service for you contradict his word his plain express word is that Bread and wine after the words of consecration are converted into his real body and bloud for his express words upon the bread and wine he took in his hand be these this is my body this is my bloud And you say no it is not his body but the signe or Sacrament of his body only and you have no more reason to misbelieve this then you have to misbelieve the Mysteries of his Incarnation and of the Blessed Trinity because his word or Testimony for this is as clear if not clearer then for any of the other two grand Mysteries of our Belief and Gods word or Testimony is the only ground and motive of our faith and as you misbelieve his word in this point so you misbelieve his Church in many things more notwithstanding his express word commands you the contrary as in S. Math. 18. he bids you hear the Church And in S. Luke the 10th speaking to his Church representative he sayes he that heareth you heareth me he that despiseth you despiseth me a lesson which every good Christian ought to heed very well It is also one of the Articles of our Creed to believe in the Catholick Church In a word because you believe not him nor obey his Church your preaching the Gospel and your unchristian Religion whereof you so much boast and wherein as in your selves be many failings and absurdities are very far from being pure and clean and consequently the sacrifices you here mention though as they are offered by the orthodox people while they are in the state of grace be pure and acceptable to God yet your schismatical or rather heretical sacrifices are neither pure nor pleasing to him for you like rotten or withered branches are excommunicated and quite cut off from his Church and so will still remain until you be reconciled unto her according to Christs command That your doctrine and preaching and consequently your sacrifice and service to God are not clean and pure but rather putrid and stinking appears manifestly by these your own words which be these And although the faithful that present their bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God be compassed with many infirmities and that their Religious actions be accompanied with divers failings yet their persons and works may be said to be pure and clean in Jesus Christ in whose name they are presented to God so that although they cannot of themselves please or satisfie God yet as they are members of Christ they are reputed holy before God for it is these S. Peter speaks of in Ep. 1. c. 2. who as living stones are built up a spiritual house a holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ. And so you say your sacrifices are a pure and clean offering but it is through Jesus Christ who covers them with his purity and holyness so that the defects of them are not imputed to you This I say is very impure and stinking doctrine for it contradicts Gods word who Proverb 15. sayes the victims of the impious are abominable to our Lord. God is no acceptor of persons if a drunkard a whoremaster a murderer or a thief offer him never so many sacrifices while he is out of the state of Grace although he offers them in Christs name they are not pleasing or acceptable to God but rather odious and abhominable and much less are the sacrifices of disobedient and stubborn heretical spirits pleasing unto him for Obedience is with him better then victims and consequently to be obedient to his Church is more acceptable unto him then any victims or sacrifices we can offer him in whose name soever Therefore until Mr. de Rodon can prove that his is the only universal Church of Ood which he will never be able to accomplish he ought not to brag or boast of his sacrifices for all the sacrifices that are offered to God out of his Church as the Jewes offer him sacrifices too are odious and abhominable unto him Certain then it is Mr. de Rodon that you nor any of your party are those persons the Apostle meant in the fore-alledged passage and certain also it is that Christ never covers or hides your or any bodies else his nasty sins and abominable sacrifices which be always more loathsom to him then any cloose-stool or carrion is to us and much less whatever you presume your selves to be are you his members being now as dead branches lopt of from a tree cut off from his Mistical body the Church for no soul can be a living member of Christ before she be renst and washt by vertue of his pretious bloud which boiles in his Sacraments that are the spiritual salves which must be applied unto her to wash and take away all the filth of her sins Then when she is throughly cleansed and purged from sin Christ enters and inhabits her afterwards he beautifies and adorns her with a bright ray of inherent Justice and finally after well seasoning and sweetning her with the fragrant odour of divine Grace he incorporates her unto himself and makes her his mystical member Therefore Mr. de Rodon you grosly wrong Christ by saying that he covers or hids your filthiness and sins because you are his members for Christ hath no commerce with dirt he is no patron protectour or coverer of iniquity or sin he hates it from his very heart and there is nothing that causes a separation or divorcement between him and his creatures but only sin therefore if he does but only cover the sins of his mystical members and not quite wash them and take them away it follows that the dirt of their sins will stick to them also when they are in heaven for Mr. de Rodon says their sins are but covered by Christ and consequently that their sins will follow them into heaven although holy writt says that no dofiled thing shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven by this discourse the Reader may well see how stinking and impure this doctrine of the Mounsieur is as also that neither he nor his party with their confessed failings are those the Apostle spoke of and much less that they are members of Christ and consequently that their sacrifices are not acceptable to God Therefore the Apostle meant only the orthodox Catholicks that offer sacrifice unto God while they are in the state of Grace and yet the sacrifice the Apostle speaks of here is not a strict and proper sacrifice but an improper one for otherwise something must have been destroyed To what you farther answer viz. that besides the perfect purity which you have by the imputation of Christs rightiousness you have also a purity begun by the holy Ghost of which S. Paul speaks Rom. 15. in these words that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the holy Ghost I answer that you are far deceived in this your proud fancy
of your selues for as Christ covers not your impurities nor imputes his righteousness unto you but rather esteems you for no better then heathens and publicans because you hear not his Church so the holy Ghost has nothing to do with you for Christs holy spirit never contradicts Christ. True it is what you say that that which God hath decreed Jesus Christ hath purchased and the holy Ghost hath begun that that is reputed by God perfect and compleat But this only concerns orthodox people and not you for them be these the Apostle speaks of 1 Tym. 2. 8. in these words you aledge I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting And Ephes. 5. Iesus Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Very farr alass are you from such people for you pray but very little or nothing in comparison of others who pray both day and night and you pray not every where for if you were compared with the rest of the world who profess Christ you are but a handful of people in little corners or Islands and there too but for a very short time in comparison of former ages how holy your hands are set aside your own private conceits of your selves the rest of the world can easily judge how void of wrath especially against us we very well know how undoubting you are in points of Religion no body breathing can tell for no two of you could ever as yet fully agree as to that point and every one of you is always seeking but never finding what can quiet and content his conscience in that matter you run from the luke-warm Protestant to the precise Puritan or Presbyterian who hates and rayles at the Protestant Bishops and Clergy as much as they do at us others of you from being Presbyterians turn Independents and viceversa from Independents and Presbyterians you turn Anabaptists from Anabaptists you become Quakers from Quakers Fanaticks and from Phanaticks at last you become Atheists your union consists only in this that to preserve your worldly Interest you retain the common notion or name of Protestant and band all against the Roman Catholick whereas on the contrary the Roman Catholick or Papist holds still to his old Lady Dinna to his Invocation of saints to his praying for the souls departed to the Indulgences which are as he believes bequeathed by Christ unto his Church to Pur gatory all which they say are included in these two articles of our belief viz. I believe in the holy Catholick Church and in the communion of saints In a word all the Roman Catholicks do unanimously agree in all the tenents and points of their whole Religion and are perfectly satisfied and contented in their consciences as to all matters of faith without running here and there from one sect to another to search and seek after new opinions as the Protestants do How then can you be the Church the Congregation of the faithful whom the Apostle sayes Ephes. 5. Christ loved and gave himself for how can you be a glorious Church a Church without spot or wrinckle or any such thing a holy one and without blemish Objection 6th Roman 20. The sixth objection is drawn from Gen. 14. in these words And Melchisedeck king of salem bringing forth bread and wine for he was a Priest blessed him and from Ps. 110. and from Heb. 7. where it is said thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck from which words they argue thus Iesus Christ is a Priest not after the order of Aaron but after the order of Melchisedeck the difference between Aaron and Melchisedeck consisting in this viz. that Aaron and the other Levitical Priests offered bloudy sacrifices killing and shedding the bloud of beasts which they sacrificed to God as a signe and figure of the bloudy sacrifice of Iesus Christ on the Cross But Melchisedeck offered an unbloudy sacrifice for when he went to meet Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings he offered to God bread and wine And seeing this bread and wine offered to God by Melchisedeck were signs and types of Christs body and bloud Iesus Christ was obliged to offer an unbloudy sacrifice viz. his body and bloud under the species of bread and wine which he did at the Institution and celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist that so the reality of the thing typified might answer to the shaddows and types Secondly that although Melchisedeck had brought all his bread and wine for the refreshment of Abraham and his Armyâ—… that returned from the slaughter of the kings yet he first offered it to God and then gave it to them that so they might partake of the sacrifice of bread and wine and the reason of this is because the scripture saith that Abraham returned from the battle with