prodest quicquam c. But in such maner of thoughts sayth Cyprian fleshe and bloud doe not helpe any thing at all For as the maister himselfe hath declared these wordes are spirite and lyfe neyther doth the fleshly sense enter in vnto the vnderstanding of so great a déepenesse except there come faith thervnto The breade is meate the bloud is lyfe the fleshe is substaunce the body is the Church A body bicause of the agréeing of the members in one bread bicause of the congruence of the nourishment Bloud bicause of the working of lyuelynesse Flesh bicause of the propertie of the humane nature that he hath taken vpon him Christ doth sometime call this sacrament his owne bodie sometime his fleshe and bloud sometimes bread a portion of euerlasting life whereof he hath according to these visible thinges giuen part to the corporall nature This common foode being chaunged into fleshe and bloud doth procure lyfe and encreasing vnto bodies and therefore the weakenesse of oure fayth being holpen by the accustomed effect of things is by a sensible argument taught that the effect of eternall lyfe is in the visible sacramentes and that we are made one with Christ not so much by a bodily passing into him as by a spirituall And agayne in the same Sermon he sayth Esus igitur carnis huius quaedam auiditas est quoddam desiderium manendi in ipso c. The eating therefore of this fleshe is a certaine gréedinesse and desire to dwell in him whereby we doe so presse and melt in our selues the swéetenesse of loue that the taste of loue that is poured into vs may cleaue in the roofe of our mouth and bowels entering into and making moyst all the corners both of our soules and body Drinking and eating doe appertayne both to one reconing And as the bodily substaunce is nourished by them and liueth and contynueth in health so the lyfe of the spirite is nourished with thys foode that doth properly belong thereto And looke what foode is to the fleshe the same is fayth to the soule Looke what thing meat is to the bodye the same is the worde to the spirite with more excellent power performing euerlastingly the thing that fleshely nourishments doe worke temporally and finally Hitherto Cyprian If it had pleased you to haue weighed all these wordes of Cyprian I thinke you could not for shame haue wrested his former wordes to such purpose as you doe concluding that if we haue not Christes body and bloud in the sacrament for our externall sacrifice whereby we may mitigate c. then we should be no better then Turkes c. S. Cyprian himselfe doth in these words that I haue cited out of the same Sermon expound his meaning in the former wordes cyted by you to be farre other then that which you gather and conclude vpon them In déede if the Capernaits had deuoured the body of Christ and none could haue bene saued but such as had bene partakers of the same with them a very small number should haue bene saued by him And when that number had bene dead his religion must néedes haue bene at an ende for they should haue had no more sacrifice for sinne for as much as he which should be the alone sacrifice for sinne had bene by them eaten vp and consumed When saint Cyprian therfore had thus spoken of the grosse opinion of the Capernaits he doth immediatly adde these words Sed in cogitationibus c. But in such maner of cogitations fleshe and bloud doe profite nothing at all For as the maister himselfe hath taught these wordes are spirite and lyfe c. And agayne afterward he sayth Esus igitur carnis huius c. The eating of this fleshe therefore is a certaine gréedinesse and desire to abide or dwell in him c. It is manifest therfore that saint Cyprian ment not to teach Cyprians meaning that vnlesse the body of Christ be really and substantially present in the sacrament the Church can haue no sacrifice and so consequently no religion but his meaning was to teache that it was not a fleshely but a spirituall eating that he spake of And that by faith the Church hath Christ her euerlasting sacrifice for sinne not offered by the massing Priestes euerye daye but offered by himselfe once for all and yet still present with God as all things both past and to come are For with God there is neyther time past nor to come but all present Other sacrifice to mitigate or please God the Church neyther hath nor néedeth anye For Christ hath by that one sacrifice once offered made perfite as manye as be made holye that is Hebr. 10. as many as be sanctified by the holy spirite of adoption And where as you compare vs to the Turkes as hauing no peculier sacrifice to offer I must tell you that you do belye your friend Cluniacensis Watson belyeth Cluniacensis whose testimonie you vse to prooue the Turkes and vs to be one sect His wordes be these Nam cum sint his nostris diebus quatuor in mundo precipuae diuersitates sectarum hoc est chirstianorum Iudaeorum Saracenorum Paganorum si Christiani non sacrificant iam nullus in mundo sacrificat Iudaei enim more suo c. For where as at thys day sayth Cluniacensis there be in the worlde foure chiefe diuersities of sects that is Christians Iewes Saracens and Paganes if the Christians doe not sacrifice there is none in the worlde that doth sacrifice For the Iewes according to their maner beholding all thinges with Oxe eyes and lyke Asses bearing the burdens of Gods lawe without taking anye fruite thereof doe sacrifice in no place bicause they saye that Ierusalem alone is the place where God must be honoured and worshipped in sacrifices c. And afterwarde speaking of the Paganes Petrus Cluniacensis he sayth Et cum slendi homines ignominiosius alijs a Diabolo his multis modis nobis ignotis deludantur sacrificia tamen nec Creatori nec creaturae exhibent Sed quod innatus error docuit absque omnium sacrificiorum notitia custodiunt Where as these men méete to be bywayled are of the Deuill by these and many meanes that we knowe not deluded more shamefully then other yet doe they not giue any sacrifice eyther to the Creator or to the creature But beyng without the knowledge of all sacrifices they doe obserue that thing which naturall error hath taught them Here it is manifest that your Cluniacensis sayth not that the Turkes onely are without sacrifice for the Paganes Turkes are euen by his playne wordes two seuerall sectes and farre ynough a sunder Cluniacensis a corrupter of scripture But what thoughe Cluniacensis and you did agrée in all poyntes Are you of such credit that nought that you say maye be denied A more manifest wrester and corrupter of manifest scriptures then Cluniacensis was did neuer set Pen to Paper except
We say that the scripture hath many such spéeches as this is my bodye and this is my bloud which are not proper spéeches but figuratiue wherefore it is not of necessitie required that this is my body and this is my bloud should be taken for proper spéeches The circumstances must giue the vnderstanding But if the circumstaunces be such that by them the spéeche can not be proper but figuratiue then is there no cause why we maye not vnderstande these places by the figure as well as the other I will therefore consider your circumstaunces and then shape you a further aunswere But if we will consider the circumstaunces of the text WATSON Diuision 14 who was the speaker for what intent what time and such other it shall plainely appeere that the literall sense as the wordes purport is the true sense that the holy Ghost did principally intend As for example First it appeareth euidently the speaker to be Iesus Christ our Lord Gods sonne equall and omnipotent God with the father and that these hys wordes be not wordes of a bare narration and teaching but wordes whereby a sacrament is instituted And for that reason we must consider that it is otherwise with Christ then with vs for in man the worde is true when the thing is true whereof it is spoken In God the thing is true when the worde is spoken of the thing Mans worde declareth the thing to be as it is before Gods worde maketh the thing to be as it was not before In man the truth of his worde dependeth of the truth of the thing Contrarie in God the truth of the thing dependeth vpon the speaking of the worde as the psalme sayth Ipse dixit facta sunt He spake the worde Psalm 148. and the things were made And this thing the Deuill knewe well ynough being sure that if Iesus were Christ and God hee could with his worde both create newe thinges and also chaunge the nature and substaunce of any thing Math. 4. and therfore sayde vnto him tempting him whether he was Gods sonne or no if thou be Gods sonne speake the worde that these stones maye be made bread Whereby we maye learne that although in mans speeche it is not true to saye these stones be bread yet if God should say so it should be true the inferior nature of creatures gyuing place to the omnipotent power of God the Creator After which sort Ireneus reasoneth against those heretikes that denied Iesus Christ to be Gods sonne vsing that most constantly beleeued truth of the sacrament that we holde nowe grounded vpon Christes wordes for an argument to conuince Iesus the speaker to bee Gods sonne His words be these Quomodo autem constabit eis eum panem in quo gratiae actae sunt corpus esse domini sui Libr. 4. ca. 34. calicem sanguinis eius si non ipsum fabricatoris mundi filium dicant Howe shall it bee certaine vnto