that much harsher has fallen from the Pens of the most learned Men in your Church nay what whole Societies maintain at this day in the very Bosom of it Let one serve for all that is to say Bellarmin who l. 2. de amiss Grat. c. 13. thus goes on God does not only permit the Wicked to commit many Evils neither does he only forsake the Godly that they may be constrain'd to suffer what ever injuries the Wicked shall offer them but also he presides over those evil and malicious Wills rules and governs them twists and bends them by working in them invisibly so that altho' they be evil out of their own vitious Inclinations yet they are dispos'd by Divine Providence more to one sort of Mischief then another III. As it cannot be without extreme Injury said of us That we make God the Author of Sin so it is no less maliciously fixed upon us in your Church to the end you may have a Pretence the more freely to condemn us that we maintain That Christ despair'd upon the Cross and that the grievous Torments which he felt in his Body would have little availd unless he had also suffer'd in his Soul the Pangs and Torments of the Damn'd But look upon the Tenth Section of the Gallican Catechism where the contrary is expresly asserted that is to say that Christ still hop'd in God in the midst of all his Agonies even then when he cry'd out in the depth of all his Woes My God My God why hast thou forsaken me As iâ— his Father had bin in wrath with him and had deserted him It behov'd Christ to the end he might free the Souls together with the Bodies to suffer the Punishment of our Sins as well in his Soul as in his Body The most Learned among you in this Point are of the same Opinion with us Cardinal Cusanus Exercit. Spirit l. 10. ex Serm. Qui per Spiritum has utter'd those things upon this Subject without any Censure of your Church which would have been adjug'd Blasphemous and Impious in the Reformed had they dropt from their Pens The Passion of Christ says he then which none could be greater was like that of the Damn'd that cannot be more damn'd that is to say even to the Torments of Hell. In his behalf says the Prophet David The pains of Hell compass'd me about nevertheless thou hast brought my Soul out of Hell. But he is the only Person who through such a Death enter'd into that Glory That same Pain of Sense conformable to the Pains of Hell he was certainly resolv'd to suffer to the Glory of God the Father that he might shew that he was to Obey him to the extremity of Punishment For this is to glorisie God by all possible manner of means And thus our Justification comes solely from Christ For we Sinners in Him discharge the debt of Infernal Torments which we justly deserve that so we may attain to the Resurrection of Life Suarez also of the same Order in 3 Thom. Quaest 52. Art. 4. Disput 43. Sect 1. relates out of Medina That some Catholics believ'd that Christ suffer'd outwardly some Pains of the Damned in Hell yet not in the same manner as the Damned suffer that is to say against their Wills or with Disorder and Confusion but out of extraordinary Charity What more have ever any of Ours said not to offend Christ but out of a desire to seek the Fountain of Sweetness in the Bitterness of his Woes the Harvest of Joy in his Sadness Security of Heart in his Horrors and theâ—eby to acknowledge his Victory the more Illustrious by how much the Combat was more Terrible which he undertook and the Triumph the more Glorious by how much the more Dreadful the Labors were that he sustain'd But from the Pens of which of Ours dropt any thing like that which John Ferus both taught and wrote upon this Subject By Birth a Teutonic says Sixtus Senensis a Dominican Biblioth l. 4. of the Order of Minors Preacher in the Chief Church at Mentz a Person highly learned in Theology endu'd with a singular Eloquence whose Equal in the duty of Evangelical Preaching the Catholic German Churches at this time have not to shew because he wrote in a more free and polite stile Pious and Learned Meditations according to the Catholic Doctrin This Man therefore upon Mat. 27. discoursing of Christ's Exclamation upon the Cross has these Expressions Christ at this hour put off God not by Exposing himself but by not Feeling he set aside the Father that he might act the Man. Thus God the Father now does not act the part of a Father but of a Tyrant tho' in the mean time he had a most tender Affection for Christ And in another place Christ that he might set Sinners free put himself in the place of all Sinners not Stealing nor committing Adultery nor Murther c. but translating to himself the Wages Punishment and Deserts of Sinners which are Cold Heat Hunger Thirst Dread of Death Dread of Hell Despair Death and Hell it self that he might overcome Hunger by Hunger Fear by Fear Horror by Horror Despair by Despair Death by Death Hell by Hell and in a word Satan by Sitan Go then Reverend Mr. Prior and bring me any Reformed Doctor that ever talk'd at this rate which