if he should say since you do Read diligently the Scriptures you can't but find my Divinity there since they give clear Testimony of me by the Prophets Our adversary shuts up this matter of Scripture by shuting us up as he Imagins or will seem to Imagin in a circle while we prove the Scripture by the Church and run back saies he to the Scripture to prove the Church Answer To those who admit the Scripture and deny the Church we prove the Church by the Scripture to these who deny a part of Scripture but hold the Infallible Authority of the Church we prove the Scripture by the Church to those who deny both Church and Scripture we prove first the Church by the signal marks of the true Church set down in the old and new Testament of which some alone are of sufficient force to move a Pagan and having Established Her Authority by Her acknowledging the Scripture to be the Word of God we prove it to be the Word of God In this Discourse you see no Circle but in the Imagination of our Adversary Now let us see if he who thought to catch us be not caught himself For therefore with him Scripture is the Word of God because it shows it self and wherefore doth it show it self but because it is seen by those who only disclose as he speaks those Divine Letters And wherefore again is it seen to those who open those Divine Letters but because it shows it self And so while he walks between it is seen and it shows it self neither sees 〈…〉 thing himself nor shows or can show any thing to others who desire to see because he can't show what he sees not nor the Scripture show what it infallibly contains without another infallible Rule of Faith SECT VII The Reason why the Mass is not said in the Vulgar Tongue OUr Adveriary advancing in his Reflexions upon our Religion sayes that our Prayers in an Unknown Tongue is not a small hinderance to Piety and Devotion What Comfort sayes he can the Ignorant sort reap at Mass Answer Either he means our Private Prayers or our Publick If our Private Prayers I attest his own Conscience all English and Scots Protestants who converse Familiarly with us if they do not know that we have our Manuals of Devotion in English If he means our Publick Prayers Then he supposes two things which are false The first that that publick Action which is done in the Sacrifice of the Mass is or ought simply to be called a verbal Prayer The second that that less considerable part of it which consists in Words is in an unknown Tongue The Sacrifice of the Mass being of its Nature and by the Intention of Christ the Instituter of it and chief Officer in it an Action ordain'd to acknowledge his Fathers Supream Dominion over us to give him thanks for his Favours bestowed upon us for a continuation of them and a Satisfaction for our Sins it is a prayer but a real one and is more the object of the Eye then of the Ear Moreover is it not enough that the Mass is Printed in Vulgar Tongues And that the Council of Trent Sess 22. cap 8. Commands the Pastors to explain it to the People altho it be not said but in the Tongues of the Church In the Greek Church in Greek in the Latin in Latin to keep an uniformity among the Faithful of each Church and that the expression of the Churches Liturgy keep its Majestie not subject to the changes of Vulgar Tongues to which those are who speak them under pain of passing sometimes for Ridiculous Neither is that to be call'd an Unknown Tongue which little Boyes are ordinarily taught in the Schools and which they come often to speak Regularly before they can express themselves handsomly in their Mothers Tongue Neither do our Country Clowns speak unknown Tongues because they don't easily understand one another But Grant the Latin Tongue is an unknown Tongue is it not enough that all those prayers are found explained in Books Neither does the Devotion of the Ignorant consist in their hearing or knowing what the Priest says but in knowing what he does And in offering up with him the same Sacrifice which is also theirs sure if they be well disposed to receive great good by it I pray did the People in the entry of the Temple hear what Zacharie said when he was Officiating far from being so much as seen by them Luke 1. cap. v. 10. and the People wondred that he stayed there so long v. 21. But what shall we say of those Extemporary prayers made by some Protestants who being weak in Spirit yet resolved to follow the strain of their Brethren speak a great deal of none-sence Is that a known or an unknown Tongue when the Hearers can't make sence of his words but only knows his meaning is to pray To this he adds a bare Lecture of Scriptures sometimes of a Prophet obscure in his Expression they know not whither it s to be understood in the Literal or Figurative sense yet what a sighing and sobing What a mournful Looks in their Eyes And murgions in their Faces If this Prayer and lecture of Scripture neither of them being understood can move these People to so much Devotion because they know this is said and read to Honour God why may not the Sacrifice of the Mass which Catholicks believe to be the highest Honour that can be given to God upon â—arth move those who are present to Devotion although they don't understand in particular what is said by the Priest to God 'T is enough that the Priest understand it who in his own and in all their Names makes the Sacrifice I end this Section with some Reflections 1. That S. Paul 1 Cor. 14. does not speak of a publick Prayer approved by the Church and consequently not subject to Error But only of a new Prayer of a private Person made to others which might be subject to Error and therefore he would not have it made in a Vulgar Tongue but in a Tongue that others might judge of it as appears by his saying in the 29 v. Let the Prophets speak two or three and let the other judge 2. St. Paul saies v. 29. forbid not to speak with Tongues i. e. in an unknown tongue I say then what Christian dares forbid what the Apostle allows 3. St. Paul saies there v. 15. I will pray with the Spirit i. e. in an unknown Tongue and I will pray with the understanding also i. e. in a known Tongue If he prayed in an unknown Tongue as well as in a known Tongue why may we not also 4. As altho' an Inchanter understands not the words of his Charm the Devil understands them and obeys them so altho the Ignorant understand not the words of his Prayer the Devil understands them and fears them and God understands them and helps him as the King does a Favour to an Idiot who understood not the
