demolishing of the Pantheon they have repaired it under another name and so far are they from christianizing of Pagans that they have paganized Christians It were an easie matter might we here expatiate to make those things more fully and exactly to appear as likewise how that many even great and learned persons in the Church of Rome do unanimously accord in the case and having lost all shame do glory in this same Mymmick and Apish substitution but what hath been said may suffice as it were by the way plainly enough to discover them Like-as Pagan Idolatry and Superstition hath been the cause of such a prodigious extravagancy we might likewise with no small probability assert that the Followers of Marcion Arrius Nestorius Eutiches and other Hereticks who marr'd or destroyed the Orthodox Doctrine concerning the Humanity of Jesus Christ were the Authors or Abettors of Transubstantiation and those that made way for the entrance of that gross opinion which is a stone of stumbling both to Jews and Mahometans and the main obstacle that forestalls their closure with the Truth of the Gospel witness on that behalf the famous Averrhoes who said He never found any Religion more absurd than that of those who pretend to make their own God and then to eat him This is the reason why thenceforth taking up a resolution he cryes out I would sooner chuse to die and that my soul might be with the Philosophers than to have any communion with the Christian Communion Whereunto may well be added what is reported by Seiur de Boulaye le Goux in his Travels namely that himself and his companions all Christians being by the Turks immur'd in some certain Prison in Natolia suffered many affronts and injuries from them who unto the rest super added this as the severest of all that they were the Disciples and Worshippers of Mange Dieu the Breaden God These many tumultuary Revolutions and fearful Disturbances that befel the Church which shall be noted hereafter should not notwithstanding scandalize the Faithful this being no other than what was foretold and we know what that dreadful Comination of our Lord is touching the removing of the Candlestick out of his place in those Churches which did not continue in their first works and that of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans whom considering as proselyted from Gentilisme and upon that account calling them the Branches of a wild Olive-tree who were transplanted and ingraffed into the genuine and true Olive namely JESUS CHRIST descended of the Jews according to the flesh in whom all the Promises were made to the Fathers He declares unto them that in case they should through supercilious pride and ambition magnifie and over-advance themselves above the native branches who for their sakes were broken off they might justly expect the like entertainment and non-indulgence But that which is yet more considerable is the grand Apostacy and defection which the Spirit of God has advertised us should happen under the manifestation of the Man of Sin having been pleased in divers places to notifie to us both the time of his Rise and the place of his Residence the colour of his Apparel the number of his Name the nature of his Doctrine even to the very least Circumstances which may any wise tend to a particular designation of him to the end that he might be discerned when exhibited and fellowship with him shunned as being of all things in the world the most pestilential St. Paul informs us that in his time the Mystery of Iniquity should begin to work and that that which should hinder his manifestation should be the then prevailing Power in the Earth upon whose ruines the Kingdom of Antichrist should be erected And it is very probable that this was the main Reason why the primitive Christians ever were so importunate in their prayers to God for the preservation of the Roman Empire as wisely foreseeing that the destruction and overthrow thereof would produce a lamentable revolution in the Church and the revelation of that Man of Sin whereof without all doubt they had some previous advertisement given them by the Apostle â—â—r in the same Chapter where that Propâ—ecy is contained he bespeaks them thus Yâ— know what withholdeth c. and remember you not that when I was yet with you I told ye these things Where out of a holy prudence he expresseth himself in a covert manner left otherwise he might expose himself to the rancour and malice both of Potentates and People who were already but too much fomented and incensed into an opposition to the Faithful This is the very perswasion of the Antient Doctours of the Church touching this matter some of whose Testimonies in regard of the importance of the subject and for justification of our own sense therein we shall here subjoyn Tertullian answering to a Question by himself propounded in the case What else is this saith he than the Roman Empire whose Apostate-party dispersing themselves into ten several Kingdoms shall gain Followers to Antichrist and then shall that Wicked be revealed St. Jerome expresseth himself thus Antichrist shall not appeaâ— till the Roman