Christians that they have such an Altar viz. an Altar of a sin-offering as the Jewish servitours of the Tabernacle were not allowed to partake of And by this we may see that all mysteries whatsoever covered in the Law under Types and Shadows whether Burnt-offerings Meat-offerings Free-will-offerings Heave-offerings yea the very Sin-offering it self with the Altars both within the Vaile and without have all relation to Christs Sufferings Passion and Death commemorated at the Christian Altar And not onely these but the Mercy-seat also the Ark which even under the Law to pry into was present death do all contain some mystery of Christ and which alwayes required them not to be look't into by the eye of sense but the eye of faith There the Cherubims stand over the Mercy-seat their faces looking down upon it but their wings spread out Exod. 25.18 19 20. signifying that under a Type which the Apostle St. Peter plainly expresseth 1 Pet. 1.12 namely that the very Angels themselves desire to look into and to be made acquainted with the great mysteries of God revealed in Christ the mysteries I say which were hid in God from the beginning and by his Apostles and Prophets made known unto his Church and by the Church unto the Angels themselves even to the highest Principalities and Powers in heavenly places Ephes 3.9 10. For they are all of them by office ministring Spirits sent out to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation that is for the service and Protection of the Church Heb. 1.14 In the Church saith the Apostle Ephes 3.21 Glory shall be given to God throughout all ages whence it appears that there is not one age or ever shall be wherein the Church of God is not in being in this Church are the mysteries of Christianity celebrated but more especially as the Fathers commonly teach in the adorable Sacrifice of the Altar great mysteries indeed and for the right understanding of which faith and not sense hath its exercise here we must believe not reason and dispute from principles of Sense Nature and Philosophy That is a thing which the Apostle forbids and forewarns us of Colos 2.8 We must believe I say that the Bread duly consecrated is no longer Bread but that very Body of Christ which God the Father Almighty hath fitted and ordained to be a daily Sacrifice offered up to God after the order of Melchisedech according as it is written of Christ Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Psal 110.4 And when this Sacrifice totally and unversally ceaseth then the world shall end as it is written in Dan. 9.27 compared with Matth. 24.15 But before this can be saith our Lord the Gospel must be preached for a Testimony in all Nations and then shall the end come Therefore saith Christ when you see the Prophesie of Daniel come to pass then let him that readeth understand for the end is near Hitherto comes that saying of the Jewish Rabbins noted by Ainsworth on Leviticus Chap. 5. v. 15. Our wise men have said say the Rabbins that for the service of the Sacrifice the world doth continue whence it may be collected that if the daily Sacrifice of Christs Body of which the Jewish Sacrifices were but Types and Shadows if that comes once to be totally and universally abolished the world will quickly be at an end Moreover the same Rabbins affirm that the mysteries contained in their Sacrifices are so great that the meaning of them cannot be fully attained in this world and therefore saith Mr. Ainsworth they advise people not to be over curious to pry into them presumptuously lest God break out upon them as he threatneth to do Exod. 19.12 24. Thou shalt saith God to Moses set bounds that the people go not up into the mount and it was of such consequence that the people might not presume to prie that God said the second and third time to Moses Go down and charge the people that they break not thorow to gaze and I break out upon them and many perish ver 21. The Bethshemites but onely for looking into the Ark or Chest wherein the Book of the Law was kept God smote of the people no less then fifty thousand and seventy men 1 Sam. 6.19 Surely a terrible warning this must be to us if we duly consider it By all which we may see as the same Aynsworth also notes that inquisitive curiosity to have humane Reason and Sense fully satisfied touching the mysteries of Religion is a thing forbidden by God Men must walk by faith in the things of God and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 which considered I leave it to you and to all rational and indifferent men whatsoever whether it be not safer in this great mystery of Christs Body on the Altar whether it be not safer I say with the whole Christian world of all ages to Believe and Adore though contrary to sense rather then to pry and examine by sense or the dictates of carnal reason For in Believing and Adoring I follow the pure word of God both of the Old and New Testament I follow the Doctrine of the Ancient Fathers the Decrees of Councels and constant practice of the universal Church and that from the one end of heaven to the other Is it not safer think you to follow all these sure and infallible Guids rather then contrary to all these to follow the conjectures of my own brain or at best of some other particular Sect-master or Sect-masters one of these three of necessity I must follow either the Catholique Church with the Ancient Fathers