was to testify the union of the Divine and humane Nature in the Person of the Mediator of mankind In missa Lat. Edit Argent 1557. operd Illyrici Deinde Diaconus accipiat à subdiacono vinum miscent cum aqu◠in calice dicens Deus qui humanae substantiae dignitatem mirabiliter condidisti mirabilius reformâsti da nobis quaesumus per hujus aquae vini mysteria ejus divinitatis esse consortes qui humanitatis nostrae dignatus est fieri particeps Jesus Christus For it is not a little observable that besides what the antient Liturgies mention of this nature as soon as the Armenians by the perswasion of Jacobus Syrus imbrac'd the errors of Eutyches condemn'd the Council of Chalcedon and would acknowledge only one Nature in the second Person of the Trinity they left off the use of intermixing Water with the Wine in the Sacrament and under Johannes Ozniensis their Patriarch with leave from the Caliph of Babylon and Omir the General of the Saracens who had overrun Armenia by the consent of his own Suffragans and six Bishops of Assyria it was past into a Synodical decree that no longer Water should be mixt with Wine in the Eucharist they pretending the Authority of S. Chrysostom for their so doing Which determination of that Church was presently after condemn'd by the Fathers of the sixth general Council at Constantinople f Can. 32. and every Prelate or Presbyter transgressing the Apostolical practice was to be depos'd for his pride and contumacy Notwithstanding which they still continue the usage and so do g Abuda Hist Jacobit c. 13. p. 18. the Jacobites in Egypt and elsewhere to this day But the Greeks are so far from countenancing the practice of such Schismaticks as they stile them that they make this mixture twice in the Sacrament For while the sacred Elements are preparing the h Goar Not in Liturg Chrysost n. 167. Smyth de hod Gr. Eccl. statu p. 90. Priest with the Knife they call it the holy lance is to prick the bread and to say these words One of the Soldiers thrust a Lance into his side and presently there flowed out Water and Blood And at the same time the Deacon is to pour out the Wine and put to it some cold Water and again after the consecration of the Elements just as they are to be given to the Communicants the Deacon after the Priest hath blessed it poureth warm water into the chalice and so delivers it to the Communicants and this to testify that that water which issued from the side of Christ came out miraculously warm as if he had been alive exhibiting to us a Type of our union to that Saviour thereby and withal to exemplify the fervour of Faith and the holy Spirit which should accompany all those that approach the holy table and I find in the order for the Communion under K. Edward the sixth That the Priest is required to bless and consecrate the biggest Chalice or some fair and convenient Cup or Cups full of Wine with some Water put to it Which Custom was afterward I know not for what reason altered And this was thought so necessary that many were apt to run into the other extream and to think that the mixture was not duly made till there were as much or more Water than Wine in the Chalice bordering on the Heresie of the Aquarii who adminstred this mystery only in Water or rather on that sort of them i Ubi supr which Cyprian treats of who in the Evening celebrated the Sacrament as Christ instituted it mixing Water with Wine in the Chalice but in the morning used only Water out of caution lest the smell of the Wine might betray them to be Christians to their Gentile Adversaries k Bernard Epist 69. Others thought Water indispensably necessary to the integrity of the Sacrament and for that reason perhaps the Church of England hath omitted the usage but even the Church of Rome it self is not so rigid allowing the consecration to be valid without it XXII Hitherto lasted the Age of Miracles the Divine Goodness and Omnipotence using extraordinary Methods to countenance and propagate its supernatural truths that the Infancy of the Church might be assisted with as strong and convictive encouragements to believe the Doctrine of Jesus as rational and perswasible persons could desire But the several sorts of these stupendous Charismata were not equally long liv'd but according to the divers necessities of the Proselytes to Religion some expired sooner and some later took their leave of the Christian World The gifts of speaking with and interpretation of divers Tongues suddenly ceast on the Conversion of the greatest part of the then known world and the modelling of Churches in every Nation because before their Christian assemblies were made up of men of diverse Nations and Languages though e Lib. 2. c. 57. apud Euseb lib. 5. c. 7. Irenaeus affirms that these miraculous gifts were extant in his time the spirit of Prayer ceas'd on the forming and establishing set Liturgies for the use of the Church which we have already probably evinc'd were of Apostolical appointment The power of discerning spirits whether men were sincere and orthodox in their profession or the Pretenders to Miracles were truly endowed with that supernatural faculty was left to the Governours of the Church for a while till the sacred Canon of the Scripture was collected by which after-Ages were to be guided though a De cura