determine what Intention was necessary because they could not agree about the efficacy of the Sacraments it being impossible there should be the same Intention of two who differ in their judgments concerning it The common Salvo was that the Intention to do as the Church doth was sufficient but this satisfied not the scruple because men â—â—ffered in opinion what the Church is and their opinions herein being different their Intentions in administring the Sacraments would also prove different To evade this it was pretended all the Priests had the same design but as it is impossible for any to know the things that is the purposes of Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 so it is unconceivable how they should have the same end and aim who have different Judgments Humours Passions and Interests At last they were driven to this shift perhaps there may be some such wretched Priest yet this case is rare To this the Bishop of Minori replied would God said he that the case was rare and that in this corrupt age we had not cause to doubt there were many but suppose there are but a few or one only let a Knave Priest Baptize who hath not an Intention to administer the true Baptism to a Child who being after a grown Man is created a Bishop of a great City so that he hath Ordained a great part of the Priests in his Diocess it must be said that he being not Baptized is not Ordained nor they Ordained who are promoted by him Behold Millions of Nullities of Sacraments by the malice of one (z) Histor Council of Trent fol. 241. Priest in one Act only 4. To give full measures of Doubts and uncertainties in the most mysterious act of their Religion Dr. Holden (a) Apendix of Schism p. 445. Refert Dr. Ham. dispatcher Preface p. 14. averreth All Roman Catholicks do believe and reverence the Sacrifice of the Mass as the most substantial Act of their Religion but if it be demanded wherein the substance of this Sacrifice doth consist no substantial Resolution can be expected from them their Doubts and uncertainties about the Nature and Essence thereof are so cross and various There are divers opinions concerning it saith (b) Azor. l. 10. c. 9. or part 2. l. 2. c. 14. Azor. There are six Acts of which it is doubted in which one or more of them the Essence of the Sacrifice consisteth saith (c) Tom. 3. dist 75. art 1 2. Suarez Some place it in the one Act of Consecration but the doubters dispute against it for say they Consecration belongeth rather to the nature of a Sacrament than a Sacrifice and every external Sacrifice such as the Mass is must be sensible but the Conversion made by the words of Consecration is not sensible for the real change is not and again if the Act of Consecration then the outward Elements only are the Hoast and matter offered but we may not say the Species are the Hoast others set it in the Oblation but the dissenting Brethren oppose this because Christ used no Sacrificial Act at his Last Supper and if Christ did not the Priest ought not though some of them grant it belongs to the intergrity of the Sacrifice But how the Trent-Divines were divided in their judgment herein may be read Hist Counc of Trent fol. 544 c. Some of them again conceive Consecration Consumption or Sumption to be the Essence this others contradict because then say they the Body and Blood of Christ must be destroyed for that which is Offered in Sacrifice is to be destroyed but Sumption can be no part thereof because the Act of Receiving is not for although Christ be not received after the Consecration yet is he truly said to be Sacrificed and Doctors doubt whether Christ did receive in his last Supper and the Priest receiving doth nothing in Christs person but his own others stood for Fraction but this the doubters easily disprove for it is say they an Act purely Sacramental not at all Sacrificial and Fraction being before Consecration the Substance of the Bread and Wine remaineth When N. N. hath solved all these Doubts and satisfied all these Doubters he may be more confident of the demonstrative Power of Doubts and uncertainties in the mean time he may apply them to his own Church in his own words Mutatis mutandis Therefore the Romanists before they can prudently believe themselves to have true Faith or be the Catholick Church must clear all Doubts and uncertainties not objected by Protestants but started and pursued by their own Divines concerning their Church their Head of the Church their Ordinations and the most Substantial Act of their Religion the Mass for though any Person should not c. 7. N. N. goes one step forward the step to Christian and Catholick belief is c. This hath nothing of usefulness to his Conclusion unless he prove that a Clergy not regularly ordained cannot believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith c. that the Protestant Church hath a doubtful Clergy in which his attempts have hitherto been unsuccessful and unlucky to him and his Church If his meaning be the well-grounded Credibility of his Church is the foundation of Christian belief this is to beg the Question and is