And if Calvin judged their faith Holy can he judiciously challendge us for embracing it nay is it not best to follow the footsteps of Holy men SUBSECTION VI. The Authority of the Church grounded on her infallibility is a strong argument to believe what she asserts MY last Proof for the Sacrifice of the Mass is this The infallible Church of Christ hath alwayes believed and still believes that in the Eucharist is the true real Body and Blood of Christ and that in her Liturgy or Mass is made a true and proper Sacrifice and therefore I believe it That the teaching Church of Christ is infallible in what she teaches as matter of Faith is clear out of the 4. Chapter to the Ephesians where S. Paul sayes that Christ made some Pastors and Doctors v. 11. Why That now we be not Children wavering and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine Hence we Infer Then they are infallible in what they teach us as matter of Faith For if I thought them fallible I might still waver fear and be ready to be carried away with the Wind of another man or Angel's Doctrine which would make void the ayme of Christ in giving us those Pastors and Teachers that we might not waver Thus it is made manifest from Scripture that the teaching Church of Christ is infallible and also clear from reason grounded on the same Scripture that this teaching Church is the Roman For since no other teaching Church than the Roman so much as claimes to this infallibility in teaching and infallibility in teaching must be found in some Church to make good the words of St. Paul and of the Scripture in many other places it follows by a necessary consequence that it is to be found in the Roman And so that in the Mass is made a true Sacrifice because she has ever and still asserts it That the taught Church is also infallible in her assent to what she is taught by those Pastors in matter of Faith or in her receiving their Doctrine is also gathered from these words of Christ speaking to the Church he that heares you heares me Luc. 10. v. 16. for by that promise if I infallibly assent to the Doctrine of Christ I also infallibly assent to the Doctrine of his Church If a Protestant think he can give such a turne to these passages that they appear to have no force to prove the Churches infallibility I ask him if he be infallibly sure that the Protestant Church is the true Church of Christ or not If not then what he believes may be false and consequently it may be false that Christ is God in a word he has no Divine Faith which is an assent to what we believe for the Testimony of God above all that is an assent so ferme that it stands immoveable against all the arguments of Men or Angels ad Gal. 1. v. 8. But the Protestant's assent is not such then 't is not an assent of Divine Faith When Protestants say they have an objective infallibility but not subjective that is that the object of their Faith viz. God and other Evangelical Truths are in themselves infallible while they the Subjects or Receivers of these Truths are fallible they seem to say something in words but in reality they say nothing as to the controversie in question For the question is whether a Christian is subjectively infallible that is whether or no his understanding be the Subject of an infallible assent in matters of Faith or whether it produces in it self in matter of Faith an assent infallible or which stands immoveable against what an Angel not from Hell but from Heaven if that were possible might oppose to the contrary by reason of which assurance the Christian is denominated infallible in his assent S. Paul sayes yes saying altho an Angel from Heaven Evangelize to you beside that which we have Evangelized to you he be Cursed This not standing with Protestant principles they must either leave them or avow they are not of S. Paul's Religion If he sayes he is infallibly sure that the Protestant Religion is the true Religion I ask from whence he has that infallibility Not from the Church as he avows not from the Scripture as I prove 1. Because he can't so much as Read Scripture in order to know infallibly that the Protestant Religion is the true Religion afore he is infallibly sure that the Spirit that Guids him in Reading it is the true Spirit for if it be a false Spirit he will make that appear white which is black and black which is white and again he can't know infallibly that 't is the true Spirit that Guides him afore he has tryed it by Scripture Io. 4. v. 1. Thus he must know the Scripture by his Spirit and his Spirit by the Scripture which is to make a manifest Circle and prove idem per idem the same by the same while he proves ultimately that his Spirit is a good Spirit because it is a good Spirit It s a good Spirit sayes he because its approved by the Scripture taken in the true sense and it is the true sense he takes it in sayes he again