he will require it of thee he receiving it Kisseth the Bishops hands and returns to his former place and puts his hands upon the Holy Table saving to himself Kyrie Eleison and Have Mercy upon me O God But when the Holy to Holies is to be said then the ordained restores the Holy Bread and is first communicated by the Bishop and moreover sayes the Prayer standing behind the Bishops Seat The Order of conferring Priesthood by the Syrian Maronites as followeth THe Maronites before their Reconciliation were esteemed Hereticks as holding but one Will and one kind of operation in Christ which was the Heresie of the Monothelites Their Ritual for Priesthood runs thus Primum venit ille quem elegit gratia utrumque genu flectit manus habens ante se junctas benediciturque ab Episcopo dicens benedic Domine tum Episcopus signat eum cruce inter oculos c. Interea Archidiaconus thus offert dicitque benedic Domine stemus omnes pulchrè in oratione reliqua Iterum atque iterum continuo omni tempore Domino supplicemus Domine pro redemptione auxilio ope remissione hujus servi tui N. qui hic adstat impositionem manus Divinae accipit Dona ei Domine gradum in Ecclesia sacerdotium perfectum c. Oremus igitur precemur supplicemus clamemus dicamusque tribus vicibus Kyrie Eleison Episcopus precatur dicitur Sanctificasti Deus Symbolum Interea Archidiaconus ducit eum manu dextra dicit Offerimus Sanctitati tuae O Pater sancte electe Dei Domine N. Episcope hunc Dei amantem qui hic adstat ut impositionem manus Divinae accipiat ex ordine Diaconi ad ordinem Presbyteratus super altare Sanctum Ecclesiae Sanctae Sancti Domini N. civitatis benedictae amantis Christi N. Est autem subjectus beatitati vestrae Pro co clamemus dicamus tribus vicibus Kyrie Eleison Episcopus precatur Divina gratia quae semper infirma curat deficientia supplet promovet hunc religiosissimum sacrum Diaconum in Presbyterum Diaconus in pace Domino supplicemus Episcopus precatur Diaconus proclamat istud Domini Ephrem Stemus omnes in oratione coram eo qui novit abscondita c. Episcopus imponit dexteram suam super caput ejus dicit ordinatus est in Ecclesia Archidiaconus clamat N. Presbyter ad Altare Sanctum Ecclesiae Sanctae istius loci N. Episcopus N. Presbyter Archidiaconus Psalmum Laus huic Pastori Postea legunt hunc Apostolum Fratres posuit onim deus in Ecclesia sua primum Apostolos c. datque ei Evangelium ut legat Sequuntur preces dein ter Kyrie Eleison Episcopus precatur thus datur ei circumducuntque ordinatum per Ecclesiam adferunt ei Evangelium dum autem circumducunt eum dicunt Positam Ascendit Moses in Montem Sinai c. Postea instruit eum de officio suo Explicet ordo Presbyteri Maronites First comes he whom Grace hath Elected and being on both his knees having his hands joyned sayes to the Bishop Your Bessing my Lord and is blessed by the Bishop then he signs him with the Cross between his eyes In the interim the Archdeacon offers Frankincense and sayes Your Blessing my Lord Let us all stand in Prayer and the rest Again and again continually and all the time let us Supplicate the Lord O Lord for the redemption help assistance and remission of this thy servant N. who stands here and receives the imposition of the Divine hand Give him O Lord a degree in the Church and perfect Priesthood Let us therefore beg and pray and supplicate and cry out and say Kyrie Eleison three times The Bishop Prays and saith Thou hast Sanctified O God and the Creed In the mean time the Archdeacon leads him in his right hand and saith We offer O holy Father and Elect of God Lord N. Bishop to thy Sanctity this Lover of God who stands here to receive the imposition of the Divine hand from the Order of Deacon to the Order of Priesthood upon the Holy Altar of the Holy Church N. of the blessed City that loveth Christ N. for he is subject to your Blessedness For him let us cry out three times and say Kyrie Eleison The Bishop Prays The Divine Grace which always cures the weak and supplies defects promotes this most Religious Holy Deacon to be a Priest The Deacon says In peace let us beseech the Lord. The Bishop Prays The Deacon proclaims this Ephrem of our Lord. Let us all stand in Prayer before him who knows all hidden things c. The Bishop puts his right hand upon his head and sayes He is ordained in the Church The Archdeacon cryes aloud N. Priest at the Altar of the Holy Church of this place N. the Bishop N. Priest The Archdeacon begins the Psalm Praise to this Shepherd c. After they Read this of the Apostle For Brethren God hath placed in his Church first Apostles c. and gives him the Gospel to Read Prayers follow and thrice Kyrie Eleison The Bishop Prays and Frankincense is given to him and they lead him round about the Church and bring the Gospel to him and whilst they lead him they say Moises Ascended Mount Sinai c. After he instructs him in his Office Here ends the Order of Priesthood The Ritual for Priesthood used by the Nestorians PRimum incipiunt Pater Noster c. Et Praesul precatur virtus tua Domine c. compleat media parvitate nostra Ministerium hoc Spirituale doni Sacerdotalis c. scito Domine quod in omni laudi in omni prece in omni canone adorant ordinandi ad terram usque prostrati Primum praesul abscindit capillos illius qui ordinatur cingulo ligat lumbos ejus dejicit cucullam ejus super humerum ejus sinistrum ingrediens stat in medio secretarii Archidiaconus orat pacem Praesul precatur Stolam Domine Sacerdotii c. O tibi sacerdos quam magnus est gradus cui tu ministras c. Venite accedamus ad Sacerdotium c. Stola Domine Sacerdotii veteris novi qua induisti veraces tuos hac indue adorantes te qui manus suas extendunt coram throno divinitatis tuae c. Sacerdotes qui digni facti estis Angelorum statu cavete ab iniquitate Oratio Oleo Sanctitatis Domine unge hos servos tuos c. Christe Sacerdos veritatis cujus Sacerdotium nunquam omnino praeterit operari erga servos tuos id quod adjuvat indue illos splendore decore ut Sacerdotio fungantur tibi praeclare cautè c. Item Spiritus Sanctus Paraclitus qui descendit habitavit super Discipulos ipse Domine descendat super capita te adorantium c. Et accedit ad ordinandos utrumque genu eos flectere jubet simul
