Determinations from thence in a Portmantle The Bishops and Fathers of the Council were acted more by Reasons of State and Principles of Policy then of Piety and consulted the Pope and the Conclave at Rome more then the Holy Scripture and the Fathers of the Church And withal you have no reason to urge us of England with the Autority of the Trent Council when none of our Bishops were there except only one fugitive And as I take it our Potent Neighbors of France have not yet accepted that Council and withal the Council is of too late an Edition to bear up its Autority against the consent and practice of so many Ages of the Church And therefore being now grown weary of the Controversie be pleas'd to answer this Question and we will conclude Why doth the Church persist so stifly to maintain the Communion in one kind against so many advantages we have shew'd and you must acknowledg on the other side especially seeing in the Council of Trent it was so much desir'd by the Emperor Charles the Fifth and by the Princes and People of Germany well affected so to make up the breach and keep many from falling away from the Church of Rome that the Council of Trent would allow the Communion in both kinds yet we find it was not granted but referr'd wholly to the Popes determination who never had leisure to take his infallible Chair and determine that Controversie Phil. To speak freely The Fathers of that Council and the Pope with his Cardinals at Rome in their Wisdom did well perceive that such as moved for the Communion in both kinds were dis-affected to the Church and made this a specious bait to catch the People They saw their Concessions in this plausible case would but make way for many complaints more and grievances to be redress'd You know not long before the Germans publish'd in Print their first a Centum gravamina Century of Grievances every Article being as a Libel against the Church Hereupon they thought it the wisest course to justifie the former Councils and stand upon their Autority and require subjection from the true Sons of the Church and as for Heretics and Schismatics either to subdue them by subtlety and force or else to slight them Theoph. This Observation of yours confirms many Passages we read of Bishops b Joannes Baptistà Hosius Episcopus Rbeatinus Lib. 4. Gonc Trid. Sess 2. Ecclesia nunquam consueverit vel minimum indulg heriticis c. in that Council giving their Vote upon the Question who mightily oppos'd the allowance of the Cup and urg'd That the Church was never observed to give the least Indulgence unto Heretics but to establish that which was diametrically opposite to their Positions c Andreas Cuâ—sta Episcopus Legionensis Another Bishop seconds this Opinion with the Example of the first General Council of Nice wherein those 318. Holy Fathers would not yield one tittle to the Arrians altho Constantine desired moderation and the Controversie had well nigh set in a flame the whole World d A verbis commoda interpretatione molliendis ex composito abstinuerunt Nay saith he they studiously rejected many Words and Expressions of the Arrians which were capable of a convenient Interpretation And thus you see with what intolerable Impudence they accounted their Christian Brethren as Heretics for following the plain Institution of Christ The Arrians found no favor in the Council of Nice from those Orthodox and Godly Fathers nor the least degree of complyance neither must the Protestants in Germany from the Council of Trent But there was somthing more in the Wind that hindred the Reformation of the See of Rome namely this That if upon the complaint of Nations and People the Pope should reform abuses especially such as had been Decreed in Councils It would be a tacite acknowledgment that the Church of Rome had solemnly erred in making such unjustifiable Decrees and so the jealous People would begin to suspect and examine all her Determinations and be easily perswaded by their Schismatical Guides that in many things the Church had miscarried and Bills of exceptions and complaint would be put up one after another as the interest and malice of her Adversaries should contrive them and therefore the safest way was ever found for the Church of Rome to stand upon her Justification against the clamors of the whole World and to put Princes in mind of their Obedience to the Church and the Obligation that lies upon them by force of Arms to subdue their contumacious Subject's and make them submit unto Rules and Disciplines of the Churches This was the sum of that smart Council which Cardinal Soderine gave unto Pope Adrian when the good old Man was much perplex'd with the Complaints and Demands of the German Princes and their People against the corruptions chiefly of the Court of Rome His Piety and Simpllcity and good Nature being not well vers'd in the Politics of Rome promted him to endeavor satisfaction and reform all such Abuses as might give just occasion of offence and grievance to their Adversaries About this great Work of Reforming he consults the Conclave and the necessity of the Times and the public Scandal of Abuses induc'd many of the Cardinals to advise a Reformation of many things which were in question But at last the subtle and experienc'd Cardinal Soderinus who had been vers'd in the Affairs of Christendom under three active Poâ—ds Alexander and Julius and Leo the 10 th turns the Scale of their Votes and absolutly disswades any appearance or attemt of a Reformation He rolls them That neâ—er any Pope with his Cardinals before thought that a coâ—â—enient way but rather by the Interest of Princes and the power of the Sword to suppress and extirpate unquiet and schismatical Spirits That no Pope cut off Heresies by a Reformation a Sed cruciatis quas vocant excitatis contra 〈◊〉 Princibus