the Bridegroom and the Foundation of the Church as he is stiled (b) De Pontif. Roman lib. 2. cap. 31. by Bellarmin if they do signifie that the Pope is Infallible that he has the power to make new Articles of Faith (c) 2.2 q. 1. art 10. as Thomas Aquinas doth hold If those places of Scripture signifie all these Propositions they are very dark we must confess it is a very hard matter to follow these Consequences since they are contrary even to common Sence That place of St. Paul (d) 1 Corinth 11.24 This is my Body If these Words are to be expounded after the same manner that those other words of the same St. Paul in the same Epistle in the next Chapter (e) 1 Corinth 12.27 Ye are the Body of Christ this place is very easie but if these words signifie that the substance of Bread in the Holy Sacrament is transubstantiated into Jesus Christ his own Flesh into his own substance as it is written (a) Sess 13. cap 4. can 2. in the Councel of Trent that place is very obscure there is not in all the Scripture such another And if we are to give to all the Texts of Scripture which are alike to that so rough an explication to understand them after the same manner the Council of Trent understands that of St. Paul we must needs say that all the substance of Christ is Transubstantiated into the substance of a (b) Joh. 10.7 door that Christ is truly and really a (c) Joh. 1.29 Lamb that the spiritual Rock which followed the Children of Israel in the Wilderness had but the appearances the colour the hardness the resemblance of a Rock but truly and really it was Transubstantiated into the Body into the Blood into the Soul and the Divinity of Christ because the Scripture saith (d) 1 Cor. 10.4 That Rock was Christ And how horrid an absurdity would it be to draw such consequences Ah we must confess the Scripture is very difficult if we are to receive such Interpretations Besides that I did find in the Scripture many Insufficiencies Insufficiencies of the Scripture I thought it was an Article of Faith to believe that the Roman Church is the true Church which Christ has established and in all the Scripture I did find nothing of it I knew it was an Article of the Faith of Rom to believe that it is an Holy thing godly acceptable to the Lord and profitable to Men (a) Sess 25. To call upon the names of the Saints (b) Sess 25. decr 2. To Worship their Images Bones and Reliques according as it is decreed in the Council of Trent And I did not find in all the Scripture any Prayers directed to the Saints after their Death I did not find in all the Acts of the Apostles nor any where else that the first Christians had any Images in whose presence they said their Prayers neither do we read they had any Caskets or Shrines wherein Reliques were kept to bring them abroad in solemn Processions to set them in the middle of their Churches and to Worship them there Wherefore I said sometimes to my self Alas If We keep the same Faith as the first Christians why do We the things which the first Christians never did Why do We call upon the names of Saints Why do We Worship their Images and Bones I found not in all the Scripture Indulgencies or Purgatory in short I thought my self obliged to beieve several Articles of Faith of which there is no mention in the Scripture That made me think that the Scripture was an insufficient Book and that every thing which is necessary to believe for our Salvation is not contained in it But I did not perceive my errors nor the falshood of my discoursing and that whereas I did conclude that the Scripture was insufficient because I did not find in it all those Articles I should rather and more rightly conclude that all those Doctrines are not Articles of Faith since they are not to be found in the Word of God These first glimpses of Truth made a mighty Impression in my Mind though under pretences of Doubts Difficulties and Insufficiencies Contradictions of the Scripture to which were added even many contradictions which I found in the Places of the Scripture whereby the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is utterly subverted in that place of (a) 1 Tim. 4. St. Paul to Timothy Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lyes in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with a hot Iron forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God has created to be received with Thanksgivings You would say that the Apostle did see by the Spirit the Errors of the Roman Church which he condemns before-hand as Doctrines of Devils Who doth not understand that these words do utterly destroy the Doctrine of the Popes in the Decree of Gracian (a) Distinct 82. can Propos can Propos can Plurimos wherein the Marriage of Church-men is stiled a defiling and a Sacriledge Doutterly destory the Commandements of the Roman Church wherein it is commanded to abstain from Meats upon the pain of a Mortal Sin These Words of (b) 1 Cor. 10.16 17. St. Paul to the Corinthians The BREAD which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ We are all partakers of that one BREAD and in the next Chapter (c) 1 Cor. 1◠v. 26 27 28. As often as you Eat that BREAD c. Let a man examin himself and so let him Eat of that BREAD All these Testimonies of the Holy Ghost were a mighty weight to incline me to believe that the Holy Sacrament was the Bread which is broken Ch. 1. §. 