pro mort c. 16. ad fin cap. S. Austin seems to imply That that power was not wholly lost in his time The infliction of temporal punishments on Offenders lying under the Churches curse which sometimes extended to the loss of life or health or the like sufferings and other times to an actual delivery into the hands of Satan if we may believe the Tradition of the whole Greek Church is yet communicated to the Servants of God b Vid. Crusii Turco-Graec apud Dr. Ham. Power of the Keys ch 6. sect 5. p. 147 148. who tell us that no man among them dyes excommunicate but he swells like a Drum looks black and cannot return to his primitive Dust till he receive his absolution But whether this be so or no we will not at present discuss while we positively assert that Prophecie casting out of Daemons and prodigious cures even to the raising the dead lasted till this age of S. Cyprian and after XXIII The prophetick Sun after a long Eclipse that vail'd its face and beauties from the time of the Captivity till the coming of the Messias broke forth with a greater lustre under the Evangelical Oeconomy That the immediate Family of Jesus were so endowed no man doubts since by that afflatus they were assisted in conferring Orders and leaving a List of their Successors in fore-telling the times of Antichrist and the revolutions of the Church till Peace should mantle
Hieron adv Lucifer Paulin. Ep. 12. ad Sever. Cyril Jeros Cateches 3. c. 1. Dionys Areopag Eccles Hierarch lib. 3. c. 7. we have the Testimony of S. Cyprian and S. Austin of the Western Churches Pope Innocent the First S. Hierom and Paulinus and of the Eastern it is affirm'd by S. Cyril of Jerusalem and Dionysius the Areopagite The Doctrine being every-where asserted and believed that without this Sacrament no Salvation was to be had and this says S. Austin from an ancient and Apostolical Tradition derived to his Age. The Custom is yet continued in the f Smyth de hodier Gr. Eccles statu p. 101 102. Greek and g Abud hist Jacobit c. 9. p. 14. c. 13. p. 18. Aethiopian the Armenian and Aegyptian and Maronite Churches unto this day and among the h Olearii Itiner lib. 3. p. 143. Muscovites in case of sickness it is given to Children that are past seven years old when they think they begin to sin mortally And it is now retained among the Bohemians and Moravians so that in the Southern Eastern and Northern Churches it is yet retain'd and in the West in the days of a Capitular Car. M. l. 1. c. 161. Charlemaigne it was enjoyned it was in use in the days of b Erud Theolog. de Sacramd 1. c. 20. Hugo de S. Victore c Part. 3. q. 80. art 12. and Aquinas when he mentions Children as wanting discretion to be cautious enough in the use of the Sacrament seems to imply that to communicate Infants continued till his time and in an old d Apud Chamier tom 4. l. 9. c. 9. sect 14. Ritual found at Glaritz among the Swisse-Cantons it is commanded that the Eucharist be forth-with given to Infants baptized and e Loc. com sect de coen dom p. 610. Ed. 1563. Musculus calls it a Catholick Custom affirming that in his native Country of Lorraine there was in his time retain'd a shadow of that ancient usage for as soon as the Infant was baptized the Priest who did that charitable Office took some of the Fragments of the Sacramental Bread reserved in the Pix and shewing one of them to the people put it again into the Pix and then gave his fingers to be wash'd in Wine by his Sacristan which done he dropt a little of that Wine into the mouth of the Infant saying Sanguis domini Jesu Christi proficiat tibi in vitam aeternam which is agreeable to what is asserted by Hugo de S. Victore nor was the usage ever forbidden till the last and worst of Councils at Trent XX. And it is observable that the Romish Church forbad it not because it could not benefit Children but to keep up the Opinion of their fondling Transubstantiation f Franc. Ã Victoria relect de Eucharist n. 75. lest the queasie stomach of a Child should dishonour the Body and Blood of Christ by casting it up again after reception This was anciently practis'd g Est in 4. part 1. â—ist 12. Sect. 9. to withdraw the people from the Idol Sacrifices of which some parts were distributed to the Attendants and put into the mouths of Infants nor is it without the countenance of other reasons h Musâ—ul ubi supr p. 611. for if Infants be Partakers of the thing signified viz. the benefits of the death of Christ who shall forbid them the sign and if they be Members of Christ's body for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven i.e. the Church Mark 10.14 which body is partaker of one Bread and one Cup who shall debar them that Food which Christ allots for his Members and why it should be more unlawful for Children to receive the Eucharist than to eat the Passe-over I know not And for S. Paul's advice that every one must first examine himself which Infants cannot do it only relates to those of whom there is fear of eating and drinking unworthily but there is no such fear of Infants whose original sin is done away in Baptisme and who are not capable of committing actual sins because they offend not with deliberation and choice and if they may be baptiz'd though they cannot personally believe but only by their sureties why not be