Petition presented by him but only in General that it was for what he desired or made in favour of him 5. If any be contentious for our not using a vulgar Tongue in our Lyturgy our Answer is with St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. v. 16. we have no such Custome nor has had the Church of God for 1600. Years and more 6. By unknown Tongues the Apostle means not of Hebrew among the Iews Greek among the Grecians or Latin among us of the Western Church which is understood of the learned and civil People in every great City but of Miraculous Tongues which Men spoke in the Primitive Church as a Mark that they had received the Holy Ghost Think you that the Lyturgy is said in the Greek Church in an unknown Tongue because it s said in propâ—â— Greek not now understood by the vulgar SECT VIII The Roman Doctrine of Transubstantiation does not destroy experimental knowledge nor deceive our Senses OUr Adversary sayes that Transubstantiation destroyes all evidence grounded in the experimental knowledge of our senses and makes void the proof CHRIST made use of to his Apostles to convince them he was not a Spirit To understand my Answer to this Objection of our Adversary you must know First that the Principle of experimental knowledge is this for example wheresoever are all the Accidents of Bread there is the substance of Bread unless the Author of Nature hinder its presence there Secondly That this conditional must be alwayes added in Reverence to the Almighty Power of God otherwayes by this Experimental knowledge a Combustible thing laid in the Fire burns 'T would follow that the Children in the Furnace of Babylon were burnt contrary to what is said in Daniel 3 cap. v. 50. These two things being known I answer that evidence grounded upon experimental Knowledge stands in its full vigour with our Doctrine of Transubstantiation as is clear to him who in this true Supposition of Experimental Knowledge considers it For we deny Bread to be in the Eucharist where all the Accidents of Bread are because the Author of Nature hinders the presence of Bread to be there as he has revealed it to us in several places of Scripture And consequently I deny that Transubstantiation destroyes more Experimental Knowledge than Protestant's belief that the Angels who appeared to Abraham Lot and Iacob were Angels and not Men destroys it Had not the Angels appearing to them all the Accidents of Men as our Eucharist has all the Accidents of Bread And did not they look as like men as it looks like Bread Secondly It makes void sayes he the proof Christ brought to his Apostles to convince them he was not a Spirit Handle me and see sayes our Saviour for a Spirit has no Flesh Luke 24. v. 39. which can be no conviction to Romanists who see Bread in the Eucharist if they will trust their own Senses Answ Do Protestants make void the proof Christ made use of to his Apostles when they say that the Angels of which afore that appeared to Abraham Lot and Iacob were not Men but Angels No say you because GOD hath revealed that they were Angels Neither do we Romanists when we say that in the Eucharist that which appears like Bread is the Body of Christ under the form of Bread and not Bread because our Saviour hath Revealed that it is his Body Our Saviours proof says our Adversary that he was not a Spirit shall never influence a Papist to conviction Answer This I deny for in this case we have both evidence of the senses and our Saviours Word and no Revelation contradicting them and therefore are fully convinc'd to believe it But for Bread in the Eucharist we have indeed the evidence of sense but not Christs word but on the contrary we have our senses contradicted by Christs infallible word Must not a Man be in Eclipse or under a Cloud not to see this Disparity To clear then our Adversary in his mistake I let him know that our Saviour undertook to prove that he had a true Body which is the Natural Remote object of our senses by the Judgment of his Disciples senses But never to prove Immediatly an Object or Mystery of Faith such as our Eucharist is by the Judgment of our senses I say Immediatly because having prov'd Immediatly that this was his true Body mediatly he proved in that Circumstance that it was risen again Nay when we come to such Mysteries of Faith we must not only Captivate our Senses but Reason also if we will believe St. Paul 2 Cor. 10. v. 5. As to that he sayes that our Transubstantiation favours the Opinion of the Marcionists its manifestly false to those who know the Marcionists Opinion to wit that Christ had not a true Body but only in appearance For who grants our Transubstantiation must grant that the Body of Christ is there either really and substantially or in appearance But under the appearance of Bread cannot be the appearance of the Body of Christ to wit the Shape Bulk Colour and Extention of all the parts of his Body for how can all these stand together with the proper Accidents of Bread in the lest Particle of the Host And consequently they not being there his reall Body must be there to make the grant of Transubstantiation good Subsect 1 In the Eucharist our senses are not deceiv'd in their proper Object OUr Adversary saies let us torture our discursive faculty never so much we shall never be able to prove that our senses are not deceived representing to us as Bread what really if we are believed is not Bread Answer That our senses are not deceived in their proper Object I prove thus The proper Object of our senses are only the Accidents of Bread in the Eucharist our senses represent to us the Accidents Colour Taste c. after the Consecration just as they did afore then they are not at all deceived in their proper Object You 'l say their proper Object is also the Substance of Bread and in that they are deceived since after Consecration according to us there is no Bread Answer I deny that the Substance of Bread is their proper Object it s the Object of the understanding which from the senses Anticedent representation to him of all the Accidents of Bread infers that the Substance of Bread is there viz. ordinarily and naturally when it is not revealed to him that the Author of Nature has disposed otherwaies So that the Substance of Bread is only improperly by Accident and occasionally called the Object of our senses in as much as they by their Relation to him of all the Accidents of a Substance give him occasion to Judge certainly that the Substance is also there when he has no Revelation from God of the contrary If our Eyes are deceived in Transubstantiation was not the Iews Eyes deceived in the Incarnation representing CHRIST as a Human Person By this solution you have an Answer to all