and lawful Pastours of it or else some particular Sect-master or Sect-masters divided from the Church and teaching contrary to the Churches sense or lastly my own brain my own private reason spirit or what else you will call it for a fourth I cannot finde And as such a Sect-master is followed in this world so let his followers make their account that they shall stand with him before the judgement-seat of Christ they shall not be separated for ever whom they loved to follow here in this world contrary to duty and contrary to the ordinance of Christ who commands us to hear his Church and not particular Sect-masters either departed or cut off from the Church they shall be made to follow and keep company with against their wills in the next life in eternal flames and miseries I wish all would consider this who so easily put themselves under the tuition of every private and presumptuous Sect-master that they would consider it I say and return in time to the obedience and communion of the Catholique Church which onely hath lawful Authority to teach them and also a faithful promise from Christ to teach them Truth Matth. 28.20 John 14.16 17. And beside all this is it not even miraculous to consider that the universal Church all Ancient Fathers both in and out of Councels and that in all ages since Christ should believe
cap. 3. part 3. makes a solemn Prayer expresly to the Blessed Sacrament upon the Altar and generally all the Ancient Leiturgies of the Church do shew that at the time of Elevation and whensoever the Consecrated Symbols were openly presented especially before Receiving the custom of the Church was with one voice to make their prayers unto it in these and the like words Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us God be merciful to us sinners Lord I am not worthy thou shouldest come under my roof c. Many other examples might be produced but these may suffice to shew how unreasonable your conceit is that in the Fathers opinion the Bread and Wine were but bare Figures and did not really contain the very Substance of Christs Body and Blood Wherefore my Friend in the depth of your Solitude and nightly Meditations considerately think upon the doings of these Ancient Fathers Shall we say with Protestants that they adored Bread as the old Ethniques said that the Christians did eat Mans flesh at their solemn Meetings which though it were a Calumny in the sense that the Heathens charged it upon them yet 't is certain it took its rise from the Belief which Christians were known to have concerning the Blessed Eucharist namely that it was Christs Flesh and Blood in deed and truth though after a divine and incomprehensible manner and not onely a Figure of them I told you before that St. Augustin lib. 6. Confess cap. 3. for the nine years in which he was a Manichaean Heretick confesseth of himself that he did nothing but clamour and bark against the Church But O Lord saith he being now converted from that Heresie I finde to my great comfort that I barked not all that time so much against the Catholick Faith as against certain vain Fancies which my carnal thoughts and conceptions had fixed to the Faith And are not Protestants most patently guilty of the same Phrensie Do they any thing else but form to themselves false conceptions of the Doctrine of Catholicks and of the Catholick Church and then rail at it But let us pray that with St. Augustin they may be converted from this great evil Let us consider also whether it be not much more safe to follow the plain words of Christ which say This is my Body and the Universal Church which hath alwayes understood those words in their plain and litteral sense then either the private and contrary expositions of Hereticks or the suggestion of your own natural sense and reason against the words of Christ and against the universal Belief of his Church in a business of such sublime and high Mystery wherein it is far better and far more agreeable to the humility of Christians to captivate our understandings as the Apostle saith to the obedience of Faith When we were in the Loins of our first Parent Adam we lost Paradise by following our carnal sense and reason in the eating of that forbidden Fruit is it any more then equity then that upon Gods command and in full Belief of his Word we should renounce as it were our reason for a time and resign up our natural understandings unto God to regain Paradise Reflect I pray attentively upon those places of the Fathers which you think make most for your opinion viz. That the Symbols of Bread and Wine are but meer Figures and see if they be not capable of a fair and reasonable Interpretation to the contrary and more agreeable to the Catholick Doctrine In times before any controversie about the Eucharist was moved the Fathers conscious to themselves of their own true sense and meaning took a liberty of speaking sometimes and uttered some things in a dubious and ambiguous maner of expression at least as may seem so to us whose judgements are for the most part byassed set one way more then another by reason of Controversie There is scarce any Heresie against the Truth of Christian Religion but if we will be partial Interpreters of the Fathers we may finde some passages in them that through this foresaid liberty and ambiguity of speech may seem to favour it But then let us be so equal and indifferent as to