communcated when they cannot examine themselves especially while they are baptized without any disposition at all to that Sacrament but when they are communicated they have received already some dispositions towards the reception of that Sacrament viz. the grace which is confer'd on them in Baptism So much for this practice and I have somewhat enlarg'd my self to shew that the Fathers were not without their reasons for so doing though I profess my self to be of the opinion of the Church of England in this case which rather thinks fit to debar Infants the Communion and requires Catechizing in the Principles of Religion Confirmation by the hands of a Bishop and a solemn entry on the practice of the Laws of Christianity before admission to this blessed and tremendous Sacrament XXI The mixing Water with Wine in the Eucharist was a Custom common in the days of a Apolog. 2. Justin Martyr and b Lib. 4. c. 57. Irenaeus both in the East and West and of S. Cyprian in the South c Ep. 63. p. 85. who at large pleads for it as what he was enjoyned to use by a Miraculous notice from Heaven it being not improbable that our Saviour according to the Custom of those Eastern Countreys did dilute the rich and brisk Wines Vide Ambros de Sacram l. 5. c. 1. alios which he drank as a Testimony of Sobriety For that our great Master did so celebrate is expresly mentioned in the Liturgies of S. James S. Mark S. Basil and S. Chrysostom and according to this pattern did b Carth. 3. can 24. Aurelian 4. can 4. Antissiodor c. 8. c. the ancient Councils enjoyn all holy Priests to officiate those mysteries and c De Dogmat vet Eccl. c. 75. Gennadius numbers it among the Catholick practices of the age that he lived in nor was the Church without good reason beside the Example of the Son of God 1. To testifie that Christ is the true rock whence flow the Waters of Eternal life and which was typified by that Rock that followed the Israelites in the Wilderness so says d De Sacramen l. 5. c. 1. S. Ambrose 2. Because both Water and Blood issued out of the side of Christ when on the Cross so all the ancient Liturgies and Fathers 3. To testify the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church which relation is cemented by his passion the Wine representing the blood of Christ and the Water the vast multitudes of the Christian Churches for as Water and Wine will so mix that they cannot be separated so nothing shall divorce his Church from his love and embraces So e Epist 63. Cone Brac. 3. can 1. S. Cyprian And perhaps a fourth reason
for when Maximus says of those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my love is crucified that perhaps it was a familiar sentence to him so it looks says that eminent Prelate and might be used by him in his speeches as well as writings and adds that Dailleé's argument from thence that because the words are in one of his Epistles therefore they could not be spoken by him though it be the same argument which himself after uses is a frivolous distinction and unworthy of Dailleé But who will believe continues he that this was a familiar expression of Ignatius I answer S. Hierom did and Sophronius and I think S. Chrysostom Simeon Metaphrastes Baronius the Lord Primate and others But who can imagine that ever these words were spoken by him before his Condemnation I answer that no man certainly is so mad as to suppose this Apophthegm used before his Sentence but that between it and his Execution in which time he writ all his Epistles both that speech My love is crucified and this I am Gods Corn c. might be frequent in his mouth as testimonies of his courage and love to Heaven first written by him and afterward on all occasions spoken which at last that a Ubi supr p. 87. si quâ—â— fuerint post ea decantata c. excellent man seems to grant And this answer both vindicates the Ancients and yet gives no assistance to Dailleé's Hypothesis and of this opinion after I had finisht this did I find the Learned b Life of S. Ignat. sect 8. p. 106. Dr. Cave to whose industry and diligence the Church owes the reparation of many of her ancient ruines XXXI In his Epistles I am accosted with unaccustomed demonstrations of Christian gallantry and an ardent zeal and such longings for Martyrdom as argue a soul strongly transported with the love of Jesus and immortality an infinite care of his disconsolate and widowed Church of Antioch which in every Letter he recommends to the prayers and assistances of those Churches to whom he writes but especially to S. Polycarp but above all a most holy vigour and earnestness against Heresie and Schism there being not one Epistle wherein he takes not care to condemn the Heresies of that age to discountenance Schism and Faction and passionnately to recommend Obedience to the Prelates of the Church And since The View of Antiquity handling this subject ex professo hath given us so poor an account I will take leave to transcribe a few passages to that purpose XXXII The great design of his Epistle to the Romans is to engage the Christians of that Church Epist ad Rom. p. 21 23 24 25. Ed. Usser Lond. 16â—7 not to use any means to hinder the consummation of his course by Martyrdom telling them that such an act of Charity would be a great piece of injustice to him that he never