impossible to please God. They are the words of S. Paul to the Hebrews ch 11. v. 16. 2. That there is but one Body one Spirit ... one Lord one Faith. They are the words of the same Apostle to the Ephesians ch 4. v. 4. 5. 3. That we ought to follow the Direction of this one Lord to find out this one Faith. This Direction is written in the Prophet Jeremy ch 6. v. 16. Thus says the Lord stand in the ways see And ask for the Old Paths where is the good Way walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls T is natural for men to please themselves with thinking how much they are wiser than their Predecessours Nothing is more agreable to Man's proud inclinations than to be always finding faults giving magisterial directions for the mending of them And this is that which makes the very Name of Reformation pleasing delightfull To give it its due Reforming is a pretty Thing if it were well applied If every Man would make it his chief business to reform himself O! what a Happy Reformation should we live to see But this alas is much the smallest part of all our Business There is no Vanity no Pleasure in Reforming of our selves We only gain a Victory where we desire it not only triumph over our own faults A proud man would as willingly sit out as play at such small game as this All his delight is to reform his Neighbours And here I must confess if Men were only a little overbusy in reforming of their neighbours Manners the Folly of their Pride were in some measure tolerable But when our insolence attempts the Reformation of their Faith of that Church to which Divine as well as Human Laws require Obedience and Submission the specious Name popular Pretence will never sanctifie the Crime If they who in the last Age undertook the Reformation of our Church were known to be infallible some grains of blind Obedience might be easily allow'd But since they may perhaps be grievously mistaken it very much behoves you to consider it T is a common saying if a man cheat me once 't is his fault but if he cheat me twice 't is mine T is not the first time that a considerable Party in the Catholick Church has separated from the whole upon these plausible pretences of Reformation to correct Abuses Innovations Errours Did not the Arians thirteen hundred years since begin to separate upon this popular pretence Did not they in the same manner amuse their Proselytes with plausible stories of errours innovations and abuses crept into the Church Did not they make as great a noise against the Consubstantiality of God the Son complain as much of Spiritual Tyranny inveigh as much against the Council of Nice for making introducing and imposing a new unheard of Article of Faith quite contrary to the belief of three preceding Ages plainly opposite to Holy Writ All This you know was false You know that though the word was new the faith was old plainly prov'd by Scripture And yet these popular noises which then the Arians buzz'd into the peoples ears amused them so They never entertain'd the least suspicion of their being cheated Had our Reformers been the first you had been deceiv'd The fault had then been theirs But since the same trick has been playd so often in the Church if now you are deceiv'd the fault is yours I have laid before your eyes this day a prospect of the eight first Ages They accuse the Catholick Church of making a new Article of Faith And by the most Authentick Records of Antiquity it has been plainly prov'd that they themselves are guilty of unmaking an old Article of Faith as ancient as Christ his Apostles Remember the days of old Consider the years of many generations Ask thy Father he will shew thee thy Elders and They will tell thee Stand in in the ways see and ask for the old paths where is the good way walk therein There is no other Way which can conduct you safely to the Joys of Heaven which I wish you all in the Name of the Father Son Holy Ghost Amen * VVhen this Sermon was preacht before his Majesty several paragraphs which are all marks with a * were omitted for brevity sake but are here printed as they were found in the Author's papers A SERMON Preacht before their MAIESTIES AT WHITE-HALL April 23. 1688. Printed by his Majesty's Order Sine me nihil potestis facere Without me you can do nothing Iohn 15.5 THe principal difference betwixt the daring Boldness of a Heathen the true Valour of a Christian Sacred MAJESTIES consists in this The first is grounded in Pride the second in Humility The first begins from a vain Imagination of our own Sufficiency as if we were able to do all things The second from a true Idea of our natural Weakness who are able to do nothing of our selves This was the reason why our Saviour Jesus Christ instructing his Apostles those great Hero's of the Church was pleas'd to settle this foundation for the superstructure of their great glorious Actions Without me you can do nothing That they might better understand it He compar'd them to the branches of a Vine which being separated from the Root immediatly fade wither without bringing fruit I am the Vine you are the Branches Without me you are fruitless Without Humility all that seems great glorious is but a splendid Bubble a meer empty Nothing All this you 'l say is