and such passages in it it is possible all this may be otherwise The second is how high soever he talk of the Catholics not being certain and his own being sure of having the Scripture for them yet he doth not vouchsafe to tell us what he means by that Word viz. whether express Texts or deductions only If express Texts Let him produce one if he can for that new Article of his Creed a Creed much younger than that of Pope Pius the fourth I do believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Lord's Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine c. If Deductions only Why may not the Catholics who have the express Words of Scripture that it is his Body infer as surely from thence that there is a change in the Elements of Bread and Wine as the Protestants who have no such express Text that it is not his Body can do to prove that there is no change DISCOURSE Of the first of these I shall now treat and endeavour to shew against the Church of Rome That in this Sacrament there is no substantial change made of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the natural Body and Blood of Christ that Body which was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered upon the Cross for so they explain that hard word Transubstantiation ANSWER Of the former of these I shall now treat and endeavour to vindicate the Catholic Church which declares it as an Article of Faith that by Vertue of Consecration in the Sacrament there is a Conversion made of the whole substance of the Bread into the substance of the Body of our Lord and of the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood which Conversion she conveniently and properly calls Transubstantiation a hard word indeed to those who will not believe the great Mystery expressed by it DISCOURSE Before I engage in this Argument I cannot but observe what an unreasonable task we are put upon by the bold confidence of our Adversaries to dispute a matter of Sense which is one of those things about which Aristotle hath long since pronounc'd there ought to be no dispute ANSWER Before I engage in this Argument I cannot but observe what an unreasonable task we are put upon by the bold confidence of our Adversary not to dispute a matter of sense since upon this all parties are agreed that there ought to be no dispute but to Answer all the absurdities which the Author is engaged in by espousing false principles and among the rest as the chief that Sense can judge of the internal nature or substance of things For all that is the proper object of Sense that is the species or outward accidents of Bread and Wine are allowed to be present in the Sacrament by all Catholics as well as Separatists And we strangely admire that he should not remember that Rule of his Master Aristotle which every young Scholar learns in the beginning of his Logick that Substantia non incurrit in sensus Substance is not the object of sense From whence it is apparent to all Men that have the use of their Reason that all the Authors cracking confidence upon this Argument is founded upon a vulgar Error slily insinuated that Catholics believe that which they see in the Sacrament of the Eucharist to be the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ But lest any should be deceived with this popular Argument and take up a prejudice against us as in good reason they may since they are made to believe that we would perswade them out of their Senses I shall be so far from endeavouring to do this as the Author fondly imagins all Catholics do that rather out of a deep sentiment of gratitude to the great God of Nature who hath so fearfully and wonderfully made these Bodies of ours I shall freely acknowledge that the Senses do not deceive us at all For the deception doth not lie at any time in the Senses but in the Judgment and the Senses do always give true hints to the mind when their Organs and the Medium are rightly disposed and they are employed about their proper and adequate Objects What we may certainly conclude from the goodness and veracity of God is that he will not deceive Man the Creature that he loves and therefore usually those objects which are represented to him by his Senses as having relation to the conservation of his Body are of such and such a determinate substance as the outward and sensible accidents do hint them to be of So that he is not mistaken in them unless he judge rashly and then too there are means provided by which he may correct his Error Thus the substance of Fire is generally represented under the species or usual form of Fire Of a Dove under the usual form or likness of a Dove So that we may allow in this manner that ordinarily the substance doth incur into the mind through the Senses by means of the accidents but it is certain that the Senses cannot judge either of the substance or accidents Therefore God who is the Author of Nature and can change it when he pleaseth that Man may not be deceived in this kind doth usually inform him when he maketh any substantial change