his Supper instituted and administred this venerable Sacrament vnder both kinds of Bread and Wine c. Licet in primitiua c. Although in the Primitiue Church this Sacrament were receiued by the faithfull vnder both kindes Non obstante c. Yet this custome for the auoiding of some dangers and scandalls was vpon iust reason brought in that Laickes should receiue only vnder one kind And those that stubbornely oppose themselues against it shal be eiected and punished as Heretickes Now this Councell was but in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand foure hundred fiftie three Yea but these Fathers of Constance how euer they are bold to controule Christs Law by Custome yet they say it was consuetudo diutissimè obseruata a custome very long obserued True but the full age of this Diutissimè is openly and freely calculated by their Cassander Satis constat It is apparent enough that the Westerne or Romane Church for a thousand yeares after Christ in the solemne and ordinary Dispensation of this Sacrament gaue both kinds of Bread and Wine to all the members of the Church A point which is manifest by innumerable ancient Testimonies both of Greekes and Latines and this they were induced to doe by the example of Christs institution Quare non temerè c. It is not therefore saith hee without cause that most of the best Catholickes and most conuersant in the reading of Ecclesiasticall Writers are inflamed with an earnest desire of obtayning the Cup of the Lord that the Sacrament may bee reduced to that ancient custome and vse which hath beene for many Ages perpetuated in the vniuersall Church Thus he Wee need no other Aduocate Yea their Vasquez drawes it yet lower Negare non c. We cannot deny that in the Latin Church there was the vse of both kinds and that it so continued vntill the dayes of Saint Thomas which was about the yeare of God 1260. Thus it was in the Romane Church but as for the Greeke the World knowes it did neuer but communicate vnder both kindes These open Confessions spare vs the labour of quoting the seuerall testimonies of all Ages Else it had beene easie to show how in the Lyturgy of Saint Basil and Chrysostome the Priest was wont to pray Vouchsafe O Lord to giue vs thy bodie and thy bloud and by vs to thy people How in the Order of Rome the Archdeacon taking the Chalice from the Bishops hand confirmeth all the receiuers with the bloud of our Lord. And from Ignatius his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One cup distributed to all to haue descended along through the cleere records of S. Cyprian Hierome Ambrose Augustine Leo Gelasius Paschasius and others to the verie time of Hugo and Lombard and our Halensis And to show how S. Cyprian would not deny the bloud of Christ to those that should shed their bloud for Christ How S. Austen with him makes a comparison betwixt the bloud of the legall sacrifices which might not bee eaten and this bloud of our Sauiours sacrifice which all must drinke But what need allegations to proue a yeelded truth so as this haluing of the Sacrament is a meere noueltie of Rome and such a one as their owne Pope Gelasius stickes not to accuse of no lesse then sacriledge SECT II. Halfe Communion against Scripture NEither shall wee need to vrge Scripture when it is plainely confessed by the late Councels of Lateran and Trent that this practice varies from Christs institution Yet the Tridentine Fathers haue left themselues this euasion that howeuer our Sauiour ordained it in both kindes and so deliuered it to his Apostles notwithstanding hee hath not by any command enioyned it to be so receiued of the Laitie Not considering that the charge of our Sauiour is equally vniuersall in both To whom he sayd Take and eat to the same also he sayd Drinke ye all of this So as by the same reason our Sauiour hath giuen no command at all vnto the Laitie to eat or drinke and so this blessed Sacrament should bee to all Gods people the Priests onely excepted arbitrarie and vnnecessarie But the great Doctor of the Gentiles is the best Commenter vpon his master who writing to the Church of God at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Iesus with all that in euerie place call vpon the name of Iesus Christ so deliuers the institution of Christ as that in the vse of the Cup hee makes no difference Six times conioyning the mention of drinking with eating and fetching it in with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equalitie of the manner and necessitie of both charges all Christians indifferently Probet seipsum Let euerie man examine himselfe c. and so let him eat of that bread and drinke of that cup. SECT III. Halfe Communion against reason IN this practice reason is no lesse their enemie Though it bee but a mans testament yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth it saith S. Paul How much lesse shall flesh and bloud presume to alter the last will of the Sonne of God and that in so materiall a point as vtterly destroyes the institution For as our learned Bishop of Carlile argues truly Halfe a man is no man Halfe a Sacrament is no Sacrament And as well might they take away the bread as the cup both depend vpon the same ordination It is only the command of Christ that makes the bread necessarie the same command of Christ equally enioynes the cup both doe either stand or fall vpon the same