them that that bread vpon which thankes are giuen that is to say the Eucharisticall bread is the body of their Lord and the Cup of his bloud if they say not that he is the son of him that made the worlde as though he should reason thus These words which Iesus spake of the blessed bread saying This is my body This is the Cup of my bloud be eyther true or false If the speaker of them be pure man and not God as they saye then can they not be true for mans worde chaungeth not the nature of things as it is here But if the wordes be true as they certainely beleeue then the speaker of them must needes be Gods sonne of infinite power able to make the things to be as he sayth they be And also in his .57 Ireneus lib. 4. Cap. 57. Chapiter the same fourth booke he maketh the lyke argument in these words Quomodo iustè Dominus si alterius patris existit huius conditionis quae est secundum nos accipiens panem suum corpus confitebatur temperamentū calicis sui sanguinem confirmauit If our Lorde be a pure man that nature and condition that wee be of the sonne of an other father then God Howe did he iustly and truely taking bread into his hande confesse and saye it to be his body and confirme that mixture of wine and water that was in the Chalice to be his owne bloud By these two places of Ireneus that lyued within .150 yeares of Christ we are taught not to flie to our figures of Grammer to make these wordes of Christ true which indeede we must needes doe or else say they be false if Christ the speaker be but onely man and not God but we bee taught by him to beleue them to be most true and for that reason to beleue also that Christ the speaker is Gods son by whose almightie power the things be chaunged made as he speaketh so that we may iustly after the minde of Ireneus and dyuers other olde Authors which were long to rehearse nowe conceaue this opinion of these men that say these wordes of Christ cannot be true except they be vnderstanded by a figuratiue speeche that they eyther beleeue not themselues that Christ is Gods sonne or else giue occasion to other to reuiue that olde damnable Heresey of Arius that denied Christs Godhead the experience whereof we haue had of late dayes of some that from Sacramētaries by necessarie consequence of that Heresey became Arianes The first circumstaunce that you consider CROWLEY is the speaker of these wordes I am contented to beginne with the same And also to agrée with you vpon the equalitie of Christ with his heauenly father in all pointes touching his diuine nature wherefore if you conceyue such an opinion of me as you speake of bicause I say that these wordes This is my body is a figuratiue spéeche you conceyue a wrong opinion And I am sure I may safely say as much for all those that you speake of But nowe let vs sée howe honestly you haue behaued your selfe in applying the words of Ireneus to your purpose Libr. 4. ca. 34. He saith thus Quomodo autem constabit c. First I must tell you that euen as in the place that you did before cite out of Ireneus you picked out a péece for your purpose and left that which might make the Writers meaning playne so you haue done here also For in the same Chapiter not twentie lynes before those wordes that you cite Ireneus sayth thus Igitur non sacrificiae sanctificant hominem non enim indiget sacrificio Deus sed conscientiae eius qui offert sanctificat sacrificium pura existens praestat acceptare Deum quasi ab amico The sacrifices doe not make the man that doth offer them holye for God hath no néede of Sacrifice but the conscience of him that offereth being pure doth make the sacrifice holye and causeth God to take it in good part as
against all rule and forme of true reasoning CROWLEY I would not haue thought that any man could haue bene able by Arguments to haue perswaded you to graunt so much as you haue here graunted of your owne voluntary and willing accorde Watsons voluntarie graunt That is that all figures and shadowes are ended and expired and that it was no time for Christ at that time to institute newe figures I trust you will nowe be an enimie to all those figures and shadowes that the Pope hath brought into the Church of Christ But me thinketh I heare you say that you meane only to affirme that the time wherein Christ spake these words this is my body was the time not méete for the institution of figures and shadowes Well If we shall haue occasion hereafter to charge you with these words we will vrge them with such force that so slender an aunswere shall not serue you But in the meane while you dalley with those figuratiue spéeches that are vsed in the scriptures I am the way I am the dore I am the Vine I am the lyght A generall rule may be say you obserued that when Christ speaketh of himselfe by the name of anye creature there must be a better thing vnderstande then the thing is that such a name doth properly signifie And therefore we must in the matter of the sacrament vnderstand a better and more excellent thing then is Bread and Wine Me thinketh M. Watson you might haue spared all this labour For none of vs hath or doth denie that when Christ speaketh of himselfe and gyueth himselfe the name of any creature we must vnderstande a better thing then is properly signified by that name But what maketh this for your purpose It séemeth to me that eyther you your selfe haue forgotten your Logick or else when you did set forth your Sermon in print you thought that the worlde would neuer turne so that any Logition might be bolde in open wryting to controule your subtile sophistrie When I was Logitioner in Oxford I learned that in euery Cathegoricall proposition there be Tres termini Subiectum praedicatum Copula Nowe the Subiectum is that whereof affirmation or negation is made and Predicatum is that which is affirmed or denied And Copula is the verbe Substantiue that in construction standeth betwixt them You must not be offended with me Watsons sophistrie hath made him forget his Logick for that I talke with you of things so farre vnder the profession of a Doctour of Diuinitie for surely you séeme to me to haue forgotten all seing you shame not to saye that Christ speaketh here of himselfe as in the other places that you cite for example I am the Vine and this is my body haue both one Subiectum by your sophistry If Christ had sayde I am bread as in the sixt of Iohn he sayde I am that bread which came downe from heauen then your rule would haue serued But sith he sayth this is my bodye it is manifest that he speaketh of the bread and sayth that it is his body Mathew Marke Luke Iohn and Paule be no more on your side then they be on oures But rather their playne words doe prooue that you for your reasoning without probabilitie and contrarie to the rule of all true reasoning Watson must be promoted are méete to be promoted out of the Hall into the Kitchin or rather from the Diuinitie Schoole to the Logick lecture For they all with one consent say that our sauiour Christ spake not of himselfe but of the bread affirming it to be his body and his fleshe Which we doe not denie affirming the contradictorie as you say that we doe but we doe most constauntly affirme that to be true which Christ both spake and ment That is that in the sacrament the bread is his body Watson denieth Christs words to be true and the wine his bloud But you and your sort do denie his words to be true do affirme the contradictory for you say there is neither bread nor wine remayning in the sacramēt So that when Christ tooke bread in his hande and speaking of the bread sayde this is my body the bread was not his body by your doctrine but his body was there vnder the accidents of bread and the substaunce of the bread as some of you saye turned into the body of Christ or as some other teache the substaunce of the bread being conueighed away the substaunce of Christs body commeth in place vnder the accidents of that bread that was there These be fond and false gloses neyther true nor lykely nor yet tollerable But if you and your sort doe not beléeue and therefore can not vnderstande Howe the bread is Christes body how Christes body and bloud can be in the sacrament vnlesse the substaunce of bread and wine be done awaye and will therefore aske the vnfaythfull question howe then I must tell you that euen as all true Christians are the members of Christ of his flesh and of his bones so is the sacrament receiued of such his verie body and his bloud mysticallie Ephesi 5. But for your really substancially and corporally we can no skill of bicause we finde them not in the holy Scriptures neyther yet in the auncient Orthodox Fathers August serm ad Infantes Saint Austen in his Sermon Ad infantes cited by saint Beda sayth thus Si ergo vos estis corpus Christi membra mysterium vestrum in mensa Domini positum est mysterium Domini accipitis ad id quod estis amen respondetis If you therefore be the bodye and members of Christ the mysterie of you is set vpon the Lordes table yée receiue the mysterie of the Lord you answere Amen to that which you your selues are Agayne the same saint Austen wryting against Adimantus sayth thus Non dubitauit Dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cum signum daret corporis sui August ad Adimantum Cap. 12. The Lorde did not doubt to say this is my body when he gaue the signe of his body A signe it could not be if it were not a thing that might signifie It is manifest therefore both by the expresse wordes of the Scripture and also by the iudgement of saint Austen that the thing that our sauiour spake of when he sayde this is my bodye was bread And bicause he had appointed it to be a sacrament of his bodye he gaue it the name of that thing that it was a sacrament of And sacramentally or mystically it was his body and bloud that he spake of Moreouer the nature of a sacrament doth moue me verie much to beleeue still as I doe WATSON Diuision 18 For where as euery sacrament of the newe Testament is a visible forme of an inuisible grace as saint Augustine sayth it can not be a sacramēt of the newe Testament except it haue a promise of some such grace to be giuen to the worthye receyuer
