The Catholic Doctrine of the Eucharist in All Ages, Book 2 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
That the temporal State of the Eaſtern People ſince the eleventh Century, and the Efforts the Latins have …ade to communicate to them their Religion, do invalidate the Proof which is pretended to be drawn from their Belief. Mr. Arnaud's Artifice diſcovered.
HERE is then Mr. Arnaud's firſt Deceit detected, which conſiſts in the concealing from us the real Condition wherein this People have ſo long layn, as to Religion, to the end the weakneſs of his Arguments may lye undiſcovered.
The ſecond conſiſts in ſetting before us ſeveral impertinent hiſtorical Paſſages, on purpoſe to avert his Readers Mind, from a due Conſideration of thoſe things which he knows would prove diſavantagious to him. It is without doubt a very diſingenuous Artifice, thus to change the natural Uſe and Order of things, and ſnatch out of mens Sights the true and important Conſequences may be drawn thence, by ſubſtituting others which are but mere Amuſements. And yet this Mr. Arnaud has done: for not being able to deny that the temporal State of the Eaſtern People, ſince the eleventh Century, hath very much facilitated the Attempts of the Latins, eſtabliſhing their Doctrines in thoſe Parts; He thereupon ſuppoſes I affirm the Greeks never knew the Latins believed Tranſubſtantiation: and under pretence of oppoſing this Fancy ſprung from his own Brain, he retails out the Hiſtory of the Eaſt, to ſhew that the Greeks could not be ignorant of the Belief of the Latins touching the Euchariſt. I will not inſiſt at preſent on the little reaſon he had to charge me with this Opinion; I ſhall make it appear in the following parts of this Diſcourſe, that this is his Chimera and not mine. I ſhall only repreſent here the ſame hiſtorical Paſſages, Mr. Arnaud has produced, in that manner wherein they ought to be propoſed, to make a right Judgment of this Diſpute, and not in that falſe View wherein he has repreſented them. In a Word, I pretend to manifeſt by thoſe very things he has offered and Perverted, That if the Greeks and other Eaſtern Chriſtians doe believe Tranſubſtantiation, as fully as the Church of Rome, yet does it not thence follow that this Doctrine has bin perpetual in that Church: ſeeing they might have received it from the Latins.
FIRST then Mr. Arnaud takes a great deal of Pains to prove, there has bin a frequent Commerce between the Greeks and Latins, for he tells us that L. 2. C. 8. P. 172.Piſa, Venice, Rome, and ſeveral other Cities of Italy were full of Greeks, That Conſtantinople was full of Latins, and Latin Churches; that the Armies were uſually made up of Greek, Italian, and French Soldiers, which were continually in great Numbers at Jeruſalem, where they communicated in the ſame Churches from the Hands of the Patriarch, and Prieſts of that City; That ſo great was the multitude of Pilgrims, that they adminiſtred the Sacrament every Day, that Perſons of the greateſt Quality, namely Kings, Princes, and Prelates, and Ladies of the higheſt Rank, undertook theſe Pilgrimages, and that Jeruſalem was then, that is to ſay in the eleventh Century, a place whereunto all the Nations of the World reſorted.
I ſhall not now enter into a Debate concerning what he tells us touching the Chriſtians receiving the Communion at Jeruſalem, from the Patriarch and Prieſts of that City. He affirms it without proving it, for there is very little likelyhood that …erſons of different Churches, who were ſo greatly divided, would receive the Communion together from the ſame Perſon. But be it as it will, I am ſo far from raiſing a Conteſt about this frequent Commerce of the Greeks, with the Latins, that I take it for granted, to the end I may thereby demonſtrate to Mr. Arnaud the weakneſs of his Argument. For when he ſhall prove, that the Greeks believe the Converſion of Subſtances, and adore the Sacrament, he may then well conclude againſt me, that I have bin guilty of Raſhneſs in denying it: but he cannot any ways thereby advantage his Cauſe, ſeeing it will remain ſtill to be examined, whether theſe People did not receive theſe Doctrines from the Latins, by means of their mutual Commerce ſince Berengarius was laſt condemned. What I related in the preceeding Chapter touching the Ignorance which hath reigned for ſo long a time in thoſe Countries, and the fooliſh Superſtitions which were introduced, even without our Knowledg of their Original, will ever render this Suppoſition probable, it being no difficult matter to conceive that a Doctrine of this Nature might creep in, in the Dark amongſt ignorant and ſuperſtitious People, who held a perpetual Commerce with others, that make open Profeſſion of this Doctrine.
