of the Merits of Christ and partly of the superabundant Sufferings of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints who have suffer'd more than their Sins required The Pastors of the Church have obtain'd from God the power of granting Indulgences Ibid. c. 3. p. 19 27. and dispensing of the Merits of Christ and the Saints for this end out of the Sacraments The Punishments remitted by these Indulgences Ibid. c. 7. p. 47. are all those which are or might have been enjoyn'd for Sins and that whether the Persons be alive or dead WE believe there is a Power in the Church of granting Indulgences which concern not at all the Remission of Sins either Mortal or Venial but only of some temporal Punishments remaining due after the guilt is remitted So that they are nothing else but a Mitigation or Relaxation upon just Causes of Canonical Penances which are or may be enjoyn'd by the Pastors of the Church on Penitent Sinners according to their several degrees of demerit Papist Represent n. viii p. 10. M. de M. Expos § 8. p. 14. Of the Mass Old Popery New Popery THe * Concil Trid. Sess 22. Can. 1. 3. p. 196. ibid. c. 2. p. 191. Mass is a true and proper Sacrifice A Sacrifice not only Commemoratory of that of the Cross but also truly and properly propitiatory for the dead and the living Conc. Trent Art 16. †Verum reale Sacrificium veram realem mortem aut destructionem rei immolatae desiderat Bell. de Missa l. 1. c. 27. p. 1062. C. Vel in Missa fit vera realis Christi mactatio occisio vel non fit Si non fit non est verum reale Sacrificum Missa Sacrificium enim verum reale veram realem occisionem exigit quando in occisione ponitur essentia Sacrificii 1063. A. And again Per consecrationem res quae offertur ad veram realem externam mutationem destructionem ordinatur quod erat necessarium ad rationem Sacrificii ib. l. D. Sect. Tertio Every true and real Sacrifice requires a true and real Death or Destruction of the thing sacrificed So that if in the Mass there be not a true and real Destruction on there is not a true and real Sacrifice Bellarmin To offer up Christ then in the Eucharist is not only to present him before God on the Altar but really and truly to Sacrifice i. e. destroy him Bellarmin THe Sacrifice of the Mass was instituted only to represent that which was accomplish'd on the Cross to perpetuate the memory of it to the end of the World and apply to us the saving Vertue of it for those Sins which we commit every day Vindicat. pag. 95. When we say That Christ is offered in the Mass we do not understand the word Offer in the strictest Sense but as we are said to Offer to God what we present before him And thus the Church does not doubt to say That She offers up our Blessed Jesus to his Father in the Eucharist in which he vouchsafes to render him himself present before him Vindicat. ibid. p. 96. Of the Popes Authority Old Popery New Popery WE acknowledg the Holy Catholick and Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and we Promise and Swear to the Bishop of Rome Successor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ a true Obedience Concil Trid. Jur. Pii 4ti p. xliv in fine The Pope has Power to depose Princes Si dominus temporatis requisitus monitus ab Ecclesia terram suam purgare neglexerit ab Haeretica foeditate Excommunicationis Vinculo innodetur Et si satisfacere contempserit infra annum significetur hoc summo Pontifici ut ex tunc Ipse Vassallos ab ejus fidelitate denuntiet absolutos terram exponat Catholicis occupandam Salvo jure Domini Principalis dummodo super hoc ipse nullum praestet obstaculum nec aliquod impedimentum opponat Eadem nihil ominus lege servata circa EOS qui NON HABENT DOMINOS PRINCIPALES and absolve Subjects from their Allegiance So the Council of Lateran If the Temporal Lord shall neglect to purge his Land of Heresie let him be Excommunicated and if within a year he refuses to make satisfaction to the Church let it be signified to the Pope that from thenceforth He may declare his Vassals absolved from their Allegiance and expose his Land to be seised by Catholicks yet so as not to injure the right of the Principal Lord. Provided that he puts no stop or hindrance to this And the same Law is to be observed with reference to those who have no Principal Lords Concil Later 4. Can. 3. de Haeret. p. 147. This is no Scholastick Tenet but the Canon of a Council received by the Church of Rome as General WE acknowledg that Primacy which Christ gave to St. Peter in his Successors to whom for this cause we owe that Obedience and Submission which the holy Councils and Fathers have always taught the faithful As for those things which we know are disputed of in the Schools it is not necessary we speak of them here seeing they are not Articles of the Catholick Faith It is sufficient we acknowledg a Head Establish'd by God to conduct his whole Flock in his Paths which those who