as is signified by the outward forme of the sacrament As in baptisme the water which is the outwarde forme signifieth the grace of saluation and remission of sinnes which grace is both giuen to the worthy receyuer and is also promised in scripture to be giuen by the mouth of Christ saying Qui crediderit baptizatus fuerit saluus erit Mar. 16. He that beleeueth and is baptised shall be saued Euen so the outward element of this sacrament which is bread wine doth signifie the grace of the vnitie of Christs misticall bodye that lyke as one bread is made of manye graynes one wine is pressed out of many Grapes so one misticall body of Christ is compact and vnited of the multitude of all Christen people as saint Cyprian sayth Nowe if our sacrament be bread and wine as they say then shal they finde the promise of this grace Cypri li. 1. Epist 6. or of some other in the Scriptures made to the receyuer of bread and wine And if there be no promise in all the scriptures made to the receyuing of bread and wine then be they no sacraments Iohn 6. But if they will looke in the sixt Chapiter of saint Iohn they shall finde this grace of the mysticall vnitie promised not to the receauing of breade and wine but to the worthy receauing of Christes body bloud where Christ sayeth he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud he abydeth in me and I in him and so is ioyned and incorporate into one misticall body with him Our sacrament therfore that hath the promise annexed vnto it is not bread and wine be they neuer so much appointed to signifie heauenly things as they say but the very body and bloud of oure Lorde Iesus Christ the bread that came from heauen CROWLEY It is sayde that there was once one so malicious that when he perceyued that asking for himselfe what he would he should receyue it but yet vpon such condition that another whome he hated should receyue double so much of the same he being desirous to doe the greatest mischiefe he could to the other asked that one of his owne eyes might be put out for then he knewe that the other should loose both his This mans malice was but little in comparison of yours M. Watson for to haue one of your neyghbors eyes put out you will not stick to put out both your owne eyes your selfe You tell vs that saint Austen sayth but you tell vs not where that euery sacrament of the newe testament is a visible forme of an inuisible grace And that it can not be a sacrament of the newe testament except it haue a promise of some such grace to be giuen to the worthye receyuer as is signified by the outwarde forme of the Sacrament c. Watson hath lost fiue of the Popes seauen sacraments By this you haue at one blowe striken of from the number of your holy fathers sacraments no moe but fiue For where wyll you finde in all the Scripture that eyther confirmation order matrimonie penaunce or extreme vnction are such sacraments as you speake of Or that they or anye of them haue anye such grace promised to the worthy receyuer of them Well Thus you haue dispossessed your selfe of fiue sacraments in hope to spoile vs of one But let vs sée whether we cānot kéepe our two sacraments still and so disappoint you of your purpose Baptisme you doe graunt vs for you say water is the visible or outwarde forme and doth signifie the grace of saluation and remission of sinnes Which grace is not only giuen to the worthy receyuer but also promised by Christes owne mouth when he sayth Qui crediderit c. He that will beléeue and be baptised shall be saued But fearing least you should marre all you leaue out the wordes that folowe Qui verò non crediderit condemnabitur But he that will not beléeue shall be damned Where is now the grace of saluation and forgiuenesse of sinnes that is promised to the outwarde baptising or washing in water Take awaye beliefe and there is no forgiuenesse of sinnes at all No not though you be baptised in water a thousand times Beliefe must goe before and baptising in water must folow after as a seale or confirmation of the fayth And whosoeuer doth beléeue will surely be baptised according to the institution of him in whome he doth beléeue The cause why children be baptised And such as doe beléeue that the promise of forgiuenesse of sinnes through Christ doth apperteyne to them and to their séede will not fayle to begge baptisme for their children also that when they shall come to the yéeres of discretion they may be put in remembraunce that they were dedicated to God and that therefore they ought to lead a godly lyfe as it becommeth such to doe And so many among these as shall be founde worthy that is to saye elected in Christ before the beginning of the worlde shall surely be saued as our Sauiour Christ hath promised But such among them as were not elected in Christ from the beginning shall not be saued although they doe beléeue after a sort as Iudas and Simon Magus did and be baptised too For onely Gods elect are effectually baptised and doe effectually beléeue Baptisme therefore is a visible or outwarde signe of an inuisible grace which grace is by the promise of Christ so annexed to the outward ministration of the visible element water that in Gods elect it neuer fayleth but is euer more effectuall Election in Christ maketh men worthy forgiuenesse of sinnes But in the other that are not elected it is effectuall in preaching lyuely the inuisible grace that is by Christ but it can not make them partakers of that grace bicause they be not worthy of it That is they be not elected in Christ which election alone is it that maketh men worthy Thus haue we one sacrament with your consent M. Watson nowe let vs sée whether we can kéepe another also maugre your beard But first let vs trie if there be not some contradiction in your wordes First you say that the outwarde element in this sacrament is bread and wine Cypri li. 1. Epist 6. and that it doth signifie the grace of the vnitie of Christs mysticall body c. And this you confirme by the testimonie of saint Cyprian And afterwarde you saye that our sacrament that hath the promise annexed vnto it is not bread and wine Contradiction in Watsons words but the very body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ the bread that came from heauen Nowe if yea and naye may be contrarie then is there contradiction in your wordes But to the matter There is no promise of grace made in the scripture to the worthy receyuer of bread and wine Wherefore it is manifest that bread and wine can be no sacrament The same reason might be made against that which you haue saide of
baptisme For as I haue declared before there is no promise of grace made in the scriptures to the washing in water alone but the promise is made to the beléeuer which beléeuing will be baptised Those therefore that did put to that part of the definition of a sacrament did not minde thereby to shewe the difference betwéene the sacraments of the olde and new Testament but to signifie that without faith in the promise made in Christ it should not auayle to receyue any sacrament Faith therefore is it that hath the promise of grace annexed vnto it You haue sayde that if we would looke in the sixt Chapter of saint Iohns Gospell we should finde that the promise of the mysticall vnitie that is amongst christians is not made to the receyuing of bread wine but to the worthy receyuing of Christs body and bloud We haue looked there and haue found it euen so And we haue founde also that the worthy receyuing of the bodye and bloud of Christ is the receyuing of it in fayth For Christ sayth there Amen amen dico vobis qui credit in me habet vitam aeternam He that beléeueth in me hath euerlasting lyfe And againe Sicut misit me viuens Pater ego viuo propter patrem qui manducat me ipse viuet propter me Euen as the lyuing father hath sent me and I doe lyue through the father so he that eateth me the same shall also liue by the meanes of me Tractatu 26. S. Austen expounding this sixt Chapter of S. Iohns Gospell sayth thus Daturus ergo Dominus Spiritum sanctum dixit se panem qui de coelo descendit hortans vt credamus in eum credere enim in eum hoc est manducare panem viuum When the Lorde therfore would giue the holye Ghost he called himselfe the bread that came downe from heauen exhorting vs to beléeue in him For to beléeue in him is to eate the lyuing bread And in the same treatise speaking of the visible sacrament he sayth thus Nam nos hodie accepimus visibilem cibum sed aliud est sacramentum aliud est virtus sacramenti For we also haue this day receiued visible foode but the sacrament