very true Humi'ity is never out of Season But why so much of it in this Day 's Ghospel Why is it now in Season more than any other time The Reason is Because no Virtue is so apt to puff us up with Pride as Fortitude A Hero among men is too often like Lucifer among the Angels From the Meridian of his aspiring height if he look down 't is with Contempt if upward 't is with Emulation of being like the Highest No wonder whilst he lives and flourishes if he desires to be like God For even when he is dead Posterity is apt to make him so Hence 't is the Hero's of Antiquity have peopled an imaginary Heaven with so many Deities and Mankind was so ignorantly Superstitious as to offer Sacrifices to them Had we not been instructed better by the Word of God and particularly by the Ghospel of this Day Our Nation for ought I know might have been guilty of the same extravagance S. George might then perhaps have been a God among us But since all Catholicks are well acquainted with this great fundamental Truth contain'd in the words of my Text Without Christ all the Apostles all the Saints in Heaven can do Nothing The Knowledge of this Truth has dasht the hopes of Hell the Gates of it can never prevail against us We cannot if we do not quite renounce our Faith We cannot be in
read They heard the 63. v. which is so much magnified They heard with great attention curiosity if from those expressions they had so clearly understood that by his flesh he only meant a holy sign or figure of it they never would have damnd themselves eternally by walking no more with him They watchfully observ'd his countenance his way of speaking and as we better understand a friend when we discourse with him than when we only read his Letters so these disciples having the advantage of our Saviours presence familiar conversation could not but understand him much better than those who only read in Scripture a small part of those discourses with which He entertaind them They plainly understood that though he smooth'd the difficulty by telling them He did not speak of carnal eating yet nevertheless he still spoke positively as to the literal Sense They had not that great grace of Christian Humility without which none can universally submit their Reason to Divine Authority They could not come to God the Son because they were not drawn by God the Father Proud as they were away they went walkt no more with Jesus Christ because this mystery was something above their small capacity their weak imaginations could not reach it See here an ancient Model of the modern Reformation They heard the Church teach as our Saviour taught that the Sacramental Bread is Flesh indeed the Sacramental Wine is Blood indeed And so away they went with these words in their mouths This is a hard saying who can hear it away they went walkt with her no more Our Saviour who saw them thus abandon Him and much more feelingly resented their eternal losse than the contempt of his Voracity did not so much as offer to call them back again as certainly He would have done had they been only guilty of mistaking what he meant but turn'd immediatly to his Apostles and in the 67. v. said to them Will you also go away Whereupon Simon Peter answerd him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe are sure that Thou art Christ the Son of the living God We believe and are sure that Thou art able to make good thy words although some people think them hard cannot hear them What our Saviour promis'd in the 6. of S. Iohn He performd at his last supper And t is no wonder that he talkt of it so much before hand because he dearly lov'd those whom he died for and always had his eye upon the Legacy which he design'd to leave them The night before his death in his last Will Testament He left us this holy Sacrament as a perpetual monument of his Affection We wrangle dispute about it what This is whether it is truly Bread or truly the Body of Christ We agree that Holy Writ shall be the Iudge We find in Holy Writ four Copies of our Saviour's Will Testament in the 26. of S. Matthew the 14. of S. Mark the 22. of S. Luke the 11. of the 1. to the Corinthians We open all of them resolving to stand or fall by their determination In all the Copies of his Testament the words are plain This is my Body And as soon as the words are read They presently tell us t is true Our Saviour plainly says This is my Body but yet He only means it is a sacred piece of bread a holy figure of his body For my part I have ever admir'd but never can sufficiently admire in this occasion the confidence of some men that make such noise with Scripture and yet as soon as ever the book is open tell us the Scripture says one thing means another quite contrary to what it says If it be said that nothing is more usual than to give Signs the names of what they signifie I easily confess t is very true when things are certainly known to be Signs because Signs being only Substitutes our thoughts never stop at them but are presently fixt upon the things they signifie and by the same reason that they put another thing in our minds 't is no wonder if they put another name in our mouths Thus Joseph plainly answerd Pharaoh's question when he said * Genes 49.26 The seven Kine are