because his Spirit tells him so which is equivalently to say my Spirit is a good Spirit since none but a good Spirit can assure us of the true sense of Scripture So a 1. ad ultimum from the first to the last he proves it to be a good Spirit because its a good Spirit which is ridiculous 2. You can't be infallibly sure from Scripture that the Protestant Religion is the true Religion afore you are infallibly sure that the sense in which you understand it is the true sense but of this you can never be infallibly sure then you can never be infallibly sure from Scriptrue that the Protestant Religion is the true Religion I prove the minor A Body of Men I mean the Roman Catholick Doctors using the same means that you use to know the true sense of Scripture and understanding it as we Romanists in a sense quite contrary to you are not according to you infallibly sure that we have the true sense Then neither you using only the same means we use are infallibly sure that you have the true sense when you udderstand it in a sense quite contrary to us Or tell me what it is that makes you hit infallibly upon the true sense more than we If you say 't is this that you are of the Elect and the Elect are guided by the Spirit of God which makes you see the Truth 1. Who told you that you are of the Elect If you say the Spirit which you have received gives Testimony to your Spirit that ye are the Sons of God Rom. 8. v. 16. I Answer from Io. c. 4. v. 1. you ought to try that Spirit afore ye trust it and so ye return into your former Circle 2. Suppose you are of the Elect some of the Elect have not been alwayes guided by
lo I come c. Hebr. 10. to do thy Will O God a Body thou hast prepared to me v. 5. to wit in which he might Sacrifice himself Sacrifices for other ends God required and accepted from meer men shewing the pleasure he had in them as in that of Abel and Elias which he consumed with fire from Heaven 3 Reg. 18. in the Protestant Bible 1 Reg. 18. and that of Noë for which he promised not to drownd the Earth again Genes 8. v. 21. II. REASON REligion according to the common opinion of Divines is a vertue inclining man to give to God his due Honour And shall those men claim to have any Religion let Protestants be pleased to reflect who find in themselves no inclination to give to GOD a true and proper Sacrifice which is the Honour due to Him III. REASON A True Sacrifice is the Worship only due to God all other Worship may be given to men If Kings will not want the Worship due to them above their Subjects should we deprive GOD for whole Ages of the Worship due to him above his Creatures No. In the mean time all must acknowledge this to have been done and to be still done who do not acknowledge the Sacrifice of the Mass IV. REASON SAcrifice is the chief Act of Religion or Divine Worship and shall the Church of Christ come short of the Synagogue in this In the Synagogue they Sacrificed daily Exod. 29. v. 38. God having as S. Paul speaks Hebr. 11. v. 40. provided something better to the Spouse of Christ than to the hand made hath not he more loving to her furnished her with a more noble means to obtain it Yes And this is the Sacrifice of the Mass in which the Preist destroying in the Host the substance of Bread and offering to God what is now there by the force of his words both acknowledges him as Supream Master of Life and Death and offers him a Sacrifice worthy of himself The Synagogue was with us participant of the Sacrifice of the Cross as general to all but Christians alone have an application of it more powerful then by any other way in the Sacrifice of the Mass V. REASON IF the Preist-hood being translated it is necessary according to S. Paul Hebr. 7. v. 12. that the Law be translated Then the Preist-hood ceasing it is necessary that the Law cease which was under that Preist-hood Hence I infer since the Law of the New Testament doth not cease the Preist-hood of the New Testament doth not cease and under it there are still Sacrifices no other but those of the Mass therefore that of the Mass is a true Sacrifice Quoeres May not the Sacrifice of the Cross be call'd the Sacrifice of the New Testament in this sense that CHRIST made his Testament there Answer No. For I shall prove in the next Chapter that he made it at the unbloody Sacrifice he offered after the eating of the Paschal Lamb. SUBSECTION II. The Sacrifice of the Mass proved by the notion of a true and proper Sacrifice A True and proper Sacrifice is an oblation of a sensible thing made to God by a Preist in acknowledgment of his Supream Dominion over all with some change of the Host or Victim But the Sacrifice of the Mass is such then 't is a true and proper Sacrifice 1. The Sactifice of the Mass is an oblation 2. Made to God viz. alone 3. Of a semble thing whether you consider the Bread the substitutive Host about which in