is one thing and the vertue and strength of the sacrament is another thing And againe Hic est ergo panis qui de coelo descendit vt si quis manducauerit ex ipso non moriatur Sed quod pertinet ad vim sacramenti non quod pertinet ad visibile sacramentum Qui manducat intus non foris Qui manducat in corde non qui premit dente This is therefore the bread that came downe from heauen that if any man should eate thereof the same might not die But yet that which appertayneth to the vertue and force of the sacrament not that which belongeth to the visible sacrament He that eateth within not without He that eateth in his hart not he that crusheth it with his téeth And agayne he sayth Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam illum bibere potum in Christo manere illum manentem in se habere Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo in quo non manet Christus proculdubiò nec manducat spiritaliter carnem eius nec bibit eius sanguinem licet carnaliter visibiliter premat dentibus sacramentuÌ„ corporis sanguinis Christi sed magis tantae rei sacramentum ad iudicium sibi manducat bibit This is therfore to eate that meate and to drinke that drinke for a man to dwell in Christ and to haue Christ dwelling in him And by this meanes he that dwelleth not in Christ and in whome Christ dwelleth not without doubt he doth neyther eate his flesh nor drinke his bloud spiritually although he doe fleshly and visibly crushe with his téeth the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ but he doth rather eate and drinke the sacrament of so great a thing to his owne condemnation Here appéereth playnely the iudgement of saint Austen concerning the outwarde and visible sacrament and also touching the inward thing signified by the outward signe The outwarde signe is bread and wine and the thing signified is the body and bloud of Christ Of the first may such be partakers as shall perishe bicause they be not elected in Christ but of the other can none be partaker but such as shall be saued and can not perishe bicause they be elected in Christ before the beginning of the world And therefore saint Austen sayth afterwarde Res verò ipsa cuius sacramentum est omni homini ad vitam nulli ad exitium quicuâ—que eius particeps fuerit The thing it selfe whereof it is a sacrament is life vnto euery man that shall be partaker thereof whosoeuer he be and destruction to none Onely Gods elect haue coÌ„moditie by Christes sacraments The promise therefore can not be made to the receiuer of the outwarde and visible sacrament who receyueth nothing but the visible and outwarde element but the promise is made to the worthy receyuer that is to the elected and chosen of God who receyueth both the outward and visible element and the inward vertue that is signified thereby And it is vnto him life bicause he dwelleth in Christ and hath Christ dwelling in him Yea he eateth Christ daylie by faith notwithstanding that he be sometime for a long season holden from the vse of the outward and visible sacraments For God hath not so tyed his grace to the outwarde sacraments that he can not saue without them To conclude this matter I would wishe you M. Watson to looke once againe in the sixt Chapter of saint Iohns Gospell that you would haue vs to looke in You shall finde therein not many words after the promise that you doe so greatly vrge these open and playne wordes Amen amen dico vobis nisi manducaueritis carnem filij hominis biberitis eius sanguinem non habebitis vitam in vobis Verily verily I saye vnto you except ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud you shall not haue lyfe in you When you haue read and weighed this place let vs haue your iudgement whether our sauiour Christ spake there of the receyuing of your sacrament which you saye is not bread and wine or of that maner of eating that I haue spoken of before If he spake of your maner of eating then can none haue eternall lyfe but such onely as doe receyue it so And then what auayleth the promise made to the washing in water which you saye is pronounced by Christs owne mouth By Watsons doctrine no Infants can be saued For notwithstanding they be so baptised yet if they die before they can be communicants they perishe nothwithstanding the promise made to them that be baptised It shall be best for you and vs both therefore to saye with saint Austen Hunc itaque cibum potum societatem vult
nos neque Calix Eucharistiae communicatio sanguinis eius est neque panis quem frangimus communicatio corporis eius est Sanguis enim non est nisi á venis carnibus á reliqua quae est secundum hominem substantia qua verè sactum verbum Dei sanguine suo redemit nos Quemadmodum Apostolus eius ait In quo habemus redemptionem per sanguinem eius remissionem peccatorum Et quoniam membraeius sumus per creaturam nutrimur Creaturam autem ipse nobis praestat solem suum oriri faciens pluens quemadmodum vult cum Calicem qui est creatura suum corpus confirmauit ex quo nostra auget corpora Quando ergo myxtus Calix factus panis percipit verbum Dei fit Eucharistia sanguinis corporis Christi ex quibus augetur consistit carnis nostrae substantia Quomodò carnem negant capacem esse donationis Dei quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur membrum est eius quemadmodum Apostolus ait in ea quae est ad Ephes Epistola Quoniam membra sumus corporis eius de carne eius de ossibus eius non de spiritali aliquo inuisibili homine dicens haec Spiritus enim neque ossa neque carnes habet sed de ea dispositione quae est secundum hominem quae ex carnibus neruis ossibus consistit quae de Calice qui est sanguis eius nutritur de pane qui est corpus eius augetur Altogither veine are those men which doe contemne the whole order that God hath set denie the saluation of the fleshe and despise the regeneration thereof saying that it is not able to receyue incorruptibilitie For by this meanes that is to saye if these sayings be true neyther hath the Lorde redéemed vs with his bloud neyther is the cup of thankesgyuing the communion of his bloud nor the bread that we breake the communion of his bodye For it is not bloud except it come from the veynes and fleshe and the other substaunce which is of mans nature Wherin the sonne of God being borne in déede hath with his owne bloud redéemed vs. Euen as his Apostle also sayth in whome we haue redemption the forgiuenesse of sinnes through his bloud And bicause we are members of him and be nourished by the creature And he it is that giueth the creature vnto vs causing his sunne to arise and rayning in such sort as it pleaseth him when he sayde for a suretie that the cup which is a creature is his body whereby he doth giue encrease to our bodyes When the mixed Cup therefore and the bread that is made doe receiue the sonne of God it is made the Euchariste or thankesgyuing of the bloud and body of Christ whereof the substaunce of our flesh is encreased and doth consist How doe they denie that fleshe is able to receyue the gift of God which is eternall lyfe sith the same is nourished with the bloud and bodie of Christ and is a member of him as the Apostle saith in that Epistle which he wrot to the Ephesians For we are members of his body of his fleshe and of his bones not speaking these wordes of any spirituall or inuisible man for a spirite hath neyther bones nor fleshe but of that disposition of partes that is in mans nature which doth consist of fleshe sinewes and bones which is nourished by the cup that is his bloud and encreased by the bread that is his body Nowe let the Reader iudge whether Ireneus may be vnderstanded to meane in this place as you by cyting his wordes What maner men Ireneus had to doe with would haue him séeme to meane First it is manifest by hys wordes that he had to doe with such men as did vtterly denie the resurrection of our bodies And he proueth that their assertion is verie veyne sith our bodies be nourished in this lyfe by the same creatures that our sauiour Christ hath made the sacramēts of his body and bloud which creatures we receyue at his hande for he causeth the sunne to arise and to warme the earth and he it is that giueth raine to moysten the earth whereby the same bread and wine that he hath assuredly sayde is his body and bloud doe grow out of the earth wherby he doth giue our bodies encrease And to what purpose should he institute the sacrament of his body and bloud in those creatures if our nature which he hath taken vpon him and is nourished by these creatures should not by him be made incorruptible and immortall Howe can they therefore sayth Ireneus denie that fleshe is able to receyue the gift of God which is eternall lyfe sith the same is nourished with that creature that is the bloud and body of Christ and is a member of him as the Apostle sayth c. Which wordes must be warily considered least we should thinke that Ireneus doth deny that the church of Christ is the spiritual or mistical body of Christ affirming that the same is his very naturall body which he tooke of the substaunce of the Virgine Marie Wordes that must be warily considered But when these wordes be well weighed it appéereth that Ireneus was earnestly bent to disproue not onely the opinion of such as doe denie our resurrection but also their opinion that did affirme that Christ tooke not mans nature vpon him but had a fantasticall body and therefore he applyed the wordes of Paule against that error saying Non de spirituali aliquo c. He spake not those wordes to the Ephesians of any spirituall or inuisible man but of the disposition of partes that is in man which consisteth of fleshe sinewes and bones Vnderstanding Saint Paules wordes in that meaning that the wordes of Laban must be vnderstand when he sayde to Iacob Genes 29. Os meum es caro mea Thou art my bone and my fleshe That is thou art of the same lynage that I am and descended out of the same loynes So Ireneus vnderstandeth saint Paules wordes in that place to signifie that Christ and we concerning his mans nature be descended out of the loynes of one man that is the first man Adam And so he concludeth that for as much as our nature is nourished and encreased by those creatures bread and Wine wherein Christ hath instituted the sacrament of his body and bloud and doth therefore call the same creatures by the names of those things that they be sacraments of the same nature must néedes be made incorruptible and immortall through him that hath receyued it to himselfe and is himself incorruptible and immortall Watson is to bolde with Ireneus Wherfore it séemeth to me M. Watson that you are to bolde with Ireneus when you affirme that his meaning is such as we finde to be contrarie to his playne and manifest wordes For he sayth that the