of this Nature in his Creatures which is above the reason of Man to comprehend from any hints made by his senses as being truly Miraculous Thus when the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of a Dove Man was informed by God that it was really the Holy Ghost in substance of Nature and not a Dove When the same Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the Visible appearance of Cloven Tongues of Fire they had notice from Heaven that this was truly that Holy Spirit which came in this Visible shape When Angels appeared in the forms of Men they had it revealed to them that they were notwithstanding Angels When our Lord presented himself to his Disciples under the species of Bread he told them plainly that it was his Body To shew which Revelation to have been made from the Authority of Holy Scripture and Fathers will be the subject of the ensuing Discourse This which I have here said being fully conclusive against the Argument of sense's being properly the Judge of substance And now who is it that abuseth the senses the Author or Catholics He by applying them to judge of substance which is an object that is no way adequate to them would make them to deceive Men. We employing them about their proper objects which are here the accidents or outward species of Bread and Wine which as by them we are convinced do still remain after Consecration prove the Miracle from sense because at the same time that these appear the understanding being inlightened by Faith discerns the true and real substance of Christs Body to be veiled under them which makes the thing truly Miraculous To employ therefore the senses about
disapprove of the Definition made in King Edwards time and that they were for a Real Presence And of this we can make no doubt when we peruse the Writings of those Pastors who succeeding them till this very time have given so full an account of their Faith in this weighty instance and yet have past uncensur'd nay have been of greatest esteem in their Church And how indeed can we imagin that Men of the least sincerity would leave an Article of infinite concern to Mens Immortal Souls in so undeterminat a Sense that Christians might believe which they pleas'd either that Christs Body was thus Really present in the Sacrament which if it were not they incurr'd the guilt of gross Idolatry or that it was not so which if Really it was they were guilty of Infidelity in not believing Our Lord upon his Word and a breach of the first Commandment in not Worshipping the second Person in the Trinity presenting himself to us in this Sacrament according to that saying of the Great St. Augustin concerning this matter Peccamus non adorando We sin in not Worshipping Such an Equivocation as this in an Assembly of Christian Pastors upon the proposal of so great a Point must needs have been of far more dangerous consequence to Christians than the Ambiguous Answers of the Delphic Oracle were to the Heathen World. This far then the business is clear'd that the Real and not Virtual Presence only of Christs Body in the Sacrament was the Doctrin of the English Church for what some Men amongst them of great Latitude in Belief have maintain'd to the contrary doth not prejudice the truth which the more sound of that Communion have generally asserted And notwithstanding that their Late Clergy in the Year 1661. in compliance to the Dissenting Party by the chief management of the late Lord Shaftsbury's Politic Spirit were induced after hard solliciting to receive an Additional Declaration tho' not Printed in their Rubrick Letter at the end of their Communion Service yet since they would not by any means be brought to receive the former Declaration of King Edward the Sixth's time without the change of those words It is here declared that no Adoration is here intended or ought to be done unto any Real and Essential Presence of Christs Natural Flesh and Blood into these which follow It is here declared that no Adoration is here intended or ought to be done either unto the Sacramental Bread and Wine there Bodily Received or unto any Corporal Presence of Christs Natural Flesh and Blood the words Real and Essential as you see being changed into Corporal this cannot but reasonably be imagin'd to be done out of Caution to the Present Church her maintaining still a Real and Essential Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament whereas those in the latter time of King Edward seem to have denied it Moreover tho' it be said in this last Declaration that the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their very Natural Substances and therefore may not be Adored yet if by Natural Substances or Essences here is no more meant as the words may very well be understood and are shewn by Catholics to be understood in the Authorities of Theodoret and Gelasius than the external and sensible Essences or properties of Bread and Wine and not the internal Substance or Essence this Declaration will not be repugnant either to the Real Presence or