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A49323
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Du Moulin's Reflections reverberated being a full answer to a pernicious pamphlet entituled Moral reflections on the number of the elect : together with several arguments against transubstantiation of the outward elements in the sacrament of the Lords Supper, transubstantiated into falshood and absurdity : to which is added a postscript in answer to some passages in Mr. Edmund Hickeringil's scurrilous piece stiled The second part of naked truth / by Edward Lone ...
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Lane, Edward, 1605-1685.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing L331; ESTC R10768
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106,099
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120
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our Creed the Corner-Stone of our Religion must this be of necessity to Salvation No greater Truth than this which is no Truth at all O that men should not only forget themselves but God also and in their Zeal for their own vain Fancies utter words bordering upon Blasphemy I cannot likewise but protest against that which is written Page 23. where complaining of the neglect of Piety in this Age which is too true and a thing much to be lamented it is said that many masters of Families otherwise Sober Civil True Honest Upright Dealers and good Friends have wholly neglected Family-Duties c. God forbid that I or any man should speak or write a word against the Religious Exercises of good Christians in private that is and shall I hope be ever far from me let them still be continued in their due order provided that the publick service of God as it is now in use among us here in this Church and Nation be not thereby sleighted and brought into Contempt as it hath been in many places especially in populous Cities and Towns Nay it were much better that the Family-Duties were wholly omitted than the publick Worship of God in our Churches and Congregations should be despised The Church certainly hath taken great care for her Children in this matter appointing a method to be commonly used in the Service of God twice a day throughout the year morning and evening commanding the Holy Scripture to be read so daily that the Old Testament shall be read once every year and the New Testament thrice And were it so that the Church-Liturgy were exactly observed in every Church throughout the Nation Ministers and People heartily joyning together as the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book doth appoint what a Nation should we be of holy Zealots for Gods Glory Glory would then certainly dwell in our Land and never till then Jesus Christ would be in his Throne amongst us and God would delight in us as his peculiar People Then should we not need to fear the Encroachments of Popery upon us any more if we had once this Unanimity and uniformity setled among us in the daily service of our God O that God would be pleased yet to open the Eyes of the People of this Nation both high and low to see and understand this one needful thing that will above all things else bring Peace unto us and establish it Let Family-Duties I say again be performed in their due time place and order but let them yield the precedency to the publick which of late years they have not done the greater is our sin Yea though the private Piety and Zeal I mean that which is according to knowledge hath been the Fruit and Offspring of the publick Service of our God yet through the Malice of the Devil it hath come to pass that the old word is verified in our Land Filia devoravit Matrem the Mother which under God give a Being to the Daughter is devoured most viperously by her own Issue and the Daughter is perked up in her stead And though a spurious Brood of Errors doth commonly spring from her yet will she pretend that all saving Truth is confined to her private Conventicles Let this then be done and there will be no need to complain any more of the omission of Family-Duties Nor let any be scandalized at that which is here written in the behalf of our Book of Common-Prayer but for Lewis du Moulin's sake let men have better Thoughts of it who while he was in his Health and Jollity did possibly joyn with others in a prejudice against it but when he saw Death the Sergeant of Heaven ready to lead him before Gods Tribunal he then was of another mind to which purpose somewhat shall be here related of that which is published of him by a good hand when he lay dying Doctor Du Moulin having sent to the Reverend Dr. Patrick Dean of Peterborough to desire a Visit from him being of his Parish the Dean immediately upon the Evening of the same day went unto him and was Entertained with many Expressions of great Affection to him and high Esteem of him when after some comfortable words spoken to the sick man he endeavoured with meekness to convince him of his great Offence against the Church of England which he had wronged Intolerably to the great Gratification of its Enemies at such a time when all sober Men should be its Friends and without any real Cause for such imputations as he had charged upon it Whereupon Dr. Du Moulin replyed somewhat needless here to be repeated but yielded thus far as to say well Doctor pray to God to pardon me all my Sins especially my want of Charity Accordingly the Dean kneeled down by his Bed side and began with the Lords Prayer so proceeding to the other Prayers which are appointed by the Order in the Common Prayer-Book for the Visitation of the sick in all which the sick man joyned with lifting up his hands often and other Expressions of Devotion Especially at that passage in the Prayer when there appears small hope of Recovery give him unfeigned Repentance for all the Errors of his Life past c. He gave more than ordinary signs of his fervent Desire and when the Dean had done he gave him most hearty thanks and renewed his Expressions of extraordinary Affection to him and esteem or him A little after the Dean coming to see him again he was so affected with his Kindness in giving him a new Visit that he said Are you come again Sir O how charitable are you This is indeed to return me good for evil And after some discourse with him desired him to Pray with him again for your Prayers said he were very comfortable to me the last time And accordingly he did in the same form of words he had used before With which he was so much affected that when the Dean had solemnly commended him to Gods Blessing in that excellent Form Vnto Gods gracious Mercy and Protection we commit thee the Lord bless thee and keep thee c. he laid hold upon his hand which he held up over him and kissed it with an unusual Passion Such an Example as this one would think should incline People who are apt to speak evil of that excellent Form of Prayer prescribed by the Church in that Book and of the whole Method of Divine Service in it to be much humbled before God for their depraving it and to make better use of it than hitherto they have done by making it their daily Rule for the ordering of their publick and Family-Duties and Devotions with Reverence and godly fear The last thing that I shall here take notice of is that which is added toward the close of these Reflections viz. a plain contradiction of them and which overthroweth all that is before written of the general Damnation in these words They that find there is nothing but Wickedness in them and Death by sin and that