Populis Crucis simbolo in signitis but by the â—rucrats as they are call'd the Princes and People being stirr'd up against them wearing the badge of the Cross upon their Coat of Arms. Phil. I must confess Experience hath found this way the surest for so Pope Innocent the 3 d supprest the Albigenses in France and Charles the fifth the German Protestant Princes Theoph. But thro the Providence of God you find the Lutherans are yet alive in Germany and several Princes together with their Subjects reform'd themselves in spight of all opposition protesting against those Errors which the Church of Rome intends to justifie only by the Sword and by the Inquisition and the lower you draw your Observation the more success you will find God hath given unto many Kingdoms and People against the Tyranny and Innovations of Rome Phil. The Judgments of God are a great deep and you may not enter into his Secrets and judg of Truths by the Success Theoph. No my design only was to confute
understanding and devotion putting an acceptable force upon the Almighty by the fervency and importunity of the whole Congregation I have likewise occasionally shew'd before how the Latine Tongue was propagated with the Roman Conquests by their Colonies and in time became even vulgarly known in many parts of the Western Empire but upon the Inundation of the Goths and Vandals c. And upon the decay of the Roman Empire the Roman Tongue every where gave place to the Conqueror and now there is no Nation or People in the World who generally understand it Now then seeing the Latine Service was in use in divers Countries because it was vulgarly understood and for that reason only as we may well suppose the case being so apparently alter'd and no common People now understanding the Latine Tongue it ought in every Country to give place to that Language which is understood And it is the insufferable Tyranny of the Pope and Church of Rome so strictly to keep up the old custom of Latine Service in several Countries when the reason of the first possession ceaseth and the Language is not understood And therefore in this case Augustin shall give an Answer to himself a De Baptisme contra Donatistas lib 3. cap. 6. Plane respondeo quis dubitet veritati manifestae debere consuetudinem cedere I answer plainly saith he who doubteth but that custom must yield unto apparent truth Phil. If any Nation find it a grievance they may peaceably apply themselves to the Pope and his Cardinals or to a General Council and without doubt may have Indulgence and leave granted to have the Service in their own Tongue For so I read how Cyril an Hermit who was a great Instrument under God to convert Moravia to the Faith of the Gospel having first instructed and Baptized Suatocopius their King who was overcome in a signal Battle by Arnolphus the Emperor and liv'd an Exile in the Wilderness b Aenâ—as Sylvius hist Bohemica cap. 13. The History shews how this Cyril went to Rome and earnestly sollicited the Pope that in Divine Service he might use the Sclavonian Tongue which was in Moravia the vulgar and it was granted Theoph. But why do you concele the most memorable Passage of the Story namely That when Cyrils request met with great opposition in the sacred Senate of Cardinals a voice was heard as from Heaven saying c Omnis spiritus laudet Deum omnis lingua confiteatur ei Ib ad finem capitis Let every one that hath breath praise the Lord and let every Tongue consess unto him And so they were in that Senate miraculously convinc'd of the Truth now controverted between us That every Nation should serve God and praise him in their own Tongue even in the public Service Now you cannot deny the Story to be credible seeing your self have made use of the first part and it was written by a famous Cardinal who was afterwards chosen Pope But as for Encouragements to ask leave we shall find very few For in the next Century Hildebrand a furious and turbulent Pope known by the name of Gregory the 7 th flatly denied the same Request made by the Duke of Bohemia Vuratislaus in the behalf of his Subjects And whereas in most of their Churches the People had before taken the liberty to use their own Language in the public Service the Pope strictly inhibits it by the Autority of Peter giving the Duke a charge for the honor of the Omnipotent God with all his power to resist such a vain and rash attemt And the lower we descend in Church History the more stiff we find the See of Rome to make any Concessions unto the People The Immunities of the Clergy must be enlarged and the Laics kept under a blind obedience and to this end their little or no understanding of Gods Worship and of the Mysteries d Binius part 1 ma. 7 Tom. Conc l 6. Epistolarum Greg. Papâ— 7. Epistola 11. Ne fiat quod à vestris imprud exposcitur autorit beati Petri inhibemus c. of Religion and of the Holy Scriptures is very subservient Phil. You are proud and of a Schismatical Spirit and so pretend great difficulties to excuse good maners Theoph. It is the usual course with Men of your Church to supply their defect of Arguments and Reason with railing I have all this while wondred at your patience but you have not bin long acquainted with their waies But in answer to your reproof I will tell you It is no part of good manners to ask leave to serve God in that way which he hath prescrib'd with the heart and with the lips and with understanding also a Lib. 30. cap. 5. contra Fauseum Manich. neque evim cenceditur secundum Veniam nisi peccatum S t Augustin tells us Indulgence is given to such things as are not lawful in themselves Prove it unlawful to understand our Praiers and we will ask your leave to do so And that we do not pretend difficulties is manifest for your Church is so far from allowing the public Service in a known Tongue