Sacraments are Certainly none will attempt it but such whose ambition prompts them to intrench upon Divine Right and God it here upon Earth not knowing or not acknowledging that their power is limited and confin'd within its certain bounds Besides were there two Formes of Ordination one Instituted by Divine Autority the other by Human and both valid by the same Rule you might institute Two hundred yea every Diocess might have one peculiar to it self there is no more difficulty for the Third then there was for the Second nor for the Fourth then the Third and so of all the rest Wherefore if such a power were delegated to meer Humanes What a confusion might they bring into the Church which would be the ground of Discord and Dissention for one Bishop might contend with another whose Ordination was best Having thus proved the Invalidity of Ordination according to the Present Roman Pontifical and General Approbation of that Church I shall now imploy my endeavors to solve the Objections which may be proposed in vindication thereof SECT VI. An Answer to the Objections Proposed by the Doctors of the Church of Rome against the Invalidity of their Ordination THe Roman Divines who earnestly endeavor to compose this difficulty find so much arduity in it that they cannot agree among themselves but what expedient one finds out as accommodated to this end another disapproves and so with great anxiety they cast about by several windings and turnings to compose the Difference between both Churches but in the execution they impugne each other and by this means divide themselves into several Classes Whereof I shall here give you an account The most considerable Party as well for number as for autority and reputation are those who absolutely exclude all Imposition of Hands from the Essentials of Ordination and place the whole Essence thereof in Touching the Holy Vessels with the Forme accommodated thereunto And indeed this is generally received in the Church of Rome as an undoubted Truth Some of the Authors of this Opinion I have cited in the Fourth Section and practised as such This is conformable to the Doctrine of the Council of Florence and Pope Gregory the 9th which I have cited in the beginning of the Fourth Section This Opinion needs no Answer for the Authors hereof are so far from reconciling both Churches that they Unchurch both and in stead of solving the difficulty they sink under the burthen thereof They destroy the Greek Church by denying the Imposition of Hands to be Essential to Ordination which the Greeks ever used as the only Essential Matter thereof They destroy the Latines by relying wholly upon the Touching of the Vessels and the Forme annexed as the only Essential Matter and Forme of Ordination excluding all other and yet this Matter and Forme are wholly uncapable of giving any validity to the Order of Priesthood because they want the Essence the very life and soul of being Instrumental to Ordination which is the Divine Institution as I have manifestly proved in the precedent Section A Second Objection The Divine Institutor of the Order of Priesthood did not determine the specifical Matter and Forme thereof but only in general that the Church should appoint some sensible Matter and some Forme of Words whereby to signifie the collation of Order by their application So that here is a latitude in Christ's Institution and a Power left to the Church to determine what particular Matter and Forme she should think fit and by this Power the Church may alter the Matter and Forme of Order at her pleasure she may abrogate what was before in use and Institute a new Matter and Forme and the Order will still be valid So Isambertus the Kings Professor of Divinity at Paris Treating at large of the Sacrament of Order Disput 3. art 3. his words are these Christus Dominus instituendo Ordines determinavit tantum eorum materias in genere nimirum ut ea esset legitima cujuslibet Ordinis materia quae existens sensibilis sui Traditione debitè sufficienter facta tam ex parte Ministri quam intentionis significaret tune de facto potestatem tali Ordini propriam dari ei qui materiam istam sensibilem seu signum istud sensibile acciperet in sua Ordinatione particularem autem istius signi determinationem seu imponere veluti affigere significationem practicam illius potestatis huic vel illi rei sensibili in particulari reliquit faciendum Ecclesiae prout quando illa judicaret esse conveniens Our Lord Christ Instituting Orders did only determine their Matter in General which being sensible duly and sufficiently apply'd as well in reference to the Minister as the Intention might signifie then in effect the power proper to that Order to be given to him that in his Ordination should receive this sensible Matter or Sign But to determine this Sign in particular and to Impose and as it were affix to it a Practical Signification of that Power given to this or that Sensible Thing in Particular he hath left to be done by the Church when and how she should judge it convenient And having Proved out of the Constitutions of Clement and the Fourth Council of Carthage That the Imposition of Hands by the Bishop and the assisting Priests used in the beginning of Ordination was formerly the Essential Matter of Priesthood he adds Igitur cum hoc nostro tempore haec Impositio manuum sit tantum accidentalis illa posterior quae fit à solo Episcopo simul dicente ei quem Ordinat Accipe Spiritum Sanctum Quorum c. sit nunc Essentialis ut supra ostendimus aliqua mutatio est facta per Ecclesiam in ista materia Ordinum Therefore since in this our time this Imposition of Hands is only accidental and that last which is performed only by the Bishop saying to him whom he Ordains Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins c. is Essential as I have shewn above some change is made by the Church in this matter of Orders Thus he The same saith Gammacheus de Sacramento Ordinis Cap. 4. Hallerius S. Bonaventura Prepositus Atrebas de materia forma Ordinationis n. 109. There are Three Reasons that this Objection is grounded on Lugo D 2. de Sacramentis in genere S. 5. n. 85. The first is because the Church hath changed the matter of Subdeaconship which was formerly conferr'd by the Imposition of Hands but now by the Ordination and Practise of the Church that Imposition of Hands doth not at all belong to the Essence of Subdeaconship Secondly Clandestine Marriage was ever valid before the Council of Trent but now is rendred invalid by that Council Thirdly The Apostles Confirmed by Imposition of Hands without Unction but now if the Unction be omitted the Confirmation is invalid To this Objection my first Answer is That it is all gratis dictum it is said without ground It is mera
as belongs to it to produce its effect But in this case the power of Order is no Physical but a Moral effect and in all Ordinations it is given by Christ alone ad exigentiam Ordinationis by a determination which proceeds from the Ordination by vertue of Divine Institution for it is Christ alone that impowers the Ordained validly to exercise the Functions of his Order which is but a Moral Power whose immediate cause is not the Ordainer but only Christ thereunto determin'd by the Ordination which doth very much facilitate and confirm the foresaid Doctrine A Third Proofe is drawn from an acknowledged Principle of those of Rome who after a vacancy when a new Pope is chosen the Cardinals in the Conclave only concur to make the Election Canonical which being done all the Power they have cannot communicate to the new elected Pope that Universal Jurisdiction over all the Church which they pretend to because they have no such Jurisdiction in themselves every Bishop and Cardinal being confined within the limits of his own Diocess and one Bishop cannot extend his Jurisdiction to the Subjects of another Diocess From whence then doth the Pope receive his pretended Universal Jurisdiction Here they must of necessity have recourse to the Supreame Lord of the Church which is Christ himself for the obtaining this Jurisdiction for their new Pope which neither they nor their Canonical Election can effect for this Election is only a Condition not the Cause of such an illimited Jurisdiction so that Christ alone is the only cause of this Pretended Papal Jurisdiction Why then in like case when the Ordination is compleated in foro externo and no error committed in foro interno Why I say in this case should not Christ in like manner confer to the Ordained the Spiritual Power of Order for though the Ordination be never so Canonical and compleat yet still it is Christ alone that grants the power of Order and it is he alone that gives Jurisdiction to every Bishop in his Ordination and even in the Church of Rome the Jurisdiction of Bishops comes not from the Pope but from Christ and therefore Jurisdictio Episcopalis est Juris Divini Episcopal Jurisdiction is of Divine Right because it proceeds immediately from Christ. So that in any Ordination when no essential nor necessary condition is wanting though the Ordainer have not the power of Order yet being universally reputed a true Bishop and this defect being secret that Morally speaking no Human Industry can discover it and all concencerned in the Ordination do proceed sincerely and with a good Conscience What true Christian can frame so hard a judgment of our Great Redeemer as to deny to the Ordained the power of Order and thereby permit so great a breach in his Church which hath an immediate tendency to the utter ruine thereof when it may be so easily remedied and when neither the Ordainer nor the Ordained can in the least have any imputation of blame As to the Point of Succession mentioned in the Objection I Answer That this succession is not to be understood in a Mathematical but a Moral Sense and it is the same in Ordination as it is in all other Dogmatical points and Principles of Faith contained under the Reformation For though the Latin Church which is but one Branch of the Universal Church was Guilty of many Errors in matter of Faith and for many years swerv'd from the Doctrine and Practise of Christ and his Apostles yet this could impose no necessity upon the Successors of this Branch ever to be excluded from the hopes of Salvation For when the Erroneous Principles of the Church of Rome were sufficiently detected they might yea they ought to Reforme such abuses and to conforme themselves to the Original Doctrine and Practise of the Primitive Church which were the immediate Successors to the Apostles and so to redintegrate their Faith and for the future to regulate their Faith and Practise by that never erring Rule of the Doctrine and Practise of Christ and his Apostles And shall then the Church of Rome Object against them that they cannot prove their Succession from Christ and the Apostles Which in plain termes signifies no more then this That they have not persisted in the Errors of the Church of Rome but have imbraced a new Doctrine New indeed to them but exactly conformable to the old Doctrine which Christ left to his Church and which the Church of Rome long since deserted and so Interrupted the Continuation of Professing the True and Orthodox Principles of Christ which we by our Reformation do Reassume and chuse rather to follow Christ and his Apostles then to adhere to the False and Erroneous Principles of the Church of Rome If this be a Crime then we are Guilty Must we lye under the Imputation of Blame because we would not run headlong to utter Ruine and Damnation by adhering to the Erroneous Doctrine of Rome Must that one word of Succession startle us and be inductive to perswade us to leave Heaven and go with them to Hell for Company 's sake They have made a long continued Breach in the Church themselves and interrupted their own Succession and Must they blame us for returning to the Truth because we will not succeed them in their Errors So then our Succession in Dogmatical Points in Practise and Ordination consists in this that after a Breach made by the Latin Church we having cleerly Detected the Error have reunited our selves again to the Antient and True Professors of Christianity and detested the opposite and Erroneous Doctrine of those that had Apostated from the True Church The last Clause contained in the close of the Objection that pursuant to this Doctrine a meer Secular Layman may confer Orders is easily solved because this no way follows for in this case he could neither Ordain with a colourable Title nor with a good Conscience which are both necessary for the validity of Ordination he wants the first because he never was esteemed to have the power of Order and he himself knows certainly that he never was in Orders nor ever attempted to receive them so that in presuming to Ordain he commits a heinous Sacrilege by a gross contempt of the Holy Ghost which is inconsistent with a candid sincere and conscientious proceeding so that he wants the second also and besides in so doing he can never have a right intention to confer Orders because he is conscious that he cannot have several requisites without which he cannot Ordain I only add this General Rule That according to the present Constitution and Institution of Christ practised by the Primitive Church it is impossible to confer Priesthood validly except the Imposition of Hands be applyed as the Essential Matter and accompanyed by the words of the Bishop signifying Priesthood to be thereby conferr'd as the Essential Forme which the Church of England Religiously observeth in their Ordination for while the Bishop with other
Priests puts his Hands upon the Head of him that is to be Ordained he pronounceth this Forme Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our Hands Whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained Aud be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of God and of his Holy Sacraments in the Name of the Father c. Here are both the Essentials duely applyed and punctually observed Whereas the Church of Rome applyes neither as an Essential part and therefore their Ordination of Priests according to their own Doctrine can in no way be Valid SECT IX Consectaries drawn from the Proofes of the precedent Assertion HOw many false Aspertions and querulous Cavillations have been raised by the Jesuits and other Romanists against the Bishops of the Church of England under that frivolous pretence of their being Consecrated at the Naggs head Tavern in Cheapside by one single Bishop or at most by two and they not Canonically Elected and Consecrated in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign All which were false and Malitious Calumnies invented for no other end then to depress the Autority of the Bishops of England thereby to facilitate their access to draw Proselites from the Church of England and seduce them to their Communion Which scandalous and ungrounded Comments have been fully Answered and the Canonical Ordination and Consecration of the Bishops of England cleerly vindicated from the false Imputation of all such Detracters by that Worthy and Learned Prelate John Bramhall D. D. and late Lord Primate of Ireland But What judgment shall we frame of the Ordination of Bishops and Priests in the Church of Rome there being at present neither Pope nor Cardinal nor Bishop nor Priest but such as have been Ordained according to their new Model of Ordination we shall not need here to have recourse to frivolous and feigned Stories where such grounded Truths strike at the very Essentials of their Ordination and evince the invalidity thereof Neither can they raise a Battery of Arguments against us without destroying themselves for the Proofes of the nullity of their Ordination are grounded on their own Doctrine They all Teach That Ordination is a Sacrament Instituted by Christ. The Council of Trent hath defined it so to be as we see above Sect. 7. They all assert the Matter and Forme of all Sacraments to be determined by Divine Autority which Suarez saith is de fide See their words Sect. 6. They hold moreover that any substantial change either in Matter or Forme renders the Sacrament invalid 3 Part. Tom. 3. D. 2. S. 4. Si mutatio materiae aut formae Essentialis seu substantialis sit nullum essicitur Sacramentum saith Suarez which is the current opinion of their other Divines It is likewise certain that the matter which they use in the Collation of Priesthood is essentially and more then Specifically different from the matter which Christ Instituted and which was constantly used in Ordinations many Centuries after Christ before Ordination was new molded It is also certain that the Forme of Ordination determined by Christ and a long time in use in the Church is now utterly rejected and cast out All this being duely ponder'd we must of necessity conclude that their Ordination is invalid except some other grounded expedient can be found out and proved to uphold the validity of their Ordination which hitherto I cannot discover but wish I could But no quibbles nor quirkes nor nice distinctions can any way avail them for the matter of Fact is uncontroleable and the Doctrinal part is evidenced by their own Words and Writings which it is now too late to retract It is time therefore for them seriously to consider what expedient may be found out to reinvalidate their Ordination and to qualifie themselves so as they may be in a capacity to prevent this grand inconvenience for the future for this shakes the very foundation and renders the whole Hierarchy of their Church ruinous If there are no Priests there can be no Bishops since Episcopacy is no new Order superadded but only a farther extension of the Order and Character of Priesthood as they teach well then may the Bishops exercise their potestatem jurisdictionis but can no way exercise nor communicate to others their potestatem Ordinis for none can exercise nor confer upon another a power which he neither formally nor virtually nor radically contains in himself jure communi but their Jurisdiction they distinguish from the Order of Presbitery since divers Bishops and Cardinals in the Church of Rome are only Deacons or Subdeacons and yet their Jurisdiction is as ample and hath as great an extension as if they were Priests who commonly make use of other Suffraganean Bishops to Officiate Confirm and confer Orders in their Diocess Hence it ensues that those putative Bishops which are presumed to be Canonically indued with Presbytery and Episcopacy yet in reality are not so when they personally exercise the Functions of Episcopacy their Confirmation is void yea their very Consecration of Chrisme and other Holy Oyles is of no effect but after Consecration they retain nothing but the Natural Elements of Oyle and Balsome as they were before and so are uncapable of rendring any Spiritual Emolument to those to whom they are applyed their Imposition of Hands and Benedictions are no way available to the Confirmed no more than if they were performed by a Lay-person for where the radical power of Order is wanting none of these Spiritual and Supernatural effects can ensue And when they Officiate in Mass and attempt to Consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ and having Consecrated the Hoaste they kneel down to adore it and then elevate it and shew it to the People that they also may adore it both they themselves and many Thousands of the People do daily commit at least a Material Idolatry though it may be that Invincible Ignorance may excuse them from a Formal one for they exhibit a worship of Latria to a supposed Deity under the species of Bread when in reality no such Deity is there so as they give to the meer substance of Bread a Worship due to God alone And this is daily repeated thorough the whole extent of the Roman Jurisdiction And the same happens when any other inferior Priest Officiates for the Order of Priesthood is equally defective in them all and where there is no power of Order to qualifie them for Consecration this must of necessity be void So when they administer the Communion to the People who present themselves in hopes to receive the Body and Blood of Christ and consequently those Graces which from thence accrew to the worthy Receivers Poor Souls How are they deluded and their hopes frustrated for whereas they came full fraught withthe expectation of Spiritual and Supernatural Graces they are dismist with a bare