Empire be destroyed and the Nations revolt from it that which St. Paul durst not speak openly for fear lest by so doing he might have accelerated upon the Church a Persecution which was then but newly hatched St. Chrysostome gives the same reason for it For saith he as long as the dread of that great Empire shall continue no person will with his good will submit himself to Antichrist but when that shall be once overthrown he shall possess himself of the vacant Empire and usurp Dominion over both God and man Furthermore That is well worthy of our consideration which the beloved Disciple of our Lord teacheth us in his first general Epistle namely that in the last time for thus he describes the Gospel-Oeconomy since we ought not to expect any other in which they had learn't that Antich should appear there were already many Antichrists and such in effect were Ebion and Cerinthus who taught that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God nor co-essential with the Father those would have destroyed his Divinity and he who should by way of eminency bear the name of Antichrist being as the same Apostle teacheth guided by the very self-same spirit of impiety and error should endeavour what in him lies the ruine of the truth of his Humanity the glory of his Royalty the dignity of his Priesthood and the excellency of his Prophecy and indeed what less can be said of him who is represented to us as the person that should oppose himself to all that is called God or is worshipped and that even to the being seated in the Temple of God that is to say according as all the Fathers do interpret it the Church of Christ which may give us to understand according to the dialect of Holy Scripture that he
therefore he calls Jesus Christ a worker of signes adding that by them Christ is represented and received Whence Maximus his Scholar who lived about the year 630. We attain not to an immediate discovery of the things themselves in matters Divine but we arrive at perfection through the intervention of signes such as is the Cup of blessing as the Apostle calls it and the Bread which we break those things are signes only not the Truth it self Moreover recommending to consideration the expressions of that same Dionysius called the â—reopagite Note saith he that he every where tearms the Divine Sacrifice Symbolical or Figurative and that the holy Offerings are signes of more real heavenly things But towards the year 840. some through their Hyperbolical tearms others through questions moved touching the alteration of signes did by degrees give occasion for conceiting of a new opinion concerning the Sacrament which being in fine in the year 1059. ripened into perfection it was declared in the Lateran Council under Nicholas the Second that the â—read and the Wine are the very body and blood of Christ and that he is sensibly felt broken and crumbled by the teeth of believers Expressions absurd and impious and disowned by the Church of Rome at this day We shall here in pursuit of the order of time annex to all those testimonies of Fathers by us produced that which is contained in the Roman Decretal collected by Gratian the Father of the Canonists who lived about the year 1160. He in the second distinction of the Consecration in the Canon Hoc est expresseth himself thus The heavenly â—read which is the Flesh of Christ is in a peculiar respect called the body of Christ howbeit to speak truly it be a sacred signe of Christs body to wit of Him who becoming visible palpable mortal was at last crucified And upon the Gloss of the Doctors hath these words worthy of consideration The Heavenly Sacrament wherein the flesh of Christ is truly represented is called the body of Christ but improperly for it is so called after a manner congruous and peculiar to it self howbeit not according to the real truth of the thing but by way of a significant mystery so that the sense runneth thus It is called the body of Christ that is to say this is thereby signified Judge then sober Reader how much and how far the Church of Rome is at present departed from the sense and belief of the ancient Fathers even that of the times of the famous Canonist Gratian. We will conclude this Chapter with that which we read in Justin Martyr his second Apology for Christians to the end that it may appear what the practice was of pure Antiquity as well in the Celebration of the holy Supper as in all the other parts of the Divine Service of the Primitive Church and that one may thâ—reby be able to judge who approacheth nearest thereunto whether those of the Church of Rome which hath wholly deac'd and perverted the model of true Religion and utterly destroyed that spiritual worship which we owe to God Or those who to save themselves from her Pit of Errour Dung-hill of Superstition have abandon'd her Communion Behold then how that pious Author speaketh Vpon the Sabbath days we assemble our selves both in City and Country in one place the Lecture is made from the Writings of the Prophets or the Apostles the Lecturer ceasing he that presides makes the Exhortation admonishing to an imitation of