desired may be handled publickly and in the Congregation those Meetings only excepted which are kept by the People in order to their proposing of Matters to be consulted about according to ancient Custom and the Order of the said Metropolitan ACTION II. ON the second Day after the singing of the Antiphony Psalm Prayers and Hymn as they are in the Roman Pontifical the most Reverend Metropolitan being seated in his Chair said Venerable and Beloved Brethren the Priests and you my dearest Sons in Christ the Procurators and Representatives of the People We having done little more Yesterday than celebrate the Divine Offices and Preach to the People it is fit we should begin to Day to Treat of Matters appertaining to the Synod In the first place of those that belong to the Integrity and Truth of our Holy Catholick Faith and the Profession of the same which before we go about I do again admonish you in our Lord Jesus Christ that all such things as you shall judge to stand in need of Reformation in this Bishoprick or any part thereof may be signified to us or to the Congregation that so with the Divine favour and assistance all things by your Diligence and Charity may be brought into so good Estate as is desired for the praise of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Decree II. THat this Synod may in all things Govern it self according to the Directions of the Holy Canons and tread in the Footsteps of the Holy General Councils and particularly of the Holy Council of Trent upon the knowledge it has of the Necessities of this Church and of the diversity of Opinions that have been hitherto therein concerning Matters of our Holy Catholick Faith and of the Errors contrary thereunto which have been sowed in this Diocess by Hereticks and Schismaticks it doth command all Persons Ecclesiasticks and Seculars called hither either in their own Name or in the Name of others Ecclesiasticks or Laicks of this Bishoprick to make Profession and Oath of the following Faith in the hands of the most Illustrious Metropolitan President of this Synod And for the more effectual execution of this Decree and to provoke others by his own Example the most Illustrious Metropolitan having robed himself in his Pontificals but without his Mitre kneeling down before the Altar and having laid his hands upon a Cross that was upon a Book of the Gospels did in his own Name as the present Prelate and Metropolitan of the Diocess and in the Name of all the Christians belonging to the same and every Person thereof Secular and Ecclesiastick make Profession and Oath of the Faith following which was immediately declared to all that were present The Profession and Oath of the Faith IN the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost one only true God in the Year of our Lord 1599 in the Seventh Year of the Pontificate of our most Holy Lord Clement VIII Bishop of Rome in the Town of Diamper in the Kingdom of Malabar in the East-Indies in the Church of All Saints on the 21st of June in a Diocesan Synod of the Bishoprick of Serra Assembled by the most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Arch-Bishop Metropolitan of Goa and the Oriental Parts and the See being vacant of the said Bishoprick I N. do of my own free Will without any manner of force and constraint for the Salvation of my Soul believing it in my heart protest that with a firm Faith I do believe and confess all and every one of the Articles contained in the Symbol of Faith which is used in Holy Mother Roman Church I believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man and was Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He suffered and was buried and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with Glory to Judge both the Quick and the Dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of Sins and I look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come I do firmly receive and embrace all Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and all the Observances and Constitutions of the said Church I admit the Holy Scriptures in that sence wherein it has ever been and is still held by Mother Church to whom it belongeth to judge of the true Sence and Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures neither will I either receive or interpret it but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I do confess likewise that there are Seven true and proper Sacraments of the New Testament instituted by Christ our Lord which are all necessary to the health of Mankind tho' not to every particular Person they are Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Order Penance Matrimony and Extream Unction which do all conferr Grace on those that receive them worthily and of these seven Sacraments that Baptism Confirmation and Orders are to be received but once neither can they be repeated