the Principles of Philosophy and Scholastical Divinity which though Abstruse and Speculative yet is Avowed by their own Champions Dispute I. Of the pretended Infallibility of the Church of Rome The Preface THE natural and acquisite knowledge of Man's intellectual Faculty could never pretend to any specifical degree of Clarity above those obscure Notions which by foreign Species we draw from several Objects wherefore the Representation being weak the Vnderstanding is seldom certainly assured of the true State of the Object But the Church of Rome pretends to a higher Prerogative above the rest of Mankind viz. an Infallibility in her decisions that is a determination to Truth and an incapacity of falling into any Falsity or Error wherefore I deemed it worth the Examination whither this superexcellent Faculty be grounded upon any sure Foundation or an assumed and pretended Priviledge like his Holinesses usurped Power to Lord it over Kings and to Depose them and dispose of their Dominions at his pleasure as if Emperors Kings and Temporal Princes were but his Tenants at Will and he the Proprietor or Landlord SECT I. Wherein consists the true Notion of Infallibility TO the end we may with greater perspicuity trace the Divines of the Church of Rome in their Principles we must first premise a four-fold Knowledge that the Understanding is capable of There is an abstractive a quidditive an intuitive and a comprehensive Knowledge The first is a weak and imperfect representation fram'd by borrowed Species gathered first by the external and internal Senses and thence transmitted to the Understanding which are but virtual representations and as it were the Seeds of the Object by means whereof the Vital Power together with these Species as con-causes produce a formal image or representation of the Object And this abstractive Knowledge is peculiar to the State of Man in this Life A quidditive Knowledge is a clearer Representation framed by the Understanding instructed with proper Species by means whereof it penetrates into the essential Perfections and peculiar Faculties of the Prototypon or thing represented An intuitive Knowledge is that which by the proper Species of the exemplar distinguisheth in what State the Object is whither existent past or to come and herein it resembles that Science in God which the Divines call Scientia visionis A comprehensive Knowledge includes the two former and moreover represents all the Perfections Powers and Faculties of its Object explicitely in order to all its Connotates and Correlatives explicating distinctly all the variety of effects that may proceed from such a cause and discovering all and singular the innate Powers and Faculties thereof with reference to all external Objects that have any connexion dependence or relation to it And because these external Objects are infinite therefore this comprehensive Knowledge is peculiar to God alone but the two former are imparted to the Blessed Angels and Souls of the Faithful who by their Beatifical Vision see God quidditively and intuitively Moreover there are three degrees of clarity or certainty whereby various Acts of the Understanding do variously represent their Objects The first is Probability which by reason of its weakness and imbecillity is always accompanied with a virtual or formal Ambiguity and Fear that the contrary may be true because the motives that are inductive to the assent bring no assurance but only a seeming resemblance with the Truth The second is a Moral certainty which though there be a possibility of its failing yet seldom or never errs as one that never was at Rome yet hath a Moral certainty that such a City is extant because he hath often heard the concurring Testimonies of so many that have been there The third and highest degree is the certainty of Infallibility which is always accompanied with Truth and imports also an incapacity of Erring so that all Physical Mathematical and Metaphysical demonstrations and all those Truths which Philosophers call Prima Principia as Nihil potest simul esse non esse Omne totum est majus suâ parte Quae sunt eadem unitertio sunt eadem inter se c. all these are invested with the certainty of Infallibility To this also belongs all acts of supernatural Faith which are truly grounded on Divine Revelation This being premised we now come to inspect the peculiar nature of that Infallibility which the Doctors of Rome attempt to affix to their Church And though the word Church taken in its greatest latitude include all the Members thereof wheresoever dispersed yet their Divines commonly restrain the meaning thereof to an Oecomenical Council indicted by the Pope promulged by the Emperor furnished with a sufficient number of Fathers and Bishops wherein the Pope by himself or his Legate presides and confirms the Canons and Decrees of the same by his Apostolical Authority so that a Council with all these Requisites is that which they call the Church and assert it Infallible in all its Canons and Decrees yea and some of the Popes Candidates affirm That his Holiness also participates of this high Prerogative when he speaks ex Cathedra though no Council be then sitting which the Jesuits the Popes Minions struggle hard to maintain against others of the same Church Another difficulty hath been started amongst them How this Infallibility affects their Church Whither it be an inherent quality possessing the minds and understandings of the Fathers and Bishops in Council essentially determining them to truth or else an extrinsical assistance whereby the Holy Ghost inspires them with Truth and protects them from Error But I leave them to debate these difficulties among themselves for it is not the scope of this present discourse to examine what they call their Church and how this Infallibility affects it but only whither this singular favour be really granted to them or whither they unjustly pretend a Right to it for the better satisfaction of their Followers and making a more copious access of Proselites SECT II. The Grounds of the pretended Infallibity of the Church of Rome are proposed GReat Acquisitions are seldom made and maintained without great Art and Industry A considerable part of this sublunary World are wrought into a belief That the Church of Rome is the only Oracle of the Universe whose Doctrine is always true and not capable of Error how many Kings and Princes are swayed by this perswasion and by this means testifie a high Respect and Veneration for the See of Rome who Commissionates her Emissaries the Divines Preachers and Confessors to inculcate this Doctrine to the credulous Believers all the World over and he who writes best on this Subject expects no less than a Cardinal's Cap or a Bishoprick for his Reward The Divine Prints it the Preacher promulges it and the Confessor takes hold of opportunity times and seasons to settle it in the minds of his Penitents Princes have commonly Divines Preachers and Confessors of their own Subjects and Nation to whose conduct they presume they may safely trust
touching the Vessels with this Forme Accipe potestatem c. they affirm the Ordained to receive the Order of Priesthood with Power to Consecrate and offer Sacrifice and the Character to be thereby imprinted But by the consequent imposition of hands the Ordained receives a Power only to forgive or retain sins as the Forme of words expresseth So Becanus Part 3. Theologiae Cap. 26. de Sacramento Ordinis quest 4. who uses his utmost endeavor by this means to maintain the Validity of Ordination according to the present practice of the Church of Rome yet so as not to draw any prejudice upon the Ordination of the Greek Church and other Christian Congregations whose Ordinations the Church of Rome ever declared valid But the Council of Florence seems to obstruct his design by assigning no other Essentials of Ordination but the Tradition of the Vessels and their Forme and here Gamachaeus above cited in the precedent Section Cap. 4. joyns his forces with Becanus or rather Becanus with him So also doth Meratius D 7. S. 2. who to the Autority of the Council of Florence Answers Concilium non suscepisse ex professo declarandum accurate singulorum ordinum materiam formam totalem ac integram c. sed solum per cujus rei Traditionem potestas ordinis conferetur The Council saith Meratius did not undertake of purpose to declare exactly the total and adequate Matter and Forme of each order c. but only to declare what those things were by whose Tradition the power of order was conferr'd And this Opinion Isamberus also imbraces with avidity as conceiving all helps little enough in such a hard conjuncture and therfore joyns this Opinion with his own specify'd above in the Second Objection St. Bonaventure holds the same in 4 d. 7. ar 1. q. 1. 2. and before him Alexander p. 4. Summe q. 9. Memb. 1. 2. ar 2. where he distinguisheth between that which Christ Ordained and that which the Church Ordained in these words Quae enim ab homine Ordinata sunt ab homine possunt mutari quae autem à Deo instituta sunt non nisi dictante Deo debent mutari These things saith he that are Ordained by Man may be changed by Man but those things that are Instituted by God are not to be changed but by Gods appointment As to their Interpretation of the Council of Florence I Answer That it is is a meer ungrounded shift for the Council gives not the least hint of any such sense but undertakes to assign the Essential matter of Priesthood and to that purpose specifies only the Tradition of the Vessels as the only Essential Matter and mentions nothing else which would be a meer delusion if the Council had judged any thing else to be Essential But Becanus interprets it thus Nota antiqua Concilia assignasse materiam à Christo Institutam Florentinum verò materiam assignasse quam Ecclesia introduxit Note saith Becanus that the Antient Councils assigned the matter Instituted by Christ but the Council of Florence specified the Matter that was introduced by the Church Be it so then the Antient Councils assigned only the Imposition of hands as the Essential Matter of Priesthood but the Council of Florence in the time of those Fathers signified the Tradition of the Vessels and nothing else as the only Essential Matter So that neither the Antient nor Modern Councils ever joyned these two Matters together as parts of the whole by their own Confession But hence it is plain that the Church of Rome hath introduced a New Matter and Forme which Christ never Instituted and yet they hold it Essential Now to their Argument My first Answer is That this is a meer evasion to save them from Shipwrack What ground have they for patching up a Sacramental Matter with two such disparate and heterogeneal pieces What time will they appoint to have the Character imprinted What will this avail them if it should be all granted for none of them will admit the Imposition of Hands alone with its Forme to have a capacity to confer the Order of Priesthood and Imprint the Character therefore they must declare the Ordination of the Greeks to be frustrate who never used any other Matter then the Imposition of Hands But if this alone be sufficient Then what need is there of the Tradition of the Vessels Why should these two parts so different from each other be conjoyned if either of them apart were sufficient My Second Answer is That they could never have made a worse choice then to joyn these two Matters and Formes together in order to constitute the entire Essence of Ordination for both the one and the other are Innovations the one begun about Seven hundred years since the other was introduced about Four hundred and fifty years since so that neither was Instituted by Christ neither recommended by the Apostles neither practised in the Church of God before the times specified From whence then can they derive their Validity My Third Answer is That the last Imposition of Hands with this Forme Accipe Spiritum Sanctum c. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins you forgive they are forgiven whose sins you retain they are retained This I say can no way belong to the Essentials of Priesthood because this Matter and Forme are applyed to none but those that have before received the Order of Priesthood and have the Character Imprinted which is manifest because they all said Mass and Consecrated with the Bishop before the application of this Matter and Forme which is not performed till after they have all Received the Communion immediately before the Post-Communion is Read wherefore this Matter and Forme comes too late to have any influence upon the Order of Priesthood but I shall not need spend time in the Proof of this because the Authors of this Objection grant it and only make use of this Matter and Forme to confer the Power of Forgiving and Retaining sins Which being supposed they must rely wholly upon the Tradition of the Vessels for conferring upon the Ordained the Spiritual Power of Priesthood and enabling him to Consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ and to offer Sacrifice and for Imprinting the Character c. all which the touching of the Vessels with its Forme can never accomplish because here is nothing at all of Christ's Institution no Imposition of Hands doth any way concur to this So that we have here the Power of Priesthood conferr'd with the Character and yet without any Imposition of Hands and hereby this Opinion agrees with the First Objection which excludes all Imposition of Hands and therefore must of necessity condemn the Greek Church who never use any other Matter of Ordination then the Imposition of Hands And yet the main drift of these Objections is to save the Validity of the Greeks Ordinations so as not to destroy their own And that the Power of Consecrating the Body and Blood of Christ is the
Instruments which in these present circumstances is no proofe at all especially to one who impugnes them all For this is no Argument their Opinions are false ergo mine is true How easily is it Answered that they are all false both his and theirs except the contrary be proved But he endeavors to prove his Opinion by the Autority of the Council of Trent Sess 14. C. 3. where the Council Orders the Ministers of Extreame Unction to be only Bishops aut Sacerdotes ab ipsis rite Ordinatos per Impositionem manuum Presbyterii or else Priests by them Ordained by the Imposition of the Hands of the Presbytery which refers to none but the Second Imposition of Hands according to the Roman Pontifical for in this alone the Bishop joyns his Right Hand with the other Priests upon the head of the Ordained In this Opinion Morinus is singular for I find no Author that holds it but himself neither is it probable that the Validity of Ordination in the Church of Rome must rely upon the Autority of one single Author who is a better Historian then Divine in opposition to all other Authors Wherefore my First Answer is That this Imposition of Hands which Morinus insists upon cannot validly confer the Order of Priesthood for want of an intention in the Minister to confer it hereby For no Bishop that Ordains can prudently intend to Ordain by this Imposition of Hands only neither can the Church intend it First Because there is but one Author that holds it all the Divines being wholly against it asserting it to be only an accidental Ceremony preparative to the collation of Order but not at all belonging to the Essence of it For the greatest part of Divines and common perswasion of the Church of Rome admit no Imposition of Hands at all as belonging to the substance of Ordination but place the whole Essence thereof in the Touching the Instruments and their Forme Others that allow to the Imposition of Hands a partial concurrence together with the Tradition of the Vessels yet none of them make choice of this Imposition of Hands but they all attribute this partial vertue to the Third Imposition of Hands after Communion with this Forme Accipe Spiritum Sanctum quorum remiseritis c. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins c. Secondly Because if the Church or the Ordainer should intend Ordination of Priests to be conferr'd by this Imposition of Hands and the Prayer that accompanys it as the total and compleat Essence and substance thereof they would thereby render the exhibiting of the Instruments and their Forme wholly useless which would reflect upon the Churches Prudence and Discretion in introducing them for no other necessity of this superinduction contrary to the constant practise of Antiquity can be groundedly assign'd but to be an adequate or a partial cause of Priesthood My Second Answer is That the Forme which accompanyeth the tendering of the Instruments doth so plainly so expresly and so explicitely signifie the Order of Priesthood to be thereby conferr'd that no Ordainer that is in his right wits can any way doubt of it or call it in question but that the Church by adding this Matter and Forme intended thereby to confer to the Ordained the power of offering Sacrifice wherein they place the Essence of Priesthood if then this power were given the Ordained before by that Second Imposition of Hands the Ordainer if he understands what he says must volens nolens confer that power over again to the same Ordained which is a Sacriledge neither can the Church who introduced it avoid this inconvenience For Reordination was by a never interrupted Tradition prohibited in the Church of God So in the Canons of the Apostles Canon Apost 68. Si quis Episcopus vel Presbyter vel Diaconus Secundam Ordinationem ab alio receperit deponatur ipse qui Ordinavit c. If any Bishop Priest or Deacon do receive from another a Second Ordination let him be deposed and he that Ordained him The same is Taught by the Council of Trent in these words Trid. Sess 7 Can. 9. Si quis dixerit tribus Sacramentis Baptismo scilicet Confirmatione Ordinatione non imprimi Characterem in anima hoc est signum quoddam Spirituale indelebile unde ea iterari non possunt Anathema sit If any one shall say That in Three Sacraments namely Baptisme Confirmation and Ordination there is not a Character imprinted in the Soul that is a certain Spiritual and indeleble sign by means whereof they cannot be reiterated let him be Accursed St. Cyprian de ablutione pedum cites an antient Author speaking thus Nemo Sacros Ordines semel datos renovat iterum c. quia contumelia esset Spiritui Sancto si evacuari posset quod ille Sanctificat c. None renews again Holy Orders that are once given because it would be a contumely to the Holy Ghost if that should be evacuated which he hath Sanctified But I need not insist upon this because they all grant it Hence it insues That though the Roman Ritual should contain all the Essentials of Ordination yet this would not evince the Validity of it First Because they reject that which is Essential as a meer circumstantial Ceremony inductive to Priesthood and consequently have no intention to confer the Order by it Which intention is a necessary condition sine qua non without which no Order can be Validly conferr'd as they all Teach and is defined by the Council of Florence as you may see above in the Fourth Section and the Second Proofe Secondly Because they have introduced a new Matter and Forme never Instituted by Christ nor ever mentioned by the Apostles nor the Primitive Church by which they intend the Collation of Priesthood Wherefore should the Priestly Power be conferr'd by that Second Imposition of Hands then in every Ordination there would be a Sacrilegious attempt of Reordaining A Seventh Objection Though the Church of Rome approves of the Tradition of the Vessels with its proper Forme yet it so allows it as not to exclude the Imposition of Hands and therefore the Ordination is Valid and no way repugnant to Christ's Institution for this additional Matter and Forme is but a thing indifferent to the other parts of Ordination and therefore cannot be prejudicial to them for as Gratian observes Vtile per inutile non vitiatur A useless addition cannot vitiate that which is useful Wherefore Tridem Sess 21. C. 3. according to the Council of Trent Agnoscens Sancta mater Ecclesia suam in Administratione Sacramentorum autoritatem The Holy Mother the Church well knowing the power she hath in the Administration of Sacraments she may add diminish or alter as incident occasions and circumstances shall require still retaining the Essentials To this I Reply That this Objection is already Answered in the Solution of the precedent Objection Only this layes an Aspersion upon the Church for introducing into
