that we are so far from abolishing the Episcopal Government which was in force in the Apostles times as the Bishop of Condom imputes to us that our Churches maintaining as they do an holy Union betwixt themselves living in a great deal of simplicity under the governance of our Pastours and Synods are a true Image of the ancient Churches of Jerusalem of Corinth of Ephesus of Galatia of the Colossians of the Thessalonians and of Rome it self all founded by the Apostles affecting not at all any superiority one over the other but all being equal amongst themselves united by the Bonds of the same Faith and of the same charity under the governance of the same Apostles and under one sole Spiritual Head Jesus Christ The word Bishop as it is known signifies onely an Overseer and no more than that of a Pastour or Minister the Apostles are indifferently termed one and the other It is known that in Germany and England the name of Bishops is retained and a kind of Hierarchy which we do not disapprove of being moderate as it is And in fine God is our witness that we love peace and union as the Bishop of Condom de-fsires but a true union of hearts and judgements with knowledge and as God himself hath commanded that we should love Peace with Truth FINIS A TABLE Of the chief Points THE FIRST PART I. THE Design of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise page 50. II. The Bishop of Condom 's first general proposition that those of the pretended Reformed Religion acknowledge that the Church of Rome doth embrace all the Fundamental points of Christian Religion page 58. III. The Bishop of Condom's second general proposition That the Church of Rome doth teach that Religious Worship is terminated on God only pag. 69. SECOND PART IV. Of Invocation of Saints pag. 67. V. Of Images and Relicks pag. 109. THIRD PART VI. Of Justification pag. 134. VII Of the merit of VVorks pag. 153. VIII Of satisfaction Purgatory and Indulgences pag. 156. FOURTH PART IX Of the Sacraments pag. 171. Baptism pag. 179. Confirmation pag. 191. Pennance and Sacramental Confession pag. 195. Extreme Vnction pag. 213. Marriage pag. 217. Orders pag. 219. FIFTH PART X. Of the Eucharist The Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the Real presence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the manner in which the Church of Rome understands these words This is my Body pag. 221 XI An Explication of these words Do this in remembrance of me pa. 249. XII The Exposition which the Bishop of Condom makes of the Doctrine of those of the Reformed Religion upon the Reality pag. 261. XIII Of Transubstantiation of Adoration and in what sense it is that the Bishop of Condom saith that the Eucharist is a Sign pag. 308. XIV Of the Sacrifice of the Mass p. 324. XV. Of the Epistle to the Hebrews pag. 327. XVI The Bishop of Condom's reflexion upon the precedent Doctrine pa. 332. XVII The Communion under both kinds pa. 55. SIXTH PART XVIII Of Tradition or the VVord written and the VVord unwritten pag 355. XIX Of the Authority of the Church pag. 370 XX. The judgment of those of the P. R. Rel. upon the Authority of the Church pag. 389 XXI Of the Authority of the Holy Chair and of Episcopacy pa. 426. FINIS A Note on line 17. pag 38. Because the Roman Creed doth not use genitum twice but unigenitum natum I did not think fit to render genitum and natum bâ—th by one English word nor yet to render ex patre natum born of the Father for we say in the Apostles Creed born of the Virgin Mary nor proceeding from the Father that being said properly of the Holy Ghost I therefore have said brought forth Against which if any take exception I declare let the Roman Church mean what She will by Natum I mean the same by brought forth For I meant to express her Latin words by English ones as strictly answering as I could Indeed in so great a mystery all language must needs be improper Errata insigniora Pag 11. l 23. dele that P. 25. l. 12. it lege them P. 32. l. 11. d. that P. 89. l. 5. leg that it is p. 132. l. penult fasten lege soften p. 138. l. 28. leg The errour p 157. l. 11. for leg before p. 158. l 21. del not p 182. l. ult lege in which p. 274. l 4. leg this death p 279. l 20. And it is also leg But it is
as he could but for all this what might not oâ— say upon each of these propositions if this were a place to handle the question to the bottom But seeing the Bishop of Condom desires not to insist upon refuting of him and also it being not the design of this answer we shall also content our selves almost throughout to set forth simply our beliefe in opposition unto his because it may be thought that there is no more needful as well to judge in general which of the two hath more the character of truth as to make appear that his exposition is always equally contrary to our fundamental points Onely after 〈◊〉 â—â—ample we will touch some reasons upon which we ground our selves for the same consideration which he himself makes where he saith that the knowledge of the principal reasons of a Doctrine doth often make up a necessary part of its exposition The reformed Churches do believe that it is not onely for the Glory of God but that it is his will also as he hath told us in his word that we should worship but one God that we should serve none but God with a religious worship that we should have recourse unto none but God only in our necessities that we should call upon none but God in our Prayers and that invocation according to the very word is a spiritual sacrifice which makes up the chiefest part of the worship due unto God onely We believe that this is the true meaning of the Commandments of the Law and of all the Doctrin of the Gospel which directs us throughout to address unto God our vows our Prayers and our thanksgivings and as for the faithful Servants of God which we esteem to have dyed in his favour we say that we should honour their memories praise their faith their zeal their charity and all other their Christian vertues and propose them for example and imitation unto the faithful This is properly our beliefs and we are perswaded that those who will consider it with a free and equal mind will not onely find it safe and right but also pure and disengaged from abuse from difficulties and uncertainties which accompany that of the Bishop of Condom We will begin to examin this Article of his exposition where he ends it to wit how the Saints know our vows our needs and our Prayers because it is in vain to pray if not understood we have seen that the Bishop of Condom hath declared that never any of his Communion did conceive that the Saints could know our Prayers and desires by themselves that is by their own proper nature that also there is not any immensity attributed unto them and that nevertheless the Church of Rome doth not decide whether it be by the Commerce of Angels or by revelations as were those of the Prophets or whether it be that they see all in God himself But doth not this uncertainty already shew what that Faith can be that hath no surer foundation Is it not a new circuit if our vowes and our Prayers must pass from us unto Angels from Angels to Saints and from Saints to God and is it not yet a new difficulty if we must suppose that Angels themselves know our thoughts and our dâ—sires For although they are Miâ—string Spirits as the Bishop of Condâ—â— alledges when they are sent foâ—â— to attend the Faithful it doâ— not follow that we ought to attribâ— to them the knowledge of hearts which onely belongs to an inâ—nite essence Heb i. 14 Jerem. 17 6 10. Amos 5 7. There is also this diffâ—rence betwixt the Saints and the Prophets that God himself hath said thâ— he revealed things to come unto thâ— Prophets but he never said that 〈◊〉 revealed our thoughts unto Saints and very unlike it is that the knowledge of future things seems to 〈◊〉 more reserved to God than oâ— thoughts and our Prayers as the Bâ—shop of Condom affirms It 〈◊〉 known that the Devils and even mâ— themselves sometimes search iâ— what is to come and that it is properly the knowledge of the hearâ— which God reserves unto himself â—lone Pâ—s 7 10 1 Chro â—6 s 7. It is yet a gulf of difficulties to Imâ—gin that the Saints see all things in thâ— infinite essence of God For is not this to attribute immensity unto them And is it not also to suppose that all things are in God either according to their proper nature or by their Images as they must needs be to be known or seen by the Saints whereas it was never said but that all things were in God only eminently as it is said in the Schools that is to say that the perfection or infinity of his essence comprehends all things and that there is nothing properly without him Besides good heed ought here to be taken that the principal and essential question is not to know how the Saints can understand our thoughts and our Prayers that may be in some sort indifferent but how we may be assured at Least they do know them For if we have only probabilities and conjectures for it this is not sufficient to establish a Religious Worship such as that is nor praying unto the Saints with confidence In the mean while the Church of Rome doth agree that the Saints do not know our desires and our wants by their own nature it were very needful therefore that their should be some very express revelation that might at Least inform us that they do know them though we were ignorant of the means but noâ— having any Likely revelation in this matter it is evident that all this worship of Saints hath no foundation There is yet another difficulty that the Bishop of Condom hath not touched which doth manifestly shew that there can be no assureance that the Saints who are prayed unto caâ— know our desires and Prayers oâ— that they are in a condition of doing what we pray unto them for it is thaâ— we cannot be assured of this it self that the greatest number of the Saintâ— who are prayed unto are in Heaven especially in the Roman Church where they believe a third place For although we ought to judge charitably of them who seem to dye in thâ— Lord yet the judgement of charitâ— is not sufficient to establish such worship as this is The Council nor the Bishop oâ— Condom upon the whole say nothing to these difficulties which yet are essential and preliminaries also as it may be said because it is a most evident truth that no true Religious Worship can be grounded upon uncertain reasons But Lastly having touched what the Bishop of Condom doth not resolve it is time to examin what he explains and that which he saith to be the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And First it is a Wonderful thing that in Laying down as he doth so Long a train of Doctrins as hath been mentioned going about to establish so considerable a Worship as the Worship of Saints is in