multa sed vnum corpus What meaneth saint Paule when he sayth the communion he meaneth that we be all one body What meaneth he by this worde bread the body of Christ What are they made that receyue the bodye of Christ they are not made many bodyes but one bodye And therefore saint Paule sayth by and by after Vnus panis vnum corpus multi sumus omnes enim de vno pane participamus We that be many are made one bread one body for bicause all we doe receyue and eate of one bread Here he telleth playne why we that be many in number are all made one bread one misticall bodye bicause sayth he all we eate of one bread which is one naturall bodye And this worde bread here must needes be taken for Christes naturall body and not for materiall bread as the heretikes say for it can not be conceyued neyther by reason nor by fayth how that all we christen folkes that liue now and haue lyued since Christes time and shall liue till Domesday can eate all of one and the same bread and eate also at sundrie times all of the same one bread being one bread in number and not one bread in kinde as some would make cauilation seing we be not fed Cum generibus speciebus with kindes of bread as the Logitianes say but with singuler bread except we vnderstand by this one bread the bread of lyfe that came from heauen the dread of Christes naturall body in the sacrament which he promised to giue vnto vs all wherof as saint Cyprian sayth Aequa omnibus portio datur integer erogatur distributus non dimembratur Cyprian De Caena Domi. incorporatur non iniuriatur and so forth whereof equall portion is giuen to all this deliuered whole and being distributed is not dismembred and being incorporate into vs is not iniuried and being receyued is not included and dwelling with those that be weake is not made weake And the reason why all we should be made one bodye that receyue one body is declared in Cyrill Cyrillus de Trini li. 1. the Latine is long but the Englishe is this We men beyng all dyuers in our owne proper substaunce according to the which one man is Peter an other is Thomas an other Mathew yet are we all made one body in Christ bicause we be fed with one fleshe and are sealed in vnitie with one holy spirite and bicause Christes body is not able to be deuided therfore being of infinite power and receyued of all our diuers bodies maketh all vs one body with himselfe Chrisost in Math. hom 83. Which vnitie of body saint Chrisostome expresseth by a similitude of Dough and Leuine that we are made one body as meale of many graine and water when it is kned are made one Dough or Leuine his wordes be these Veniat tibi in mentem quo sis honore honoratus qua mensa fruaris ea namque re nos alimur quam angeli videntes tremunt nec absque pauore propter fulgorem qui inde resilit aspicere possunt nos in vnam cum illo massam reducimur Christi corpus vnum cara vna c. Remember with what honor thou art honored of what table thou eatest for we are fed with that thing at which the Aungels looking vpon doe tremble and quake and without great feare be not able to beholde it for the brightnesse that commeth from it and we are brought into one heape of Leuine with him being one body of Christ and one fleshe for by this misterie he ioyneth himselfe to all the faythfull and those children whom he hath brought forth he doth not commit them to be nourished of an other but he himselfe most diligently and louingly doth feede them with himselfe Let my maysters of the newe learning tell me how that these words can be any wayes applyed and verified of bread and wine with all their figuratiue speeches and hyperbolies This coniunction also of vs with Christ Cyrill expresseth by a similitude of two waxes melted and mingled togither Cyrillus li. 10. Cap. 17. libr. 4. ca. 17. Quemadmodum si quis igne liquefactam ceram aliae cerae similiter liquefactae ita miscuerit vt vnum quid ex vtrisque factum videatur sic communicatione corporis sanguinis Christi ipse in nobis est nos in ipso c. Like as if a man mingle one waxe melted with an other waxe melted so that one whole thing of them both be sene to be made euen so by the communion and receauing of Christes body and bloud he is in vs and we in him for otherwise the corruptible nature of our bodyes could not be brought to incorruption except the body of naturall lyfe were ioyned to it Hilarius also the great learned and godly Bishop sayth Per communionem sancti corporis Hilarius in Psal 6. in communionem deinceps sancti corporis collocamur By the communion of his holy body we are afterwarde placed and brought into the communion of hys holy body In such a playne matter as this is what neede I to heape places one aboue another all the fathers be full of it Wherfore seing the effect of this sacrament is to be made one misticall body with Christ fleshe of his fleshe and bones of his bones as saint Paule sayth Ephes 5. Cyrillus li. 10. Capit. 13. Hilarius de trini li. 8. which vnion as Cyrill sayth is not onely by will affection fayth and charitie but also carnall and naturall as Hilary sayth by Christs flesh mingled with our flesh by the way of meat I can not see but that it is great wickednesse and plaine blasphemy to ascribe this glorious effect to the needie elementes of this worlde as to bread and wine but onely to the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ as to the onely substaunce of the blessed sacrament of the aultar Now CROWLEY you are come to the principall and chiefe effect of your sacrament of the aultar Which you say is to make vs one body with Christ This ye will proue first by the wordes of Paule to the Corinthes which are these Panis quem frangimus c. The bread which we breake c. 1. Cor. 10. Howe farre the meaning of Saint Paule in the place that you cite doth differ from your meaning in cyting his wordes may easily appéere to as many as will and are able to iudge indifferently I dare therefore saye to such as shall reade thys aunswere as saint Paule sayth there to the Corinthians Vos ipsi iudicate quod dico Be you your selues iudges of that which I speake Saint Paules purpose in that place is to perswade the Corinths that they might in no case match christen religion with Idole seruice For a little after those wordes that you cite he sayth Nolo vos fieri socios Demoniorum Non potestis Calicem Domini bibere Calicem Demoniorum Non potestis mensae
endued me with benefites but thou hast also rewarded me with spirituall pleasures which are here signified by the table And thys table sayth he hast thou prepared in the presence of mine enimies that when they sée it they may be sorrowfull and euen waste away with sorrowe Or else agaynst them that is contrarie to that which they doe desire or would wishe For they doe alwayes endeuour rather to make me sorrowfull and heauie Or else he doth vnderstand by the table the fruition of those good things to come which God hath prepared for them that loue him or the table of the aultar whereon that mysticall supper doth lye or else he doth vnderstande by it morall vertue If it had pleased you to haue cyted all these wordes your witnesse should haue appéered a farre more honest man then you And some of your faithfull hearers whose credite you would not by your curiositie séeme to mistrust would surely haue sayde that you had produced a wytnesse against your selfe Watson hath produced a wytnesse against himselfe For what one worde is there in all this beside that little péece that you haue picked out that can be wrested to haue any shewe to serue your purpose And these words also as they stand in the Authors writing can no more serue your purpose then the rest For how doth he vse them otherwise then to shewe that sense among the rest to be an Anagogicall sense And if we may be alowed to alledge scriptures for our purposes in that sense and let passe both the litterall and morall senses as you doe here then let vs as the common saying is facere quidlibet ex quolibet make what we