Power of offering Sacrifice then conferr'd upon the Ordained and nothing else And the offering of Sacrifice is the chief action of a Priest because it impowers him to Consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ which none but a Priest can do Albert. Mag. L. 6. Theolog. veritatis C. 36. Actus Presbyterorum saith Albertus Magnus est Consecrare corpus Sanguinem Christi est actus principalis Alius est consequens scilicet ligare solvere The Act of Priests is to Consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ and it is the principal Act. The other is consequent which is to Retain and Absolve which they all grant therefore they must acknowledge Priesthood to be hereby conferr'd For To what other sense can they draw those words Take Receive Accept the Power of offering Sacrifice and the Ordained comes with a full intention to Receive the Power whence there cannot be the least shadow of any other design then intending this Matter and Forme as the Essentials of Priesthood SECT VIII An Illation drawn from the Premises of the Invalidity of Ordination in the Church of England Solved THe Council of Trent seems to make no difference between Order and Ordination Trid. Sess 23. Can. 3. but confounds them together Si quis dixerit Ordinem sive Sacram Ordinationem non esse verè propriè Sacramentum à Christo Domino institutum c. Anathema sit If any one shall say That Order or Holy Ordination is not truly and properly a Sacrament Instituted by Christ c. let him be Accursed But I shall make it appear that there is a considerable difference between Order and Ordination the one is that which they call a Sacrament the other not The Order of Priesthood is a Spiritual Power whereby the Ordained is enabled and Commissioned to exercise all Priestly Functions with Autority The Ordination consists in the Essential Matter and Forme regularly and aptly applyed by the Bishop which is the Ordainer to him that is Ordained and from this Matter and Forme so applyed results in the Ordained that Spiritual Power which is properly the Order of Priesthood the Character is thereby Imprinted and the Graces accommodated to the Priestly Ministry are also conferr'd So that Order with its concomitants is the effect but Ordination is the cause That is permanent in the Ordained for terme of life this is transient and passeth away for it lasts no longer then while that power is in conferring That is the principal end intended by Christ This is the means Instituted by Christ to attain that end That is as it were a Patent or Commission which the Priest acts by this the cause either efficient or Moral which procured it wherefore these being so different from each other the Council of Trent could not intend to have them both Sacraments but that alone if any must be a Sacrament which confers the Order of Priesthood to the Ordained and also Imprints the Character c. all this is performed by Ordination not by Order for nothing can be the cause of it self Order is the effect and therefore cannot be the cause The Character and Sacramental Graces are not produced by the Order but by the Ordination so that if any be a Sacrament it must be this which being premised as evident in it self A Tenth Objection by way of Deduction is drawn from the precedent Doctrine For if the Ordination of the Church of Rome be Invalid it must of necessity draw with it the Nullity of the Church of Englands Ordination who received her Orders from the Church of Rome and cannot make out her Succession of Bishops from Christ and his Apostles without passing through the sides of the Roman Bishops who must integrate the linkes of continuation Wherefore if the Church of Rome have no true Bishops it inevitably follows that the Church of England must lye under the same Censure for one that hath no power of Order can never confer that power upon another because none can give that which he hath not Otherwise it would follow that meerly Men or Civil Magistrates might confer Orders which no Man will grant My Answer to this Objection is grounded in a Principle received by the Romanists themselves namely that where the true Essentials are regularly and orderly applyed though there be a defect in the Ordainer for want of the power of Order yet if he Ordain Cum titulo colorato bona fide the Ordination is valid Four things therefore are necessary to the Validity of Ordination conferr'd by such a Bishop First That none of the Essentials be wanting Secondly That nothing be added in the Ordination repugnant to the Essentials or destructive of their Operation Thirdly That there be in the Ordainer Titulus coloratus bona sides that is a general presumption that he is a true Bishop and that he Ordains according to his Conscience knowing nothing amiss Fourthly That he have a right Intention of conferring the Order Where these Requisites do concurre the Ordination is certainly valid The First Proof hereof is grounded upon that provident care that Christ ever had of his Church for when all the Essentials and necessary Conditions are applyed and no Moral defect to be imputed to the Ordainer nor the Ordained and no Humane prudence could ever detect that secret defect in the Ordainer it would be too severe that the Original Instituter of Ordination should refuse to the Ordained the power of Order nay in a short time it would prove destructive to the whole Church for Christ knew full well the fragility of Humane Nature and considering his infinite Wisdom and Protection of his Church would not oblige our imbecility to Moral Impossibilities or if we failed by our Natural Weakness without either sin or voluntary error would permit the utter ruine and destruction of his Church which would certainly insue if such Ordinations were not valid For I suppose the Ordainers and Ordained to proceed with a candid sincere and good Conscience and that Morally speaking have not the least suspicion of any default or want of power in the Ordainer nay he himself neither knows nor surmiseth any desiciency in his Order In this Case Should the Ordination be void and null Whom could we impute it to certainly to none but those who by their Super-inductions pretended to Correct Christ's Institutions and thereby rendred all defective But must this be so prejudicial to the Church of Christ as to involve all Posterity into the Imputation of the same Crime who were no way consenting to it nay who in due time reformed such abuses and wholly disclaimed from them No certainly our Great Redeemer is more equitable and knows who rejects his Ordinances and Institutions and who endeavors to maintain them But now since Pride Ambition or a vain Pretence to an Arbitrary Power against Divine Right or what Motive else I know not induced the Prelates of the Church of Rome to evacuate Christ's Institutions and in their
place to substitute their own and hereby to make Ordination void so likewise is Human frailty subject to many such defects whereof some are imputable of crime to the first Authors but not to those that succeed them for I suppose these to be blinded by invincible ignorance others proceed only from the weakness and limited capacity of Human nature without any deformity or Moral defect in their wills Wherefore should the Church of God so rely upon our weak capacities that a secret and clandestine defect in an Ordainer which no vigilance nor Human precaution can avoid when all other requisites are applyed and all have an invincible ignorance of that secret defect Should this I say render all his Ordinations invalid when all other requisites are applyed then another such defect may on the same account incidently fall on another considering our weakness or Malice in the beginners and so on a third and at length no Bishop nor Priest that 's validly Ordained will be found in the Church See how this is inductive to the Churches ruine which certainly had been long-since destroyed had not the Divine Instituter thereof maintained it by supplying such defects which we can neither avoid nor prevent which he can as easily do as he first Instituted the Sacraments and Ordination for it is he alone that gives the Spiritual Order to the Ordained and to give it in these circumstances is but congruous for none concerned in such an Ordination are blameworthy and not to give it is absolutely and by common providence inevitably destructive of the whole Church which certainly the Supreme Lord thereof will not deliver up to ruine since with so much difficulty care and tenderness he Instituted it and to the same it belongs first to Institute and then to Conserve But this Doctrine seems to administer the occasion of a reply for admitting that Titulus coloratus bona fides do supply the defect of Order in the Ordainer so that one who is by all esteemed and reputed a true Bishop yet in effect by reason of some secret default is not so when all other requisites and essentials are aptly and duely applyed do validly Ordain Why then cannot this Doctrine be applied to the Roman Bishops For if they should be defective in the Power of Order yet adhibiting all essentials and other necessary conditions their Ordinations would also be valid among themselves for we cannot in Charity presume that they proceed against their Conscience or that they want that sincerity and right intention which we suppose in others This being supposed the case is the same for if the Roman Bishops validly Ordained the Bishops of the Church of England Why should not they validly Ordain their own I Answer That they Ordain their own Priests and Bishops according to the Roman Ritual and consequently they want the maine requisite which is the essential Matter and Forme for they have Innovated a Matter and Forme of their own far different from that which Christ Instituted and they cleerly signifie by that Forme that they intend thereby to confer the Order of Priesthood so that they cannot intend to Ordain by the Essential Matter and Forme derived from the Apostles if any such be contained in their Ritual except they would be reputed deluders as hath been proved at large in the Fifth Sixth and Seventh Sections of this Disputation Wherefore according to the disposition of the Roman Ritual the Essence of Ordination cannot subsist And certainly nothing can have a being without its own Essence as all must grant For the Church of Rome partly by adding their new reputed Essentials to which their intention of Ordaining must be fixed and partly by Inverting the Order have made so great a confusion that one part destroys another and particularly their Essentials do absolutely destroy the Essentials Instituted by Christ if their Liturgy contain any such and hinder their effect But when the Bishops that were Ordained in the Church of Rome had deserted their Communion and Ordained the Bishops of the Church of England they did it by the English Ritual which contains the very Essential Matter and Forme Instituted by Christ and delivered to us by the Apostles which were so duely and regularly applyed to the Ordained as was ever in practise in the antient Church so that here nothing at all was wanting that in the case proposed was necessary to the validity of Ordination Wherefore this Ordination is far different from that which the Roman Bishops use when they Ordain according to the Roman Pastoral And consequently the Ordination which the Romans use among themselves is Invalid but the Ordination of the English Bishops reteins its Integrity A Second Proofe hereof is grounded upon the practise of the Greek Church whose Ordination the Church of Rome ever approved as valid yet they always used the Imposition of hands as the Essential matter of Priesthood with this Forme Divina Gratia quae semper infirma sanat deficientia complet promovet hunc Deo amabilem Diaconum in Presbyterum The Divine Grace that always cures that which is infirme and compleats that which is deficient promotes this pious Deacon to Priesthood Consider here what precaution the Greeks used in the Essential Forme of their Ordination for knowing how prone we are all to errors and mistakes they in a matter of such high concern have recourse to the Author of Grace to confirm and strengthen that which by Human Frailty might be weak and unstable as also to compleat the defects and supply the wants of their Ordination in case any thing else should be necessary not known to them And hereby they used their best endeavors to prevent the nullity of their Ordinations which might proceed from their own weakness or inadvertency as not being ignorant how many errors and mistakes we are subject to notwithstanding the best of our endeavors to the contrary Which implyes a confidence in them that using the true Essentials and a right intention Christ would supply all other secret defects whereof the want of the power of Order in the Ordainer is one especially when he is generally reputed by all and by himself also a true Bishop For as it is above observed in the beginning of this Section the Power of Order in the Ordained is no Essential part of Ordination but meerly the effect thereof so that the Ordination is Essentially and Specifically compleat without it and because Ordination is Instituted by Christ as a means to determine him to confer this Spiritual Power upon the Ordained How reasonable and congruous is it that the cause being compleat the effect should not be wanting especially since it exceeds our capacity to discover the defect For when a cause is hinder'd from producing his effect either by contrary agents or by the indisposition of the Medium or by the incapacity of the Passum we cannot thence infer that the agent is incompleat or wants vertue quantum est ex se for as much
piece of Bread and not the least access made to their inherent and sanctifying nor to their actual and transient Graces Neither is it for once or twice that they are so treated but constantly and toties quoties which certainly is an unworthy abuse and a Spiritual Cheat did not the Authors thereof proceed bonâ fide as not hgving detected the Error Their Power of Relaxing and Retaining sins participates much of the nature of Episcopacy in this respect that neither the one nor the other is a distinct Order from Priesthood but both of them necessarily and essentially presuppose Priesthood already Confer'd as the ground-work and foundation on which they depend so that the Power of Absolving is a superinduction to Priesthood or rather a consequent faculty that issues from it and if this Order be wanting that power can never be validly conferr'd wherefore the Penitents presuming upon the validity of this Power and their easie access to Absolution hence take occasion to be less circumspect and to let the reins loose to such sins as their sensual appetite prompts them to but when they come to make their Confession and receive Absolution though they have discover'd their Sore and the nature of the Spiritual Distemper of their Souls yet no Soveraign Medicine can be apply'd in order to their Cure for want of Ability in their Spiritual Physitian for where the Radical Power is wanting the Desired Effect cannot be produced so they return with the clogg of their sins as burthensome to them as before they came And not to insist upon any more particulars I shall conclude with this General Maxime that the Invalidity of all other Functions peculiar to Priesthood alone is an inseparable companion to the Invalidity of their Ordination But it may be pretended that Consocration Communion Absolution c. may be validly performed by one that hath titulum coloratum bonam fidem a colourable title a good Conscience c. though he should want the power of Order according to the rule above given in the Eighth Section First I Answer That it is not likely nor probable that the Incarnate Word would imploy his Omnipotency to grant such extraordinary favors to the Church of Rome because he can have no valuable motive to do it For Why should Christ bestow such singular Graces on his Enemies who have deserted his Doctrine changed his Ordinances and Institutions rob'd him as much as in them lyeth of his Prerogatives and usurp'd to themselves a Power which is peculiar to himself alone and these favors to be constantly conferr'd upon them and to be continued without intermission till the World's end for there is little hope of their Retractation And I dare aver that if any indifferent judgment should seriously ponder their manifold Errors whereof some are proposed and proved in this Treatise which I am ready to maintain against any legal opposition it would plainly appear that the Church of Rome is but a corrupted branch of the Universal Church of Christ and consequently sequester'd from the True Church And though I cannot deny but that our benign Lord grants to all out of the Treasure of his Merits Grace sufficient for their Salvation yet I fear they will scarce render this Grace efficacious by their cooperation with it for it must be an extraordinary a potent Grace that must incline them to a Recantation Secondly I Answer that this Case proposed in the Objection is far different from the Rule given above in the Eighth Section for there the Question was of the preservation or utter ruine of a True Church of Christ which cannot subsist without true Ordination but here the case only concerns particular persons and they likewise by the pravity of their own wills long since cut off from the True Church of Christ neither would these favors if granted revive their Church so as to render its Doctrine Orthodox or any way to reduce the Members or Heads thereof to a better sense Wherefore in this Case there is no ground nor motive to induce Christ to grant such an extraordinary concurse but in the former case it was strictly necessary for the preservation of a considerable part of the True Church of Christ Besides in the Case here proposed our Omnipotent Redeemer must have recourse to his Illimited Power daily to make so many Thousands of Miracles and this constantly to be continued without interruption but in the former case we only Assert that upon just and congruous grounds our Gratious Redeemer only for once supplyed the defect of Order when no Essential nor Necessary condition or Requisite was wanting SECT X. Of Clandestine Marriage THe Church of Rome that Sancta mater Ecclesia pretends to so much Power and Autority in ordering and disposing of all things belonging to Sacraments that it not only prescribes the Manner and Method of their Administration but also penetrates into the very Essence and Substance of them Subtracting Adding and Changing what she pleaseth and indeed in five of them there might be some seeming pretence for it they having received the honor of being called Sacraments from that Churches Institution without sufficient ground in Scripture for it whereof this of Matrimony is one of which we shall here Treate Marriage is a Contract between Man and Woman containing a Mutual Tradition to each other by proper words de presenti the last words de presenti distinguish Marriage from Sponsalia or Betrothing which is no Marriage nor Actual Tradition but a Promise of Marriage for the future The Council of Trent hath defin'd Matrimony to be a Sacrament and Anathematiz'd those that shall deny it Si quis dixerit Matrimonium Tril Sess 24. Can. 1. non esse propriè verè unum exseptem legis Evangelicae Sacramentis à Christo Domino Institutum sed ab hominibus in Ecclesiam invectum neque gratiam conferre Anathema sit By the Constitutions of the Church of Rome there are several Impediments of Marriage which are distinguisht into two Classis The First are such as render Matrimony Invalid which they call impedimenta dirimentia They of the Second Classis are only impedientia which render the persons inhabiles to Contract lawfully yet having Contracted the Marriage is valid To Contract clandestinely without such Witnesses as can give sufficient proofe and evidence of the Contract in foro externo hath been alwayes prohibited and therefore held unlawful but yet valid though now since the Council of Trent it is rendred invalid The words of the Council are these Trid Sess 24. C. 1. Reforan Matrim Qui aliter quam praesenti Parocho vel alio Sacerdote de ipsius Parochi seu Ordinarii licentia duobus vel tribus testibus Matrimonium contrahere attentabunt eos Sancta Synodus ad sic contrahendum omnino inhabiles reddit hujusmodi contractus irritos nullos esse decernit prout eos praesenti decreto irritos facit annullat By which Decree Clandestine Marriage which
thereof in English to the best of my capacity And because the Pretended Infallibility of the Church of Rome is the Foundation and main Prop which supports their Confidence Inductive to several Determinations and Decrees whereby they seem to Wage War with Heaven I deem'd it expedient in the First Place to Detect the Weakness of this Foundation but this being a Negative Design the most proportionable means to accomplish my end is to refel the Arguments which they produce for the establishing this Non-erring Prerogative And yet the Chiefest Argument they Alleadge is but a Fallacious Illusive Circle for they prove the Infallibility of their Church by Scripture and prove the Canon of Scripture by the Infallible Testimony of the Church without Qualifying either Part to prove the other but Rely upon the Support that these two Administer to each other which in effect is to prove neither Notwithstanding I Insist not much upon this Argument but mention it and so proceed I should have Instituted a more Minute Indagation and Refutation of it had I not seen it safely deduc'd by a more Learned and Skilful Pen and with that Success that his Antagonists will scarce Attempt another Contest with him in this Particular for the Wit of Man though backt with all their Learning will never be able to make it out It seems strange how such Points of Doctrine as are mentioned in this Treatise and others also not here Treated of could be so Publickly Introduced into a Church of so Large an Extent without great Contention and Intestine Broyles yea without the least Opposition or Contradiction For it is certain that they have many amongst them who are very Learned and Able Divines whose Intellects are sufficiently qualified with deep Penetration and Perspicacity and yet none Reclaims nor calls those Strange Dogmatical Points in Question The reason is because the Church of Rome is so strongly Immur'd and Fenced on all sides and hath such variety of Armes and Weapons to suppress her Opponents that she seems formidable to all for if any one either by Word or Writing should testifie any dislike of her Decrees or Definitions he is first branded with the Infamous Note of an Heretick and if he do not Recant the Church hath other Remedies next follows Suspension from his Priestly Functions there are also Ecclesiastical Censures and Excommunications there is Excommunicatio Major and Excommunicatio Minor some are Latae Sententiae some Sententiae Ferendae some are à Jure others ab Homine some are Reservatae others non Reservatae whereof there is a Long Catalogue in the Bulla Coenae there are also Interdicts for whole Nations and Kingdoms And which is worst of all in Italy and Spain if the Sancta Mater Ecclesia be opposed by any there the Inquisition lies gaping for them and ready to Swallow them up Alive All which strikes the most Audacious of them into a Pannick Fear they dread the Punishment and therefore Industriously shun the Means of Incurring it Hence the Supine Neglect in their Divines of Attempting to Reforme or prevent such Errors though never so Repugnant to their Judgments for besides the forementioned Penalties they must also expect if they be Readers to be Deposed from their Theological Chairs and Expell'd the Academy and then Degraded And hence that Profound Severity of their Popes and Councils in framing their Definitions for being Conscious of their Immunity from Opposition they are hence raised to a Confidence of Attempting any thing Wherefore since none that are Subject to the Roman Jurisdiction have so much Resolution as to Struggle with the many Obstacles and Arduity as they will certainly meet withal to Obviate their Design of Opposing those Errors I have here undertaken to Refute some of them in the Prosecution whereof I have taken a Method far different from that of other Learned and Worthy Authors who have Treated of the same Subject for my main Scope and Drift is to Refel the Errors of Rome by their own Principles wherefore I lay down their Tenets before I establish my own Assertions hereby to make it appear how little constant they are to themselves for their Practise and Beliefe are wholly inconsistent with the Dogmatical Principles of their Learnedst Divines and sometimes clash with the Definitions of their Popes and other Councils which I shall make appear So that this Bulwork though against them is raised by their own Labor and Industry and furnished with Armes and Ammunition drawn from their own Magazine yea and Mann'd by their own Oracles the Divines for though they dare not apply their Doctrine to oppose the Councils so to Commence an Intestine War yet I shall here do it for them and draw from thence such Illations as Legally Issue from their Principles to subvert their Pretended Articles of Faith Hence the Reader if not Praecautioned may take occasion to deem me a Defender of their Doctrine whereas in Reality I only suppose it according to the Laws of Disputation Ad hominem to make such Deductions from thence as are destructive of each particular Point of their Faith and Practise which I Impugne and this in effect is no other then to pronounce their Destruction by their own Hands Perditio tua ex te Israel For though many of those Principles which are the Ground-Work of my Discourse are common to both Churches yet others there are which peculiarly are admitted by the Church of Rome only So we all agree in the Notion of a Sacrament but differ in the Number of Sacraments c. yet with them I Suppose not Grant Seven Sacraments thereby to make it Appear that they Transgress against Divine Right by Changing the Matter and Form of Ordination and by Invalidating Clandestine Marriage c. which they Acknowledge to be both Sacraments So that the Proofes of the several Positions of this Discourse are Reduc't to Formal or Ritual Sillogismes whose Premises are made up for the most part of their own Acknowledg'd Doctrine and Matters of Fact both which are Undeniable and this Duality is sometimes backt with Phylosophical and Theological Principles or Canon-Law all which they Admit of And hence by Legal Deductions is drawn the Verity of the Assertions which are Diametrically opposite to their Pretended Faith and Practise In the Prosecution whereof I have confin'd my self to as much Brevity as is Compatible with the Right Vnderstanding and True Meaning of the Respective Points of Doctrine here Treated for Prolix Perorations in so Serious a Discourse would be Irksome to the Author and Tedious to the Reader And now I must Implore the Favor of the Benign Reader to Indulge me now and then the use of Scholastical Terms which upon some Incident Occasions are more Pathetical and Significant in expressing my Meaning then others especially considering that in order to the stopping of all Gaps and Starting Holes I am sometimes Necessitated to Soar above the Ordinary Strain of Doctrine to Evince the Coherency of my Positions with