all its parts he tells us not one Word which says that God hath thus ordained it as if Religion were only an human Discipline and that God would be honoured and served according to our thoughts Deut 12 32 Is 1 12 Mâ—t 5.9 and not after his own institution Look into the Decrees of the Council the Catechism made by its authority the Commandments of the Church of Rome they never tell us upon this matter no more than on many others God Wills we Pray unto Saints or God bids we Pray unto Saints but the Church doth teach or the Council doth teach the Council Ordains and pronounceth Anathema This stile is very different from that of the Prophets and Apostles the former begins and almost ever ends Thus saith the Lord Exod. 5.1 1 Câ—â— 23 â—1 and the others We have received of the Lord what we haâ—e also delivered unto you It will be said that the Church of Rome and the Council of Trent are the Instruments of God and that it is God himself which speaketh by their mouth But this is to say a thing that is in question and very much in question this is to multiply questions whereas the Bishop of Condom pretends to diminish them The truth is that neither the Church of Rome noâ— the Council of Trent nor the Bishop of Condom who explains their Doctrinâ— are able to find one single passage it all the Scripture of the Old and new Testament which says that God wills the invocation of Saints nay what is far from that we do alledge in this case a great number which say the contrary The First thing which the Church of Rome doth teach is that is profitable to call upon the Saints and it is certain that as to this part the Council doth speak in these terms The Bishop of Condom doth a Little more sweetten the matter in adding that the Council is content to teach the Faithful that this practice is good and useful for them without saying any thing more and that so the meaning of the Church is to condemn those who reject this practise through scorn or errour This doth manifestly enough declare that those which are already in the Roman Communion might very well abstain from all Invocation of the Saints doing it with good intention as for example not to Pray but unto God alone or not believe the invocation of Saints to be absolutely necessary provided they do not despise nor condemn it that is to say that the Bishops are obliged to Preach the Invocation of Saints as the Council doth very expresly ordain that we are bound to hearken unto them and believe also what they teach but not to do what they teach From whence it appears to be a strange Doctrin and a Communion very extraordinary if it be true that some may practice a Religious Worship and others may refuse it This doth sufficiently make evident that our belief and our practise is safe and that we do follow the securer Way in that regard for if this Worship be but useful if the Council is contented also to teach it so without saying any farther we who openly profess that we do not reject it through scorn but only through the belief which we have that we ought not to address our vows and Prayers but to God only in appearance are not in any danger of incurring Gods displeasure in that behalf especially having neither Commâ—ndment as to this matter nor example in his word to oblige us therâ—uâ—â—◠〈◊〉 whereas the Church of Rome may well fear the jealousie of God if it be true as we believe that this Worship is contrary to his Will And it is Likely that we who reject this Worship because we are perswaded that God alone should be invoked are in as much safety at Least as those who are in the Roman Communion who have their Liberty to forbear it for it is a much less fault in Religion not to do a thing when one thinks it not to be good than not to do it when one believes it to be good and useful But on the other side how shall we reconcile the expressions of the Council of Trent and of the Bishop of Condom either with the profession of Faith which the Roman Catechism doth prescribe by authority of the said Council or with the opinions of the greatest Doctors of the Roman Church and with the general practice of all those of their Communion For the profession of Faith doth say in express terms not that it is good and useful to pray unto the Saints but purely and simply that we ought to Pray unto the Answ Answ to the repl of the King of Great Britain Page 872 Saints pronouncing Anathema against all those which do not receive this Doctrine And the Cardinal Du Peron of whom every one knows how his judgment is followed in the Roman Church saith in express Terms that the invocation of Saints is not onely useful and lawful but that it is necessary though by a conditional necessity which he doth not explain clearly However he pretends to prove this necessity by the authority of St. Ambrose and St. Hilary In sum how can it be said of such a Religious Worship as this that it is but useful as if in Religion all true Worship were not a true duty and by consequence a thing necessary especially a Worship which it is seen doth take up above half the time of the Ceremonies and services of the Roman Religion And when the Bishops have orders as in the matter now in hand In primis Counc Trent Sess 26. de invoc c. to teach above all things that the Saints who Reign with our Lord Jesus Christ do pray for us and that it is good and useful to render unto them a Religious honour and to fly unto their aid and succour is not this to say that we ought to do it But if any amongst them would forbear in this matter either because they do not think it absolutely necessary or because they will not address their Prayers unto any but God himself how can they assist at all the publick services where Saints are every hour called upon without saying Amen as others do or without being as it were a Sect separate in the midst of those of their Communion It is therefore most certain that these sorts of expressions of the Bishop of Condom are only sweetnings in terms to draw us unto a Religious service which he knows we believe to be truly evil It is but for the present the Gentlemen of the Roman Church give us to understand that if we would joyn with them we should not pray unto the Saints if we pleased but when once men are engaged we call to witness those who desert us if they do not oblige them to swear amongst other things that men ought to pray unto Saints as it is contained in the profession of Faith made by thâ— Council However it be useful or necessary
these Gentlemen do in some sort salve the former of these inconveniences in declaring as they do that they do not attribute any merit unto Works but by virtue of the free promise which God hath made to reward them producing them himself in us by his grace and besides the moderate persons amongst them do not dissent but that these sorts of expressions of merit may very well be waved and that ours are more humble and more safe as also on our part we do not deny but that those of the Roman Church may be suffered in the sense wherein they now explain them And it may be this is it which the Bishop of Condom doth here understand when he saith that the Learned of our Communion do not believe some of our Disputes upon this point to be very material What is here most mysterious is that upon this expression that good Works do merit eternal life there are â—ounded two other Doctrines which are very evil The first is that they are not contented to command works that are truly good and commanded as to worship God onely to serve none but him to obey our Superiours and lastly to love God with all our hearts and our Neighbour as our selves which is the summe of the Law and of Christian Religion but they have brought in the practice of Vows of Abstinences of Pilgrimages Macerations and all those other Works which the Bishop of Condom doth call Pennances because in very deed God hath not required any of that nature The other evil Doctrine which proceeds from the merit of Works is that of Satisfaction of Purgatory and Indulgences for those who do these Works of Pennance believe they satisfie at least in some part the justice of God and therefore it is that they call them Satisfactions and those who do none of them believe themselves destin'd to the pains of Purgatory and have recourse unto Indulgences to deliver them VIII Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences The Doctrine of Satisfactions is in reality so evil according to us that it doth intirely vitiate all that is good in that of Justification and of good Works One would say that it were another Gospel a Discourse meerly humane the several parts whereof do so ill agree together Very far is the whole Article from being conform unto the Analogy of Faith Es 1.18 Psal 32.12 Ps 103.12 The Scripture reiterates unto us throughout that God doth pardon us our sins for his Son's sake that if our sins were redder than scarlet he makes them white as snow that he imputes them not unto us that he covers them that he blotteth them out that he separateth them from us as far as the East is from the West The Bishop of Condom saith on the contrary that God doth pardon our sins but upon such condition under such Law and with such reservation as he pleaseth that he confers an intire abolition of all sins committed for Baptism but as for those that are committed after Baptism God forced by our ingratitude changes the eternal pain into a temporal This is what the Council of Trent calls remitting the sin and retaining the punishment This is to say that God doth pardon and he doth not pardon or at least that he doth not fully pardon Our sins all blotted out as they are do nevertheless cry for vengeance It is not enough that Jesus Christ hath atoned for them nor that we repent and endeavour to amend and to keep the Commandments of God if together herewith we do not Works which the Bishop of Condom calls painful and laborious or if we suffer not temporal pains either in this life or after death This is what hath been already touched the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is not onely injurious unto the mercy of God and unto the merit of the death of Jesus Christ by the conditions and restrictions which she presumes to bring thereunto but she contradicts her very self pulling down with one hand what she builds up with another On the one hand Jesus Christ hath fully payed the price of our ransome there is nothing wanting of this payment his justice is imputed unto us our sins are blotted out by his bloud In a word Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied for us And on the other hand Pag. 60 61. the justice of God and a certain way which he hath appointed will have us not to suffer our selves for our sins The Bishop of Condom would salve this contradiction by saying as he doth that these pains which God reserves are onely to keep us in our duty within the hands of Justice as he speaks and not to satisfie for our sins therefore it is that he makes a kind of protestation that if after the explication which he gives in that sense We shall object unto those of his Communion that they do prejudice unto the satisfactions of Jesus Christ that we must forget what he hath already told us that Jesus Christ has paid the full price of our ransom c. and that if we yet object to them that they believe they shall be able to satisfie of themselves as to some part of the pain which is due to their sins he may boldly say that the contrary doth appear by the Maxims which he hath established Unto which he adds for a conclusion That what they call satisfaction with the ancient Church is nothing AFTER ALL but an application of the infinite satisfaction of Jesus Christ It may plainly be seen by these last expressions of the Bishop of Condom's that he seemes to doe like the Dove which returned unto the Ark not knowing where to rest her foot AFTER ALL what they call satisfaction is nothing but the application of the satisfaction of Jesus Christ This expression hath something in it improper and incumbred because it cannot be any thing but Faith onely which is the hand of the Soul that can apply unto us the satisfaction of Jesus Christ by acts of love and reliance It cannot properly be said that any Workes done by us or that any pain that we suffer can be the application of the obedience which Jesus Christ rendred unto his Father and of the paines which he suffered for us The truth is that the Bishop of Condom after having defended as much as he could the opinions and the expressions of the Church of Rome will give to understand that AFTER ALL what they call satisfactions are not properly satisfactions that they themselves do not believe they can satisfie as they just now said more expresly and that in conclusion there is nothing really but the satisfaction of Jesus Christ which ought to be called by this name This Doctrine is sound and it is certain that it is in some sort to come unto us or rather to the truth of the Gospel but this is nothing in the main if the Doctrine of the Council of Trent be still allowed to stand that is to say if that be the Supreme
our Kings had not set some bounds to the enterprises of the Court of Rome As for Order or Orders for the Council sets down Seven under this name to wit the Priest the Deacon Order the Subdeacon the Acolyte the Exorcist the Reader and the Porter The Bishop of Condom speaks onely a word of Order in general as he hath done of Marriage to put it into the number of Sacraments It is true as he saith that we hold the ministry of the Word of God for a sacred thing taking the term in a general sense We practise the ceremony of Imposition of Hands as it was practised in the Apostles time but we cannot agree that Order or Orders are a true Sacrament as Baptism and the Eucharist as well for that in Orders there is no Element or Visible sign no more than in Marriage and in confession as also because it is in truth the nature of the Sacraments of the Gospel that the Sacraments ought to be common to all the Church and Orders are not It is in this point also the interest of Rome that made Orders a true Sacrament to the end she might withdraw all the great Body of the Roman Clergy from the Jurisdiction of the civil Magistrate and thereby make unto her self proper subjects of other Princes people in the midst of their States and Kingdoms as a particular Kingdom or Hierarchy apart not only distinct from the Temporal Monarchy but superiour and over-ruling Kings themselves Many things might be said upon this Article to shew principally that the Priesthood and the sacrificing of the Roman Church is an invention purely humane and that it hath no example nor any foundation in the Gospel for there can be no true Priesthood where there is not a true Sacrifice and in the following Discourse it shall be made appear that there is none such in the Mass But in this place we will be content to follow the Bishop of Condom who had no mind to engage in all these Questions whether it be that he deserts them tacitely by his silence or that he thought them to be fitter for the Schools than for publick edification or Lastly that he hastened to pass unto the matter of the Eucharist where he believed he might inlarge himself with less disadvantage THE FIFTH PART We are saith he now at last X. The Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the Real presence of the Body Bloud of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament the manner how she understands these words This is my Body arrived at the Question of the Eucharist c. as if one should say after a great deal of bad way now we are gotten a little more at large On the whole there is this difference betwixt all these Questions of the worshipping of Saints of Images and Relicks of Satisfactions of Purgatory of Indulgences of the number and efficacy of the Sacraments whereof we have hitherto treated and this of the Eucharist whereon at present we enter that in all the others there is not to be found any Footstep of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in all the Scripture of the Old and New Testament nor in the very First ages of Christianity whereas upon the question of the Eucharist the Roman Church pretends that she hath the Scripture it self on her side Therefore also it is that whereas the Bishop of Condom did but lightly pass over all the rest here saith he it will be necessary more amply to explain our Doctrine And here the better to accommodate our selves to the Bishop of Condom's method as we have done upon the other articles we will distinctly examine all the several Heads of which he makes so many Sections 1. The Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the Real Presence of the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament and how she understands these words THIS IS MY BODY 2. How she unâ—erstands these other words DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. 3. The Exposition which she makes of our belief as to the reality 4. Transubstantiation and Adoration and in what sense the Eucharist is a sign 5. The sacrifice of the Mass 6. What the Apostle teacheth in the Epistle to the Hebrews when he saith That Jesus Christ offered himself once 7. The reflexion which the Bishop of Condom makes upon this Doctrine 8. and Lastly The point of Communion under both kinds which the Bishop of Condom doth onely consider as a sequel or consequent of all the rest We will touch each of these Heads with as much brevity as shall be possible The Bishop of Condom begins with this proposition that the Real Presence is firmly established by these words of the institution of the Eucharist THIS IS MY BODY The reason which he gives thereof is because the Church of Rome doth understand them according to the letter and here it is that he saith what hath been alledged elsewhere upon another subject that you must no more ask them wherefore they apply themselves to the literal sense than of a Traveller why he follows the High way Let any one judge of the sequel by the beginning The Question betwixt us is Whether the Bread and the Wine in the Sacrament are truly and really the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ or whether they are so onely in the mystery That is to say whether the words of the institution This is my Body ought to be understood literally or figuratively whether they truly signifie a real presence as they speak or a presence mystical and of virtue for it is all one and the same thing The Bishop of Condom saith without any other pretext that the belief of the real presence is firmly established upon these words because the Church of Rome doth understand them according to the letter that is it is so because I understand it so that is to say that he decides the question by the thing it self which is in question or that he doth give us his sense his will for a reason To have the liberty to speak as the Bishop of Condom doth we must lay it as a principle that there is nothing in the Scripture that one should not or at least that may not be taken literally Then might she take literally what our Saviour saith elsewhere John 6.35 19.5 that he is the bread of Heaven or that he is a vine and his Disciples are the branches and that none should be allowed to inquire how it might be The Bishop of Condom judging truly enough that this was not a proposition maintainable enters upon two other conceipts more reasonable On the one side he ingageth us to prove that the words of institution of the Eucharist ought to be taken in a Figurative sense On the other he engages to prove himself Pa. 80 that they ought to be taken according to the letter It is their part saith he who have recourse to Figurative senses to give a reason of what they do We