the R. Church there has appeared publickly and visibly to whole Nations Men of such Sanctity of Life with the Gifts of Miracles that after their decease their Lives and Miracles done both afore and after their Death having been first severely examin'd and discus'd and then approv'd they were after this Examination declared Saints and as such are for the present Honour'd by the whole Catholick Church If you say what is said of those Saints and their Miracles is but Fabulous Then I ask you if a Iew would say the same to you of our Saviours Miracles How would you convince him For as he denyes the Divinity of CHRIST so he denyes also the New Testament to be the Word of God Laying then aside Divine Revelation had Men at that time more Humane Authority to believe CHRIST's Miracles then we have now to believe the approv'd Miracles of our Saints From all I have said I infer First If the R. Church notwithstanding all these marks be not the true Church of CHRIST he has no true Visible Church upon Earth since there cannot be more clear and Visible Marks of the true Church then these I have brought Secondly I infer that if the Iews seeing some Prophet's Sanctity of Life and Miracles were most reasonably perswaded and convinc'd that GOD directed them by his Spirit and spoke by their Mouths to others We must of necessity believe that the Roman Church is directed by the Spirit of GOD and that He speaks by Her to us Since whatsomever motif you 'l find for that perswasion in a single Prophet you will find it in an higher Degree in the whole Body of the Church Now to make use of our rational faculty in order to see if you have any appearance of a Church among you 't is not enough for you to say that the Protestant Church has the true Worship of God You must bring such proofs as I have brought for the R. Church to prove it This you have never done nor will ever do But to come nigher to you I ask by what motive you can perswade me that Luther and Calvin your first Reformers were mov'd and directed by the Spirit of God in all their oppositions to the Roman Church Can it be imagined that God would have taken from a whole visible Church which had those marks I spoke of the true sense and meaning of the word and given it to Men who leaving the Altar and their Vow of Chastity prostituted themselves becoming the slaves of a shamful and Sacrilegious Passion As to that our Adversary saies the Roman Church Imposes many weighty burdens on her Children beyond what God Commands he is mightily deceiv'd for God commanding us to Worship and obey him he Commands us implicitly to make use of the means most convenient to perform these two duties Now the Church by her Commands does also but show us the fittest means to perform the perfect observation of Gods explicit Command and oblidges us to make use of them and consequently properly speaking there is no new burden impos'd upon us SECT II. Saint Pauls saying whatsomever is Sold in the Shambles c. 1 Cor. 10. v. 24.25.27 makes nothing against our abstinence from Flesh upon forbidden dayes OUr great Defender of the rights and dues of the senses having told us in the Eucharist what the sight claims to now he will not have the Taste depriv'd of its satisfaction Telling us Pag. 107. 't was a liberty and priviledge of the primitive Church as St. Paul witnesses to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 10. that whatsoever is Sold in the Shambless c. we may Eat Answer St. Paul 1 Cor. 10. Having terrified the Christians from Eating with the Gentils in their Solemnities a part of what was offer'd to the Idol because by this Eating they seem'd to approve the Oblation of that Flesh made to the Devil he told them nevertheless that they should not be scrupulous to Buy what they found in the Shambles nor to Eat what was set down before them to Eat at Common Tables out of those Solemnities altho' perchance those Meats had been offer'd to Idols viz. because they being Ignorant of it did not give occasion to think they approv'd that Oblation to the Idol in which onely the Sin was But if it fell out that one should tell them that such a Meat had been offerd to the Idol then he forbid them to Eat of it v. 28. for fear of scandalizing that Person Is not here something refused to Eat altho' it be set down afore me to be Eaten and altho' the thing be good in it self ond belonging to God Was not the forbidden fruit good in it self and yet was it Lawful for Adam to Eat it then with Thanks-giving when God had forbidden it no more is it Lawful to us to Eat Flesh which is good in it self on Fasting dayes because it is then forbidden by the Church of God which God will have us hear as himself Luke 10. v. 16. Who hears you hears me Has not the Church of England taken away that priveledge too when she commands to abstain from Flesh in Lent or at least from Eating a sull Meal till after noon or towards the Evening on their dayes of Humiliation When there is no Danger then of offending God neither by my approbation of an offering to the Devil or Scandalizing my Neighbour St. Paul sayes I may Eat Flesh tho' offer'd to the Devil From that antecedent is this a good Inference then when I know I offend God by Transgressing the Command of his Church and by Scandal of my Neighbour I may Eat Flesh because it is good in it self and at another time may be Eaten with Thanks-giving St. Paul then bids Christians not to scruple to buy or Eat Meat upon a fear that it may be 't was offer'd to Idols because that reason did not make it unlawful to Eat so I was not told of it But he bids not Eat it if it be unlawful upon an other accompt viz. because forbidden on certain dayes by the Church Now to show how pleasing a thing to God and advantageous to our Souls our Fasting is remember that Moses having fasted forty Dayes and forty Nights in the Mountain obtain'd the Favour to see God Face to Face Exod. 24. chap. did not Achab make use of Sack-Cloath and Fasting for the expiation of his Sins 1 Regum 28. did not David after he heard from Nathan that God had Forgiving him his Sin say that his knees were weak through Fasting 2 Sam. 12. chap. Were not Divine Mysteries reveal'd to Daniel after he had Fasted and was he not Favour'd with a Miraculons Dinner by the means of an Angel Daniel 14. In the New Testament did not Christ Fast forty Dayes and forty Nights and so teach us how to overcome the Temptations of the Devil Matth. 4. did not he tell his Disciples that a certain kind of Devils was not cast out but by Prayer and Fasting Math. 17. Our