imitation of the Old Law preparing the Victimes as by washing the Sheep in the probatick Pond afore they were Sacrificed c. insteed of the Body of Christ it not being there till the Consecration the Ceremonies of preparing the Host are made by laying the Preist's hands over it c. Exod. 29. v. 15. Or whether you consider the Body of Christ under the species or Forms of Bread and Wine the principal Host of this Sacrifice which also the Consecration being made is sensibly known by the species to be there 4 'T is made by a Preist viz. a man call'd by God or his Church lawfully ordained and annointed for that function Exod. 30. v. 30. And having his hands consecrated for that end Exod. 29. v. 9. Clothed with sacred and mysterious vestiments as Aron Exod. 18. significative and relating to the action he is going about 5. In acknowledgment of God's Supream Dominion over Life and Death with some change of the Host or Victime signifying that Dominion or making you mind it This is done by the destruction of the substance of the Bread and by Christ's being there mystically immolated or by his being there by the force of the Sacred words modo mortuo after a Dead manner If because we call the Sacrifice of the Mass a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ you will acknowledg no other Host in it but the principal Host to wit the Body and Blood of Christ which the Preist seems to insinuat when offering the Bread he sayes to the B. Trinity suscipe Sancte Pater receive Holy Father where Father is taken Essentially for the whole Trinity not for the first Person This immaculat Host and offerrimus c. We offer to thee O Lord the chalice of Salvation c. Those terms supposing properly for the Body of Christ and his Blood not for meer Bread and Wine if I say you will not have this Bread and Wine to be any ways the Host but only the Body and Blood of Christ in place of which this Bread and Wine are offered And then you begin to quible about the real change of the Body and Blood of Christ in this Sacrifice denying any real mutation of them to be made in it I answer then with Vasquez That there is no necessity of a real mutation in the thing which is offered in this Sacrifice Because the mutation in the thing offered is only necessary in as much as God is signified by it Author of Life and Death therefore if there be any oblation by which without the real immutation of the thing offered God may be denotated or signified Author of Life and Death 't will be a true Sacrifice Such is the consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ then it is a true Sacrifice For the immutation is not the formal reason of a Sacrifice but only some thing required Ex parte signi in the Sign that it may be fit to signify the formal term of the Sacrifice to whom tends and in whom ends the Sacrifice which is God as Author of Life and Death Now in the consecration the Death of Christ is represented in this same that by the force of such an action the Body is made separate from the Blood and consequently ut sic as so or as such an action it signifies God Author of Life and Death I know Amicus sayes that this signification of the Almighty power of God over Life and Death fundari
the Spirit of God as St. Paul Nay after he had received the Spirit of God he was feared to loose it again saying I chastise my Body and bring it under servitude lest after I have Preached to others I become a reprobate my self 1 Cor. 9. v. 27. How know you then that at this time you are guided by the Spirit of God especially if it be true that a man knows not whether he be worthy of Love or hatred Eccl. 9.1 S. Iohn if you would hear him would tell you a better way to try your Spirit to wit by the Church's approbation of it Io. 4. v. 6. We viz. Governours of the Church are of God he that knows God heares us viz. Governours of the Church he that is not of God heares us not in this we know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Errour To wit those who are led by the Spirit of Truth submit themselves to the Church whereas those who let themselves be guided by the Spirit of Errour will not this submission but rest in their own Judgment and by this wedding themselves to their own Judgment they become Hereticks being condemned of themselves as S. Paul speaks Tit. 3. v. 11. Other great Sinners are cast out of the Church by the Governours of the same but the Heretick he retires or withdraws himself by his singular and self Judgment contrary to the Judgment and Sentiment of the Catholick Church If you ask me what gives a man so much security in addressing himself to the Church as we are advised by S. Iohn c. 4. v. 6 Answer 'T is that she shews her self by her marks to be the Oracle of God to Men and as it were his mouth by which he speaks sensibly to Men. 1 Thes 2.12 Her marks are these 1. Her perpetual visibility Math. 5. v. 14. 