the Magazine not only of Arguments and Authorities but of Similitudes too it seems which are to Defend that Church Quemadmodum sayes he e de Euch. Venerat qui Christum in terris vestitum adorabant non ipsum solum sed etiaâ— vestes quodam modo adorabant And are Christs Garments then to be Worshipp'd with Latria as well as Christ himself or as the Sacrament I think they will not say this of any of the Relicks they have of Christ or his clothes Did they who worship'd Christ when he was upon the Earth worship his clothes to Did the Wise men worship the blankets the clouts and the swadling-cloths as well as the blessed Babe lying in the Manger Might it not as well be supposed that the People worship'd the Ass upon which Christ rode not for himself but for the sake and upon the account of Christ who was upon him as that they worship'd his clothes or his Sandals on which he trod or the Garments which he wore Bellarmineâ— quodammodo adorabant shews his heart misgave him and that he was sensible the Similitude would not do when he used it but T. G. is a man of more heart and courage or front at least and he found the cause was in great need of it and so he sayes boldly without any trembling quodammodo that they worship'd his Garments The humane Nature it self of Christ considered alone and being a meer Creature is not an object of Worship as St Augustin sayes a St. Aug. serm 58. De verbis Dom. si natura Deus non est filius sed Creatura nec colendus est omnino nec ut Deus Adorandus Ego Dominicam carnem imo perfectam in Christo humanltatem propterea adoro quod a divinitate suscepta atque Deitati unita est Denique si hominem separaveris a Deo ut Photinus vel Paulus Samosatenus illi ego nunquam credo nec servio but only as it is hypostatically united to the Divine Nature i. e. so intimately and vitally united to it as to make one Person with it with God himself one Theantbropos and so one Object of Worship and if the Sacramental Symbols or species are to be adored with true latria not per se or upon their own account but by reason of the intimate Union and conjunction which they have with Christ as they say not only with Christs body for that alone is not to be worship'd much less another thing that is united to it but with Christs Persons and then there must be as many Persons of Christ as there are consecrated Wafers then these species being thus worship'd upon the same account that Christs humanity is as Gregory de Valentia owns they must This Worship sayes he belongs after a certain manner to the species as when the Divine Logos is worship'd in the humanity which he assumed the Divine Worship belongs also to the â—reated Humanity Pertinet per accidens suo quodam modo ea veneratio ad species quemadmodum suo modo etiam hoc ipso quod adoratur Divinum verbum in humanitate assumptaÌ„ pertinet ejusmodi Divinus cultus ad illam humanitatem creatam secundario neque in hoc est aliqua Idololatria must be also united to Christ the same way that his Humanity is united Valentia Disput 6. Quaest 11. de ritu oblat Eucharist to his Divinity so as to become with that one entire object of Worship as the species are according to them with Christ in the Eucharist that is they must become one suppositum or one Person with Christ This is so weighty a difficulty as makes the greatest Atlas's of the Roman church not only sweat but sink under it Valentia a owns the wonderful Conjunction the a De Idol l. 2. c. 5. species have with Christ but denies their being hypostatically united to him but then how are they to be worship'd Since it is owned by him and the schoolmen that the very Humanity of Christ is to be worship'd only upon the account of its hypostatical Union and tho' God be very nearly and intimately present in other Creatures yet they are not to be worship'd notwithstanding that presence because they do not make one suppositum or hypostasis with him or are not hypostatically united to him Bellarmine being pinch'd on this side removes the burden to t'other that is as sore and can as little bear it Christ sayes he is much otherwise in the Eucharist then God bLonge aliter est Christus in Eucharistia in aliis rebus Deus Nam in Eucharistia unum tantum suppositum est idque Divinum câ—eteraque omnia divina ad illud pertinent cum illo unum quid faciunt licet non eodem modo Bellar. de Euch. l. 4. c. 30 is in other things for in the Eucharist there is but one only suppositum and that divine all other things present belong to and make one thing with that If they do so then sure they are hypostatically united with Christ as T. G's Learned Adversary charges upon Bellarmine from this place if they make but one suppositum with him and but one with him let it be in what manner it will they must be hypostatically united to him Bellarmines Licet non eodem modo tho' not after the same manner is both intelligible and will not at all help the matter 't is only a Consession from him that at the same time that he says they are hypostatically united to Christ and make one suppositum with him and one object of Worship that he does not know how this can be and that his thoughs are in a great streight about it so that he doubts they are not hypostically