Ordained Priest comes to thee make him thy true servant c. The Archdeacon saith The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. as above Three times Kyrie Eleison Then the Bishop turning towards the East saith this Prayer O Lord God we beseech thee render him worthy of the vocation of Priesthood c. that he may Administer upon thy Holy Altar c. Three times Kyrie Eleison Then the Bishop turning towards the West puts his right hand upon the Ordaineds head Praying thus O Lord God Omnipotent c. look upon this thy servant who is presented to thee in order to Priesthood by the approbation and judgment of those that propose him c. Replenish him with the Holy Ghost and Grace c. The Bishop Prays for him that he may worthily perform the Functions of Priesthood c. And turning to the West signs his forehead with his Thumb saying We call thee into the Holy Church of God Amen The Archdeacon with a loud voice saith N. is a Priest of the Holy Altar which is in the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church of God Amen Then with a clear voice the Bishop saith We call thee N. a Priest of the Holy Altar which is called of the true Believers In the Name of the Father c. Then the Bishop makes three Crosses on his forehead signifying the Trinity Then he puts the Stole about him saying Glory and Honor be to the Holy Trinity consubstantial with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost Peace and increase of the Holy Church of God Amen Then the Bishop turning to the East prays thus We give thee Thanks c. A Thansgiving to God and a Petition that the Ceremonies of Ordination may please him Then follows an Admonition to the Priest newly Ordained who having taken the usual Oath kisseth the Bishops hand the Altar and those that are present Then he explicates something of the Mysteries and the Bishop puts his hand three times upon him and all say with a loud voice N. is worthy to be a Priest in the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church And so it ends These Rituals were with great trouble and industry Collected from several parts of the World by Morinus who saw the Originals and Translated them out of Greek and Syrian into Latine as you may see in his Treatise de Sacra Ordinatione part 2. Thus I have given you a Cursary View of the Manner how the Chiefest Professors of Christianity disperst all the World over did Confer the Order of Priesthood which compared to the present practise of the Church of Rome it will be obvious how this Church hath deviated in Essentials from the Institution of Christ the practice of the Apostles and the Primitive Church which by considering the particulars of the Roman Pontifical now in use will plainly appear A Draught of the Roman Pontifical for the Ordination of Priests now in use THe Bishop that is to give Orders is not to do it but in Mass and in the several parts thereof he exerciseth the several Functions of Ordination They that are to be Ordained Priests being by the Archdeacon presented and accepted The Bishop begins by the imposition of his hands upon the head of them successively but says nothing Then they return again and the Bishop puts his right hand upon the head of each of them and the Priests that are present do the like putting their hands by the Bishops Then the Bishop says a Prayer imploring Grace for them that are to be Ordained that they may worthily comply with the Functions of Priesthood This done the Ordainer takes the Stole of each that was before upon their left shoulder only and brings it round the neck and puts it upon the right shoulder also with these words Accipe jugum Domini c. Receive the yoke of the Lord c. Consequent to this he puts on their Casula or Priestly Vestment the hinder part being folded up and fastned to the upper part with this Forme Accipe Vestem Sacerdotalem c. Receive the Priestly Vestment c. Next follows the Annointing of their Heads with Holy Oyle And the Priests that assist tye the Palmes of their hands together with a Linnen Binder lest the Holy Oyle should be profaned Persuant to this the Bishop holding in his hand a Chalice with Wine and Water in it and upon it a Patene with an unconsecrated Hoast on it exhibits all this successively to them that are to be Ordained and here great care is taken by the Ordainer and the assisting Priests that they at the same 〈◊〉 touch the Chalice the Pattene and the Hoast to which end because their hands are bound together the Priests place their fore-fingers upon the Pattene so as to touch both Pattene and Hoast and the tops of their middle fingers being a little separated from the fore-fingers are applyed to the side of the Chalice under the Patene and the Priests in this posture press their fingers upon the Vessels alltogether and the Ordainer begins not the forme till he be assured that they touch all then he pronounceth the forme in these words Accipe potestatem offerendi Sacrificium pro vivis defunctis In nomine Patris filii Spirituus Sancti Receive the power of offering Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead In the Name of the Father c. This done they are esteemed Priests Quoad potestatem ordinis for as much as concerns the power of Consecrating and saying Mass and therefore they Consecrate together with the Bishop and say Mass all along with him having their Missals open before them Then after Consummation when they have all received the Communion the Bishop the third time puts his hand upon their heads with this form Accipe Spiritum Sanctum quorum remiseritis peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueritis retenta sunt Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye forgive they are forgiven and whose sins you retain they are retained Then presently he unfolds their Vestment and lets it down behind saying Stola innocentiae induat te Dominus The Lord put thee on the Stole of Innocence And so it ends SECT IV. Shewing That the Church of Rome placeth the Essence of the Ordination of Priests in touching the Vessels and the Form annexed to it TO make good this Position I begin with the Autority of the Council of Florence Florent Instructione Armenorum Instructione ad Armenos where it Treats ex professo of the Essential matter of Priesthood and the Council assigns for this matter the Tradition of the Vessels and makes not the least mention of the Imposition of Hands nor any other matter Gregory the 9th tells us That if in Ordination the Imposition of Hands be omitted the Ordination is not to be reiterated his words are these Greg. 9. C. Presbyter de Sacramentis noniterandis Presbyter Diaconus cum ordinantur manus impositionem tactu corporali ritu ab Apostolis introducto recipiunt
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-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
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
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
Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who alwayes makest perfect our defects according to the will of God the Father in the virtue of the Holy Ghost be present with these who are here offered c. It is it who calls and offers N. from the degree of Deacon to the degree of a Priest at the Holy and Divine Altar of the House of the Mother of God Mary c. Therefore let us all Pray that Grace and the Holy Spirit may descend upon them c. thrice Kyrie Eleison c. The Bishop puts his hands upon the Mystery and stretcheth forth his armes and gathers and contracts them thrice over the Body and Blood taking out of the Chalice the Particles whilst they gather them together and cover them with a Veil or Sacred Linnen After he turns to him that is to be Ordained and puts his hand on his head and measures them to him and again lifts up his hands stretching out his armes on high and lets his hands fall trembling upon his head This the Bishop repeats three times his eyes looking down with fear After this he lays his right hand on his head and covers the head and hands of him that is to be Ordained with a Vaile His right hand is placed upon his head and his left is moved to and fro and he turns his left hand thrice about his neck and face c. Invocation of the Holy Ghost c. Afterward the Bishop turns to the West towards him that is to be Ordained and puts his right hand on his head and signs him with the Cross between his eyes saying thus He is Ordain'd in the Holy Church of God The Archdeacon saith N. Priest at the Holy Altar of the House of the Mother of God The Bishop adds N. Priest at the Holy Altar c. In the Name of the Father c. After he hath made three signs of the Cross the Priest Ordained returns to the Altar Mystically saying this Prayer We have received thy Grace O Lord c. Then the Bishop returns to him and takes him by the right hand and lifts him up The Archdeacon saith Your Blessing my Lord. The Bishop takes the Stole which was upon him and brings it over his right shoulder from the forepart saying To the Praise and Honor and Beauty and Exaltation of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity and to the Peace and Edification of the Holy Church of God The Clergy Answer To the Praise c. And when he with Pompe carries the Vestment and Tunick and Girdle c. and saith To the Praise c. Afterwards delivers to him a Censer and commands him to put Incense therein Moreover the Bishop takes him by the hand and leads him to kiss the Table of Life which being done he kisseth the Bishops hand who gives him his Peace and commands all the rest to do the like And forthwith the Bishop signs with the Cross the Consummation of the Holy Body with the Cup and after he hath communicated Orders that he Communicate the Congregation the Bishop shall sign with the Cross and conclude The Ritual of the Cophticks or Aegyptians for the Ordination of Priests THe disserence between the Cophticks and the Jacobites is not considerable only they who lived in Persia Syria Assyria and the East were called Jacobites But they who inhabited Aegypt and Aethiopia were called Cophticks whose Ritual differs but little from the Jacobites which is as followeth Cum volunt praesentare Ordinandum in Sacerdotem testificantur primo Sacerdotes de operibus ejus bonis de scientia ejus quod uxor ejus talis sit qualem lex requirit quod acceperit inferiores gradus c. Deinde prodit foras vestitus veste Diaconi haltheus super humerum ejus sinistrum coram altari Stet autem Episcopus cum Sacerdotibus Et qui separatus est incurvat genua sua ante Altare Episcopus dicit gratiarum actionem accipit simul thymiama orat super illud conversusque facie sua ad Altare dicit hanc orationem O Domine Deus qui venire nos fecisti c. He prays for the Holy Ghost and Grace to administer Priesthood right Ecce venit ad te Ordinandus in Sacerdotem perfice eum in servum tuum c. Dicit Archidiaconus Gratia Domini Nostri Jesu Christi c as above Ter Kyrie Eleison Episcopus conversus ad orientem hanc orationem dicit Queso Domine Deus pone eum dignum vocatione Presbyteratus c. ut ministret Altari tuo sancto c. ter Kyrie Eleison Conversus ad occidentem Episcopus ponit manum suam dextram super caput ejus sic orando O Domine Deus omnipotens c. Respice super hunc servum tuum qui tibi praesentatur ad sacerdotium per approbationem judicium eorum qui tibi eum stiterunt c. Reple eum Spiritu Sancto gratia c. The Bishop Prays for him that he may worthily perform the functions of Priesthood c. Et conversus ad occidentem signat frontem ejus pollice suo dicens vocamus to in Ecclesiam Dei Sanctam Amen Alta voce dicit Archidiaconus N. Sacerdos est Altaris Sancti quod est in Ecclesia Sancta Catholica Apostolica Ecclesia Dei Amen Deinde clara voce Episcopus dicit vocamus te N. Sacerdotem Altaris Sancti quod vocatur Orthodoxorum in nomine Patris c. Facit Episcopus super frontem ejus tres cruces significando Trinitatem Deinde vestit illum Stola dicens Gloria honor Trinitati Sanctae consubstantiali Patri Filio Spiritui Sancto Pax incrementum Ecclesiae Dei Sanctae Amen Conversus ad orientem Episcopus orat sic Gratias tibi agimus c. A Thansgiving to God and a Petition that the Ceremonies of Ordination may please him Then follows an Admonition to the Priest newly Ordained Et juramento praestito osculatur Episcopum Altare praesentes Deinde explicat aliquid de mysteriis Et Episcopus ponit super eum manum tribus vicibus omnes dicunt alta voce dignus est N. ut sit Sacerdos in Ecclesia Sancta Catholica Apostolica And so it ends The Cophticks and Aegyptians WHen they would present him that is to be Ordained Priest first of all the Priests give Testimony of his good Works and his Learning and that his Wife is such as the Law requires that he hath received the Inferior Orders c. Then he comes forth in his Deacons Habit and having a Stole on his left shoulder he stands before the Altar The Bishop likewise stands with his Priests And he that is separated kneels before the Altar The Bishop recites a Prayer of Thansgiving and at the same time takes the Incense and blesseth it and turning his face to the Altar he recites this Prayer O Lord God who hast ordered our coming c. Behold he that is to be
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
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
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
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
