77.

T. p. 193. Church of Chrift, in the firft Age, is now as hard a matter as it was to cure Cent.1.Advert, the Age, or the Body Politick in Boccalini; when the wife Men had ftript it and view'd it stark naked, they found it so miserably lean, wasted, and weak; and overrun with fo many Ulcers and Scabs and Sores, as it could not undergo or endure any rough dealing, as either Bleeding, or Purging, or Cupping, or Scarifying, or any fuch neceffary Phyfick; fo they even put on its Cloaths again, and to fave their Reputations they fpruced the old Carcafe up with all poffible art, and fet it forth with Jewels and Gold and Silver, and all manner of Glorious Ornaments to amufe the People, and fo let it linger on ftill at the old rate. I shall leave the Ingenuous Reader to apply this himself. CHA P. V.

1622. p. A. ij.

Some Obfervations concerning the first rife of that new Doctrine of Tranfubftantiation, and the endeavours used to propagate it over the whole Chriftian World.

OPE Gregory at the Erection of the Congregation (de propaganda Fide) for Propagating the Faith, laments in his Bull, That fuch Multitudes are Mahometans in thofe Eastern Nations, which were once Famous for Heavenly Gifts. But which of his Emiffaries dare venture to tamper with a Mahometan about perverting him from his Religion? Mich. Nau the Jefuit, in the beginning of his Treatife against the Alcoran, truly declares how this matter stands; where, faying, how vain and fruitless a labour it would be to attempt any fuch thing, he thus expreffes the danger of it; To go about to fhew the Mahometans the Truth (he means, I fuppofe, chiefly the Roman Doctrine) would be all one as to put a Fire-brand into a barrel of Gunpowder, which would not only deftroy him that doth it, but all others that are about him. Yet this hinders them not from going to China, and other parts of the E. Indies; where Money is to be got in the East or Weft, you will find Emiffaries, especially Jefuits, there; fo that they have other ends in thofe Mercats of which more conveniently elfe where. The very defign therefore of this Congregation, and of fending their Emiffaries abroad in that part of the World, (for which Pope Urban permitted all regular Societies and Fraternities to go, as well as the Jefuits, to whom only this Charge was at firft committed,) was not to convert the Muffel-men or Unbelievers, but to Poifon the poor ignorant Chriftians, (which were dispersed up and down under the Turkish Tyranny, or other Eastern or Infidel Governments,) with their Latin Inventions and Impofitions; and to make them as meer Slaves to the Pope, in matters of Religion, as they are to the Lords and Masters of thofe feveral Countries, in refpect of all Civil concerns. Therefore we find that they have Schools at Rome, for Educating Georgians; Perfians, Neftorians, Jacobites, Melchites, Copta, Abaffins, Bragmans, Ethiopians, Armenians, Gracians, in their Schools, who are Chriftians already but not of their way. Thefe Schollars, when they are well seafon'd with Romish Principles and School Divinity, are fent home to their native Countries, to carry on the work with the Latin Emiffaries which are already there. What their business is there, we may very well guefs by what the learned R. Simon hath ingeniously faid, or, if you pleafe, what fairly dropt from his Pen, concerning the Practice of the Coll. of Cardinals and the Cenfors, who manage this great work of Propagating the Faith, He tells us out of Thomas Not. in Gabr. a Jefu (whom he quotes to bear himself out, if he fecms to fpeak too bold a Sever.p.155.a truth) that the Cenfors have very accurately purged the MSS Missals (of the Eaft,) from their Errors, and that care hath been taken by the Apoftolick Sanction, that only those things fhould be used in the Maronites Church, which were fent from the Pope, or fubfcribed by the Patriarch's own hand. Nay, the Mafs Books of the Maronites ought to be Reformed to thofe of Rome; not only in thefe things which were matters of Faith, but also every thing else was to be pared off, from whence any Error might arife. And I think, faith he, that every one knows this to be the Cuftom of the Congre