3. But at last error did come again to extinguish this sparkle of Light which began to shine in my Soul and whereas it is the belief of Rome which is to be ruled modified and accommodated to the Truth of the Word of God I did perswade my self that these places of the Scripture were to be ruled modified and accommodated to the belief of Rome and so I was obliged to look upon all those Words of Scripture as so many Contradictions §. 3. Circumstances which did contribute to hasten my Conversion IN that condition I found my self divided betwixt Error and Truth betwixt the Word of God and the Belief of the Church of Rome But Error brought forth some pretences to persist stubbornly May be said I the reason wherefore I come to so many Difficulties Insufficiencies and Contradictions in the Scripture is because I have not read what the Theologians write concerning such Questions may be the Study of Divinity will make plain all these Difficulties supply all these Insufficiencies and reconcile all these Contradictions So I was like to that blind Man whom Christ
Reasons perswaded me that in the Primitive Church they did not believe the real Presence with Transubstantiation as the Roman Church Teaches it The first of all was the Argument which the Holy Fathers used to prove the Idols of the Heathens not to be Gods The Idols you Worship so earnestly said (a) Arnobi lib. 6. Lactant. lib. 2. cap. 2. they to the Heathens are not Gods If they fall to the ground they cannot raise up again by themselves therefore they need the help of Men they can neither open their Eyes nor stir out of the place where they have been set nor give the least sign of respiration They are subject to Rustiness Worms and Corruption Mice come to gnaw them and work their holes even in the Idols themselves In fine The Doors of your Temples must be shut up with good Locks least Theives should steal those Gods of yours It is to be believed that men who spoke thus would hold the Body Soul and Divinity of Christ to be Really Present in the Holy Sacrament Would not they have had reason to fear that the Heathens who were very able men would use against them the same Argument and tell them Your Host is not a God neither you are not to Worship it for it is subject to the same conveniencies and accidents as our Gods are Would a Divine of the Church of Rome have the boldness to dispute against the Heathens with the same reasons which the first Christians used The People of Paris said about five or six years ago They have stolen to day God Almighty out of St. Sulpitius's Church out of the Parish of Boulogne out of I do not know how many other Churches could that people say by right that the reason why the Idols are not Gods is because they cannot defend themselves against the Theives who come to take them away Those who have composed the Rubricks of the Missal wherein they Teach what is to be done in case the Host is fallen upon the Ground in case that that which is in the Chalice be spilt would they say that the reason why the Idols are not Gods is because when they are fallen they cannot rise up by themselves Thomas Aquinas and other Doctors of the Roman Church who do suppose the Host may grow mouldy that Worms may breed in it should they dare say as did the first Christians that the reason why we are not to Worship Idols is because they are subject to Rustiness Worms and Corruptions A Man of the Church of Rome who knows that the Pope (a) Platina in Victori Victorinus the Third was Poisoned in Drinking that which was in the Chalice That Henry the Seventh Emperour was Murthered with a Consecrated Host and that (b) Math. Paris an 1154. Henry Arch-bishop of York was used after the same manner in taking the Sacrament Durst One who knows all these Stories say the reason why the Idols are not Gods is because some of them falling out of their places have bruised and hurt those who usually walked about them Words are the Expressions of our Thoughts if the Church of Rome hath the same belief and the same Doctrin concerning the Eucharist as the first Christians Why doth it not dare to urge the same things which were maintained by the first Christians Or if the first Christians had the same Faith as the Church of Rome now how came they to urge Arguments which the Church of Rome now dares not maintain It is easie to know how great a prejudice this Argument is against the Belief of the Roman Church so did it work a mighty effect in my Soul And because I thought it very hard to have a resolution to it I proposed it in publick Disputes at Paris and first the