Mr. Arnaud proceeds farther, and relates the Hiſtory of the Croiſado's towards the end of the eleventh Century, and in the twelfth, for the Conqueſt L. 2. C. 10.of the Holy Land; and this Hiſtory does well deſerve our Notice; For there will reſult from it theſe two Truths, the one, that the bad Condition of the Greeks, and other Eaſtern Chriſtians obliged them, how Proud and Haughty ſoever they might otherwiſe be, to a ſervile Complacency with the Latins, and to an accommodation with their Humours and Intereſt: And the other that the Latines have not neglected this favourable Occaſion, which the Conjuncture of Affairs then offered them, to eſtabliſh their Religion in the Eaſt.
WE all know in what Condition Paleſtine, Syria, and Egypt lay, when Guilliel. Tyr. Bell. Sacri. Lib. 1. C. 1.thoſe of the Weſt went thither. The Saracens had overrun theſe Countries from Heraclius his time, that is to ſay from the ſeventh Century, and the Power of theſe Infidels grew formidable to all the World, whilſt the Greeks ſtrength continually decayed, whether by the Supinity of their Emperours, or by the horrible Crimes with which the ſame Emperours diſhonoured their Throne. The Turks, having ſubdued Perſia, overſpread the whole Eaſt, and poſſeſſed themſelves of Paleſtine, Syria, Cilicia, Iſauria, Pamphilia, Idem L. 5. C. 9.Lycia, Piſida, Lyconia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Pontus, Bythinia; and moreover of a conſiderable part of Aſia minor, and ſo greatly terrified the Greeks, as relates Wm. of Tyre, that ſcarcely did they repute themſelves ſafe within the Walls of Conſtantinople, altho the Sea was as a Rampire betwixt them. The Chriſtians in the Eaſt had already received the Benefit of Charlemain's Interceſſion for them to Aron, under whoſe Government they then Idem. L. 1. C. 2.lived. But this laſted not long, for the Miſeries into which they fell afterwards became ſo intollerable, that towards the end of the eleventh Century, Simeon Patriarch of Jeruſalem, according to the Relation of Wm. of Tyre, Gill. Tyr. L 6. C. 11. Jacob. de V…r. Hiſt. Orient. C. 16.and James de Vitry, reſolved to procure the Aſſiſtance of the Latins, and write to Pope Urban the ſecond, and the Weſtern Princes, as well in his own Name, as in that of the whole Church, by means of a French Pilgrim called Peter the Hermit, a Native of the Dioceſs of Amiens. Wm. of Tyre obſerves that in the Conference the Patriarch had with this Hermit, he told him, amongſt other things, That they could expect no help from the Greeks, altho of the ſame Blood with them, and their Neighbours, becauſe they could hardly preſerve themſelves, having fallen into ſuch a Declenſion, that within a ſhort time they had loſt above half their Empire. In effect, Mr. Arnaud hath himſelf very well obſerved; that the Emperours of Conſtantinople finding themſelves P. 192.unable to withſtand the Turkiſh Power; implored the Aſſiſtance of the Chriſtian Princes in Europe and eſpecially that of the Pope, who at that time was the moſt Powerful even in Temporals of all Chriſtendom, and that Alexis Comnenus ſent for that Purpoſe Embaſſadors to the Council of Plaiſance.
THIS then was the true State of Affairs amongſt the Greeks, and other Eaſtern Chriſtians, which forced them to a great Complyance with the Latins, from whoſe Aſſiſtance they expected their Eſtabliſhment.
THESE Letters of the Patriarch of Jeruſalem, and the Entreaties of Alexis, together with the Sollicitations of Peter the Hermit, procured the Expedition of the Latins into Syria and Paleſtine. The Succeſs is known; I ſhall ſay no more but that the Chriſtians of that Country, only changed their Maſters; for the Lattins ſetled themſelves there, not only as Friends, and Deliverers, but Conquerors, which made all things depend on their Will, for as ſoon as ever they poſſeſſed themſelves of Syria and Paleſtine, they eſtabliſhed Latin Biſhops there, and drove out the Greek Biſhops from their Churches that would not yield Obedience to the Roman Church, nor accommodate themſelves to its way of Worſhip. Mr. Arnaud does not wholly accord with me in this. We muſt imagine, ſaies he, there was a million L. 2. C. 10. P. 193.of Tranſubſtantiators that paſſed over from Europe into Aſia, and made themſelves Maſters of a great part of theſe Eaſtern Provinces. As ſoon as they took any City, there was eſtabliſhed in it a Biſhop of the Latin Communion with a ſufficient Clergy for the Service of that Church. Sometimes the Christians of the Eaſt ranged themſelves under his Obedience, and othertimes they were permitted to have a Biſhop of their own Chooſing. He farther adds, that after the taking of Antioch, there was no other Patriarch eſtabliſhed than him that was there before, and that he remained for the ſpace of two Years. That after the taking of Jeruſalem and other Cities of Syria and Paleſtine, there was another Patriarch made, and ſeveral Latin Biſhops, the Greeks and other Chriſtians of Syria being left at their own Liberty as to their communicating with the Latins.