that it scarce permits any to use their own Language in their private Devotions training up their Proselytes Men Women and Children to say their Pater noster the Creed the Penitential Psalms their Ave Maries in Latine and so like Parrots they are taught to speak what they understand not in particular to utter broken Latine and many Incongruities the intention of heart and mind all the while being not determin'd to those Petitions which they make with their lips For altho they have a moral perswasion that they say the Lords Praier when they mumble out the Pater noster yet for the distinct Petitions they are altogether to seek as I have had occasion to make the trial For when a Female Proselyte of Rome gloried that she could say her Praiers in Latine rehearsing her Pater noster when she came to the fifth Petition Demitte nobis debita nostra I interrupted her and demanded what that Petition was which the then put up to God she answered She could not tell distinctly but she knew in general that she said the Lords Prayer Now certainly it is necessary that the heart should know when the tongue asks forgiveness of Sins that so it may be smitten and deeply affected with a sense and shame of sin in general and with some particular sins which lie as a burthen upon the Conscience and would come into remembrance at that instant when we with understanding beg pardon And the same reason holds for all requests made to God we ought distinctly to understand them that we may be suitably affected with a due sense of our wants Did you never read the complaint which the Lord made to his Prophet Isaiah chap. 29. ver 13. This People draw near to me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me
wall Phil. This Canon may respect the Pictures of God and not of the Saints and you have dismist that Point Theoph. Your Church however is to blame to transgress this Canon in admitting Images of God and of the Trinity But seeing you allow Worship and Adoration to the Images of Christ and of the Saints the reason given in the Canon reacheth them also The Fathers would not have that which is worship'd pictur'd on the Wall Phil. You will find other Answers given to that Canon That it prohibited Images in the Church because then the People were newly weanâ—d from Idolatry and might be apt to return For the Council was held under Pope Marcellus Anno 305. and withal the Heathen among whom they liv'd might suppose Christians did worship Idols like themselves whilst they condemn'd them and there was danger least the Gentiles should break in upon them and do despite unto the Images of Christ and the Saints Theoph. The Reason given in the Canon confutes these Answers and manifests them to be but shifts That which is worship'd must not be pictur'd Phil. b De Im. l. 2. c. 9. Bellarmin having reckon'd others chiefly approves this Answer The Canon forbids Images upon the Walls least they should be defil'd and stain'd with the moistness and mouldring of the Wall but Pictures in Arrasor Tables are not forbid as not being so liable to such Inconveniencies Theoph. He will say somwhat tho to little purpose such a ridiculous Answer deserves no Consideration Phil. But withal he shews how the Eliberitan Council consisted but of 19 Bishops And what are they if compar'd with such General Councils which afterwards establish'd Images Theoph. This is like himself when any thing makes against him to slight it But this Council was alwaies held in great esteem for the Antiquity and Piety thereof Hosius presided therein and the other Bishops were most of them Confessors and at that time assembled with the hazard of their lives to give Rules and Directions to the People of God And in those days Bishops were not so numerous the World being not subdued to Christianity And lastly Binius acknowledgeth there were six and thirty Presbyters in the Council besides the Bishops Phil. Once more Bellarmin shews That Council did incline to Novatianism denying Reconciliation unto the Church even at their deaths unto some Offenders as appears in the three first Canons of that Council whereas about 20 years after the great Council of Nice in the 13 th Canon Decreed the contrary a Bin. Tom. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We determin in general That any one departing this life and desiring to receive the Eucharist the Bishop upon examination shall give it him Theoph. Bellarmin doubtless was not ignorant That Pope Innocent the first had vindicated the Eliberitan Council from this imputation of Novatianism and reconcil'd the difference of the Canons by the times wherein they were made b Innocent Epist 1. c. 2. Cum illis temporibus crebrae essent persecut c. In those persecuting Times the Fathers of the Eliberitan Council were more severe least the easiness of Reconciliation to the Church should encourage some to Apostatize they Decreed That such as did fall off should not be admitted to the Eucharist even at their deaths But when Constantine restored Peace to the Church and Persecution ceas'd the Council of Nice releas'd the former Canon and Decreed The Communion should be given to such as desired it upon their death beds Now Bellarmin's brother Cardinal c Annal Tom Anno 305. Fatetur se paulo liberius de hoc Concil loquutum c. Baronius taking into consideration this Justification of the Eliberitan Council by Pope Innocent makes acknowledgment That he spoken too freely against this Council in his Annals before and Declares That there could be no suspicion of Novatianism in that Council Phil. d Baron Tom. 1. Anno Christi 57. Baronius suspects this Canon against Pictures may be supposititious put in among the rest by some who had ill will to Images in after times Because saith he the Image-breakers take no notice of this Canon in their defence