Professor denied that ever any of the Fathers had used such Arguments But for as much as I could not abide to take a Lye before so many People I sent for Arnobius his Book and I read therein proofs enough to maintain the Propositions I stood for then the Professor who was as much able to give Distinction to no purpose as he was ignorant in reading the Fathers brought distinctions upon distinctions till at last in denying or distinguishing propositions clearer than the Sun it self he had reduced the Dispute to some Philosophical Question to avoid Answering my Argument I proposed it again to several Learned Men I looked for some Answer and Solution in the Books of Divines and I found nothing no where that could satisfie me in that Difficulty II. Second Proof drawn out of the Reasons wherewith the same Fathers were wont to dispute against the Hereticks THe second Reason that perswaded me that in the Primitive Church they did not believe the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was the Argument the first Christians used to prove against the Hereticks of their Age that Christ had a true Body and that he was not a Ghost Jesus Christ saith Tertullian (a) Lib. 4. Cap. 40. cont Marci Took the Bread and divided to his Apostles he made his Body of it saying This is my body that is to say The Figure of my body But it could not be the Figure of his Body if he had not had a true Body since a thing in the Air such as a Ghost is not capable of any Figure And (b) Lib. 5. Cap. 1. Irenaeus disputing against the Hereticks who said Christ had not taken the Human Nature If it be so says he the Lord has not Redeemed us with his Blood the Chalice of the Eucharist is not the Communication of his Blood and the Bread we break is not the Communication of his Body for the Blood cannot proceed but from Veins Flesh and the rest of the Substance of a Man If these Fathers had believed the Real Presence with Transubstantiation they had spoken thus Had not they said the Eucharist is Christ's own Flesh his own Soul his own Divinity therefore Christ was not a meer Ghost since we have his Flesh in the Sacrament Had not this Argument been stronger than the other wherein they proved that Christ had a true Body because the Sacrament is the Figure of his Body Irenaeus ought to have supposed in the Chalice of the Eucharist Christs own Blood to be and not as he doth that the Chalice of the Eucharist is the Communication of his Blood he should have said the Bread we break is Transubstantiated into Christ Body and not that it is the Communication of the Body of Christ In a word he should have said that the Sacrament was Christs own Flesh Christs own Substance And though those Arguments of the Fathers are admirable and most cogent yet they would have betrayed the Truths if being perswaded of the Articles of the Real Presence with Transubstantiation of the Roman Church they had forgotten to speak of it I am very sure if the Ancient Heresies should come again into the Church there would be never a Divine to
them with the Zeal of their Salvation and to turn away their hearts out of Error as he did yours Ah! how many thanks are you to give to God Almighty that he has drawn you out of the Tyranny where you were born But we should be very glad to hear the particularities of your Conversion And it is to rehearse them that I undertook this Discourse to engage you to joyn your Thanksgivings to mine for to thank Him to praise Him and to glorifie Him admiring the Greatness of his Goodness and the Wonders he doth work in the Souls of those whom he has 〈…〉 § 2. The Conversion of a Man who did live in the errors of the Roman Church is a very great Miracle SAint Peter's Chains broken by themselves many Blind men recovering their Eyes many Sick bodies healed many Dead rais'd up again these are very great Miracles and marvellous Deeds of the Highest's Mighty Hand But the Divine alterations which Grace works in our Souls are a great deal more marvellous more worthy of God's Majesty better becoming his Almightiness The Man whom the Finger of God has touched to work the Miracle of his Conversion doth not know himself any more so considerable is that change he feels his Soul entirely perswaded of certain Truths which God has revealed which he regarded heretofore as so many lies and he finds himself delivered from a multitude of errors which he worshipped as the Truth it self Peradventure you would have supposed that the prejudications of Error which he found in his mind from his Child-hood might be like so many petty Tyrants and young Devils who perplex him who vex him who trouble the quietness of his Conscience and raise up in him dimness and darkness stealing from his Eyes the very light of Truth You are mistaken Grace gives him strength to dissipate the evil Spirits and to withstand Error He doth enjoy the light of the Gospel with a peace and quietness which cannot be expressed and as the dawning of the Day which comes first