united at the same time that he yet saies they are so for this is no way imposed upon him as T. G. saies notwithstanding his non eodem modo If in the Incarnation of Christ one should say That the Soul and Body of Christ are both united to his Divinity but that both were not united after the same manner but the Soul in such a manner as being a Spirit and the Body in another yet so that both made but one Suppositum with it and that Divine and that all his humane Nature belong'd to that and made one with that tho' not after the same manner would not this be still an owning the hypostatical Union between Christs Divinity and his Soul and Body and so must the other be between Christs Divinity and his Body and the Species if they make one Suppositum and are as they hold to be worship'd as such Thus I have taken care to give you their Doctrine and state the case with some exactness tho' I am sensible with too much length but that is the way to shorten the controversie and by this means I have cut off their common retreats and stopt up those little lurking holes they generally run to and in which they are wont to Earth themselves As that
Credulity is certainly a fault as well as Infidelity And he who said blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed hath no where said blessed are they that have seen and yet have not believed much less blessed are they that believe directly contrary to what they see To conclude this Discourse By what hath been said upon this Argument it will appear with how little truth and reason and regard to the interest of our common Christianity it is so often said by our Adversaries that there are as good arguments for the belief of Transubstantiation as of the Doctrine of the Trinity When they themselves do acknowledge with us that the Doctrine of the Trinity is grounded upon the Scriptures and that according to the interpretation of them by the consent of the ancient Fathers But their Doctrine of Transubstantiation I have plainly shewn to have no such ground and that this is acknowledged by very many learned men of their own Church And this Doctrine of theirs being first plainly proved by us to be destitute of all Divine Warrant and Authority our Objections against it from the manifold contradictions of it to Reason and sense are so many Demonstrations of the falsehood of it Against all which they have nothing to put in the opposite Scale but the Infallibility of their Church for which there is even less colour of proof from Scripture then for Transubstantiation it self But so fond are they of their own Innovations and Errours that rather then the Dictates of their Church how groundless and absurd soever should be call'd in question rather then not have their will of us in imposing upon us what they please they will owerthrow any Article of the Christian Faith and shake the very foundations of our common Religion A clear evidence that this Church of Rome is not the true Mother since she can be so well contented that Christianity should be destroyed rather then the Point in question should be decided against her FINIS A DISCOURSE Concerning the ADORATION OF THE HOST As it is Taught and Practiced in the CHURCH of ROME Wherein an Answer is given to T. G. oâ— that Subject And to Monsieut Boileau's late book De Adoratione Eucharistiae Paris 1685. EDINEVRGH Re-printed by John Reid Anno DOM 1686. A DISCOURSE OF THE ADORATION Of the HOST c. IDolatry is so great a Blot in any Church what ever other glorious Marks it may pretend to that it is not to be wondred that the Church of Rome is very angry to be charged with it as it has alwayes been by all the Reform'd who have given in this among many others as a just and necessary Reason of their Reformation and it must be confessed to be so if it be fully and clearly made good against it and if it be not it must be owned to be great Uncharitableness on the other side which is no good Note of a Church neither as grievous Slander and most uncharitable Calumny which will fall especially upon all the Clergy of the Church of England who by their Consent and Subscription to its Articles and to the Doctrine of its Homilies and to the Book of Common Prayer do expresly join in it For it is not the private Opinion only of some particular and forward men in their Zeal and Heat against Popery thus to accuse it of Idolatry but it is the deliberate and sober and downright Charge of the Church of England of which no honest man can be a Member and Minister who does not make and believe it I might give several Instances to shew this but shall only mention one wherein I have undertaken to defend our Church in its charge of Idolatry upon the Papists in their Adoration of the Host which is in its Declaration about Kneeling at the Sacrament after the Office of the Communion in which are these remarkeable words It is hereby declared that no Adoration is 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 for the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithful Christians Here it most plainly declares its mind against that which is the Ground and Foundation of their Worshipping the Host That the Elements do not remain in their natural