Heresie He was of the most eminent repute of his time He was a great Opponent of all Novelty and Innovation and for his Merits very dear to the Emperor These then were the Persons which the Emperor consulted and required them to give him in Writing the True Sense of the Church concerning the Body of Christ in the Eucharist Whether it were contained in the Sacrament in Verity and Reality or only in Vertue and Figure as also whether it were the same Body of Christ that was born of the Virgin Mary Suffered upon the Cross Rose from the Dead c. that we receive in the Sacrament for to both Questions Paschasius Answers That it was the same Body present in the Eucharist in Verity and Reality and not only in Vertue and Figure To these two Questions the forenamed Doctors gave in their Answer in Latin to the Emperor in Writing and their Resolutions were contrary to the Doctrine of Paschasius as to both Questions For to the First Whether that which we receive in the Sacrament of the Eucharist be truly and really the Body of Christ or only a Figure and Type thereof They both Answer That the Body and Blood of Christ are contained in this Sacrament only in Figure and Virtue and not in Reality As to the Second Question Whether it be the same Body that was Born of the Virgin Mary that suffered on the Cross that was Buried and Rose again that Ascended into Heaven they Answer That we Receive the Figure and Verture of that same Body And not wholly to omit the Transactions of these two Doctors I shall here briefly relate some passages of each of them SECT VI. A briefe account of some passages of the life and death of John Erigène THis Learned Doctor how dear soever he was to that Great Emperor Charles yet he was sharply censur'd and severely handled by several Authors and great Prelates and especially by the Council of Valentia for some Dogmatical Points which he deliver'd in a Treatise that he Wrote of Predestination and the state of the future Life as deviating from the Orthodox Principles of the Church yet none reprehended him for his Doctrine of the Eucharist And certainly he meritted eternal renown for Translating the Hierarchy of Dionysius of Areopagyta from Greek into Latin by Command of the Emperor Charles which Work added no small access to the Opinion formerly conceived of his zeal and eloquence for hence he was esteemed a Saint and that his Doctrine and knowledge was infus'd from Heaven His Fame daily increasing he was at last called into England by Alfrede then King where he was Barbarously Murdered by his own Disciples in the Monastery of Malmesbury in the year 883 or thereabouts and was decently buried in that Church but his Body was afterwards with great Pomp and Magnificence translated to the Cathedral and there placed before the Altar with this Epitaph Here lies John the Holy Philosopher Gulielm Malmesb. L. 2. C. 5. who in his life time was inriched with wonderful Doctrine and in the end had the honor to ascend by Martyrdom to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ where the Saints reign eternally as William of Malmesbury relates And after his decease by the Autority of the See of Rome he was put into the Catalogue of Martyrs His Treatise of the Eucharist remained extant about 200 years after he Wrote it by the Emperors Command but about the year 1050 it was read in the Council of Verceils where Pope Leo the Ninth presided and there condemned to be Burnt as being repugnant to the Orthodox Doctrine of the Eucharist which was accordingly put in execution and so this Treatise perish'd And consequently it was often moved to have him expunged from the Catalogue of Saints but without effect till the time of Baronius who alledging That he had Written against the Real Presence upon this account got him excluded from that rank wherein he had been formerly placed by Gregory the 13th and other Popes Histor Ecclesiast Angliae L. 2. P. 119. as Fuller relates SECT VII Some Passages of the Life and Doctrine of Retram THis Doctor was one of the Learnedst and of the fairest repute of his time and upon this account was chosen among the rest by Charles the Emperor together with John Scot or Erigéne to give him an account what was the true meaning of Christ's Word 's and the true Doctrine of the Church in relation to the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist By this means to allay the heat of that turbulent Contention and Animosity which had reacht the utmost confines of his Dominions and dissected his Subjects into violent Factions occasioned by the Writings of Paschasius wherein he Asserted the Real Presence These two great Men in Complyance to the Emperors Command gave their Answer in two distinct Treatises in Latin upon this Subject wherein they both agreed that the true Orthodox Doctrine never admitted of any Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament but that it was there contained Virtually and Figuratively by means of Christ's Institution which they proved out of the Scripture and Fathers alleging several parallel examples out of Holy Writ concluding that the adverse Opinion was a Heterodox novelty contrary to Scripture Fathers and the Universal Belief of the Church till that time Retram when he Wrote this Treatise was a Priest of the Church of Rome and Monck of the Monastery of Corby soon after there arose great difficulties between Nicholas the First then Pope and Photius Patriarch of Constantinople whereupon Pope Nicholas implores the Assistance of the Bishops of France to defend the Latin Church against the Greeks The Clergy of the Gallican Church knew not where to find a more able and expert Champion to carry on this great design then Bertram or Retram and so unanimously chose him to defend the Pope and the Latin Church against their Antagonists Retram undertakes it and discharges his trust with a great deal of honor and applause and was afterwards created Abbot of Orbais But to come to his Doctrine his Treatise of the Body and Blood of Christ was providently preserved and at length Translated into English and Printed here in England about a Hundred Thirty and two years since in the year of our Lord 1549 whereof there have been several Editions since and it was lately Printed in France both in Latin and French But now come we to give you a Specimen of the Tenets which by this Treatise he endeavors to establish First Then he tells us That the Bread which by the Mystery of the Priest is made the Body of Christ doth shew one thing to the External Senses and another thing soundeth inwardly to the Mind of Faith Outwardly the Bread remaineth as it was before c. and then he adds of the VVine The Wine also which by the Consecration of the Priest is made the Sacrament of the Blood of Christ
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
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
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
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