after Night is received by all Creatures with more pleasant and more delightful wellcome than the very Light of Noon so I dare say there happens sometimes the same thing in the state of Grace A Soul newly lightened enjoys sometimes the Light with more pleasure and sweetness than do those who have been all their life long in the broad day-light of the Gospel That a man should live in such a Tranquillity of Conscience as the Saints themselves enjoy in Heaven That he should find pleasure and sweetness in being perswaded of a Truth which he lookt upon before as an Heresie and did not think of without Horrour it is a prodigious work of the Highest it is Almighty Gods mighty hand A Christian who has prostituted himself to all his Passions who has dived into all kinds of Vices and Deboachments who has transgressed all the Commandements of God when Grace touches and Converts him it is a great Miracle yet that man who prostituted himself to all kinds of Vices did never conceive any horrour against those who follow Virtue He did consider Virtue as a very hard thing but not as an Abomination and in the very same time wherein he broke all the Commandements he thought not that it was a great sin to keep them He did not look upon those who observed them as so many Monsters as so many Franticks as a people who deserving the malediction of God and the execration of Men ought to be exterminated out of the World with Sword and Fire But a Man who did live in the errors of Rome before God had hightened him by his Grace he looked upon the Reformed Church as a Church full of Abomination he never spoke of those who follow that Church but with Imprecation and Cursing he never read any proposition of their Doctrin but presently he added an Anathema and damned them to the pit of Hell he had rather have the conversation of Devils than that of a Protestant In a word all the Invectives Raylings Imprecations Maledictions Anathematizations he could heap up were to be poured out upon those who do profess the purity of the Gospel When after all those Repugnancies and Estrangements which seemed to be an obstacle to Truth you see a Man mollified opening his Eyes to the Grace of God changing his Dispositions his Notions his Thoughts and all his Manners Is not that a prodigie of Grace Have I not reason to say that this Miracle is not only greater than that whereby God gives again Eyes to the Blind Life to the Dead but even a great deal more marvellous than that which Grace works in the Conversion of the greatest Sinners § 3. After what manner the Spirit of God made me understasnd my Errors THe Lord our God doth not always shew altogether at once the effects of his mighty Power nor doth he work always after the same manner in all the Conversions of Sinners He speaks sometimes with a thundering Voice which altogether at once beats down dazles and converts a Sinner And it was with such a Voice he spoke to (a) Act. 9. St. Paul when in a minute of time he turned him from the most furious Enemy of the Gospel into a very Zealous Preacher of the same Gospel Other times he begins to speak to a Sinner softly and a great way off He prepares him he prevents him and he puts him in the Dispositions he judges fit for his Conversion It is after this manner he converted the (b) Act. 8. Eunuch of great Authority under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians he doth not overturn him out of his Chariot he doth not cast him to the ground to Convert him suddenly as he did afterwards St. Paul but he dispoes him by the reading of the Scripture to receive the light of the Gospel And it is after this manner the Lord has been pleased to draw me out of the Errors of Rome and to bring me through his great Mercies to profess here freely the purity of his Holy Word This is that which I intend to rehearse in all this Discourse in the First Part whereof I will recite how I understood that the Doctrin of the now Roman Church is grounded neither upon the Authority of the Holy Scriptures nor upon the belief of the Primitive Church nor the Authority of the Holy Fathers And in the Second Part how I understood that the Church of Rome is not the True Church that its Authority is not Infallible and that it is full of Corruptions and Errors FIRST PART The Doctrin of the Roman Church is grounded neither upon the Scripture nor upon the belief of the Primitive Church nor the Authority of the Holy Fathers CHAP. I. How I understood the Doctrin of the Roman Church to be not grounded upon the Scripture §. I. The Reading of the Scripture disposed me before-hand to acknowledge the Errors of Rome BEing in the Ecclesiastical Orders of the Church of Rome I thought