doth it appear that after the death of our Saviour the same Apostles did adore the Sacrament Acts 2.46 It is onely very plainly said that they went breaking bread from house to house The Authours of the Office of the Holy Sacrament who have carefully collected all the passages of Ecclesiastical Doctours of the twelve first Centuries which they thought might favour the Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the Sacrament have caused to be printed in great letters all the passages where there is any word that seems to intimate that at any time or in any place the Sacrament was adored but they have neither found the word adore nor the thing signified by the word in the three first Ages and no more but the word onely in three or four places in all the following Ages until towards the Tenth Age. And which is more in those very places the adoration doth not relate unto the Sacrament but unto Jesus Christ believed â—o be in Heaven whence they cannot conclude a soveraign adoration of the Sacrament with greater reason than they grant we have when we alledge â—o the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome an infinite number of places where their Authors teach the adoration of Images If they will have it that in these places where their Authors speak of Images this term of Adoration doth not signifie a soveraign and absolute Adoration such as is given unto God but onely a veneration or relative honour as they speak why will they not allow that in those few places where those other Authours speak of the Sacrament the adoration whereof they speak may not also be an honour or â—eneration which is rendred unto the sacred Mysteries It is true as the Bishop of Condom affirms that the Church of Rome not acknowledging any other substance in the Sacrament but the body of Jesus Christ we do not wonder that those who are so perswaded pay it their adoration but from thence it self that they believe that adoration is a necessary consequence of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and that they doe not find this consequence neither in the Scripture nor in the practice of the Apostles and the times which are not in question there is much reason to admire that this same relation which the Gentlemen of the Roman Church do find betwixt these two Doctrines doth not at least give them some suspicion of them both or rather that it doth not at last incline them to reject both the one and the other XIV The Sacrifice of the Mass The same thing may be said of the Sacrifice of the Mass which the Bishop of Condom also regards onely as a consequence of the Real Presence and of Transubstantiation for there is nothing like it to be found in the Scriptures nor in the first Ages of Christianity In those first times they preached the Gospel and celebrated the Lords Supper in the very same simplicity wherein it was instituted but they said neither Low Mass nor High Mass nor Mass without communicants nor Mass unto such or â—uch an intention nor for all these particular ends for which Masses are â—aid at present nor Lastly the Mass â—n a Language not understood by the people At this time all this is practised in the Church of Rome and all the World knows that in this Church the Sacrifice of the Mass is as the principal and most important part of their Religion The propitiatory Sacrifices were distinguished from the Eucharistical Sacrifices Heb. 13.15 Psal 50.14 Psal 4.6 in that the former were to appease the Deity and to make expiâ—ation of sins by the bloud of the Offerings and the others to render thanks to God for blessings received or to â—rave others We do not deny but that the Lords Supper or the Eucharist may be called a Sacrifice in a large and general sense as the Scripture saith a Sacrifice of prayer and a Sacrifice of praise and that Alms deeds 〈◊〉 a sacrifice but the Church of Rome which alwayes forceth things unto extreams will have the Mass to be a true sacrifice We think saith the Bishop of Condom that this oblation makes God become favourable pa. 130. and therefore it is that we call it propitiatory Thus it is that there needs but a thought and a word to make a propitiatory Sacrifice and in this sort Prayer it self wherein we offer our selves unto God and believe that we render God favourable unto us is a true propitiatory Sacrifice We will not here press what the Apostle sayes Heb. 9.22 that there is no true propitiation or remission of sins without effusion of bloud We will onely observe that it is a rule of Divine Right touching the Sacrifices that not onely the Sacrifices but the Altar it self is of greater dignity and of greater holiness than the oblation and that the oblation it self is sanctified by the Altar here they will have a Sacrifice where it is known that the man who is the Sacrificer Exod. 29.37 Mat. 23.18 19. is but a worm of the Earth the Altar a stone or Table made by mans hand and the offering the proper Son of God God himself If they who have read this part of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise would attentively cast their eyes at the same time upon those passages of the Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles which speak of the manner in which the Sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted and celebrated we are perswaded that if they never so little keep their minds free and in a condition to judge without prejudice they will find so little agreement of the one with the other that it may be said they are two Gospels But this will appear yet more particularly XV. The Epistle to the Hebrews if we rightly take the mind of the Apostle in the Epistle which he writ unto the Hebrews the force whereof the Bishop of Condom endeavours here also to elude To which purpose we need onely to follow the rule which the Bishop of Condom hath himself proposed to know whether 2 Doctrines are opposit which is to see if the propositions of the Apostle do sufficiently agree with those of the Bishop of Condom For expedition sake we will here mention onely two of the Apostles both which speak almost the same thing to see if the Doctrine of the Bishop of Condom be conform thereto St. Paul comparing the ceremonies and the figures of the Old Covenant with the truth which is found in Jesus Christ and designing to shew how the sacrifices of the Old Testament were abolished by the sacrifices of Jesus Christ he saith amongst other things Heb. 9. â—â— that Jesus Christ is not entred into places made with hands but that he is in Heaven where he appears for us before the face of God The Bishop of Condom teacheth on the contrary that Jesus Christ is every hour upon the altars made with hands and that it is there that he appears for us before the
that we partake of Jesus Christ very really indeed but spiritually nevertheless the Bishop of Condom correcting the term of real presence which he imputed unto us leaves the same consequences which he had seemed upon this Idea prejudging that the belief of the real participation ought to have the same effect as if we believed the presence it self This is called to take away the Foundation and leave the Building in the air or at best but to underprop it by putting in some other support in the place of the Foundation 13. In the First among the many consequences that he draws from our believing a real participation after having said that it must needs be that besides the spiritual communion of the Body of Christ c. we must admit of a real communion of the Body of the same Saviour Pag. 100. he concludes that the Church of Rome would be satisfied would we make this confession which is of very great consequence because that this conclusion doth free us from Transubstantiation and shelter the Lutherans that believe the reality In the latter some other consideration made the Bishop of Condom stifle this opinion pa. 112. and put another altogether different in the place they will never saith he explain this truth in any the least solid manner if they do not return unto the opinion of the Church pag. 109 14. In the First the word Transubstantiation is seen in the Margin in form of a title or article as well as in the Last to mark out the matter of Controversie treated of in that place but throughout the Exposition there is nothing in any place of the Article nor the term of Transubstantiation nor this Proposition that the Bread and Wine are changed into the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ In the latter pag 124 after these words the true Body and the true Bloud of Jesus Christ he hath added into which the Bread and the Wine are changed which is that that is called Transubstantiation pag. 115. 15. In the First speaking of the Mass he concludes onely that it may reasonably be called a Sacrifice which implies also that one may safely forbear giving it that name In the latter he changeth this conclusion into another far different for he affirms strongly that there is nothing wanting in the Mass to be a true Sacrifice which yet are two consequences very different to be drawn from one Doctrine that is to say that what the Bishop of Condom proposes in this place for the proving that the Mass is a true Sacrifice doth prove no more than that it may reasonably be called by this name 16. In the First p 132 treating of the belief of them who are called Lutherans the Bishop of Condom speaketh generally of the whole Party that they reject the adoration of the Sacrament which is true In the latter pag. 148. he reduces this general Proposition unto a particular one which destroyes the former for he onely saith that some Lutherans reject the adoration without the appearance of any ground which should oblige him to the making such restriction 17. In the First pag. 113. he draws this consequence from the Doctrine of the real presence that he that can endure the reality which saith he is the most important and most difficult point may easily digest the rest In the latter he bethought himself that this rest comprehends Transubstantiation Adoration the Sacrifice of the Mass and the taking away the Cup and that they are not things so easily believed wherefore he speaks a little slacker that enduring the reality we ought also to endure the rest pag. 165. 