Foundation of Religion Catholike Faith But if we should let the matter run on so long till all the controverted Problemes betwixt Protestants bee counted Fundamentall long since they have grown to too numerous hereafter they may grow to an almost numberlesse multitude For this solemne course and practice is observed of many that what they themselves have added to any Fundamentall Axiom as over weight and what they beleeve to be a consequence of the same this they presently require of all to be counted in the number of Fundamentalls If we grant to any particular Churches or to their Doctors this power of creating and multiplying Fundamentalls all hope is past of the certainty of the Catholike Faith all hope is gone of the Brotherly communion of the Catholike Church The mad error of the Church of Rome may confirme the Truth of our opinion who by stuffing a medley of uncertain opinions into the Creed of Trent by the same deed did both shake the immoveable certainty of the Catholike Faith and the Union of the Catholike Chuch so much desired of all we ought not therefore to mingle controversies lately born betwixt us with the foundations of Catholike Faith which are few and published by the preaching of the Apostles through the Christian world and received by the joynt consent of Christians In the last place that these things whereabout we contend Reas 6 were never counted in the number of Fundamentalls plainly appeares out of the very Augustane confession penned by Ph. Melancthon and approved and commended by Luther It is not likely that the Authors of so solemne a confession would have omitted any Fundamentall Doctrine of the Christian Faith without the knowledge and beleife whereof Salvation could not be attained by Christ Jesus But in this confession none of those points doe appeare about which so fierce a strife hath been been maintained betwixt the Helvetian and Saxon Churches In the third Articles of the Union of the two Natures in Christ in the tenth Article of the presence of the Body and Bloud of Christ in the Lords Supper they have established nothing which is not approved by the consent of all the Protestants And if we should run over the rest of the Articles we shall finde very few things after the last correction of which there is any dissenting betwixt the Protestant Churches nothing of so great moment that it should bring in a Schisme into the Church But grant some things to be in this confession to which other Churches cannot afford their consent it sufficeth to the retaining of Peace that they consent in all things necessary to be known for the Salvation of Christians For the confessions of particular Churches are not streitned to fundamentals alone but sometimes are extended to the declaring of their judgement of all heads of Divinity as they conceive it expedient for the Aedification of their people in Truth and Piety Therefore their errour is not to be born with who what ever they finde in their confessions will have it counted so fundamentall that they feare not to ranke those forreign Churches which in all and every thing will not admit the same to be the Rule of saving Faith among damned Hereticks overthrowers of the Foundation in a word amongst wicked men estranged from the holy brotherhood of good Christians Nothing could be done or thought of more injurious For if we weigh the confessions or disputes of all Reformed Churches and place on one side those things wherein they exactly agree and set on the other side those things which are in controversie wee shall perceive that the former out of the very Nature and Quality of the points themselves belong to the foundations of Faith and Piety the later either to the no wise necessary speculations of subtile braines or if they have any soliditie in them to the true inferences of the more skilfull Divines out of well grounded Propositions But those things which in this manner are built upon the foundation are not to be made equall with the fundamentalls themselves nor are they to bee accounted to erre in fundamentalls which swarve somewhat herein from the right line of Truth CHAP. XI Chap. 11 That there is no Controversie betwixt Protestants about Fundamentalls is shewn by instancing in three particular questions which are conceived before all other of greatest moment to the disjoynting of Churches BEFORE wee enter into this dispute wee must premise this firme and unmoveable rule That Christian Churches are not to be disjoynted which agree in all things necessary to be known or done to the Salvation of Christian men For no Authority lyes in one particular Church to make enquiry into others or office to compell other particular Churches to the rule of their owne confessions or power to dissolve the bands of brotherly Unity betwixt their owne and other Churches whatsoever which consent in the same common Faith that is in fundamentalls and the saving Articles of the Christian Religion Let us see therefore whether the Protestants agree so farre forth and let us take example only from those three controversies Of the Presence of the Body and bloud of Christ in the Eucharist