Theop. This is their constant practice to suspect all that makes against them They have accustomed themselves much of late to the corrupting of Fathers and Councils and would have us believe they have learn'd that Art from the Primitive Times And withal you may observe Baronius's cheat upon his Reader In the year 570. he much labors to undermine the Autority of this Council as being but a particular Council of few Bishops given to Novatianism and for this Canons sake against Images all this indignation and therefore the Canon must be thought supposititious Now when he hath prepossest his Reader with these prejudices against this Council long after in the year 305. as you have heard he recants acknowledging he had spoke too freely against it and that Pope Innocent had acquitted the Council of Novatianism c. Do you not believe the Learned Cardinal knew as much of this Concern when he wrote his first censure of the Council as when he cries peccavi only he was willing to undervalue the Council in the first place and might presume many of his Readers might never go so far as to read this his Recantation But to proceed in Church History concerning Pictures of the Saints in Churches we have a notable passage of Epiphaninus a Learned Bishop in Cyprus who going towards Bethel with John Bishop of Jerusalem in the way he turn'd into a Church in a Village call'd Anablatha to Pray And seeing there a piece of hanging before the door of the Church painted and having the Image of Christ in it or some Saint for afterwards in his Letter to John Bishop of Jerusalem he saith That he did not well remember whose Picture it was he cut the hanging and Picture into pieces and wish'd the Keeper of the Church to wrap some dead Body in it and bury it When some of the Village standing by expostulated with him for the Fact and said That however he should buy another piece of hanging before the door he promis'd to do so and sent it afterwards to the Bishop of Jerusalem to be put up instead of the other Now in this Letter to the Bishop who had Jurisdiction in that place he gives a reason of his action a Hierom. Tom 2. Epist Epiphan ad Jeannem Episc Hiros cum vidissem in Ecclesia Christi contra Script Autorit hominis c. When I saw in the Church of Christ against the Autority of Holy Scripture the Image of a Man set up I cut it in pieces And in the close of his Letter he adviseth the Bishop to command That such hangings should not be admitted into the Church which are against our Religion that so he might take away all scandal and scruple c. Phil. Many Answers you will find given to this memorable Passage Theoph. Yes it
Gospel was preached not in which they were first written And altho Bellarmine here be positive yet in the same Chapter afterwards he speaks doubtfully of the Latin Tongue d Vt quidam volunt Latine c. They did write the Gospels and Epistles only in Hebrew and Greek and as some will have it in Latin For there are some who conceive that Saint Mark did write his Gospel at Rome in Latin and afterwards translated it into the Greek Tongue And for the proof he first sends us to Pope Damasus his Pontifical his Book of the Lives of all the Popes his Predecessors in the See of Rome where in the Life of Peter we are told e Hic scripsit duas Epistolas quae Canenicae nominantur Evangel Marel c. That Peter wrote two Epistles and the Gospel of Saint Mark for Mark was his Disciple and his adopted S 〈…〉 n his Baptism Now if Peter did write that Gospel as this Testimony asserts how is it call'd the Gospel of S t Mark more then the other two Canonical Epistles And yet so far we have nothing said concerning the Tongue wherein Mark did write his Gospel but it immediatly follows Posi omnem quatuor Evangeliorum â—â—ntem quae ad interrogationem testimonium Petri firmata sunt dum alius Grace alius Hebraice alius I aliue scribentes consonant omnia ejus Testimonio sum firmata A piece of Latin which I cannot make sense of only we may guess the meaning That by Peters Testimony all the four Gospels were confirm'd and confirm'd for the greater confirmation of Peter's supreme Autority the word firmata is without sense twice inserted while one of the Evangelists writing in Greek another in Hebrew another in Latin they all were consonant Now by this wise Enumeration there were but three Evangelists one writing in Greek another in Hebrew and another in Latin in what Tongue the fourth Evangelist did write must be reserved as a secret in due time to be reveled when France or Spain or some other Catholic Prince as they will have it hath attain'd an Universal Monarchy and then the Language of his Country shall be adopted into the Sacred Number Phil. I must confess this passage in the life of Peter is set down somthing imperfectly we may suppose an Error in the Printing Theoph. The whole deserves a deleatur For how could Peter by his supreme Autority confirm the four Evangelists when it is generally acknowledged that John wrote his Gospel long after Peters Martyrdom under Nero even in the Reign of Nerva Emperor of Rome who releas'd him of his banishment in Patmos whither Domitian had condemn'd him John returning to Ephesus upon the perswasion of the Asian Bishops did write his Gospel against Cerinthus and Ebion and other Heretics who denied Christs Divinity a Aug. Tom. 9. Praefatione in Joannem Occiso Domitiano cum permittente Nerva de exilio redâ—sset compulsus ab Episc Asiae c. But in truth this Pontifical is by themselves accounted spurious and falsly ascrib'd to Damasus as Binius asserts in the first Tome of his Edition of the Councils in a Note before Peter's Life b Hujus libri Pontifex Damasus author non est quod in unoquque fere Pontifice pugnantia contineat Damasus is not the Author of this Pontifical for almost in the Life of every