those excellent things which done we rise up and pray to God after this they present him of the Fraternity that presides with bread and drink of Wine and Water which he receiving yieldeth praise and glory to the Father of all in the name of his Son and by his holy Spirit in which act of thanksgiving he is the more prolix to the end that they might be rendered worthy of those things through that Spirit and prayers and thanksgiving being finished all the People present gives consent by acclamation saying Amen which is to say in the Hebrew Tongue So be it Now after that the President hath given thanks and all the People hath by acclamation consented those who are named Deacons with us administer to all that are present Bread Wine and Water being blessed and carry the same to such as are absent and this repast is with us called the Eucharist Proceed we to another point and view the sequel and progress of those innovations Anno 1055. AT this time under Victor II. the Redemption of Penances was introduced For it was enacted that they might be lawfully converted into penalties of another nature as pecuniary Mulcts under the notion of Almes Donatives bestowed in favour of the Church Pilgrimages and other things equivalent proportionably to the years of penance allotted them and that such as had not wherewithall to accommodate themselves herein might redeem their years of penance with the number of Psalmes sung by them with Fastings in the strength of Bread and Water with scourging and scarifying of themselves and other kinds of voluntary mortification whence the custome of whipping proceeded and from the same source the Batusses and Penitents Now by those exchanges and redemptions the ancient Discipline was utterly subverted We have seen that the Indulgences were no other than certain relaxations or limitations of Church-penalties intended for curtailing of the time prescribed to Penitents before that they could be re-admitted to the Communion But the vertue of those Indulgences was afterwards extended beyond this World for shortening of the years of their abode in Purgatory a thing which the Primitive Christians never once dreamed of We have likewise observed that the Penitents who ordinarily were very numerous tendered themselves to the Church having their faces covered with ashes in token of humility from whence it was that the Church of Rome derived that vain Ceremony of Ash-Wednesday at the beginning of Lent And in this action they sing the very same things which they sung heretofore when as there was any number of Persons doing of publick Penance Anno 1090. URban II. that he might advance Superstition ordained about the year 1090. that upon every Saturday a Mass should be said in honour of the Virgin Mary Chaplets or Pater-nosters were at the same time invented by Peter the Hermite together with the Office and Hours of our Lady Anno 1160. ALexander III. decreed the Canonization of Saints and ordained that none should be from thence-forward acknowledged Saint but whom the Pope first declared such Anno 1212. CHrist's corporal presence in the Sacrament had already gained some credit but they were not as yet agreed upon the pretended conversion of signes Behold then how that a little after the year 1215. in the Lateran Council Innocent III. determines the Form thereof who willeth all to believe that the Bread is transubstantiated into the Body of Christ and the Wine into his Blood Thus was Transubstantiation ratified and that
Egyptian speaking of those who lived before Jesus Christ It never entered into their hearts that there should be a Baptisme of Fire and of the Holy Ghost and that they should offer in the Church Bread and Wine as a Figure of his flesh and of his blood and that those who partake of the Bread which is visible should feed spiritually upon the Flesh of our Lord. Ephraim of Syria in the year 360. in his Treatise against the curious Inquisitours into the nature of the Son of God Observe heedfully how that taking the Bread into his hands he blesseth and breaketh it in Figure of his immaculate Body and blesseth the Cup in figure of his precious Blood Ambrose or the Author of the Book of Sacraments See that this offering turn into an acceptable and reasonable account to us which is the figure of the body and blood of our Lord. Gaudentius Bishop of Bress in his second Treatise upon Exodus The figure of Christs body is received in the bread Moreover the blood of the Lamb is fitly represented under the species of Wine Chrysostome Bishop of Constantinople in the year 386. in an Epistle to Cesarius the Monk doth thus unfold this great Mystery Before that the bread be sanctified we name it bread but it being once by Divine grace sanctified it is certainly freed from the appellation of bread and is dignified with the name of the Lords body howheit the true nature of bread doth still continue therein Turrianus and Gregory of Valence both Jesuits perceiving themselves to be wonderfully racked and puzled with this passage do most groundlesly aver that it was none of Chrysostome's but of one John of Constantinople which is