Substances after Consecration if they do remain as we and all Protestants hold even the Lutherians then in Worshipping the consecrated Elements they worship meer Creatures and are by their own Confession guilty of Idolatry as I shall shew by and by and if Christs natural Flesh and Blood â—e not corporally present there neither with the Substance nor Signs of the Elements then the Adoring what there is most be the Adoring some things else then Christs body and if Bread only be there and they adore that which is there they must surely adore the Bread it self in the opinion of our Church but I shall afterwards state the Controversie more exactly between us Our Church has here taken notice of the true Issue of it and declared that to be false and that it is both Unfit and Idolatrous too to Worship the Elements upon any account after Consecration and it continued of the same mind and exprest iâ— is particularly and directly in the Canons of 1640. where it sayes a Canon 7. 1640. about placing the Communion Table under this head A Declaration about some Rites and Ceremonis That for the cause of the Idolatry committed in the Mass all Popish Altars were demolish'd so that none can more fully charge them with Idolatry in this point then our Church has done It recommends at the same time but with great Temper and Moderation the religious Gesture of bowing towards the Altar both before and out of the time of Celebration of the Holy Eucharist and in it and in neither a Ib. can 7. 1â—40 Vpon any opinion of a corporal presence of Christ on the Holy Table or in the mystical Elements but only to give outward and bodily as well as inward worship to the Divine Majesty and it commands all Persons to receive the Sacrament Kneeling b Rubric at Communion in a posture of Adoration as the Primitive Church used to do with the greatest Expression of Reverence and Humility tropo proskynesios kai sebasmatos St. Cyrill of Hierusalem speaks c Cyril Hierosolym Catech. Mystag 5. and as I shall shew is the meaning of the greatest Authorities they produce out of the Ancients for Adoration not to but at the Sacrament so far are we from any unbecoming or irreverent usage of that Mystery as Bellarmine d Controv. de Eucharist when he is angry with those who will not Worship it tells them out of Optatus that the Donatists gave it to Dogs and out of Victor Vticencis that the Arriaâ—s trod it under their Feet
possible then it is certainly the most phantastick Food and the most phantastick way of eating it that can be imagined then there must be a new way of eating which is not eating and a new way for a Body to be present and yet not present as a Body and I will add there must certainly be then a new understanding which is no understanding that can understand or believe all this But farther ye have found it necessary for your purpose of Adoring the Host to keep the Body of Christ confined to it and inclosed in it as a Prisoner till the Species corrupt and so the prison is as it were opened and the Body let loose and when that is gone whither ye think it be the Species or the substance of Bread that corrupts I would gladly know and surely then when the Body is gone there is no need of such a miracle to keep the Accidents without a Subject if it be Bread what think ye of this sudden Transmutation from Bread to Flesh and from Flesh to Bread again and this latter without any words from the Priest but since Christs body must be so permanently in the Host not only in the act and use of the Sacrament but at all other times ye are then forced to own that as it is eaten in the Communion as well by those who have no faith as by the most faithfull Christians so if any other Animals should happen to eat the Host taking it no doubt heretically for meer Bread that yet they truly take the Body of Christ and eat it after some manner or other but whither it bea ster a natural manner in them or no I donâ—t know how you have resolved but most of the Schoolmen have agreed that Scandalous question b An mus vel Porcus vel canis comedens hostiam suscipit corpus Christi Bishop Jewels reply Artic. 24. see Burchard de correct Miss upon these Questions De vino in calice congelatâ— de musca vel aranea vel veneno mixto cum sanguine de vomitu post receptionem Sacramenti Quandâ— cadit corpus Christi Quando cadit sanguis Christi fol. 51. 52. in the Affirmative Whither if a Mouse or a Hog or a Dog eat the Host they do partake of Christs Body Or as Thomas Aquinas your most Angelick Doctor sayes consequently to this Opinion of yours c Aliter derogaret veritati corporis Christi p. 3. qu. 79. It would otherwise derogate from the truth of this Sacrament and Christs presence in it So that wherever the Species are there is alwayes Christs body and whatever happens to them happens to that also If they fall to the ground Christs body does so to and so if they lie in a hollow Tooth or hang but in the least crum or drop upon a Communicants beard there according to their principles they and the body must be worship'd with Latria and if they be in a Mouse or Flies body that has got to them the adorable Object still goes with the species till they be corrupted and whither the species be