without great Sacrilege I admit and receive all the Customs Rites and Ceremonies received and approved of in the Roman Church in the solemn Administration of the said seven Sacraments and do also receive and embrace all in general and every thing in particular that has been defined and declared concerning Original Sin and Justification in the Holy Council of Trent I do likewise confess that in the Mass there is offer'd to God a true and proper Sacrifice of Pardon both for the Quick and the Dead and that in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is the true real and substantial Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the whole substance of the Bread is by Consecration turned into the Body of Christ and the whole substance of the Wine into his Blood which Conversion the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation Moreover I do confess that under each Species Christ is entire and the true Sacrament is received I do constantly hold and confess that there is a * Purgatory John Fisher Bishop of Rochester in his 18th Article against Luther does acknowledge the Doctrine
together with clear Confirmations of the Truth of what we meet with in the Fourteenth and other Decrees of the Third Action of this Synod to wit That the Three great Doctrines of Popery the Pope's Supremacy Transubstantiation the Adoration of Images were never believed nor practised at any time in this ancient Apostolical Church but on the contrary were rejected and condemned by her and that in her Publick Offices So that upon what we learn from this Synod and History I think one may venture to say That before the time of the late Reformation there was no Church that we know of no not that of the Vaudois abating that one thing of her being infected with the Heresie of Nestorius of which too she is cleared by one of the Roman Communion that had so Few Errors in Doctrine as the Church of Malabar If the Synod I here publish should be well received as I have reason to hope it will by all Protestants and lovers of Truth upon the account of the clear Discoveries it makes of the forementioned Popish Errors having never been at any time the Doctrines of the Universal Church which we know is confidently affirmed and much boasted of and for further satisfaction in so important a Matter the above-named History should be desired I shall be ready to translate and publish it with all expedition alone and in the same Volume with this of the Synod together with the best Account I can procure of the Church of Malabar and the other Oriental Churches that were never within the Bounds of the Roman Empire for it is in those Churches that we are to expect to meet with the least of the Leaven of Popery As to the Synod to prevent all surmises of its being a Piece either forged by some Protestant or of no Authority in the Church of Rome tho' set forth by a Member of her Communion I have together with the whole Title Page which tells where when and by whom it was printed translated and published all the Licences that it came out with And if any should suspect the Translation if they please they may satisfie themselves of its Fidelity by having recourse to the Original in the Bodleian Library at Oxford to which as the safest as well as noblest Repository of Books in the World I design to give it I have here and there added some short Remarks upon some Passages which will not I hope be unacceptable to the Reader The DOCTRINES wherein the Church of Malabar agrees with the Church of England and differs from that of Rome 1. SHe condemns the Pope's Supremacy 2. She affirms that the Church of Rome is fallen from the true Faith 3. She denies Transubstantiation or that Christ's Body and Blood are really and substantially in the Eucharist 4. She condemns Images and the Adoration of them as Idolatrous 5. She makes no use of Oils in the Administration of Baptism 6. She allows of no Spiritual Affinity 7. She denies Purgatory 8. She denies the necessity of Auricular Confession 9. She knows nothing of Extream Vnction 10. She allows her Priests to Marry as often as they have a mind and Ordains such as have been married three or four times and to Widows without any scruple 11. She denies Matrimony to be a Sacrament 12. She holds but two Orders Priesthood and Diaconate 13. She Celebrates in Leavened Bread 14. She Consecrates with Prayer 15. She denies Confirmation to be a Sacrament In the Account that is given of the Doctrines of the Church of Malabar in the Eighteenth Chapter of the First Book of the Visitation SHe is said 1. Not to adore Images 2. To hold but Three Sacraments Baptism the Eucharist and Order 3. To make no use of Oils 4. To have had no Knowledge of Confirmation or Extream Unction 5. To abhor Auricular Confession 6. To hold many enormous Errors about the Eucharist insomuch that the Author of the History