seven years But when God instituted Circumcision in the 17. of Genesis He did not say in the 10. verse This Circumcision is my Covenant but in the 11. it shall be a token of my Covenant So in the 12. of Exodus when he instituted first the eating of the Paschal Lamb from the 5. v. to the 10. it plainly appears there was something in it more than ordinary and that it was not insignificant so that it is no wonder we find it written in the 11. v. It is the Passeover of the Lord Moreover the following verses explicate the figurative sense the 26 v. puts the question what mean you by this service What dos it signifie and the 27. gives the answer it is the Sacrifice of the Lords Passeover that is it signifies the Passeover But in our present case 1. the Scripture dos not insinuate before hand that bread was an empty Sign of Christ's body 2. there is nothing in Scripture that gives evidence for such interpretation of our Saviour's words as I have shewd in the first part of my Discourse If any one object that Bread and Flesh are opposite therefore the sense must of necessity be figurative For a full answer to this difficulty I referr you to the 7. of S. Luke where in the 22. v our Saviour says the blind see the lame walk the deaf hear the dead are rais'd To be blind and see to be lame and walk to be deaf and hear to be dead and alive are things quite disparate and opposite yet our Saviour's words were evidently true in the plain literal sense From whence we may also inferr that as these words the dead are rais'd cannot be literally true unless the carkasse be substantially chang'd into a living man so when our Saviour says This is my Body these words can never be true in the plain literal sense unlesse the Bread be by a miracle substantially chang'd into his Flesh. To prove the literal sense to convince us of it what can we wish for more than the unanâ—mous consent of all the four Evangelists and the subscription of S. Paul There is not one of them that writes This is only a Sign of my body a meer Figure of my flesh T is impossible the Sense should every where be figurative in so many several places yet be no where explicated in the figurative sense In other things of lesse concern we find that what is metaphorically writ by one is explicated by another S. Luke in his 11. ch writes if I in the finger of God cast out Devils S. Matthew in the 12. ch explains it if I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God. S.
Iohn 6. ch writes Jesus the Son of Joseph S. Luke 3. ch explains it Jesus being as was supposed the Son of Joseph Our Saviour frequently invites the thirsty to him promises them living water S. Iohn in the 7. ch explains it He spoke this of the spirit which they who believd on him should receive But these words which we read in all of them are not explain'd by any one of them From whence 't is easy to inferr that all these sacred Pen-men never understood our Adversaries figurative sense They literally understood it as we do believd it as they understood it writ as they believ'd it S. Mark 4. ch 34. v. says of our Saviour that when they were alone He expounded all things to his Disciples If then our Saviour us'd a Figure when he said This is my Body 't is certain that when they were alone at least he expounded this figure to them Perhaps the four Evangelists the Apostle knew well enough this exposition but forgot to write it This will not serve the turn Our Saviour promis'd them their memory should ever be assisted by his holy Spirit In the 14. ch of S. Iohn * v. 26. the Holy Ghost says he shall bring all things into your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Perhaps they every one thought of it when they writ but did not think it worth the writing But if our Adversaries well consider the sixth Article of Reformation which tells us all things necessary to Salvation are contain'd in Scripture they will scarce find room for this reply because this exposition would have been so necessary to prevent the Idolatry which they accuse us of consequently necessary to Salvation Since therefore this Interpretation never could have been forgot if ever they had known it Since it could not be omitted if they had remember'd it it follows clearly that this explication was never known amongst them but only is a new invention of the modern Reformation directly contradictory to Scripture I cannot but admire when I reflect how thick a mist mens passions and prejudices raise before their eyes And this is undoubtedly the reason why so many able men of the reforming Party study Transubstantiation in Scripture search with diligence great appearance of sincerity yet never find it If they were equal impartial judges of the Texts which lie before them they soon would see how grievously they are mistaken in the true intent meaning of them By the example of this instance they would judge the rest acknowledge the injustice of the Reformation return home joyfully to their old Mother-Church full of admiration of God's mercy to them * 1. Pet. 2.9 shew forth the praises of Him who call'd them out of darkness into his wonderfull light which guides us through this vale of misery to the everlasting joys of Heaven Amen A SERMON Preacht before the KING AT WORCESTER August 24. 