corrupted or no if they be poysoned as they have sometimes been or whither Christ be there with the Accidents of the Poyson I can't tell but when the Species are in the pix he is as fast there as he ever was in his Sepulcher and to all appearance as dead and senseless and if the Species be burnt or Gnawn or vomited out of the Stomack before they are corrupted all these misfortunes belong as truly to Christs body as to them and so worse indignities may be thus offered every day to Christ glorious body then ever were offered to it in its state of Humility and Contempt upon Earth when it was spit upon and Scourged and Pierced and Crucified by the Jews But Good God! that men should think to Honour and Adore Christ and his body by thus exposing them to the danger of the vilest Abuses that humane reason should be so decayed and besotted as to believe and defend such palpable Absurdities That Christianity should be so shamefully and abominably exposed to all the World by such an extravagant Doctrine and such an obnoxious practice and unreasonable Idolatry as this is God almighty open all our Eyes that we may not be given up to blindness of Mind and darkness of understanding and to the belief of Lies as most Idolaters generally were but may it please him who is the God of Truth to bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived in this or any other matter in which charitable and constant Prayer of our Church which is much better then cursing and Anathematizing its Adversaries I hope as well as its Friends will not refuse to joyn with it FINIS A DISCOURSE AGAINST Purgatory EDINBVRGH Re-Printed by John Reid Anno DOM. 1686. A DISCOURSE AGAINST PURGATORY AMONG all the Errours of the Church of Rome the Superstructures she hath made of hay and stubble upon the substantial Doctrine of Christianity this Fable of Purgatory is one of the most notorious invented on purpose to encrease the treasury of the Church by putting the grossest abuses upon the ignorant and unwary People over whom she hath got such an absolute dominion as that she can make them believe what she pleases and then can impose her additions to the word of God as infallible decrees How easily are the multitude led into by-paths when that light of Scripture is taken away from their eyes which God revealed on purpose that by the search thereof they might find Eternal Life For the Scriptures are the most full and complete systeme of God's Laws the most sufficient and certain means of Man's Salvation I cannot then but wonder how it came to pass that this middle state called Purgatory hanging thus between Heaven and Hell was not known to the Pen-men of God's word or if it were known that they should either be so envious of the Churches happiness or so forgetfull of the work they took in hand which was to write the whole Gospel of Christ as not so much as one of them should give us notice of this place But this new Doctrine with many others was introduced when the World was in the dark for in the ninth and tenth Centuries such a General ignorance and stupidity had seized the minds of Men that scarce any one knew what the Doctrine of Christ was when the World was thus stupid and Superstitious Men were inclined to believe strange things upon this fair opportunity some cunning Men drew the simple People into the belief of the most absurd Doctrines under the notion of being great and profound Mysteries the gallantry of Faith they imagined was mightily shewn in swallowing down-right Contradictions when this breach was once made â—pon the minds of Men then any errour might enter though as senseless and ridiculous as Purgatory it self Which Opinion I will first shew to have no foundation in the Canonical Scripture Secondly for what
this there is a constant use of Confession and Absolution too in the Church of England in every dayes Service which though they be both in general terms as they ought to be in publick Worship yet every Penitent can both from his own conscience supply the generality of the confession by a remorseful reflection upon his own particular sins as well as if he did it at the knees of a Priest and also by an Act of Faith can apply the general Sentence of Absolution to his own Soul with as good and comfortable effects as if it had been specially pronounced by his Confessor But this publick confession doth not please the Romanists neither and they know a Reason for their dislike namely because this doth not conciliate so great a Veneration to the Priest-hood as when all men are brought to kneel to them for Salvation Neither doth this way make them to pry into the secret thoughts of Men as Auricular confession doth wherein the Priest is not only made a Judge of mens estate but a Spy upon their behaviour and is capable of becoming an Intelligencer to his Superiours of all the Designs Interests and even constitutions of the People Moreover the church of England allows of private confessions also as particularly in the Visitation of the sick which office extends also to them that are troubled in Mind or conscience as well as to the afflicted in Body where the Minister is directed to examine particularly the state of the Decumbents soul to