to Transubstantiation and the Adoration will be terminated neither on the Internal or External Essences of Bread and Wine but upon Christ the only begotten Son of God Really Present in the Blessed Sacrament which the Council of Trent it self hath declared to be the Sense of the Catholic Church as to the Point of Adoration Again if the last part of this Declaration wherein it is said that the Natural Body and Blood of Christ are in Heaven and not here it being against the Truth of Christs Natural Body to be at one time in more places than one be yet urg'd to prove that the above mention'd Real Presence of Christs Body in the Eucharist is not at present the Doctrin of the English Church I answer that whereas it is there said that the Natural Body and Blood of Christ are in Heaven and not here meaning in the Sacrament if by Natural Body be there understood Christs Body according to the Natural manner of a Bodies being present and according to which tho' in a glorified state it actually exists in Heaven we do not say that the Body of Christ is here in this Sacrament in that natural manner any more than the Doctors of the English Communion but if no more be mean't by the words Natural Body but the very true and as we may call it Essential Body of Christ tho' present in a supernatural manner proper to the Sacrament it is a very bold assertion to say absolutely that it is against the Truth of it to be so or that this cannot possibly be true since we know so little to what the Omnipotence of God which could convey this very Body into the Room where the Disciples were the Doors being fast shut can extend it self and yet the Body be the very same Body in verity of Nature which is in Heaven the Presence of which in the Sacrament a late Eminent Author of the English Church sufficiently intimates that some he might have said very many of their Divines have maintain'd notwithstanding the vain endeavors which the Answerer to the Treatise Printed at Oxford to shew the sentiment of the Church of England Divines in this Point has us'd to wrest them to another Sense For after having told us his own Opinion viz. that all which the Doctrin of his Church meaning the Church of England implies is only a Real Presence of Christ's Invisible Power and Grace so in and with the Elements as by the Faithful receiving of them to convey Spiritual and Real Effects to the Souls of Men he subjoyns if any one yet thinks that some at least of our Divines have gone farther than this i. e. do seem to speak of the Presence of the very same Body which is in Heaven let them know says he it is the Doctrin of our Church I am to defend and not of every particular Divine in it Now altho' by those wary terms of every particular Divine and seeming to speak he endeavors what he can both to diminish the number and their clear acknowledgment of the Presence of the same Body in the Sacrament which is in Heaven yet he could not but know that the Asserters of it were very many and still are even since the Declaration and such as may be presumed to know the meaning of it as cunningly worded as it is as well if not better than himself and for this besides what I have had by particular converse with divers I will appeal to the sincerity of those who have heard the Determinations which
Protestants and particularly the Author would have them to be must need be allow'd to be obscure and difficult because they differ so much among themselves as well as from the Catholic Church about the meaning of them and yet none of the Evangelists nor St. Paul altho ' varying in expressing the Words of Institution have inserted any words which in the least explain the Sense to be Figurative or Parabolical hence it follows That the Church hath great reason to understand them properly 2. Because now just upon our Lords Passion it was the Time for Figures and Shadows to vanish and for Truth and Reality to appear And our Lord was Instituting the Great Sacrament of Christian Religion he could not therefore speak with too much force and efficacy especially since he now spake to his Apostles in private to whom he was used at such times to speak very plainly 3. Because Christ was making his Last Will and Testament which was to be expressed in such plain and distinct Terms that there might be no just reason for his Children to contend about their Legacy And can we be so unworthy as to imagin that in this his Last and Kindest Bequest he left us no more but a Morsel of Common dry Bread to eat and a little ordinary Wine and Water to drink in remembrance of him whereas a kind and good natur'd Man will leave his most precious Jewel to his dear Friend to remember him by when he departs from him to take a long Journy and to make any considerable stay A good Father when he is to dye thinks all his best Goods and Possessions too little to leave his Children He was also delivering a Commandment to observe which that it might be rightly executed ought to be promulged in a manner very intelligible 4. Our Lord was near his