natural causes if the disposition suffer not so much change as would render it uncapable to sustain the substantial forme of bread so long the Body of Christ remains there but when by contrary Agents the last disposition of the forme of bread is expel'd then the Body of Christ withdraws and relinquisheth its ubi not by a local motion but by a meer destruction of that ubication without acquiring any new one but is reduced to his former ubication without passing from Earth to Heaven And though before the destruction of the accidents of bread the Body of Christ was existent in Heaven and here on Earth the same time yet after that destruction it exists only in Heaven and yet never tended by a local and successive motion from Earth towards Heaven nor ever penetrated the Air nor the Heavens to obtain his place in the Emperial Heaven because it had that place before This is the sum of their Doctrine These Three Difficulties though much agitated by their Divines yet are not fully determined by their Church Only the Council of Trent touches upon the Second and Third but leaves the First to the litigation of the Schoolmen Of the Second Trid. Con. Sess 23. Can. 3. it saith Si quis negaverit in venerabili Sacramento Eucharistiae sub unaquaque specie sub singulis cujusque speciei partibus separatione facta totum Christum contineri Anathema sit If any one shall deny in the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist all Christ to be contained under each Kind and under every part of each Kind after Separation let him be Accursed The same is declared Sess 23. Cap. 3. Sess 21. Cap. 3. which is conformable to the Council of Florence In Decreto Eugenti ad Armenios yet none of these places define the manner how Christ's Body exists in this Sacrament whether definitively or Circumspectively but only assert all Christ to be in each part As to the Third The Council of Trent decrees the Body of Christ to be present immediately after Consecration but resolves nothing how long it continues there for thus saith the Council Trid. Sess 33. Can. 4. Si quis dixerit peracta consecratione in admirabili Eucharistiae Sacramento non esse corpus sanguinem Domini Nostri Jesus Christi sed tantum in usu dum sumitur non autem ante vel post in hostiis seu particulis consecratis quae post Communionem reservantur vel supersunt non remanere verum corpus Domini Anathema sit If any one shall say That after Consecration in the Admirable Sacrament of the Eucharist the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is not there but only in practice when it is received yet not before nor after and that in the Hosts or Particles that are Consecrated which after Communion are reserved or left the true Body of Christ doth not remain let him be Accursed This declares when the Body of Christ begins to be present in the Sacrament but determines nothing how long it remains there But since there is no more necessity of defining the Real Presence Transubstantiation c. then of determining those difficulties here proposed we may groundedly expect in the next general Council a full decision of these nice Questions by new Canons and Decrees and new Articles of Faith to be framed for the resolution of these and the like doubts SECT III. The Inutility of Multiplying Definitions of this nature ANd now if some impartial and unbyassed Judge were to deliver his Opinion of these and the like proceedings of the Church of Rome I would propose to his Consideration First What Grounds or Footsteps can be found in Scripture in the Practise or Doctrine of Christ or his Apostles or in all the Transactions of Antiquity or the Primitive Church for so Rigorous and Comminatorious decision of such subtile and nice Points under so great a Penalty and I am sure none can be found Secondly Cast a glance upon the effects of these new-framed Articles of Faith What Benefit or Emolument doth accrew to Christianity by them Do the Graces of Christ flow from the Sacraments more plentifully by vertue of those Definitions then they did before This cannot be alleged for the measure of Grace was taxed and determined by Christ in his Original Institution with reference to the disposition of the receiver Do they conduce to the better institution of a Christian Life Do the Faithful the more adhere to the due observance of Gods Law Do they promote Vertue and Good Life Do they check the illegal progress of the Licentious Do they cry down Vice and Wickedness Do they add any new Motives to abandon the Old Man and shun Sensuality Do they excite to the regulating our Actions by the Conduct of a just Synderesis instructed with true Reason and to reject the suggestion of sense not the least of these products do issue from them Nay on the contrary Do they not add more load to the Consciences of the Faithful who are bound to Believe what they comprehend not Do they not enthrall and enslave their Souls to be liable to the Belief of such a long Catalogue of nicities or else be damned What a dreadful thing it is to implicate Mens Minds and Consciences into such an unextricable labyrinth of sollicitude anxiety and confusion when they shall consider that of so many definitions if they disbelieve but one though they believe all the rest nothing remains for them but the eternal slames of Hell Fire And yet they are wholly ignorant what it is they ought to believe for you were as good endeavor to wash a Blackamore white as to go about to make the common vulgar of both Sexes capable of the true meaning of those points which are so remote from sense And How can they exercise themselves in Vertue while such anxious scruples and confusion clowds their understanding and casts a damp upon all their vital faculties Nay this hath an immediate tendency to despair for when they consider themselves uncapable of complying with such a Mass of Implex Articles of Faith and considering their own imbecility they will be apt to conceive that they are lost and that Eternity of Bliss is out of their reach for qui erraverit in uno factus est omnium reus he that errs in one is made guilty of all and hence they connaturally fall into desperation Besides What more hinders the Propagation of the Gospel then such a multiplicity of Tenets pretended necessary to Salvation and yet so full of arduity and so repugnant to the common course of Nature which are apt to startle the most credulous Who would imbrace Christianity if such a bundle of incredible Mysteries were candidly proposed to them as all necessary to Salvation which are so destructive of the Laws of Nature and no Proofes of any of them but only because the Church of Rome hath defined them Few or none would deny their Reason and yield a blind