the regulating of their Consciences yet these Men though never so Heterogeneal in Dialect and National differences make but one complex or collection of the Popes Negotiators whose main scope and design is to maintain and improve the Prerogatives of their great Master by all the subtle arts and sedulous industry they are capable of What plausible Arguments do they use to persuade people that their Church cannot Err and the illiterate Vulgar greedily swallow this Bait which confirms them in their servitude and slavery and makes them prompt to submit to all the Prescripts of the See of Rome not regarding the arduity thereof And among other marks of the Popes greatness this of Infallibility is chief for upon this Link hangs immediately his Supremacy his Temporal pretended Power over Kings and Princes c. because these Titles are deduced from his being universal Pastor which the non-erring Councils have declared him to be so that the Councils Infallibility is the Root of those Prerogatives it is the main Pillar which supports the Magnificence and Greatness of the Church and Court of Rome and if this should fail that Superstructure would fall to utter Ruine and Desolation This therefore is the great Bulwark which dreads no opposition this is the main Fort that still remains immoveable against all attempts this is the Ship of St. Peter which though tossed and agitated upon the swelling Billows by Raging and Tempestuous Storms yet never sinks Well may there be some attempts upon the out-works by light Skirmishes and Velitations in Controversies of less moment which if by immediate Arguments they cannot repel recourse may still be had to the main Fort and if that begins to open upon the Enemy by Thundring Infallibility in his Ears Lord who can withstand it This will soon defeat him and dissipate all his attempts But upon what grounds doth the Church of Rome arrogate to it self this high Character First Proof in exclusion of all others Why this is drawn from an irrefragable Testimony it being grounded on the Promises of Christ himself for this is the Church to whom Christ hath promised That the Gates of Hell should never prevail against it This is the Church to whom Christ's word is engaged to send it another Paraclite the Spirit of Truth that should lead it into all Truth This is the Church to whom Christ said I will be with you till the end of the World And finally this is the Church committed to the care of St. Peter first Pope thereof to whom Christ said Thy Faith shall never fail which is meant of all other Popes that by a lineal descent succeed him And who dare attempt to evacuate Christ's Promises Hence it comes to pass that the Bishops and Fathers assembled in a general Council though of themselves weak and subject to Error yet being the chief Members of the Church for Doctrine and Dignity and being the Representative of the whole are render'd Infallible as being backt by Divine Authority by virtue of Christ's Promise they do not now determine matters of Faith and dogmatical points as meer Men but are as it were Deifi'd in order to this Function by a supernatural quality infused into them and inherent in their Intellects or else by a previous disposition and concomitant operation of the Holy Ghost which determines them to Truth and protects them from Error They are but the Organ to deliver Truth but the Divine Oracle is the Dictator they are but the instruments which convey those Mysteries to the knowledge of Mankind but the Spirit of God is the principal Agent so that thâ—â— Canons and Decrees come from them full fraught with the Divinity which renders them Infallibly certain for the Holy Ghost every Session attends the motion of those great Men to regulate all their Proceedings by the never erring Rule of his infinite Veracity whence it ensues that to pick quarrels with their Definitions is a high Temerity it is to wage War with Heaven or by the weak scrutiny of humane discourse to examine the truth of such Mysteries as Heaven hath revealed which if they should contain any seeming Error or Contradiction yet our understanding must adhere to them as infallibly true because our Reason is guided only by obscure Notions and abstractive Acts which draws in foreign Species by the mediation of the Senses which give but a glimmering light to the Understanding and often suggest Falsity for Truth but the Decrees of Councils are sacred and carry the Seal of the Holy Spirit enstampt upon them by whose directions they are framed wherefore it is no less than a Sacrilegious Presumption to Question the Truth of them for this is to oppose Human Reason against Divine Authority This is the substance of their first Proof drawn from the Authority of Scripture which at first appearance seems great and glorious a specious pretence to work upon the credulity of the ignorant Vulgar The second Proof is grounded in Reason but before we propose it we must open the way by putting the Reader in mind that the Divine Word the Second Person of the Sacred Trinity considering the deplorable condition of Mankind by the Fall of Adam resolved upon an efficacious Remedy to assume Human Nature and by an Hypostatical Union to be Phisically United and become on with Flesh and Bloud and in that Nature to suffer death and thereby to offer to his Eternal Father an infinite Treasure of Merits and Satisfaction to make an attonement between God and Man and to satisfie for Mans transgressions even to the rigor of Justice because the satisfaction was made in the same specifical nature that offended and it was made to the full equality of the Crime because the Meritorious Cause thereof was a Divine Person of infinite Dignity and therefore his Actions were of infinite Worth But because it was not permitted to every individual Person to draw from that infinite Mass of Satisfaction and Merit in what measure he pleased this priviledge being reserved for the Pope alone to grant out of this stock by his Indulgences what quantity and to whom he deemed expedient therefore a Church must be ordained and a method prescribed how to apply the benefit of Christ's Passion to each one in particular To this end our great Redeemer instituted Sacraments to be the organs and vehicles to convey the Fruit of his Passion to the Receiver and this is secunda post naufragium tabula whence the Church of Rome saith in her Publick Office O felix culpa quae talem meruit Redemptorem This being supposed The second Proof is grounded on this consideration that the principal design of our Redeemer was to draw Souls to Heaven notwithstanding the loss sustained by Original Sin for to this end he offered his satisfaction to this end he merited habitual and sanctifying Grace transient and actual Graces prevenient concomitant and subsequent Graces to illuminate the Understanding to move and incline the Will to embrace Good and
shun Evil. Wherefore this being the end intended by Christ it follows that apt and fit means were also appointed that had proportion with the obtaining of this end but one necessary means to accomplish what Christ designed is the Gift of Infallibility without which the Church might fall into Error and from one Error into another and hereby deviate and swerve from its original institution and at length utterly fall away and instead of conducting Souls to Heaven it would lead them to the precipice of eternal ruine and destruction and so evacuate the Fruit of Christs Passion and put an obstacle to the obtaining of that end which he efficaciously intended And yet we must all suppose that the incarnate word was endu'd with an illimited Power his Knowledge and Wisdom was infinite so that he perfectly knew what means were necessary to accomplish his design and wanted no Power to effect it which notwithstanding could never be efficaciously attained without this Infallibility whence it necessarily follows that Christ communicated to his Church this special Preservative of always teaching truth without being subject to Error This briefly is the full strength of their second Proof Thus you see the grounds of this Doctrin are seemingly convincing and plausible enough to induce such to an assent who either cannot or will not by a studious consideration penetrate into the depth of them but will rather acquiesce than stretch their understanding by a rigid scrutiny and inquisition to detect the fallacy thereof But certainly in a matter of such moment we are not to take up all this upon trust nor blindly to give our assent till we have industriously waighed and ponder'd the whole matter that so we may be the better able to give an account of our belief which is the drift of the subsequent Section SECT III. The Decision of the present Controversie THe Assertion is That the Church of Rome enjoys not this Infallibility which they so much pretend to The first Proof Such a previous necessity to Truth would destroy Liberty and take away the laudability and merit of human actions Note That in the progress of this Discourse I shall argue ad Hominem that is I shall take along with me their own Principles and for the most part ground my Refutation upon them They all grant Liberty and Merit in such human actions as have conformity to the dictamen of Conscience for in this consists the morality of our Actions that they are consonant or dissonant to the synderesis of the Agent but if an action be extorted by an antecedent necessity there can be no exercise of Free-will nor Merit in it nor Liberty because that Power only hath liberty which after all prae-requisites and causes are put hath a power to work and not to work whereas if there be a prae-ordination by Gods Decree that the Members of a General-Council shall be determined to Truth then their decisions are wholly destitute of Liberty and Free-will because Gods efficatious Decree that hath a previous influence upon the action draws with it an indispensable necessity which destroys Free-will neither can it be meritorious because Merit supposeth Liberty and consists in the laudability of the action and how can that action be laudable which a fatal necessity forces from the Will Can any one deserve Praise for doing that which he cannot avoid Hence I conclude that Merit and Free-will are not compatible with that Infallibility which the Church of Rome pretends to which is inconsistent with Gods Providence in order to Mankind who was Created and Born free in full possession of the liberty of his will and therefore shall be Judged according to his own Actions which could not be were there any necessity or restraint put upon them Thus we see how this doctrine inverts the order of Divine Providence and imposes a necessity either of contrariety or contradiction upon Humane actions A confirmation of this Proof may be drawn from the practical proceeding of Councils who seldom or never determine any thing till after a long and serious Debate and sometimes with great fervor and animosity of Parties in opposition to each other as it hapned in the Council of Trent upon contradictory Points one Party Affirming what another Deny'd All which supposeth a liberty in their debates and determinations for if by an Inspiration of the Holy Ghost they were all fixt in Truth What need any Debate or Consultation for this can only have place in such Resolutions as depend upon Humane Prudence alone And if each Member of a General Council hath the immediate Assistance of the Holy Ghost How comes it to pass that when two are of different Opinions the one Denies what the other Affirms and though they may both speak as they think yet in reality they cannot both speak Truth for two contradictories cannot be both true Must then the Spirit of God be made the Author of both as though he suggested Truth to the one and Falsity to the other if not then he that contends for the Erroneous part is deserted by the Holy Ghost and agitated by some other Spirit of the Prince of Darkness which allways opposeth truth but hence it would follow that Satan acts in General Councils and that some of the Members of Councils are not inspired by the Holy Ghost and consequently not Infallible The Second Proof is a Refutation of the Grounds of the Adverse Party A Negative Tenet as this is cannot be better prov'd than by shewing the falsity of the Affirmative Contradictory First then as to their Argument drawn from Christ's Promises exprest in Scripture I demand Whence they have an Assured Infallibility that Scripture contains the True Word of God They Answer That this Infallible Church of Rome hath Defined it so to be and proposed it to the People to be so believed I demand again how they make out the Infallibility of their Church They Answer By Christ's Promises in Scripture A special Argument no better than a plain vitious Circle for they prove the Infallibility of the Scripture by the Church and the Infallibility of the Church by Scripture and prove neither Independent of each other By this way of Arguing Mahomet and his Alchoran may be prov'd Infallible For the Alchoran saith That Mahomet was inspired by God who spoke in his eare in the forme of a Dove and Mahomet saith That the Alchoran is the Word of God manifested by Divine Inspiration therefore both Mahomet and the Alchoran are Infallible This is the same Argument apply'd to another subject The Protestant Church of England hath as great a Veneration for Scripture and as strong and firm adherence to it as any can have yet are not so highly presumptuous as to arrogate to themselves a degree of Evidence or Infallibility exceeding that which the Motives Inductive to their Beliefe bring with them But I shall not need to insist upon the Invalidity of this Argument because it hath lately been so Learnedly handled by that
Worthy and Profound Dr. Edw. Stillingfleet Dean of Pauls and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty against Mr. Edw. Worsley a Learned Jesuite then residing at Antwerp who had formerly for many years together been a Reader of Divinity in the Jesuits Colledge at Liege where he Taught the whole Body of Divinity yet could never extricate himself out of this Labyrinth wherein Dr. Stillingfleet had involved him by this Argument to which I refer the Reader This Circle being therefore laid aside let us examine if the Scripture Independent of the Churches Definition bring with it this Infallibility or no. The Scripture is questionless of it self Infallible but it is not so to us for we have but a Moral certainty of the Infallibility of Scripture and that it is truly and à parte rei the Word of God The reason is because though we admit that what the Prophets and Apostles have left Written was truly dictated by the Holy Ghost yet they who drew Copies from those Originals wanted that support they were meer Men and carried their Humane Infirmities about them and in after ages as the Scripture was handed down to Posterity the Amanuenses by Ignorance Malice or Neglect might commit some Error either by excess by defect or by alteration whereby their Copies might disagree with the Originals of the first Hagiographers at least we have no Demonstration nor Revelation to assure us of the contrary and when Printing came in the same difficulty occurs in relation to them that Corrected the Print But when it was Translated into several Languages the difficulty is yet greater for beside the former casualties admit the Translator to be an exquisite Linguist yet the Sense of Scripture is so very nice that in his Translation he might innocently express what the Holy Ghost by the Original never meant Besides that only part of Scripture is admitted by both Churches as the Word of God which is Canonical And what Infallible Rule have we to know what part is Canonical what Apocryphal Again in that part that is received as Canonical there are so many high Mysteries some seeming contradictions not pervious to the Natural capacity of Mans understanding to reconcile the several senses thereof are so various some passages are to be understood Literally some Morally others Allegorically some others Tropologically or Figuratively How many Volumes have been Written by the Learned in both Churches to interpret the meaning and true sense of Scripture and in some places with Contradictions and Oppositions to each other yet after all we fall short of any Infallible Certainty herein for instance there have been above Fifty several Senses given by Interpreters of that short Sentence Hoc est corpus meum This is my Body And one Verse in the Psalms hath puzled the Learnedst of them all viz. Increpa feras arundinis Psal 68. v. 30. congregatio taurorum in vaccis populorum ut excludant eos qui probati sunt argento in English thus Rebuke the wilde beasts of a Reed the congregation of Bulls in the Cowes of the people that they may exclude those that are tryed with silver Instances of this nature are frequent in Scripture Humane Tradition hath brought the Scripture down to these our times yet Humane Authority is not Infallible wherefore all these particulars being duly ponder'd Where will the Romanists find that assured Infallibility which they pretend to As for the Second Proof from the strength of Reason we admit Christ's Omnipotence Omniscience his infinite Prudence and Wisdom with all other his Divine Attributes we also grant that our Redeemers Intention of being Incarnate Suffering Death c. was to save the Souls of Men but this was to be consistent with and subordinate to that state wherein the Almighty by his infinite Wisdom and Providence had placed Man in his first Creation that is with a full possession and use of his Liberty and Free-will which our Redeemer never intended to infringe for that would subvert the Order of Gods former Providence So that by the Fruit of Christ's Passion we are furnished with all necessaries to live a godly and a righteous Life which without the Grace of Christ would not be in our power to do for bare Nature hath no proportion of it self to Merit ne quidem de congruo nor to any Supernatural Reward as St. Augustine Teacheth against the Pelagians and Massilienses so that the Supernatural Graces that we receive by Christ's Merits give us a power to do good and shun evil but impose no necessity upon us to lay hold of them and improve them to our own good for this depends upon our own free election therefore when we transgress against Gods Precepts it is not for want of all necessary means to observe them but it proceeds from the Pravity of our own Wills which chuse rather to follow the suggestion of the sensual appetite than submit to the conduct of Reason and therefore are blameworthy for we had the power to do good and avoid evil and would not So that although of our selves we can do nothing in order to heaven yet every individual Member of the Church by the Grace obtained by Christ's Passion is enabled but not necessitated to save his Soul Non ego sed gratia Dei mecum It is not I but the Grace of God with me And if the Church should fall into an Error as the Church of Rome hath done the members thereof are not thereby deprived of the usual Means of Salvation neither doth that Error prejudice them as long as they remain in an invincible Ignorance of the Truth But if the Church by multiplying error upon error should fall from being a Church which could not be but that the wisest and most learned should take notice thereof and detect the errors then these are bound in conscience to desert it and detest their errors who consequently would remain constant and faithful to truth and so would continue the True Church And indeed the Second Proof proposed in the Second Section proves too much and is to be solved by the Romanists themselves for they Assert that the end of Christ's Suffering was to save all Mankind that is every single person of Humane Nature and therefore apt and proportionable means ought to be instituted without which this end could not be efficaciously obtained whence it ensues that every individual person must have this Infallibility yea and impeccability also lest Christ's design should be frustrated which is the same way of Arguing as is contained in that Proof and the illation as evidently ensues which notwithstanding we all grant false and erroneous for then none could be damned Thus you see the grounds of the Romans Infallibility how specious and convincing soever they appear yet thoroughly examined and the fallacies detected they vanish to smoak The Third Proof That Church which hath committed Errors and still perseveres in them is not Infallible But the Church of Rome hath committed errors and still