false for Christian Faith is not an assent and adherence to the Objects thereof upon the bare Testimony of the Church but on that of God neither is its warranty derived from the Church's Proposition but Divine Revelation True Faith is founded on the writings of Moses and the Prophets of Christ and his Apostles Eph. 2.20 which moved Durand thus to define it It is an habit whereby we assent to the Doctrines of the Scripture for the Authority of God revealing them But if he intend only that the Church's Proposition is to her members the first motive and preparative of Faith it will not be gainsaid but then he must remember that a prudent Christian will not take the Church for well-groundedly credible till he find by the Rule of Faith She deserves to be so esteemed for it is impossible the Church can appear so to him till he know the Faith it proposeth which he cannot do but by applying it to the Rule for every intellectual and moral habit must be sufficiently known before the Acts resulting from them can be predicated of any subject capable to exercise them As I must know what Prudence is before I can truly affirm of any man that he is Prudent 8. That which N. N. mainly drives at is to seduce the members of the Church of England from her Communion and solicite them to Apostate to Rome To effect this he took as he conceived a seasonable opportunity to perplex the minds of men with his Doubts and uncertainties by reason of our late sad divisions Then the Romanists bent all their forces to perswade easy seduceable tempers This Church was either a dead or (d) Bishop
time by (e) Marsil Petav. def part 2. c. 18. the Nicene Council But because N. N. stands so much upon his points of Prudence it may be neither an imprudent nor impertient digression to compare the Romish Principles and Practices with the Protestant and by discussing one of them more largely to judg of the rest more clearly It is universally acknowledged that the Doctrine of all Apostolical Churches disseminated over the whole Christian World is Infallibly certain because attested by Vniversal Tradition which in it self is so but it is generally confessed that the Tradition of an Apostolical Church of one denomination may prudently be traversed because often found certainly False Now Protestants rely upon Vniversal Tradition truly such for Time Place and Persons and the Authority of all Apostolical Churches Papists content themselves and sit down in security with the Tradition and Authority of the Roman Church and which is worse of the present Romish Church of this age Protestants prescribe for Sixteen hundred years there is no Law nor Custom to destroy or over-rule a Prescription of so long standing Papists plead as N. N. doth the acknowledgment of the sixteenth Century over-leaping all the rest and that but in our parts of the World Protestants believe the Scripture to be the adequate Rule of Faith as to the essentials thereof Papists hold unwritten Traditions are to be received with the same reverence and respect Protestants esteem those Books to be Canonical Scripture which the Catholick Church hath so adjudged Papists singularly superadd others to the Canon Protestants believe the Truths they profess to be Divine Revelation because God by his Son Jesus Christ hath delivered and promulgated them to Mankind Papists believe their supernumerary Articles which they assume to themselves because defined by an Infallible Pope with the advice and consent of a presumed General Council Protestants assert the Pope is not Infallible for Pope Honorius was a Convicted Heretick as before hath been proved The Catholick Church hath always resolved against his Infallibility and the Doctors of that Church cannot agree about it and some of them oppose it neither was that Council General say the Protestants because no Southern nor Eastern Bishops was there nor any Northern but one titular only Olaus magnus the Goth who for that time passed as an Arch-Bishop of Sweethland no English Bishops nor Irish save another blind Sir Robert the Scot who for that time being was reputed the Primate of Ireland only two French Bishops six Spanish the rest were Italians who when they came to be arrayed were mustered but to Forty three in all This was a Plot of the Pope to keep what his Predecessor Leo the tenth had got by the Lateran Assemblers and after him others still maintained but he was for all this contrivance possessed with fears and jealousies the Council would be tampering with his Jurisdiction as other Councils had done and therefore was very careful to have fresh supplies in readiness for a reserve and according as the Pope suspected it hapned for the Council began to form Canons for the redress and reformation of several abuses and to abridg the Popes unlimited Power in granting Dispensations of which design he received early intelligence from his Legates and thereupon moved the Council to desist from any further progress therein for six weeks which being accepted and condescended to he dispatched his new recruits of Auxiliaries forty Italian and Sicilian