my self engaged upon pain of a mortal Sin to recite every day the 119th Psalm wherefore I did read it every day with as much application as I could Ch. 1. §. 1. The obligation to recite it so often did never make me to loath and though I were weary oftentimes to Read or to hear Read I do not know how many fabulous Stories which are to be found in the Roman Breviary several thwart applications of the Scripture several Orisons and Litanies wherein they Pray to all the Saints one after another to obtain of them the things which we are to hope only from God Almighty yet I was never loath to hear the Scripture especially this Psalm whereunto I had some most peculiar Attractions I went to Church with joy I opened my Breviary with pleasure to Read that Psalm and I discovered therein every day some new glimps of Light which inticed me to have a great deal of Esteem for the Word of God Psalm 119. It is in that Psalm I learned that the Wor of God is an excellent remedy to Cure all the Diseases of our Souls (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. drawing them out of their Deboachments and a miraculous Preservative (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 11. to keep them from falling again into Sin Therein I learned that an infallible mark to be sure whether a man fears God or no is to know whether he be glad (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 74 to see and frequent those who put all their trust in his Holy Word Therein I learned that a very good way to become (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 98. Wiser than all our Enemies to have more * 99. understanding than all our Teachers * 100. to be Wiser than the Ancients is to love the Scriptures so that our Study be in them all the day long Therein I learned that the Word of God is an Holy Contract full of a great many very obliging Promises wherein the Lord has been pleased to agree with men (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 50. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 82. to comfort them in their afflictions (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 107 to strengthen them in their troubles to fulfil them (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 58. with his loving Mercies to save them (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 81. to deal well with them (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 65. to take them in his Protection and to deliver them Therein I learned that the Saints are to love the Word of God (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 154. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 170. above all Silver and Gold in the World that (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 72. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 127. it is their Meditations all the day long That the cause of their grief and trouble is to see that their Enemies which are no others than the Enemies of God (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 97. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 148. have forgotten his Holy Words despised them and banished them out of their hearts therein I learned that the Word of God (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 139. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 158. is sweeter than any thing that it is (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 103. a LAMP unto our Feet and a LIGHT unto our Path that (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 105. the entrance of the word of God gives LIGHT that it gives understanding unto the simple that this holy Word is (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 130. very Pure that it is (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 140. true from the beginning and that it (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 160. endureth for ever These Holy thoughts of a Prophet full of the Holy Ghost presented themselves every day unto my eyes with some new inticements and made me conceive so high an esteem of the word of God that I fully resolved to make the Holy Writings my peculiar Study I read first many times that Translation of the Bible which is called the Vulgar Translation then having obtained the permission of Reading the Scripture in a Vulgar Tongue knowing that one 's own Tongue prints in his mind more pure and more lively Notions I read the Translation of the Bible by the Doctorsof Louvain But whereas I heard say every day by those I conversed withal that the Bible was a Book full of Darkness that the Translations thereof had been corrupted by the Hereticks I read the New Testament in the Togue in which every body confesses it has been first written and as for the Old Testament the places which they say have been corrupted by those of the Reformed Church I conferred with the Translation of the Sventy Interpreters which I thought free from Corruption since it was done about 272 Years afore the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ Good God! how marvellous are the means thou art pleased to use to act thy Miracles would some body had told me at that time Oh you are plunged in many Errors and all that Study of the Scripture to which you give your self with so great an application it is the work of God who begins to pluck you from the Errors of Rome Alas I should have been amazed very much Yet for all that it is very true for if I had been altogether Ignorant of the Original Tongues of the Scripture I should have had some Reason or at least some pretence to mistrust that the places of the Scripture which are directly contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome Ch. 1. §. 