are That every one may see clearly whither or no what I hold as a Tenet of Religion is not found among them but is a meer superstruction Will you refuse to a considerable Person who thinks certainly he has seen in the Law Book a Law which justifies the Action for which he is condemn'd to Die Will you I say refuse him a publick sight of that Book to justifie your Sentence against him but notwithstanding the murmur of the People upon your refusal of his demand suspecting him Innocent savagely cast him If not do not condemn us who hold for certainty Transubstantiation to be so Fundamental that no Christian of the first three Ages would have deny'd it A Subsect Other Proofs that we agree in Faith with those of the first three Ages I Ask our Adversary did those Christians living then believe as a Fundamental point that they were the true Church planted by CHRIST and continued from the Apostles or not If not then they could not say in their Creed I believe in the Holy Catholick Church If they did believe it I ask again upon what ground was truth warranted to them for three hundred Years and not to the Church till the end of the World Was not Gods promise of Infallibility to his Church made to it as well to the end of the World as for the first three hundred Years Isaiah 59. v. 21. This is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit which is upon thee to wit the Church and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever And to the Ephes 4. cap. v. 11 12 13 14. And he gave some Apostles some Prophets and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints c. till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God c. That we henceforth be no more Children tost too and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine by the slight of Men. If he avow the Church fail'd not in Fundamental Truths I wonder how he can allow Luther and Calvin's Reforming the Church with so much Fire Sword and Confusion for a matter that did not impede Salvation If they Reform'd Her in Fundamentals then She perish'd which is against the Infallible promise of CHRIST If you say they did not Reform it as it lay pure in the Souls of some chosen tho' unknown to others but in the publick Pastors and Teachers who were reprehensible for their grievous Deviations then say I where was the visible Church to which Men should have recourse for the hearing of the Word and receiving of the Sacraments Isaiah cap. 2. v. 3. A second Proof and Reason is drawn from that it seems morally impossible that in the begining of the fourth Age if he will have the fall of Religion then the Pastors should propose a number of new Tenets to be believ'd and perswade the People that they had heard them from their Fathers of the third Age not one individual Person in the mean time remembring that he heard them from his Is it credible that not only one Parish or Nation but all Countries who liv'd afore in the Union of the Catholick Church should of a sudden have permitted themselves to be cheated into this perswasion or rather bewitch'd since not one was found for many Ages to have gainsaid it or reclaimed against it Since this then is Morally impossible conclude that these Tenets of R. Catholicks which our adversary calls novelties were the old tenets of the three first Centuries A third reason 't is remark'd that God never permitted any notable Error to rise up in his Church but alwayes stirred up at the same time some man or men to speak and write against it and mov'd the whole Church to joyn with them to destroy it So Athanasius rose up against Arius Cyrillus Alexandrinus against Nestorius Augustin against Pelagius All back'd by the whole Church for the total overthrowing of those Errors Now if the Mass be an Error it is a most damnable one an Idolatry insupportable to give Divine Worship to the Host if it be only a piece of Bread Yet after this Error was broach'd in Gregory the Great 's time in the sixth or seventh Age as Protestants imagin what University or private Man spoke against it then or three hundred Years after It s true about four hundred Years after Berengarius inveighed against it but being better inform'd and by a torrent of Arguments for its Truth overwhelm'd he Recanted and Dyed Penitent Consult then Reason and not Passion and you will see that R. Catholicks have made no superstructurs on the Faith of the first three Ages SECT II. Formal Protestants are Hereticks I Advance to his assertion in which he affirms that we cannot say without Ignorance Calumny and Injustice that a Protestant is an Heretick First I agree with him that an Heretick is he who denyes viz. pertinaciously an Article of Faith or a revealed Verity Next I ask him by what principle he proves that a Protestant does not deny an Article of Faith or a reveal'd Truth I suppose he will Answer because a Protestant believes the CREED and the Holy Scripture I ask him further if a Preacher now of their Congregation should vent a Doctrine not Orthodox and should pertinaciously maintain it against his Brethren as a Truth according to his best Judgment reveal'd in Scripture By what principle will he convince him to be an Heretick He 'l tell you he believes the three Creeds and the whole Scripture and therefore he believes this his dogme because the thinks he finds it in Scripture Is he an Heretick because he will not submit his Judgement to his particular Brethren He is known to be as Learn'd as they and of as good a Life as they If you say this Man can't be proven to be an Heretick that is against the Scripture Tit. 3. v. 10. bidding us to shun an Heretick and consequently he may be proven to be one If you say he is an Heretick because he will not submit his Judgement not only to particulars but neither to the whole Congregation or the Church of which he was a Member and therefore is justly condemn'd by Her according to Isai 54. v. 17. Every Tongue that rises up against thee in Iudgment thou shall condemn this is the Inheritance of the Lords Servants I conclude without Ignorance Calumny or Injustice that the Protestant Luther the Protestant Calvin c. were Hereticks because they would not submit their Judgment to the whole Church of which they were Members afore they were Excommunicated for their self Opinions Again this proposition a Protestant is not an Heretick either is an Act of Faith or Science or Opinion If you say it is an Act of Faith 〈◊〉 then say I 't is false