Of the Communication of Properties in the person of Christ God and man Of Divine election and preterition according to the good pleasure of the Divine will For if in these questions by occasion whereof mighty surges and billows of contention have been blown up betwixt the Saxon and Helvetian Churches so much bee confessed on both sides as is necessary to know to Salvation All the rest may be left indifferent in the middle or to be disputed of betwixt learned men with peaceable mindes the brotherly Communion betweene Churches being no whit broken or torne a pieces Wee will begin from that which gave beginning to all the rest namely from the Presence of the Body of Christ in the Lords Supper and the eating of the same First of all nothing can be conceived fundamentall which is not by joint consent admitted by or received on both sides This is Fundamentall That the Body and Bloud of Christ are so truly present in the Administration of the Sacrament that Communicants may partake of them so as to draw life from thence and they may justly be condemned who so receive Bread and Wine as that withall they receive not the Flesh and Bloud of Christ to the Salvation of their Soules Hospin ad annum 1544. p. 191 Of this there is no dissention For Bucer grants That the Body of the Lord in the Eucharist is truly present and partaken off An annum 1540. p. 178 Calvin saith Wee all confesse with one mouth that we when we receive the Sacrament by Faith according to the Lords institution In Cons Mompelg p. 66. are made truly partakers of the Substance of the Body of Christ Beza saith we deny not the Body of Christ to be truly present to bee truly given and received I passe by the rest because no
up these things seem to mee must be observed by the Divines of both parties First what things hitherto have been spoken or written rather bitterly and perversly than truly and with good consideration of the adversaries in the very heat of contention Let all those things be mutually pardoned for the publike good and be buried in eternall oblivion And if such bookes shall chance to be reprinted againe let it not be done except all the gall be purged out whence the evill of Brotherly contention may againe arise Secondly whereas no man can patiently endure to have himselfe branded with the mark of Heresie we must take heed least any be defamed with the name of Nestorian Eutychian or any other damned Heretick who expresly condemnes the damnable Doctrines of those Hereticks for they cannot abide firmely in Brotherly Communion who persist to exasperate one another with such rayling speeches for some difference in opinion Moreover it were to be wished that those firnames of Lutherans Zwinglians Calvinists were packt away and utterly abolished which are rather the Ensignes of faction Epiphan Her 42.70 than badges of Brotherly Union and which never pleased the ancient Fathers Epiphanius would not that the Christians should weare any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no By-name but should only be called by the name of Christians Nazianz. Orat. 30. Institut lib. 4. cap. 30. Wee ought not to be called Petrians or Paulines but Christians saith Nazianzen But of all Lactantius most seveerly saith They leave off to be Christians who omitting the name of Christ have put on humane and outward names But that I may speak as the matter is particular Churches rather have these firnames put upon them than that they put them on themselves or desire to be cloathed therewith Thirdly as much as may be let all hard and undetermined controversies be removed from Sermons preached to the people and bookes written in the Mother tongue and let them rather be counted amongst exercises fit for the Schoole then for food for mens Soules For these subtile questions and intricate controversies may without any discommodity be wanting in the Pulpits but charity which is wont to be wounded by the discussing of such questions cannot be wanting from the hearts of Christians without the extreame perill of their soules The Soules of common people doe play and not profit with such questions and when they have done playing with them not at all understanding these controversies they begin to fall a fighting and skirmishing betwixt selves Lastly If it shall please the Doctors themselves for time to come to enter discourse or to set forth their writings concerning these controversies Orat. 3. de Pace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them meet together not in an hostile manner but in a rationall way as Nazianzen doth wisely admonish Let both aime at this not to conquer or shame their brethren by what means soever but gently and courteously to instruct them and as it were leading them by the hand to bring them back into the way of truth He that in this manner shall be freed from his errour will never count himself conquered but better taught nor will he be confounded as overcome and cast down of his Enemy but will rejoyce as one helped and relieved of his Brother For no man that reapes benefit hath cause to blush Hitherto we have made the draught of the manner of making