confession sufficient since that it bears the mark of its antiquity This Epistle hath been seen by many in a Manuscript in the Bibliotheque of Florence by which if not stifled by our Adversaries the common fate of what ever is contrary to themselves it may be easily verified to be of a truth the genuine testimony of the great Chrysostome But it is high time that we hearken to holy Augustine who flourished in the year 410. behold how he explains himself in his 12 th Chapter against Adimantus The Lord doubted not to say this is my body when as he gave the sign of his body and upon the third Psalme The Lord admitted Judas to the Banquet at which he recommended and gave to his Disciples the figure of his body and blood The same Father upon the 98. Psalme wherein he expoundeth these words of our Lord If yee eat not the flesh of the Son of Man ye shall not have life brings in our Saviour speaking thus Vnderstand spiritually that which I have told you ye shall not eat this body which ye see neither shall ye drink that blood which my Crucifiers shall shed I have recommended to you a sacred signe which being spiritually understood shall give you life And in the third Book of Christian Doctrine Chap. 16. When the Lord saith if ye eat not the flesh of the Son of Man and drink not his blood ye shall have no life in your selves he seems to command an impiety or great crimâ—â— This then is a Figure whereby he enjoyneth us to communicate in the Lords death and Passion and delightfully and profitably to remember that his Flesh was crucified and bruised for us And in his first Treatise upon the first of St. John The Lord comforteth us who can no longer feel him with the Hand but only by the touch of faith And in the 53d Sermon upon the words of our Lord Every one almost calls that the body of Christ which is a sacred sign thereof Theodoret Bishop of Cyre in the year 420. in his first Dialogue entitled the Immutable speaking of these words This is my body saith the Lord hath dignified the visible signes with the appellation of his own body and blood not changing of their nature but adding grace to nature a little before he had said the Lord hath confer'd upon the sign the name of his own body And in the second Dialogue entitled The Inconfused The Divine Mysteries are signes of the true body And a little after he brings in an Eutychian Heretick maintaining Transubstantiation to whom he answereth in these words Thou art caught in a Net of thine own twisting for even after Consecration the mystical signes change not their nature but remain for subâ—â—â—nce form and figure the same as before Cyril Bishop of Alexandria in the year 440. Christ gave to his Disciples morsels of bread saying take eat this is my body He saith also that the faithfull believe that though he be absent from us in the body yet are all things and even our selves governed by him Again though he be absent in the Body appearing before his Father and sitting at his right hand yet nevertheless he is present in his Saints by his Spirit The same Father speaking of Nestorius Hath he not turn'd saith he our mystery into an Anthropâ—phagy that is to say a manducation of Man's flesh through an irreligious entangling of the spirits of the faithfull through vain conceits and attempting to subject to humane ratiocinations things which surpass all manner of scrutiny save that of faith only Gelasius himself Bishop of Rome about the year 590. speaketh thus Certainly the Sacraments which we receive of the body and blood of Christ are a Divine thing whence also we are by them made partakers of the Divine nature yet nevertheless the substance or nature of the â—read and the Wine doth uncessantly continue such and the Image and resemblance of the body and blood of Christ is infallibly celebrated in the exhibition of those mysteries Facundus an African Bishop who in the 550th year of our Lord wrote in defence of the three heads or points of the Council of Chalcedon The Sacrament of Adoption to wit Baptisme may be called the Adoption upon the very same account that we call the Sacrament of Christs body and blood which consists in the consecrated Bread and Cup his own body and own blood Not that the Bread is indeed his body and the Cup his Blood in proper speech but hecause that the mystery of his body and blood is contained therein Dionysius falsely surnamed the Areopagite an Author of whom we know not certainly in what time he lived howbeit to procure the greater Authority to his writings he assumed the name of Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned in the Book of Acts chap. 17. vers 34. But divers reasons move us to believe that he flourished about the end of the fourth Age others make him more ancient whoever he was he doth more than ten times in one Chapter tearm that which is given to us in the Supper Images Signes and Symboles and saith that the Communion of Bread and Wine is a commemoration of that most Divine Supper at which the signes of things therein celebrated were first of all instituted