2. Her antiquity Ierem. 6. v. 16. 3. Her easie way to Heaven for the Ignorant as well as the Learned by following only Her Direction Isa 35.8 4. Her having converted all Nations which now acknowledge Christ from Paganism to the Christian Religion Isa c. 2. v. 2. and chap. 60. v. 1. 5. 11. 5. Her working of Miracles Mark 16. v. 17. Note 't is not necessary that every one to believe see Her Miracles 't is enough they be very credibly related to them Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed Io. 20. v. 29. and Mark 16. v. 14. Our Saviour blamed his Disciples for their not believing the relation of Mary Magdalen and others of his Resurrection 6. Her unity and having an efficacious means to conserve unity among Her Children by their submission to Her in matter of Faith and by Her Authority given Her by God to condemn all Hereticks Isa 54. v. 17. 7. Her being Holy in Her Doctrine which breads People up to Saintity 1 Petr. 2. v. 9. And who by their lives shew the force of the Grace of the Passion of Christ as is seen in many of our Religious Persons Ephes 5. v. 25. and 26. 8. Her being Catholick or universal spreading through all times and sending of Her Children to all places to Convert Souls Math. 28. v. 19. Note the Roman Church would not justly be called Catholick if she had not had in all ages from Christ to this present time a Body of Men believing all the same Articles of Faith which she believes now For if they had only believed some of Her Articles they had not been the same Church with Her And by this mark all other Congregations pretending to the name of Catholick are excluded from it 9. Her having a Succession of infallible Pastors lawfully descending from S. Peter to this present Pope Innocent the 11. Ephes 4. v. 11.12.13 10. Her having a true and proper Sacrifice foretold Malach. 1. v. 11. All which marks taken together you will find in no Church but the Roman and therefore she is the Church God will have us hear Math. 18. v. 17. For brevities sake I send you to other Controvertists for a larger explication of those marks I am of opinion that this sole Argument which proves that the Protestants cannot be infallibly sure that the Protestant Religion is the true Religion not to speak of what I have said beside to the same purpose in this 6. Subsection being well weighed in all its parts and set together in the consideration of a serious well meaning Man free from Passion and Interest may make in his understanding to use Mr. Rodon's expression the Funeral of the whole Protestant Religion SECTION II. The Solution of Objections Mr. Rodon's Objections against the Sacrifice of the Mass answered TO his first Argument saying that Christ in the institution of the Eucharist did not Sacrifice nor offer his Body and Blood to his Father and that in the three Evangelists and St. Paul there is not the least Foot-step to be seen of a Sacrifice or Oblation of Christ's Body and Blood Answer Christ was a Preist and in acknoledgment of his Father's Supream Dominion over Life and Death he put his Body under one Form viz. of Bread and his Blood under an other separate Form viz. of Wine upon the Altar having by Consecration destroyed the Substance of Bread and Wine and so offered them to his Father for them and others or the Remission of Sins if we may believe him saying to his Disciples Luke 22. This is my Body which is given Greek didomenon for you Which is broken kloomenon for you viz. quoad speciem Sacramenti This is my Blood which IS poured out Ekkunomenon for you Neither for you only but for many was not this an unbloody Sacrifice Is not there a Foot-step of a Sacrrifice Hebr. 13. where St. Paul speaks of an Altar which is a correlative of a Sacrifice He Objects that Bellar lib. 1. of the Masse chap. 27 confesses that the Oblation which is made after Consecration belongs to the entireness of the Sacrament Bellar. hath Sacrifice but is not of its essence Answer And so do I too but telling you withall that the oblation which is made in the Consecration is of the essence of the Sacrifice Deo offertur viz. Christus sayes Bellar. That sacred thing viz. the Holy Host is offered to God when it is put on the Altar of God and this one suffices for that part of the essence lib. 1. de Missa c. 27. towards the end For Salmeron and Baronius his putting the Sacrifice of the Eucharist among unwritten traditions Answer They do not deny it to be written also Some things the Apostles have delivered to us by writ word and practise as the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Baptism adultorum of adults that is of those who are come to a full age others only by word and practise as the Baptism of Infants The belief of three persons in the H. Trinity is it only an unwritten tradition If so and you believe it why may not you as well believe the unwritten tradition