lust of euerye thing as commonly men of your sort vse to doe But nowe what doth Cyprian say to this matter He doth teach vs the same lesson say you Quos excitamus c. Those persons c. You haue so disordred the wordes of Cyprian to frame them for your purpose that they can not otherwise be brought into order agayne then by cyting wholy togither all that which you haue disordred with the rest that you leaue out as not appertayning to your purpose Cyprian hath sayde thus Merito enim trahebatur dolentium paenitentia tempore longiore vt infirmis si qui essent in exitu subueniretur c. The repentaunce of such as sorowed for their fall was for good cause continued for longer time that if any of them should fall sicke we might succour them in their departing out of this lyfe so long as we had tranquilitie and quiet which would suffer vs to deferre the teares of the sorrowful long time and at the last succour them in their infirmitie when they should lye in dying But nowe peace is néedefull not for them that be sick but for such as be strong And we must giue the communion not to them that be at the point of death but to them that lyue that we doe not leaue those vnarmed and naked whom we sturre vp exhort to battle but that we arme them with the protection of the bloud body of Christ And seing the Eucharist or thankesgyuing is made for this purpose that it may be a defence to such as receyue it let vs arme with the defence of the Lords full féeding such as we would wish should be safe against the enimie For how doe we teach and prouoke them to shed their owne bloud in the confession of the name of Christ if we doe denie to giue his bloud in them that must fight Or howe doe we make them méete for the cup of martyrdome if we doe not first admit them in the Church to drinke the cup of the Lorde in the right of communion Here are Cyprians wordes in such sort as he wrote them And the occasion that he had to write thus was the euill opinion that Cornelius then Bishop of Rome had conceyued of Cyprian and other Bishops for that they had receyued to communion such as had before fallen in yéelding to the persecutours by reason of the crueltie of torments vsed vpon them To this doth Cyprian and the other Byshops to the number of .39 answere in this Epistle Shewing as is afore written that it were not méete that such as through frailtie haue fallen and doe with bitter teares lament their fall should when persecution is threatned and lyke to come be driuen from the Lordes table and not suffred to be partakers of that sacrament that our Lorde Iesus hath instituted to be an outwarde assuraunce of that which he hath promised in his worde For what reason were it to perswade men to stande manfully to the profession of Christ and warant them euerlasting lyfe if they suffer losse of this lyfe for his sake and yet denie to giue them the holye communion which Christ hath instituted to be a seale of that promise The best armour for Christians No armour can be so sure and make a man so bolde and couragious against his enimie as to be assured that his quarell is such that if he die therein he shall not fayle to lyue and raigne in glorious tryumph for euer Cyprian therefore doth verie well in vsing these Metaphers calling that sacrament that was ordeyned to be an assuraunce of this euerlasting triumph by the names of protection defence and saufegarde But to make Cyprian to séeme whole vpon your side Watsons common practise you help the matter somewhat in translating his wordes and thrusting in a fewe wordes of your owne as you are wont to doe to cause your hearers and readers to thinke that no man is able to gaine say that which you haue sayde Well you haue yet one other place of Cyprian but you spare the Latine thinking it sufficient to tell your hearers and readers that Cyprian sayth so For no man may thinke that you dare belie so holy a man as he was Lyers haue no credit But bicause I haue taken you with lyes more then once I dare not trust your report of Cyprian neyther will I suffer my readers to be deceyued by it First you say This bloud of Christ is dronken daylie c. His wordes in Latine are these Grauior nunc ferocior pugna imminet Cyprian li. 4. Epist 6. ad quam fide incorrupta virtute robusta parare se debent milites Christi consyderantes idcirco se quotidiè Calicem sanguinis Christi bibere vt possint ipsi propter Christum sanguinem fundere A more gréeuous and cruell battle is nowe at hande vnto which the Souldiours of Christ ought with vncorrupt faith and sloute courage to prepare themselues considering that they doe daylie drinke the cup of Christs bloud to the ende that they themselues might be able to shed their owne bloud for Christes cause In the other place that you cite Cyprian sayth thus Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. Quomodo autem possumus propter Christum sanguinem fundere qui sanguinem Christi
heades that shot them to the glorie of almightie God who by hys heauenly prouidence can so dispose the malice of a fewe that it turne to the staye and commoditie of the whole that the elect by such conflictes may be awaked from their slepe may be more confirmed in all truth and may be more vigilant and ware in learning and obseruing the lawe of God to whom be all glorye and praise worlde without ende Amen When you haue done all that you are able in wresting and wringing of scriptures and Doctors CROWLEY for the proufe of that thing which you say is so playne then you bragge as though you could doe much more were it not the the matter is so plaine of it self that it should be but more then néedeth to stand any longer in it A good point of Rhetorick such as must néedes perswade such hearers as cannot be perswaded that any of the Popes Clarkes can erre But you haue yet one point of Rhetorick which passeth all the rest And therefore you haue kept it to the last place that it may leaue the stinges and prickes of eloquence in the mindes of your hearers If you did but make rehearsall of the bare names that the Authors giue to the sacrament you should proue manifestly that it were the verie body and bloud of Christ and not bread and wine And first you beginne with Ignatius who calleth it the medicine of immortalitie Ignatius ad Ephesios c. To this I haue alreadie aunswered in the .24 Diuision of this Sermon and therefore néede not to trouble the reader with further aunswere Dionisius Areopagita Eras contr Parisienses And Dionisius Areopagita calleth it the sacrifice of oure saluation This must néedes perswade all your hearers For this Dionisius was saint Paules Scholer if a man may beléeue that which you tell vs. But Erasmus and dyuers other learned and of graue iudgement do think that it could not be that Dionisius that wrote the Ecclesiastical Hierarchie But graunt it were euē he that is mencioned in the Actes what should it help your purpose that he calleth the sacrament the sacrifice of saluation Hath not Saint Austen to Bonifacius Epist 23. tolde you the reason why such names are giuen to the sacraments Yea doth not the same Dionisius in the same Chapter that you cite call the same sacrament by these names holy bread and the Cup of blessing holye signes comfortable signes signes whereby Christ is signified and receyued Capit. 3. most holy signes heauenly sacraments holy mysteries c And doth he not call the whole action of the ministration of the same by the names of Communion or societie Synaxis or gathering togither and the holy supper If that one name be of force to make it the verie body and bloud of Christ then let the other names be able to make it bread and wine c. Apolog. 2. Iustinus Martyr also sayth that it is the flesh of Iesus incarnate I must tel you that you doe not report his words aright He sayth thus Iesu Christi eius qui homo fastus est carnem sanguinem esse accepimus We haue heard that it is the flesh bloud of that Iesus Christ that became man Not manye lynes before he sayth Postea quam is qui praeest gratias egit populus omnis benedixit i◠qui apud nos Diaconi dicuntur dant vnicuique qui adsunt percipiendum Panem vinum aquam quae cum gratiarum actione consecrata sunt ad eos qui absunt perferunt And after that he which is the chiefe hath giuen thankes and all the whole people haue blessed those that with vs are called Deacons doe giue to euery one that is present bread wine and water which are by the thankes gyuing consecrated to be receyued and doe carie of the same to those that be absent I report me to your friends whether Iustinus ment in this place to teache or whither it may iustly be gathered of his words that the sacrament that you speake of is neither bread nor wine Origene is much beholden to you In Math. homil 25. for you teach him to giue moe names to the sacrament then he hath written in his Homilies You note in the margine the fift Homilie vpon Mathew wherein he speaketh not one word of that sacrament But by like you would haue noted the .25 Homilie where he speaketh of it but farre otherwise then you report both in wordes and meaning And vpon Luke in the place that you note he sayth thus Nos si tantas Domini nostri opes In Lucam homil 38. tantam sermonis suppellectilem abundantiam doctrinarum non libenter amplectimur si non comedimus panem vitae si non carnibus Christi vescimur cruore potamur si contemnimus dapes Saluatoris nostri scire