Bishops who within the time limited ariving at Trent over-voted the reformers in the Council and quite quashed their attempts which made the Apulean Bishops cry out in open Council O we are the Popes Creatures we are the Popes (f) Carol. Malin l. de ton Frid. n. 21. Slaves Protestants rely only upon the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ for their Salvation This Bellarm. saith is the safest way and therefore it is the most Prudential Papists will join in their own Merits of Works done by Grace which Bellarm. confesseth is a more uncertain way and therefore less Prudential Protestants ascribe all Religious Worship to God and to God only Papists give it to Images and the Consecrated Host Protestants know it is an indispensable duty to Pray to God for all things necessary both for Soul and Body and direct their Prayers only to God the Father through and for the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ alone Papists Pray to God by Jesus Christ for which Duty Zanchee entertains a charitable opinion of them but withall they invocate Angels and Saints departed as Conductors secondary and subordinate Mediators for which Practice Protestants aver there is no warranty in Scripture no Authority from Primitive Antiquity nor any rule in Reason to approve it either a necessary lawful or an expedient Duty But because some eminent Protestants have declared that Papists have more to say for this particular than in any of their other eleven additional new forged Articles if this Principle and Practice of theirs be cogently proved unscriptural unpractical and irrational the same may be concluded of the rest CHAP. VI. SECT I. IT is Vnscriptural The Scripture teacheth us and commands us to ask the Father in the name of his Son Jesus Christ it prescribeth no rule to ask in any other name but declareth against it For it proposeth Christ to us as our only Mediator and Intercessor there is one God to whom we are to make our requests known by Prayer and Supplication and there is one Mediator between God and Man 1 Tim. 2.5 the God-man Jesus Christ by whom we have boldness of access to the Throne of Grace The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is emphatical importing thus much as there is one God only and no more even so there is one Mediator betwixt God and Man in reference to our Prayers Supplications Intercessions and Thanksgivings ver 2. one God and no other besides him even so one Mediator and none but he who is our Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 who as he performed all Righteousness for us so the virtue and value thereof qualifies and capacitates him for the Office of being Advocate for us viz. to recommend open and plead our Cause for us and procure our Prayers to be granted none can effectually Mediate for us but he who did Redeem us he only can be our Advocate who is the Propitiation for our Sins which was Jesus only who for the more effectual execution of his Office of Advocate after he had offered himself a Propitiatory Sacrifice for our Sins was advanced to sit on the right hand of God the Father Rom. 8.34 where it may be observed that it is the same Person that died for us and therefore as Jesus alone died for our Sins and rose again for our Justisication so for the application of these Benefits and Priviledges to us he only sits at God's Right-hand and makes Intercession for us this Office being as proper and
tied us to this nice scrupulous disquisition or commanded us to be Annalists and Historians though Christ hath promised there shall be a perpetual visible Church which yet in your sense of visibility you will never be able to prove yet did he never assure us there should be Histories and Records of Professors in all Ages neither did he ever command us to search and read them he hath commanded both you and us to search and read the Scriptures that we may be able to bring them in evidence You might if your leisure or somewhat else had permitted have remembred what hath been returned to this demand long before you proposed it It is your usual rant it is unanswerable you may know the contrary if not I shall inform you after I have premised some Considerations to clear the procedure 1. What do you mean by Protestant if you intend to hook in all who challenge that Appellative the return is short all that call themselves Catholicks and Saints are not such 2. What by Faith if every Doctrine which hath been maintained by some Protestants as a probable Opinion or as a pious profitable Truth then you trifle and sophisticate but if by Faith you understand the object of Faith or things necessary to be believed by all that they may be saved as it is usually taken in Scriptures Fathers and Councels then the Protestants assert their Faith is the Faith of all good Christians who lived before them who all professed to believe as they believe which they thus evidence 3. Protestants earnestly contend for the Faith which was once or at once delivered to the Saints Jude 3. Which you by the addition of your new super-numerary Essentials had corrupted and changed