persists in them as I shall prove in the following Disputations of this Treatise ergo The Church of Rome is not Infallible for that Church that actually doth erre hath a power to erre because bene valet ab actu ad potentiam and it is evident that that Church which hath power or capacity to erre is not Infallible for Infallibility excludes a power of failing There yet remains to solve such Objections as may be proposed against our Assertion contained in the beginning of this Section SECT IV. An Answer to the Objections proposed against the nullity of the Church of Rome's Infallibility THe first Objection None can Question but that such Promises as our Redeemer hath truly made to his Church shall be fulfilled but we have a Moral certainty that the Promises specifyed in the Second Section were truly made by Christ for we admit a Moral certainty That the Holy Scripture is truly the Word of God Whence it ensues that we are Morally certain that the Church of Rome is Infallible First I Answer That this Objection destroys it self for it contends for an Infallibility and proves it by a Reflex act of Moral certainty whereas Infallibility excludes a power of Erring and Moral certainty includes that power so that the result of both would be a Fallible Infallibility which involves a Contradiction This is much of the nature of a Sillogisme wherein the conclusion semper sequitur debiliorem partem so that if one of the premises be scientifical the other only probable the conclusion will be only probable the reason is because in the conclusion the two extreams are therefore identifi'd between themselves because they were in the premises identifi'd with a third wherefore if one extream be certainly identifi'd with a third the other only probably they can but be probably identifi'd with each other for this identity is destroyed by separating either of the extreams from the third For application The Infallibility of the Church depends upon these two Principles First That we are Infallibly certain that Christ's Promises are performed Secondly That we are Infallibly certain of the thing of fact that Christ did Promise if either of these fail the Infallibility faileth and if either of these be only probable the Infallibility is reduced to a probability only now though Moral certainty be the highest degree of Probability yet it comes as far short of Infallibility as this Argument doth of proving it Secondly I Answer That the Church of Rome is too forward in arrogating to themselves alone such Promises as Christ made to his Church for to say nothing of the Church of Rome in Primitive times yet since their manifold Innovations and Superstructures the Protestant Church is the purer and freer from Error and consequently hath more right to lay hold of those Promises then the Church of Rome The Second Objection Though the Church taken barely by it self and without the support of that Testimony from Holy Writ should not be Infallible yet backt by the Motives of Credibility it will be rendred absolutely unerrable for these Motives do so peculiarly affect it and as it were point it out to be the True Church of Christ that it dissipates all the Clouds of Ambiguity which blind the incredulous For who can consider the lineal descent and succession of Chief Pastors the austerity and holiness of life exercised in Monasteries of both Sexes the Miracles wrought by the Members of this Church with the Blood of so many Martyrs the effusion whereof doth daily irrigate the same and renders it more fertile with other Motives of this nature which all are the Badges of this Church Who I say can seriously ponder this without framing an Infallible Judgment that the Church of Rome is the True Church of Christ There is certainly a strict and Metaphysical connexion between these Motives and the True Church for it is not consistent with the Divine Goodness and veracity of God to co-operate to such a Delusion as this would be if these Motives should indicate a False Church subject to Error which would make God himself the Author of this Error We may therefore hence conclude the Church of Rome in which such great Wonders are so frequently wrought to be the True and Infallible Church of Christ The First Answer Among all the Doctors and Divines of the Church of Rome I never knew of any that asserted this strict and metaphysical connexion of the Motives of Credibility with the True Church but only Cardinal Lugo Yet I have seen a whole Torrent of Autority of other Doctors of the same Church of the contrary opinion who all affirm that the collection of these Motives may possibly affect a false Church wherefore let these Authors solve this Objection The Second Answer All these Motives of credibility are fallacious as depending upon Humane Autority and being subject to many casualties and deceits and first for the succession of Chief Pastors whose Jurisdiction by an Illegal Usurpation extends it self de facto over the whole Body but is limited de jure to the Diocess of Rome only and how long together hath the Body been without a head as if it had been defunct and then Monster-like it appeared with two heads it being hard to decide which of them had most right And what is to be said of Liberius Pope who subscribed the Arians Heresie and joyned with them and of Vigilius who approved and condemned the same Doctrine in the three Chapters Must these also be links of continuation in the Succession Surely they were not Infallible Consider the manner of their Election when there occurs a vacancy there will not be wanting those in the Colledge of Cardinals who have ambition enough to aspire to such a dignity whereto is annexed a Temporal Principality a Triple Crown with many splendid Titles which makes the Succession sure But how few are there in the Consistory who are swayed by Piety and Religion to give their Suffrage only for such a Person as is duely qualified for so high a Prelacy But when they have entred the Conclave What a Bundle of Ambition is there shut up together How many are there that take their Measures from By and Sinister ends some from Ambition others from Humane Policy others again from Self-interest some give their Votes for such a Cardinal because he is of the Spanish Faction they having a Pension to uphold that Faction Others chuse another because he is of the French Faction whose Pensioners they are Others chuse one who is most addicted to themselves hoping that by his Promotion they shall become great and powerful another again who conceives himself fit to be elected casts away his own Vote upon one that is most unlike to be chosen lest his Suffrage by making access to the Party of his Competitor should promote him and deprive himself of so high a Dignity What stuff is this to have an influence upon the Electors of a Chief Pastor nay How remote is all
one Constantinus Caetanus Abbot of a Monastery near Rome which contains all that the former Rituals have but is more ample and adds more Ceremonies and Prayers not any way belonging to the Essentials of Priesthood except that which is specified towards the end for the Bishop having recited the Consecration he totally omits that which is contained under the Title Consummatio Presbyteri as in the first Ritual then he puts the Stole on the right shoulder of him that is to be Ordained saying Accipe jugum Dei jugum enim ejus suave est onus ejus leve Receive the yoke of God for his yoke is sweet and his burthen light Then he puts on his Casula or Vestment saying Stola innocentiae induat te Dominus God put thee on the Stole of Innocence Then follows the Benediction Deus Sanctificationum c. as in the first Ritual which done Capiens oleum facit crucem super manus ambas ita dicens Consecrare sanctificare digneris Domine manus istas per istam unctionem ut quaecunque consecraverint consecrentur quaecunque benedixerint benedicantur sanctificentur in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi Hoc facto accipiat patenam cum oblatis calicâ—â—â— cum vino dicat Accipe potestatem 〈…〉 sacrificium Deo Missamque cebbâ—â—re tam pro vivis quam pro defunctis in nomine Domini Benedictio Benedictio Dei Patris silii Spiritus Sancti descendet saper vos ut sitis benedicti in ordine Sacerdotali offeratis placabiles hostias pro peccatis at que offensionibus populi omnipotenti Deo cui est honor gloria per omnia Taking the Oyle he makes a Cross upon both his hands saying thus O Lord vouchsafe to Consecrate and Sanctifie these hands by this Unction that whatever they shall Consecrate may be consecrated and whatever they shall bless may be blessed in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ This being performed let him take the Paren with the Offerings and the Calice with the Wine let him say Receive the Power to offer Sacrifice to God and to say Mass both for the Living and the Dead in the Name of our Lord c. The Benediction Let the Blessing of God the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost descend upon ye may ye be blessed in the Order of riesthood and may ye offer Attoning Sacrifices for the Sins and offences of the People to Almighty God To whom be Honor and Glory c. This is the first Ritual that I can find which contains the touching of the Chalice with Wine and the Pattene with an Hoast with this Form Accipe potestatem c. as above which the Church of Rome hath ever since retained to this day Another Ritual belonging to the Church of Mens of 450 years standing contains all that the former hath But in the Margin it is written that the Bishop saith to them that are Ordained Accipe Spiritum Sanctum quorum remiserit is peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis retenta sunt c. post sumptionem corporis Sanguinis Jesu Christi antequam dicatur postcommunio tunc Episcopus trahat unicuique casulam deorsum per scapulas osculans eum dicens Pax Domini sit semper tecum Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye remit are remitted and whose sins ye retain are retained And after the receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ before the saying of the Post-Communion let the Bishop let down the Vestment from their shoulders kissing each of them and saying Let the Peace of our Lord be always with you This addition is all the difference between this and the last Ritual and in the perusal of these and several other Rituals I never met with any power to Remit and Retain sins communicated to the Ordained by such plain and express words after they had received the power of Priesthood Yet by the Custom of some Churches this form Accipe Spiritum Sanctum quorum c. is used in the beginning of the Ordination of Priests and accompanyeth the Imposition of hands But the present Practice of the Church of Rome is to give this power about the end of the Mass by the Imposition of Hands as the Matter and the words Accipe Spiritum Sanctum c. as the Form And because the Modern Rituals of the Latines contain nothing of moment more then what the Roman Pontifical expresseth I shall therefore wave them lest it might prove tedious to the Reader SECT III. A briefe Account of the Rituals of the Greeks Maronites c. WE begin with the Greeks and because the Antient Rituals have no more in them then what is contained in those of a later date I shall omit the former for after them to transcribe the more modern Pontificals were actum agere to do the same thing twice A Greek Ritual Written 800 years since kept in the Liberary of Cardinal Franciscus Barbarinus Ordinatio Presbyteri Postquam allata sunt Sancta dona in sacra mensa reposita sunt completus est Sanctus Hymnus mysticus Cherubicus charta consueta traditur Archiepiscopo in qua scriptum est Divina gratia quae semper infirma curat deficientia complet promovet hunc N. Deo amabilem Diaconum in Presbyterum Eaque lecta ita ut omnes audiant qui ordinandus est adducitur eoque genu flectente tria crucis signa facit super caput ejus habensque manum et impositam haec precatur Deus qui es principii finis expers qui omni creatura longè es antiquior quique denominatione Presbyteri eos honorasti qui digni judicati sunt in eo gradu sancte administrare verbum veritatis tuae Ipse omnium Domine complaceat tibi hunc quam à me propter politiam irreprehensibilem modumque agendi inculpatum fidem constantem promoveri probasti magnam illam gratiam Sancti Spiritus tui suscipere Perfectum redda servum tuum ut tibi in omnibus placeat pro data sibi à providente virtute tua magno illo sacerdotali honore dignè sese gerat conversetur quia tua est potentia tuum est regnum virtus c. Tum facit Presbyterorum unus Diaconi precem in hunc modum In pace Dominum deprecemur Pro suprema pace ac salute Pro pace universi mandi Pro Archiepiscopo nostro N. ipsius sacerdotio auxilio perseverantia pace ac salute operibus manuum ejus Dominum deprecemur Pro eo qui nunc promovetur Presbytero salute ipsius Dominum deprecemur Vt clemens hominum amans Deus immaculatum irreprehensibile largiatur illi Sacerdotium deprecemur Pro piissimo à Deo custodito Imperatore Nostro c. Et cum à Presbytero haec habetur oratio Archiepiscopus consimiliter manum tenens super caput illius qui ordinatur sic precatur Deus qui potens es in
extendentes manus suas super occulos suos Et profert Archidiaconus Oremus Pax nobiscum Et repetit Praesul demissè Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi qui omni tempore quod deficit supplet cum beneplacito Dei Patris cum virtute Spiritus Sancti sit omni tempore nobiscum perficiat manibus nostris ministerium hoc tremendum excelsum in redemptionem vitae nostrae His dictis vocem attollit Nunc semper Deinde signat Et profert Archidiaconus Pax eum Repetitque Praesul hanc manus impositionem manu dextera posita super caput ejus qui ordinatur dicitque demissa voce Deus noster bone c. Et juxta traditionem Domine Apostolicam quae propagata est ad nos usque in ordinatione ministerii Ecclesiastici Ecce offerimus tibi hos servos tuos ut sint Presbyteri electi in Ecclesia tua sancta pro iis oramus omnes Deinde signat eorum capita dicitque Archidiaconus Tollite occulos vestros in excelsa suprema postulate misericordiam à Deo clemente pro his his Diaconis qui ordinantur constituuntur Presbyteri in Ecclesia Dei cui sunt selecti Orate pro illis Et dicit Praesul super eos demisse dum dexteram super eorum capita imponit Domine Deus fortis c. Tu ergo Deus magnus virtutum Rex omnium seculorum respice etiam nunc in hos servos tuos elige eos electione sancta per habitationem Spiritus Sancti donaque illis in operatione oris sui sermonem veritatis elige illos ad officium sacerdotale c. Tunc signat capita eorum imperat eis ut adorant prostrati in terram surgent Postea Praesul cucullam accipit quae posita fuerat super humerum uniuscuiusque eorum ea illum induit tollitque orarium de ejus humeris illius pectori imponit Et accipit Episcopus ipse librum adorandum Evangeliorum tradit eum in manibus illius qui ordinationem accepit eumque signat inter oculos pollice dextro dicitque separatus est sanctificatus est perfectus est consecratus est N. in opus Sanctum Ecclesiasticum in ministaerium Sacerdotis Aaroniticiae In nomine Patris c. Dein Praesul tollit ab eis Evangelium Ille vero qui ordinatus est nectit genua Praesul vero baculum suum accipit c. Dum autem dicitur Canon apprehendit Archidiaconus eos qui ordinati sunt jubet eos salutare Altare Episcopum Sacerdotes Diaconos illi autem osculantur capita illorum Finit ordo impositionis manus Presbyterorum Nestorians FIrst they begin the Pater Noster And the Prelat Prays Thy virtue O Lord compleat by our weakness this Spiritual Ministery of the Sacerdotal guift c. Know O Lord that in every praise and in every Prayer and in every Canon those that are to be Ordained do adore thee prostrate upon the ground First the Prelate cuts off the hair of the Ordained and girds his loyns with a Girdle and casts his Cawle over his left shoulder and entring stands in the middle before the Altar The Archdeacon Prays for Peace The Bishop Prays Give him O Lord the Stole of Priesthood c. Consider O Priest how great is the degree to which thou art called Come let us proceed to the Priesthood c. O Lord put him on the Stole of antient and modern Priesthood wherewith thou hast clothed thy true believers with this clothe these that worship thee who stretch forth their hands before the Throne of thy Divinity c. Ye Priests who are made worthy of the State of Angels beware of Iniquity A Prayer O Lord anoint these thy servants with the Vnction of thy holiness O Christ the Priest of Truth whose Priesthood never faileth operate upon thy servants that which may be most helpful and indue them with splendor and beauty that they may perform their Priesthood to thee with Perfection and Caution c. Item Thou O Lord let the Holy Ghost who descended and dwelt upon thy Disciples descend upon the heads of those that adore thee Then he comes to them that are to be Ordained and commands them to kneel they extending their hands before their eyes c. The Archdeacon says Let us Pray Peace be with us And the Bishop with a loud voice saith The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which alwayes supplies that which is deficient with the good liking of God the Father and the vertue of the Holy Ghost be with us ever and perfect by our hands this dreadful and high Ministry for the Redemption of our life Having thus spoken he raiseth his voice Now and for ever Then he signeth him with the Cross And the Archdeacon saith Peace be to him And the Bishop again putting his right hand upon the head of the Ordained saith with a low voice Our good God c. And O Lord according to the Apostolical Tradition which hath descended to us in the Ordination of Ecclesiastical Ministry loe we offer to thee these thy servants that they may be elected Priests in thy Holy Church and for them we all Pray c. Then he signeth their heads with a Cross and the Archdeacon saith Lift up your eyes to the highest Heaven and implore Mercy from the God of Clemency for these and these Deacons who are ordained and confirmed Priests in the Church of God to which they are set apart Pray for them And the Bishop with a loud voice putting his right hand upon their heads saith O Lord God of power c. therefore thou O God the great God of vertue and King of all Ages now also look upon these thy servants and elect them by thy holy election through the inhabitation of thy Holy Spirit and in their Preaching indue them with the Word of Truth and Elect them to the Sacerdotal Office c. Then he again signs their heads with a Cross and commands them to Worship prostrate on the ground then to rise After this the Bishop takes the Cawle which was put upon their shoulders and puts it on them and takes the Stole from the shoulder and placeth it upon their Breast Then the Bishop takes the Book of the Holy Gospel and puts it into the hands of the ordained and with his right Thumb signs them between the eyes saying N. is separated sanctified is perfect is Consecrated in order to the holy work of the Church and Ministery of the Aaronitick Priesthood In the Name of the Father c. Then the Bishop takes from them the Book of the Gospel and the ordained kneel Then the Bishop takes his Pastoral Staffe c. and while the Canon is Read the Archdeacon takes the ordained and commands them to do reverence to the Altar to the Bishop to the Priests and Deacons and they kiss the head of the ordained Here ends the Order of Imposition