debemus quod habeat Deus benignitatem seueritatem If we doe not wyllingly embrace so great riches of our Lorde so great store of his worde and abundaunce of doctrine if we doe not eate the bread of lyfe if we eate not the fleshe of Christ nor drinke his bloud if we despise the delicate dishes of our Sauiour we ought to knowe that God hath both louing mercy and seuere iustice Whether these words doe proue that the sacrament is the very reall body and bloud of Christ and neyther bread nor wine let your holy father the Pope himselfe be iudge if he be such a one as hath the vse of reason Howe the names that Cyprian gyueth to this sacrament may proue your assertion may well appeare to all such as shall reade that which I haue before aunswered Cyprian De Caena Concilium Nicenum to that which you haue cyted out of his Sermon De Caena The great generall counsell at Nice doe call it the Lambe of God c. So doe we so farre forth as a sacrament may haue the name of that thing wherof it is a sacrament Optatus libro 6. Optatus sayth Quid tam sacrilegum c. What is more sacriledge c. Your olde slight must be vsed still Such wordes as may open the meaning of the writer must be slyly slipt ouer He had to doe with Parmenian and the rest of the Donatists And in the beginning of his sixt booke agaynst them he wryteth thus Indubitanter liquido demonstratum est in diuinis sacramentis quid nefarie feceritis c. Vndoubtedly it is playnely set forth to be séene what you haue wickedly wrought in the sacramentes of God Nowe must we shewe those things which you are not able to denie that you haue done cruelly and folishly For what is so great sacriledge as to breake scrape and set aside the aultars of God vpō which you your selues also did sometime offer on which the vowes of the people and the members of Christ are borne where God almightie is called vpon and whither the holy ghost being earnestly desired
doth descende or come downe from whence many doe receiue the earnest of eternall lyfe the safegarde of faith and the hope of resurrection The aultars I say vpon which our sauiour did commaund not to laye the offerings of brotherhood except the same be seasoned with peace Laye downe sayth he thine offering before the aultar and go thy way back agayne Agrée with thy brother that the priest may offer for thée For what other thing is the aultar but the seat of the bodye and bloud of Christ All these things hath your furie eyther scraped broken or set aside Thus farre Optatus against the Donatists amongst whome Parmenian was one of the chiefe Saint Austen wryting against the same Parmenian saith that the Donatists denied all that were not of their sect Contra Epist Parmen li. 1. Capit. 3. to be of the Church of Christ And therefore they accounted all the ministratiō that was done by any other minister then their owne to be filthy and abhominable And where they might get the vpper hande they made spoyle of all those things that serued for the ministration For which doings Optatus doth in this place inueygh against them And to cause their crueltie and folly to appéere the greater in breaking scraping and remouing the communion tables which he calleth aultars he giueth names of great excellencie and dignitie to those things that were ministred vpon those tables calling the same the body and bloud and members of Christ the earnest or pledge of euerlasting saluation the safegarde of fayth and the hope of resurrection Yea he sayth that God is inuocated and called vpon there and that the holy ghost being earnestly desired doth descend and come downe thyther But you slip ouer those wordes because the maner of spéeche that the wryter vseth there is by these wordes perceyued Watson can slip ouer some words For who knoweth not that the cōming downe of the holy ghost must be vnderstanded to be spirituall and therfore the maner of spéeche to be Hyperbolicall He sayth also that the vowes of the people be sustayned or borne vpon those tables whereby he vnderstandeth the prayers of the people as may appéere by that which he wryteth in the same booke where he sayth thus Cur votae desideria hominum cum ipsis altaribus confregistis Illic ad aures Dei ascendere populi solebat oratio c. Why haue you with those aultars dashed in péeces the prayers peticions of men The prayer of the people was wonte there to ascend to the eares of God Why haue you cut downe the way that the prayers should go vp by And why haue ye labored with wicked hands in maner to pul away the ladder that the praier should not haue away vp as it was wont to haue And that it is the communion table which he calleth an aultar it is plaine by the which he writeth in the same booke also where he saith thus Quis fidelium nescit in peragendis mysterijs ipsa ligna linteamine cooperiri c. What faithfull man is ignorant that in the ministration of the sacraments the timber is couered with a linnen cloth When you haue weighed all this that Optatus hath written you will not I trow make so great reconing of the names that he gyueth to the sacrament Accompting them as sufficient reasons to proue that the sacrament is the verie body and bloud of Christ and not bread and wine Hilarius also calleth it Cibus Dominicus Our Lords meat Hilarius li. 8. Verbum caro the worde made fleshe I must néedes let the readers sée the wordes of Hilarie as they stande written in his eyght booke De irinitate And then let him iudge howe worthye credite you are that shame not to snatch such péeces to proue your purpose He sayth thus Eos nunc qui inter Patrem filium voluntatis ingerunt vnitatem interrogo vtrumne per naturae veritatem bodie Christus in nobis sit an per concordiam voluntatis Si enim verè verbum caro factum est nos verè verbum carnem cibo dominico sumimus quomodo non naturaliter manere in nobis ixistimandus est qui naturam carnis nostrae iam inseparabilem sibi homo natus assumpsit naturam carnis suae ad naturam aeternitatis sub sacramento nobis communicandae carnis admiscuit Nowe I doe demaunde of them that doe cast in or heape vpon vs the vnitie of wyll betwéene the father and the sonne whether at this day Christ be in vs by nature in déede or by agréement of wyll For if the sonne of God be made fleshe in déede and we doe in the Lordes meat receyue the sonne of God incarnate in déede how should he be thought not to dwell naturally in vs which being borne a man hath both taken vnto himselfe the inseparable nature of our fleshe and also hath myngled the nature of his fleshe with the nature of eternitie to be communicated vnto vs vnder a sacrament If we shall vnderstand all these words of Hilarie so grossely as you would haue vs to vnderstand those wordes that you cite then shall Hilarie be found one of those that affirme the two natures in Christ to be confounded contrarie to that which all true christians doe with Athanasius confesse For he saith that Christ hath mingled the nature of his fleshe with the eternitie that is with the deuine nature We must therefore reade his wordes with fauour as I haue noted in that which I haue written vpon those wordes that you cite out of him in the .24 deuision of this Sermon Loke in the 24. deuision Being earnestly bent against those heretikes that denied the naturall vnitie betwixt Christ and his father he speaketh a great deale to largely of the vnitie betwixt Christ and vs calling that naturall also But for the wordes that you cite we confesse all that Hilarie sayth That is that we doe in déede receyue in the Lords meate verie Christ the sonne of God incarnate But not in your grosse maner Basill in his Masse calleth them Sancta Diuina c. Basilius in Missa Holy sacraments godly pure vndefiled immortall heauenly and gyuing lyfe Of what authoritie this Masse of Basill is I referre to the iudgement of the learned It is not neyther hath bene folowed in any Church neyther is it found in his workes in the Gréeke Wherefore it séemeth to mée to be but a deuise thrust out in his name by some one that was vnborne many yeres after Basill was dead But let it be of as great authority as you would wishe it to be shall his wordes that you cite proue the sacrament to be the body and bloud of Christ and neyther bread nor wine He calleth it but an holy godly vndefiled immortall heauenly and quickning sacrament If you adde a minor proposition and saye but euery such sacrament is the reall and naturall body of Christ shall we be enforced to conclude