ground The pretence of concomitancie is so poore a shift that it hurts them rather for if by vertue thereof the body of Christ is no lesse in the wine then the bloud is in the bread it will necessarily follow that they might as well hold backe the bread and giue the cup as hold backe the cup and giue the bread And could this mysterie bee hid from the eyes of the blessed Author of this Sacrament Will these men bee wiser then the wisdome of his Father If hee knew this and saw the wine yet vsefull who dares abrogate it and if hee had not seene it vsefull why did hee not then spare the labour and cost of so needlesse an element Lastly the bloud that is here offered vnto vs is that which was shed for vs that which was shed from the body is not in the body in vaine therefore is concomitancie pleaded for a separated bloud Shortly then this mutilation of the Sacrament being both confessedly late and extremely iniurious to God and his people and contrarie to Scripture and reason is iustly abandoned by vs and wee for abandoning it vniustly censured CHAP. IX The newnesse of the Missall Sacrifice IT sounds not more prodigiously that a Priest should euerie day make his God then that hee should sacrifice him Antiquitie would haue as much abhorred the sense as it hath allowed
the word Nothing is more ordinarie with the Fathers then to call Gods Table an Altar the holy Elements an Oblation the act of Celebration an Immolation the Actor a Priest S. Chrysostome reckons ten kindes of Sacrifice and at last as hauing forgotten it addes the eleuenth All which we well allow and indeed many Sacrifices are offered to God in this one but a true proper propitiatorie Sacrifice for quicke and dead which the Tridentine Fathers would force vpon our beleefe would haue seemed no lesse strange a Soloecisme to the eares of the Ancient then it doth to ours Saint Augustine calls it a Designation of Christs offering vpon the Crosse Saint Chrysostome and Theophylact after him a Remembrance of his Sacrifice Emissenus a daily celebration in mysterie of that which was once offered in payment and Lombard himselfe a memoriall and representation of the true Sacrifice vpon the Crosse That which Cassander cites from Saint Ambrose or Chrysostome may be in stead of all In Christ is the Sacrifice once offered able to giue saluation What doe we therefore Doe we not offer euerie day Surely if we offer daily it is done for a recorbation of his death This is the language and meaning of Antiquitie the verie same which the Tridentine Synod condemneth in vs. If any man shall say that the Sacrifice of the Masse is onely a Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing or a bare commemoration of the Sacrifice offered vpon the Crosse let him be accursed· SECT II. Sacrifice of the Masse against Scripture HOw plaine is the Scripture whiles it tells vs that our High Priest needeth not daily as those High Priests vnder the Law to offer vp sacrifice first for his own sins then for the peoples For this hee did once when hee offered vp himselfe The contradiction of the Trent-Fathers is here verie remarkable Christ say they who on the altar of the Crosse offered himselfe in a bloudie Sacrifice is now this true Propitiatorie Sacrifice in the Masse made by himselfe Hee is one and the same Sacrifice and one and the same offerer of that Sacrifice by the Ministerie of his Priests who then offered himselfe on the Crosse So then they say that Christ offered vp that Sacrifice then and this now Saint Paul sayes he offered vp that Sacrifice and no more Saint Paul saies our High Priest needs not to offer daily Sacrifice They say these daily Sacrifices must bee offered by him Saint Paul sayes that he offered himselfe but once for the sins of the people They say hee offers himselfe daily for the sins of quicke and dead And if the Apostle in the spirit of prophesie foresaw this errour and would purposely fore-stall it he could not speake more directly then when he saith We are sanctified through the offering of the bodie of Iesus Christ once for all And euerie High Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can neuer take away sinnes But this man after hee had offered one sacrifice for sinnes for euer sate downe on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstoole For by one offering hee hath perfected for euer them that are sanctified Now let the vaine heads of men seeke subtill euasions in the different manner of this offering bloudie then vnbloudie now The Holy Ghost speakes punctually of the verie substance of the act and tells vs absolutely there is but one Sacrifice once offered by him in any kinde Else the opposition that is there made betwixt the Legall Priesthood and his should not hold if as they so he had often properly and truly sacrificed That I may not say they build herein what they destroy for an vnbloudie Sacrifice in this sense can bee no other then figuratiue and commemoratiue Is it really propitiatorie Without shedding of bloud there is no remission If therfore sins be remitted by this Sacrifice it must bee in relation to that bloud which was shed in his true personall Sacrifice vpon the Crosse and what relation can bee betwixt this and that but of representation and remembrance in which their moderate Cassander fully resteth SECT III. Missall Sacrifice against reason IN reason there must