Death and therefore it was a time to avoid Obscurity in Speech since he was not to continue any longer amongst them to interpret it 5. Our Saviour in the choice of these words had not only regard to the Apostles but he likewise spake them to all the Church in all succeeding Ages and knew certainly when he pronounced them how they would always construe them and yet for the confirmation of the Sense of the Reality did never suffer it to be call'd in question so much as privately for almost a Thousand Years when also the whole Body of his Pastors who were endu'd with extraordinary Light and Assistance of his Holy Spirit to enable them to interpret aright the Divine Misteries had already just before in Three Councils agreed upon this Sense as that which had been constantly receiv'd in the Church ever since our Saviours Time and which was more explicitly declared against that one Dissenter who sometime after appear'd against it but was ashamed of his Opinion and recanted Lastly if we consider as hath been now fully prov'd That all the places of Holy Scripture as also all other Forms of Human Discourse which are alledged by our Adversaries as like to this of our Lords Institution are wholly different from it shewing them the quite contrary to what they pretend them for and that our Saviour did neither before at or after the Institution any ways prepare or dispose his Disciples to understand these words in a Figurative Sence it must needs be very evident to any Man that will impartially regard things that because Christ ever spake reasonably and in a manner conformable to good Sense and his Power infinitely exceeds the capacity of our Minds therefore there is no Reason to understand those words of our Saviours THIS IS MY BODY and THIS IS MY BLOOD in a Metaphorical Sense as the Author and the Sacramentarins do but an evident necessity to believe them in that proper Sense which necessarily inferreth Transubstantiation as the Catholic Church doth since Scripture interpreted by the Rules of Human Discourse as also the Tradition and Authority of this Church oblige us so to do The latter of which is to be the Subject of the Second Part of the Answer to the Discourse against Transubstantiation The Contents of the First Part of the Answer to the Discourse against Transubstantiation 1. IT is shew'd that our Adversary doth not rightly state the Point Page 1 2. What is meant by Transubstantiation 4 3. The Argument from Sense shew'd to be Senseless ibid. 4. The Catholic Faith is ridicul'd by the Adversary 7 5. The Real Presence and Transubstantiation depends on Gods Veracity 9 6. No Transubstantiation an Article of Faith with our Adversaries and establish'd with Penalties 10 7. The Method of the ensuing Discourse 11 8. The Necessity of understanding our Lords words in the Sense of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation 13 9. The Sense of the Schoolmen corrupted and their Problematical Discourse mistaken for their Conclusion by the Adversary 16 10. The Disparity between the Figurative Expressions in Holy Scripture and the words of Institution This is my Body shews that the Latter are to be taken properly 25 c. 11. Principles upon which the ensuing Discourse is grounded ibid. 12. How Catholics interpret the words of Institution and how Protestants 26 13. In what Sense Catholics allow a Figure in the Sacrament 28 14. Rules to judg of Metaphorical Expressions by 31 2. 15. The Application of the forgoing Rules by which it appears that those merely Metaphorical Expressions of our Saviors being a Door a Vine c. are not at all like to the Form of Consecration This is my Body 33 c. 16. A Metaphor conveys no Spiritual Vertue Page 36 17. The Exposition of Pharaoh's Dream doth not resemble the Sacred words of Consecration This is my Body ibid. 18. Distinctions and Rules for the following Discourse of the Nature of Signs ibid. 19. Application of the foregoing Rules and Distinctions 37 20. The Analogy which the words of Institution This is my Body might have to the Paschal Form in Scripture or to those Phrases cited from Esdras or any of the Rabins doth not prove that Christs words here are taken Figuratively and not in a proper Sense 40 21. A Deeds being call'd a Conveyance doth not prove that the words This is my Body are not to be taken properly 46 22. Texts of Scripture examined and prov'd not at all to favour the Sense of the Author of the Discourse against Transsubstantiation 47 23. Christ's Body being broken and his Bloud being poured out for the Remission of Sins before he was Crucified proves the Sense of the Reality or Transubstantiation 52. 24. The 6th Chapter of S. John's Gospel interpreted as relating to the Blessed Sacrament 54 c. 25. The words Do this in Remembrance of me explain'd 59. 26. The Real Vertue of Christs Body in the Sacrament cannot be prov'd from Scripture unless the Real Presence of his Body it self be admitted 60 27. Further Reasons from Scripture for the proper Sense of the words of Institution which necessarily