1687. Interroga Majores tuos dicent tibi Ask thy Elders They will tell thee Deut. 32.7 T Is now no less than six thirty years Most Sacred MAJESTY since our City of Worcester has been honour'd with the Presence of our King. Our Loyalty was then sufficiently try'd and now it is aboundantly rewarded ward Our Loyalty which then was so well known to all the world invited your Royal Brother to this Refuge And we employ'd our best endeavours to preserve his sacred Person But 't was too great an Honour for us The Almighty took it wholly to himself and by a surprising miracle of Providence afterwards granted to our earnest Prayers what He before denied to our unfortunate Arms. As we have never forfeited the credit of our Loyalty we hope your MAJESTY is well assured we shall be always ready to expose our lives fortunes in your MAJESTY's service It is not in the power of Subjects to give their Prince a more convincing assurance that they always will be Loyal than that they always have been so I only wish with all my heart that we had ever been as Loyal to the Church as to the State and that we had as zealously opposed the Reformation of our Faith as we withstood the Alteration of our Government When I first appear'd in this Place I made it my business to prove that according to principles of Natural Philosophy the Mystery of Transubstantiation is neither contrary to Sense nor Reason In my second Sermon I endeavour'd to shew it is so far from being contrary to Holy Writ that no judicious Reader who is free from prejudice can understand Scripture without it And this being my third appearance where it is expected I should finish what I have begun I now undertake to prove it is so far from being contrary to the purer faith of the first Ages that for the first eight Centuries the Fathers universally believ'd it Remember the days of old says Moses Consider the years of many generations Ask thy Fathers they will shew thee thy Elders they will tell thee My time is short considering the work I have before me But yet I hope it will not be accounted losse of time to spend one moment on my knees in begging the assistance of my Saviour and desiring his Virgin-Mother with all the Blessed Spirits to accompany my prayers upon Earth with theirs in Heaven FIRST PART * Before I enter upon our proofs of Transubstantiation it will be worth observing how almost all our Adversaries are mistaken upon a groundless supposition that if they can find expressions in the Fathers which import that the Sacrament is a type a sign a figure They need not seek any farther The question is already decided The Fathers never believ'd the mystery of Transubstantiation Now I must needs conless if we denied the Sacrament to be a type a sign or figure we ought to stand corrected Or if all this were inconsistent with the mystery of Transubstantiation we ought to own our Fathers Belief was contrary to ours But if in both these points our Adversaries are mistaken we must beg their pardon if we still persever in our ancient Faith. * If they would only consider the difference betwixt the inward substance the outward form betwixt the infide the outside of the Sacrament They would easily reconcile the different expressions which they meet with in the Fathers writings When the Fathens were intent upon the outward form They call it a type a sign a figure They say it is not his Body Blood but that it signifies it represents it contains it * S. Austin in his 23. epistle to Bonifacius says the Sacrament of the Body of Christ is in some manner Christ's Body .... as the Sacrament of Faith is Faith. The parity is good betwixt the outward form of bread and Baptism in this respect that both are signs Only this difference there is the first contains what it signifies the other dos not So in his book against Adimantus
Visitor shall go with a modest train of men horses dispatching the Visitation as soon as may be and shall not receive any money or present whatsoever it be or in what manner soever it be offered but frugal moderate Diet ... * ibid. n. 4. That the Bishops shall be bound to preach in person or having a lawfull impediment by others And in case the Parish-Priest be hindred that he cannot preach in his own Church he shall at his charge maintain another to do it deputed by the Bishops ... That the Bishop shall admonish every one that where it may conveniently be done he ought to go to his own Parish to hear the Sermon and that None either Secular or Regular even in the Churches of their own Order shall preach against the Bishop's will * p. 734. n. 10 That where Visitation or Correction of manners is in question no exemption or appeal though to the Apostolick See shall any way hinder or suspend the execution of that which is decreed or adjudged * p. 735. n. 17. That no Ecclesiastical person though a Cardinal shall have more than one Benefice which not being able to maintain him another simple Benefice may be added so that they do not both require Residence which shall be understood of all Benefices of what title or quality soever though Commended And he that hath now more Benefices than one shall be bound to leave all but one within six months or if not they shall be