till the sentence of condemnation past on him began to be a true Disciple of Christ beseeching them by their prayers to hasten the day of his dissolution assuring them that he would invite the wild beasts to devour him that neither the fire nor the Cross nor the teeth of those ravenous and untamed Lyons that neither the breaking of his bones the racking of his joints the bruising of his body and on the head of all this the utmost torments that Satans malice could inflict would signifie any thing so he might enjoy his Master Jesus that were he Lord of the ends of the earth and all the Kingdoms of the world combined into one Empire for him they neither could tempt nor profit him that he had rather dye for his beloved Jesus than be Monarch of the Vniverse for what is a man profited to gain the world and lose his soul that he longed for no one but him that dyed for him and rose again that he was a passionate lover of death for his love was crucified that he was not satisfied with corruptible nourishment or the pleasures of this life but only desired the bread of God which came down from heaven the bread of life which is the flesh of Jesus Christ the Son of God born in the latter age of the world of the seed of David and Abraham that he longed for no other drink but his blood the great testimony of the invincible Charity of Jesus and the means of attaining to life Eternal Which last passage I am inclinable to believe hath its relation to that good old Custom of giving the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a Viaticum to dying persons XXXIII Id. ad Ephes p. 7 8. Against the Heresies of the Age he is very smart Be not deceived my Brethren Adulterers shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and if they shall dye who do these things in the flesh how much more they who by impure Doctrines corrupt and prostitute the honour of the holy and chaste Faith for which Jesus was crucified Such a polluted person shall be thrust into unquenchable fire and all they that hearken to him I beseech you therefore Brethren and yet it is not I but the Love of Christ which intreats you make use of no other but Christian Food and abstain cautiously from the strange Plant which is Heresie There are many Time-servers who embrace the Lord Jesus and believe proportionably to the advantages they receive by the Faith Men that give an envenom'd draught Ad Trallian p. 18. mingled with what makes it luscious and palatable which he that is ignorant greedily swallows to his own Damnation keep your selves charily from such which is easily done if you avoid Pride and self-conceit and unite your selves inseparably to the Lord Jesus to your Prelate and to the Ordinances of the Apostles Ad Smyrn p. 35. Of which Hereticks he tells us that they denyed the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour and as they had forfeited the Faith so they had lost their Charity took no care of the Poor of the Widows or the Orphans had no Prayers or Celebration of the Eucharist among them of whom though Mr. H. p. 19. tells us that Menander Basilides and others are named by Ignatius yet I must aver that though he means them yet he no-where expresly mentions them but rather professes Ibid. that he will omit the giving a particular account of them not thinking it fit to remember the names of such Infidels till they had repented XXXIV Nor is his Pen less keen against Schism Ad Phâ—adelph p. 28. 30. You being children of the light flye all Schisms and false Doctrines where your Shepherd is there do ye as Sheep follow him for there are many Wolves Abstain from all noxious Plants which the Son of God never cultivated because they were not planted by his Father Be not deceived Brethren if any man be a follower of a Schismatick that man hath no inheritance in the Kingdom of God for where there is division and wrath in that place God hath no residence
〈◊〉 7. p. 537. that if the Neighbour of an Elect person sin the good man himself is the offender for if the holy man had demean'd himself as the word or right reason directed his evil Neighbour would have stood in so much awe of his pious and well-governed life that he durst not offend XXXII Sect. 5. p. 94. Mr. H. reckons that passage of the Paedagogus as an excellent sentence that this is to drink the blood of Christ to be made partaker of the incorruption of the Lord which h De fundam S. Caenae p. 109. Chemnitius but I remember that he was a Lutheran calls a Novel Opinion and never heard of and in good truth if it be allowable to make Allegorical interpretations of the plain words of the Sacraments what evils may not thence ensue so in i Lib. 2. c. 2. the same Book S. Clem. thus expounds our Saviours words This is my blood i. the blood of the Vine which is shed for the remission of sins for as Wine refresheth the heart and maketh merry so the remission of sins is the glad tidings of the Gospel which Position the same learned Lutheran terms but too severely a prophane as well as a Novel Assertion And having thus mentioned his Censure I leave the Reader to judge XXXIII And so must I beg him to determine between me and Mr. H. in another question of moment relating to the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops of which I find him tacitly endeavouring to supplant the belief and insinuating as if in those early days there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter while here p. 99. he quotes Clemens that there were in his time only three Orders Bishops Elders and Deacons as if that mixt and amphibious Animal call'd a Lay-Elder had been in those Primitive days a Church-officer who was never heard of till yesterday and as if Bishops were no more than Parish-Ministers and Deacons their Church-wardens and so he explains himself commonly Bishop or Pastor p. 2.17.21 c. and p. 6. Pastor Overseer or Bishop and p. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pastor or Chief President which word a Resp ad Sacar cap. 25. annot in Phil. 1 1. in 1 Tim. 1.19 in Apocal. 2.1 Beza is willing to acknowledge that it did antiently signifie a Bishop in the sense of the Church of England and which b Tom. 5. p. 499. S. Chrysostom twice in one page uses to denote the Eminency of S. Ignatius's Archiepiscopal and Patriarchal Dignity and had Mr. H. Englisht the Fathers as they explain'd themselves in those early days he might better have rendred it in some places Bishop or Elder c Hier. ad Ocean To. 2. p. 325. the one being a name of their Age the other of their Authority Nor can I but admire the prejudices of some men who in this case appeal to Antiquity as Salmasius Blondel and others have done forcing it to speak the sense of the Vestry Tribunal by the most unreasonable deductions I will only instance in that of d Praefat. ad Apolog. p. 59. Blondel who has found out a new Heresie of Aerius unknown to all former Ages till this infallible Dictator in Divinity appear'd not that he affirm'd that Bishops and Presbyters were the same Order for that says he was the Opinion of S. Hierome and all the Antients but that from these premises he argued a necessity of separation and that no man could safely communicate with any of the other Opinion a device not worth the confutation which having to shadow of Antiquity to countenance it hath yet grown into practice at Geneva if we may believe Danaeus a Professor there who as Beza calls the Episcopal Government under the Papacy a devillish tyranny e Danae Isag part 2. lib. 2. c. 22. so affirms that it was their custome to re-ordain by their Presbytery any that came over to them and had been ordain'd by a Popish Prelate before as if every irregularity in the Ordainer blotted out the Character and their ill Government if nothing else were enough to countenance a Schism XXXIV I had therefore once thoughts to have deduc'd the Episcopal Pre-eminence through the three first Centuries from the works of those ten Fathers of whom Mr. H. writes the Lives but on maturer thoughts I conceived it to be unnecessary only I will mind my Reader that f De praescript adv haer p. 39. F. Edit Rhen. Tertullian reckons it as a mark of a Heretick that he is a man that pays no reverence to his Prelate and close the Paragraph with the counsel of a Tom. 1. p. 955. Ed. Paris 1627. S. Athanasius to Dracontius who refused this holy Office If the Institutions of the Church displease thee and thou imagine that there is no reward annext to the just discharge of this duty thou despisest that Saviour who gave being to this Jurisdiction Such thoughts are unworthy a sober and wise man for those things which our great Master hath ordain'd by his Apostles cannot but be good and practicable and notwithstanding any opposition shall continue firm I shall end this Section when I have mention'd that Mr. H. b P. 45. alibi in his Book of Confirmation hath rob'd the Bishops of their power in Confirmation that he might confer it on every Presbyter and ranking the Papist and Prelatical party together hath called their ways of proof blasphemous Arguments not considering that the concurrent suffrage of Antiquity makes the c Bishop Taylor of Confir sect 4. Bishop the only Minister of this Rite and that herein the Jesuite and Presbyterian are united more genuinely than the Romanist and Prelatical For when Smith Bishop of Chalcedon was sent into England by Vrban 8. as an Ordinary here the Jesuites would never submit to him and at last wrought him out of the Kingdom and presently publisht two Books in English against Episcopal Government and Confirmation disputing both into contempt d Mystery of Jesuitism let 3. p. 150 151. which Books having been sent by the English Clergy to the Sorbon there were thirty two Propositions in them censured and condemn'd by that Colledge Febr. 15. 1631. XXXV The design of S. Clemens in his Stromata is to instruct his Gnostick i. his accomplisht Disciple a man extraordinarily acquainted with the Principles of Christianity in which sense e Apud Socrat hist Eccles lib. 4. c. 18. Evagrius entitles one of his Books which he writ of the Monastick Institution Gnosticus wherein he calls the Society of more eminent and contemplative Monks the Sect of the Gnosticks for much after that rate that Plato does instruct his wise man does this Alexandrian Presbyter instruct his Gnostick whom he presumes to be a man elevated above the common pitch and fit to be intrusted with the Mysteries of Scripture such as he and his Scholar Origen were pleas'd in their Allegorizing way to make describing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