as the whole Kingdome of Bohemia was through means of their Preaching and Doctrine reduced from obedience to the Pope and the Ceremonies of the Romish Church the Council of Constance required King Wenceslaus to send the said Huss thither to whom the Emperour Sigismond gave very ample Letters of safe-conduct to the end that he might not scruple to surrender himself yet notwithstanding without any regard had thereunto he was within twenty six dayes after his arrival committed to Prison and after an hard and tedious incarceration most unjustly condemned to be burnt alive as an Heretick howbeit he had clearly demonstrated to them the truth of his Doctrine by the Word of God and the pregnant Testimonies of Christian Antiquity in pursuance whereof he maintained that the Church of Rome had departed from the Doctrine of the Apostles in pursuit of the riches and delights of the world hunting after Dominion and Primacy embezeling Church-goods which did of proper right belong tâ— the Poor in pomps and filthy and infamous expences confounding herewith the Ordinances of God or at leastwise guilty of a voluntary and deliberate contempt of the same That the Pope hath no such Authority as he challengeth over the Church and that Indulgences are null That the Bread and the Wine remain untransubstantiated in the Supper and that the Communion should be equally distributed to all under both kinds That there is no such thing as Purgatory That Saints departed ought not to be invoked nor Images worshipped and that all those things with their like appendants have no other foundation than that of the corruption and vanity of a humane spirit But forasmuch as the Truth doth ever purchase hatred from the Wicked as being naturally averse and adverse thereunto this was the cause of that cruel usage which he met withall from his Enemies which he endured with a truly Christian-Constancy rehearsing as he was going to the place of Execution or rather of Triumph diverse verses of the Psalms especially of the 31st and 51st and oftentimes these words taken partly out of the 31st I recommend my spirit into thy hands for thou hast redeemed me Lord Jesus thou God of Truth and as the Executioner was setting fire to the Faggots he said three times with a strong and loud voice Jesus Christ thou Son of the living God have mercy upon me Thus did this holy Martyr finish all his labours resigning his soul to God upon the 6th of July 1415. That other faithful Witness of the Truth Jerome of Prague did likewise seal the same with his blood upon the 30th of May 1416 after many sharp conflicts with his Adversaries whom he confounded and struck dumb with the same weapons namely the Word of God and the Testimonies of the ancient Doctors of the Church being endued with an admirable eloquence and vigour of spirit He encountred death with such an extasie of joy that when-as they began to kindle the Faggots he began to sing Divine Praises with a holy hymn which by the very relation of Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope called Pius II and of Pogius of Florence who was one of the Spectators he continued in the midst of the flames till that his blisfull soul took wing for Heaven there to bear a part in the harmonious new Song in the presence of its Saviour and the company of Angels and all the Saints and faithfull ones whose tears are all for ever wip'd away in that beatisick Sabbatism of Glory and eternal bliss But what shall we say more for the time would fail us should we instance in all who after those two saithful Witnesses espoused the defence of the same Truth which the greatest part of them have as they before them sealed with their blood We behoved to make mention of that great Assembly of persons at Doway in the year 1421 who held the Doctrine of the Waldenses of whom a great number as is reported by Monstrelet was sacrificed to the flames of William White and Alexander Fabrice English-men who in the year 1429 wrote in the defence of Wickliff's Doctrine which Reynauld Peacock Bishop of Chichester in like manner maintained in the year 1457. We behoved likewise to shew that George Poggebrach King of Bohemia together with his Subjects owned to the day of his death the profession of the Truth against the Determinations of Rome and that the King of Poland stood inclined to its defence Likewise that in the year 1480 John of Vessalia Basil of Groningue Stephen Bralfer and Paul Notary of Tubinge Doctors in Divinity did in like manner in Germany withstand the Doctrine of the Romish-Church for controlling of whose vanity and many corruptions Jerome Savonarole was burnt at Florence in the year 1498 notwithstanding which John Francis Picus Count of Mirandula failed not to write in his behalf and in like manner to reprehend the very same abuses That in the year 1505 Paul Scriptoris did in his Lectures in the University of Tubinge publickly declaim against Transubstantiation And that in the year 1507 Thomas More of Brockford an English-man was burnt at Norwich for preaching against the then prevailing Superstitions of the Church We behoved moreover to produce that goodly Confession presented in the year 1508 to King Vladislaus by the