of our Blessed Lady It is certain that in former times men did not set themselves to search into that particular subject because they did not so much as reflect upon it There was onely a confused kind of knowledge and a general Idâ—â— of the priviledges and Prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin above the rest of Mankind without descending to particulars People were wholly taken up with opposing those Hereticks who drew up against the Honour of the Blessed Virgin who would have deprived her of the glory of her admirable and perpetual Virginity even after Child-bearing and above all those who so violently pleaded against thâ— glorious title of Mother of God which is the ground of all her other Priviledges They were satisfied to ascertain that true source or fountain of all her greatness fortifying it by Scripture and Apostolick Tradition without regarding to penetrate further into that suite or train of other priviledges which did accompany that one great prerogative or examining particularly whether it were to be concluded by a legall ensequence flowing from that Principle that she was preserved at the first instant of her being from Original sin It was not at that time positively believed that she was exempt from that stain neither was the contrary in their Creed And this because it was not so much as thought upon At another time it has been thought good to employ many serious-thoughts upon this subject and to search more narrowly into the business Great Contests have risen about it Whole Volames have been written by Learned men who have produced strong and clear testimonies out of the Holy Scriprures for it and have endeavoured to derive it from the very Fountain of Apostolical Doctrine by the way of Tradition Whole Universities and especially that of Sorbon have spoken loud in favour of that Opinion and engaged themselves by solemn Oath to maintain it And yet notwithstanding the Church has not thought fit absolutely to determine any thing concerning this matter of so great importance But leaves us at liberty to believe what we please concerning it She has not proceeded in the same manner concerning her exemption from all guilt even of venial sin For this she has decided and resolved upon as a matter of Faith not that she had any new revelation thereof since the time of the Apostles but that before the proposing this verity to the world 〈◊〉 be believed she consulted with the holy Scriptures Apostolical Tradition and the opinions of holy Fathers coâ—cerning the preeminence and qualition of the Mother of God for the finding out the whole extent of them An having discovered by this means thâ— her being exempted from venial sin wâ— comprehended in that Supreme Dignty as a necessary consequence is â—â—cluded in its Principle she has defined as a Point of faith revealed in the We of God in which it is contained Thâ— is the reflexion of the most eminent as Learned Cardinal de Lugo in his excâ—lent Treatise of Faith Disp 3. Sect. 5. n. 7. Let us now imagine the Churd should do the same concerning the 〈◊〉 emption of the Blessed Virgin from Original sin Let us suppose that she hâ—ving examined the passages of Host Writ and the Testimonies of Tradâ—â— on which are alledged upon this subject should find this also included as in necestary consequence as she did the other as it is not unlikely she would If she should think fit to proceed to a further examin of the business then all we who are Catholicks and agreed in this that the Church is Judge of Controversies and that we are bound to submit to her Decrees should quickly lay aside all difference of opinions â—â—d although we had not hitherto held seas matter of Faith should then believe it to be so not because there had been any new Revelation concerning it â—â—t because the Church should have declared it to have been alwayes revealed although there was not a general Agreement concerning that Revelation 16. Behold then us and Protestants agreed as I take it upon this Principle that the true Church of Christ has power to decide and propose that as an Article of Faith which antecedently to that decision and proposal was not of obligation to be believed From whence is easily concluded that for the franing an exact rational discourse in matters of Faith it is necessary to avoid these two extremes which a loose kind of reasoning is apt enough to fall into The first is That this has not alwayes been believed therefore it is not now to be believed The second This is 〈◊〉 believed ergo it has alwayes and in aâ— Ages of the Church been distinctly believed It is evident by our Principleâ— that this way of reasoning is very salk and erroneous Here then is the reason why when there happens a Contest between two Parties of the same Church supposed alwayes the true Church as we shall by and by shew it is not alwayes necessary that we search narrowly into the doctrine of Antiquity for the discovering what was held in those dayes concerning the matter in Dispute It suffices for ending all debates that we know what the Church having taken full cognisance of the matter shall have determined by a solemn judgement and Sentence according to the usuall form and method What she resolves in such occurrences according to the Word of God the true meaning whereof she faithfully gives us is to be received as matter of Faith