Pope it contains thing repugnant one to another And he quotes Bar onius and Possevinus for his Judgment Now we may easily believe Bellarmine was too great a Scholar not to discover the Imposture and the Contradictions of the Book yet after his usual course when a Testimony makes for him he will take it altho himself be not ignorant of the forgery Phil. You find Bellarmine in that place brings other Authors to prove Mark did write his Gospel in Latin Adrianus Finus and Antonius Beuter Theoph. Writers so obscure that I cannot find their Books and Tirinus a Jesuit a in his Index Autorum shews the first to be a Writer of the last Century making no mention of the second Phil. Baronius likewise affirms that Mark wrote his Gospel in Latin and proves it because he was as Jerome calls him Peter's Interpreter and did write for the use and benefit of the Romans as Nazianzen affirms d Nazianzen in carmin de 4. Evangeliis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore probably he wrote in the Latin Tongue Theoph. You may urge the same Argument that Paul did write his Epistle to the Romans in Latin Phil. But Baronius observes likewise some Latin words adopted into the Greek Copy of S t Mark 's Gospel e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 6. ver 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 27. which makes it more then probable that the Greek Copy was translated out of the Latin Theoph. This Criticism will not help him for we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the other Evangelists Matth. 18. 28. Luk. 17. 41. John 6. 7. We find many other Latin Words in the Greek Test 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 19. 12. and yet S t Luke is observ'd of all the sacred Writers to write the purest Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 26. 53. And f In Comment in Epist 1. ad Cor. cap. 10. ver 25. Benedictus Justinianus a Jesuit derides this Argument instancing in many other Words of the like nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Leaving therefore these critical and new Discoveries will you hear what S t Jerome and Augustin c Adrianus Finus Ferrariensis edidit flagellum Judaeorum An. 1537. two Latin Fathers say to this point a Jer. in Praefati in 4. Evangelistas De novo Testam non lequor c. I speak not of the New Testament which without doubt is all Greek except the Gospel of Matthew which be first set forth in Judea in the Hebrew Tongue Augustin affirm's the same b Aug. Tom. 4. l. 1. De consensis Evangelistarum cap. 2. Of these four Evangelists only Matthew is said to write in Hebrew ceteri Graeco eloquio the others in the Greek Tongue To these accord many of their own Writers c Biblioth l. 1. Breve grace sermone scripsit Evangelium Sixtus Senensis saith expresly Mark wrote a brief Gospel in the Greek Tongue And you may observe by this passage and many others how Baronius and Bellarmine two great Pillars of the Roman See little regard the Testimony of the Fathers when it crosseth their great design to advance the reputation of the Church of Rome However I presume it appears by what you have heard that no part of the Holy Scripture was written in Latine originally and therefore the Latine Tongue in that respect is not Sacred and to have the preheminence above others Phil. But in the fore-mention'd place Bellarmine instanceth in other excellencies of the Hebrew Greek and Latine above all others in antiquity amplitude and gravity d Bell. l. 2.
not doubt but stedfastly believe That whole Christ his Body and Blood is contain'd under either Species of the Sacrament And therefore such a custom of giving the Sacrament in one kind introduc'd by the Church and the Holy Fathers and observ'd for a most long time let it be taken for a Law Theoph. The first part is warily penn'd c Tam sub Specie panis quam sub specie vini veraciter contineri We must stedfastly believe that whole Christ is verily contain'd as well under one Species as the other So it may be if it be in neither and so we hold Christ is contain'd in neither singly but he is signified and Sacramentally represented and really and spiritually exhibited by the Sacrament in both kinds unto the Faithful Receiver His Body that was broken for us is signified by breaking of Bread and his Blood shed by the Wine poured out of the Cup and separated from the Bread in the Sacrament and therefore at present we will dismiss this School nicety and by the Councils leave not take it for granted That whole Christ Body and Soul is in either Species Quod nullus Presbyter sub poena Excommunicat communicet Populum sub utraque Specie But the principal motive follows Seeing such a custom of giving the Sacrament in one kind hath been introduc'd and most long observ'd by the Church and Fathers we Decree it shall be taken for a Law which shall not be changed or reprobated without the Autority of the Church b Bin. Tom. 8. Concil Basil Sess 30. Sub qualibet Specie est integer totus Christus landab quoque consuet commun Laices c. The Council of Basil makes and confirms the same Decree upon the same Motives Whole and intire Christ is under either kind and the laudable custom of Communicating the Laity under one kind induc'd by Church and Fathers and hither to most long observ'd and approv'd by Doctors skilful in Gods Law and in the Holy Scripture and in Church Canons long since Let it be a Law c. Phil. Yes The Custom and Practice of the Church should prevail with sober Men not given to Faction especially when confirm'd by General Conncils Theoph. Why should not then the Custom and Practice of the Church which we have prov'd for so many Ages prevail for administring the Sacrament in both kinds especially being exactly conformable unto Christs Institution and Command and Apostolical Tradition Phil. Stay