18. In the First touching the authority of the Holy Chair he saith that their profession of Faith doth oblige them to acknowledge the Church of Rome as Mistriss and to tender true obedience unto the Pope as Sovereign In the latter he wraps up this Soveraign power in more general terms which conclude nothing positively we acknowledge saith he this Sovereignty speaking of St. Peter in his Successors unto whom is due for this reason the submission and obedience that the holy Councils and Fathers have alwayes taught 19. Upon the same point he saith in the First Edition that the rights of pretensions of the Popes which the Reformed Ministers are alwayes alledging to make that power odious are not of the Catholick Faith nor at all set down in the Profession of Faith In the latter he saith in more indefinite termes that as to those matters of which there is dispute in the Schools c. it is not at all necessary to speak thereof seeing they are not â—f the Catholick Faith 20. To conclude pag. 518. in the First Edition the Bishop of Condom drawing to the conclusion of his Treatise saith that the Fundamentals of Salvation are the adoration of one only God Father Son and Holy Ghost and a belief in one Saviour c. In the Latter he recalls this so absolute Proposition plainly seeing that the allowing this Maxime is to acknowledge that it is us properly who have the fundamentals of Salvation for our Doctrine reduces it self unto these two Heads and we have nothing contrary unto them neither in reality nor in appearance I pass over some other alterations that are less considerable especially if looked on each apart but all together do sufficiently speak the trouble the Bishop of Condom had to put his Treatise into the condition it is now in The only thing to be added in this regard is that though it may plainly be perceived that the Bishop of Condom proposed to himself two principal ends in his Treatise the one to insinuate the Doctrine of the Church of Rome diminishing as much as he could what she holds that is most violently offensive the other to oppose ours principally upon two points in which he believed he could have put us unto great difficulties namely the reality of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the authority of the Church nevertheless it appears that it is only upon the positive Doctrine of the Roman Church that the Bishop of Condom hath stagger'd that he hath touched and retouched withdrawn diminished or added and finally that he hath made all the alterations above mentioned Now from whence could proceed this kind of variation in an Exposition of Faith for it is known how well the Bishop of Condom is qualified and the great clearness and readiness he hath in expressing himself It cannot be said but that he understood perfectly not only the grounds of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome but of ours also four yeares past when his Manuscript Copy was dispersed amongst us or ten moneths since when he caused his Treatise to be printed the first time as well as he knows it at this present Therefore it must needs be that these difficulties do proceed from the very nature of the Opinions that he laies down which have no certain foundation which
of Condom doth use and in what he comes near us But we will throughout perforâ— the two other principal things whicâ— the Bishop of Condom proposes whicâ— are to shew that in reality his exposition doth Leave all objections 〈◊〉 their force and all important dispute intire and that his Doctrine whaâ—ever Art he uses or whatsoever mâ—tigation he seemeth to use therein doth all along equally overthrow thâ— foundations of true Christianity We will perform both the one anâ— the other of these two things in plain manner according to the Bâ—shop of Condoms desire without it gageing very far in a new dispute anâ— it shall be done not onely with thâ— moderation which he himself give us a commendable example of bâ— with all the respect which we oughâ— to have for a person of so great meâ— as his We will onely reserve the Liberty which the interest of the cause anâ— the right of defence do necessarily require so as to say of a thing that iâ— is not true when it is not or of aâ— argument it is not right or that it iâ— captious when it is such indeed because otherwise it would not be possible to make known the truth without weakening of it We will then here examin with the greatest clearness and brevity that may be and in the same order which the Bishop of Condom would have observed the several Articles of his Treatise whereof he maketh so many Sections and to the end that those who give themselves the trouble of Reading this answer may find where to stop it shall be divided into Six parts though unequal according as matters have more or less extent The First shall treat concerning the design of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise and touching two general propositions and as it were preliminaries which the Bishop of Condom Lays down Page 5 the one that we are agreed that the Church of Rome doth believe Page 12 and imbrace all the fundamental points of the Christian Religion the other that all the Religious Worship which she gives unto Saints Images or Relicks doth terminate in God onely The Second part shall treat of the worship of Saints Images and Relicks The Third of the matter of Justification with all its consequences the merit of works Satisfactions purgatory and Indulgences The Fourth of the Sacraments in general and particularly of the Sacraments of Baptism of Confirmation of Pennance of Sacramental Confession of extream unction of Marriage and of Order The Fifth of the Sacrament of the Eucharist in particular The Sixth and Last of Tradition of the authority of the Church of the authority of the Pope and of Episcopacy The First Part 1. The design of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise Page 1 2 4. and 4. As for the Bishop of Condom's design he declares it himself in the beginning he did believe he saith that the matters which we made the Subject of our breach being now sufficiently cleared he could do nothing better nor more useful for us than to propose plainly unto us the opinions of the Church of Rome by explaining to us what she hath defined in the Council of Trent hoping that alone would cause sundry contests wholly to vanish and that those which remained would not appear according to our own principles of such weight as we would it should be believed they are and that according to our own principles they contain nothing that doth wound the foundations of Faith We have in the very entrance this advantage that the Bishop of Condom going about to make a plain draught as he speaks of the Catholick Doctrine in opposition unto ours lays hold on for a foundation a Council which is well known not to be acknowledged Catholick or Oecumenical a Council which above all other Councils is such wherein according to their own Catholick Authors there apeared visibly most of intrigue and of human interests a Council of which our France it self doth not receive all the decisions in matters of discipline and Government a Council to conclude whose decrees do to this day want explication In sum if the Bishop of Condom doth desire that men should speak what they think nothing is more frivolous than his design unless it be for those Doctrines and practises that are not very necessary Whereof he seems to desire to discharge his Religion for as to the other Which he calls the principal causes of our breach he saith himself that the matters of controversie are now cleared and it is certain that there is nothing but prejudice the weakness and the variety of the mind of man that doth hinder that all the World doth not so Judge Wherefore then is it that at this time they propose plainly the same things as if men heeded not at all instead of bringing of new Lights to overcome if it might be those human infirmities which do occasion diversity of opinions It is true that the Doctors and Preachers of the one side and the other do sometimes aggravate the things which they treat of Whether it be the things themselves or the consequences they draw from thence yet this doth not hinder but that it is very well known on both sides what is the substance of the belief of the one and the other in the principal points It is properly nothing but these Doctrines and these practises which the Bishop of Condom would have laid aside which are not so well known by all the World For example we do very well know what the Church of Rome doth commonly teach concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist touching the worshipping of Saints of the Cross of Images and of Relicks the Soveraignty of the Pope and all the other principal points which separate us from her communion we are sufficiently informed of what she doth profess to teach of what She receiveth and practiseth in all places upon these points it is onely the excess and abuse that are greater haply in some parts than in others wherein all the world doth not equally agree We believe we have solidly refuted all these principal Doctrines and all these Worships Universally received it behoved him therefore properly either to submit unto our reasons or to shew better and not put us of onely with a simple exposition It is not here put in question what power the Bishop of Condom hath to explain What the Church of Rome hath defined in the Council of Trent or to reduce the Doctrine unto the point to which he seems to have reduced it For our parts we do not in the least make any doubt but that Pastours may make probable expositions according to the motions of their conscience whether it be for instructing their Flocks or to bring back unto the truth such as have forsaken it for why should they not explain such Writings seeing they do every day explain that which is less clear in the Holy Scripture But as for the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome what will become of the Authentical Bull of
confidence buâ— he will have this same confidence aâ— intirely and will not suffer that wâ— should impart the least share of it untâ— any others besides himself Men foâ— their parts although more enlightnâ— now than the Jews were cease nâ— yet to be men that is to say weak and as the Light of the Gospelâ— strange to their reason they easily return â—nâ—o their grosse and carnal sense if ever the least occasion be giveâ— them there must therefore be taken away from their senses all that may incline them unto the Creatures much less may we present unto them objects of Worship that should incline them to them otherwise it is to will two things which are altogether incompatible one that they should regard these objects and the other that they should not incline to them One general mark of this Natural inclination of men and of the difficulty there is in restraining them is that let the Church of Rome pretend as Long as she please that she puts a difference betwixt the Worship which she renders to God and that which she renders unto the Saints yet it appears almost in all places and in all things that there is no sort of homage of honour or outward service which is given to God that they do not also render the Like thereto unto Saints It hath already been shewed how she addresseth unto Saints Prayers altogether like to those which she addresseth unto God it is seen how she Consecrates Temples Altars Hosts Holy days Monasteries and Religious societies in their names how they put persons families cities whole Kingdoms under their protection how they