Church without examining particulars as the Council of Florence directs 'T is well that you have exempted the Ordainer from reprehension But then I must demand What intention the Church had in introducing this new Matter and Forme so explicitely and in express terms signifying the collation of Priestly Power to proced from hence and consequently the Character to be hereby imprinted for if these are not intended as Essentials then you have removed the siction from the Ordainer and attributed it to the Church so that the one or the other must be the Author of it but as to this present controversie it matters not which And indeed to solve all there is but one way which is to grant that the tradition of the Vessels and the Forme of Words thereunto annexed do Essentially confer the Order and imprint the Character The Third Proofe is made out by induction which to effect we must make a strict inquiry into all the parts contained in the Roman Ritual to deprehend if any one of them have any proportionable capacity in order to this effect The first imposition of hands can have none because there is no Form appropriated to it neither can a bare Matter without a Forme constitute the adequate Essence of a Sacrament The Second Imposition of â—ands though there be a Form accommodated to it yet it is neither Indicative or Enunciative nor Imperative but only Deprecatory which is not sufficient to satisfie the See of Rome But however as the Roman Ritual for Priesthood is disposed the Order of Priesthood can never proceed from hence except the touching of the Vessels with its Forme be wholly left out for in case Priesthood should be validly conferr'd by this Imposition of Hands and its Forme then the tendring the Vessels afterwards to him that is already Ordained with these words Accipe potestatem Take a power to offer Sacrifice c. would be a Sacrilegious and Fallacious attempt to Reordain him that was before validly Ordained and had the Character of Priesthood imprinted upon him and this would be constantly practised through the whole extent of the Church Besides this Doctrine is wholly destitute of Autority for there are few or no Divines that insist upon this What then remains only the Third Imposition of Hands which follows a long time after about the end of Mass with these words Accipe Spiritum Sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis retenta sunt Receive the Holy Ghost they whose sins you forgive are forgiven and they whose sins you retain are retained This likewise hath no proportion to confer the Order of Priesthood First because it supposeth that Order already conferr'd for none but a Priest is sufficiently qualified to receive a Power of Relaxing and Retaining sins But in the Primitive Church this power was ever esteemed a branch of Presbytery necessarily resulting from the Validity of Ordination so that all Priests had the Radical Power of Absolving but they were not to practice it without a Deputation from their Bishop neither is it above Four hundred and Fifty years since this Forme was thrust into the Ritual and by reason of its novelty as not being instituted by Christ as Essential to the Ordination of Priesthood cannot participate of the nature of a Sacrament nor any way belong to the Essentials of Ordination Lastly That this Matter and Forme have no influence upon the Power of Consecrating or offering Sacrifice is evidently evinced from hence That all they who receive it had before said Mass with the Bishop and Consecrated with him and to that end the Canon and especially the words of Consecration that usually are pronounced with a lower voice are by the Bishop pronounced aloud and distinctly because the Ordained may accompany him for he that first ends the words of Consecration doth truly Consecrate and none of the rest except they direct their intention to that instant in which the Bishop pronounceth the last lyllable How then can this last imposition of Hands or its Forme any way conduce to the Power of Order It therefore remains that nothing contained in the Roman Ritual for Priesthood can be Essential to that Order except the Tradition of the Vessels with its Forme all the rest being accidentary and circumstantial as I shall prove hereafter by their own Authors All this is confirmed by the practise prescribed in the Roman Ritual for degrading a Priest Ministri tradunt in manus degradandi calicem cum vino aqua ac patena hostia quam Pontifex Degradator aufert de manibus degradandi The Ministers deliver into the hands of him that is to be degraded a Chalice with Wine and Water and a Patene and Hoaste which the Bishop that is the Degrader takes out of the hands of the degraded because by delivering these Vessels to him he was Ordained Priest and therefore by taking them from him again they think him sufficiently devested of that dignity This Truth is so apparent that it needs no other proofe then to observe in their Ordination how indifferent and unconcerned they are in all parts thereof except in delivering the Vessels and pronouncing the Forme that affects them here one Priest inspects one side another surveys the other side and they keep such a pressing of the Ordaineds hands both on the Patene and Chalice that no Error be committed in the application of these Vessels that the beholder will presently conclude that they esteem the whole substance of Ordination to consist in this Discourse their Clergy and you will find that no one doubts it Read the Forme Accipe potestatem c. Receive the power c. and you will certainly conclude that it signifieth nothing else And they who live amongst them and converse with them cannot but know their general and unanimous belief and perswasion that the Order of Priesthood is validly conferr'd by the touching of those Vessels and the Form which accompanys it and the Character thereby imprinted and Sacramental Grace conferr'd Wherefore as to the thing in substance I offer this Dilemma either the Order of Priesthood is validly conferr'd by touching the Vessels and the Forme appropriated to it and the Character thereby imprinted or not If the first be granted that is the scope of our present intention If the second then I declare that the words which the Ordainer pronounceth are Nugatory Delusive and Fallacious for the words are Imperative whereby the Bishop bids the Ordained receive a power of offering Sacrifice which in effect is Priesthood and the Ordained who comes full fraught with an ardent desire of receiving it consequently accepts it and yet notwithstanding this offer and acceptation he is deluded for that power being Spiritual and so invisible as is also the Character he conceives himself impower'd to offer Sacrifice and his Soul consequently imbellisht with a new and high Prerogative in plain and explicite words offered him and yet is defrauded and disappointed of his expectation
for that Matter and Forme as we suppose by the second part of the Dilemma is not capable to confer upon him such a dignity notwithstanding the Promise SECT V. The Order of Priesthood according to the present Institution cannot be validly conferr'd by touching the Vessels with this Forme Accipe potestatem c. THe Ordinations and Institutions of Christ none can attempt to abrogate or alter without a Sacrilegious temerity for they carry with them an irrefragable Autority they are Juris Divini of Divine Right they are Sacred and therefore no Human Power upon Earth can make any change or alteration in them and more especially when by Divine Institution Supernatural effects are produced by Natural causes as it falls out in the Ordination of Priests for when it is validly conferr'd there is communicated to the Receiver a Spiritual capacity to exercise all the Functions of Priesthood there is a Power granted to him over the Real Body and the Mystical Body of Christ the first by Consecration in the Eucharist the second by Relaxing and Retaining sins There is also imprinted upon the Soul of the Ordained a Character which is a Real Physical and Supernatural quality neither is it Supernatural only quoad modum in the circumstances of producing it but quoad entitatem the very Intrinsecal Nature and Essence of it is Supernatural because no exigence of Nature can ever challenge it as due in any circumstances whatsoever From the same cause also proceeds an increase of Sanctifying and inherent Grace in the Soul of the Ordained as also a plentiful supply of Actual and Transient Graces whereby his Understanding is Illuminated and his Will Fortified in all occasions conducing to the Functions of his Order all which are according to their Intrinsecal Nature Supernatural And yet the causes from which these strange effects proceed are of themselves purely Natural having no proportion to such Supernatural products They have only a Radical Obediential capacity to be assumed and elevated above their Nature by the powerful hand of the Omnipotent to produce joyntly with him any effect that involves not a contradiction Thus the Natural Element of Water is Instituted by Christ to produce Spiritual and Supernatural Grace and to destroy Original Sin And in our present case the Imposition of Hands though Natural in it self was appointed by Christ our Redeemer to produce the forementioned effects waving the question whether the Causality of Sacraments be Physical or only Moral which the Divines Dispute And as there is no power upon earth that can abrogate or alter Christs Institutions or devest those Natural Causes of that Efficacity which by an Irrevocable Decree the Author of Grace hath given them so there is no Created Power neither Human nor Angelical that can validly institute appoint ordain or determine any Natural Cause whatsoever to produce any Supernatural effect because all Created Power how great soever is limited and confin'd within the bounds of Nature and so neither formally nor virtually nor eminently contains that Supereminent Vertue or proportion with Supernatural Effects which are far above its Sphear How then can it Communicate to other Causes that High Vertue which it no way contains in it self Hence it ensues that as all the power of Nature though it summon and muster up all its strength can never deprive those Natural Entities Instituted by Christ of this Supereminent Prerogative nor hinder their effects when duly applyed to Subjects capable according to Christs Institution so likewise neither can it remove or transfer this operative quality from those causes to which Christ hath affixt it and place it upon others of its own invention and determination For no pure Creature can alter change or abrogate a Divine Law And in this case the word Incarnate is the Legislator or Law-giver and therefore none but himself can make any Change in his own Law Except Man that is but a meer Creature will wage War with his Creator and Usurp to himself a Power that never was nor ever will be granted him it being peculiar to God alone The ground of this Doctrine is not New but Admitted by All and is common to both Churches For this is the Argument that St. Augustin used against the Pelagians who held a proportion in our Natural Acts to Merit Glory and the Semipelagians or Massilienses endeavouring a Moderation attributed to our Natural Acts a power of Meriting Supernatural Grace and this obtained rendered us capable of Meriting Glory Which Opinions are both condemned as Heretical chiefly upon this Principle That whatsoever is Natural hath no proportion with things Supernatural which common Reason dictates Thus far in General now we 'll descend to Particulars The Question in agitation is whether the touching the Vessels that is the Chalice with Wine and Water in it and the Patene with an Hoast be the Essential Matter and Forme of the Order of Priesthood I Assert that it is not because it was never assum'd nor appointed by the Divine Institutor for that end This being a thing of Fact must be made out by the Testimony of those that best knew None are more competent Witnesses nor were better acquainted with the Transactions of Christ then his Apostles who were eye-Witnesses of his proceedings and to whom Christ communicated such things as chiefly concerned his Church And they have left their Testimony in Writing to be inviolably observed in future times and yet have no where left the least mention of this Matter and Forme If any such thing had been Instituted by their Divine Master it is most unlikely and wholly incredible that in a matter of such moment and high concern wherein the very being of the Church depended they should have past it over in deep silence and never have given the lest intimation of it neither in Word nor Writing to those of the Primitive Church that immediately succeeded them But so it is the Apostles never mention it All Antiquity is wholly ignorant of it search all the Minutest Passages of Scripture read all the Authors of the Infancy and Growth of the Church Examine all the Liturgies and Rituals of Ordination the Latines Greeks the Syrian Maronites the Nestorians the Eutichians the Jacobites the Cophticks the Aegyptians the Babilonians the Aethiopians c. Peruse all the Records of Councils and you shall find nothing but a profound Silence and Ignorance of any such thing till about 700 years since as you may see above Section II. in the Ritual of Constantinus Caëtanus In the Antient Rituals as well of the Latines as the Greeks and others there is frequent mention made of the Imposition of Hands in Ordination which was ever held Essential to the Order of Priesthood but of Touching the Vessels not a word Whence we may certainly conclude that those Vessels were never Instituted by Christ as the Essential Matter of Priesthood nor the Words annexed thereunto as the Essential Forme Let us now Collect what hath been proved in this Section
Nothing but that which Christ Instituted is the Essential Matter and Forme of the Order of Priesthood But Christ never Instituted the Touching of the Vessels and the words annexed to it ergo the Touching of the Vessels and the Words annexed to it are not the Essential Matter and Forme of the Order of Priesthood the Premises have been here clearly proved and the Conclusion is legally inferr'd For a farther Proof of this Assertion we must drive it a little higher and consider the fatal consequences that would ensue from their Doctrine were it true For if the Matter and Forme specifyed in the Title of this Section be the Essentials of the Order of Priesthood then it inevitably follows that the Greeks and all the Christians disperst over all the East yea and the Latin Church also for a Thousand years after Christ had never any Valid Ordination because they all wanted the Essentials of Priesthood for al these never made use of the Vessels nor the Forme annexed to them as appears by their Rituals And to this day none but the Latines ever applyed this Matter and Forme to him that was to be Ordained Priest and therefore could have no True Patriarchs not Bishops nor Priests among them A very sad Illation and of vast consequence for no Priest no Church What then Must the Church of Rome to keep up and Maintain their Innovation which is a Meer Humane Invention Un-Church all the Professors of Christianity in the World for a Thousand years together and a considerable part of them to this day and leave them destitute of either Bishop or Priest Where was all this while the provident care that our great Master and Redeemer ever had of his Church which he had Established by the Price of his Precious Blood Where was that tender love that he ever testified to his Endear'd Spouse Could heabandon his whole Church so soon after he had Instituted and so firmly Founded it that the Gates of Hell should never prevail against it What Christian can without a Sacred Horror entertain a thought of such a general devastation and deplorable desolation But this being so obvious could not but work the Church of Rome into an anxiety and sedulous industry to find a remedy wherefore to salve this Sore they would never Reordain their Proselites that had deserted the Communion of the Greek Church and imbraced theirs but on the contrary in all occasions declared the Ordinations of the Greek Church to be valid and consequently granted to those Greeks that were now Incorporated into their Church the free use of all their Priestly Functions though they had been created Priests according to the Rites of the Greek Church and never attempted to Re-ordain them By this they endeavor to evade this last imputation which otherwise would lye heavy upon them But in plain terms this evaasion is no better then a meer contradiction for How is it possible that the Ordination of the Greeks could be valid without the Essentials of Ordination which the Roman Church placeth in the Touching of the Holy Vessels with this Forme Accipe potestatem c. Receive a power to offer Sacrifice c. for these the Greeks never used You were as good tell me That one may be truly and properly a Man without either Body or Reasonable Soul which are the Essentials of Man If you should Reply That there may be Two Essences of Ordination so that each taken apart from the other makes the Ordination valid So when the Greeks Ordain they use for Matter the Imposition of Hands and for Forme these words Divina gratia c. The Divine Grace which always heals that which is infirm and supplies that which is defective promotes this most holy Deacon to be a Priest By this Matter and Forme the Greeks do validly confer the Order of Priesthood And when the Romanists Ordain they do the like by their peculiar Matter and Forme So that neither is rigorously necessary but either may suffice This Doctrine is very Paradoxical for in substance it asserts that one and the same thing may have two compleat and adequate Essences specifically and generically different from each other which is impossible for a thing and his adequate Essence is the same and nothing can be specifically or generically different from its self But you 'l say These are not two Essences of the same thing but two different causes of the same effect To solve this I must distinguish between the Order it self and the Ordination the Order is that Spiritual Power which is given to the Ordained by vertue of his Ordination from whence results the Order together with its concomitant Supernatural effects which are the Character and Sacramental Graces that are inseparable from it The Ordination is made up of those Actions and Words which the Ordainer exerciseth and applyeth to the Ordained so that the Ordination participates more of the nature of a causality then of a cause And the whole Essence of this Ordination is the Matter and Forme instituted by Christ for whatsoever was assum'd by the Original Instituter and by him elevated and impower'd to produce such admirable supernatural and Sacramental effects is the Essence of Ordination So that Order is the Effect and Ordination the Cause wherefore if you appoint new Essentials of Ordination you not only grant two Causes of the same effect but two Essences of the same thing whereby you render Ordination specifically and Essentially distinct from its self And because none but an Omnipotent Power can raise Natural Causes to such vigor and energy as to produce such extraordinary effects therefore that Matter and Forme which Christ hath Instituted to this end is the total Essence of Ordination And herein the Greeks have the advantage for they ever used the Imposition of Hands with the Forme above mentioned which the Primitive Church received from the Apostles and they from Christ so the Greeks are sure that their Ordination hath a legal and valid Institution But where shall we find another adequate Essence of Ordination by Divine Institution That of the Church of Rome hath no such Prerogative for we know its Origine and have scan'd its Pedigree whereby we find that there is nothing but Human Autority to authorise it which hath no proportion to such wonderful effects which are out of the reach of Nature and none but an Omnipotent Power can produce Hence we groundedly conclude that there is but one valid Ordination which hath but one certain and determinate Nature and Essence neither is there any power upon Earth that can add to it or take from it So that in vain you assign the Touching of the Vessels with its Forme for a second total and adequate Essence of Ordination For all Antiquity was a stranger to this the Apostles never heard of it Christ never mentioned it neither by word nor action Who then dares obtrude this as belonging to the Essence of Ordination which is of Divine Right as all