nevertheless in Ferus the Monk never any of your Party censur'd for Blasphemy IV. These more grievous Calumnies being thus wip'd off the rest that remain behind are too slight for me to spend much time in refuting them The most of your Party cry out That we deserve to be damn'd because we are Enemies to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints as also to Mortification c. Are we to be traduc'd as Enemies to the Blessed Virgin who understand that we cannot be so but we must cease to be Christians who believe her now in Heaven enjoying Celestial Glory near her Son Who know that on Earth she was the truly happy and blessed Mother of our Lord and Savior Are we to be accounted the Saints Enemies who boast of their Communion in our Creed and by the Imitation of their Examples as much as in us lyes labour up the same Hill to the same Reward But you will say That we Reformed do not adore the Blessed Virgin nor the Shrines of the Saints c. I Answer That we abstain from that sort of Worship not out of hatred or contempt of the Blessed Virgin but lest we should offend them by paying to them that Religious Worship which is only due to God. The Faithful in the Old Testament never gave these Honors to the Prophets and Patriarchs deceas'd and yet they were never accounted their Adversaries For four hundred years together there was no such Adoration us'd in the Primitive Church And Antiquity anathematiz'd the Collyridians leaning that way and saluting the Holy Virgin by the Title of Queen of Heaven as we find in Epiphanius Haeres
them with Clamour and Judicial Sentences and which is more fill every corner of the World with their Thundring Writings to prevent the Voice of Truth from being heard nay which is more then all this like Ahab himself they make it their business to throw the guilt of the Troubles which themselves have rais'd upon the Faithful Preachers of the Truth and which is most horrible to hear make it their glory to condemn them all to the Punishment of Infernal Fires The same ill Fate has befall'n me For when it was my late hap to officiate in the Function of Ecclesiastial Overseer in the County of Weeden upon the Rhine one of the Popish Prelates a certain Neighbour of mine was not asham'd instead of a NEW-YEARS-GIFT to send me word That not only my Self but also all the Protestants in general were eternally Damn'd and to be infallibly Burn'd in the everlasting Fire of Hell. But in regard that by the Testimony of the Apostle We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth and that it is the chief Duty of a Preacher of the Gospel To hold fast the faithful Word which is according to Doctrin that he may be able both to Exhort in wholsom Doctrin and to Convince them that say against it I thought it my Duty not only to Translate into the German Language the Catechism of Controversies written by Monsieur Moulin and by that means to arm my Auditors against the daily Attacques of the Monks but also to refel such an inconsiderate and unchristianlike Letter and by this my ANSWER to vindicate the Salvation of the Protestants against so horrible a Condemnation Wherein I have chiefly made it my business to encounter my Antagonist with the Sword of his own Brethren as having brought in Aid of our Cause the Testimonies of the most Famous Popish Doctors against him Not that I would have it so to be understood however as if the Suffrages of Men that wander in the Paths of Error were necessary for the support of our Doctrin but only that as vanquish'd Enemies following the Triumphal Chariot of Truth their Necks laden with Chains and compell'd to submit to the Victress they might give all the World an unquestionable Testimony of her Conquest or else that if after the first Rout they should adventure to make a second Attempt upon her being by this Stratagem set together by the Ears one among another and distracted in their Minds or at least in their Sentences they might by mutually wounding each other destroy themselves thereby affording us this pleasing Spectacle as if the Lord had set every Man's Sword upon his Neighbor throughout the Host and had so brought it to pass that they should kill one another with the Weapons which they had made themselves and that the Heads of these new Goliah's should be cut off with the Swords which they had girt upon their own Loyns For thus we see that the Papists in many things are like Samson's Foxes having their Tails in such a manner ty'd together to set on Fire that with their Heads they draw two contrary Ways or else like certain Monsters whose Bodies are not united together till about the Navil or the Belly But as Fawning creates Friends and Truth begets Hatred so neither could I avoid the Hatred and Persecution of the Papists For their Revenge transported them to that degree that they sent several Soldiers to apprehend me and to have punish'd me with eternal Captivity who because they could not overtake me flying away on Horseback discharg'd