saith he is inclined to believe that the Hereticks of our Times meaning Protestants the revivers of all forgotten Errors and Ignorances might have had their Doctrine about the Eucharist from them 7. To Ordain such as have been married several times and to Widows and to approve of her Priests marrying as often as they have a mind 8. That she abhors the Pope and the Church of Rome as Anti-Christian in pretending to a Superiority and Jurisdiction over all other Churches A Diocesan SYNOD Of the Church and Bishoprick of ANGAMALE Belonging to the Ancient Christians of St. Thomas in the Serra or Mountains of MALABAR Celebrated by the most Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the See being vacant of the above-named Bishoprick by virtue of two Briefs of the most Holy Father Pope Clement 8th on the third Sunday after Pentecost being the 20th day of July in the Year of our Lord 1599. in the Church of All-Saints in the Town and Kingdom of Diamper Subject to the King of Cothin an Infidel in which the said Bishoprick with all the Christians thereunto belonging submitted it self to the Pope and the Holy Roman Church Printed at Conimbra in the Shop of Diogo Gomez Laureyro Printer to the University in the Year of our Lord 1606. THE Father of the Society of Jesus intrusted with the revising of Books in Conimbra having perused the Synod mentioned in the following Petition and the Inquisition of the said City having upon his Approbation given Licence to Print the same we do Order That after it is Printed it be together with the Book Intituled The Journey of the Serra or Mountains transmitted to this Council that it may be compared with the Original and Licensed without which it shall not be made publick Marcos Teixira Ruy Piz de veiga I Have perused this Synod and to me it appears to be a Work that deserves to be Printed for besides the sound Doctrine contained therein it will be of great Use and Consolation to all and very necessary to the extirpating of the Errors Schism and Heresies sown by Hereticks and particularly the Nestorians in the ancient Christianity planted in the Indies by the Apostle St. Thomas Octob. 23d 1605. Joan Pinto BY virtue of a particular Commission to us granted in this behalf by the Council of the General Inquisition of these Kingdoms having seen the Information of Father Joan Pinto Revisor of this City we give Licence for the Printing of the Book Intituled The Synod and the Journey of the Serra provided that after it is Printed it be sent to the said Council to be compared with the Original and to have leave to be made publick Jan. 11. 1606. Joan Alvarez Brandon It may be Printed Conimbra 25th of Feb. 1606. The Bishop Conde THE PUBLICATION and CALLING OF THE SYNOD DOM Frey Aleixo de Menezes by the mercy of God and the Holy Roman See Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the Oriental Parts c. To the
Reverend in Christ Father George Archdeacon of the Christians of St. Thomas in the Serra of the Kingdom of Malabar and to all other Priests Curates Deacons and Subdeacons and to all Towns Villages and Hamlets and to all Christian People of the said Bishoprick Health in our Lord Jesus Christ We give you all and every one of you in particular to understand that the most Holy Father Pope Clement VIII our Lord Bishop of Rome and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ upon earth at this time presiding in the Church of God having sent two Briefs directed to Vs one of the 27th of Jan. in the Year 1595 and the other of the 21st of the same Month in the Year 1597 in which by virtue of his Pastoral Office and that Vniversal Power bequeathed to the Supream Holy and Apostolical Chair of St. Peter over all the Churches in the World by Jesus Christ the Son of God our Lord and Redeemer he commanded us upon the death of the Archbishop Mar-Abraham to take Possession of this Church and Bishoprick so as not to suffer any Bishop or Prelate coming from Babylon to enter therein as has been hitherto the Custom all that come from thence being Schismaticks Hereticks and Nestorians out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Subject to the Patriarch of Babylon the Head of the said Heresy and to appoint a Governour or Apostolical Vicar to Rule the said Diocess both in Spirituals and Temporals until such time as the Holy Roman Church shall provide it of a proper Pastor which being read by us we were desirous to execute the Apostolical Mandates with due Reverence and Obedience besides that the same was incumbent on us of right the said Church having no Chapter to take care of it during the vacancy of the See as Metropolitan and Primate of this and all the other Churches of the Indies and the Oriental Parts But perceiving that our Mandate in that behalf had no effect what we had ordered not having been obeyed in the said Diocess so that what