THIS pretended Moderation of the Latins is firſt of all refuted by the ſame Author whom Mr. Arnaud quoted, who is James de Vitry. James de Vitry, ſaies he, Teſtifies that the Chriſtians of Syria, who were of the ſame Religion with the Greeks, had Biſhops of their own. 'Tis not poſſible for an Ibid.Author to be cited with leſs Sincerity; for theſe are James de Vitry's Words; The Syrians exactly obſerve the Cuſtoms and Ordinances of the Greeks in the Celebration of Divine Service, and other Spiritual matters, and obey them as their Superiours. But as to the Latin Prelates in whoſe Dioceſſes they live, they Hiſt. Orient. C 75.freely affirm they obey them with their Mouths, but not in their Hearts, ſuperficially, and for fear of their temporal Lords. For they have their own Greek Biſhops, and would dread neither the Excommunications nor other Laws of the Latins, did they not fear our Lay-men would break off all Trade and Commerce with them. For they ſay amongſt themſelves the Latins are Excommunicated. Now where I pray is Mr. Arnaud's Sincerity in thus alleaging James de Vitry's Teſtimony to prove the Moderation of the Latins, who obliged not the Syrians to communicate with them unleſs they pleaſed themſelves. Theſe Words of his declare the Syrians did ſtill acknowledg their Greek Biſhops: But then again on the other hand, that they were conſtrained for fear of their temporal Lords to acknowledg the Latin Prelates; and render them an external Obedience: which is expreſly contrary to what Mr. Arnaud concludes. And yet he has not contented himſelf with thus alledging James de Vitry, in a contrary Sence, but has made a Principle of it; From whence he draws this Conſequence, concerning the other Chriſtians: We ought, Ibid. P. 194.ſaies he, to conclude the ſame of the other Sects of Armenians, Jacobites, and Neſtorians, with which all Syria was at that time filled. This ſeems to me, to be a too free diſpoſal of Principles and Concluſions.
IN the ſecond place, this pretended Moderation is refuted even by thoſe very Letters which Pope Paſchal the ſecond wrote to the Latins in the Eaſt, after the taking of Jeruſalem, in which he tells them, he has charged his Legate Baron. ad ann. 1100.to endeavour the regulating of the Church, which God has delivered by their Hands, and that which ſhould hereafter be delivered by them, to correct whatſoever ſhould be found contrary to ſound Doctrine, to Plant and Edify whatſoever he judged fitting, by their Aſſiſtance; which plainly ſhews that the Latins, after they had freed theſe Eaſtern Chriſtians from the Tyranny of the Infidels, ſuffered them not to live according to the form of their own Religion, and that in this reſpect they ſubdued them to themſelves.
ALLATIUS a Latiniz'd Greek, and keeper of the Popes Library, has bin more ingenuous than Mr. Arnaud, for he freely confeſſes that the Latins De Eccl. Occid. & Orient. Perp. Conſenſ L 2, C. 13.eſtabliſhed Prelates of their own in the Eaſt, and drove out them of the Greeks, when they could do it with ſafety, and ſeverely chaſtized Schiſmaticks and Obſtinate Perſons. And as to what Mr. Arnaud alledgeth out of Balſamon, That Antioch only excepted, in all other Cities the Latins permitted Ibid. P. 194.the Greek Biſhops to exerciſe their Epiſcopal Functions, altho they had eſtabliſhed Biſhops in the ſame Places. I have not met with any ſuch Paſſage in his Nomocanon of the Pariſian Edition printed in 1620. Thoſe that publiſhed it relate this Paſſage in a Supplement annexed to the end of the Book, and tell us that theſe Additions are not to be found in any Greek Copy, but only in the Latin Verſion of Gentian Hervetus; ſo that the Truth of this Teſtimony is doubtful, and Mr. Arnaud that ſeems to have taken his Quotation from Baronius, ought to have more certainly informed himſelf. Howſoever it be, Balſamon lived towards the end of the twelfth Century, about a hundred Years after the entrance of the Latins into the Eaſt, in a time wherein their Affairs were in Diſorder; for the Infidels had retaken Jeruſalem with a great part of thoſe Places which were held by the Latins: So that we need not wonder if the Latins ſlackned their Rigour towards the Greeks, and ſo much the leſs, becauſe it appears by this ſame paſſage of Balſamon, that the Infidels gave the ſame Liberty to the Greek Biſhops, to exerciſe their epiſcopal Functions in their Dominions.