great spoils amongst which there was bread and drink enough for the refreshment of himself and of his people Also it saith expresly that Abrahams people had taken such refreshment as was necessary before Melchisedeck met them and consequently they had no need of the bread and wine which he brought except it had been to partake of the sacrifice of the bread and wine which he offered Thirdly they say this is strongly proved by the following words for he was a Priest of the most high God which show the reason why Melchisedeck brought bread and wine viz. to make an oblation or offering of it to God for if he had brought this bread and wine for the refreshment of Abraham and his people the scripture would have said that he brought this bread and wine because that Abraham and his army being faint and tired had need of meat and drink but it speaks nothing of this on the contrary it saith that he brought bread and wine for he was a Priest fourthly they say that Jesus Christ is a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedek and seeing there can be no Priest without a sacrifice there can be no eternal Priest without an eternal or perpetual sacrifice But the sacrifice of the Cross was offered but once and cannot be reiterated for Jesus Christ dieth no more Rom. 6. Therefore there must be another perpetual sacrifice in the Church which Iesus Christ offereth by the hands of Priests which can be nothing else but the sacrifice of the Masse viz. the sacrifice of Christs body and bloud under the species of bread and wine typified by the sacrifice of broad and wine of Melchisedeck Answer Rodon 21. To this I answer first that the hebrew word doth not signifie bringing but brought drew out caused to be brought c. But our Adversaries falsifie the Text thus to make way for another falsification viz. to put
your consequences to be but frivolous and strange Therefore to the first part of this third principal reply of yours I answer also that the mediate representation commemoration and application which you found out in a good sense to be in the Sacrament or Mass we are glad you found some good thing in it if it contains any such good thing it hinders not but that an immediate representation commemoration and application according to the holy fathers and Council of Trents meaning may be also found in it which immediate representation commemoration and application because they are of far more efficacy and vertue then the former are they may be very well called a true proper sacrifice propitiatorie for the sins of the living and dead which propitiatory sacrifice Mr. de Rodon hath not as yet refuted nor will be ever able to do having all the holy fathers and practise of Gods Church against him Rodon Secondly I say that the application of the sacrifice of the Cross may be considered on Gods part or on mans part on Gods part when he offers Iesus Christ to us with all his benefits both in his word and Sacraments on mans part when by a true and lively faith working by love we embrace Iesus Christ with all his benefits offered to us both in his word and Sacraments And this is that Iesus Christ teacheth us S. John 3. in these words as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up viz. to die that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life he doth not say whosoever sacrificeth him in the Mass but whosoever believeth c. And S. Paul shews it clearly in these words God hath set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud he doth not say through the sacrifice of the Mass but through faith And we really and truly apply the sacrifice of Christs Cross when we have recourse to him as a man applys a pluister when he hath recourse to it and lays it on the wound But the recourse or refuge of a penitent sinneâ—… to the sacrifice of the Cross for obtaining mercy from God is nothing else but faith As for the distinction of the Sacramental and natural being of Iesus Christ it hath been already refuâ—…ed in the 6. number Answ. This second part of his reply I answer thus that Christ being offered not to us as the Mounsieur says but for us as the holy Evangelist tells us we ought on our parts by a true and lively faith to embrace him with all his benefits offered us by vertue of his passion both in word and Sacraments And since by his word we are to believe that it is his body which is offered for us in the Sacrament we ought to believe it without any staggering or hesitation because he himself said absolutely this is my body And as in S. Iohn the third is said that as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up So must we also believe that he was lifted up bloudily on the Cross and is lifted up dayly unbloudily in the Mass for our sins because our mother the Church commands us so to believe and Christ said he that hears not the Church let him be to thee as a heathen and publican Math. 18. However although belief be a condition requisite that the vertue of Christs Passion and his Sacraments should be applyed unto us yet it is not the principal cause of our sanctification but Christs body offered upon the Cross and in the Sacrament for Christs body offered for us is the principal cause of our salvation and the healing Plaister which is applyed to a sick soul to heaâ—… her spiritual wounds and faith whether it be actuall or habituall cannot alone do the deed and consequently S. Paul in the place alleadged where he says God hath set forth Iesus Christ to be a Propitiation through faith in his bloud must be understood through faith as a condition requisite and not through faith as the Principal cause in his bloud for the principal cause of Propitiation is Christs body and bloud offered for us once bloudily upon the Cross and dayly offered for us in the sacrifice of the Mass so that although the Apostle says not explicitly through the sacrifice of the Mass yet he says it implicitly because Christs bloud is there offered and so there is an end to all Mr. de Rodons replys As to the distinction concerning the natural and sacramental being of Jesus Christ the Prudent Reader may judge whether its refutation be not sufficiently answered by me where I solved all his arguments of the said sixth number Rodon 21. I shall conclude this discourse with the testimony of Thomas Aquinas the most famous of all the doctors of the Romish dâ—…ctors and called by our adversaries the Angelical doctor This Thomas in part 3. Quest. 