there We absolutely deny any command of Christ or of his Apostles or of the Church representative in a General Council to administer the Sacrament in both kinds and we shew two Councils forbidding it Theoph. You deny but the Scriptures affirm And the reason why no General Council determin'd the Sacrament to be in both kinds was because the Institution of Christ and the Tradition of the Apostles and the practice of the whole Church was so full and express for it It was never put to the Question as I can find until the 13 th Century and from that time when the School-men began to swarm most of them being sworn Champions of the See of Rome The laudable Custom as the Council speaks approv'd by Holy Fathers viz. Monks and Friers crept insensibly into the Church And this must be made a ground of Canons to establish the Communion in one kind and forbid the Cup and declare a Curse upon all those that shall dispute it And now when I shall declare the reason I hope your goodness will excuse that great trouble to my self and you in those numerous Quotations and Testimonies I have brought to prove the practice of the Church for 1200 Years in giving the Sacrament unto the People in both kinds It was chiefly upon this design to manifest the gross absurdity of those two Councils Constance and Basil who as you have heard do ground their Decree for one kind upon the laudable custom of the Church taken up not above 100 Years before against the Institution of Christ and the conformable practice of the Church for 1200 Years And withal to manifest their impudence in calling that a custom rationally introduc'd when such a Diutissime obs trifling Motives are brought to establish it And in saying it was diutissime observata for a long time observ'd when they cannot shew one clear Instance save in the Age immediatly before That the Sacrament was administred in public in one kind in any Christian Church Phil. It doth not become your Prudence and Moderation so to undervalue General Councils Theoph. Alass Those two pitiful Councils of Constance and Easil you may call them Oecumenical but you give no more Autority to them then you think fit As far as their Decrees suit the Genius of the Court of Rome they are confirm'd and no farther a Part. 2. Tom. 7. pag. 1134. Exparte Approbatum in iis quae consra Wicclesum c. Binius in his Notes upon the Council of Constance tells us It was approv'd in part in those Decrees against Wicliff Husse and Jerome of Prague But in the determination of the Autority of a General Council above the Pope it was abrogated by two General Councils of Florence and the Lateran b Bin. Tom. 8. Sâ—ss 34. Câ—nâ— Basil Tan suum Simâ—niacum perjurum incorig Scismaticum fide devium injurium bonarum Ecclesiâ—e pâ—â—ditorâ—m So the Council of Basil deposing Eugenius the 4 th from his Papacy As a Simoniacal and perâ— jur'd Man an incorrigible Schismatic erring from the Faith injurious and betraying the Goods of the Church And choosing Amadeus Duke of Savoy Pope called Felix the fifth and Declaring That a Council is above the Pope and hath its Power immediatly from Christ Alas for these things this poor Council is hist off the Stage of the World c Sess 11. Bin in notis in Concil â—asil p. 526. Conciliabulum Schismat c. And in the Lateran General Council under Leo the 10 th It is call'd a Schismatical and Seditious Conventicle and altogether of no Autority And yet these are the Councils upon whose Aurority you so much depend to establish your half Communion and pronounce us all Heretical and Contumacious for not submitting our Reason and our Consciences thereunto even against the Scripture and against the Fathers of the Church Phil. But the General Council of Trent hath no Exception being held 18 years and confirm'd by Pope Pius the fourth and subscrib'd by his Cardinals as appears by the Bull of Confirmation See the Council of Trent set forth in Latin by John Gallemart D. D. and Professor at Douey Theoph. Of the Council of Trent read the History of Father Paul a Frier at Venice a Man of Learning Judgment and Piety beyond compare and there you will find what just cause the World â—ath to decline the Autority and Decrees of that Cabal That great Ecclesiastical Body whose Soul and Spirit was at Rome receiving day by day Orders and Directions and
unto the Image it self putting us in mind of our Savior you have high reason to yield all civil honor and obeisance to your Prinoe but will you bow the Knee or put of your Hat unto his Image in your Coin or to his Picture in your Closet Phil. Let me ask you also one Question If any should stab the Image of the King or of your Ancestors and shew great indignation against them would you not be higtly offended Theoph. If the Circumstances declare that he did it out of despight and malice to the person represented by the Picture there is reason to take it as an high affront Phil. By insensible degrees I shall bring you to acknowledge as much as we desire If you should see any Man give honor and respect unto the Princes Picture for his sake would you not approve it Theoph. Yes giving such regard as a pious Prince expects from us not to put a studied affront upon it not to set it up in a contemtible place we likewise shew a dutiful affection in highly valuing the Picture that resembles the King Phil. Why should you except against honor and respect given to an Image of your Savior or of his blessed Mother and the Saints Theoph. We do not set aside the Religious Worship of an Image which may lawfully be made and we will not except against any respect you will give to it for his sake whom it represents you must prove it lawful to worship Images Phil. To a Prince civil Worship and Honor is due and so much you give likewise to his Picture by the same rule seeing unto Christ as Man in union with the Divine Nature is due Religious Worship and Adoration you must give Religious Worship to his Image Theoph. We never said the same honor is due to the Picture of a Prince as to his Person Do you all stand bare in the Parlor because your Princes Picture hangs there or the Pictures of any of his Predecessors And secondly from a civil Worship given unto a Creature to a Religious Worship given unto a Creature there is no consequence to be drawn and the reason is this God hath forbid one and not the other Now the Pictures of Christ and of his Cross and of the Saints are Creatures even the work of Mens hands and therefore to them no Religious Worship to be given Phil. There is a receiv'd Maxim in the Church first taken from Basil the Great a Vid. Damascen Orthod Fid. lib. 4. c. 17. 