conformity to such and so many irregular Pardons as they ought to believe These and many other such inconveniences are the products of multiplying so many new Articles of Faith these are the fatal consequences that thence ensue And if you consult your Reason to suggest to you what benefit is hence expected or what Motives might induce them to impose so hard a taske upon the Believers I know none but a strong propension in the Authors to carry all things on with a strong hand to make their Empire known and to Lord it over the Flock of Christ But it may be Objected That the Illiterate shall not need to perplex themselves for they have a sure refuge to their Implicite Faith by believing what the Church believeth First I Answer That this is a very deordinate and irregular point of Doctrine to Teach them to regulate their Implicite Faith by the Belief of the Church of Rome as if this were a surer Rule to walk by then the Doctrine the Practice the Ordination and Institution of Christ himself How hot doth this smell of Blasphemy to put ignorant Souls upon such a preposterous way of Faith as to prefer the Belief of the Church of Rome before the Institution of Christ whereby the Faith of the Church ought to be originally regulated Secondly I Answer If any Implicite Faith be sufficient after the definition then the explicite declaration of so many Articles availeth nothing for the very same Implicite Faith that was sufficient before the definition is sufficient after then the Councils labor in vain or rather not in vain for though their numerous definitions produce no good effect yet they have an ample power in producing bad effects as hath been declared And thus far I go with them that in matters of Divine Faith an implicite in most cases is sufficient to Salvation provided it have a reference to that never erring Rule of Christ's Doctrine and Institution and What Romanist dares deny this For I considently assert That an Implicite Faith regulated by the belief of the Church of Rome is not sufficient to Salvation for this Church hath erred and may erre again as is in this Treatise sufficiently declared and proved But to shew yet more groundedly That the multiplying of so many Articles of Faith are wholly useless and pernicious let any rational person consider what strange wonders the Supreme Creator of all things hath wrought to bring about this great Work of Mans Redemption The Divine Word took Humane Nature upon him God became Man and a◠Man suffer'd great indignities and opposition and at last suffer'd death upon a Cross What was all this for but in order to the Redemption o◠Mankind And after all this he settled his Church Instituted Sacraments and Ordained what he deemed necessary to accomplish his final end I◠it then credible that having accomplisht all other means necessary to this end he should at last be deficient in the application of those means which would render them all useless Had he no care of his Church no◠Providence for it in future Ages What need is there then of so many new Articles of Faith Christ had 〈◊〉 perfect prospect and a full comprehension of his Church and all circumstances belonging to it for all particular times and ages and wanted n◠power to provide for it in the bes◠manner How then is it possible tha◠any person indued with Reason can conceive that this Omniscient Omnipotent and Infinitely Wise and Provident God should be deficient in a work of this Nature that he should leave this great work of our Redemption imperfect that he should fail in the compleat accomplishment of his Master-piece especially considering that he could with ease provide tunc pro nunc he could then have provided for all future events whensoever they should happen And it is as impossible that he should leave any defects in a design of so high a nature to be corrected or supplyed by meer Men that carry their human frailty and imperfections about them for by this means such Men would be concauses in the work of our Redemption and yet Christianity never yet acknowledged any Redeemer but one Wherefore it is a high presumption to attempt to compleat or perfect Christ's work or to supply the defects which we falsely suppose he hath left in it Nothing is more repugnant to Reason and nothing more derogates from the infinite Attributes and high Prerogatives of our Great Redeemer Whence I conclude with this Dilemma Either Christ Instituted all things necessary to Salvation or he did not If not What then became of all the Primitive Christians for Eight Hundred years together after Christ for in their time none of those new Doctrines which are now defined were yet started Would Christ permit so many Millions that were all Members of his Church to perish for want of necessary means to Salvation This would reflect upon the Author of Life and make him a Deluder They must therefore acknowledge That Christ did Institute in his Church all things necessary to Salvation If so Then what necessity is there of so many new definitions which only serve to pester and incumber Mens Minds because forsooth Eternal Damnation must be the reward of them that deny any one of them yea or so much as doubt of the Truth of any them SECT IV. The Objections Solved THe First Objection According to the Principles of this Discourse all Councils would be useless or rather pernicious for the main design of Councils is to decide such doubts as are promiscuously discussed among the multitude of whom without the Authority of a Council none have power to give a final determination and therefore Councils have been always in use there was a Council in the Apostles time there were several Councils in the Primitive Church So that this Doctrine wholly swerves from Reason and Antiquity The First Answer I am no Enemy of Councils but on the contrary conceive them of great use and sometimes necessary for the right Administration of the Church for certainly many great and good effects depend upon them when they take their measures right and truly conceive how far the limits of their power and autority extend But if Councils transgress their bounds and submit Christ's Actions to their scrutiny and therein presume to add or diminish to alter or change to correct or amend any of Christ's Ordinances or Institutions and so intrench upon jus Divinum which is above their sphere and in effect to cry out in coelum conscendam similis ero Altissimo this is a pernicious abuse of their autority wherefore The Second Answer is That when Vertue begins to decline and Vice to abound when the Clergy grows dissolute and the Laity stubborn and refractory against their Spiritual Leaders and Pastors when the Doctrine and Practice of Christ and the Primitive Christians is not fully upheld in its Original Purity but begins to be offuscated and to lose its efficacy by Innovations