8. Art 1. having proposed this question viz. whether Christ be sacrificed in the Sacrament of the Eucharist he concluds wiâ—…e these memorable words The celebration of this Sacrament is very fittly called a sacrificing of Christ as well because it is the representation of Christs Passion as because by this Sacrament we are made partakers of the fruit of the Lords Passion And afterwards he gives his answer in these words I answer we must say that the celebration of this Sacrament is called a sacrifice of Christ in two respects first because as Augustin to simplicius saith we are wont to give to Images the name of the things whereof they are Images as when we see Pictures on a wall or in a frame we say this is Cicero this is Salust c. But the celebration of this Sacrament as hath been said above is a representative Image of Christs Passion which Passion is the true sacrificing of Christ and so the celebration of this Sacrament is the sacrificing of Christ. Secondly the celebration of this Sacrament is called the sacrificing of Christ in regard of the effect of Christs Passion because by this Sacrament we are made partakers of the fruit of the Lords Passion Let the Romanists keep to this decision of their Angelical doctor and we shall agree with them in this point for I am confident that there is not one of the Reformed Religion but will subscribe to this true doctrine of Thomas Aquinas Answ. Will you indeed Mounsieur this profer I confess is fair but I doubt much whether you and yours will stand to his arbitration as to this point as for my own part I take him to be one of the most eminent doctors of our Church and worthy to be called Angelical both for his excellency in learning especially concerning the B. Sacrament and for his purity of life Therefore I wish you and your party would follow his opinion and choose him umpire betwixt you and us concerning this high question we dispute of for never
clean one the Prophet spoke of If it be a strict sacrifice a sacrifice with Incense as the Prophet sayes it is it must be destroyed Is the new time you speak of that sacrifice a great deal of that time I confess is past and spent but when was it incenst were the new people the Christians this sacrifice 't is true many of them are dead and gone but were they all thurified an Incenst at their departure out of the world or is the new place the world your new or clean sacrifice that is neither quite destroyed as yet nor in most places Incenst No more are the Lords Prayer the new sacraments viz. Baptism and the Lords supper as they are celebrated by you nor your new preaching if they be your sacrifices I say they are not offered with Incensation or thurification But the Prophet promised that at the new or clean offering or sacrifice of the new Law which sacrifice is to be offered every where or in every country or dominion it shall be offered with Incense and thurification to the honour and glory of Gods name and so I am sure do the Roman Catholicks through the whole world when they celebrate or offer the unbloudy sacrifice of the Mass solemnly to the honour and glory of Gods name they offer it with Incense and thurification And this sacrifice as we believe it is the real body and bloud of Christ is infinitly cleaner then your bare bread and wine and then all the rest of the sacrifices you mentioned are Therefore since the Prophet says there must be a new or clean sacrifice and that this sacrifice must be offered in every place with Incense to the name of God it followeth according to the Prophets words that the sacrifice of the Mass whereat Incense is dayly offered is that new and clean sacrifice since that of the Cross cannot be it it having not been Incenst nor offered in every place and the Mounsieur nor any of his party can shew us any other clean or new sacrifice of theirs where at Incense is used Moreover God not only changed and multiplied his people but also changed and bettered his sacrifice for in place of sacrificing Cattle birds and other weak and poor creatures which were not able to purge sins and were also often polluted by the sins of the offerers God in this place promised a most effectuall pure and excellent dayly sacrifice to continue perpetually in all places of his Church that cannot be polluted which accordingly our blessed Redeemer and Saviour instituted of his own body and bloud in the forms of bread and wine as all ancient fathers prove So Iustinus Martyr teacheth in dialogo cum Trpihone S. Cyprian lib 1. cap. 18. adversus 〈◊〉 5. Damascâ—…n lib. 4. c. 14. de fide orthedoxa S. Ierom. S. Theodoret and S. Cyril in their comentaries upon this place S Augustine lib. 18 c. 15. de civit S. Chrysost. in Ps. 95. oratione conara Iudaeos shewing plainly and urging the Jews and all oppugners of this Catholick belief and doctrine that this Prophecy is not otherwise fulfilled