two Pistols at me to have kill'd me outright but in vain while God in his Mercy protected me Constrain'd therefore by these and other Persecutions and continual way-layings of my life some Weeks ago I threw my self into the Bosom of your Church that under your Protection I might live in more safety and so soon as opportunity should permit that I might be ready to employ the utmost of my Abilities and Sedulity in your Service But in regard that according to the Proverb There is no Desire of that which is to Men Unknown I thought it might be worth my while most devoutly and humbly to offer and dedicate this my Answer to all and singular both Shepherds and Sheep High and Mean Ecclesiastics and Laity Magistrates and Subjects as having no other means to excite and kindle in your Hearts when once made known to your Christian Pity so much of generous Goodness as to receive me into the Arms of your Charity and make me Partaker of your Labors Accept I beseech ye therefore most Honourable Patrons with courteous Mind and Hand this little Treatise of mine and open to me the doors of your Benevolence and what you would should be done to your selves in the same case that do to me Be not weary in well doing for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not While we have therefore time let us do good unto all Men especially unto them that be of the houshold of Faith. In the mean time our Merciful God who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ that being fill'd with the fruits of righteousness ye may speak the Word of God without fear and continue in one Spirit and one Soul holding together in the defence of the Faith of the Gospel and in nothing fearing your Adversaries which is to them a Token of Perdition but to you of Salvation and that of God. For to you it is given for Christ not only this that ye believe in him but also this that ye suffer for his sake Having the same sight which ye saw in me and now hear in me My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall in diverse temptations For blessed is the Man who endureth temptation because that when he is try'd he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promis'd to those that love him May it please the same Almighty God That fighting a good fight ye may hold Faith and a good Conscience which some having put away as concerning Faith have made Shipwrack So shall ye remain faithful unto death and a Crown of Life shall be given unto you So that when the time of your dissolution is at hand you may gladly and truly say We have fought a good Fight We have fulfilled our Course We have kept the Faith. Henceforth there is laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness whicb the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give at that day and not only to us but to them that have lov'd his appearing Now unto the King Everlasting Incorruptible Invisible To God only Wise be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen So farewel most Honoured Patrons and benignly favour Your most Humble Servant And Exile J. H. Dalhusius THE SALVATION OF PROTESTANTS Asserted and Defended c. The Salvation of Body and Soul comes from one Fountain of Salvation which is
Hence it comes to pass that tho' the Divine Power extends it self to Infinity yet is it agreed among all Christians that God cannot do those things which imply Contradiction because he cannot lye nor deny himself To this Truth your Bellarmin gives his Assent lib. 3. de Euch. and all your Doctors subscribe to his Opinion And upon this Ground we dispute with you alledging I. That it is impossible that Accidents should exist without any Subject in regard it is Essential to all Accidents to inhere in their Subjects Insomuch that by virtue of that inherence it is that an Accident is distinguish'd from Substance Nor can any Accident be fancy'd without some Subject to which it may adhere and by which it may be supported but that some such Accident must be fancy'd which is no longer an Accident which implies a Contradiction II. It is impossible that the Body of Christ sholud be in infinite places remotely distant one from another in Earth tho' he do not descend from Heaven whether nevertheless he ascended after his Resurrection as it could not then have bin that he should have bin in Heaven unless he had locally and visibly ascended thither from the Earth III. It cannot be that any Body should be any where actually and properly but that it must be in the same place corporeally and locally because the manner of being somewhere must correspond with the manner of being simply which is the proper manner of the thing in dispute And as a Spirit cannot be any where actually present unless definitely and spiritually so neither can a Body be any where actually present but corporeally and circumscrib'dly for if it were actually in any place where it were not corporeally then it would cease to be a Body IV. It cannot be that the Body of Christ should at the same