Peace and preserving Union betwixt different Churches standing upon equall terms of Jurisdiction But because it may and often doth happen that some both learned and unlearned may live under the Government of the same Prince or Church which are forbidden by their conscience either rightly informed or erroneous from subscribing to the common judgement in these controversies let us make enquiry what is to bee done concerning these Now as touching the Ministers of Churches if they desire to make provision for their weak Brethren in these Articles of Religion or if they be willing that their briefe forms of Confession be received and approved of all subject unto them let them not cast into them the nice points of difficult controversies or decisions of subtile questions but rather let them be ordered to the popular capacity the edification of the unlearned the Salvation of all They must well weigh the wisdome of our Ancestours whose ancient Confessions if we had not on set purpose to disturb the Church interlined and stuffed with new opinions no man well in his wits would have been found who would not willingly have subscribed unto them Neither is there any need at all that we should clog and burthen the publike confessions of the Church with such additions when God himselfe hath decreed to bring his people to a blessed life not through the rough and rugged places of hard and long questions but by the plaine even and short way of Faith and Charity To what purpose therefore are disputes and strifes about words What make the subtleties of the Schoolemen in the Confessions of the Church All the Salvation of Christians consists in beleeving and worshipping In orat unum esse Christum as of old it was gravely said of great Athanasius To these things it may be added that they can scarce or not at all preserve Peace unviolated with other Churches not at all subject unto them who for the same Doctrine they professe persecute those which are under them and persist to cut them off as Hereticks from their Communion They may seem truly silently to upbraid Heresie to other Churches and by this very deed to intimate as much that though with their mouth they acknowledge them for Brethren yet in their hearts they much detest and abhorre them Lastly unlesse the briefe formes of publike Confession be restrained and confined to doctrines necessary and not to all controverted betwixt the Protestants themselves this inconvenience will follow thence that many Pastors learned pious and peaceable will be excluded and quite shut out nor shall they be able to doe any service in those Churches in which they live But if any doubt whether lawfully they may keep holy Communion amongst themselves in one and the selfe same Church who embrace not at all one and the self same opinion in every respect in all the heads of Doctrine in Divinity that I indeed conceive ought to be resolved on as a thing beyond all reach of doubting For as pertaining to that holy Communion which Christians have amongst themselves in the Lords Supper it chiefly consists in these things That with the common band of the holy Spirit wee are joyned to Christ the onely head of the Church That by the tyes of the selfe same holy Spirit and saving Faith and Charity we stick together amongst our selves and as it were are made up into one Body Lastly that as fellow-commoners we eate and drink the same living bread and drink to wit the flesh and blood of Christ to the salvation of our Soules In all these
Protestant Church can be named which professeth not with the Eucharist the true Presence of the Body and Bloud of Christ although it acknowledgeth the very manner of the Presence to be Supernaturall and plainly divine And sets down that the same doth consist not in any Physicall touch or contact but in a lively influence and mysticall Union and that most reall and neer It is a Fundamentall point That the Bread and Wine were the means ordained by Christ by which those which duely eat this bread being consecrated and drinke this wine eat the lively Flesh of Christ and drinke his saving blood to the Salvation of their soules The agreement of all Protestants in this point is so well known we need not take paines to prove it It is a Fundamentall That Bread and Wine are present in the Supper and are eaten and drunke in a locall naturall sensible manner but that Christs Flesh and Bloud are present and partaken of in a Divine admirable manner and not to be searched out So James Andrewes Col. Momp p. 17. 