2. had not been Translated according to the Originals or that the Interpreters had changed the sense and the signification of them as it is cried out so often by those of the Roman Church § 2. The Errors of the Roman Church whereof I was perswaded made me find in the Scriptures many difficulties many insufficiencies and many contradictions THe reading of the Scripture raised in my mind many difficulties Difficulties of the Scripture not that the Scripture is dark in it self but because I had my understanding full of the Errors of Rome and I did endevour to find those Errors in the Scripture in the places from whence the Roman Writers are wont to draw them This place of (a) Matth. 16.18 St. Matthew Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will Build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it c. That of (b) Luke 22.32 St. Luke I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not and that (a) John 21.16 of St. John Feed my Sheep c. If all these Words do signifie nothing but what every body conceives by the natural notions which they do picture in our Soul these Words are very easie but if they do signifie that the Pope is the true Successor of St. Peter the Vicar of Christ the High-Priest the Head
be found in the Roman Church who durst prove against them as did Tertullian against Marcion that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the Figure of Christs Body and that consequently Christ was not a Ghost On the contrary a Protestant would be able to bring against those Heresies the same Arguments which the first Christians used and he would be warranted therein by all his Church From whence comes that difference if not from that that a Protestant believes nothing concerning the Sacrament but what they believed in the Primitive Church whereas a Divine of the Church of Rome acknowledges several articlesof Faith which were unknown among the First Christians and which consequently are the cause he cannot speak the same Language nor use the same Arguments they used These two Reasons seemed to me so much the stronger because I looked upon them not as the opinion of a single man who may be deceived or some place of a Book which may be corrupted and drawn into an ill sense but I looked upon these Reasons as the Reasons of all the Church and publick Weapons both of Learned Men and of the People to fight the Heathens and the Hereticks with all III. Third Proof drawn out of the manner whereafter the Fathers were wont to speak of this Holy Sacrament THat which confirmed me that in the Primitive Church they did not believe the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was the manner wherewith the Fathers both Greek and Latin were wont to speak of those Mysteries Theodoret (a) In 55 Quaestiosuper genesim says It is an extreme foclishness and extravagancy to Worship what one Eats 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the same in (b) Dialog 1. Intitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another place The LORD says he did the honour to the visible Signs to call them his BLOOD and his BODY not having changed their Nature but having added Grace to Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is there any appearance that the Fathers believed what the Council of Trent teaches A Divine of the Church of Rome who should say that it is an extreme extravagancy to Worship what one Eats That Christ hath not changed the Nature of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament would he not presently be sent to the Inquisition and condemned as an Heretick to be burnt a live The Eucharist say the Fathers of the Church (a) Cyprian de Caena cap. 6. is a visible Sacrament whereupon the Divine Essence imparts it self after an unutterable manner It (b) Idem cap. 2. is an Holy Nutriment capable of rendering us Immortal which is very much different from the ordinary Nutriments we are daily fed withal It keeps indeed the kind of a corporeal substance but it makes known by an invisible efficacy that it possesses the Presence of a Divine Vertue (c) Hilary de Trinit lib. 8. we are in Christ by his corporeal Birth and he is in us by the Mysteries of his Sacraments (d) August cap. 12. cont Adimant The Lord did not doubt to say this is my Body when he gave the Sign of his Body He (a) Idem in Psal 3. permitted Judas to be present at the Banquet wherein he committed and gave to his Disciples the Figure of his Body and Blood If a Roman Author should use these expressions which the