search and romage his conscience to try his Faith his Repentance his Charity nay to move him to make a special confession of his sins and afterwards to absolve him upon just grounds Nay farther yet if besides the case of sickness any Man shall either out of perplexity of Mind scrupulosity or remorse of conscience or any other devout consideration think it needfull to apply himself to a Priest of the church of England for advice ease or relief he hath incouragement and direction so to do in the first Exhortation to the Holy communion and may be sure to find those who will tenderly and faithfully as well as secretly administer to his necessities So that I see not what defect or omission can be objected to this church in all this Affair or what Temptation any Man can have upon this account to go from us to the church of Rome But all this will not satisfy them of the Church of Rome they are neither contented with publick confession nor with private no nor with secret neither if it be only occasional or voluntary It is the universality and necessity of it which they insist upon for it is not with them a Matter of Ecclesiastical Discipline to prevent the Scandal of the Society to conserve the Reverence of the Church or to restrain men from sinning or much less an Office of Expediency and Prudence to be resorted to upon exigencies or such as may accidentally become necessary upon emergency as suppose upon the â—trocity of some fact committed the scandalousness of some persons former life which may make him more doubtful of his Pardon the weakness of his Judgment the Melancholy of his Temper or the Anxiety of his Mind or any such like occasion but it must be the standing indispensable duty of all men as the condition of the Pardon of their Sins in one word it must be a Sacrament of Divine institution and of Universal Obligation For so the Council of Trent determines Sess 4. canon 1. Si quis dixerit in Ecclesia catholica poenitentiam non esse vere proprie Sacramentum pro fidelibus quoties post Baptismum in peccata labentur ipsi Deo reconciliandis a Domino nostro institutum Anathema sit i. e. Let him be accursed who shall affirm that Penance is not truly and properly a Sacrament instituted and appointed in the Universal Church by our Lord Christ himself for the reconciling those Christians to the Divine Majesty who have fallen into Sin after their Baptism And in the Doctrinal part of that Decree they teach and assert more particularly First That our Saviour instituted this Sacrament expresly Joh. 20. 22. 2. That this Sacrament consists of two parts viz. The Matter and the Form the matter Sess 14. Cap. 2. of the Sacrament or quasi materia as they cautiously speak is the act or acts of the Penitent namely contrition confession and Satisfaction the Form of it is the act of the Priest in these words Absolvote 3. That therefore it is the duty of every Man cap. 3. who hath fallen after Baptism as aforesaid to confess his sins at least once a year to a Priest 4. That this confession is to be secret for publick cap. 5. confession they say is neither commanded nor expedient 5. That this confession of Mortal sin be very Ibid. exact and particular together with all circumstances especially such as speciem facti mutant alter the kind or degree of sin and that it extend to the most secret sins even of thought or against the 9th and 10th Commandment Ibid. 9. That the Penitent thus doing the Absolution of the Priest here upon pronounced is not Cap. 6. conditional or declarative only but absolute and judicial Now in opposition to this Doctrine and Decree of theirs and the practice of that Church pursuant thereof as well as in defence of the Doctrine and practice of the Church of England in that particular I will here endeavour to make good these Three things 1. That our blessed Lord and Saviour hath neither in his Gospel instituted such an Auricular Confession as aforesaid nor much less such a Sacrament of Penance as the Church of Rome supposes in the recited Decree 2. That Auricular Confession hath not been of constant and universal use in the Christian Church as the Romanists pretend much less looked upon as of Sacramental and necessary Obligation 3. That Auricular confession as it is now used in the Church of Rome is not only unneceslary and burdensome but in many respects very mischievous to Piety and the great ends of Christian Religion If the first of these appear to be true then at the worst the want of such an Auricular confession in the reformed Churches can be but an irregularity and no essential defect If the second of these assertions be made good then it can be no defect at all in those Churches that use not such a Rite but a novely and imposition on their parts who so strictly require it But if the third be true it will be the corruption and great fault of the Church of Rome to persevere in the injunction and practice of it and the excellency and commendation of those Churches which exclude it I begine with the first that it doth not appear that our Saviour hath instituted such an Auricular Confession of such a Sacrament of Penance as the Church of Rome pretends and practises I confess it is a Negative which I