love Concord amongst Brethren and Ecclesiastical Unanimity will most willingly acknowledg Expos Monsieur de Meaux p. 40. Such is the difference of the present Controversies between us from what they were when it pleased God to discover to our Fathers the Errors they had so long been involved in Were I minded to shew the division yet greater there want not Authors among them and those approved ones too from whence to collect more desperate Conclusions in most of these Points than any I have now remark'd And the Practice and Opinion of the people in those Countries where these Errors still prevail is yet more Extravagant than any thing that either the One or Other have written What now remains but that I earnestly beseech all sober and unprejudiced Persons of that Communion seriously to weigh these things And consider what just reason we had to quit those Errors which even their own Teachers are ashamed to confess and yet cannot honestly disavow It has been the great business of these new Methodists for some years past to draw over ignorant men to the Church of Rome by pretending to them that their Doctrines are by no means such as they are commonly mis-apprehended to be This is popular and may I believe have prevailed with some weak persons to their seduction tho' we know well enough that all those abroad who pretend to be Monsieur de Meaux's Proselytes were not so upon the conviction of his Book but for the advantages of the Change and the Patronage of his Person and Authority But surely would men seriously weigh this Method there could be nothing more
may be dispensed with and whilst there is no neglect or contempt of it prove neither damnable nor dangerous PART III. ARTICLE XXIII Of the Written and Vnwritten Word AS to this Article Vindic. p. 100. there is indeed an Agreement between Monsieur de Meaux and Me so far as We handle the Question and keep to those general terms Of the Traditions being universally received by all Churches and in all Ages for in this Case We of the Church of England are perfectly of the same Opinion with them and ready to receive whatever we are thus assured to have come from the Apostles with a like Veneration to that we pay to the written Word it self But after all this there is as the Vindicator observes a very material difference betwixt us viz. Who shall be judge when this Tradition is Vniversal He tells us Vind ibid. they rely upon the judgment of the present Church of every Age declaring her sense whether by the most General Council of that Age or by the constant practice and uniform voice of her Pastors and People And this is that to which he conceives every private person and Church ought to submit without presuming to examine how ancient that Tradition does appear to be or how agreeable it is to the Written Word of God Now here we must own a dissent as to this method of judging of Traditions for these two reasons 1. Because whether there were any such particular Doctrine or Practice received by the Primitive Church is a matter of fact and as such is in many cases distinctly set down by such Writers as lived in or near that first Age of the Church Now where the case is thus the Accounts that are given by these Writers are certainly to those who are able to search into them a better Rule whereby to judge what was an Ancient Doctrine and Tradition than either the Decree of a Council of a latter Age or the Voice and Practice of its Pastors and People For let these agree as much as they will in voting any Doctrine or Practice to have been Primitive yet they can never make it pass for such among wise and knowing Men if the authentick Histories and Records of those times shew it to have been otherwise And this being plainly the case as to several instances decreed by the Councils and practised by the Pastors and People in the Roman Church we cannot look upon her late Decrees and Practices to be a good or a safe Rule for judging of the Antiquity or Vniversality of Church-Traditions But 2. There is yet a more cogent Reason against this Method which is that it is apt to set up Tradition in competition with the Scriptures and to give this Vnwritten Word the upper hand of the Written For according to this Method if the Church in any Age does but decree in Council or does generally Teach and Practice any thing as an ancient Tradition then this must obtain and be of force with all its Members tho' many of them should be perswaded that they cannot find it in nay that it is contrary to the Written Word of God Now this we cannot but look upon as an high affront to the Holy Scriptures And let them attribute as much as they please to the Decrees and Practices of their Church We cannot allow that any particular Church or Person should be obliged upon these grounds to receive that as a matter of Faith or Doctrine which upon a diligent and impartial search appears to them not to be