offer incense unto them as unto God himself c. In some sâ—t they go farther they joyn the Saints unto God in several things in praying they have no sooner said a Pater-noster but they say an Ave Mary in the general confession of sins they say I confess my self unto God unto the Virgin unto the Apostles and all the Saints in Paradise In dangers in surprises and at the hour of death they teach the people to say Jesus Mary the poor do not ask Almiâ— but in the name of God and the Virgin the Authors in like manner pray or thank God and the Virgin in thâ— beginning and end of their Works and Lastly the Pope himself doth enâ— all his Bulls by a form of threatning of the indignation of God and St Peter and St. Paul joyning the Apostles with God for companions of hâ—â—nâ—â—â— If there appear any difference betwixt the Worship which is given to God and that which is given to Saints it is this that in truth there is much more of these outward things done to the Saints than there is to God for one Prayer addressed to God how many are there addressed unto Saints and particularly to the Virgin whether it be in the offices and Rituals or when they say their beads which is as it were the measure of the Peoples Devotion In Paris for one Church consecrated to the Name of God there is an infinite Number to be seen consecrated to the Name of Saints and several unto the name of one Saint a thing very different from the usage of the first Ages of Christianity which onely made mention of the Temple or of the house of God and that had not so much as one Temple that was consecrated unto the Name of Angels or Saints But Let us yet observe the difference there is betwixt the Churches Consecrated unto the names of Saints and those which bear the name of God or of any of the persons of the Holy Trinity For example betwixt our Lady's and St. Eustace's on the one side and St. Saviour's and the Holy Ghost's on the other nothing can be added to the greatness and magnificence of the two first either within or in the Frontispiece These are the Grand Churches here is properly the Grand devotion and concourse of people The others are as it were neglected obscure and almost forsaken in comparison of the former This it will be said matters nothing unto the Essence of Religion these are but popular things the Churches themselves though they bear the name of Saints are first and principally intended to the Service of God and all finally refers unto God and is terminated on God In good time and would to God that it were really so But these things are onely here mentioned to prove what hath been said of the natural inclination of people who turn their hearts their devotion and their dependence it self ever towards the Creatures when they make them the object of their Religion You may as long as you please distinguish betwixt a mediate and an immediate object or Worship an adoration or invocation relative or subalternate and absolute or final Say you make a difference betwixt the Prayers unto Saints and those which are made to God endeavour to reduce thoughts and expressions by the intention of the Church or the Council of Trent or by some sweetnings of expressions men shall be judged by their own proper intentions and not by those of the Council and not onely by their intentions but if they must render an account for every idle word by greater reason of Vows of Incense of Bowing the Knee and Prayers or of words of Devotion which they shall have addressed to others besides God and these very words shall be taken according to their natural sense and not according to a strange or forced interpretation The Bishop of Condom cannot conceive how reducing the Invocation of Saints to nothing but to demand theiâ— aid for obtaining benefits of Goâ— through his Son Jesus Christ who iâ— our onely Saviour and Redeemer wâ— can say that this is to go aloof off from Jesus Christ and we for our parts cannot conceive how the Bishop of Condom should not see by the very subtiltâ— of his expressions and by the troublâ— he hath had to put them in the condition they are now in how I say hâ— should not see that this is to go aloâ— off from Jesus Christ for to fetch thiâ— compass about to come unto him Foâ— we suppose that Jesus Christ would that we come directly unto him thâ— he commandeth this very matter thaâ— he is alone the truth Joh 6.14 the way and thâ— life and that there are none come unâ— the Father but by him and is not this 〈◊〉 keeping aloof off from Jesus Christ to put the Saints as a medium betwixt Christ and us whereas we should immediately imbrace and closely hold him by a true and lively Faith Let the Gentlemen of the Roman Church make here a sincere serious reflexion Our Religion goes straight unto God it looks only to God and fears to give unto the creature that religious honour which is due to none but God theirs besides that it is not found authorised by any command of God or example of the Apostles professes indeed to refer all their devotion unto God but at the least it cannot be
and that by consequence they acknowledge thereby in some sort that a Reformation is useful and necessary VI. Of justfication THE THIRD PART The method which the Bishop of Condom hath observed requires that after the Worship of Saints c. we examine his Doctrine concerning Justification the merit of Works of Satisfactions Purgatory and of Indulgences It is true as the Bishop of Condom saith that the Article of Justification is one of the chief things which gave occasion of reformation to our Fathers Very few are Ignorant what was the state of the Latin church at that time On one hand presented it selfe the Doctrin of the merit of works the necessity of satisfying Gods Justice in this life or endureing the fire of Purgatory after death to compleat what was wanting of this satisfaction on the other hand was to be seen an extraordinary irregulatity in the life and manners as well of the Clergy as of the people and by consequence no likelihood of salvation neither by works nor by those satisfactions and in fine there appeared no other Object before the eyes of men but Purgatory or Hell In this state of the Church the Pope opens the Treasures of his Indulgencies distributes his Agnus's his Beads and Reliques and prescribes certain numbers of Pater nosters and Ave Mary's of Stations of Visits of Churches of Pilgrimages Fasts Pennances of macerations and mortifications with which and with the help of Pardons Dispensations and Indulgences which were purchased at a dear rate those who had them were not onely justified themselves but helped to justifie others delivering souls out of Purgatory and acquiring for them a greater degree of blessednesse or an augmentation of glory as the Councill speaks Our Fathers did believe that there was an abuse in all these things and that this Doctrine which possessed the minds of the people and that made up the greatest part of their piety did overthrow the Foundation of Religion which doth essentially consist in placing our chiefest confidence in the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ and farther in serving God according to his will and not according to the commandments of men It is also true that since the Reformation the Church of Rome it self doth seem to be a little more reserved than she was before as well as to expressions in regard of her Doctrines as in regard of the practice and the very use of Indulgences and they are beholding to us for it which doth very much serve for the justification of our first Reformers but the abuses are yet too great in one and the other for the corrupting of piety and scandalizing of true Christians Those who onely consider the controversie of Justification at a distance or transiently without searching into the grounds and consequences will not it may be at first think it so important as it is but it is of so great moment what herein is the judgment of those who are well informed amongst us that as to the contrary we should not stick here to maintain that the difference of Belief which doth separate us from the Church of Rome as to this point is of so great consequence unto Religion that there is scarce any greater Let us therefore be permitted according to the liberty that Dispute doth require to deny here formally what the Bishop of Condom doth aver in something an uncertain manner That there are but few learned men of our side as he speaks but do confess that we ought not to separate from the Church of Rome about this point and that this difficulty is not any longer considered as much material by the most intelligent persons amongst us The Bishop of Condom doth not cite one of those learned men nor one of those intelligent persons unto whom he imputes these sorts of Sentiments as the importance of the business doth require The Confession of Faith of our Churches which contains the General Belief of those of our Communion explains it self to the contrary upon this point as throughly as may be it confirms the very Doctrine which the first Reformers taught declaring in express terms That how little soever we swerve from this Foundation we can never finde any ease but that we shall be continually tossed with inquietude The Council of Trent it self acknowledged the importance of this Controversie First in that it takes notice of it from the first as one of the principal causes of the Schism and which did most deserve the care of the said Council And in the second place by the prodigious length of its Decree and by the vast number of its Canons and Anathema's much greater upon this point than upon any other In summe it may be said that it is not onely a principal point but it is one of them which are most such The others for the most part do onely regard some part of Religion Errour doth corrupt but that part and doth not influence the others if we may so speak The worshipping the Host for example is without doubt one of the most essential points in which it is impossible to finde any mean because the question is whether it ought to be worshiped or not worshipped which is the first and greatest Act of Religion Nevertheless this is but a particular point a capital errour indeed for them who are deceived in it but which doth nothing or changeth nothing in all the other Fundamental Points But who speaks of Justification speaks of the means of our Salvation that is to say the Mystery of our Redemption there is nothing more important than not to be deceived in the choice of such a matter because if a man fails to take the right way he falls from errour to errour and the very true essence of Religion is changed and altered This truth will plainly appear by the bare comparing of our Doctrine with that of the Church of Rome We do believe that our Justification doth alone consist herein that having deserved death Jesus Christ dyed for us and satisfied the Justice of God the Father for us who for the love of his Son pardoneth all our sins in general uniting us unto him by a true and lively faith and imputing his righteousness and obedience unto us that is to say the merit of his Death it self as though we had suffered it in our own persons We believe that it is God himself that doth beget and strengthen this Faith in our hearts by the inward operation of his Holy Spirit and by the outward Ministry of his Word and Sacraments as shall be explained in what follows upon the subject of the Sacraments that this Faith is not a dead or idle Faith but a living Faith and working by love and by all sorts of good works and that these works are very acceptable to God and necessary to Salvation as an inseparable consequent of that Faith which justifies us but that it is onely of pure Grace and by the alone merit of the death of Jâ—sus Christ that