T. p. 104.

gation for Propagating the Faith. Of this practice of the Coll. or Congre- T. p. 104. gation of Cardinals and their Cenfors he gives us feveral inftances; take for a taft, their foifting in the word Confecratum into the Armenian Miffal, Printed P. 152. b. at Rome 1642. for in the Invocation of the Holy Spirit, upon the Elements, after the words of Chrift, instead of Fac panem hunc Corpus Chrifti, & Calicem iftum Sanguinem, make this Bread the Body of Chrift, and this Cup the Blood, they have made it, Fac Confecratum panem hunc Corpus Chrifti, & Confecratum Calicem ipfum fanguinem, make this Confecrated Bread the Body, and this Confecrated Cup the Blood, as if they had been already Confecrated by the words of Chrift. So in the Ethiopick Mafs Book, printed at p. 153. a. Rome 1649. in the like Invocation of the Holy Spirit after Christ's words, inftead of, we pray Thee that thou wouldeft fend down the Holy Spirit and its Power upon this Bread, & ut faciat Corpus Chrifti, and that it may make it the Body of Christ, they have difguifed it thus, fend the Holy Spirit upon this Bread, videlicet Corpus Chrifti, to wit it being the Body of Chrift, as if the Bread had been before made the Body by Chrift's words. I fhall omit other fuch inftances which he there gives of the like Juggling, for any one with half an 223. 4, 5, 6, 7. Eye may fee all this to be a plain trick, to hook in the grand Mystery of Tranfubstantiation, as wrought by the words of Chrift. But if the Congregation, and the Cenfors at Rome, dare thus openly at home discover their Impostures and designs of coofening the Poor ignorant Eastern Chriftians; I thinkwe may easily and justİy judge, that all their Miffionaries Abroad have their Credentials and Instructions to the very fame Purpose; we may truly fay of them, what was once waggishly faid of our Embaffadors, they are fent to lie abroad for their Master's business.

P. 155.

P. 117. b.

148. a. c.

For these bold strokes, R. Simon, like a welbred Gentleman, warily makes this civil Complement, Cæterum quod de Romanâ Miffalis Maronitici caftigatione diximus, what we have faid of the Roman correction of the Maronites Mafs Book, must not be so taken, as if we would have any thing detracted from the Faith, or Honesty, of the Cenfors, but whilft we, 2 pinnas & nat angilear, critically and nicely inquire after the Antient Form of the Eastern Liturgies, it was necessary to weigh, or compare, the Printed Copies of them with their MSS. Books. And he often, as his excufe, freely profelles his Ingenuity and Candor, and Freedom from Prejudice or Calumny and 133. b, 134. a. his defire of nothing but Peace and Truth. And truly for his Freedom I hearti- 172.b. c. ly thank him, especially in giving us many of the Oriental Miffals, by which he hath fufficiently proved the Invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the Elements, after the words of Chrift, to be univerfally used all over the East, how he can reconcile this with the modern Tranfubftantiation made by Christ's words alone, I confefs (as I have faid before,) I cannot understand. And yet he would have us believe, that it was the Antient univerfal Doctrine, not only of the Latin Church, but also of all the Eaft, efpecially the Greeks, from whofe Liturgy, as he tells us, all others were borrowed or framed. He must pardon me, if p. 118. a. here I fay the fame that Chemnicius faid of Andradius in the like Cafe; Satis pol Gloriofa & audax eft affeveratio, indeed it is an Affeveration Glorious and bold enough; for I think that a very fair account may be given, that this is but a meer novel Opinion, and the first rife and beginning of it, both in the East and West are very well known.

P. 53.

T. p. 105.

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Hofp. hift. Sa

cram. 1. 4:

P. 249.

And first we will confider his own Church. The Hyperbolical expreffions of fome of the Fathers, (efpecially Joh. Damafcen and Theophylact and later ones) by which they defired to exprefs the Majefty and Excellency of the Eu. charift, gave occafion to fome Men to think that there was fomething more in the fubftance of the Elements, when Confecrated, then plain Bread and Wine; and many of the Fathers, as Irenæus and others, having mention'd a Change that was made at the Confecration, feveral Superftitious, Monkish dreaming Men in the ninth Century, and the beginning of that Leaden, Abominable, Ricciol. Chron. Iron, Lamentable one (as their own Authors call it) the Tenth, which fol- Bay. 900. p. I. lowed, began to start and vent various conceits and whimseys about the man

02

ner

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m vita.

p.

p. 270. 1059. 12.

1058. d.

Cent. Mag. T.

c.