as Anthony of Valtelina a Dominican Friar affirmed in the Council of Trent and was seconded by the Bishops of five Churches therein Hist of Council of Trent ad An. 1562. Fol. 548 549. Their Reformation was not to compose a new but to retrieve the old Faith which you had so confounded and changed not to form a new Church but to free the old Church from your new Essentials The corruptible and incorruptible body are one in substance differing only in perfections and purities their Faith is the same in substance with the Faith of the whole Christian World differing from some part thereof in quality and goodness The end of the Reformation was to separate the pretious from the vile the chaff from the wheat to refine the Gold mixed with dross to dress the Garden overgrown with weeds to cure the body which was diseased to regain and recover that Faith which the Christian World had reputed and received for true and saving Faith even the same that hath the attestation of the universal Church in all Ages which is dispersed in the Scriptures but contracted and summed up in the Apostles Creed which was designed by them witness your own authorized Catechism to preserve Believers in the unity of Faith to be a badg and cognizance to distinguish Believers from Vnbelievers and Misbelievers This and nothing but this hath been professed always every-where by all persons ubique semper ab omnibus in Vinc. Lyr. Golden Rule of Catholicism This is evinced by Practice the Profession of this Faith and of this only was and is required of every person either by himself or Sureties before he be admitted into the Church by holy Baptism That Question and Answer doest thou believe I do believe had alwaies respect to this and no other into this and this alone both you and we are Baptized by this and this alone you and we are made Christians by this with the advantage of an holy Life according to the Precepts of Christ the Christians of all Ages have gone to Heaven for 1400 years without the knowledg or belief of your 12 new coined Articles For this they have the sentence and determination of the Ephesine Council which your Popes have been solemnly sworn to observe the judgment of the Ancient Fathers the concurrent suffrage of many of your Learned Divines and Schoolmen and which will weigh most with you the Remonstrance of your Trusty and Well-beloved Tridentine Assemblers who once in their good mood thought fit thus to express themselves The Apostles Creed is the shield of Faith by c. the firm and only Foundation against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail This Protestants profess with the whole Christian World in its several Successions and Centuries this they believe too as it is sensed by the four first General Councels and the traditious interpretation of the universal Church And for us of the Church of England as we admit no new Creed so we reject all new senses of the Old which thus sensed they own for the true Catholick Apostolick Faith Indeed other Articles we have but they are Articles of Peace not of Faith not all of them to be respected as Essentials of saving Faith but as pious Truths which none of the Pastors of the Church are to contradict or oppose 4. To retort your Question the Protestants offer these Proposals to you to nominate successive Professors since the Apostles of the whole Faith of the present Roman Church or a succession of Professors who since the Apostles have received these 12 new distinct Articles which Pius the 4th added at the foot of the 12 old ones as Essentials of Faith absolutely necessary to be believed by all necessitate medii without which they could not be saved We are sure they were never reputed for such for 1400 years Prove those your late forged Articles at Trent to have any relation to or analogy with those of the Apostles that they are evidently concluded from them or virtually contained in them as conclusions in their premises Lastly that the Apostles did deliver or teach by Word or Writing your new-found Faith or passage to Heaven Till these be satisfactorily performed by you we desire you to be wise unto sobriety and to consider whence you are fallen Answer to the second Question 1. WHat mean you by Mission if Ordination to the respective Functions of Bishops and Priests c. then such a Mission our Bishops and Priests have if you have any 2. What by Lawful what you fancy or the Pope resolves to be so you know we neither value your conceits nor the Pope's by-Laws the English have received and rejected them at their pleasure take and leave as they like with us those things pass for lawful which are so by the Law of Christ which gives them validity or by the Laws and Constitutions of the Church which makes them Canonical or by the Laws of the Kingdom whereby they become Legal accordingly as we averr 1. The English Clergy hath a lawful that is a valid Ordination by the Institution of Christ for the English Church in conferring Holy Orders observeth all the Essentials of Ordination by Authority of Holy Scripture Matter and Form as some of your own fast Friends