11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The honor done to the Image passeth unto him whom it represents and therefore honoring their Images you honor Christ and his Saints Theoph. 'T is truth what respect is given to a Picture is only with regard unto the thing or person represented by it and therefore it is call'd relative Honor We prize the Picture of a Friend and much more of our Blessed Savior and his Saints if they be drawn to the Life but however to the Picture itself no adoration can in reason be given and honor because it is far inferior to the meanest Man who is the living Image of God and a Picture suppose of Christ but an inanimate Image b Honor est agnitio praecellâ—ntis Now Honor is given to things more excellent Will you say the Picture of a King excels in dignity the person of a Subject or that a liveless Picture of our Blessed Savior is more honorable then a living Disciple of our Blessed Savior Phil. Not in itself but as it is the Image of Christ Theoph. I speak of it as his Image and yet I do suppose you dare not maintain That the Picture of Christ in the consideration as his Picture is more to be esteemed then a Disciple of Christ for suppose one of them were to be destroi'd Would you save the Picture and leave the Man to perish Again for worshipping the Images of Saints it may be of S t Peter Is more honor to be given to his Image now then was to his person in the days of his Flesh When Cornelius fell at his Feet and worship'd him he receiv'd it not but said Stand up I my self also am a Man Acts 10 26 instructing him that no such worship was due to a Man Phil. He would not receive such adoration as was due to God Theoph. Who told you good Cornelius a devout Man intended such worship as was due to God Dare you say Cornelius in that act committed I dolatry giving the worship due only to God unto his Servant Peter he only design'd to give to him such high expressions of Honor and Worship as to a Saint and Servant of God upon Earth and yet Peter would not accept of it and intimates because he was a Man he ought not So we read S t John fell down to Worship before the Feet of the Angel and the Angel said See thou do it not for I am thy fellow-servant and of thy Brethren the Prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this Book worship God Now it is to be conceiv'd John design'd not to commit Idolarry and give Divine Worship to the Angel but only some inferior Religious Worship as your Doctors use to speak and yet the Angel would not receive it being jealous of his Creators Honor and directs the Apostle to worship God Now if we must not worship Saints in their own Persons much less in their Images If Angels will not accept worship from us neither will the Saints Triumphant both instruct us to worship God and not them altho we should intend to give them only inferior worship Phil. The second Council of Nice being the seventh Oecumenical Council hath well stated this Point and establish'd the Worship proper to God call'd Latria to be incommunicable to a Creature But a second sort of inferior Worship and Adoration they determin must be given to the Images of Christ and the Saints Theoph. I wish they had first satisfied you or me why they should determine inferior Worship and Adoration to be given to the Saints in Heaven and to their Images on Earth seeing the Angel expresly forbids it and directs us only to worship God But seeing you have appeal'd to that Council of Nice thither we will go as being indeed the first Foundation of Image worship and if you please I will give you a preliminary account and history of that Council Phil. I pray do so for it will suit with our present Discourse and shew the rashness of those Enemies of Christ and his Saints who brake down their Images and cast them out of Churches as Heathen Idols unto the Dung-hill whil'st the holy Popes of Rome successively wrote Epistles and sent Legats and gave warning to the Emperors whose Zeal without knowledge gave countenance and autority to such Sacrilegious Outrages Theoph. About the year of Christ 720. Leo Isaurus the 69 th Emperor of Rome from Augustus observing the growth of Superstition and Idolatry