persecuted Waldenses in Hungary which was exactly conformable to that of the Protestant and Reformed Churches And likewise observe all that is recorded by that great Lawyer Charles du Moulin in his History of the French Monarchy on purpose to give the World to understand what reception the Doctrine and Life of those of Cabrieres and Merindol found with King Lewis XII which gave such ample satisfaction to that great Prince as that upon the report therein made to him of the same he swore that they had more goodness and worth in them than himself and all his subjects besides Finally we behov'd in like manner for the honour of that incomparable Monarch to add how that after the example of Philip the Fair one of his Predecessors he quell'd the sauciness and petulancy of Julius II who had excommunicated him having assembled a Council at Pisa in order to the reforming of the Church both in its Head and Members and caused batter the Golden Species with this Inscription PERDAM BABYLONIS NOMEN C A D. I will utterly destroy the name of Babylon and had not injurious Death suddenly snatch'd him away he had undoubtedly put an happy essay to a thorow Reformation But enough of that we being now arrived at Anno 1517. MArtin Luther together with those his Contemporaries whom God raised up for the same work did in this year strike that great blow which did so mightily shake the Papal Power and restore to Soveraign Princes who heretofore trembled under the Censures of Rome that lawful though controll'd Authority which they hold of none but God himself and this was so marvellous that after that time the greatest part of Germany the
Cardinal Prenestine to Pope Hadrian lest having confessed her Errour and Deviation in one point occasion might happily be from thence administred of examining of the rest and of resolving the same into a reference or Com-promise This is thereason why the Council of Trent instead of redressing Abuses hath indeed confirm'd them all being therein carried-on according to the Popes will and pleasure who was in that Convention both Judge and Party whereupon Monsieur de Lansack one of the French Ambassadours in that Council said very facetiously in a Letter to Monfieur de Lisle Embassadour at Rome that the Pope had sent the Holy-Ghost from Rome to Trent in a Cloakbag the Legats and Council acting or enacting nothing but what he appointed them and albeit several Bishops inclin'd to make some opposition in defence of the Authority of their Character yet this proved ineffectual they having in fine submitted their necks under the Papal-Yoke Though all this succeeded very luckily according to the hearts desire of the Popes of Rome yet notwithstanding from that time forwards they conceived such a disgust and aversion to Councils that they never cared more to propound the assembling of another fearing lest they might set about that happy Reformation which as hath been said was with such importunity desired and so absolutely necessary both in head and members All that they busied themselves about after that was what yet well became them the regulating of the Hoods Hosen and Shooes of Monks the number of whom instead of reducing they contrariwise augmented under the Badges of their Saints Francis Dominicus Ignatius Loyola and some other modern ones insomuch that the whole far from reforming misusages tended only to foment Scandal in such as were acquainted with true Piety those Reverend Fathers having well nigh resolv'd all the Christian Religion and Divine Worship into the practice of numerous Ceremonies and superstitious observances for therein consisteth all their business scrupulously annexing their professed Sanctity to ridiculous Mystical Vestments and foppish fantastical gesticulations and whereas God will be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth they pretend to satisfie him with instead of a true a superficial and instead of a Spiritual a bodily service which the Apostle informs us profiteth little Howbeit to be sure they cloak under their counterfeit humility and devotion an extream and indeed unsufferable pride and vanity as may sufficiently appear by the continual attempts made upon the Ordinaries namely Archbishops Bishops and Curates who undergoe all imaginable difficulties in stoping the currant of the Seraphicks and other Regulars more especially of such as have devoted themselves to the See of Rome and their General or Superiour by so strict a vow that when ever they believe their own Interests to be under debate they ought to acknowledge no other person in the world May the Lord commiserate his Church and put it into the hearts of Christian Kings and Princes to call as the above-named great Emperours Constantine Theodosius and Charles the Great have done before them a religious and free Council wherein all parties abandoning prejudices and animosities might in good earnest give themselves to an enquiry after the Truth in the Word of God which should be hearkened to as the only decisive Oracle whose right it is to determine all Controversies depending between the Church of Rome and those who protest