be in euerie Sacrifice as Cardinall Bellarmine grants a destruction of the thing offered and shall we say that they make their Sauiour to crucifie him againe No but to eat him For Consumptio seu manducatio quae sit à sacerdote The consumption or manducation which is done of the Priest is an essentiall part of this Sacrifice saith the same Author For in the whole action of the Masse there is saith hee no other reall destruction but this Suppose we then the true humane flesh bloud and bone of Christ God and man really and corporally made such by this Transsubstantiation Whether is more horrible to crucifie or to eat it By this rule it is the Priests teeth and not his tongue that makes Christs bodie a sacrifice By this rule it shall be hostia an host when it is not a Sacrifice and a reserued host is no Sacrifice howsoeuer consecrated And what if a mouse or other vermin should eat the Host it is a case put by themselues who then sacrificeth To stop all mouthes Laicks eat as well as the Priest there is no difference in their manducation but Laicks sacrifice not And as Salmeron vrges the Scripture distinguisheth betwixt the Sacrifice and the participation of it Are not they which eat of the Sacrifices partakers of the Altar And in the verie Canon of the Masse Vt quot quot c. the prayer is that all wee which in the participation of the Altar haue taken the sacred bodie and bloud of thy Son c. Wherein it is plaine saith hee that there is a distinction betwixt the Host and the eating of the Host Lastly sacrificing is an act done to God if then eating bee sacrificing The Priest eats his God to his God Quorum Deus venter Whiles they in vaine studie to reconcile this new-made Sacrifice of Christ already in heauen with Iube haec perferri Command these to be carried by the hands of thine holy Angels to thine high Altar in Heauen in the sight of thy diuine Maiestie Wee conclude That this proper and propitiatorie Sacrifice of the Masse as a new vnholy vnreasonable sacrifice is iustly abhorred by vs and wee for abhorring it vniustly eiected CHAP. X. Newnesse of Image-worship AS for the setting vp and worshipping of Images wee shall not neede to climbe so high as Arnobius or Origen or the Councell of Eliberis Anno 305. Or to that fact and historie of Epiphanius whose famous Epistle is honoured by the Translation of Hierome of the picture found by him in the Church of the village of Anablatha though out of his owne Diocesse how he tore it in an holy zeale and wrote to the Bishop of the place
Repaired not made new There is not one stone of a new foundation laide by vs Yea the old wals stand still Onely the ouer-casting of those ancient stones which the vntempered morter of new inuentions displeaseth vs. Plainely set aside the corruptions and the Church is the same And what are these corruptions but vnsound adiections to the ancient structure of Religion These we cannot but oppose and are therefore vniustly and imperiously eiected Hence it is that ours is by the opposite stiled an Ablatiue or negatiue Religion for so much as wee ioyne with all true Christians in all affirmatiue positions of ancient faith onely standing vpon the deniall of some late and vndue additaments to the Christian beleefe Or if those additions bee reckoned for ruines It is a sure rule which Durandus giues concerning materiall Churches applyable to the spirituall that if the Wall be decayed not at once but successiuely it is iudged still the same Church and vpon reparation not to bee reconsecrated but onely reconciled Well therefore may those mouthes stop themselues which loudly call for the names of the Professors of our faith in all successions of times till Luther look't forth into the World Had wee gone about to broach any new positiue Truths vnseene vnheard of former times well and iustly might they challenge vs for a deduction of this line of doctrine from a pedigree of Predecessours Now that we only disclayme their superfluous and nouell opinions and practices which haue beene by degrees thrust vpon the Church of God retayning inuiolably all former Articles of Christian faith how idle is this plea how worthy of hissing out Who sees not now that all we need to doe is but to show that all those points which wee cry downe in the Romane Church are such as carrie in them a manifest brand of newnesse and absurditie This proofe will cleerely iustifie our refusall Let them see how they shall once before the awfull Tribunall of our last Iudge iustifie their vncharitablenesse who cease not vpon this our refusall to eiect condemne vs. The Church of Rome is sicke Ingenuous Cassander confesseth so nec inficior c. I deny not saith he that the Romane Church is not a little changed from her ancient beautie and brightnesse and that shee is deformed with many diseases and vicious distempers Bernard tels vs how it must bee dieted profitable though vnpleasing medicines must bee poured into the mouth of it Luther and his associates did this office as Erasmus acknowledgeth Lutherus porrexit Luther saith hee gaue the World a potion violent and bitter what euer it were I wish it may breed some good health in the bodie of Christian people so miserably foule with all kinds of euils Neuer did Luther meane to take away the life of that Church but the sicknesse Wherein as Socrates answered to his Iudges surely he deserued