for them 't is not the Churches fault tho' it may be the fault of some particular Pastor neglecting the Instruction of his Flock CHAP. VII Of our Ecclesiastical Discipline SECT I. Protestants live in Spiritual Slavery not Catholicks The Decree of Innocent the third in the third Cap. of the General Council of Lateran is not a Decree of Faith TO his saying the R. Church imposes besides the written Law so many Obligations on her Subjects that Popery is justly call'd a meer Slavery I Answer She imposes none not contained in the Law of God explicitly or Implicitly Since God has bid Bishops or the Teaching Church Govern the Church viz. the directed Church and Commanded us to hear Her or them 't is no more Slavery to us to Obey Her in Spiritual matters then for the Subjects of a Kingdom to Obey in Civil matters the Commands of a Vice-Roy or a Commissioner The Protestants indeed live in a Spiritual slavery according to their Principles because when they have Grace they are necessitated by it and when they want it they are necessitated by their concupiscence and so are ever without Liberty in Slavery The business our Adversary drives at in this Objection is this that the Church incroaches upon the Temporal Dominions of Princes by deposing Kings untying their Subjects from their Allegiance to them and giving their Lands to such as can Conquer them As may be seen in the third Chap. of the fourth General Lateran Council under Innocent the Third Answer Let our Adversary Read that Decree with the Eyes of a Divine and he 'l find that that Decree is not of Faith and therefore does not oblidge us to believe it The Decrees of Faith in that Council being gathered into the first Chap. Intituled de Fide Catholica The Tenets of the Catholick Faith Let him then learn to distinguish another time a Decree of Faith from a Decree of Precept The first oblidges always and every where the other not always nor every where but may be chang'd the circumstances changing As I said when I told how a General Council may be mended And this I show in this present Precept of the fourth Council of Lateran under Innocent the Third now ceasing For are R. Catholicks in France Germany England Scotland c. admonish'd to take that Oath of Ridding their Lands of Hereticks Or are they thought by the R. Church not good Catholicks because they do not do it Then you see this Oath may be omitted with a safe Conscience and Princes be without fear of having their Subjects free from their Obedience Moreover I say that under the general notion of Potentats Soveraigns are not comprehended no more then Abbots under the General Name of Monks tho' really they are Monks In fine if you will not be satisfied with these solid solutions remember that the Embassadours of Kings were present at the Council so that if they knew 't was mean'd also of their Masters and they did not oppose the Decree afore it was passed volenti non sit Injuria no Injury is done to him who is willing This Decree I know is a common place for Protestants not considering that they hit themselves on the Heel when they bring it against us giving us an occasion to reflect not by a mistake but with Truth upon them since the chief Principle supposed by the first Beginers of their Reformation was that it was Lawful not only to refuse all Obedience but to take Arms against their own Natural Soveraign for the Reformation of Religion If they deny this Principle as never supposed by their Predecessors then they must grant that the first Broachers and Abettors of their Reformation were all Traytors and Rebels since they begun it by Sedition and Rebellion against their Lawful Soveraigns in Germany France Geneva Holland and Scotland What was the great ground of the Bloody Scots Covenant Have we not seen of late a number of Clowns and Crafts-Men by their private Interpretation of the Bible free themselves from all due Obedience to their King and in their Conventicles endeavour to take from him all Royal Power by their seditious Sermons and Declarations as in those who were published at Sanchir and Rouglin Many of which remain so obstinate in their ridiculous perswasions that they will rather Dye then give any acknowledgment of submission to a most Gracious and Loving Prince You 'l say they are not true Protestants Answer I pray in what Fundamentals do they differ from you What a Childish Discourse is this which follows when he says that the Romish Church forbids Her Followers the use of their Rational faculty to find out the true Church Why then does She propose to our Rational Faculty to move it to Assent or to be confirmed in that we have Assented to marks out of Scripture of Her being the true Church Telling us first that we see in Her as was foretold Ephes 4. A perpetual and visible Succession of Pastors since the Apostles time Is it credible that God by a special Providence notwithstanding so many Persecutions would have Conserv'd that perpetual Succession of Pastors to teach Superstition and Idolatry And not Conserv'd a Succession of Pastors among Protestants to teach the true Religion As we then have the same Spiritual Power ever Descending and continued from the Apostles time so have we also with it the same True and Apostolical Doctrine Descending from Father to Son since the Apostles time to us Secondly That there is no Doctrine or Faith now Preach'd to all Nations according to the Command of Christ Matth. 28. v. 19. given to his Apostles but that of the Roman Church It s altogether amazing if the Protestant Doctrine be true and Evangelical Doctrine that GOD has never stirred up any of the Protestant Preachers to go with an Apostolical Spirit through Poverty Afflictions Persecutions c. as the Apostles did to instruct many Barbarous Nations in Africa Asia America but makes use only to give the knowledge of his Holy Name to them of Idolaters and Superstitious Romanists the true Preachers staying at Home with their Wives and Children Thirdly That moreover this Faith and Doctrine altho so Universal yet all the Believers thereof have such an Unity and Agreement among themselves in matters of Faith and such a subordination to the visible Head of the Church that they make as Christ said of his Sheep Iohn 10. v. 16. one Flock and one visible Pastor they both receiving all Spiritual Light Grace and Direction from their invisible Head and Pastor Iesus Christ Fourthly That the Doctrine of the R. Church leads evidently to a Sanctity of Life and Worship of God Almighty by a Sacramental Confession of Sins Fasting Praying Self-denyal Mortifications of the Flesh Good Works keeping GODS Commandements by Vows the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and many Ceremonies by which outward show we make appear our inward respect to God From hence it comes that in all Ages among the Believers of