against her Doctrine and that the more obscure passages of the holy Scripture might be expounded by others more clear so as that we might attain to the right understanding of the Scripture by the very Scripture it self according to the practice of the Levits when they instructed the People of God after their return from the Babylonish Captivity that the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church and Writers of Ecclesiastical History by whose means we might be informed of the various revolutions and interchanges which have thereâ—n occurred might be likewise received as a subsidiary help for satisfaction to the more obstinate and opiniative and that Kings called of God unto this great work might in concurrence with a privy Council consisting of some of the more Learned and more sober of both parties prudentially weigh the validity of Reasons urged the sincerity of Procedure and the merit of the Cause We should quickly make it to appear that we have a veneration for Episcopal Government and that we are no enemies to order ornanment or decency nor yet to Ceremonies provided the whole be reduced to ancient usage and there be nothing therein derogatory to that Honour and Religious Worship which we owe to God only And as touching the Sacraments if the Word of God may be umpire as without all peradventure it ought to be we should soon likewise condescend upon their number And in conformity to that sacred directory observing our Saviour's practice and that which St. Paul by virtue of his Commandment hath enjoyned us to do in like manner we should take the Bread we should all drink of the Cup of blessing in commemoration of the inestimable Death of our dear Redeemer whose Flesh and Blood is meat and drink indeed whereby we are nourished unto an eternal life We should know without further debate that this Union is wrought by the mediation of his Spirit who uniteth and conjoyneth us to himself after an ineffable but a true and real manner Christ dwelling in our hearts by Faith which is the mouth of our souls by which we feed upon him whereunto the conversion of Bread into Flesh is not at all necessary but the Elevation of Faith unto Heaven its genuine and proper act for as our Lord hath taught us it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life that is to say they are of a spiritual and vivifick vertue as well in the publication of the Gospel as in the participation of the holy Supper wherein the Bread and the Wine are Signes Gages and Memorials of that which is therein represented to us whose Name they bear as is usual in all Sacraments as also because they are not only significative but likewise exhibitive of the thing signified to the Faithful and worthy Communicant so as shall be shewed streight And certainly this same Real-Presence and Participation may be easily enough conceived without the necessary admission of a Local and gross one for if it must be acknowledged that the Sun whilst bounded within its sphear doth yet communicate warinth life and nourishment and that truly really substantially to Vegetables can any one doubt without Blasphemy that the glorious Body of our Lord and Saviour the true Sun of Righteousness who carrieth health and life in his Divine Rayes is furnished with less vertue than that Globe of fire and light which himself hath enlightned Or that his Humane Nature which he hath united personally to his Divinity cannot by its means mystically unite
it self to our souls in order to their warmth quickening and nourishment but that his sacred Body must needs first redescend to us here below to be prostituted to a thousand indignities as would necessarily follow upon that local and gross carnal Presence which is taught and professed in the Communion of Rome We should not stick to call the sacred Ceremony of the Lord's Supper a Sacrifice but only an Eucharistical or a Gratulatory Sacrifice there being none Expiatory other than that which our Lord Jesus offered upon the Cross as the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews proveth We should in like manner accord that none can ever eat of the Supper of our Lord with too much preparedness for fear of prophaning so sublime and dreadful a Mystery to use the notion of the Fathers forasmuch as those who approach unworthily and without a serious examination of their consciences that they may know whether they are furnished with Faith Repentance and Charity which are qualifications prerequired to the worthy participation of that holy Communion do instead of receiving the Gages of their Salvation take and receive in St. Paul's dâ—alect their own Condemnation In fine we should make it yet further appear touching many other controverted points that we are not so odious or hateful as we are represented But it may suffice to have remarked the more principal ones from which one may judge whether there may be place for promising our selves any re-union between those of the Church of Rome and us by holding of a Council in the manner by us propounded never doubting but that God would crown with his Blessing the design of so August and