all void * p. 753. n. 3. The Reading of the General Reformation did follow which after an Exhortation to Bishops for exemplary life commandeth not only that they be content with modesty frugality of houshold-stuff table but also that in the rest of their way of living in their whole house nothing may appear but what bears the character of simplicity zeal contempt of Vanities And absolutely doth forbid them to enrich their friends or kindred with the revenues of the Church but if poor to allot them their distribution as to the rest of the poor What has been said of Bishops it Decreeth to be observed by all beneficed Eccleasticks either Secular or Regular and also by the Cardinals Here I have cited only eight points a very inconsiderable part of the whole Reformation which contains above a hundred forty chapters But for a man of your skill a pattern is enough to judge of the whole piece And besides all these Decrees there are also others of Doctrine forbidding condemning several abuses which are worth your taking notice of 1. Concerning Purgatory * p. 751. The Synod teaches no more than that there is a Purgatory that the Souls detain'd in it are assisted by the suffrages of the faithfull the Sacrifice of the Mass Therefore it doth command Bishops to teach sound doctrine in this matter such as is deliver'd by the Holy Fathers Sacred Councils and cause it to be preached without handling subtil questions before the ignorant people nor suffering uncertain unlikely things to be published Prohibiting curiosities superstition unhonest gain 2. Concerning Masses * p. 537. A Decree was read concerning abuses to be corrected in the celebration of Masses And contain'd in substance that the Bishops ought to forbid all things brought in by Avarice Irreverence or Superstition 3. * p. 751. In matter of Saints it doth command Bishops all others who have the charge of teaching to instruct the people concerning the intercession invocation of them according to the ancient doctrine of the Church consent of Fathers decrees of Councils teaching that the Saints do pray for men that it is profitable to invocate them to have recourse to their prayers assistance to obtain benefits from God through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord who is our onely Saviour Redeemer Concerning Images that those of Christ the Saints ought to have due honour given them but that there is no divinity or virtue in them ... Afterwards it addeth that desiring to take away the abuses occasions of pernicious errors it doth Ordain 〈◊〉 that all Superstition in invocation of Saints in worship of Reliques in use of Images be taken away 4. Concerning Indulgences * p. 757. The Synod doth only anathematize those that shall say they are unprofitable that the Church hath not power to grant them It doth command that all those offices of Pardon-mongers be abolished And for the other abuses which have taken their rise from superstition ignorance irreverence or any other way Whereas they cannot conveniently be forbidden in particular by reason of the manifold corruptions of provinces places where they are committed it doth command the Bishops that every one shall collect all those of his own Church to propose them in the Provincial Synod * p. 733. n. 2. which shall be call'd by the Metropolitan or the most ancient Suffragan within one year at the most after the end of this Synod and afterwards every three years at least Tell me now your opinion concerning these matters All these points are they light and lightly handled Are they all nothing to the purpose Suppose the Vineyard had been a little neglected the Vines wanted pruning Will nothing else serve your turn but reducing them to their beginning cutting them up by the Roots I had almost quite forgot to tell you that in the end of the General Reformation the Council has taken particular care that no Dispensing power may obstruct the force benefit of the Decrees Be it known to all men says the Council * p. 756. n. 18. that the Canons shall be observed exactly indistinctly by all shall not be dispensed but for an urgent and just cause heard with great maturity without cost by whosoere they are to whom it appertains Otherwise the Dispensation shall be judg'd Surreptitious If the Cause be not only just but urgent if the justice and urgency be well known before the grant of it if nothing be given to any whosoever for it Such a Dispensation is unquestionably blameless And now I desire to know How was it possible for the Council to provide more effectually for the punctual observance of all these three conditions than by declaring that otherwise the Dispensation is shall be surreptitious of no effect XXXI In the end of the Council there was great joy in Rome for having cheated the world and advanced their interest where they fear'd to have their wings clipp'd A. Here I know not how you 'l be able to make the two ends of Soave's History meet In his first book he talks much at this rate and in his last he largely contradicts it He tells us in the end how the Pope and Cardinals deliberated upon the matter whether or no the Decrees of Reformation were to be confirmed And says that * p. 759. the Court understanding that the Pope was resolved