IT is certain, this Moderation Mr. Arnaud ſpeaks of, is a meer Chimera Guilliel. Tyr. L. 6. C. 23. & L. 7. C. 8. & L. 9. C. 15. & L. 10. C. 16. & L. 11. C. 12. & L. 1. C. 2…. & L. 15. C. 11.of his own. For immediately after the taking of Antioch, there were Latin Biſhops put into all the neighbouring Cities; the Patriarch for ſome time kept his Dignity, but at length was forced to withdraw to Conſtantinople, and a Latin Biſhop was ſubſtituted in his room. After this Dabert Biſhop of Piſa was made Patriarch of Jeruſalem; Baldwin Arch-Biſhop of Ceſarea, William Arch-Biſhop of Tyre, Adam Biſhop of Paneada, and all other Dioceſſes furniſhed after the ſame manner, as it appears by Wm. of Tyre's Account.
WE may then I think, without farther Trouble, conclude that the Latins did not omit ſo favourable an Occaſion of Introducing their Religion and particular Doctrines in the Eaſt. We may moreover conſider another hiſtorical Paſſage of which Mr. Arnaud makes uſe according to his ordinary manner, which is to hinder us from beholding the juſt Conſequences may be drawn thence: This Hiſtory concerns the ſubjecting of the Grecian Empire to the Latins.
IN the Year 1204. The Latins took by Aſſault the City of Conſtantinople, and ſeized almoſt at the ſame time on the greateſt part of the Grecian Empire, which they beſtowed on Baldwin Earl of Flanders. They kept it fifty eight Years till Michael Paleologus retook Conſtantinople, and drove the Latins out of Greece. The Greeks were no more moderately dealt with after this Conqueſt, than they were after that of the Holy Land. The Latins, De Eccl. Occ. & Orient. Perp. Conſenſ L. 2. C. 13.ſaies Leo Allatius, eſtabliſhed in the places they Poſſeſſed Prieſts and Prelates of their own, who ruled the Church after their manner, and drove away the Greeks, whenſoever they could do it with ſafety; and as to the Rebellious and Obſtinate Greeks, who would not relent and embrace the Truth, they ſeverely puniſhed them, as they had done heretofore in the Eaſt, and eſpecially at Antioch. He afterwards produces the Teſtimony of an Anonymous Greek Author, which I ſhall here ſet down, and ſo much the rather, becauſe of the Conſequence which may be made of this Hiſtory. Since the Emperor Porphyrogennetu's Ibid.time, to that of John Batatza's the Latins did nothing elſe but Plunder Cities and Iſlands. They expelled the Orthodox Prelates from their Seats, and ſubſtituted Cardinals in their Places who were of the ſame Belief with them. And this they did at Conſtantinople, Cyprus, Antioch, and other Cities, and not content with this, they conſtrained all the People, not excepting the Prieſts and Monks, to be of their Opinion, and Communion, and commemorate the Pope. They were Friends to thoſe that obeyed them; but as to them that reprehended them, they treated them as Hereticks, and thoſe that abhorred their Communion, were puniſhed openly, even to the making them ſuffer Martyrdom; and uſed in the ſame manner as the Kings and Tyrants handled the Primitive Chriſtians. Witneſs the holy Monks of the Iſle of Cyprus, whom they kept three Years in Priſon, becauſe they would not Communicate with them, Inflicting on them all manner of Torments, and in fine, not being able to make them acknowledg their Doctrine to be good, being poſſeſſed with Rage they faſtned them to their Horſes Tailes, and drew them over Precipices, cauſing othres to be burnt alive. John their Abbot having remained ſome time in the midſt of the Flames calling upon God, one of theſe furious Latins ſtruck him down with his Mace into the Fire. And thus did this Holy Man render his Spirit unto his Creator. He farther adds, that the Pope having ſent ſome Monks as Spyes, under pretence of a Pilgrimage to Jeruſalem, they ſaw the Patriarch Germain at Nice, who complaining of theſe Cruelties, received for Anſwer, that the Pope was troubled thereat, and if the Greeks would ſend any to make Peace they would be kindly received, It was only, ſaies he, to deride and impoſe on us, that they would have us ſend firſt to them, as it were to accuſe our ſelves, and acknowledg our Error, which plainly appeared afterwards by their Letters.