contained in nay to be contrary to the written Word of God In this Case we think it reasonable that the Church's Sentence should be made void and the Voice of her pretended Traditions be silenced by that more powerful one of the lively Oracles of God ARTICLE XXIV XXV Of the Authority of the Church IN the two next Articles Vind. p. 101. concering the Authority of the Church I was willing to allow as much and come up as near to Mons de Meaux as Truth and Reason would permit This it seems made the Vindicator to conceive some great hopes from my Concessions But these his hopes are soon dasht when he finds me putting in some Exceptions and not willing to swallow the whole Doctrine as it is laid down in the Exposition Now the Exceptions that seem most to offend him are these 1. That the Church of Rome should be taken for a particular and not the Catholick Church 2. That She should be supposed as such either by Error to have lost or by other means to have prevaricated the Faith even in the necessary points of it 3. That any other Church should be allow'd to examine and judg of the Decisions of that Church 4. That it should be left to private or individual Persons to examine and oppose the Decisions of the whole Church if they are evidently convinced that their private belief is founded upon the Authority of God's Holy Word These are the Exceptions at which he is the most offended Vind. p. 103. The 1. of these he calls an Argument to elude the Authority of the Church of Rome and to shew the Fallacy of it he thinks it sufficient to say That they do not take the Church of Rome as it is the Suburbican Diocess to be the Catholick Church but all the Christian Churches in Communion with the Bishop of Rome Now if this in truth be that which they mean when they stile the Church of Rome the Catholick Church then surely every other National Church which is of that Communion has as good a title to the name of Catholick as that of Rome it self For seeing it is the Purity or Orthodoxness of the Faith which is the bond of this Communion this renders every distinct Church professing this Faith equally Catholick with the rest and reduces the Church of Rome as well as others within its own Suburbican Diocess and so makes it only a particular not the Vniversal Church But now should we allow the Church of Rome as great an extent as the Vindicator speaks of and that it were proper to understand by that name all those other Churches which are in Communion with her yet all this would not make her the whole or Catholick Church unless it could be proved that there was no other Christian Church in the World besides those in Communion with her and that all Christian Churches have in all Ages profess'd just the same Faith and continued just in the same Worship as She hath done And this we conceive will not easily be made out with reference to the Grecian Armenian Abassine Churches all which have plainly for several Ages differed from the Church of Rome and those in her Communion in points relating both to Faith and Worship So that in respect of these and the like Christian Churches which were not of her Communion She could not be looked upon as a Vniversal but only as a Particular Church Now if this be
plainly shew that no such Title or Authority was anciently claimed by or allow'd to the Bishop of Rome And therefore we say That these new and groundless pretences must be laid aside before we can be content to yield him that Honour which has been sometimes given to his Predecessors As to that new Question he has hookt in at the end of this Article Vindic. p. 106. Whether the first four General Councils might not be term'd neither General nor Free with as much reason as the Council of Trent I suppose it may easily be answer'd in the Negative 1st It was not so General because it was not call'd by so great and just an Authority as those were That was an Authority to which Christians of all Places and all Ranks acknowledged themselves bound to submit and attend where they were summon'd by it whereas this was a meer Vsurpation and being so was not regarded by a great part of the Christian World who were sensible that they ow'd no Subjection to it 2dly It was not so Free because those who had most to say in defence of the Truth durst not appear at Trent being sufficiently forewarn'd by what others had lately suffered in a like case at Constance Add to this That those who being present did set themselves most to oppose Error and Corruption were perpetually run down and outvoted by Shoals of new made Bishops sent out of Italy for that purpose So that such a Council as this could not with any shew of Reason be termed either Free or General much less ought it to be compared with those first four Councils which were in all these Respects most opposite to it CLOSE XXVII AND now Vindic. p. 106. that I have gone through the several Articles of the Vindication