recompence in steed of rage For as Saint Ambrose worthily Dulcior est sweeter is a religious chastisement then a smoothing remission This that was meant to the Churches health proues the Physitians disease so did the bitternesse of our wholsome draughts offend that we are beaten out of doores Neither did wee runne from that Church but are driuen away as our late Soueraigne professeth by Casaubons hand Wee know that of Cyrill is a true word Those which seuer themselues from the Church and communion are the enemies of God and friends of Deuils and that which Dionysius said to Nouatus Any thing must rather be borne then that we should rend the Church of God Farre far was it from our thoughts to teare the seamelesse coate or with this precious Oyle of Truth to breake the Churches head We found iust faults else let vs bee guiltie of this disturbance If now choler vniustly exasperated with an wholsome reprehension haue broken forth into a furious persecution of the gainesayers the sinne is not ours If we haue defended our innocence with blowes the sinne is not ours Let vs neuer prosper in our good cause if all the water of Tyber can wash off the bloud of many thousand Christian soules that hath beene shed in this quarrell from the hands of the Romish Prelacie Surely as it was obserued of olde that none of the Tribe of Leui were the professed followers of our Sauiour so it is too easie to obserue that of late times this Tribe hath exercised the bitterest enmitie vpon the followers of Christ Suppose wee had offended in the vndiscreet managing of a iust reproofe it is a true rule of Erasmus that generous spirits would bee reclaymed by teaching not by compulsion and as Alipius wisely to his Augustine Heed must bee taken least whiles wee labour to redresse a doubtfull complaint wee make greater wounds then we find Oh how happy had it beene for Gods Church if this care had found any place in the hearts of her Gouernours who regarding more the entire preseruation of their own honour then Truth and Peace Were all in the harsh language of warre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smite kill burne persecute Had they beene but halfe so charitable to their moderne reprouers as they professe they are to the fore-going how had the Church flourished in an vnterrupted vnitie In the old Catholike Writers say they wee beare with many errours wee extenuate and excuse them wee find shifts to put them off and deuise some commodious senses for them Guiltinesse which is the ground of this fauour workes the quite contrarie courses against vs Alas how are our Writings racked and wrested to enuious senses how misconstrued how peruerted and made to speake odiously on purpose to worke distaste to enlarge quarrell to draw on the deepest censures Woe is mee this cruell vncharitablenesse is it that hath brought this miserable calamitie vpon distracted Christendome Surely as the ashes of the burning Mountaine Vesuuius being dispersed farre and wide bred a grieuous Pestilence in the Regions round about so the ashes that flie from these vnkindly flames of discord haue bred a wofull infection and death of soules through the whole Christian World CHAP. IIII. The Church of Rome guiltie of this Schisme IT is confessed by the President of the Tridentine Councell that the deprauation of discipline and manners of the Romane Church was the chiefe cause and originall of these dissensions Let vs cast our eyes vpon the doctrine and wee shall no lesse find the guilt of this fearefull Schisme to fall heauily vpon the same heads For first to lay a sure ground Nothing can be more plaine then that the Romane is a particular Church as the Fathers of Basil well distinguish it not the vniuersall though we take in the Churches of her subordination or correspondence This truth we might make good by authoritie if our very senses did not saue vs the labour Secondly No particular Church to say nothing of the vniuersall since the Apostolike times can haue
yeelded that no man hath power to set to a seale but he whose the writing is Sacraments then being the seales of Gods gracious euidences whereby hee hath conueyed to vs eternall life can bee instituted by no other then the same power that can assure and performe life to his creature In euerie Sacrament therefore must bee a diuine institution and command of an element that signifies of a grace that is signified of a word adioyned to that element of an holy act adioyned to that Word Where these concurre not there can bee no true Sacrament and they are palpably missing in these fiue Adiections of the Church of Rome Lastly The Sacraments of the new Law as Saint Austen often flowed out of the side of Christ None flowed thence but the Sacrament of water which is Baptisme and the Sacrament of bloud in the Supper Whereof the Author saith This cup is the new Testament in my bloud which is shed for you The rest neuer flowing either from the side or from the lips of Christ are as new and mis-named Sacraments iustly reiected by vs and we thereupon as vniustly censured CHAP. XVI The newnesse of the Doctrine of Traditions THe chiefe ground of these and all other errours in the Church of Rome is the ouer-valuing of Traditions which the Tridentine Synode professeth to receiue and reuerence with no lesse pious affection then the Bookes of the Old and New Testament and