BUT to the end, we may not think Leo Allatius, who relates this Complaint of the Greeks, is ſuſpected by the Latins, under pretence that he himſelf is a Greek by Birth, it will not be amiſs to ſee the Anſwer he makes. If this Author, ſaies he, means the Greeks, who remaining fixt to their Ceremonies, embraced otherwiſe the Truth, he is miſtaaen; For the Latins have Ibid.bin ſo far from driving them away, that they have made uſe of them, as often as they have Occaſion. If he means the Schiſmaticks, and thoſe that maintained the Errors of the Greeks, he trifles; for how can he imagine, the Catholicks who are ſo Zealous for the Roman Church, ſhould ſuffer in a Country, they had Conquered with the loſs of their Blood, the Greeks their Enemies and Adverſaries to their Faith, to live unpuniſhed? Theſe erronious People muſt be reduced, being Rebels to their own Faith, not only by ſimple Baniſhments, but by Fire and Sword. And this is Allatius his Moderation, which does not well accord with that which Mr. Arnaud attributes to the Latines.
BUT we need not oppoſe Allatius againſt him, we need but hear himſelf, to know whether the Latins did not uſe all manner of Violences, to ſettle their Religion amongſt the Greeks. After the taking of Conſtantinople, L. 3. C. 1.ſaies he, the Latins poſſeſſed themſelves of all the Churches; they eſtabliſhed a Latine Patriarch, they filled Conſtantinople with Latin Prieſts, they created a Latin Emperor, who was Baldwin Earl of Flanders, and proſecuting their Conqueſt in Greece, they brought under their Obedience almoſt whatſoever appertained in Europe to the Emperours of Conſtantinople. The Grecian Emperour fled into Aſia, having but three or four Cities left him, which were all that for a long time remained under the Obedience of the Greeks. Behold here then all Greece ſubdued not only to the Temporal Authority of the Latins, but likewiſe to the Spiritual Authority of the Popes. He adds a little after, that the Popes Legats uſed ſuch hard and rigorous Courſes to conſtrain the Greeks to Communicate with the Pope, that at length the Emperour Henry, Baldwin's Succeſſor was forced to take them off mauger the Legat Pelagus. He tells us likewiſe L. 3. C. 7.in another place, that Greece was at that time filled with Dominicans, and Fryar Minorites, that is to ſay, Inquiſitors as he himſelf calls them, who had often performed this Office in France, and Germany, and ſignalized themſelves by puniſhing an infinite number of Hereticks, who made it the greateſt part of their Skill to diſcover them, and a great part of their Piety to have them ſeverely Puniſhed, that theſe Inquiſitors were in ſeveral places Maſters of the Greeks, and were ordered by the Pope to Confer with them, and examine their Doctrine.
WERE not them of the Church of Rome fully perſwaded of Mr. Arnaud's good Intentions towards them; theſe hiſtorical Paſſages he has offered, were enough to make him ſuſpected. For this deplorable Condition of Greece and all the Eaſt, and the violent Means the Latins here uſed to plant their Religion, for ſeveral Years together, that is to ſay, for near two hundred Years in the Eaſt, and fifty eight in Greece, might well introduce amongſt theſe People, the Belief of a ſubſtantial Converſion, and there is methinks, more reaſon to admire, if this has not hapned, than if it hath.
WE are not yet gotten to the end of Mr. Arnaud's Hiſtories. He tells L. 3. C. 7.us three things worth our Obſervation. The firſt is, that altho Conſtantinople was retaken from the Latins by Michael Paleologus, yet they kept ſtill ſeveral places in Greece, and even whole Provinces, as Achaia. Secondly, that the Latines were ſtill Maſters of divers great Iſlands, as Cyprus, Crete, Eubeé Rhodes, and divers other Places. Thirdly, that the Neceſſity the Emperours of Conſtantinople lay under of obtaining the Aſſiſtance of the Weſtern Princes, cauſed them to keep a continual Correſpondency with ſeveral of them, and to be in ſundry particulars ſubſervient to the Latins which remained at Conſtantinople, ſo that there was always a great number there, who made Profeſſion of the Romiſh Religion. Here is then the Latins again not only mixt with the Greeks in their ordinary Commerce; but in ſeveral places their Lords and Maſters, and in a fit Capacity to make them receive their Religion.