whether it were beforehand known or not known to be so And the contrary is an Error which we are obliged with her to condemn and anathematise unless we intend to become Infidel and Schismaticks Here is the Principle we are agreed upon on all sides as I have made appear both by the Doctrine and proceedings of our Adversanes themselves It imports now very much to apply this to the particular subject we have in hand and it shall be my endeavour to effect it CHAP. III. The applying this agreed-on Principle to the Subject of the Holy Eucharist TO make a due Application of this general Principle to the subject of the Holy Eucharist with the same peaceableness and quiet we have hither to endeavoured to maintain and together with the consent of Parties we must needs step a little aside but still in such order and measure that we may go friendly on in the same path hand in hand together without justling one another still laying all Disputes aside The first step therefore that I make of this kind is to produce what is agreed upon on all sides to have been in all Ages believed concerning the Holy Eucharist to wit that it is a Sacrament which is a Memorial of the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ who is there present and wherein his blessed Body and precious Blood are truely received by the Faithful according to the express words of the Son of God himself who says Take and eat this is my Body do this in memory of me This is what
Protestants themselves in the self-same terms do own and professe For they will not have the Sacrament to be a meer figure or empty sign without efficacy but they do maint aâ— that it does communicate unto us in a most reall and most effectual man men the Body of Jesus Christ to be the food of our Souls pag. 232. And Monsieur Claude acknowledges that before this pretended novelty of Local presence and Transubstantion was introduced by way of illustrating or explaining the matter Every one believed that Iesus Christ is present in the Sacrament that his Body and Blood are there truly received by the Faithful and that the Sacrament is a Sign and a memorial of the death of Iesus Christ Behold here I think the same words I my self made use of We also all say the very fame in the self-same terms For we believe that this Sacrament is a Sign and a Memorial of the Death of Jesus Christ that he is there present and that his Body and Blood are there truely received by the Faithful and we maintain that this has alwayes been held in the Church We are hitherto agreed Nothing of all this is questioned or disputed between Monsieur Arnaud and Monsieur Claude What then These two things which follow 2. The first is pag. 295. that Monsieur Claude will have it that in those Primitive times which he calls the good dayes of the Church Pastors being careful to express themselves clearly unto the People and to prevent ertors in their understandings Christians were perfectly instructed how the Body and Blood of our blessed Saviour are present in the Sacrament not locally and substantially but mystically and that they are received by us not with the mouth of flesh but by the operation of faith so that in those times they had a clear and distinct knowledge of the Real Absence Monsieur Arnaud on the contrary maintain'd stifly in his chiee Tracts and gives us hopes to make is appear in a fourth by an inquiry into the Fathers of the six first Ages that they had a knowledge and a clear distinct belief of the Real Presence The second is pag 162.240 and 290. that Monsient Claâ—ds will have it that there was a certain time when by the negligence and ignotance of Pastors Christians had only a confused knowledge of this Mystery without positively believing or rejecting a Real Presence or Real Absence and that because they did not so much as enter into any apprehension of either And now again Monsieur Arnaud evers and positively proves in the whole sixth Book of his last Work that that time never was and that there alwayes ought to have been in the Church a dislinct belief either of Real Presence or Absence I have already told you that I pretended and intended throughout all this my little Treatise to hold off from all Disputes and that my meaning was only to step quietly aside that I might not be stopt upon the way by meeting some body who might be resolv'd to Dispute the passage with me This being so it is decreed that I will not thrust my self into the quarrel but will be contented with what I think cannot in reason be refused me 3. As to the first then of those two Points in contest I say That it is the Subject of those great Works which will give immortal fame to Bellarmin Petron and so many others who have accompanyed them in that glorious design of setting forth the Antiquity of our Belief by the testimony of the first Fathers of the Church It must be granted that the success has been happy to admiration and I do here protest for mine own particular that having seen their Discourses and Learnâ—â— observations upon so many rare passage as they produce I am fully satisâ—â— that the Antient Fathers were of the same positive Belief we now are of concerning the Real Presence and of that which some ages past has been call'd by the name of Transubstanâ—â—tion and that they could hardly have expressed themselves more clearly and more pithily for that verity than they