but in the daily sacrifice of the Church for that here is prophâ—…sied another sacrifice distinct and different from the Jewish sacrifices neither were sacrifices offered in all the world neither could be ordinarily offered out of Ierusalem But of this most sacred Mistery and particularly that this is here prophesied there is so much published by ancient and late writers that more need not to be here added And yet Mr. de Rodon with his bare word or exposition thinks to carry away the prize from all these so great is his opinion of himself and of his illuminated spirit a thing common to all hereticks Rodon 19. Thirdly I answer that the oblation which is offered to God under the Gospel is pure and clean the service which performed unto him according to his word is pure thâ—… preaching of the Gospel is pure In a word the Christian Religion is pure though there be many failings in those that profess it And although the faithfull that present their bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God be compassed about with many infermities and that their Religious actions be accompanied with diverse failings yet their persons and words may be said to be pure and clean in Iesus Christ in whose name they are presented to God so that although they cannot of themselves please or satisfy God yet as they are members of Christ they are reputed holy bâ—…fore God for it is these S. Peter speaks of in Ep. 1. chap. 2. Who as living stones are built up a spiritual house a holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And so our sacrifices are a pure and clean offering but it is through Iesus Christ who covers them with his purity and holyness so that the defects of them are not imputed to us To this I add that besides the perfect purity which we have by the imputation of Christs rigteousness we have also a purity begun by the holy Ghost of which S. Paul speaks Rom. 15. in these words that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the holy Ghost for that which God hath decreed Iesus Christ hath purchased and the holy Ghost hath begun is reputed by God perfect and compleat And S. Paul shews clearly the truth of what hath been said 1. Tym. 2. 8. in these words I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting And Ephes. 5. Jesus Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Answ. Your third answer is that the oblation which is offered unto God under the Gospel is pure and clean the service which is performed unto him according to his word is pure the preaching of his Gospel pure In a word the Christian Religion is pure though there be many failings in those that profess it All this I confess is true but what is it to your purpose I think if all the holy fathers above-cited ought to be more believed then you and I know not why they should not I think I say and I am sure on 't too that you rather accuse and condemn your self and your whole party by this answer then save or excuse your selves for by that pure oblation which is offered unto God under the Gospel all the holy fathers did understand the body bloud of Christ as they are daily offered sacrificed upon the Altar in the Mass then which nothing can be offered and sacrificed more clean and pure but they never made any mention of your bare bread and wine By the pure service which is performed unto him according to his word cannot be understood your
funeral of the Mass and consequently the funeral of Romish heresies and Idolatries as the Author well observes For the truth is the Masse and the Romish Religion are almost convertible terms so that if the former be destroyed the latter must vanish to its first nothing and therefore our Author having destroyed the Masse hath destroyed the thing called Popery too As for the monstrous absurdities and blasphemies which flow from this one Romish doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass they would fill whole volumes but I shall contem my self to say that the Masse consists of more gross and abominable superstitions Phanaticismes and Idolatries then ever have been believed or practised by the most ignorant Pagans What the tenets of the Romanists are and what their practises have been in reference to Protestant Magistrates and people woful and sad experience hath sufficiently taught the world I only add that they are as pernicious to our bodies and estates as their heretical doctrines and Idolatrous services are to our souls And consequently to imtroduce Popery into this kingdom would be an act as unpolitick as Anti-Christian as hath been demonstrated in that incomparable piece entituled The established Religion in opposition to Popery But because I know not by what strange infatuation or inchantment or rather by what wonderful judgment of God this monstrous absurd and destructive shall I call it Religion prevails amongst us I thought good to English and print this small Treatise as the best Antidote against Popery the holy scripture excepted that ever I read and for ought I know it is not inferiour to the best of this kind that ever was yet extant to which opinion the harsh usage it hath had from our Adversaries as aforesaid doth certainly give no small testimony But I know that the holy scripture it self cannot profit except God be pleased to give his blessing much less can this book and therefore I earnestly beseech him that he would make it prosperous and successful for the good of souls and if any shall receive benefit by it I desire them to give him all the glory and then I shall think my self infinitely recompenced for my pains in translating it AN ANSWER to the PREFACE AND An Appendix to this book THe