they say were then used what do they signifie but the same sense which we who are and must be their Adversaries in this and many other Points of our Christian Profession do and always have acknowledged viz. That there is a change in these outward Elements being turned from a common to a sacred Use after they are Consecrated and set apart according to the first Institution Which certainly was the meaning of the Antients in this Case and no otherwise as shall appear hereafter from very good Authority though 't is true their Zeal did oftimes lead them to many strains of Rhetorick in a just magnifying this great and holy Mystery But will any man that is wise conclude thereupon that to be their Judgment which is now and hath been since their times vainly precended and thrust upon them by the Church of Rome meerly upon the account of their florid Elocutions Hyper bolies and high Expressions used by them to quicken Communicants to their Duty when they come to the Lords Table For our parts we cannot so conclude for then we should condemn our selves who often do the same thing to the same good end and purpose as they did yet abhor this unscriptural Doctrine of Transubstantiation A Doctrine it is that overthroweth the very nature of the Sacrament For unless there be an outward sign really continued in it such as Christ instituted to Represent and assure the Grace he principally intended to the Faith of those that come worthily unto it it is and must be utterly annihilated Neither can it be said that the Accidents of Bread and Wine do remain as a Sign when the Substance is vanished For there can be no Resemblance nor Analogy between those Accidents which have nothing in them of Nourishment and the Body and Blood of Christ whereby the Souls of True Believers are in and by that Sacrament really nourished and strengthned Nor can it be denied that in every Sacrament it is meet and requisite that there be an Analogy or convenient Agreement between the outward Sign and that spiritual good thing which is signified by it This being so may it not be proved to the Teeth of our Adversaries that they are in an Error in this Point and that they vainly pretend to make that to be an Article of Faith which a ma◠may Consute by his fingers ends A Doctrine which like the Eutichian Heresie of old disanuls the Verity of Christs Human Nature For it hath fancied such a Body unto Christ which in one and the same moment of time may be in many thousands of places viz. wherefoever the Massing-Priests shall please to Consecrate their Host which clearly contradicts not only Nature and Reason but the plain word of-Scripture which saith Heb. 4.15 Christ was in all Points temp'red like as we are yet without sin neither will it help them to say as they do weakly enough Christ's Body is now Glorisied For first Christ spake this word This is my Body at his last Supper when he was here upon Earth 2. It is the Crucified Body of Christ which is Represented in the Sacrament not the Glorified 3. Christ's Body is not by being Glorified so devested of its natural Properties as to cease from being a Body and if by being in Glory it be made ubiquitary a Property only belonging to the Divine Nature then shall our Bodies be so too in Heaven which I think no man will say For these Vile Bodies shall be made like unto Christ's Glorious Body Phil. 3.21 It would be too great weariness to my Reader if I should lead him into a consideration of the many gross Absurdities which arise from this upstart Doctrine that which hath been here in short alledged against it is enough to shew the Vanity of it And so long as the Abettors thoroof continue in it all who will be faithful to the Gospel of Christ and his Church must protest against them But we have say they the word of Christ himself for our Warrant for hath not he said This is my Body and may not we without offence say as he hath said viz That it is his Body Yea and one of them none of the meanest as I find it reported of him by a late Writer thus vannteth out his Considence that if God should ask him at the Day of Judgment why he held so he will boldly say Tu docuisti thou hast taught me But is it true that the Spirit of God hath taught him to say so and will he like a dull Schollar 〈◊〉 poring still upon the Letter of his Lesson never labouring to understand the right sense and meaning of it of which gross neglect what account he and his Fellow-Ignaro'es can be ablo to make at the time of publick Examination would be considered by them And is it not say they again possible with God to make good his own word by changing the Substance of the Bread into the Substance of Christs Body though we see it not Wherein they seem to be like the Stoick Philosophers that were of old who proposing things strange and uncouth in foretelling future Events pleaded for themselves saying nihil est quod Deus essicere non possit there is nothing which God cannot bring to pass But as Cicero answered them well in his second Book de divinatione Vtinam Sapientes Stoicos effecisset I wish he had made the Stoicks wise Men So may we wish that these of the Roman Church had more Wisdom in their knowledge of God and his Word than it appears yet they have For us we will not we dare not and God forbid we ever should deny this Attribute of Omnipotency to the great God Creator of Heaven and Earth he hath himself spoken it not once but twice i. e. not once but many times once in the Law and a second time in the Gospel without Retractation That Power belongeth unto him But to argue a posse ad esse will be acknowledged by all to be very Illogical and in this case it is inconsistent with found Divinity For we are taught by the Holy Scripture that Gods Will and Power are ever joyned together only his will makes way for the exerting his Power his actual Power I say which is of the same Latitude and Extent with his Will Our God is in Heaven saith the Psalmist P. 115.3 and doth whatsoever he will not whatsoever he can do So Job What his Soul desireth even that he doth Job 23.13 He can at an Instant overturn the whole course of Nature and Reduce all things to a Chaos by his absolute power or annihilate them but he doth not because he will not There is no doubt but what Christ said is true and what he said he is able to bring to pass for being God equal with the Father we confess with Holy Job he can do all things But the Question is not of the truth of these words nor of his Power in fulfilling them but of the Sense viz.