and in many other cases of like nature then are Councils both profitable and necessary as a Physitian is to a sick Patient then ought they by their opportune Remedies to salve the Sores to make up the breaches to reforme the abuses and to redintegrate the whole body of the Church and purge the Wheate from the Cockle and Darnel which by the depraved will of Man and the suggestion of Sathan began to take root But if Councils should spend their endeavors in debating certain abstruse and hidden Mysteries and frame Articles of Divine Faith upon them without any warrant in Scripture or Antiquity nay against the Original Belief of the Church and by their annexed Anathema's drive Men to confusion and desperation and yet reap no benefit thereby for it neither promotes Vertue nor curbs Vice nor any way conduceth to the institution of a Moral and Christian Life but on the contrary it puts Mens Consciences upon the Rack it disturbs the peace and quiet of their Minds it hinders their due application to Vertue and Morality it perplexes their Souls with Scruples and disposeth them to despair In this case I appeal to the Judgment of the whole World Whether the multiplying of such decisions be not fruitless and pernicious To what is added in the Objection I grant that Councils have been always in use not to decide such speculative points of Divinity and reduce them to Articles of Faith but to solve practical doubts which may arise among the vulgar concerning their practise and manners c. which may be instrumental to facilitate their progress towards Heaven but as for Divine Faith it ought to be said to them as St. Paul said to the Galatians That if an Angel should come from Heaven and Teach them otherwise then they had been Taught by Christ and his Apostles they ought not to believe him but let him be Accursed saith the Apostle Gal. 1.8 9. The Second Objection We are Taught by experience that several Heresiarchs have often attempted to make a breach in the Church by their new Heterodox Doctrine and the most efficacious remedy in the Church to prevent such inconveniences is to Anathematize the Authors and condemn their Errors as Heretical which hath been alwayes practised in the Church with good success for the extirpating of Heresie and establishing Orthodox Doctrine To this Objection I Answer First That when the Definitions of Councils are grounded in Scripture in the Doctrine and Practise of Christ and his Apostles or otherwise by true Revelations made manifest to be of Divine Autority such definitions are warrantable and useful to extinguish Heresie but nothing of all this will quadrate with the forecited definitions of the Church of Rome which are no way proved by Autority nor Reason nay rather they are repugnant to both yet are obtruded to the Credulous Believers under a Curse to be by them received by a blind assent without examining the truth of them Secondly I Answer That the most apposite and efficacious way to suppress Heresie is to evince the Error of it by solid and convincing Arguments drawn from Divine Autority or evident Principles of Reason These are the Armes with which the Antient Fathers wag'd War against the respective Heresies of their times So St. Ambrose with his Preaching and solid Principles drew the great St. Augustine from his Heresie to imbrace the Orthodox Doctrine of Christianity and the same Augustine being fully convinced thereof with no less industry and zeal then learning efficaciously refelled the Errors of the Manichaeans the Pellagians the Massilienses the Donatists c. he alledged not the Autority of Councils but convinced the Broachers and Abetters of those Errors with solid Arguments whereby he detected the Fallacy of their irregular Tenets And so by Divine Autority and strength of Reason refelled their illegal Assertions The Reason of this proceeding is manifest for the first Authors of such Erroneous Doctrines and they who greedily give their assent to them make it their business to maintain them against all opposition and glory in their undertakings hugging their Errors as the happy products of their own understanding whence they so tenaciously adhere to them that no Curse nor Censure can make any impression upon them If you cite the Definitions of Councils against them they alledge their Reasons against you and Challenge you to Solve them How earnestly did Nestorius insist upon the Force of his Argument to prove two Persons in Christ And the whole stress of his Proofe he reduced to this one Sillogisme Omnis Natura Rationalis Completa est Persona sed in Christo sunt duae Rationales Naturae completae ergo duae Personae In English thus All Compleat Rational Natures are Persons but in Christ there are two compleat Rational Natures ergo in Christ there are two Persons With this Argument Nestorius perplext the Fathers whereof none durst deny either of the Premises and yet the Conclusion was Erroneous And certainly Nestorius would have slighted any definition of a Council against his Assertion without solving his Argument Wherefore the most efficacious way to Refute an Heretick is to Instruct his Reason and Convince his Judgment that his Principles are Erroneous to this end Arguments are to be drawn from Scripture and Divine Autority seconded by cleer and evident Reason and from these two Premises you may infer a conclusion contradictory to the Error And hereby you encrease the Authors Adhesion to his Error for there are none so obstinate as to deny that which is establisht by known Divine Autority and Evident Reason SECT V. When and from whom this Doctrine of the Real Presence took its first rise ALl Dogmatical Assertions which are pretended to be matters of Divine Faith if they be so it s rigorously necessary that they be backt by Divine Autority and therefore must be traced immediately from Christ himself or else attested by those Hagyographers the old Prophets Apostles c. who were immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost and so could not erre by whose Mediation it must ultimate be resolved into Divine Autority The reason hereof is because all acts of Divine Faith consist essentially of two parts the Material and the Formal Object the Material Object is the thing believed the Formal Object is dictio Dei Gods saying it which is the only motive that induceth us to believe it as Divine Faith And herein Faith differs from Science and Opinion because Science though invested with certainty yet derives it from the evidence of Human Reason which is inductive to the assent Opinion hath neither certainty nor evidence but a meer probability grounded on a weak foundation of Reason cum formidine partis oppositae it is always accompanyed with an ambiguity either formal or virtual that the contrary may be true But Faith if it be Divine relyes upon Divine Autority if Human on Human Authority For instance we believe that the Divine Word is Incarnate because God hath assured it this is an