Arians but not the Doctrine of Transubstantiation no more than the Doctrine of the Son's Consubstantiality with the Eternal Father Which is Spirit and Life imparting to the worthy Receiver of the Eucharist the Spirit of God or an increase of his Grace which leads to Eternal Life It gives no occasion of Idolatry or Hypocrisie by teaching that the Accidents are not to be Ador'd but the Body of Christ under them And that we ought not to come to it upon the account of pleasing Men but moved by our Faith of Christ's Real Presence there by a Love of him and a hope of Happiness from him 7. We rely on Saints not as Mediators of Redemption yet Moses Act. 7. is called a Redeemer Lytrootees but of Intercession that the Merits of Christ may be applyed to us We rely not on any thing we add our selves to them it being so small as the Church witnesses in Her Prayer for the Sunday of Sexagesime O God who sees we confide in no Action of our own grant mercifully c. acknowledging when we have done all we can we are but useless Servants to God tho' enabled by the Grace of Christ not useless to our selves 8. Our Divine Worship is pure without any vain Devotion or Honouring of that which should not be Honoured but not without many Sacred Ceremonies which serve to make us we being sensible Creatures sensible of inward Graces for warrant of which we have upon Record Ceremonies used by Christ and since he is the chief Agent in our Sacrifice why may not he use Ceremonies by his Vice-Gerents as well as by himself 9. We Adore God in Spirit and Truth endeavouring to make our minds joyn with our outward Sacrifice to the true God moved often by the Picture of Christ Bleeding on a Cross to morn with him and rue our by past Actions which were cause of so excessive a Torment and grief to him But not so Foolish as to think there is any Divinity in the Picture or Vertue in it to do us good Also Conscious to our selves of our own unworthiness by our hainous offences we go often to God by the Meditation of the most Blessed Virgin and other Saints in Credit with him warranted sufficiently by Eliphas Iob. 42. and the Centurion's Example Luke 7. v. 7. The one being Commanded by God to do so and the other praised by CHRIST for so doing If you ask me how the Saints in Heaven know I am praying them I ask how do they know the conversion of a Sinner upon Earth Luke 16 v. 7. if they know when I convert my self to God can't they as well know when I am praying Again how did Samuel know the thoughts of Saul Sam. 1. c 9. v. 20. and how knew the Prophet Ahijah the wife of Ieroboam 1 Reg. 14 They knew by Gods Revelation to them and so does God reveal to Saints in Heaven things which regard them upon Earth and this belongs to the felicity of their state to hear our Prayers present them to God and obtain from him favours to us Because he will this way Glorifie them for Glorifying him upon Earth according to his promise 1 Sam. 2. v. 30. Thus we Read Apocal. 5. v. 8. That the 24 Elders had Golden Vials full of Odours which are the Prayers of Saints To wit of Holy People upon Earth which the 24 Elders presented to God as the Angel offerd up the like having a Golden Censer upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne Apoc. 8. v. 3. 10. Our Ecclesiastical Discipline is conform to that of primative times not because we say so for Protestants say as much for theirs but because R. Catholicks speak now as they spoke then and do now as they did then St. Ambrose L. 5. Epist 33. ad Marcellam his Sister saies at a certain occasion I begun to say Mass caepi Missam facere St. Augustin L. 9. Confes chap. XI sayes his Dying Mother desired him to be mindful of Her at the Altar and in the 12. chap. he sayes He did not Weep in his Prayers while the Sacrifice of our Redemption viz. of the Mass was offered for his Dead Mother Her Corps being set down beside the Grave If a Protestant Bishop should Write thus to his Sister at ten a Clock I begun to say Mass what would she say Certainly my Brother 's not well he is raving and if another should relate that his Protestant Mother desired him to Pray for Her after her Death you would fay without doubt she had lost her Judgment Why Because we do not Pray for People after their Death By this you see Protestants do not speak nor do as they spoke and did in primative times then their Religion and Ecclesiastical Discipline is not conform to that of primative times 11. Our Vows against which our Adversary so eagerly inveighs altho St. Augustin thinks our Vows should be kept by those Words of his Ser. 10. de Diversis If it displeased God sayes he speaking of the Sacriledge of Ananias and Saphira to withdraw of the Money which they had Vowed to God how is he angry when Chastity is Vowed and is not performed for to such may be said that which St. Peter said of the Money Thy Virginity remaining did it not remain to thee and before thou didst Vow was it not in thy own Power For whosoever have Vowed such things and have not payed them let them not think to be condemned to Coporal Death but to Everlasting Fire are the great helps our Church-men have to serve God in all freedom of Spirit for not owing the use of their Body to a Consort their Spirit is not drawn from Heaven in that violent way to the Earth nor have they their mind entangled with those cares which must needs attend Wise and Children Here I leave my Adversary wishing him most happy and for a Fare-well I mind him of these Words of our Saviour to St. Paul Act. 9. v. 5. Durum est tibi contra stimulum calcitrare FINIS ANSWER TO THE POSTSCRIPT I Reduce the substance of what our Adversary in his second Edition saies to the Reader and in his Post-Script to 6. Propositions and add to every one its Answer 1. He has changed his Title and calls now his Book Protestancy proved safer than Popery Answer Then Popery is safe for the quality which is found in the comparative is also in the positive tho' in a meaner Degree Hence in his Opinion to Live and Dye in Idotry as he thinks we Catholicks do is a safe way to Salvation Let the Reader consider to what absurdity our Adversary brings himself 2. He saies his Book is a new Method because the Methods hitherto made use of by Learned Protestants for the Establishment of Protestancy have been for the most part negative Answer All those Learned Protestants who have endeavoured to prove that the Protestant Religion is conform to the Word of GOD did not they endeavour to prove