of Heaven the Throne of God and Gate of Paradise hear the praiers of the poor and despise not the sighs of the miserable Let our groans and our desires be brought by thee into the sight of our Redeemer which by our misdeservings are cast out f Dele peccata relaxa facinera erige lapsos solve compeditos Blot out our transgressions release our sins raise the faln and loose such as are bound Let the branches of vices be cut off and the flowers of vertue planted g Placa precibus Judicem quem puerp genuisti Redemt c. Appease the Judg by thy praiers whom thou hast brought forth a Redeemer That as by thee he was made partaker of the humane nature so by thee he may make us partakers of the Divine Nature One passage more neer the close of the service I will produce The Catholic Church celebrates the holy memory of Mary Mother of God who stands in need for her salutary help without ceasing h Quoniam reverent quae Matri exhibetur Christo dofertur ideo totis desideriis c. Vt Matrem sentiamus piissimam et felium ejus Judicemisereniss And because the reverence towards the Mother redounds to Christ therefore with all the desire of our hert we will insist on her praises that the Mother may be favorable to us and the Son a serene Judg. Phil. You see most of these passages do proceed upon her praiers and intercession that she would interpose for us and present our supplications and sighs unto our Redeemer Theoph. But you shut your eies and not observe these absolute petitions which are put up to her and where any reference is made to Christ even there it much derogates from his mediation and intercession because it represents Christ as a Judg by her praiers and mediation to be appeas'd the blessed Virgin becoming our Intercessor unto Christ And so by the stamp of public Authority you see these extravagancies confirm'd which above you would not justify as being the fancies as you call'd them of private persons Now in confutation of such blasphemies the Holy Scriptures shew Christ to be our Advocate until the day of judgment not a juige A merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Hebr. 2. 17. Hebr. 4. 15. 16. For we have not High Priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities but was in all points temted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly saith the Apostle unto the Throne of grace that we may obtain mercy It is the design of Holy Scripture to make poor sinners come with confidence and comfort to Christ and to the Father It is the designe of your Church to discourage them with a sense of their unworthiness and to teach them to look upon Christ as a severe Judge that so they may fly to the Virgin Mother and to the Saints to be their Mediators and Intercessors Nothing is more opposite to the Covenant of Grace to the Love of God towards such as are reconcil'd in Christ to the tender compassion of our blessed Saviour and to the gracious promises and Invitations of the Gospel And upon this account I may pronounce your Doctrine of the Saints Invocation and Intercession to be a damnable doctrine destructive to the Souls of men Phil. Satis pro imperio Doubtless you think your self as infallible as we the Pope and you design to put Christs Vicar besides the Chair to place your self therein and magisterially declare against the doctrines of our Church Theoph. If our Declarations like the Pope's many times be against the Tenor of Holy Scriptures regard them not but if the word of God condems your practise that which your Church teacheth in her public Offices Wo unto them by whom offences come I have follow'd your prescription and have kept close to such instances as are approv'd among you by Councils and Popes and Missals of your Church and when you cannot refute the objection you scoff at the opponent But because this Conference hath bin spun out into a great length I will favor you and my self with the omission of many things and give you only one Instance more out of the same Ordinary and Missal according to the use of the Church of Sarum In the Office of S. Thomas the Martyr as you call him Archibishop of Canterbury Chancellor of England He was indeed a Martyr for the Pope standing so highly for his Authority in the justification of Appeals to Rome and not submitting the Clergy to the Laws of the Realm that he betrai'd his Native Cuntry to a sorreign Jurisdiction and became a rebel to the King and Kingdom Hereupon he was banish'd divers years and by the interest of his great Patron the Pope in neigboring Princes he created great vexation trouble unto his lawfull Prince King Henry the II d. After 7. years a reconciliation was made by the mediation of the Pope and other Princes between the King and him and he return'd into England the King abiding in his Territories in France Upon his return by the Popes Bull he Excommunicates the Arch-Bishop of York and those other Bishops who in his Banishment officiated in the Coronation of the Kings son Henry according to his Fathers command alleading that the priviledg of Coronation of Kings of England belong'd to him as Arch-Bishop of Canterbury This and other insolencies being soon related to King Henry in France he spake passionately against the proud Prelate and immediately four Commanders in his Camp went over into England entred the Bishops Palice and purfu'd him into the Chappel and there Inhumanly and Sacrilegiously murder'd him a See Gulielmus Nubrigenses his Hist. of England l. 2. c. 16. p. 25. c. Hereupon by the Pope he was Canoniz'd for a glorious Saint and Martyr and an b Baro. Martyr Rom. in 29. Decembris Annual feast was Instituted afterwards in memory of his Martyrdom upon the 29 th of December a solemn office and service there is appointed for the day as we find it in the missal wherein the Account is given that the first Solemnity of his Translation was kept in the Cathedral of Canterbury Henry the third being present and the Popes Legat Pandulphus the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury all the Prelates and Nobles in the Year 1220 Fifty Years after his Passion and that the Martyr Thomas of Becket honor'd his Translation with many Miracles c Caecis ad visum surdis ad Audit c. Restoring sight to the Blind Hearing to the Deaf Speech to the Dumb and Life to the Dead In the Office we have these Praiers O Jesus Christ by the Merits of Thomas Forgive us our Trespasses Again d T is per Thomae sanguin c. By the blood of Thomas shed upon thy score make us to follow where he 's gon before Another Petition there is to the Martyr himself in that Office e O Thomas give us help Strengthen those