excellency of this famous Philosophy-Professors masterpiece whom his Translator doth so highly extol and commend gentle Reader when it is punctually compared with my answer will evidently shew you of what great validity depth and piety it consists for I faithfully cited him word by word I did not cut or clip one tittle of his whole Tract you have him whole and entire in my book nay you have him in the full formal vigour or career of his piercing philosophical shafts therefore I leave the arbitration of our cause to your own prudent and impartial judgment his country quality or profession is related to you by his translator to render him the more famous that is not the thing we are to look upon here but his doctrine The traslator complains of the great severity and hard usage his authors book received from his adversaries I answer him that it is not harder nor more severe then the usage our books have from his party and the gentleman himself if he had been taken with his book could not be more harshly used by his adversarys then our Romish doctors are when they are taken with or without their books by theirs so that as to this point the good translator has no more reason to complain then we have the severity on both sides being sufficiently repayed with a quid pro quo If what the ingeâ—…ious french gentleman told the translator viz. that his Authors small tract more nettled our party then any one piece that ever was extant in France since the reformation of religion there be true or whether he told an ingeâ—…ious lie I know not but supposing it was true I dare say it more netled them for its blasphemy then for any solidity piety or semblance of veracity contained in it as my answer doth clearly demonstrate As to what the translator dares affirm viz. that though many famous men of that kingdom have in the memorie of this Age written very smartly against the Romish heresies yet there is not one c. I dare affirm that the translator speaks very impertinently and improperly when he calls our Religion the Roman heresie because he speaks contrary to the usage of all nations who generally by the Roman Religion understand the Catholick Religion and Catholick is a word opposite to heresie but what care we for his scolding barking and playing the dog at us while we are sure he cannot bite hurt nor produce one tittle of sound doctrine against our sacred and orthodox Religion That none else of your party had such hard measure in their persons and writings as his authors had from those of ours shews rather the lenity and great patience of our people towards you then it doth evince we our selves being judges as you inconsequently infer that he hath made good what he undertook viz. that he hath destroyed that great Diana the Masse and hath also by way of prevention c. for all these puff-past words and darings of yours are evidently allayed and asswaged by my answer to his tract as any man of learning and judgment may easily perceive so that if your party shewed any more harshness to your authors writings then they used to do to any of the rest of your as you term them famous wtiters works it must eirher be because of its open blasphemous contents against the most blessed Sacrament or because of its wily sophistical formal method to inveagle poor ignorant illiterate souls and not for any great depth or profundity of learning they could see in it for God knows that amongst good philosophers and eminent schollars this great master-piece is not worth the reading or to be answered though some weak brains especially being destitute of the light of faith may perhaps applaude and admire it As for the title of his tract or book which you say may be very fitly termed the Funeral of the Masse it brings unto my memory what we reade in the history or book of Hester viz. how graceles and wicked Haman prepared and reared a high Gallows for innocent Mardochaeus to hang on but before he could bring his ungodly atchievement to pass he himself was set up and Mardochaeus came off with glorie and renown the self-same is our Diana and de Redons case he prepared a funeral and grave for her without any hopes of reviving or recovery but her cause and his being throughly scanned and examined in this treatise he himself is laid flat upon his back in his grave to the view of all judicious and impartial readers without any hopes of recovery for I took him not by the arm or leg I luggd him not by the ear nor pulled him by the nose I gave him not a cuff or a kick but
of their livelyhood cast them into Prison or banish them c. against the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament whereas the thing in it self is not impossible to God nor the verity of this oath revealed by him to any of them But that which aggravates the sin the more is that in the thing wherein God most obliged and demonstrated his love to mankind in that very thing they disown and contradict his word Christ sayes by way of intermination or oath Amen Amen I say unto you unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his bloud you shall not have life in you And they swear point blank against him saying it is not his flesh and bloud but bread and wine or at the best nothing else but the signe of his flesh and bloud But how forsooth is it possible for us to eat and drink the flesh and bloud of the son of man in the Sacrament unless his flesh and bloud be in it what perjury is how grevious a sin how distructive to human society how infamous and how it may be committed and what penalties are due to open perjurers I need not set down here the laws of all Nations do sufficiently set it down But to be so