have done It is to be hoped also that Mr. Arnaud who I presume has bestowed much of his time in that his lare retirement upon a distinct and â—â—rious perusal of the Holy Fathers and is now preparing an entire Volume upon this Subject will afford us something more effectual and more express if it be possible by making some new discoâ—eries in that rich Countrey and iâ— those happy times which have afterdy been so often viewed and traversed This notwithstanding we must grâ—â—t that though so much has been said and written to prove this matter of 〈◊〉 et our Adversaries are not satisfied or at least make as if they were not It is to be owned that they still maintan the Dispute concerning those Passages that they explicate them at least colourably to reduce them to their own sence that they alledge other places against us which as they imagin have a first sight something of intricacy in them and serve to dazle our eyes and â—ye us some trouble These they force us to qualify with some moderation to explicate and distinguish so to reduce them to their true sence and natural meaning We cannot deny but they have composed and are still composing great Volumes for drawing unto their Party and the apposing against us those very Fathers whom we alledge against them and that what we say of their Objections and Authors they pretend at least a right to say against ours For my part I am resolved to bring no action in the case But I must desire them notwithstanding to deal like honest men and such as would not forfeit common sense for that ingenuity and fair dealing which becomes persons of Honour even in treating with an enemy and to tell me candidly whether it be not true that what I have just now alledged for them against our selves may with as little difficulty and as much equity be said for us against themselves I am very confident they shall need but interchange persons to make the same Discourse in the self same terms on out behalf In a word let them reflect that we do answer the places by them alledged and that they find themselves often enough in some trouble and perplexity to give a satisfactory answer to ours Let it then be left uncertain for the present to which side the Fathers of the Primitive times do incline I am contented at present to endure patiently that you be not of my opinion concerning the sence and meaning which I really think ought to be given to the words of these Holy Fathers But I beseech you Gentlemen be not then displeased if I be not of you minds in the application and explication you make of those places which seem so evidently to favour us Let the business remain uncertain in expectation of some greater evidence and let 〈◊〉 also say of them since you will needs have it so what one of the
have made a wilful separation from them and declared themselves new Protestants by a new Protestation that according to and in conformity with Holy Scripture which they onely relyed upon their Doctrine was purely Orthodox and that they were the true Church it is certain they would have either heartily contemned their rashness or commiserated their extreme folly And if they had continued refractory and obstinate in their resolution they would have cut them off as corrupt members from the Body of their pretended Reformed Church And this is not to be wondered at because in this they are agreed as well as we That an Assembly of Pastors convocated by Authority represents that Church of which those persons who were at Debate are members and is acknowledged by them to be the True Church because the only Church before Separation and that it belongs to her to end all Differences it not being in the power of the contestors to refuse submission to her Decrees or to fall off from her calling themselves the true Church at a less rate then being esteemed Schismaticks and people that proceed very irrationally This being so solidly grounded and setled by mutual consent it seems to me we are now in a very ready way to end all our quarrells and reunite our understandings by an application of this undubitable maxime unto the matter in hand according to the Principles of Monsieur Claude himself For he will needs have it as we have already taken notice and in this very knack it is that consists the great Secret of the change he so strongly fancies that there was a time when the True Church had but a confused knowledge of this Mysterie without so much as dreaming of a Real Presence or Real Absence Those who first took upon them as he sayes to maintain a Real Presence were of that Church and those who opposed it were also of the same Church because before Sentence given in the case the Church which was fallen into that confused knowledg had not yet resolved which distinctly and positively Presence or Absence was of obligation to be believed and consequently of what belief soever any one for his particular was there was no separation from her made or intended Afterwards Debates and Disputes increased confiderably and broke out at length into very great heats and violence which forced the said Church to call an Assembly of her Pastors who were her Representatives for the clearing and deciding a Point of so great importance Behold us now in the very same conjuncture of things and upon the self-same terms with the Synod of Dort And it is very certain that that Church in which the followers