Holy Fathers used would not a Bishop of the Roman Church zealous for the Interests of the Council of Trent say to him Sir 't is not enough to say with Cyprian tha tthe Divine Essence imparts it self in the Eucharist after an unutterable manner the Hereticks say all that You must say furthermore the Body and Soul of Christ are there really in the room of the substance of Bread 'T is not enough to say the Eucharist is an Holy Nutriment of a Divine Vertue the Hereticks do confess all that You must say moreover it contains the Real Presence of Christs Body and Blood 'T is not enough to say that Christ is in us by the Mysteries of his Sacraments the Hereticks do believe the same thing but you must say he is in us really his Body his Soul his Divinity In fine you must have a very great care of saying the Sacrament is the Sign and the Figure of Christ's Body and Blood as St. Austin said you must say to the contrary that it is not the Figure of Christ's Body and Blood you must say that it is Christ's own Body and Blood into which the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper is Transubstantiated Certainly this Bishop would speak well according to the belief of the new Roman Church but he would be far from the Doctrin of the holy Fathers He would forsake the Faith of the Primitive Church he would bring forth propositions of which the first Christians have been wholly ignorant he would even condemn the Belief of 330 Bishops of a general Council held at Constantinople in the year 754. for those 330 Bishops condemning as Idolatry the Worshiping of Images among the Reasons they brought did exhort the People to be contented with the Images that Christ has instituted giving in the Holy Sacrament Bread and Wine as Images and Figures of his own Body and Blood and speaking of the Bread of the Eucharist Behold there is said those Fathers the Image of his life-giving Body and a little after The Lord say they has commanded us to put upon the Table this Image especially chosen to wit the substance of Bread least Idolatry should slip in among the Christians if he had been represented under an Human Figure IV. Fourth Proof drawn out of the Novelty of the Doctrin teaching Transubstantiation ALl those Reasons perswaded me not only that the belief of the Real Presence with Transubstantiation was not the belief of the Primitive Church but furthermore that they were Articles of Faith newly devised And I knew afterwards they were no older than the beginning of the thirteenth Age when Pope Innocent the Third in the (a) Scotus in 4. Sent. dist 11. quaest 3. Council of Lateran in the year â—214 set among the Articles of Faith the Belief of Transubstantiation since we see that in the end of the Ninth Age about the Year of our Lord 870. Bertram or John Scot one of the most learned Men of that time wrote a Book by the command of Charles the Bauld King of France touching the question of the Eucharist wherein he maintains openly the Belief of the Protestant Church since we (a) Biblioteca Patr. de Div. Offi. find a letter of the Emperour Charles Magne to his Teacher Alcuinus wherein these words are to be read Jesus christ supping with his Disciples broke the Bread and gave it to them likewise the Cup in figure of his Body and Blood In fine since even in the Canon of the Mass instead of these words which are to be found there now Ut nobis Corpus Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui c. That it may become to us
the people who trust to my knowledge and sincerity I have been a long while in doubt a long while examining 't is enough while I doubted I taught the people certain Doctrines of which I was not sure but now that God Almighty has lightened my eyes must I still withstand the light be stuborn and rebellious against truth Yet for all that God forsook me once more or rather I could not perswade my self I was not constant enough to oppose my self openly to the errors of the Roman Church Ah! I should have gone up to the Pulpit I should have said to all that people that certainly they lived in ignorance and Idolatry I should have said that the Eucharist is true Bread that Christ is in Heaven present corporally and that he is present upon the Earth only by Faith in the souls of the faithful who receive the Sacrament of his body and blood holily and worthily But I should have been sure in the mean time to be stoned presently or else if that people had dealt with me more moderately according to the forms of their laws I should have been sure to have heard pronounced against me a severe sentence of death at least a condemnation without mercy to be kept in a dark hole of a Prison and there make an end of a woful life in the middle of the Enemies of the Faith who would have unmercifully lookt upon me with horror and execration and thou didst not give me O my God! at that time the strength and the constancie wherewith thou hedgest and cloathest thy Martyrs I preached again afterwards some Sermons wherein I avoided as much as I could to speak of matter of Controversies at last finding my self not strong enough to make a publick profession of the gospel in the middle of the Enemies of the Faith I took a resolution to go dwell in a Country where I should be free to profess openly the purity of the Word of God §. 