LEO Allatius, tells us likewiſe that, when the King of England had Poſſeſſed De Perp. Conſenſ. L. 2. C. 15.himſelf of Cyprus, and given it to the King of Jeruſalem, that he might return home, the whole Country was immediately filled with Prieſts and Latin Biſhops, to bring over the People to Piety and Orthodoxy.
WHEREUNTO Mr. Arnaud Conſents, and ſaies, That they were L. 3. C. 1. P. 256.more rigorouſly handled for their Religion in Cyprus, than in Greece, that ſeveral Greek Authors have grievouſly complained of theſe Cruelties; and that Germain the Patriarch of Conſtantinople, reſiding in Aſia, moſt pathetically laid open their Sufferings to Pope Gregory the ninth.
FRYAR Stephen, a Portugais, in his Hiſtory of the Kingdom of Cyprus, General Hiſt. of the Iſle and Kingdom of Cyprus. Fol. 71.Relates that altho Guy de Luſignan, was King of Jeruſalem, yet was he forc'd to be contented with being King of Cyprus. He brought along with him ſeveral Greeks, Armenians, Coptites, Maronites, Jacobites, Indians, Neſtorians, Iberians, and Georgians, who would not acknowledg the Romane Prelacy, each of theſe having their own Patriarch. 'Tis true, ſaies he, that the Kings of Luſignan would not permit their Biſhops to exerciſe any Juriſdiction over them, Ibid.but ordered they ſhould only adminiſter to them the Sacraments, leaving the Overplus to the Juriſdiction of the Latine Arch-Biſhop, to whom theſe Nations in this reſpect were Subject. He likewiſe Relates, that about the ſame time, there was publiſhed the Revelation of Jeſus Chriſt to St. Bridget, in which our Saviour himſelf exhorted the Greeks to ſubmit to the Roman Church. Let Ibid.the Greeks know, (theſe are the Words,) that their Empire, Kingdoms, and Lordſhips, will never be in Peace and Security, but always ſubject to their Enemies, from whom they will continually receive exceeding great Dammages, and perpetual Miſeries, till ſuch time as they ſubmit themſelves to the Church of Rome with a true Humility and Charity, obeying its Holy Conſtitutions, and Ceremonies, and wholly conform themſelves to her Faith. And after this manner did they make Heaven and Earth meet, to cauſe theſe People to change their Religion.
WE may then I think plainly enough ſee, that it has not bin the Latins Fault, if the Greeks have not received their Doctrines, from whence it follows that if it dos appear they have from that time Believed Tranſubſtantiation, and it not appearing they held it before, we may then reaſonably conclude, they received it from the Latins. This is a Conſequence which follows naturally of it ſelf. The Teſtimony of the Greeks cannot be any longer produced as that of the pure Greeks, after ſo many endeavours to make them embrace the Doctrine of the Church of Rome, and the more Mr. Arnaud ſtrives to prove the Entercourſe of theſe two Nations, the greater hold he gives us to conteſt with him the Advantage he pretends to have obtained from hence. But he uſes an admirable Expedient, to hinder us from minding this Conſequence. For having ſeen on one hand, that theſe Hiſtories were too well known, to be paſſed over wholly in Silence; and on the other, that if he ſhould ſincerely produce them as they are in themſelves, they would certainly make for our Advantage, as it hath bin already obſerved; he has thereupon bethought himſelf, and preſented them in another kind of Dreſs, whereby he may inſenſibly turn aſide his Readers Minds, and amuſe them by an agreeable Diverſion. And to this end has thought good to ſuppoſe, I denyed the Greeks knew what was the Belief of the Latins, and to employ all theſe hiſtorical Paſſages in oppoſing this Phantaſtical Suppoſition, that is to ſay, in manifeſting the Greeks could not be ignorant of the Belief of the Latins touching the Euchariſt, I ſhall make appear in its proper place, that this is but a vain Pretence, and a meer quibling on Words, which he has deſignedly taken in a Sence contrary to my meaning. Wherefore I here declare it never entred into my Thoughts to deny, what he makes me deny. For this is an Invention he has uſed on purpoſe to conceal his indirect dealing.