Venerable an Assembly and that the Bishops Doctors and Ministers of Christ constituting the same humbling of themselves in the first place before the Father of Lights from whom cometh every good and perfect gift as also every one of us in like manner with Repentance Fasting and Tears thereby with fervency imploring the assistance of his Holy Spirit he would infallibly vouchsafe the same unto us and grant that the Spirit of Charity Truth Peace and Concord might preside in a most singular manner in the midst of that Reverend and Pious Council whose Members should all of them be like unto the Golden Snuffers of the Tabernacle eminent for purity and excellency of qualification to the end they might be the more effectually serviceable in their sacred use of ridding away what is superfluous and that great Thief Antichrist which eclipseth the light and brightness of the Candle of Truth That were an happy day indeed which yet to us is rather matter of wish and woulding than fixed hope and expectation howbeit there is nothing impossible with God who hath his own times and seasons and holds the hearts of all Kings and People of the earth in his own hand Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh effectually in us Unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without END A Summary of those Ceremonies whose Original is reported in this History according to the respective order of Time wherein they had their Rise Anno 110 c. THE Original of the Custom of carrying Offerings into the Church Why the Eucharist was called a Sacrifice The mixture of Water with Wine in the Supper The Custom of carrying the Eucharist to such as were not able to present themselves in the Assemblies The Kiss of Peace Fasting upon Friday and the Original of the Quadragesimal time or Lent Anno 160. c. The rise of the Custom of celebrating the Memorials of Saints the Dayes of their Nativity and of assembling in Cemeteteries Of the Confession and Satisfaction used in the primitive Church Anno 195. Of the Controversie commenced about the Feast of Easter-Day The first Juridical attempt of the Bishop of Rome Anno 200. c. Novel Ceremonies not practised at this day Vnction received into Baptism The custom of offering in Commemoration of Saints The manner how Offering for the Dead took its beginning The original of praying for the Dead The reason why Christians first used the sign of the Cross. Of the Indulgences of the primitive Church How Martyrs interceded with the Church in the behalf of Penitents Anno 240. c. Preludes to the Intercession of Saints Why publick Confession was changed into particular the rise of Penitentiaries What the Profession of Virgins was Whence the use of dipped Bread in the Eucharist proceeded Anno 300. c. Why the Table was called an Altar Why they began to transport the Corpses of Martyrs from one place to another The Dedication of Temples The structure of the Temple of the holy Sepulchre Why Pilgrimages into the Holy-Land were undertaken The invention of the Cross. The reason of erecting and painting of Crosses Whence the Vigils of Festivals and the use of Tapers in the Churches proceeded The original of a Monastick Life Anuo 320. The manner how Rules of Abstinence and Lawes touching Fasting entred the Church Anno 321. The first Institution of Patriarchs A Decree concerning Easter-Feasts Controversies about and the Commencement of Celibacy Anno 350 c. Apostrophees directed to Saints Pilgrimages undertaken to the Sepulchres of Martyrs Anno 380. The progress of Prayers for the Dead and in what sense they were conceived In what manner and quality Images were received into Temples Anno 386. The Celibacy of Ecclesiastical persons ratified by Decree Anno 400. The Rise of the Vigils of the Dead Whence the use of Chanting and Wax Candles at Burials proceeded Formalities observed in the reception of Penitents Crosses introduced into Temples The manner of the Church her proceedure towards Demoniacks The first conjectures about Purgatory among Christians Anno 450. c. Christian Liberty oppressed by reason of Fasts The Institution of the Fasts of the Four Times and of the Rogations Vigils of Saints converted into Fasts Anno 470. c. The Invocation of Saints by whom first of all introduced into the Church Anno 490. The attempt of some Hereticks affecting to reject the Cup in the Sacrament of the Eucharist Anno 500. c. The original of worshipping of Images amongst the Vulgar Anno 528. Extream Unction by whom instituted Anno 535. Processions by whom ordained Anno 536. Whence it came to passe that Altars were placed in the East The institution of the Feast of Candlemass Anno 600. c. The Invocation of Saints introduced into the Latine Church Statues erected in Temples The progress of the belief of Purgatory The Eucharist converted into a Sacrifice for the Dead The Canon of the Mass by whom composed The Mass-Song The Unction and Original of Priestly Vestments Perfumes and the Reliques of Saints in the Consecration of Temples Tapers lighted in broad-day-light The Rise of the Service in the Latine-Tongue Anno 605. The manner how the Bishop of Rome