our most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome had designed was like to be frustrated after having laboured therein for the space of two Years Schism and Disobedience to the Apostolical See having been so rooted in that Diocess for a great many Years that the Inhabitants thereof instead of yielding Obedience to the Apostolical and Our Mandates on the contrary upon the intimation thereof did daily harden themselves more and more committing greater Offences against the Obedience due to the Holy Roman Church after having commended the Matter to God and ordered the same to be done through our whole Diocess and after mature Advice by which Methods the Apostolical Mandates might be best executed and being also moved by the Piety of the People and the Mercy God had shewn them in having preserved so many thousand Souls in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ from the time that the Holy Apostle St. Thomas had Preached to them until this day notwithstanding their having lived among so many Heathens and been scattered in divers places their Churches and all belonging to them having been always subject to Idolatrous Kings and Princes and incompassed with Idols and Pagods and that without holding any correspondence with any other Christians before the coming of the Portuguezes into these Parts we being likewise desirous that the Labours of the Holy Apostle St. Thomas which still remained among them should not be lost for want of sound Doctrine and that the Apostolical Mandates might not be frustrated did determine and having provided for the Government of our own Church during our absence did prepare to go in Person to take Possession of the said Bishoprick to see if by our Presence we might be able to reduce them to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and purge out the Heresies and false Doctrines sown among them and introduced by the Schismatical Prelates and Nestorian Hereticks that had governed them under the Obedience of the Patriarch of Babylon as also to call in and purge the Books containing those Heresies and according to our Pastoral Duty so far as God should enable us to Preach to them in Person the Catholick Truth Accordingly going into the said Bishoprick we set about visiting the Churches thereof but at that time Satan the great Enemy of the good of Souls having stirred up great Commotions and much opposition against this our just intent great numbers departing from us and forming a Schism against the Holy Roman Church after having passed through many troubles and dangers out of all which God of his great mercy not remembring our sins and evil deeds was pleased to deliver us and to grant us an intire Peace for the Merits of the glorious Apostle St. Thomas the Patron of this Christianity but chiefly of his own great Clemency and Mercy which makes that he doth not delight in the death of a sinner but rather that he should return and live and by coming all to the light of the Truth may joyn with us in the Confession of the Catholick Faith approving our Doctrine and Intention and submitting themselves to the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church which being by us observed after having returned Thanks to God we thought fit in order to the compassing and securing of all those good Effects to assemble a Diocesan Synod in some commodious place near the middle of the said Diocess there to Treat of all such Matters as are convenient for the honour of God the exaltation of the Holy Catholick Faith and Divine Worship the good of the Church the extirpation of Vice the Reformation of the Christians of the said Diocess and the profit and peace of their Souls to which end having pitched upon the Town and Church of Diamper We do hereby let all the Inhabitants and Christians of the said Bishoprick as well Ecclesiasticks as Laicks of what State or Condition soever to understand that we do call and assemble a Diocesan Synod in the said Town of Diamper on the 20th of June of this present Year 1599 being the Third Sunday after Whitsuntide and do therefore by Virtue of holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication latae Sententiae Command the Reverend the Arch-Deacon of this Diocess and all the other Priests of the same that shall not be hindered by Age or some other just Impediment to be present in the said Town of Diamper there with us to celebrate a Diocesan Synod conformable to the Holy Canons And whereas by immemorial Custom and a Right introduced into this Diocess from its Beginning and consented to by all the Infidel Kings of Malabar the whole Government as it were and the Cognizance of all Matters wherein Christians are any ways concerned has belonged to the Church and the Prelate thereof and it having likewise been an ancient Custom in the same to give an Account to the People of whatsoever has been ordained in the Church in order to its being the