and consequently they Judge it more perfect then not to make it Did not Hannah think she did a thing more pleasing to God to Vow then not to Vow 1 Sam. v. 11. A second Proof 'T is more perfect to deprive one self for the Love of God of many things then only of few But who makes these Vows deprives himself of the Use Dominion and Capacity of being Master of Riches otherwise Lawful Pleasures and ones one Will. Then he deprives himself for the Love of God by those Vows of more things then if he did not make them Besides 't is a greater Gift to give the Tree with the Fruit which the Religious Man does then the Fruit only A third Proof A thing shown and praised in the Gospel and not Commanded is an Evangelical Counsel But Poverty Chastity and Obedience are shown to us in the Gospel praised and not Commanded Then they are Evangelical Counsels You 'l say I avow that these three things are praised in the Gospel and not Commanded and that CHRIST practised them but where find you that Christ made a Vow himself or moved any other to Vow them Especially since the Vow broken charges the Breaker with a double guilt Answer When Christ perswaded Poverty Math. 19. in these Words If thou wilt be perfect Sell all thou hast and give it to the Poor He perswaded that relinguishment of Goods which should make a Man perfect But that exterior abdicatition or leaving of Earthly Goods with a Will to repossess them again does not make a Man perfect But he ought to have an interior renouncing or a Will not to acquire others in their place Neither had this Will compleated him in a perfect Man if this Will had been at his pleasure and freedom freely revocable Because in that case this Young-Man of which the Gospel speaks had not been fixed in the Service of God yet with-drawable by an Affection to or care of these Temporal Goods Christ then when he perswaded that renouncing of Temporal Goods which makes a Man perfect in the Service of God he perswaded a Vow of Poverty If you say Christ embrac'd this Poverty in a most perfect manner without a Vow and therefore a Vow is not necessary for that end I Answer In Christ 't is True 't was not necessary because he was determined to it by the Beatifick Vision and had a Will that was not changeable but a pure Man having a changeable Will so that sometimes what he Wills to day he Wills not to morrow he has need of a Vow to tye him to that which he now efficaciously Wills for the greater Glory of God The Vow of Obedience is Counselled in the same Chapter and Verse in these Words Follow me Where Christ advises to a following which makes a Man perfect but that is not the general way of following him which all Christians commonly take by an Observation only of the Commandements of God which make in some sense a perfect Man but not in that sublime and high perfection of which our Saviour speaks here when he sayes if thou wilt be perfect c. then it s a particular following And whether then did Christ go If to follow him be so high a perfection To and through all the Commands of his Father renouncing his own Will Luke 22. v. 42. made Obedient to Death nay the Death of the Cross To follow Christ then is to despoil ones self of one 's own Will to be perfectly Subject and Obedient to another for the Love of God As Christ out of Love to his Father was perfectly Subject and Obedient to him That then which Christ perswaded by saying follow me was a renouncing for the Love of God self Will a Subjection of it to that of another and a perfect Obedience to Death The Vow of Chastity is seen perswaded in these words there are Eunuchs who have gelded themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven Math. 19. see what God promises to such Spiritual Eunuchs Isa 56. v. 4. and 5. ever unto them will I give in my House c. a name better then of Sons and Daughters for according to the common Opinion of Divines they are to be understood of a Vow of Chastity and with great Reason for since gelding takes away both Actâ— and Power to Act the moral gelding must needs be by a Vow of Chastity all other will which is not equivalent to a Vow as it was in Christ leaves a Power to Act. Iâ— you say Christ did not perswade that sort of gelding but onely made it known I Answer his adding who can take let him take was tho' not a Precept yet an Exhortation to it Moreover since all the Gospel as to the part of it which regards manners is a perpetual Instruction and Exhortation this part runs in the general intention of Christ and follows the nature of the whole We discover by Christ's Words his inclinations and his Inclinations are strong perswasions to those who are of the noble temper of well disposed Souls A Subsect Vows put not a Man in a worse condition more then the Law of God OUr Adversary cryes down Vows as making Man in a worse condition than afore for if a Man break his Vow of Chastity for example he commits a double Sin whereas without it he had committed only a single one Answer First is a Man after Marriage in a worse condition then afore yet the Sin of the Flesh in him is double Answer Secondly did God put Man in a worse condition by giving him the Law then that in which he was afore he gave it him Yet St. Paul Rom. 7. v. 7. did not know that Concupiscence was a Sin without the Law and so had not Sinned committing it afore he knew the Law and had Sinned if had committed it after Answer Thirdly who Sins against Chastity having made a Vow of Chastity is in a worse condition then he who commits the same not being under Vow I grant but the Vow does not make him Sin no more then the Law of God makes a Man Sin Contrarywayes it forbids him to Sin with-draws him and frights him from Sin more then the Law of God alone So it s by accident that 't is an occasion of Sin of it self â—ts a strong help to abstain from Sin in as much as it represents a far greater malice in that Sin to which it is annexed and a more formidable punishment to be expected Thus you see a Man is more removed from Sin and the occasion of Sin with it then without it Our perverse Nature of striving against what is Commanded us militates equally against the Command of God as against a Vow but is more forcibly resisted by the Command of God when this is backed by a Vow SECT III. What is the Fruit of these Vows well observed ANswer A sweetness of Spirit which often overflows the very senses and is read in the Faces of perfectly Religious Persons a centuple of what they have