T. p. 106.

T. p. 105. ner of this change. In fo much as Carolus Calvus about the Year 850. comHop. id. P manded Bertram (a noted Man for his great Piety and Learning) to write that Trittenhem. admirable Book, of the Body and Blood of Chrift, which is preferved to our very days. Joannes Erigena, or as fome call him, Scotus, is faid to have wrote likewise about that time a Book, to the fame purpofe, to the fame command. Whether there were two fuch diftinct Books written then, or that there was but one which went under the name fometimes of Scotus, fometimes of Tom conc. Lab. Bertram or Ratram, as Caffartius would have it, I fhall not now difpute, 1x. p. 1053. c. though Trithemius and feveral other grave Authors make them two several WriHolpe P. 27° ters; and Baronius faith that Scotus was counted a Martyr. However the Labbe. T. 1x. Book which we have (be it Scotus his or Rertram's) is own'd to have been 1053. c. written by that Royal command, and level'd against Pafchafius, who, as Ep. ad Afeel. Berengarius tells us, against all the Reasons of Nature, against the Doctrine, ib. p. 1056. c. or Opinion, of the Gospel and Apoftles, folus fibi confingit facramento Dominici corporis decedere panis omnino fubftantiam, was the only one who to himfelf feigned, or devifed, (amongst the many wild Fancies which then were difperfed) that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Body the Subflance of the Bread did altogether depart, or vanish. There is the firft Thought or Seed or Egg of that monfter Tranfubftantiation. It is plain that this was Paf1059. 12. chafius's maggot Opinion, and Baronius applauds him for it, and Afcelinus Labbe. T. 1x confeffeth the fame thing; and none can doubt of it, if that notorious Fable which is in the Colon Edition of Pafchafius, be his own; of Pleegilis, who, Ep. ad Ber. Hof. hift. Sacr. in Celebrating the Sacrament, faw Jefus Chrift in the form of an Infant 1. 4, p. 277, upon the Altar, and he took him in his Arms; and at laft Chrift was 1x. c. 6. p. turn'd into the Wafer again, out of which at first he had been Tranfub135 ftantiated. They wanted indeed fuch Miracles at that time to fupport this 1059. 21. 22. new Portentous Doctrine, and Baronius furnishes you with two more fuch out of Petr. Damian. First the Hoftia appear'd (to confute Berengarius) half Bread half Flesh. Another appear'd perfect Flesh, and Bloodied the 3 q. 76. 8. Priest's fingers when he took it. And afterwards Tho Aquin. allow'd them as real Truths, and bent his wits to maintain this new Doctrine by them. I could furnish them with 70 more out of a MSS. which I have, written about that age, formerly belonging to Bury Abbey in Suffolk. Scotus, or Bertram's Book, Baronius faith, was not for a while very Publick, fo that, although by the dint of plain naked Truth, it thwarted and baffled all other wild conceits, then variously taken up about the Change in the Eucharist, but more especially that of Tranfubftantiation, yet there was no great noife about it till the beginning of the eleventh Century, of which this is a weighty ReBaron, 1001, mark. There had been a strong Opinion patch'd up firft at Paris, and thence 1. Ricciol. Chr. Scatter'd up and down every where in France, and at last spread all over eod. anno. the World, that fo foon as the Tenth Century was ended Anti-Christ or that Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, fhould be revealed. Now when I feriously reflect upon what follow'd in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, I cannot but think that the difmal event of things then acted, in the domineering Church, did fully anfwer this Prediction. For both the Civil and Ecclefiaftical Powers combin'd, with all the Violence and fiery Zeal imaginable, to oppofe and beat down the plain and Primitive way of Celebrating the Eucharift, and to turn the Antient and pure Devotion, ufcd by the first Chriftians in that folemn Commemoration of our bleffed Lord's Paffion, into a meer piece of outward Pageantry; and inftead of the clear and obvious Truth of the Gofpel, to impofe upon the World an intolerable load of moft wicked and moft abfurd Inventions of Men; and as that Prediction was firft Published in France, fo the Anti-Chriftian Tyrany was first Exercised there, as I fhall now Baron. 1004. briefly fhew out of their own Books. Many embraced Bertram's Doctrine, 345 amongst the reft Leuthericus, Arch-Bishop of Sens, had vented fomething more freely than ordinary, fo as he was taken notice of; but, timore Regis, for fear of King Robert, and of being deprived by the Pope, obmu.

1059. 12.

1 Thefe 23.

§. 6.

§. 2, 3, 4.