St. Mark St. Luke and St. John the Acts of the Apostles writ by St. Luke the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul viz. One to the Romans two to the Corinthians one to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians two to the Thessalonians two to Timothy one to Titus one to Philemon and to the Hebrews two of the Apostle St. Peter three of the Apostle St. John one of the Apostle St. James one of the Apostle St. Jude and the Revelation of the Apostle St. John all which Books with all their parts are Canonical and contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true Decree II. THe Synod declareth that in the Books of the New Testament used in this Church and writ in the Syrian or Syriack Tongue there is wanting in the Gospel of St. John the beginning of the 8th Chapter the History of the Adulteress that was carried before our Lord Christ as also in the 10th of St. Luke where it is said that Christ sent seventy two Disciples it is said he sent seventy Disciples and in the 6th of St. Matthew the words For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever is added to the end of the Lord's Prayer there is also wanting in the said Books the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third Epistles of St. John and that of Jude and the Revelation of St. John and in the 4th Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is wanting having been impiously left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo and in the 5th Chapter of the same Epistle these words are wanting There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One and in the Old Testament there are wanting the Books of Esther Tobit and Wisdom all which the Synod commandeth to be translated and the passages that are wanting to be restored to their Purity according to the Chaldee Copies which are emended and the Vulgar Latin Edition made use of by holy Mother Church that so this Church may have the Holy Scriptures entire and may use it with all its parts as it was written and as it is to be used in the Universal Church to which end the Synod desireth the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus and Professor of the Syrian Tongue in the College of Vaipicotta in this Bishoprick that he would be pleased to take the trouble thereof upon him for which he is so well qualified by reason of his great skill both in the Syrian Language and the Scripture Decree III. WHereas the Holy Scriptures are the Pillars that support our Holy Faith and as it were the Foundations whereon it stands and wherein the Truth and Purity thereof is to be met with which has made all Hereticks in their endeavours to destroy the said Faith constantly and industriously to corrupt the Text of the Divine Scriptures partly by taking away such passages as did manifestly contradict their Errors and by perverting other places so as to make them * Seem to favour them It is hard to give any other reason than this why the Church of Rome tho' since the time of the Council of Trent she has corrected some hundreds of Errors in the Vulgar Latin did not think fit to correct that in the 3d. of Genesis which they apply to the Virgin Mary nor that in the 11th of Isaiah which they make use of to promote Pilgrimages to Jerusalem nor that in the 11th to the Hebrews which seems to make for the Adoration of Images nor that in the first Chapter of the 2d Epist of St. Peter which seems to give some countenance to the Invocation of Saints seem to favour them which hath also happened in this Bishoprick through its having been governed by Bishops who were Nestorian Hereticks and that used the same practices upon the Holy Scriptures that were in their hands in favour of their Heresies as in the 20th of the Acts of the Apostles where St. Paul saith Take heed to your selves and the whole Church over which the Holy Spirit hath made you Bishops to rule the Church of God which he purchased with his Blood the word God is impiously changed for that of Christ and it is said that Christ hath made them to govern his Church which he purchased with his own Blood because the Nestorians being instigated by the Devil will not acknowledge according to the Catholick Truth that God suffered and shed his Blood for us and in the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo because it contradicts the Nestorians who do impiously divide Christ by making him to have two Persons and in the 3d. Chap. of the same Epistle where it is said In this we know the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us the word God is maliciously left out and that of Christ put in its stead saying That in this we know the Love of Christ c. and so it favours the Nestorian Heresie which denies God to have dyed for us and in the 2d Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews where the Apostle saith We have seen Jesus for the Passion of his Death crowned with glory and honour that he by the Grace of God should taste death foâ— all men the Surian the better to make a difference of Persons in Christ which was what Nestorius taught has impiously added VVe have seen Jesus for the passion of his death crowned with honour and glory that the Grace of God praeter Deum or besides God might taste death for all and in the 6th of St. Luke where our Lord Christ saith Lend hoping for nothing again to favour and justifie their Usury they have made it Lend and from thence hope for something All which places being depraved and corrupted by Hereticks the Synod commandeth to be corrected in all their Books and to be restored according to the Purity and Truth of the Vulgar Edition used by Holy Mother Church entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan forthwith to visit the Churches of this Diocess either in Person or by some well skilled in the Syrian Tongue whom he shall be pleased to depute Decree IV. THe Synod being informed that the Christians of this Diocess by reason of the Communication they have with Infidels and by living among them have imbibed several of their Errors and Ignorances namely three that are the common Errors of all the Infidels of these parts the first is That there is a * Transmigration This was not the Doctrine of this Church as appears plainly from what is said in twenty places of this Synod of her believing that the Souls of the Just departed this Life were in a Terrestrial Paradise where they were to remain till the day of Judgment Transmigration of Souls which after Death go either into the Bodies
Ecclesiam non Communicant What the Cardinal saith here of these two Practices makes almost the whole Roman Worship at this time to be a meer Novelty the whole of that Worship consisting almost now in Peoples going o Mass upon Sundays and Holy-days which the Church obliges them to not obliging them at the same time to communicate above once a Year and in adoring the Host when the Priest elevates it As to the Priest's putting the Sacrament into the mouth of the Communicants the same Cardinal in the 17th Chap. of his second Book saith Sacra Communio antiquo ritu non ore excipi solebat ut hodiè fit sed manu quam qui susceperat Ori reverenter admovebat As to the Priest's speaking the words of Consecration so low that no body can hear him in his 12th Chap. of the same Book he saith Graeci alii Orientales verba consecrationis elatâ voce pronunciant populus respondet Amen Eundem morem servabat olim Ecclesia Occidentalis omnes enim audiebant verba consecrationis postea statutum est ut Canon submissa voce recitaretur sic desiit ea consuetudo seculo decimo ut conjicio As to the usage of her denying the Cup to the People in the 18th Chap. of his second Book he saith Semper enim ubique ab Ecclesiae primordiis usque ad saeculum duodecimum sub specie panis Vini in Ecclesiis communicârunt fideles coepitque paulatim ejus saeculi initio usus calicis obsolescere plerisque Episcopis eum populo interdicentibus sic paulatim introducta est Communio sub solâ specie panis quod à nullo negari potest qui vel levissimâ rerum Ecclesiasticarum notitiâ imbutus est And as to her making use of Unleavened Bread in the 23d Chap. of his first Book he saith Quod si Veteres Patres percurrere omnem evolvere antiquitatem libeat inveniemus proculdubio sic à tempore Apostolorum de inceps de pane Eucharistico omnes loqui ut non nisi de communi fermentato commodè intelligi explicari queant As to her giving the Sacrament in Wafers in the 23d Chap. of the same Book he saith Vivente Humberto qui floruit Anno 1245. panis consecrandus in Eucharistiâ tantae magnitudinis erat ut ex eo consecratae tot particulae frangi possent quot erant necessariae ad populum communicandum panis qui tradebatur talis fuit ut deglutiri non posset nisi dentibus comminutus And as to her keeping the consecrated Bread or Hosts as she calls them after the Communion is over he saith in the same Book Ne reliquiae Sacramenti superessent saepe decretum est ut tot particulae consecrarentur quot erant parati ad communionem si quid residuum foret à sacerdete seu Ministris commederetur quod si contigerit ut Ministrorum incuria putrescerent statuit Concilium Arelatense apud Joan. X. 2. Cap. 56. ut igne comburatur cinis juxta Altare sepeliatur idque in usu fuisse docet Algerus Lib. 2. Cap. 1. Now I take this acknowledged change of Rites in the Administration of the Eucharist to be a very great Evidence that there has been a Change of belief about it and indeed to have been the Natural Consequence of such a Change and so I believe will any body else that shall consider it impartially changed for others without a great Sin notwithstanding they do not appertain to the Integrity or Essence of the Sacraments