will therefore here set down some of the reasons which we have for the Figurative sense seeing that the Bishop of Condom doth require it of us and afterwards we will examine those which the Bishop of Condom doth alledge for the proper and literal sense In the First place whensoever any great of a Mystery and of a Sacrament 〈…〉 and the common use to take the â—â—pressions and the things themselves mystically and figuratively The very word it self Mystery doth lead us thereto otherwise it were no more a Mystery Let any examine generally all the Sacraments as well of the Old as the New Testament not one excepted no not the very ceremonies of the Roman Church it self where there is any visible sign as the Passover and Circumcision under the Law Baptism under the Gospel that which the Church of Rome doth call Confirmation and Extreme Unction through all will be found things and words which must be understood in a mystical and a Figurative sense But if it be demanded more particularly wherefore the Bread and the Wine are said to be the Body Bloud of Jesus Christ St. Austin and Theodoret Aug. Epist 23. ad Bonif. answer for us The First saith that it is because of the relation which the Sacraments have to the things whereof they are Sacraments and the latter to keep us from resting in the nature of the things that are seen Theodoret Dial 1. and that as Jesus Christ said that he was bread and a stock or vine so be honours the Symbols of bread and wine with the name of his Body and of his Bloud The force of these Testimonies is not here urged as to the maine Question they are onely alledged to give a reason of the use wherefore it is that the sign doth bear the name of the thing signified by a kind of mystical and Figurative way of speaking to elevate our spirits and our heartes above the Visible signs 2. We know in general that all the Scripture of the Old and New Testament is full of these sorts of Figurative expressions whether it was the Style of the Eastern Nations in those times as indeed it was or that God judged this Style the fittest to exercise our Faith We see that the First preaching of Jesus Christ is nothing else but a continued succession of Figures John 6.35 Joh. 15.3 every one knows those just now mentioned I am the bread which came down from Heaven I am the vine The rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 Mat. 5.29 De Doctrin Christ lib. 3. cap. 6. If thine eye offend thee pluck it out and an infinite number of others Now if it be demanded of us how we can distinguish betwixt Figurative expressions and those which are proper and literal St. Austin here again answers for us that what seemes to offend good manners or the truth of Faith ought to be taken in a Figurative sense and yet more expresly that this which Jesus Christ saith that we must eat his body and drink his bloud appearing a wicked thing is therefore a Figure We press not still this passage as to the main Question we onely alledge it to make the reason which we have for the Figurative sense better apprehended 3. Finally what can there be more natural and more reasonable than to understand the Scripture by the Scripture it self the obscure places by them which are more plain those which have a double meaning by them which have but a single The Authour of the Book intituled Lawful Prejudices layes down this Maxim for the understanding of Books that when there is any passage which may admit of a double sense that must be taken which agrees best with the whole and which is the most reasonable There is but one passage onely in the Scripture which seems to favour the literal sense that the Church of Rome gives to these words This is my Body to wit that which we now spoke of If you eat not the flesh and drink the bloud of the Son of man you have no life in you and this very expression St. Austin notes ought to be understood Figuratively whereas there are a great number of others which say that Jesus Christ is no more with us but by the operation of the Holy Spirit The poor you shall have always with you Mat. 26.11 but me ye shall not have always And if I depart I will send the Comforter unto you and so many more Joh. 16. that make us daily say in the Creed he ascended into Heaven and from thence he shall come c. the very words of the Eucharist require that we do this in remembrance of him and to shew forth his Death till he come To be in Heaven corporally and upon Earth by representation are not two senses repugnant but not to be any more with us or to be corporally in Heaven and yet to be every day upon Earth in mens hands in his proper Body are two terms contradictory and incompatible It is therefore natural to take these words This is my body in a mystical and Figurative sense which alone doth perfectly agree with all the other passages of the Scripture It is well known that the Church of Rome doth suppose that there be two divers ways according unto which she pretends that the Body of Jesus Christ may be present in Heaven and upon Earth the one with his dimensions and his exteriour qualities such as he was seen upon Earth and it is after this manner that she will have it to be said that Jesus Christ is no more with us or that he is onely in Heaven the other without his dimensions and exteriour qualities as she pretends that he is under the covert of Bread and Wine But this is to answer here punctually the thing in question We formally deny this second manner of being bodily in a place it is not contested but that nature the senses reason far from teaching any such thing cry loudly against it It would therefore highly concern the Church of Rome upon the whole case to establish this second manner of being in a place by some passage the sense whereof were not at all in question and till that is done it may be truly said that the figurative sense of these words This is my Body is the true and genuine sense the first and the onely that presents it self unto the mind We might here add many other reasons as to the main to make appear that the Doctrine of the real presence is not onely above reason as the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation but directly against reason and which in fine destroyes the testimony of the senses which nevertheless is it that our Lord made use of John 20.27 Theodoret Dial. 2. to prove unto Thâ—mas the truth of his presence as the Church also hath since done to prove that the Body of Jesus Christ was a true Humane body against the Eutychians but this would be
pretends that these expressions do suppose the real presence and that they cannot concord but by admitting the Doctrine of the real presence which comes all to one thing and that it is by these expressions that our Reformers themselves approached unto the Church of Rome It is in this part of his Treatise that he hath laboured most and conceived with greatest care as being the place where there seemed to be most advantage but which at the bottom is nothing else but an heap of plausible pretexts and unjust consequences and almost throughout playing upon words The first of his Objections is upon this expression of our Catechism where we say that we do make no doubt â—t that Jesus Christ makes us partaâ—s of his proper substance by uniting us 〈◊〉 himself in the same life and upon this other passage of our Confession of Faith where it is said to the same effect that Jesus Christ doth nourish and â—ivifie us with the proper substance of his body and of his bloud It is a certain truth that the Scripture never makes use of this term of Substance upon the subject of the Eucharist The first Fathers of the Church did not use it neither There are onely some ancient Doctours which have used it in divers senses sometimes to express the matter or the essence it self of the things and oftentimes also to signifie the virtue Sunday 50. and in the form of administring of Baptism Our Catechism it self speaking of the Sacrament of Baptism saith indifferently in two places the substance and the virtue of Baptism to signifie the efficacy of it Not any of the first Ages have said that Jesus Christ did give us the substance of his body and bloud but some less ancient have said that he nourished and vivified us by his substance or that he gave us a living substance meaning a quickning virtue alluding unto that mystical expression I am the living bread Joh. 6. this bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the World When the Authours of our Confession of Faith and of our Catechism used these sorts of expressions amongst many others it plainly appears that they were not constrained so to do to conform themselves unto the Scripture nor to the ancient Fathers of the Church who used them not at all but they did it doubtless to accommodate themselves therein to the use which the latter times had brought in and to shew in different terms the truth of this spiritual Communion which we believe we have with Jesus Christ so as they explain it in the same place And we will make no scruple here to add that it is not simply the words of institution of the Lords Supper which oblige us to speak in such effectual terms because it is evident that the first