to the Pope by those who having bought their Offices foreseeing this loss demanded restitution ... The Pope having diligently consider'd thereof deputed eight Cardinals to consult upon the Confirmation to think upon some remedies for the complaints of the Court ... He concludes It is certain that they who did procure the Council had no aim but to pull down the Pope's Authority And while the Council did last every one did speak as if it had power to give Laws to him After all you think to mortifie me with objecting that the corruptions of the Court the abuses tolerated in the Church are at great as ever But you must give me leave to tell you 1. I am not obliged to take your bare word for 't 2. Whether it be true or false 't is nothing to my present purpose If false you are to blame for saying so If true 't is none of the Council's fault Having proceeded legally having made good Laws the Council has done its part 't is ours to do the rest My business is to defend the Council I have nothing to do to rake the dunghill of the Church Has the Decalogue less Authority because the greatest part of mankind are so disobedient Or is the Ghospel less Sacred because there are so few who live according to the maxims of it If this be the onely reason why you Protest against the Council of Trent because the Decrees of Reformation are not every where in all things punctually observ'd I see no reason why you may not with as good a grace Protest against the Ghospel the Ten Commandments I have now done with your Objections And although I am not of the Poet's mind that Brevity is always good be it or be it not understood Yet I have endeavour'd to be as short as possibly I could because when I deal with a man of your parts a word is enough to the wise few words are best As for Soave whom you so much admire I desire to ask you a few questions before I tell you what I think of him Suppose a mortal enemy of yours should Libel you by the way of History call you Rogue Rascal in the very Preface and at the same time perswade his Reader that he follows exactly the truth Would you have me take this Author for an Oracle Would you not think me reasonable if I suspected almost every word he said And ought not I to do the Council as much Justice as I would my Friend T is certain that Soave was a mortal enemy of the Council In the very beginning he declares it He says * p. 2. it has caused the greatest deformation that ever was calls it the Iliad of the Age which is as kind a compliment to the Fathers as if he had call'd them a pack of Villains He tells us indeed in the same place that he is not possess'd with any passion which may make him erre and this was well enough said But how shall a body do to believe him If it were your own case I 'm sure you would not like my being credulous And how do I know but that an Enemy of the Council may deserve as little credit as an Enemy of yours Another reason why I do not like him is because he takes upon him to write men's private thoughts with as much assurance as he writes their words and actions He hardly ever speaks of any intelligence coming to Rome but he entertains his Reader with a pleasant Scene in which he brings the Pope alone upon the Stage discoursing with himself his secret apprehensions deliberations upon every matter such thoughts as no wise man would trust his neighbour with although he were the best surest friend he had in the world How Soave could possibly come to any certain knowledg of such things I am not able to comprehend And truly if a man in one case will tell me more than he can know I have just reason to be afraid that in another he 'l tell me more than he dos know A third reason which weighs more with me than all the rest is this You tell me on the one side He was a Popish Frier And on the other I cannot believe but that although perhaps for some reasons he did not openly profess it He was really a Protestant It appears so plainly by his censuring the Decrees of Doctrine as well as those of Reformation by the severe reflections of his own which he intermixes with those of the Lutheran Criticks that I do not conceive how any man of sense who reads him with attention can be of another opinion Had he been a barefaced Protestant I should be more inclined to believe him There is something of integrity honour in a man that openly professes what he is And although passion prejudice may blind him yet I am apt to think that such a person will never deceive me more than he deceives himself But a Protestant that lives dies in the profession of a Popish Frier How can I believe his words when the most serious of his actions are only so many lies For my own part I would as soon make choice of a Catholick Jew to comment upon the Ghospel to write the life of Christ as I would choose a Protestant Frier to write the History of a General Council Before I end my Letter give me leave once more to mind you of the Discourse we had when we saw one another last We both agreed that * C. II. p. 1. it were a very irrational thing to make Laws for a Country leave it to the inhabitants to be the Interpreters Judges of those Laws for then every man will be his own Judge by consequence no such thing as either Right or Wrong that * ibid. therefore we cannot suppose that God Almighty would leave us at those Uncertainties as to give us a Rule to go by leave every man to be his own Judge that * ib. Christ left his Spirit Power to his Church by which they were the Judges even of the Scripture it self many years after the Apostles which Books were Canonical which were not that * ibid. p. 2. the Judgment of the Church is without Appeal otherwise what they decide would be no farther to be follow'd than it agrees with every man's private Judgment that because in the Apostles Creed we believe in the Holy Catholick Church therefore we ought to believe in the first four General Councils which were true legal Representatives of it And lastly that if the Council of Trent were prov'd to be as General as free as legal in all it's circumstances as any of the first four Councils were then you must needs own your self obliged in Conscience to submit to it to leave of Protesting against it This last part I have here endeavour'd to prove out of Soave himself your own Historian who always makes the worst of things never speaks a favourable word but when the Power of Truth constrains him to it If I have not perform'd according to expectation 't is your own fault who are to blame for having a better opinion of me than I deserve I am no Doctor nor Graduate but every way unfit to be a Champion of the Cause Yet having receiv'd your Commands I have just reason to expect that you will easily pardon a man who in this occasion is guilty of no other crime than being ready to shew himself Your Obedient Servant N. N. Sept. 22. 1686. Page 70. line 1. read rewarded p. 75. * 4. r. ch 14. p. 76. l. 8. r. his 9. book p. 85. l. 26. r. many p. 86. l. 29. r. the year 831. p. 89. l. 8. dele de p. 114. l. 21. r. his 2. book p. 152. l 27. r. shut out p. 161. l. 6. r. it has p. 165. l. 1. r. your p. 168. l. 5. r. haereticis p. 172. l. 3. dele an p. 176. l. 26. r. in this p. 189. l. 22. r. to Basil p. 190. l. 9. r. the case ibid. l. 13. r. HAERETICIS p. 194. l. 1. r. another p. 225. l. 3. r. Charles II. p. 240. * 2. r. 590. FINIS