there are three that imprint a Spiritual sign on the Soul that can never be blotted out it is called a Character which is the reason why those Sacraments are never to be repeated they are Baptism Confirmation and Orders the other four that is Penitence the Eucharist Extream Vnction and Matrimony imprint no Spiritual Sign in the Soul and so may be repeated with due Order but tho' these seven Sacraments are all Divine and do contain Grace and dispense it to their worthy Receivers deserving our most profound Reverence and Adoration on the account of the Majesty of their Institutor who was our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God as also for the assistance of the Holy Spirit who operates in conjunction with them and for the virtue that is in them for the curing of Souls the Treasure of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ being deposited in them and dispensed to us by their means Nevertheless this does not hinder but that in some respects some of them may be more worthy than others and may deserve a greater reverence and veneration These Sacraments were all instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ before his Ascention into Heaven that so by their means he might communicate Grace and other Spiritual Benefits he had merited for us by his Death on the Cross confirming them to the faithful by his Word and Promises that so by using them lawfully and with due dispositions we might be ascertained of his communicating himself and all the fruits of his Passion to us in every one of them in such a manner as he represents himself in them The Doctrine of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism THe first of all the Sacraments is that of Baptism which is the Gate of the Spiritual Life and that whereby we are made capable of the other Sacraments of which without it we are no ways capable for as a Man must first be born before he can enjoy the good things of the Natural Life so Men before they are born again in Baptism are not capable of enjoying the heavenly advantages of a Spiritual Life it being by Baptism that we are made Members of Christ and are incorporated into the Christian Common-wealth and the Mystical Body of the Church for as by the first man Death came upon all for the Sin of Disobedience committed by him and us for which Sin we were excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and were born Children of Wrath and separated from God so that without being born again of Water and the Spirit we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as Christ himself has taught us so that as we were born Children of Wrath by Baptism we return to be Children of Grace and as we were born in sin the Sons of Men in Baptism we are born the Sons of God all that are baptized in Christ as St. Paul hath it having put on Christ The Matter of this Sacrament is true natural and common Water as of the Sea Rivers Fountains Lakes or Rain and no other tho' never so pure and clean all others being Liquors and not natural Water The Form is I Baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The Minister of this Sacrament is a Priest to whom it belongs by virtue of his Office but in case of necessity not only a Priest or Deacon but a Lay-man or Woman nay an Infidel a Mahometan a Heretick or Jew
Patriarchae totius Ecclesiae Catholicae pastoris naming the Patriarch of Babylon by Name instead thereof he shall say Praecipuè oportet nos orare pro incolumitate patrum nostrorum Domini Papae naming him also Episcopi hujus Metropolis naming him also Furthermore when the Deacon a little before saith Commemoramus autem beatissimam Mariam virginem Matrem Christi salvatoris it shall be said Sanctam Matrem Dei vivi salvatoris Redemptoris nostri c. because the perverse Nestorians do impiously deny the Blessed Virgin to be the Mother of God as has been observed Furthermore when the Deacon a little lower saith Commemoramus quoque Patres nostros sanctos veritatis Doctores Dominum Sanctum Nestorium c. all which is Heretical it being an impious thing sacrilegiously to pray to God to preserve the Doctrine of Nestorius and of other Hereticks his followers in the Church all the forementioned having been such except St. Ephraim wherefore instead of them he shall say Commemoramus quoque Patres nostros sanctos veritatis Doctores S. Cyrillum c. And tho' in some Missals the Names of Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus are already left out yet they do still remain in some and the Names of Abraham and Narcissus two of the Ringleaders of that cursed Sect are in all of them Wherefore there must be care taken to have them also left out Furthermore in the beginning of the Prayer wherein the Deacon saith Oportet nos orare exaltare unum Deum Patrem Dominum omnium adoratione dignissimum qui per Christum fecit nobis bonam spem it shall