2. The difficulties I suffered and the oppositions I had to overcome I Was to sustain for that several combats and to overcome several difficulties I found my self in a very honourable establishment very convenient for a sure entertainment for study and for the Society of learned men and persons of quality all my superiours loved me I was very acceptable to all my fellows men both old and young earnestly sought to be acquainted and to converse with me every body treated me with very much esteem and honor I could not forbear to hear my friends saying that the people were well edified with my Sermons those of my Superiors who came to hear me were obsequious enough to flatter me and though I supposed the commendations which were given to me to be ill grounded yet I could not forbear to receive from them somewhat of vanity Alas said I with my self altogether thoughtful I shall be engaged to leave all my friends to forsake all my kinsmen may be I shall be reduced to such a condition that I shall have no provision nor security for the things of this present life I shall be called a Heretick and Apostate they will forge against me all that can be imagined of injuries and slanders those of my friends themost zelous for the Church of Rome will believe that they do a great service to God in cursing me with all kind of woes and cursings my own Mother will look upon me as a monster she will curse a thousand times the day wherein she brought me forth into the world and I shall hear from her every day that she is dying with the displeasure and the troubles she suffers upon my account Then it was I had need to call up all my resolutions all the attractions and the charmes which grace made me feel in my heart to counterbalance the inclination of nature and to overcome all its powerful impressions there was need to oppose God to the flesh and blood grace to nature and my salvation to all my natural satisfactions §. 3. The reasons which I thought upon in my mind to defer my conversion I Will not blush to confess here my weaknesses I tottered I sought after reasons and pretenses to stay in the profession of the Roman Church which I knew to be the true Babylon and I thought I had found some It is not the will of God said I that a man should abandon himself evidently to be starved we are not masters of our lives God made us but Guardians of them and we cannot expose our selves to death when we please I cannot husband the ground I was never taught any trade to get my living I cannot in France after I have been a Priest profess the purity of the Gospel without making me guilty of a crime of high treason in that kingdom I shall be obliged to remove from thence into a strange Country and there dwell without Friends without acquaintance and without any help to live and is not that to destroy ones self without any order of God and tempt his Divine providence I will live in the Church of Rome as if I was not of the Church of Rome the Saints live in the world as if they were not of the world (a) 1 Cor. 7.31 they use this world as not abusing it I will profess in the bottom of my heart the purity of the Gospel (b) Joh. 4.24 God is a spirit I will worship him in spirit he will be satisfied with my good will I will protest before him every day secretly in the bottom of my soul that I abjure and forsake all the errors of Rome and that I do not intend to be partaker of all the Superstitions which it is stuffed withal I will never preach but matters of Morality I will never speak in my Sermons either of the Transubstantiation of Christ in the Sacrament or of the Invocation of Saints or of worshipping Images or of the infallibility of the Pope in making Articles of Faith or in canonizing whom he pleases or of Indulgencies or Purgatory since I know manifestly that they are errors which the Popes have devised as means to get mony by which have no foundation in the Word of God when I shall be obliged to bend by knees in the presence of the Sacrament I will lift up my spirit towards Heaven to direct my worshipping to Jesus Christ the Everlasting God full of majesty who reigns there in the midst of his Angels at last when I shall be obliged to say the Masse could not I rid my self of that function as of a meer ceremonie by which a blinded people has used to worship God and could not somebody imagine all the turnings and walkings of the Mass not to be much more criminal before God than David's dancing and leaping when he danced before the Ark to honour God Almighty his Majesty Is it my fault if the people will be deceived and will not have their hearts opened to the Purity of the word of God Can it