Sanctifie the Receiver but still denies that the True Body and Blood of Christ which was Born of the Virgin Mary Suffered c. is in Verity or Reality present in this Sacrament but only Figuratively and Mystically SECT IX Animadversions on the Premises WE have seen the Opinion of those Two Champions of the Church of Christ which were Consulted by Charles the Emperor To whom I might add many more Abbots Bishops and Archbishops and the most eminent Persons of those times for Learning and Vertue but this would be too prolix and contrary to my Design But in the First place let us reflect that after Retram had Written his Treatise of the Body and Blood of Christ How all the Bishops and Prelates of France could precedently elect him in a matter of so great consequence to defend the Latin Church against the Pretensions of the Greeks and rely chiefly upon his management of it Especially since Pope Nicholas the First who had excited them to this Debate approved of their Choice for had they found any flaw in his Doctrine as not conformable to the Antient Belief of the Church they might with Reason have suspected that he might have vented some other error in his Disputes with the Greeck Church which would utterly have ruin'd their Cause But no such thing was surmis'd of him nor objected against him whence we may certainly infer That all the Bishops and Prelates of the Gallican Church yea and the Pope also were of his Opinion in the Doctrine of the Eucharist To this we may add That Pope Adrian the Second who also Govern'd the Church during this Debate never opposed himself against the Doctrine of Retram nor never Reprehended him for it which notwithstanding he ought to have done had he deem'd it any way Heterodox Gratian. in in Decret dist 82. C. Error For as Gratian tells us He approves an Error which he doth not oppose especially if by his Office he ought to do it And because during this Ninth Century there were so few that adher'd to the Doctrine of Paschasius it seemed very inconsiderable and like to dye of it self for want of support and therefore was prudently not reflected upon Whence we may safely conclude that the General Belief of the Church till almost Nine Hundred years after Christ was conformable to the Doctrine of Retram and of John Erigéne who denyed the Existence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament in Verity and Reality and admitted it Virtually Figuratively and by way of a Sacrament Which belief maugre all the Anathemaes of the Church of Rome is lineally descended from Christ and his Apostles to these our times and is the general perswasion of the Protestant Church of England and conformable to the Nine and Thirty Articles Seconly Consider which of these two Dogmatical Assertions is most like to be the genuine and legitimate off-spring of Christ either that which drew his Origine immediately from Christ and his Apostles and hath kept possession ever since or the other that was not started till Eight Hundred years after and knows no other Progenitor but Paschasius The first certainly will appear to the unbiassed judgment of all to be Legitimate and the second Spurious and Adulterate But Thirdly Here is yet a higher Point which presents it self to our consideration We all believe that the Divine Word pursuant to his efficacious Decree became Incarnate chiefly for this end That in Human Nature he might Redeem Mankind he accomplished this end by a cruel Death and other Indignities which he suffered and thereby fatisfied for our Transgressions and Merited for us an infinite Treasure of Graces and to the end that Mankind might participate of this ineffable benefit for all future ages he instituted a Church ordained Sacraments to convey those Graces to our Souls He Instructed those that were to initiate his Church in his Divine Doctrine he gave them his Heavenly Precepts c. Whence I appeal to the impartial and unbyassed judgments both of Men and Angels whether it be probable or credible that this Supreme Artificer instructed with all his infinite Attributes of an illimited Knowledge Power Wisdom Providence c. should leave this great Work of our Redemption which was his Master-piece imperfect and incompleat yea contaminated with gross Errors and Heresies in its first Foundation in a matter of such high moment which concerned his most Sacred Body and Blood and was destructive of the Essentials of one of those two Sacraments which he had ordain'd and the Principal for Dignity and permit its progress in this erroneous Doctrine for Eight Hundred years together which would have had a direct tendency to confusion and finally to the utter ruine and dissolution of his Church and so frustrate the final end of his Incarnation And that after so many Centuries one Paschasius Rathert a Monk should start up from his Cell and pretend to Correct this Error and hereby to perfect and amend the work of the Omnipotent as if Christ would not or could not have done it of himself Is this I say credible or Would it not highly derogate from the Dignity of the Divine Person and the infinite Attributes of our great Lord and Master What then must we conclude But that this belief of the Body and Blood of Christ which took its Origine from the Primitive Institution of Christianity was True Orthodox and Catholick Doctrine so that Christ accomplisht the design which he had undertaken perfectly and compleatly and so remitted it to Posterity without either spot or blemish And if you desire Presidents do but cast a compendious glance upon all the former products of the Omnipotent hand of God The Frame of this Universe was Projected and Created by God himself who having produc't it he saw that it was very good that is perfect and compleat He Created the Angels with all the Natural Perfections due to the excellency of their Nature no accomplishment was wanting and moreover in their first Creation imbued them with Supernatural Grace and gave them a Title to Glory Simul in eis condens naturam Aug. l. 12. de Civit. C. 9. largiens gratiam saith St. Austin The same saith St. Gregory in his Morals and others Man was likewise produc't in his full perfection and his Soul in its first Creation was imbellisht with Sactifying Grace and Original Justice The Superior Orbes were Created and placed in their respective Sphears with all the Accomplishment of Perfection proper to their Nature with due Subordination conducing to the good and perservation of the Universe their Natural Motion was imprinted into them in their first Creation which still remains immutable though probably their rapt motion be regulated by the Ministery of Angels And in this sublunary World there is not one Species but in its first being received all the Perfections which were appropriated to its kind So that all the Works of God were perfect and compleat though some of the Angels
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