ungrateful for a benefit of so high a nature as this is and to disown it flatly by confirmation of an oath against Christs express words and against so many clear testimonies of scripture and all the holy fathers must needs in my opinion astonish any Christian of common reason and sense yet from whom God withdraws his grace and the light of faith he will fall I must confess into these and such like inconveniencies and absurdities and greater too if they can be possibly for heresy is a bottomless gulf of darkness and ignorance that conveys those miserable reprobates that fall into it into the other bottomless pit or gulf of hell out of which there is no redemption and so is the Psalmists words verified in these two gulfs where he sayes that Abyssus Abysum invocat one pit leads or draws a man to another As to all the rest of the Translators raylings against Popery and its tenents against its practises in reference to Protestant Magistrates or civil government that as it is pernicious to their souls by its heretical doctrines and Idolatrous services so it is to their persons and estates and consequently that to introduce it into this kingdom would be an act as unpolitick as Antichristian as hath been demonstrated in that incomparable piece intituled The established Religion in opposition to Popery All this old fustian stuff is but to vent his bitterness whereof he is so full that unless he gave it some passage he must needs burst or crack for until he shewes this established Religion we will never own its demonstration where no two are of the same opinion concerning faith how can there be a Religion established therefore I refer all his scolding-stuff to the oyster-women of Billings-gate to be answered and I say that if our Religion be the only true Religion as we doubt not but she is for she has all the marks of it and there is but one Religion that is good certainly she cannot be pernicious to civil Government for Christs Religion commands us to honour our king and obey our superiour Powers but all the world knows that whe Popery is most in vigour and force and where it is in greatest â—…lourish it never intâ—…enches or encroaches upon their Monarchs temporal power nor upon any of their Magistrates It was never read or heard of yet that the Roman Cathoâ—…icks ever took up arms against their Catholick Princes or any Catholick Prince against another upon the score of Religion only when they are at civill or forreign wars it is never about Religion unless it be against the Turk the common enemy of Christendom But the lâ—…st civill warrs of England all men know was commenced upon the pretext of Religion and upon a pretended score of defending the Gospel a most virtuous king was innocently murdered by his own subjects in this quarrel the Roman Catholicks allthough he was of a different Profession had no hand in his innocent bloud they abhominated and detested so horrid a sacriledge from the bottom of their hearts they stuck to him defended him spent their lives and estates for him as long as they were able and there was any hopes of his safegard he was never betrayed by any of them in any charge they bore under him his welfare and safety was their chief aym and every one of them was ready to sacrifice himself his fortune and estate for his sake After they saw all was lost that he was taken from them and there was no resisting the divine fate as many of them as could followed their Liege soveraigne that now is whom God long preserve but then banished not by his Roman-Catholick subjects and in forraign countries they cleaved to him there they fought for him and many of them quitted their good employments and honourable places they had under forreign Princes whereupon their whole livelyhood and fortunes depended only for to follow and serve him and hazard their lives for his sake in hopes to reiâ—…throne him in his fathers of happy mememory royal throne Afterwards they accompanied and wayted on him home at his Restauration and ever sines served him as Loyally and faithfully all along as any subjects can their Prince and others of them that without evident danger of ruining themselves for ever could not follow and wayt upon him beyond Sea helpt him with their hest Intelligences and some of them under-hand with their means also All these are fresh demonstrations of their Loyalty and things that happened in our own age how can such people then be justly impeached with diâ—…loyalty or how can their practises be pernicious in reference to his sacred Majesty and to his Protestant Magistrates and people whereas they all live in Peace and tranquility with their fellow-subjects and never raised the least commotion or mutiny against the government though never so much provoked thereunto That England was so glorious and happy a kingdom in it self for many ages and was a terrour to its neighbours that invaded it and often conquered them and their kingdomes under Popish kings and their Papist subjects needs no proof for the very chronicles of England made by Protestant Authors themselves do suâ—…ciently shew that as also many memorable worthy things done by them and many of their happy governments we see also that all our neighbouring Popish kings and absolute Princes do live and govern peacably and quietly over their Papist subjects which demonstrats evidently that Popery is not incompatible or inconsistent with kâ—…ngship or civil government and consequently if it be the only true Religion as for matter of government or state it is neither unpolitick or Antichristian â—…o introduce it into any kingdome or country whatsoever But O England England in former times