consider the many and more plain passages which the same Fathers and others contemporary to them have left us in their writings to the contrary and in full assertion of the Catholick Truth and our mindes will quickly be satisfied especially if we cast into the Balance the perpetual practise not onely of the Ancient Fathers themselves but even of all the Churches upon Earth concerning the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar Declare therefore if you can for I even challenge you to it Declare I say if you can in all your reading what one Orthodox Father or any other Authour of good name in the Church of God what one General Council what one particular Synod or National Church upon Earth for the space of 1500. years after Christ did so Officiate or celebrate the Holy Eucharist upon a Table as that they held it to be a meer Figure or Sacramental sign onely signifying Christs Body and Blood unto us as Protestants hold and not really being or not really containing or not really exhibiting and conveighing it in verity and Substance to us or that they denied the real Sacrifice of Christs Body in the Eucharist upon a true proper and real Altar A Sacrifice I say in it self and according to the original Institution thereof generally Propitiatory for all mankinde but more particularly effectual for the Church and those for whom it is specially offered or that by special Faith and Devotion do make themselves capable of the Actual Benefit and Vertue of it But if this be too hard and cannot be shewed then because the weal of Eternity is a matter of so great consequence and this Ordinance of the daily Sacrifice a thing of so great efficacy and value that as Mr. Aynsworth notes upon Levit. 5.15 the wisest among the Jews held that the world did continue and was upheld by it and that the general though not total abolishing thereof amongst Christians is to be the work of that great enemy of our Lord Antichrist Matth 24.15 Mark 13.14 Dan. 9.27 according to the judgement and consent of the Fathers in consideration I say of these things I would gladly have it shewen as well by the Testimony of Gods Holy Word as by the judgement and belief of some Orthodox Church Council or Synod within the time above specified how my poor soul may hope to be saved if I leave the universal way and rule of all good Christians which is Tradition and the continued practice of Christs Catholick Church and follow the enemies and opposers thereof in any of their private and contrary paths Lastly because by multitude of words Truth may be darkened Job 38.2 I desire that the Answer which shall be given to these demands may be plain perspicuous and direct to the purpose without evasions and shiftings to any other matter without any vain and unnecessary Circumlocutions of words without Scholastical Distinctions or any kinde of that cunning craftiness of speech and reasoning which is contrary to the simplicity of true believing condemned by the Apostle Ephes 4.14 and fit for nothing but to abuse and mislead simple and sincere mindes into errour according as in all Ages it may be observed to have been the practice of false Teachers and their chief engine wherewith to entangle and deceive souls The wise man doth well describe them Prov. 2.15 Their wayes saith he are crooked like the way of a Serpent upon a rock Prov. 30.19 ever inconstant and varying like that of the wanton woman who hath forsaken the guide of her youth So these forsake their Mother the onely True Church of Christ and run gadding every one after their own Fancies and groundless Imaginations But let them wander alone I desire I say that the Answer to these Queries be punctual and down-right to the matter that is having named the Authour and set down his words truly and faithfully that you use no enlargement at all upon them at least not further then is necessary for the clear explication of his meaning and withal giving your Reasons in brief Thus doing Sir you shall much oblige your faithful Friend c. FINIS
and hold a thing so repugnant and absurd to sense and all humane reason as Sectaries make the Faith of Catholicks in this point seem to be and that the generation of Catholiques should do and believe this from age to age to almost seventeen hundred years and this without any self or by-ends of profit pleasure honour or other interest whatsoever but purely for conscience sake and out of obedience to Gods word and to the Catholique Doctrine of Christianity This certainly may seem no less then a miracle in our eyes we must confess the finger of God and his special Providence to be in it unless we be very partial especially if on the other side we do but consider how every other Sect that hath risen and upon pretence of reforming abuses and errors hath ever persecuted the Mother-Church really for her not complying with them in their greater Errours as for example the Arians in that of the Trinity the Calvinists in that of the Eucharist c. endeavouring still to make the Church forsake her first Faith and comply with them in their following of sense and humane reason contrary unto Faith I say if we do but consider how short-liv'd and how little or nothing prevailing both these and all other Sects have been how they have been able to do nothing but onely to procure disturbance and persecution to good Christians in some particular parts of the Church we must