moment of time be visible palpable and circumscrib'd in Heaven and in infinite places of the Earth after another manner invisible impalpable uncircumscrib'd without Extension and Latent under a Point V. It is impossible that any singular or individual Thing should be multiply'd in infinite places and yet the Singularity and Individuality remain entire without having its Unity destroy'd by that multiplication VI. It is impossible that the Thing contain'd should be greater then the Thing containing And that the Body of Christ should lye hid under a small Morsel of Bread or be streightned within the Bowels of a Mouse in the same stature as he had when he was upon the Cross These and such like Miracles as these all sprouting out of the Opinion of Transubstantiation we oppose as Impossibilities not that God wants Power but because these things imply a Contradiction And therefore we cannot be accused of any Blasphemy against Divine Omnipotency About Three hundred years ago flourish'd Durandus de Sancto Portiano Bishop of Meaux of the Dominican Order of great repute among the Scholastics and one that Rome never yet declar'd a Heretic He affirms Contradictory Penetration of Dimensions to be impossible by means of which two Bodies shall be able to possess one and the same place and argues against whatever has bin produc'd to the contrary tho' taken from the Nativity of Christ his Entâ—ance among the Disciples the Doors being shut and his Ascent into Heaven affirming That it is much more just and rational to say that the Creature gave way to the Creator so that the Heavens if they were solid parted asunder to give free passage to their Lord and that the Doors of the House where the Disciples met miraculously open'd before him that so he might more easily come to them and that the Womb of the Virgin was divinely dilated to facilitate his Nativity then that they should oblige the Creator to penetrate other Bodies and so to receive a Law from their Nature rather then to give it Them. All which Expositions of Durandus may be defended and maintain'd out of the Word of God Psal 14. 7 9. The Gates of Heaven are commanded to lift up their Heads that is to fly open to Christ ready to ascend into Heaven then under the name of the King of Glory entring in Joh. 20. 26. It is not said that Christ came to his Disciples through the Doors shut but at what time the Doors were shut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now suppose they might be open'd to him by the Ministry of Angels as the Prison-Doors flew open to Peter Act. 12. 10. And as Mat. 28. 2. the Angel descended from Heaven which remov'd the Stone laid upon the Sepulchre Luke 2. 23. relates That the Blessed Virgin brought her Offering to Jerusalem and that there Christ stood before the Lord As it is written in the Law of the Lord That every Male opening the Womb shall be called holy to the Lord. By which Law the Holy Virgin had not bin oblig'd unless Christ at his Birth had open'd her Womb Neither is it any Obstacle to her perpetual Virginity in regard she never knew Man and for that this Gate through which the Lord of Hosts past according to the saying of Ezekiel c. 44. 2. remain'd from that time always constantly shut Now if the Crime of Blasphemy were never imputed to Durandus nor any of his Followers for these seeming attacks upon Divine Omnipotency why are we reproach'd as Enemies of the same Omnipotency for only averring the same things Thomas Aquinas listed among the number of the Saints vulgarly call'd the Angelical Doctor and to whom they feign that the Statue of a Crucifix should speak these words at Naples Thou hast written well concerning me what Reward dosÌ„t thou expect This Aquinas Part 3. Quest 76. almost quite through the whole Question affirms it impossible and contradictory for the same Body to be locally and circumscrib'dly in two several places and alledges That the Glorious Body it self of our Saviour cannot be locally visibly and circumscrib'dly but in one only place That in this manner now he is not in any other place then in Heaven That he never is moveable and visible in the Eucharist or after any other manner then only Sacramentally And whereas it has bin said that he has bin seen in this most August Sacrament under the Form of a Boy or of Flesh or of Blood That it was neither the Body nor the Substance of Christ Now if Thomas could not persuade himself that it was possible for the Body of Christ to be locally in two different places with whom Vasques the Jesuite and all the rest at this Time agree and which is more if he did not believe that that which was sometimes said to be seen in the Eucharist was the Body and Substance of Christ or prov'd the local Presence of his Body in the Sacrament must we be call'd Blasphemers who are of the same Belief and consequently assert that the same Body cannot be actually present in two different places in regard the actual Presence of any Body of necessity must be Corporeal Local