and found the Pretensions of this Author against me as false as I think I have shewn his Arguments to have been frivolous what shall I say more Shall I complain of his Injuries or rather shall I yet again beseech him to consider the little grounds he had for them and see whether he has been able in any one Instance to make good that infamous Character which he has told the World I have deserved in almost every Article of my Expoposition Have I Calumniated them in any thing Have I Misrepresented their Doctrines I have already said I do not know that I have I think I may now add I have made it appear that I have not Where are the Vnsincere dealings the Falsifications the Authors Miscited or Misapplied Excepting only an Error or two that 's the most of the Press has he given any one Example of this Some words now and then I omitted because I thought them impertinent and was unwilling to burden a short Treatise with tedious Citations And I am still perswaded that they were not material and that he might as well have found fault with me for not Transcribing the whole Books from whence they were produced as for leaving out those Passages which he pretends ought to have been inserted And for this I appeal to the foregoing Articles to be my Vindication But our Author has well observed That nothing can be so clearly expressed Vind. p. 120. or so firmly established let me add or so kindly and charitably performed but that a person who intends to cavil may either form a seeming Objection against it or wrest it into a different sense I never had the vanity to fancy my Exposition to be Infiallible or that the sight of an Imprimatur should make me pass for an Oracle But yet I was willing to hope that amidst the late pretences to Moderation such a peaceable Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England might at least have been received with the same civility by them as that of the Church of Rome was by us and that our new Methodists had not so wholly studied the palliating part of their Master as not to have learnt something of his fairness and civility also This I had so much the greater reason to expect for that it has been esteemed not the least part of the artifice of Monsieur de Meaux not only to mollifie the Errors of his Church but to moderate that passion and heat that for the most part occurs in the defenders of it And by the temper and candidness of his Stile insinuate into his Reader a good Opinion of his Doctrine But this is an Artifice that our late Controvertists seem resolved we shall have no great cause to apprehend Who therefore have not only wholly laid aside the Modenation of this Prelate but have in some of their last Pieces fallen into such a vein of lightness and scurrility as if their Zeal for their Church had made them forget that Religion is the Subject and Christians and Scholars to say no more of them their Antagonists I am ashamed to say what mean Reflections and trivial Jestings make up almost the sum of their latest attempts The Papist Represented which seemed to promise something of seriousness and moderation expiring in a FANATICK Sermon done indeed so naturally as if the once Protestant Author had dropt not out of the Church of England but a Conventicle into Popery His late Majesties Papers Answered with Reason and whatever is pretended with respect too by Us instead of being Vindicated ridiculed in the Reply In which it is hard to say whether the Author has least shewn his charity to us or his respect to the Persons and Church that he defends These are the new Methods that are now taken up but sure such as neither Church I suppose will be very well satisfied with And which seem more accommodated to the Genius of those Sceptics who divert themselves at the expence of All Religion on both sides than designed to satisfie the sober and conscientious of either It is not improbable but that some such ingenious Piece may in a little time come forth against what I have now publish'd to call me a few ill names pass a droll or two upon the Cause tell the World how many Sheets there were in my Defence and put the curious to another Shilling expence Amicab'e Accommodation as a late Author has very gravely observed If this be the Case I hope I shall need no Apology to men of sense and sobriety if I here end both their trouble and my own together Let those who have been always used to it rally on still with Holy things if they think good for my part I esteem the Salvation of mens Souls and the Truth of Religion to be a more serious Subject than to be exposed to the levity of a Jest and made the subject of a Controversial Lampoon And if an account shall hereafter be given for every idle word that we now speak I profess I cannot but tremble to think what shall be the judgment of those men who in the midst of such unhappy differences as the Church now labours under whilst our common