for God renounced in this Life and a true fore-taste of the Life Eternal or in St. Paul's Words a Peace passing above our senses Phil. 4.7 Hieronimus Platus saies our Adversary is as whimsical in his notions of this imaginary happiness as Plato was in his abstract Idea's here he runs out at random as a Clock dismounted that stricks twenty for one and tells you he can prove to perswasion that their is no way of serving God more dangerous than in a Religious Order and why By reason of a Yoak they take upon themselves of keeping a number of petty Rules which altho' we do not hold to be observed under pain of Sin yet we teach none of them can scarce ever be transgressed without Sin either ratione scandali or ratione contemptus by reason of the Scandal or Contempt of Authority And what is more strange that we say non progredi is regredi not to go forward is to go back Then he concluds with an applause to his perswasive premisses as he Imagins thus in what fears if we have a timorous Conscience Troubles Tormoiles and Vexation of Spirit do we live He amplifies his conclusion by what he has heard some Religions say that their burden was not like that of Christ Sweet and Light but Bitter and most Heavy Hence he further infers that those Vows are snares to entrap Souls by which the Devil catches some who would not admit an open suggestion to Sin by giving scope to follow their own Inclinations to make Vows which being above their frailty weary to swim alwise against Water at last they yield to the Stream and go down-wards which was the Devils design Answer What does Hicr Platus for the most part in that Treaty of the Good of a Religious Life exhort unto but what the ancient Philosophers Cicero Seneca Epictetus c. discovered by the Light of Nature to wit that the happiness of Man here upon Earth was to live a Life removed from Ambition Covetousness of Riches and other Cares which might with-draw his Spirit from pleasing the immortal Gods as the Heathens spoke acquiring Vertues and overcoming Passions by which study his mind might be raised above all that is feared or loved in Human things and so dispose himself by a dissipation of Clouds that rise from Human Affections to a clear Contemplation of the most perfect being which is intelligible or knowable I mean God in which Aristotle tho' not a Christian places the Felicity of Man Answer Secondly If Hier. Platus promised a singular Contentment to those who leave for God's sake all the goods which flatter the Hearts of worldly Men did not our Saviour promise as much afore him when he said Luke 18. v. 29. Amen I say unto you there is no Man that hath left House or Parents or Brethren or Wife or Children for the Kingdom of God how do you understand that and shall not receive much more in this time and in the World to come Life everlasting I lived with a Religious Man who said upon this Discourse he saw the Truth of the first part clearly he only expected the second Let my Adversary give me leave to tell him from St. Paul animalis homo non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei 1 Cor. 2.14 a sensual Man is not sensible of the things of God nor understands the ways of his Spirit they are a folly to him Those things which are great helps to advance in Spirit seem to him impediments of Perfection Christ calling those who were under Burden Math. 11. v. 29. and promising to ease them bids them take moreover his Yoke on them and tells them that by that means they shall find ease This seems a Paradox an odd thing to a sensual Man who looses the Yoke from the Neck of his Oxen when he has mind to ease them Little knows he for want of Experience that this more particular Yoke of Christ I mean his Evangelical Counsels put in practise are to a good Religious Man what the Wings are to an Eagle they weigh indeed something but are so far from weighing him down that they help him to raise himself in the Air and reach his Prey which he could not do without them If the diminishing of Laws and Commands for which our Adversary is so great a Stickler makes the way smoother and straighter to Spiritual Perfection then the Law of Nature was the most advancing Law to Perfection of the three and carried it far afore the written Law and that of Grace But who will say this And consequently that from whence it follows A Subsect Answers the rest of this matter of Vows I Avow that the Yoke of a Religious Man considered in it self is greater then that of a Lay-Person but if you consider it joyned to the singular helps he has from God to carry it 't is far easier crucem vident saies St. Bernard the People of the World see our Crosses they know we Fast we rise in the Night to Pray and take other Mortifications unctionem non vident they don't see saies he our Unction of the Holy Ghost the victorious pleasure of Grace which upholds us and makes us carry chearfully our Crosses viam mandatorum tuorum cucurri cum dilatasti cor meum I did not only go but run saies the Royal Prophet through the Wayes of thy Commands when thou didst enlarge my Heart to wit with thy Grace Psal 118. v. 32. Religious Orders have many Rules I grant but they are all reduc'd to three Heads the keeping of Poverty Chastity and Obedience As the general Laws of Kings and Countries are subdivided in a number of particular Observations Neither is it true that a Rule cannot be scarce broken without Scandal or Contempt of Authority For when the Bell in a Religious Community Rings a quarter of an hour afore Dinner to make the Examen of Conscience a Religious Man reflects that he has a Letter of Importance that must be sent to the Post at their rising from Table he Writes his Letter in the time of the Examen thinking it pleases God he do so the Rule is brok without Scandal Contempt or Sin in that case This and such like we call defects not culpable or breaches of the Rule without Guilt When we say non progredi is regredi not to go forward is to go back we don't mean as our Adversary mistakes that he who keeps the Commandements of God and his Church onely goes backward no we think he goes forward for the new observance of every Command is a new step to Perfection but that as a Boat can't stand or flote upon a Currant but must either bear up against Tyde or must be carryed down with the Stream so we must never stop in the way of Perfection saying with that Foolish Man Luke 12. v. 19. my Sâ—ul rest for we have a Provision for many Years thinking we have enough but still make forward for more Be perfect as your