petitio principii They assume for proofe that which is to be proved The thing in question is Whether the Church hath Power to Repeal Alter or Change that which Christ hath Instituted in matter of Ordination This Objection contends that the Church hath done it in Ordination Matrimony and Confirmation I grant the Church hath done it de Facto but not de Jure That is it hath by its Ordination and Practise endeavored to violate Divine Right but neither legally nor validly as we have already proved It is not that which is done at Rome that must Regulate our Belief but that which is well and regularly done So Durandus in 4. dist 13. q. 3. telling us That the custom of the Priest-Cardinals joyntly Celebrating with the Pope was not in his time observed Et si observarctur non esset necessarium credere quod benè fieret quia secundùm Hieronimum non quod fit Romae sed quod sieri debet attendendum est And if that custom should be observed at Rome it would not be necessary to believe that it were well done for according to Hierome not that which is done at Rome but that which ought to be done must be observed saith Durand As for Subdeaconship Matrimony and Confirmation they all contain the same difficulty with this Certain it is that the Church of Rome as much as in her lies hath made a change in the Matter and Forme of her pretended Sacraments and as certain it is that she hath done it illegally and invalidly as having No power autority or commission to alter change or abrogate the Constitutions of Christ which are of Divine Right and especially in our case where meer Natural Creatures are elevated to produce supernatural effects which is peculiar to an Omnipotent Power as is clearly proved in the precedent Section My Second Answer is That according to the Doctrine of this Objection we must admit in the Divine Understanding confus'd and imperfect acts such are those which represent Universals or Objects in General which the Philosophers call Vniversale and by such Acts a Created Understanding cognoscit plura non cognita pluralitate that is an Act of Human Understanding represents a nature common to Many but doth not represent the plurality nor the differences between them and so by a distinction made by the Understanding that Metaphysical formality which is common to many is separated and distinguisht from the difference that is between them and yet they are really identify'd this is proper to Human Understanding and to Angelical in such Objects as Angels know by forrain species which are imperfect but not in those that are known by their proper species because these species produce perfect acts that represent the Object as it is which of it self admits no such distinction but is indivisible Now to attribute to God such confused abstractive and imperfect notions of Objects is to destroy his Omniscience which can admit of no imperfection and so consequently this Doctrine would Ungod him Wherefore the Divine Intellect hath for its Object all those particulars with all their nicest differences that are contained under those heads that we call Generals all which he represents as they are in themselves with all their differences by a cleer intuitive and comprehensive act The reason is because God useth no species no nor acts distinct from himself his Essence is his act and species also which hath a reference to all things that are possible and hence he perfectly comprehends them all in their particulars and individuals and therefore cannot represent a general praedicate so as to prescind it from the differential formality for this would argue imperfection Now since the Will of God is regulated by his understanding he can make no decree by way of Institution of a Sacrament to elevate such or such sensible signs in general to produce supernatural effects except he fixeth it upon some determinate particulars because the Understanding represents no such generals without the determinate particular differences for nihil volitum quin praecognitum the Will can have no Object but what the Understanding represents the Understanding of God represents no General without particulars therefore the Will cannot decree an extraordinary concurse to a General without determining the particulars for otherwise God would determine himself by his Decree to give an extraordinary concurse to he knew not what but the Church must afterwards determine him which is a conceit very unworthy of the infinite perfection of Gods Understanding and Will Hence it is manifest that the Matter and Forme of Sacraments can never be capacitated to produce such wonderful and supernatural effects except the Divine Decree pass upon them in particular to enable them to it by his concomitant and extraordinary assistance But it may be alleaged that without affiixing any obscurity or imperfection to the Divine Acts a Power may be left to the Church to determine some one of those matters which the Understanding of God represents distinctly with all their particular differences and Regulates his Decree by the Churches Determination I Answer That in effect this is no other then to Assert That Christ hath Commission'd the Church to Institute Sacraments for here are no limits prescribed but they are left to the whole latitude of any sensible Matter And I demand Whether any Divine dare assert That the Church hath Power to change the Essential Matter of Baptism or Eucharist for any other specifically distinct from what is now in use if not What ground is there to assert such a Power in the Church in reference to one Sacrament more than another Besides in this particular matter of Instituting Sacraments such a subordination of Gods Decrees to Human determination derogates from the dignity of Christ as Redeemer for he alone without any Human Concurrence is the Sole Institutor of Sacraments who without Mans help hath perfected the Work of our Redemption My third Answer is That according to this Doctrine the Church of Rome would have a power to Institute Sacraments for the Essence of each Sacrament consists precisely in the Matter and Forme so that the Institutor must appoint and determine what shall be the Matter and Forme of each Sacrament which in effect is nothing else but the Sacrament it self which consists only of these two Essential parts impowered to produce such effects as are peculiar to each Sacrament But you will say It is not the Church but Christ that enables them to produce the Sacramental effects by the Churches determination It is well that the Church will admit of Christ to be a Constituter with it but yet the Church still retains the rectum which is the visible or sensible sign and contains the whole Essence of the Sacrament and leaves to Christ only the obliquum which is to do the work intended by it But where was this Divinity ever Taught to separate the parts of Institution of Sacraments so as that one part should be Human and the other
Divine which still makes the Church a joynt Institutor with Christ and so as that the Church hath the greatest hand in it for the Church Orders Appoints and Determines all and Christ is to be ready at the Churches beck to execute what she appoints as though the Omnipotent Power of the Divine Word were subservient to the Church for it is the powerful hand of Christ that elevates the sensible Signs to produce Sacramental effects which are out of the reach of nature But the Church determines what the Signs shall be and summons the Divine Words Omnipotency when and where to elevate them and so she hath the greatest share in the Institution of Sacraments 'T is strange how such a Thought could find admittance into any true Christians understanding to devest Christ of this Prerogative and give it the Roman Church which so much derogates from the high Power and Wisdom of the Incarnate Word My Fourth Answer is grounded on Autority And first I begin with the Council of Trent in these words Trident Sess 7. Can. 1. Si quis dixerit Sacramenta novae legis non fuisse omnia à Jesu Christo Domino nostro Instituta c. Anathema sit If any one shall say that the Sacraments of the New Law were not all Instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord let him be Accursed St. Thomas of Aquine their great Divine saith Aquinas 3 Part. q. 60. ar 5. corpore In Sacramentis novae legis quibus homines Sanctificantur oportet uti rebus ex Divina Institutione determinatis In the Sacraments of the New Law by which Men are Sanctify'd it is necessary to use things that by Divine Institution are determined Consonant to this is the testimony of Bellarmine Bellarminus L. 1. de Sacramentis in genere C. 21. Ibid. in these words Res certae determinaiae ab ipso Deo in Sacramentis esse debent Things certain and determined by God himself must be used in the Sacraments And again saith he Non solum res sed etiam verba in Sacramentis novae legis à Deo determinatae sunt ut non liceat quidquam immutare Not only the things saith he but also the words in the Sacraments of the New Law are determin'd by God so that it is not lawful to change any thing All this is confirmed and attested by Suarez that great Divine whose Autority bears such sway in the Church of Rome who first lays his Ground-work in these words Suarez 3 Part. To. 3. D. 2. S. 2. citans D. Thomam Omnia Sacramenta quae consistunt in usu constant rebus verbis seu materia forma tanquam ex partibus quibus componuntur All Sacraments which consist in use contain things and words or matter and forme as parts whereof they are composed And afterwards he adds these words Ibid. S. 3. Dico 1. materias formas Sacramentorum determinatas esse ex Christi Domini Institutione eo modo quo definitae sunt esse necessarias ad Sacramenta conficienda First I assert saith Suarez that the Matters and Forms of Sacraments are determined by the Institution of Christ our Lord and in that manner as they are defin'd they are necessary to the validity of the Sacraments But this is not all for of this very Opinion he adds these words Est communis Theologorum absolute loquendo est de fide This is the common Doctrine of the Divines and absolutely speaking it is an Article of Faith Ile adds one Text more out of Suarez because his Autority is so renowned In the Fourth Section he thus declares his Opinion Ibid. S. 4. Si mutatio materiae aut formae essentialis seu substantialis sit nullum efficitur Sacramentum If any change be made in the Matter or Forme that is Essential or Substantial it renders the Sacrament void and ineffectual Hence I conclude that the Authors and Abetters of the Doctrine contained in the Objection do not only impugne the common Opinion of Divines but they also erre in matter of Faith as Suarez observes And it is to be observed that all these Autorities agree in this That Christ not only Instituted but also Determined the Matter and Forme of all Sacraments which the Authors of this Objection deny To this I le annex the Judgment of Maldonatus Maldonatus Tom. 2. de Sacramentis Tract de Ordine q. 3. part 2. a Famous Divine of the Jesuits whose words are these Impositio manuum non est habenda tanquam ceremonia non necessaria scd tanquam pars Essentialis Sacramenti idque videtur tenendum side Catholica Primum quia in Scriptura ubicunque fit montio de Ordinatione declaratur per impositionem manuum Et videtur mihi esse temerarium scripturam deserere consectari chymeras id est rationes naturales Secundò quia veterem Ecclesiam nunquam ordinasse sine impositione manuum ex omnibus autoribus antiquis perspicuum est De traditione autem calicis hostiae nulla est mentio apud illos Tertiò quia videtur durum nimis esse ceremoniam quam nobis perspicuè tradunt Apostoli excludere à natura Sacramenti inducere illam de qua nulla mentio fit in Scriptura In English thus The Imposition of hands is not to be esteemed as a Ceremony not necessary but as an Essential part of the Sacrament and this ought to be held as an Article of Faith First Because in Scripture wheresoever mention is made of Ordination it is declar'd by the Imposition of hands and it seems to me temerarious to desert the Scripture and follow Fictions that is Natural Reasons Secondly Because it is evident by all Antient Writers that the Primitive Church never Ordained without the Imposition of hands but they make no mention of delivering the Chalice and the Hoast Thirdly Because it seems too hard to exclude from the nature of a Sacrament a Ceremony which is clearly delivered to us by the Apostles and to induce that of which there is no mention made in the Scripture Thus Maldonatus 'T is well that some of our Antagonists cannot be swayed neither by hope nor fear nor any way deterr'd from uttering Truth He tells us That it is an Article of Faith that the Imposition of hands is Essential to Ordination and that it is a temerity to deny it and he proves both by solid Arguments So that they who adhere to the practise and perswasion of the Church of Rome must to defend this Doctrine desert both Scripture and Tradition SECT VII The Solution of other Objections against the same Doctrine A Third Objection endeavors a Reconciliation by joyning the delivery of the Instruments or Vessels and their Forme with the last Imposition of hands and this Forme Accipe Spiritum Sanctum c. So that of these two Matters they make one entire Matter and of these two Forms they frame one entire and adequate Forme Yet so as that by
Essential Matter of Order but only as a preparative thereunto And the Second Imposition of Hands which immediately follows the First hath no Forme but a Precation neither can it confer the Order of Priesthood because the Forme which follows at a distance and affects the Tradition of the Vessels expresly signifies the Order then given which would be a Sacrilegious Repetition were it given before Wherefore the Antient Forme being omitted and the new one not applyed to the Original Matter I conclude that here is made an Essential Mutation destructive of the Validity of Order A Fifth Objection much like the former is proposed by his Eminence Cardinal Lugo who disapproving all other ways of reconciling the Church of Rome with the Greek Church in matter of Ordination proposeth as he conceives a better expedient in these words Verior ergo planior conciliandi modus est quam supra insinuavimm Lugo D. 2. de Sacram in genere S. 5. n. 98. Ecclesiam Latinam retinuisse utique priscum illum ritum ab Apostolis introductum Ordinandi Sacerdotem per manus Impositionem illam tamen materiam magis explicitam reddidisse adjungendo traditionem panis vini quod Graeci non faciunt ita ut ex manus Impositione Traditione panis vini fiat una integra materia magis explicita cum forma quae nunc profertur explicante potestatem solam ad sacrificândum Postea vero adhibetur iterum alia manus impositio cum altera forma explicante potestatem ad Absolvendum Wherefore a truer and a plainer way of Reconciliation is that which we have insinuated above that the Latin Church hath indeed retained the Antient Rite introduced by the Apostles of Ordaining a Priest by the Imposition of Hands but hath rendred it more explicite by adding to it the Tradition of Bread and Wine which the Greeks do not practise so that of the Imposition of Hands and Tradition of the Bread and Wine there is made one entire Matter more explicite with the Forme now in use that expresseth only a power of Sacrisicing But afterwards there follows another Imposition of Hands with another Forme expressing the Power of Absolving Thus Cardinal Lugo The same is held by Gravina De materia forma Ordinis D. 2. Sect. 3. where he saith That the Vessels are implicitely contained in the Imposition of Hands wherefore the Greeks do implicitely and virtually touch the Vessels but the Latins do it explicitely and formally I Answer That the so much desired Reconciliation between the Greeks and the Latines in reference to Ordination will never be made by the Doctrine of this Objection which is grounded upon a false Principle that the Touching the Vessels is equivalently the Imposition of Hands and so virtually contained in it which is repugnant to common sense For What have the Vessels to do with the Imposition of Hands What analogy or similitude is there between them The Imposition of Hands being the Action of the Ordainer wherein the Ordained is but passively concerned And the Touching the Vessels is the proper Action of the Ordained Now to prove the difference between them we must have recourse to the specificativa entium as the Philosophers terme it that is by assigning the termes or correlatives of their intrinsecal and Essential Relations we may evidently deduce what their Nature and Essence is The Touching of the Vessels is an action whose origine and cause is the Person of the Ordained The Object or Term of the same action is the Thing Touched which are the Vessels The Imposition of Hands hath for its origine or cause the Person of the Bishop who is the Ordainer and for its object or terme the Person of the Ordained so that the correlatives of the one compared with the correlatives of the other are as different as the Vessels are from the Person of the Ordained and from this difference we evidently gather the like difference between the Touching the Vessels and the Imposition of Hands by reason of the intrinsecal and Essential habitude and reference which these actions have to their correlatives But the Essence of the Vessels and the Person of the Ordained are not only specifically but generically different from each other the one being an Animate Creature the principle of Vegetation Sensation and Reason the other only Inanimate Metals destitute of Life Vegetation Sensation and Reason which by the first notions of Philosophy argues a specifical and generical difference And consequently the Imposition of Hands and touching the Vessels are Essentially and Substantially different from each other And by this Discourse the same difference will result whether you insist upon the Vessels or the Substance of Bread and Wine which they contain for they are all Inanimate and destitute of Life So that the Touching of the Vessels and the Imposition of Hands are Essentially and Substantially distinguisht from each other and consequently the one can neither formally nor virtually nor equivalently nor implicitly contain the other And yet that the Order of Priesthood is a Sacrament we have their universal consent The Council of Trent defines it Tred Sess 23. Can. 3. to be truely and properly a Sacrament Instituted by Christ and layes a Curse upon those that shall deny it as we see above What then remains but that in the Essentials of an acknowledg'd Sacrament Instituted by Christ they have made a substantial and Essential Mutation And yet they cannot deny that whatsoever is Instituted by Christ himself is Sacred 't is Juris Divini of Divine Right and therefore not to be altered by the wisest of Mankind And to attempt a change in things of Divine Right implyes either an imputation of Ignorance in Christ or else a distrust of his Prudence and Providence as if we were not content with what Christ hath Ordained for us but we must presume to Reform his Ordinances Detracting one thing and Substituting another to Reform or Compleat the Work of the Omniscient A Sixth Objection That the Order of Priesthood was rightly and validly conferr'd in the Antient Church as well by the Latines as the Greeks no Man doubts but the Church of Rome retains all that was then in use as appears above by the Rituals Sect. 2. Ca. 3. and in particular the Imposition of Hands then used with a Deprecatory Forme which is the Second Imposition of Hands contained in the Roman Ritual with that Antient Prayer to which in the old Rituals is prefixt this Title Consecratio Presbyteri the Consecrating of a Priest whereby Priesthood was formerly conferr'd wherefore the Church of Rome using this Matter and Forme in the beginning of Ordination wants none of the Essentials and therefore her Ordination is valid So Morinus De Sacris Ordinationibus Part. 3. Exercitatione 7. C. 1. 2. which he proves by refelling the Opinions of other Authors who place the Essence of Ordination in any of the other two Impositions of Hands or in the Tradition of the
as express terms To confirm this I shall in the next Assertion make it appear that in drinking the Chalice there is a different signification and a peculiar benefit which accrues to the Receiver very distinct from all that which issues from the receiving under the Species of Bread Which much commends the great love of our dear Redeemer to Mankind in Commanding us to Receive under both Species that so he might give us an entire and compleat repast and refresh us with all those Graces which correspond to each part thereof he doth not invite us to this Banquet of all Delicious Rarities with intention to feed our Souls by piece-meale and by halves but abundantly poureth forth the Treasures of his Merit and Satisfaction so to replenish our Souls with a full and compleat refection And to make us the more sensible hereof he chose to suffer that Ignominious Death upon a Cross and to permit the effusion of his most Sacred Blood though he could have wrought our Redemption without either for though as purely God he was not capable of Satisfaction nor Merit yet that Divine Word having by the Hypostatical Union assumed Humane Nature all his actions became Theandrical the least whereof was of an infinite value capable without Death or Passion to Redeem a Thousand Worlds for though he assumed the Nature of Man yet he took not upon him the Personality of Man there was but one Suppositum which was the Divine Hypostasis of the Word of God and this gave the poyse and value to all his actions which proceeded from one Person that was both God and Man as they proceeded from Man they were capable of Merit and Satisfaction and as they proceeded from God they were infinite in both kinds and so never to be exhausted So that by one act of love or any other Moral Vertue he might efficaciously have Redeemed us and yet he chose to do it by a bitter Death and Passion the better to accommodate himself to the weakness and imbecillity of our capacity for this more efficaciously strikes our fancy and imprints upon our Souls a more sensible feeling of his infinite Love towards us And for a more ample testimony hereof he hath left us his Sacred Body and Blood to participate thereof and to taste of the fulness of his Graces and Mercies thereby still renewing the Memory of his Passion Who then shall abridge us of these Favors by prescinding the one halfe and mincing the benefits bestow'd upon us by so liberal and munificent a Hand How great is the presumption of some Men who call all Christ's Actions in question and submit them to the scrutiny of their weak indagation They usurp his Infallibility they alter and change his Sacraments they Repeal his Laws they dispense in his Precepts and Impose upon him what he never Ordained Christ saith Except ye drink the Blood of the Son of Man ye shall have no life in you The Church of Rome saith Though ye drink not the Blood of the Son of Man so you eate his Body ye shall have life in you Whom shall we believe Christ or the Church of Rome Shall we desert a certain Infallibility to adhere to an uncertain and presumptive one Could not the All-knowing Word of God whose Prudence and Wisdom hath no bounds foresee all the Inconveniences that could or would come to pass And Could not his Infinite Providence order and dispose all for the best Is it to be presumed that Christ left his Work imperfect or not duly order'd to be compleated or reformed by the weak industry of Man Wherefore by what hath been said I conclude That the practice of the Roman Church in denying the Chalice to the Laity is an express violation of Christ's Precept The Second Assertion This kind of half-Communion Prohibiting the Sacrament under both Kinds is a high Injustice and very prejudicial and injurious to the Receiver This Assertion I prove first because all the Laity yeà and the Clergy also that are not Priests are rendred uncapable of fulfilling Christ's Precept at least as long as they shall remain in their Communion and though the Authors of this Prohibition are highly culpable and very unjust in denying the Faithful what Christ hath left them yet the Receivers also are transgressers for not fulfilling Christ's Precept But you will say How can they help themselves if the Priest refuseth to exhibit the Sacrament to them in both Kinds which is not in their power to procure neither can they be obliged to impossibilities I Answer That they who seriously endeavor to fulfill Christ's Precepts are bound in Conscience to forsake the Communion of that Church and to Imbrace the Communion of the Protestant Church where these Sacred Mysteries will be compleatly Administred to them for by this means they are capable of complying with Christ's Command which they are strictly obliged to do The Second Proofe They who never receive those Holy Rites but in one Kind not only transgress against Christ's Command but also incur the penalty that is annexed to it which is no less than the privation of eternal happiness Except you eate the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you shall have no life in you And what is consequent hereto they are liable to the everlasting torments of Hell How enormous therefore must the Injustice be of those that are Instrumental What do I say instrumental that are the principle cause of reducing men to that extremity that unavoidably they must violate Christ's Command and thereby incur eternal damnation and all this by denying them that which by Christ's Institution they have right to Can any Injustice be compared to this Can any damage be more prejudicial and injurious to the Receiver The Third Proof The Sacramental products of Communion under the Species of Wine are very different and heterogeneal from all the Graces and Favors conferr'd upon him that participates the Sacrament in the other kind only for this Spiritual refection hath a great analogy and proportionable similitude with the natural repast of the Body and their respective operations are reciprocal correlatives by way of similitude with each other and therefore the Original Instituter adapting these Mysteries to the procedure of Nature congruously Instituted them under the Symboles of Bread and Wine the Bread we esteem to be the Staffe of Mans Life because it Administers such vital and animal Spirits as are the substantial support of Mans Life and thereby it gives aliment vigor and growth to the body which is the principal part of nutrition The Wine makes the heart glad and enlivens it to exercise the functions incident to human imploy with more life and expedition it also supplies the radical heat and moisture with seasonable accesses of its innate qualities it delibutes the vessels and organs which are the vehicles of the Spirits and furnishes them with such proportionable qualities as are most accommodated to expediate the exercise of their nutritive Functions