be said Qui per Jesum Christum filium suum Dominum nostrum fecit nobis bonam spem Furthermore where the Priest pouring the Wine into the Cup saith Misceatur pretiosus Sanguis in Calice Domini nostri Jesu Christi it shall be said Misceatur Vinum in Calice Domini nostri that no occasion may be given to the Error of calling the Wine before it is consecrated The Precious Blood of Christ alluding to the condemned Custom of the Greeks who as they offer the Bread and Wine before they are consecrated so they adore them too saying they do it for what they are to be and presently after where the Priest saith Expectans expectavi Dominum Corpus Christi sanguinem ejus pretiosum super sanctum altare offeramus it shall be said for the same reason Panem Sanctum Calicem pretiosum offeramus and immediately after where the Deacon saith Edent pauperes saturabuntur Corpus Christi Sanguinem ejus pretiosum super sanctum altare offeramus He shall say for the same reason Ede◠pauperes saturabuntur Panem sanctum Calicem pretiosum c. Furthermore where the Priest with a low Voice in the Prayer which begins Offeratur gloriae immoletur saith Christus qui oblatus est pro salute nostrâ he shall say Jesus Christus Dominus noster Dei filius qui oblatus est c. And where the Priest raising his Voice saith Gloria Patri c. Fiat Commemoratio Virginis Mariae Matris Christi he shall say Fiat commemoratio Virginis Marie Matris ipsius Dei Domini nostri Jesu Christi And a little lower where the Deacon saith In saecula usque in saecula Amen Amen Apostoli ipsius filii amici unigenti he shall say Apostoli ipsius filii Dei amici And where the Priest begins Pusilli cum majoribus and saith Resurrectione tuâ supergloriosâ resuscitabis eos ad gloriam tuam he shall say Per Resurrectionem tuam supergloriosam suscitabis eos Furthermore where the Deacon saith Effundite coram illo corda vestra jejunio oratione poenitentia placaverunt Christum Patrem quoque Spiritum ejus sanctum where in saying Spiritum sanctum ejus they seem to allude to the Error of the Greeks that the Holy Spirit proceedeth only from the Father and not from the Father and the Son as from one principal as the Catholick Faith confesseth and because the Nestorians by reason of the great Communication they have had with the Greeks have imbibed some of their Errors that there may be therefore no countenance given to such an Error it shall be reformed thus Placaverunt Patrem Filium Spiritum Sanctum Furthermore In the Prayer where the Priest saith Dominus Deus fortis tua est Ecclesia sancta Catholica quae admirabili Christi tui passione empta est it shall be said Quae admirabili Christi filii tui c. Furthermore near the end of the Gospel taken out of that Chapter of St. John which as has been observed is corrupted in the Syrian Translation where it is read quoniam venit hora in quâ omnes qui in monumentis sunt audient vocem ipsius it shall be read audient vocem filii Dei as it is in the Gospel Furthermore in the Creed that is sung in the Mass there are wanting several substantial words where speaking of our Lord Christ and saying that he was born of the Father before all Worlds there is wanting God of God light of light very God of very God all which shall be added to it as also the word consubstantial to the Father leaving out the words that are in its place in the Syrian filius essentiae Patris and the whole shall be reformed and translated into the same words as it is sung in the Catholick Church in the Roman Missal Furthermore presently after the Creed where the Deacon praying for and making a Commemoration of the Holy Apostles Martyrs and Confessors desires of God that he would raise them up that they may be Crowned with Glory at the Resurrection of the Dead saying Oremus in quam ut resurrectione quae est ex mortuis à Deo coronâ donentur which besides that it is not the Custom of the Church to pray for the Holy Apostles Martyrs and Confessors nor to desire any good thing for them whom we believe to be in possession of Bliss but much rather to * Pray to them The Malabar Custom in this is much the ancienter as appears from all the ancient Liturgies in all which Petitions Christians prayed for the Dead no otherwise than as we pray for them in the Lord's Prayer in the Petition Thy Kingdom come and in the Office for the Burial of the Dead where we beseech God of his gracious goodness shortly to accomplish the number of his Elect and to hasten his Kingdom Pray to them to intercede for us and to obtain for us of God whose familiar Friends they are all that we stand in need of and is of importance both as to all our Spiritual and just Temporal Concerns it seems to allude to the Nestorian Opinion That the Souls of the Saints are not to see God until after their Bodies are raised at the day of Judgment and that till then they are in a Terrestrial Paradise which is Impious