that not in matter of Rite and Historie only but of faith and manners also Wherein as they are not vn willing to cast a kind of imputation of imperfection vpon the written Word so they make vp the defects of it by the supply of vnwritten Traditions to which indeed they are more beholden for the warrant of the greater part of their super-added Articles then to the Scriptures of God Both which are points so dangerously enuious as that Antiquitie would haue abhorred their mention Neither is any thing more common with the holy Fathers of the Church then the magnifying the complete perfection of Scripture in all things needfull either to be beleeued or done What can be more ful and cleere then that of Saint Austen In his quae apertè c. In these things which are openly laid forth in Scripture are found all matters that containe either faith or manners Cardinall Bellarmines elusion is not a little preiudiciall to his owne cause He tels vs that Saint Austen speakes of those points which are simply necessary to saluation for all men All which hee acknowledges to be written by the Apostles But besides these there are many other things saith hee which wee haue only by Tradition Will it not therfore hence follow that the common sort of Christians need not looke at his Traditions That commonly men may be saued without them that Heauen may bee attained though there were no Traditions Who will not now say Let mee come to Heauen by Scripture goe you whither you will by Traditions To which adde that a great yea the greater part if wee may beleeue some of their owne of that which they call religion is grounded vpon only Tradition if then Tradition bee only of such things as are not simply unnecessary to saluation then the greater part of their mis-named Religion must needs be yielded for simply vnnecessary to all men And if wee may bee saued without them and bee made Citizens of Heauen how much more may we without them be members of the true Church on Earth As for this place Saint Augustines words are full and comprehensiue expressing all those things which containe either faith or manners whether concerning Gouernours or people If now they can finde out any thing that belongs not either to beleefe or action wee doe willingly giue it vp to their Traditions but all things which pertaine to either of those are openly comprized in Scripture What can bee more direct then that of holy Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The holy Scriptures inspired by God are in themselues all-sufficient to the instruction of truth and if Chemnitius construe it All truth this needs not raise a cauill The word signifies no lesse for if they bee all-sufficient to instruction they must needs be sufficient to all instruction in the truth intended Tertullian professes openly Adoro Scripturae pleniâ—udinem c. I adore the fulnesse of Scripture Let the skill of Hermogenes show where it is written if it bee not written let him feare that woe which is pronounced against those that adde or detract Thus he Who can but feare that the Cardinall shifts this euidence against his owne heart For saith he Tertullian speakes of that one point That God created all things of nothing and not of a pre-existent matter as Hermogenes dreamed now because this truth is clearely expressed in Scripture therefore the fulnesse of Scripture as concerning this point is adored by Tertullian And for that Hermogenes held an opinion contrarie to Scripture he is said to adde vnto Scripture and to incurre that malediction Now let any reader of common sense iudge whether the words of Tertullian be not generall without any limitation and if the first clause could bee restrained the second cannot Scriptum esse doceat c. Whatsoeuer therefore is not written by this rule may not be oberuded to our beleefe Neither doth he say If it be written against but If it be not written and his challenge is nusquam legi that the words are no where read as if this were quarrell enough without a flat contradiction to what is read So as the Cardinals glosse meerely corrupts the Text How easie were it for me to tire my reader with the full suffrages of Origen Cyprian Chrysostome Basil Cyrill Epiphanius Hierome Ambrose Theodoret Hilarie Vincentius Lirinensis and in a word with the whole streame of Antiquitie which though they giue a meet place to Traditions of Ceremony of historie of interpretation of some immateriall verities yet reserue the due honour to the sacred monuments of Diuine Scriptures Our learned Chemnitius hath freely yeelded seuen sorts of Traditions such as haue a correspondence with or an attestation from the written word the rest we do iustly together with him disclaime as vnworthy to appeare vpon that awfull Bench amongst the inspired Pen-men of God SECT II. Traditions against Scripture IT is not to be imagined that the same word of God which speakes for all other truths should not speake for it selfe how fully doth it display it 's owne sufficiencie and perfection All Scripture saith the Chosen Vessell is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse Profitable saith the Cardinall but not sufficient Many things may auaile to that end whereto they suffice not So meat is profitable to nourish but without naturall heat it nourisheth not Thus hee Heare yet what followeth That the man of God may bee perfited and thorowly