That during the time that the Priest is pronouncing those words nothing is done till he pronounceth the last Syllable of the last word meum and in that moment the whole business is effected and the Priest no sooner hath spoken that last syllable but he kneels to Adore Christ then present and Elevates the Hoast to shew it to the People that they also may adore it Another Query may be proposed How long the Body of Christ remains in the Hoast under the Species of Bread Their Answer is That as long as the dispositions of Bread remain there so long is Christ present but when by contrary Causes these Qualities and Accidents are so far Changed that the Forme of Bread could not Naturally there subsist then the Body of Christ is withdrawn This is a short but true Account of their Tenets whence they Conclude That by such a Transubstantiation as is above explicated the substance of Bread is truly and really Converted into the Body of Christ and this they propose to all to be Believed as an Article of Faith The Grounds of this Paradoxical Doctrine we shall propose in the Objections against those Assertions which we are going to establish in the next Section SECT II. The Orthodox Doctrine against Transubstantiation proposed and proved THe First Assertion The Doctrine of Transubstantiation as it is Taught by the Church of Rome is de facto false and Erroneous I add those words de facto because in this Conclusion I only design to prove That no such Transubstantiation is actually to be admitted waving the possibility of it but I shall afterwards prove that it is wholly Chymerical and Impossible and the Proofs of that Assertion will confirm this The First Proofe Christ came not into the World to destroy but to edifie and therefore was so zealous to fulfil the Old Law and certainly he stood not in opposition with his Eternal Father who was the great Framer and Conserver of the Universe who constituted it in its due order by providing for the proper Nature propensions and inclinations of each part thereof by ordaining the Natural Causes Effects Proprieties and Passions of all things and by that provident subordination of one thing to another in relation to the good and conservation of the whole But this Doctrine of Transubstantiation cannot be defended but by violating those Laws of Nature established by God himself in a high degree for in every Consecration there are as many Miracles which infringe the Laws of Nature as there are Minute Accidents and Qualities existing without their Subject it is a Miracle that the Forme of Bread should be destroyed and its disposition entire contrary to the exigence of Nature it is a Miracle and against Nature that the first Matter should be annihilated nothing in the Universe determining to it it is a Miracle that the Body of Christ should be in so many places the same time it is a Miracle that the Words of Consecration a meer Sound from a Mans Organ should be elevated to effect such Prodigies And in most places subject to the See of Rome there is a never interrupted continuation of all these Miraculous products by keeping the Consecrated Hoast in a Cyborium within the Tabernacle which is never intermitted Nay What a Prodigious Number of Miracles are daily and hourly multiplyed by so many Millions of Hoasts as are continually Consecrated in the whole extent of the Universe Who can be so impious as to impute so horrid a Fraction in Nature to Christ himself as though he waged War with his Eternal Father by endeavoring to subvert the Order and Nature of this Universe contrary to its first Institution all which being duely considered who can be so great a Contemner of his own Reason as blindly to inslave it to such incredible Doctrine The Second Proof If the Substance of Bread were really Transubstantiated into the Body of Christ and the Species of Bread should remain without a Subject that Collection of Species would be wholly incorruptible and consequently Christ's Body would never be separated from that Hoaste where it is once present The Illation I prove evidently for if that Collection of Accidents exist independant of any Subject and are preserv'd by a Creative Action then no Natural Cause nor Agent could have any influence upon them for no Natural Agent can operate but in order to some Subject which must receive and support the effect produced wherefore admit that a Consecrated Hoaste were applyed to the fire the Species of Bread extant in the Hoaste would suffer some Change or Alteration by the influence of the fire suppose then one degree of heate to be produced in the Hoaste then one degree of cold must be expelled from thence which is the contrary to heate if so then that degree of Heate which the fire produced must be Created and not Educted because there is no subject at all to receive it and so it must exist as the rest of that Complex doth independant of a Subject and that degree of cold that is destroyed must be annihilated not corrupted for it is destroyed independant of any Subject What then to maintain this Doctrine Must we admit that a meer Creature and a Natural cause as the Fire hath a power to create and annihilate you were as good say that a Creature may be Omnipotent for hitherto I never heard but of one Creator God himself who alone hath power to Create and Annihilate What is this but to rob God of his Prime Attributes and communicate them to his Creatures But What remedy for manifest experience sheweth that a consecrated Hoaste is as liable to alteration change and corruption as another that is not consecrated so there is no way but one to salve all these inconveniences which is by denying Transubstantiation out of which those gross errors inevitably follow But it may be Objected That the proper Subject of the Species of Bread is the quantity and not the substance it self for the quantity is the subject of other qualities and common accidents and that alone is Miraculously conserved in the Eucharist without a subject First I Answer That the proper function of quantity is to communicate impenetrability to the Bodies that it affects for two Bodies meeting together resist each other and cannot be both penetrated in the same place as our Soul is with our Body This proceeds from quantity which is the root of impenetrability Besides that is the subject of the common accidents which is by them disposed for several Formes but it is only the substance that is so disposed for quantity is of it self but an accident therefore the common accidents are received in the substance and not in the quantity Secondly I Answer That all the School of the Thomists all the School of the Scotists and a great part of the Jesuites and other Authors of the Church of Rome do absolutely assert that the substance and not the quantity is the proper subject of the
be contained in the Holy Sacrament in Verity or in Figure and concludes with these words Hitherto have we declared that the Body and Blood of Christ which are received in the Church by the mouths of the Faithful be Figures And so terminates this First Question SECT VIII An Account of the Doctrine of Retram in reference to the Second Question THe Second Question that was to be resolved by Retram or Bertram was this as he himself declares Whether the same Body that was Born of Mary that Suffered Dyed was Buried and sitteth on the Right hand of the Father be that Body which is daily received in the Church by the mouths of the Faithful in the Mystery of the Sacrament or no Ambr. L. 1 de Sacram. And first he discourseth out of St. Ambrose That the substance of the Creatures suffer no Mutation in these words For after the substance of the Creatures they be even the same things after the Consecration that they were before For before the Consecration they were Bread and Wine and after they appear to remain in the same kind still Where his Position is That the substance of the Creatures are the same after Consecration that they were before which he proves thus Before Consecration they were Bread and Wine and after Consecration they not only appear to remain but really do remain in the same kind still of Bread and Wine this must be the drift of his Argument for else it would not prove his intent Then having said That the Body and Blood of Christ are not present in forme but in vertue he applauds a distinction of St. Ambrose How diligently and how wisely hath he made a distinction where be saith touching the flesh which was Crucisied and Buried this is the true Flesh of Christ but touching that which is received in the Sacrament he saith This is the Sacrament of the true Flesh so dividing the Sacrament of the Flesh from the very Flesh c. But he affirmeth the Mystery which is done in the Church to be the Sacrament of the very Flesh in which Christ Suffered instructing the Faithful that the Flesh in which Christ Suffered and was Crucified and Buried is not a Mystery but the very Natural Flesh but this Flesh which now containeth the Similitude of the very Flesh in Mystery is not Flesh in Kind nor in Forme but in Sacrament For in Kind it is Bread c. Hence he proceeds to the Autority of St. Hierome Hieron in Epistolam Pauli ad Eph. The Flesh and the Blood of Christ saith he St. Hierom are understood two manner of ways which he explicates the one Corporeally and the other Spiritually Therefore saith Bertram the Spiritual Flesh and the Spiritual Blood which are daily received of the Faithful do differ undoubtedly from the Flesh Crucified and the Blood shed as the Autority of this Doctor doth witness Much to this purpose he discourseth upon the Autority of St. Augustine Aug. in Evangelium Sancti Joan. distinguishing between the Spiritual Food and the Corporeal Food of the Fathers of the Old Law comparing them with us Where he affirms out of St. Augustine that their Spiritual Food was the same with ours the Body of Christ but the Corporeal Food was very different as much as the Manna the Cloud and the Sea differ from Bread and Wine Which he confirms by the Autority of St. Paul speaking of the Antient Fathers that were Baptised in Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and they all did eate the same Spiritual Meate and drank the same Spiritual Drink which he concludes to be Christ in a Figure as it is with us in the Sacrament where he saith Christ is in a certain manner and this manner is in Figure and Image Hence he draws this Illation Wherefore the Body and Blood that we now celebrate in the Church do differ from the Body and the Blood which are now known to be glorified by the Resurrection This Body is the Pledge and the Figure the other is the very Natural Body And presently he adds And as the Figure differeth from the verity thus it is plain that the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ which is received of the Faithful in the Church differeth from the said Body that was Born of Mary the Virgin c. Then he cites St. Austin's words Preaching to the People of the Body and Blood of Christ. The thing which you see in the Altar of God saith St. Austin was seen of you the last night Aug. Serm. ad Populum but what it is or what it meaneth or of how great a thing it containeth the Sacrament ye have not yet heard The thing which you see is Bread and Wine He then tells them That by Faith they ought to believe the Bread to be the Body and the Wine to be the Blood of Christ And then he makes them object that the Body of Christ that was Born of the Virgin c. with his Blood Ascended entirely into Heaven where he now is How then can this Bread be his Body and this Wine his Blood St. Austin Answers These good Brethren be called Sacraments because that one thing is seen in them and another thing understood that which is seen hath a Corporeal form and that which is not seen hath a Spiritual Fruit. Whereupon Bertram adds In these words this worshipful Author instructing us what we ought to think of the proper Body of the Lord that was Born of Mary c. Also what we ought to think of the Body set on the Altar whereof the People be partakers The very Body is whole and not divided with any Section neither cover'd with any Figures but this Body set on the Table of the Lord is a Figure because it is a Sacrament And again Therefore St. Austin hath Taught us that as the Body of Christ is signified in the Bread which is on the Altar so is the Body of the People that receive it Then Addressing his Discoure to the Emperor he saith Your Wisdom most excellent Prince may perceive that I have proved by the Testimonies of Holy Scripture and of the Holy Fathers that the Bread which is called the Body of Christ and the Cup called his Blood is a Figure because it is a Mystery And that there is no small difference between the Mystical Body and the Body that Suffered was Buried and Rose again for this which suffered is the proper Body of our Saviour neither in it is any Figure or Signification but the manifest action of the thing it self c. And thus he concludes his Answer to the Emperor insisting all along upon this Truth That in this Holy Sacrament is contained the same Bread and Wine that was before which are called the Body and Blood of Christ because they Mystically and Figuratively signifie the same and are Received by the Faithful by way of Commemoration of Christ's Passion and by vertue of Christ's Institution they
and the First Man Adam which were Created free fell from the happy State they were Created in by the perverse use of their Free-wills Who then shall dare presume to asperse the Last Work of the Incarnate Word with any Pretended Imperfection and render it Heterogeneal from the rest For he is the same Omnipotent God that Created all those things mentioned and his Power is not Abridg'd nor his Will Chang'd for he is Essentially uncapable of any Error Mutation or Imperfection It remains therefore that the Opinion of Paschasius Teaching the Real Existence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist was a New Heterodox and Erroneous Doctrine discrepating from the constant Belief of the Church from the begining till that time And hence is evinced the falsity of that Erroneous Doctrine that asserts the Literal and Oral Manducation of Christ's Glorisied Body in the Communion for if that Glorified Body be not Actually Really Physically and Locally present in the Eucharist then the Receiver cannot exercise any such Oral Manducation of it Wherefore this Position is repugnant to Autority of Scripture and Fathers it is against Antiquity and Reason The Church of Rome was once Immaculate and retain'd its Original Innocency for many years But as the Angels though perfect in their Creation yet by their Swelling Thoughts Aspired to Sublimer Prerogatives not allowed to their Limited Perfections fell from that happy State of their Primitive Creation so the Church of Rome when many high and Soaring Spirits met together in Councils Relying upon their Pretended Infallibility Usurpt a Power of Swaying all things belonging to the Church and Religion according to their own fancy then they began to Abrogate some things of Christ's Institution and Superinduce others of their own they made several Commutations and Reformations exceeding the limits of their Power as hath been proved in this Treatise So that now their Church is like a confus'd Chaos retaining some things of Christ's Institution commixt with others of their own Human Invention and so have lost that Purity and Perfection which once they enjoy'd And which the Protestant Church of England still retains in its Primitive and Original Purity and Integrity And here I close up this Discourse of Religion wherein whatsoever I have delivered I humbly submit to the Censure and Correction of those upon whom it is incumbent to Regulate the Belief and Practise of the Protestant Church of England AN INDEX OF THE Disputations and Sections Dispute I. Of the Pretended Infallibility of the Church of Rome SEct. I. Wherein consists the true Notion of Infallibility Sect. II. The Grounds of the Pretended Infallibility of the Church of Rome are proposed Sect. III. The Decision of the Present Controversie Sect. IV. An Answer to the Objections proposed against the Nullity of the Church of Rome's Infallibility Dispute II. Of the Intrenchments of the Church of Rome upon Divine Right by Changing the Essentials of their Pretended Sacraments SEct. I. The Doctrine of the Church of Rome relating to this present Controversie Sect. II. The Practise of Antiquity in the Collation of Priesthood Sect. III. A brief account of the Rituals of the Greeks Maronites c. Sect. IV. Shewing that the Church of Rome placeth the Essence of the Ordination of Priests in touching the Vessels and the Forme annexed to it Sect. V. The Order of Priesthood according to the present Institution cannot be validly conferr'd by touching the Vessels with this Forme Accipe potestatem c. Sect. VI. An Answer to the Objections proposed by the Divines of the Church of Rome against the Invalidity of their Ordination Sect. VII The Solution of other Objections against the same Doctrine Sect. VIII An Illation drawn from the Premises of the Invalidity of Ordination in the Church of England solved Sect. IX Consectaries drawn from the Proofes of the precedent assertion Sect. X. Of Clandestine Marriage Sect. II. The Arguments to vindicate the Nullity of Clandestine Marriage Answered Dispute III. Of Communion in one Kind SEct. I. The Grounds of the Church of Rome for denying the Chalice to the Laity Sect. II. The Decision of this Controversie Sect. III. The Objections Solved Sect. IV. Corallaries drawn from the Romanists Doctrine of their pretended Sacrifice of the Mass Dispute IV. Of Transubstantiation SEct. I. The Romanists Doctrine relating to Transubstantiation Sect. II. The Orthodox Doctrine against Transubstantiation proposed and proved Sect. III. Of the possibility of Transubstantiation as held by the Church of Rome Sect. IV. Objections for Transubstantiation solved Dispute V. Of the Real Presence SEct. I. The Church of Romes Definitions concerning the Real Presence Sect. II. Other Subtilties arising from the former Decisions not fully determin'd Sect. III. The Inutility of multiplying Definitions of this Nature Sect. IV. The Objections Solved Sect. V. When and from whom this Doctrine of the Real Presence took its first rise Sect. VI. A Briefe Account of some passages of the Life and Death of John Erigene Sect. VII Some Passages of the Life and Doctrine of Retram Sect. VIII An Account of the Doctrine of Retram in reference to the Second Question Sect. IX Animadversions on the Premises FINIS