aim of the words of institution is to recommend the commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ And it is also on one hand the Tenour of the Gospel in general which doth throughout inculcate a most intimate communion of the faithful with Jesus Christ saying that we are flesh of his flesh Ephâ— and bone of his bone and on the other hand it is the nature of this Sacrament which joyned to this divine Word not onely sets forth this union in a most express manner but also gives us a lively feeling of it strengthens and confirms it by the grace with which God is pleased to accompany an action so holy But that which is communicated according to its proper substance saith the Bishop of Condom Pa. 104. ought to be really present and it is not possible to make understood that a body which is onely spiritually communicated unto us and by Faith can be really communicated unto us and in its proper substance But the reason why we cannot make you understand it is the prejudice which you will not lay aside upon this subject of the Eucharist to wit that there is no real union nor participation if it be not Physical that is to say if two bodies or two substances be not joyned or be not both together in one place which yet is a manifest errour As if for example when we acquire an inheritance though we are distant from it it might not be said that not onely the fruits and the Revenue belong unto us but that the propriety the body the substance of the Land in fine all that belongs to it is ours Besides our Catechism had already answered unto the Bishop of Condom's Objection in the Article which immediately follows that which he objects to us The Minister demands Sunday 53. How can it he that Jesus Christ makes us partakers of his proper substance to unite us unto himself seeing his body is in Heaven and we upon Earth It is saith the Child by the incomprehensible power of the Holy Ghost which joyneth things that are asunder by the distance of place And * Art 36. our Confession of Faith saith the same thing and in the same terms Would the Bishop of Condom dispute that the Holy Ghost cannot effect a real and true union of us with Jesus Christ when we partake of the Lords Supper notwithstanding the distance that there is betwixt him and us And who saith a true and real union with Jesus Christ saith he any thing less than to be made partaker of or to be nourished and vivified with his substance Doth either the Bishop of Condom himself better understand or is it possible that he should make better understood the manner wherein he doth believe that the bread and the wine are transubstantiated into the body and bloud of Jesus Christ by the operation of the same spirit of God insomuch that the bread doth cease to be bread and that the body of our Divine Saviour his proper body which is sitting in Heaven at the right hand of the Father is nevertheless upon Earth in a thousand places at once after the manner of a spirit in less room than a point doth take up In fine is it possible to make better understood this other manner which he believes that this holy body which onely passeth through his stomach doth unite or rather is not united with his proper body and soul The second Objection which the Bishop of Condom here makes against us is upon another expression of our Catechism Sunday 52. where it is said that though Jesus Christ be truly communicated unto us by Baptism and by the Gospel it is onely in part and not fully whence the Bishop of Condom infers that Jesus Christ is fully given unto us in the Lords Supper and that there is an exceeding difference betwixt receiving in part and receiving fully Granting this see whereunto his Argumentation amounts If in the Lords Supper Pa. 106. Jesus Christ is fully received and in Baptism and in the Gospel but in part then the manner in which he is received in the Lords Supper is different from that in which he is
body of the Lord and the fruit of his death So all this consequence hath no foundation In summe wherefore will the Bishop of Condom have two different acts of Faith for uniting us to the body of Jesus Christ and having part in the fruit of his death when it is evident that all is done or might be done by one and the same act of Faith Or wherefore may we not even assert two divers acts of Faith if they be conceived severally by one of which we unite our selves to Jesus Christ himself and by the other unto the fruit of his death without any need to imagine for all this two different communions one spiritual by Faith and the other with the mouth of the body or real as the Bishop of Condom speaks Lord draw us after thee lift up our hearts unto thee come dwell in our hearts by the operation of thy Spirit Behold here an act of Faith which unites us to Jesus Christ if the Faith be such as it ought to be and this union of its self suffices to effect that we should also have part in the fruit of his death by this one act of Faith Lord impute to us thy righteousness and grant that being united unto thee by a true and lively Faith we may have a share in all thy benefits and in particular in the fruit of thy death Behold here nevertheless a second act of Faith which regards directly the part that we have in the fruit of his death The difference of these two acts of Faith properly will be onely in the distinction of the objects which Faith doth propose unto it self in the one it proposes the body of the Lord and in the other the fruit of his death and in one and the other there is a real communion with our Saviour but spiritually and by Faith But no man adds the Bishop of Condom 〈◊〉 112. can conceive what difference there is betwixt participating by Faith of the body of our Saviour and to participate by Faith of the fruit of his death This is now the second or third time that the Bishop of Condom will conceive all Let us see if he will be of the same mind upon the Article of Transubstantiation which follows immediately after this But after all how can he say that no man can conceive any difference betwixt participating by Faith of the body of the Lord and participating by Faith of the fruit of his death for the body of the Lord and the fruit of his death are evidently two different things and there is no one who cannot easily conceive that there is great difference betwixt partaking of the one and partaking of the other whether it be that it is done by one act of Faith or by two though besides the manner of partaking of one and the other be always the same to wit spiritually and by Faith Nevertheless it is here that the Bishop of Condom cryes out again in finishing this Article Who can but admire the force of truth c. And afterwards How ingenuously do the Calvinists confess unto us the truth they would have been strongly disposed to acknowledge the body of Christ to be in the Sacrament in figure onely and the participation of his Spirit onely in effect laying aside these great words of Participation of proper substance and many others which express a real presence and which onely cause perplexities c. Let the Bishop of Condom also in his turn ingenuously confess the truth he has been very strongly disposed and many other intelligent persons in the Church of Rome it may be will be so with him to confess that there is onely in the Eucharist a true and real communion of the body of Jesus Christ as we do acknowledge that that which we there have spiritual is very real laying aside that great word of Transubstantiation as he had laid it aside in the first Edition of his Treatise that of concomitance by virtue whereof the Cup was cut off from the communion and many others which imply manifest contradiction and which cause much more perplexity That which is truly admirable in this place is that the Church of Rome teacheth as we do a spiritual communion of the body of Jesus Christ and the Bishop of Condom himself said the very same but now in express terms that in the Lords Supper there is a communion pa. 112. by the which we partake spiritually of the body of our Saviour and of his spirit altogether in receiving the fruit of his death which is properly the result of our Doctrine and these words of participation and of substance with which the Bishop of Condom pleaseth himself and which he useth for all that himself signifie nothing more The onely difference that there is betwixt him and us is that we stop here and that he besides this spiritual communion of the body of our Lord supposes another real communion as he speaks that is with the mouth of the body which we cannot allow of Here in another prospect he insults over us as if there could not be any other communion of the body of our Lord but that onely which is had by the mouth of the body and that without admitting of that there can nothing be acknowledged in the Lords Supper but the figure of his body and a participation of the Spirit excluding thus this other spiritual communion of the very body of Jesus Christ which he but now confessed Let it be judged by this and by all the rest which hath been said as well of our opinions as of his way of arguing who it is that creates perplexities or that contradicts themselves whether it is the Bishop of Condom or us that use equivocations about words And Lastly if he hath so much subject of Triumph upon this Article as he seemed to imagine to himself XIII Of Tran. substantiation of Adoration and in what sense the Bishop of Condom saith that the Sacrament is a sign The Bishop of Condom will slide along more sweetly upon the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and upon the Adoration of the Host than he did in opposing our Doctrine There he attacqued and attacqued Adversaries as he calls them to whom they hardly give the liberty to defend themselves We may say any thing against them they will answer but by halfs Here he must defend himself and he hath against him Scripture reason evidence of the senses and the common notions of Christianity imprinted in conscience which are other kind of Adversaries more terrible speaking malgre opposition each in his order and speaking so loud as they put the ablest to silence The Bishop of Condom when he speaks of our Belief though all things be very simple in it is not satisfied if he cannot conceive even the very manner whereby the Holy Ghost doth really unite us unto Jesus Christ notwithstanding the great distance which there is betwixt us and him which nevertheless the Roman Church doth perpetually teach