needs more clearly see and acknowledge the hand of God in it and that as it was their intent indeed and endeavour to disturb and destroy so Gods intent and purpose was to purifie his Church thereby and to purge it of Hypocrites and Time-servers and such like dross St. Austin expresseth the evil practices of these men by the similitude of barking Dogs They bark saith he in his Book de Vtilit cred cap. 17. speaking of Heretiques and Sectaries They bark perpetually against the Apostolique Chair but all in vain Thâ—y effect nothing by their barking Yea he confesseth that even himself was a Barker too all the time that he was a Manichean that is he was one that exercised the patience of true Christians by detraction and other injurious treating of them St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 11.19 There must be Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest and for that reason God permitteth some Heresies and Sects as it were to reign and carry all before them for a time By false Teachers saith Moses Deut. 13.1 2 3 4. God proveth you whether ye will cleave unto the Lord your God with all your hearts and with all your souls Nevertheless they also in time declining the infallible rule of Faith which is the Authority and Tradition of the Catholique Church and refusing to be obedient and to captivate their understanding to the high mysteries of Faith but following humane reason and their own private sense have vanished and come to nothing All their wit and worldly glory and power and interest and learning could not preserve them from the contempt and violence of some contrary Sect. Witness the late Protestant Church of England How was it it established and secured as to all humane judgement from all danger and from all fear of being so suddenly rooted up How was the Government thereof settled by Bishops confirmed by Law and countenanced by the State Their form of Ordination Articles Sacraments Liturgy and their whole order of Worship so regulated and so ratified both by the Prince and State that nothing could seem to be desired more Yet because it was all of private judgement all differing or contrary to the Tradition of the Catholique Church and done either out of hatred or contempt or contradiction to the Apostolique Sea whose Authority is the root and fountain of all true Christian Ecclesiastical Unity how suddenly is her day come what a strange unexpected unfeared judgement hath taken her away in the height of her worldly glory For non-compliance she persecuted the children of her Mother-Church even to bloud imprisoning multitudes of them unto death but as for her Priests hanging and drawing and quartering them as Traitors and the most infamous of all sorts of Malefactors whatsoever and setting their flesh upon poles to be meat for the fowls of the ayr and permitting none to bury them and taking Two of Three parts of the Lands and goods of the Common people that professed themselves Catholiques But O ye stand now amazed and behold how she is judged She that was thus bottomed strengthned and established in her way of Religion and Church-government she that sate as Queen and said in her heart I shall see no widdow-hood what is become of her where is she to be found in the whole earth in less space then one hundred of years she is both risen and fallen and come to nothing and though her sin in the punishment thereof be even written upon her forehead yet she repents not but like the strange woman in the Proverbs she wipes her mouth and saith I have not sinned I have done no ill I am not either Heretique or Scismatique Our original Ordination was good our compliance with Princes for our safety is warranted by the examples of some other Nations though we have dissented from our Mother-Church and from all the world beside in doctrine in ordination of Priesthood in a Leiturgy and worshipping of God in the Sacraments and Church-government yet all this is nothing so long as our selves being judges we are one in Fundamentals we are neither Schismatiques nor Heretiques how much soever we be outwardly cast down Thus they seem to plead But O miserable Apology how unable is it to justifie or palliate Schisme especially the Schisme of them who for so many years together have laboured the extirpation of that Church which first brought them off from Paganisme to Christianity Consider this I pray ye that are now upon the stage that ye act not against Gods Church Destroy it you cannot persecute it trouble and afflict it you may for a time so long as it pleases God to permit you but you shall sooner destroy your selves then it Remember what befel Pharaoh who thought by oppression to keep Israel low and weak but his wisdom proved folly What became of Jeroboams wisdom 1 Kings 12. though he was made a King of the ten Tribes yet he ought not to have altered Gods worship 'T is true in doing so his policy aimed onely at his own safety but yet that proved his ruine And for you my friends the Catholiques of this Nation who have solemnly in your Baptisme promised and professed to believe the Articles of Christian Religion and the Catholique Church as also to forsake all that appertains to the lust of the flesh to the lust of the eyes and pride of life which are not of the Father but of the Devil 1 John 2.16 in this Covenant be ye faithful to the death The time we have to labour for Eternity is