of Pascasius were and those who according to Monsieur Claude opposed his Doctrine held no Council in the ninth or tenth Age wherein this difference was decided in favour of a Real Absence There is not any one of our adversaries who so much as pretends to this advantage against us I am also satisfied that there was none during that time which did conclude the business by setling the Doctrine of Real Presence We can onely infer from hence that the Church having not as yet declared for either side was in the same state and condition she then was in when both Parties acknowledged her for the True Church And even this gives us sufficiently to understand that those disputes if there were any concerning the Doctrine of Pascasius were not then come to any great height or heat since the Church in which the Parties were did not as yet take any notice of them And certainly it is no easie matter to make it out that there was any considerable Contest concerning this subject during the time of the tenth Age. But when in the eleventh Age those who appeared in opposition to this Doctrine made so much stir and noise as to oblige the Church to prevent the mischief by a seasonable and solemn Judgement then was it that this same Church which before she declared her self was owned for and in reality was lawful Judge in the case did not omit to call a Canonical Council for deciding the matter And which is very remarkable never did hold a more solemn one nor ever did she expresse her self more clearly and more effectually concerning any subject For when Berringarius Arch-Deacon of Angiers who had also wrought upon and gained Bruno Bishop of the same Church unto his Party began to take up and engage for the Doctrine of Iohn Scotus or Bertram which at the first had made no great noise and to maintain it with a great deal of vapouring and busle against the Real Presence two Councils were held in one year Anno 1050. the one at Rome and the other at Vercelles where the Opinion of Berengarius was declared heretical as being contrary to the Word of God and the Book of Iohn Scotus from whence he had taken it raising it a strain higher against the Real Presence was also condemned About some five years after another Council was held at Tours where berengarius himself appeared to give an account of his Doctrine which was examined in his presence and condemned by a Decree made against it to which he subscribed with his own hand abjuring his Error and promising under oath never to defend it more But he breaking his oath and falling again to broach his old Principles another Council of an hundred and thirteen Bishops was solemnly held at Rome where this Arch-deacon was again heard speak for himself also and his Doctrine again condemned not onely by the Council but by himself who publickly renounced and anathematised it according to that famous Formula Ego Berengarius c. de consecr dist 2. which was composed and approved by the whole Council himself having desired it should so be done after he had burnt the Books of Iohn Scotus in full and open Council But he being of a most unsetled spirit and finding much difficulty to quit the honour of being Head of a Party which was highly agreeable to his ambitious humour quickly began again to instruct his Schollers in the old way and that he might make them the more sure to him had the boldness to write against that very Formula which himself had signed with his own hand This was the cause that twenty years after another Council was called at Rome where this poor Relapsed creature being now about fourscore years old did again ask pardon for that miserable relapse he had made into that Error which he now the third time retracted and abjur'd signing a new Formula which did contain in more clear and express terms the Real Presence and the changing of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord. And he signed it purposely in that manner because his Disciples following his example had perverted the words of the other Formula into quite another sence This last time he shewed himself by his constancy to be more man than formerly For he
Learnedst Ministers of the Church of Paris said pleasantly enough Mr. Dialle in his Book of the true use of the Fathers that as by force of imagination which modells the sound and determines it to the expression it fancies we make the Bells speak what we list even so in citing and alledging the Fathers we make them say whatever we have a mind they should have said and it is the resolution of drawing them to our side which determines their sayings to a particular pretended sense or meaning I require then of you for the present that you rest upon what was said on this subject by that Minister who was so long and so faithful a Servant to the Party This has so much reason and equity in it that I make my self believe you will never have the heart to refuse it And now in case the Fathers by you cited should not be found to have so positively mentioned the Real Absence as you pretend they have done and we deny you would not be upon much worse terms as to the main business Because according to you the Fathers are not the Râ—le of Faith So likewise if it should happen that those whom we make use of in opposition to you should not have declared themselves so clearly and distinctly for a Real Presence as we suppose they have