Biron. 1050. 2.

tuit, he was hufb'd and durft fay no more. Berengarius (a Man of emi- T. p. 106. nent Piety and Learning, as what little is left of his Writings fufficiently fhew) took up the Caufe; but neither durft he vigorously perfue it whilft K. Robert lived, any thing being not fuffered by him, afferi nec audiri, to be own'd or ibid. 1053. 1; heard. But when Robert was Dead, he boldly Publish'd and maintain'd his Doctrine, and Bruno his Arch-Bishop (of Angiers) was a brisk Defender of the fame, but K. Henry who fucceeded, paterno exæftuans zelo, fired with his Father's zeal, caufed them by his Royal Command to be rebuked and refrain'd, coercitos Regiâ juffione fuiffe, as we may justly conclude (par eft credere, says my Author) because neither Berengarius nor any of his fol. lowers, (for we may well think that he had many) were heard to mutter any thing of their Doctrine all his time. Durandus Bishop of Liege, and Id. §. 5. Adelman Bishop of Brescia, or rather at la Breffe, were the firft that ftruck at him. The first from very poor parents became a Favorite at Court, and fo acted, as we fay, like a Beggar on Horfe back; He had the Afcendent over T. p. 107. K. Henry, as we may well conclude by that his haughty and virulent Letter to him, wherein he took the Confidence to direct him, not to hear Bruno or Berengarius, or their Followers, in any Council, but to think, de eorum fupplicio, how to punish them, or cut them off, without any farther delay. A fad inftance This! How the Paffion of Princes, who only hear by other Mens Ears, and fee by other Mens Eyes, may be inflamed and mifguided by fuch bufy and assuming Courtiers, who only to themfelves have once Ingroffed the Privilege of their Ear. Lanfranc Bishop of Caen, afterwards Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, Chief Councellor to K. William the Conqueror, was justly in vita. c. 3. fufpected to be of Berangarius his Opinion, for by Berengarius his Letters P. 21. not. m. directed to him, many thought that he Favoured and Promoted the fame Caufe. And truly I must think fo too, for Berengarius, (who himself was a great and learned Man, and far from a light and giddyheaded Scribler) furely would not have ventur'd to write fuch Matters, at fuch a time, to fuch a Man, unless he had been his intimate acquaintance, and had known that his Letters would be acceptable to him. And his Letter ftill extant to Lancfranc intimates Labbe. T. ix. as much; he knew him and his temper too (as he thought) for he tells him, that for condemning Scotus, and embracing Pafchafius, he did a thing, indignum Ingenio, unworthy of that Wit, or Genius, which God had given him, being not defpifable or defpicable. But Lancfranc who was a Courtier, to fave himself (luch charms hath the fear of loofing Preferments, and the hopes of getting more) and to clear his Reputation, in this Point, by the command of Baron. ut fupra the Pope was forced to write against Berengarius. And this confirms me more in my abovefaid Opinion; It was the heighth of Policy in the Pope, to take off, if possible, fuch a noted Man, who had been Berengarius his Intimado; and he did it by thofe Motives, which I have hinted, (for this was a fair ftep or plain road to his following Greatnefs) though the Command of the Pope was contrived to colour the matter. Lancfranc's writing against Berengarius ftill augment my Sufpicion; for it is done weakly enough, yet it did his bufinefs, for the meer name of his Publick appearing as an Adverfary against Berengarius, vouched him fufficiently Orthodox to the Pope and his Party. I wish we had all that Berengarius wrote compleat, for Lancfranc would not c. 1. p. 232.2. undertake to answer all, but only pickt out here and there fome Paffages, c. 20. 247. b. which he thought he could formally oppofe, and this was applauded as his Anfwer. The Dialectical or Argumentative part of Berengarius his writings, he professedly meddled not with all; and he faith plainly, I had rather be a Ruftick, or Clown, with the Vulgar, and a Catholick Ideot, then a Courtlike and Facetious Heretick with you; for my part I fhould rather here apply St. Paul's words, I had rather speak five words with my understanding, 1 Cor. 14. 19. like Berengar. then ten Thousand, with the Catholick Scholaftick Ideots, un- 1 Tim. 1. 7. derstanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. Where Berengarius faid, Those words of Scripture, Chrift is the chief corner ftone, make .. 6. 236.