18. Concerning the manner wee can only say this That it is Supernaturall and imcomprehensible to humane reason and therefore there is no disputing thereof A little after Pag. 25. in not is marg The manner is heavenly supernaturall insomuch as it is wholly spirituall And as the Church is a mysticall body with Christ so also this receiving is done in a Mysterie In the Conference lately had at Lipsigh the Saxons did grant That the manner of the receiving which they defended to be done by vertue of the Elements was notwithstanding heavenly supernaturall and knowne to God alone None is ignorant that Calvin Bucer and all the rest were in the same opinion Col. Mompelg p. 66. Beza saith expresly The manner of the Receiving is a Mystery to be beleeved which exceedeth the capacity of mans wit and understanding Hitherto the Doctors and Churches well agree amongst themselves Secondly nothing can be conceived contrary to the Fundamentall doctrine of this Sacrament which is not rejected and damn'd of all Protestant Churches they are point blanck against all erroenous doctrines of the bare representation of the Body and Blood of Christ parted from the true and reall exhibiting of him of the prodigious Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ the Accidents only remaining safe without a Subject Of the Locall and naturall presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Lords Supper Of the Locall Consubstantiation Coexistency or Inexistency of the Body and blood of Christ with the earthly Elements or in the same These and if there be any other which oppose or fight against the very nature of a Sacrament and the truth of the Body of Christ are condemned by the common assent not only of the Helvetian but Lutheran Churches Col. Mompel p. 16. Let James Andrewes speake for all the rest Wee doe not determine a Physicall or Locall presence of the Body and blood of Christ in the holy Supper These words Substantially pag. 183. Corporally Really Orally signifie nothing else to us but the true presence and eating of the Body and Blood of Christ We reject all Physicall Consubstantiation whether it be visible or invisible and only teach such a Conjunction as is Sacramentall The same was the opinion of the Saxons in the conference at Lipsigh to which these of Brandenburg and Hessland did subscribe Thirdly nothing remaineth undecided in this Controversie which can be called a Fundamentall point or for which the Brotherly Communion of Churches cannot be established For that word Orally which is used of the Saxons and is disallowed of other Churches is so used of these that they bring in no Fundamentall errour and is so rejected of those that they overthrow no fundamentall Doctrine For they that defend the Orall eating as well of the Body of Christ as of the bread notwithstanding denie such a Presence of the Body of Christ as is Locall to mens mouthes without which an Orall eating cannot properly be performed For that body cannot be eaten with the mouth betwixt which and mens mouthes there is granted a great distance of place That cannot be eaten with the mouth of the Body which is so present to the place of the mouth that it is not locally present to the mouth When therefore they allow of such a distance and give such a Location to the Body of Christ it is plaine that they passe and transferre the Orall eating which is truly and properly affirmed of the bread alone by a new and figurative manner of speech to the Flesh of Christ locally remaining in the Heavens and not locally present to the mouthes of men Moreover when they remove from this Orall eating all champing and chewing of the body of Christ the letting down of the thing chewed into the stomack the increasing and nourishing of the body of man by this flesh thus chewed it is evident however they thinke fit to retaine this forme of speech yet they meane nothing by this Orall eating that is joyned with the Capernaites rending of the Flesh of Christ with their teeth or agreeable with the signification of the words as they sound to mens eares in the Latine They only seeme to desire to affirme this That this Orall eating which truly properly usually and immediately is affirmed of the eating of the Bread may by the force of the consecrated bread comming between by a new unusuall mysticall and plainly heavenly signification of Orall eating be fitted and applyed to the Flesh of Christ Now as touching those who on the other side contend That the eating of the Flesh of Christ is not to be called an Orall eating but rather a Mentall Spirituall or Personall because the Person eating the bread with his mouth with his minde together eates the true and lively flesh of Christ Yet they denie not but that the visible bread is the Instrument or means appointed by Christ which the person useth to the cating of the Invisible bread but they thinke that the eating of that thing is properly called Orall which may be done by the Teeth and instruments in the mouth but that the eating of that thing cannot be called Orall which is neither locally present to the mouth neither if it were present could it be subject to any Act of mans mouth because of the Glorious and impassible nature which it hath Betwixt these Opinions I see some contrariety about the propriety of words and phrase of speech but of the maine and of the Truth of the Catholique Faith either none at all or at least so little that notwithstanding there may be place for the establishing of Brotherly Communion betwixt the Churches This of the first Controversie we passe to the Second Of the Person of Christ and Communication of his Properties IT is easie to shew out of their Writings who have handled this Controversie that there is a full Consent betwixt Reformed