done and you deny it for the same reason we should not be much inconvenienced by it seeing especially that the true Church in which resides the power when Contests do arise of defining what is of Faith in such manner as we have already mentioned has yet determined nothing in the case nor declared in particular what is the meaning of this or that passage of St. Cyprian St. Cyrill or St. Augustine c Let this then for the present remain undecided and let us proceed as if these Fathers who are the occasion of this dispute had said nothing clearly and distinctly concerning this matteâ—y think there can be nothing more 〈◊〉 and reasonable then this And I can not apprehend that either Monsieâ— Claude or any of his Party will think fit to Dispute this Point with us For if they object Fathers against us it is nor than according to their Principleâ— they pretend they are infalâ—ible and that what is to be believed is to be decided by their Authority but it is to shew us that they can fight us at the same weapon we sometimes make use of against them 4. As to the second thing in Contest to wit Whether there ever was a time in the Church wherein there was but a confused kind of knowledge touching this Mystery without reflexion upon either Real Presence or Real Absence Monsieur Arnaud proves in one whole Book that this could not be And for mine own part I confess unto him that if he had none else to deal with besides my self he should not at all â—eed to give himself any further trouble of arguing the business for I am absolutely of his perswasion Nay I 'll add further should make a scruple in Conscience to refuse my consent to so rational and well-grounded an assertion But by misfortune Monsieur Claude is not of my humour and will not yield the least in a point where he imagins he has some advantage and which he seems resolved to make good to the very last Behold why I am more than half perswaded to ield up something of that right which I might so justly claim and this for peace and quietness sake and that I may not be engaged in a Dispute which I have resolved to decline as much as may be Let us then frankly grant what he demands although we are far enough from agreeing with him upon the matter Let us not contest with him about a Point which we may dispense with without any great difficulty Let him have full scope to fancy to himself such an obscure dark season of confused knowledge Let that invention of his own brain pass for a reality and that Christians actually as he will have it were at that time in a state of ignorance and obscurity I am contented to yield so far for his satisfaction And now by way of one little peaceable digression more 5. I will grant moreoever that this great Mystery has not at all times been examined to the bottom and that men did not employ themselves so much in the discussion of this as of many other Points The Fathers indeed have not written such large Treatises of itâ— as afterwards were written and as themselves have written concerning other Mysteries which they were obliged to maintain against those who opposed them All the Heresies of those dayes which interrupted the peace of the Church were chiefly concerning the most Blessed Trinity concerning the Divinity and Incarnation the Word Eternal They were at peace and quiet concerning the most Holy Eucharist It was not at all questioned by the Hereticks of those dayes The hour for that was not yet come Here you have the reason why the Holy Fathers insisted chiefly upon the defence of such Mysteries as were then questioned or opposed It was upon those occasions they compiled those great Works of theirs with so much exactness explaining and clearing many particular Points which were not much looked upon before those Contests were raised in the Church upon different occasions Without question there can be no great difficulty to agree that the same has happened in the subject of the Holy Eucharist That there was a time when men did not set themselves to Write purposely of the depth of the great Mystery as they did of some others about which mens wits were at work by occasion of some Propositions which had caused some disturbance There has been another time when men did upon design fall a writing more at large for the explicating not only the nature of this Sacrament but also of the Mysteries contained therein It is most certain that about the beginning of the ninth Age Anno 818. Bell. Sermon Defence of the Perpet l. 8. c. 10. pag. 840. Pascasius Radberâ—â— writ a Treatise of this nature in the Book he made concerning the Body and Blood of our Saviour Whether he were the first or no that treated of this subject in that manner discussing the particulars more-minutely with method and at large uniting together all the parts belonging to this glorioâ— Mystery Whether there were at the beginning many adversaries who shewed themselves in opposition to his Doctrine Pag. 227. Pag. 629. l. 8. c. 8. as is pretended by Mr. Claudâ— or very few and those who durst not publickly shew themselves as Monsieur Aenand evidences very learnedly and clearly concerns me not at all It is sufficient for me that it is most true as both agree that that Book in fine Ibid. was cause of some trouble and as is said of it in the Defence of the Perpetuity had this effect in some Pag. 813. that having given them occasion to look more