Chrift

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c. 7. p. 236.b. C. 4. 235.

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C. 14.

T. p. 107. Chrift to be Chrift ftill, fo the Bread is Chrift's Body, but Bread fill; He faith that Bread is called Chrift's Body, facrata ac myfticâ locutione, by a facred and myftical way of speaking; either because it is made of Bread, T. p. 108. and fill retains fome of its qualities; or because it feeds and fatiates the Soul, as bread doth the Body; or because it is the Bread of Angels, aut aliquo alio modo, qui a doctoribus comprehendi poteft a nobis non poteft. Or Some other way, which the more Learned might comprehend, but he could not. A goodly Answer indeed; School-Divinity was then but in Embryo. However fince he confeffeth that, this propofition, Chrifi's Body is Bread, is to be understood Myftically; I wonder why this propofition, the Bread is Chrift's Body, muft needs be taken litterally. Upon that faying of Auguftin quoted by Berengar. When Chrift is eaten Life is eaten; neither when we do eat him, do we make parts of him. He faith, far be it, that we should fo understand Chrift to be eaten, as the Jews thought; that he should be cut into bits. But how could this confift with what they forced poor Bereng. Baron, 1059.13. to confefs; verum Corpus Chrifti fenfualiter, & in veritate, frangi, & fidelium dentibus atteri, that the very true Body of Chrift was Sensibly and in Truth broken, and ground, or rub'd, or torn, by the Teeth of the Faithful. What difference is there between, being really and fenfibly broken and grinded, or torn, by the Teeth of the Faithful, and, in frustra confcindi, being cut into bits? The piece of Bread in my Mouth, according to them, is one entire Chrift; when I chew it and grind it with my Teeth, into many many crumbs, I certainly divide, cut, tear in pieces fomething, (which feems to me as fubftantial as common Bread,) if that is really Chrift's Body, I can fee no difference between the Metufiafts breaking, grinding, dividing, and the Jews cutting. To divide fomething into a thousand pieces, and yet not divide the real Thing or Subftance confeffedly in it or under it, is to me an unintelligible fubtilty. How he fhuffles about thofe words of Auguftin, the Sacrament of the Body of Chrift, is after a certain manner the Body of Christ, and at laft confeffes it to be fo, non rei veritate fed fignificante Myfterio, not in the Truth of the Thing but by a fignificant Mystery. That he might feem thoroughly Orthodox, he makes Tranfubftantiation part of his Creed; and then endeavours to reconcile this Contradiction, what we take, is the very fame Body Chrift received from the Virgin, and yet it is not the very fame. It is the fame as to its Effence, and the propriety and virtue of its true Nature, but not the fame if you regard the fpecies of Bread and Wine. So that, according to him, what we Jee, and touch, and taft, and eat is by no means the fame, and yet according to the Berengarian Form, what we thus, fenfualiter, fenfibly or fenfually, receive is the very fame; and therefore he is confounded at what he at last c. 18. 246. quotes out of St. Auguft. on those words, unless you eat my Flesh, (and fo fay we on those words, this is my Body) understand what I have faid Spiritually, ye are not to eat this Body which you fee, and to drink that Blood which they fhall fhed, who shall Crucify me. He faith, Calumniosa ista objectio eft, this is a Calumneous objection; and he would fhuffle it off by other paffages in Auguft. whereas indeed it is a fure xpiThoov, Teft, which fully explains all the Hyperbolical expreffions not only of Auguftin, but of all the other Antient Fathers. Speaking of the truth of Chrift's Body and Blood he drops this fentence. Non improbabiliter quidam &c. Some do not improbably expound the Truth of the Body and Blood of Chrift, for the very Efficientiam, Efficiency, or Effect, of them, that is, the Remiffion of Sins. If he allows this Expofition which is plain and intelligible, why should Rome publickly impofe upon us any other, especially their own moft Abfurd and Ridiculous Invention? And all his Inftances there of Chrift his being called, a Lion, a Lamb, a Worm, a Rock and the like, make plainly for us. The Bread is no more T. p. 109. Chrifl's real Body litterally, nor Chrift's real Corporeal Bread, then Chrift was litterally a Lamb, and a very real Stone But all is to be understood figuratively, or in a fpiritual Senfe. He as poorly there anfwers what is quo

c. 18.

C. 20. 247.

P. 2. 249. a.

ted