Ergo this sacrament is the reall and naturall body and bloud of Christ and not eyther bread or wine I trow not I dare referre this to the iudgement of them that vnderstande Art But is there nothing in that Masse that maketh against you I trowe he sayth thus Confidentes appropinquamus sancto altari tuo proponentes configuralia sancti corporis sanguinis Christi tui te obsecramus te postulamus saencte sanctorum beneplacita tua benignitate venire spiritum sanctum tuum super nos super proposita munera ista benedicere ea sanctificare Presuming vpon thy mercies we drawe nigh vnto thine aultar And setting before thée apt figures of the bodie and bloud of thy Christ we doe praye and beséech thée O thou holyest of all that by thy good and mercifull pleasure thy holye spirite may come vpon vs and vpon these giftes which are set before thée and that he may blesse and sanctifie them All these wordes would your Basill haue his high Priest to speake after the wordes of consecration as you terme them wherby as much as may be done in making the body and bloud of Christ is done and yet the holy ghost must come vpon those gifts and blesse and sanctifie them yet more When you haue weighed these wordes with the other then tell me what you haue gayned towards your purpose But when he commeth to the distribution All thinges reconed more is lost then won he marreth all for he sayth that they doe all communicate And so your owne Basill ouerthroweth your priuate Masse which may so euill be spared in your holy fathers Church Ambrose calleth it Gratia Dei. The grace of God not accidentall Ambrose De obitu Fratris c. In mine aunswere to the ninth deuision of this Sermon I haue noted of what authoritie Erasmus doth thinke those works to be that are conteyned in the thirde Tome where these wordes that you cite should be He sayth that he is out of doubt that they be all counterfayted and set forth in Ambrose name for there is no whit of Ambrose vayne in them Besides this I meruaile that you are not ashamed when you haue reported a lie to dubbe it with another of your owne saying that Ambrose doth cal the sacrament by the name of the grace of God Were it not for troubling the reader with to much of your folly I would let him sée the whole fable in wryting and referre the iudgement euen to your dearest friendes that haue not lost the vse of their reason Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. But to make vp the matter withall you haue sought out one place of Chrysostome which doth enforce you to crye out and say Oh with what eloquence doth he vtter this matter Heare but this one place If a man should aske you what matter it is that Chrysostome doth with such eloquence vtter you must say the reall presence of Christ bodie and bloud in the sacrament and that the sacrament is neyther bread nor wine But what one worde hath Chrysostome in that place to proue this His words being taken wholy together are these Quemadmodum frigida accessio periculosa est ita nulla mysticae illius Caenae participatio fames est interitus Ipsa namque mensa animae nostrae vis est nerui mentis fiduciae vinculum fundamentum spes salus lux vita nostra Si hinc hoc sacrificio muniti migrabimus maxima cum fiducia sanctum ascendemus vestibulum tanquam aureis quibusdam vestibus vndique contecti Et quid futura commemoro Nam dum in haec vita sumus vt terra nobis caelum sit facit hoc mysterium Ascende igitur ad Caeli portas diligenter attende Imo non Caeli sed Caeli Caelorum tunc quod dicimus intueberis For euen as a colde comming to the Lordes table is perillous so not to be partaker of the mysticall supper at all is famishment and death For the table is the strength of our soule the sinewes of our minde the bonde of our confidence or sure trust our foundation hope health light and our lyfe It we shall depart hence being armed with this sacrifice we shall with great boldnesse ascende vnto the holy entrie as apparailed on euery side wyth certaine garmentes of Golde And why doe I speake of things to come For euen whylst we be in this lyfe this mysterie doth make the earth to be an heauen vnto vs. Go vp therefore to the gates of heauen and marke diligently Yea not to the gates of heauen but of the heauen of heauens and then thou shalt behold those things that we speake of Here you may sée what it is The ende of Chrysostomes Eloquence that Chrysostome mindeth to set forth by this elequence that he vseth He that will beholde the things that he doth so highly extoll must in spirite go vp to the gate of the heauen of heauens euen into the thirde heauen into which saint Paule was rapt in which he learned things that he could not vtter with his tongue The Lordes supper being rightly vsed of vs doth lyuely set forth vnto vs yea vnto oure senses the Lorde Iesus himselfe which is the strength of oure soule the sinewes of our mind c. This can we not liuely sée vnlesse we doe in spirit ascend to the gate of the heauen of heauens c. But when you will proue your purpose then all that the fathers haue eyther written or spoken to stirre vp their hearers or readers to heauenly contemplation must néedes be playne spéeches and applyed to prooue your grosse opinion of the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament They must néedes say that they neyther vse figure nor spirituall meaning And where Chrysostome doth in an other Homily call the sacrament by these names Rex Caeli Deus In Epist ad Ephes ho. 3. Cyril li. 4. Capit. 17. August Epist 163. Christus as you say The king of heauen God Christ you may thinke your selfe aunswered alreadie And so may you for that which you doe here cite out of Cyrill and Austen But I maruayle much that you could not sée what Chrysostome wryteth against the staryng and gaseing presence of your good people at your Popishe Masse wherein your priest doth eate and drinke vp all himselfe and giueth none any part with him Quisquis mysteriorum consors non est sayth Chrysostome impudens improbus astat Whosoeuer is not partaker of the mysteries is as a shamelesse and wicked man presente at the ministration But what should I trouble the reader any longer in so plaine a matter The fathers haue not disceyued you by calling the sacrament of Christ by so glorious and high names but you haue disceyued your selfe by drawing their figuratiue and Rhetoricall maner of spéeches to playne and grammaticall maners of speaking and their spirituall meanings to your carnall and fleshely meaning And as you haue disceyued your selues so you
alledged the wordes of the Ephesian Councell contrarie to the true meaning of the Fathers that were gathered togither in that Counsell And that it helpeth you nothing at all that that Counsell was holden so long agoe This doctrine also was determined in the generall counsell holden at Constantinople in the time of Iustinian the Emperour the yeare of oure Lorde .552 WATSON Diuision 8. Concilium Constanti in Trul. cap. 102. where be written these wordes Omni sensibili creaturae supereminet is qui salutari passione coelestem nactus dignitatem edens bibens Christum ad vitam aeternam perpetuo coniungitur anima corpore diuinae participatione gratia sanctificatur and so forth He farre excelleth euerye sensible creature that by the passion of our sauiour obteyning heauenly dignitie eating and drinking Christ is continually ioyned to eternall lyfe and is sanctified both in soule and body by participacion of the heauenly grace This place is notable declaring the dignitie of him that eateth Christ and the effect of that eating to be euerlasting lyfe and sanctification both of bodie and soule You haue a great grace in setting the visoure of antiquitie CROWLEY vpon matter nothing auncient Watsons grace in the bragge of antiquitie This matter must nedes be bolstred oute with the bigge title of the counsell of Constantinople holden in the time of Iustinian the Emperour c. And yet in that whole counsel as the same hath bene of any antiquitie set forth in writing there is not any one worde that may be wrested to such meaning as you alledge this place for But in the mergine you note that you find it in the counsell holdē in Trullo Capi. 102. I suppose that is as much as if you had sayde that Ecchius Pighius Hosius or some of the auncient Catholiks that liued about the yeare of our Lorde .1550 Wordes cited not found in the place noted haue reported that this doctrine was agréed vpon in the fift general Counsel for the sentence that you cite is not to be found either there or in the counsell holden in Trullo But graunt that the fathers of the counsel had concluded in such words as you cite what should it help your cause you haue taken vpon you to proue that Christ is really and substancially present in the sacrament And to proue this you say that the fathers of the Counsell haue determined that who so hath by the suffering of Christ obtayned the heauenly dignitie and doth eate and drinke Christ the same being more excellent then all sensible creatures is continually ioyned to eternall lyfe and is sanctified both in soule and bodie Watson cyteth wordes that proue the contrarie of his assertion by the participation of the grace of God Doe these wordes prooue your purpose Or doe they not rather proue that no wicked man doeth eate and drinke Christ for none can truely be sayde to excell all sensible creatures and to be continually ioyned to life eternall and to be made holy both in soule and body but such onely as be by Christ aduaunced to the heauenly dignitie that is to say be made members of Christ children of God and inheritours of the kingdome of heauen But no wicked reprobate is such one wherefore none such doth eate or drinke Christ in the sacrament So well do your friendes in the councell holden in Trullo helpe you to proue your purpose WATSON Diuision 9. Concilium Lateranense Lykewise the generall counsell called Lateranense holden at Rome the yeare of our Lord. 1215. determined this matter in the same termes that we expresse it now Vna est fidelium vniuersalis Ecclesia extra quam nullus omnino saluatur in qua idem ipse sacerdos sacrificium Iesus Christus cuius corpus sanguis in Sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis vini veraciter continentur transubstantiatis pane in corpus vino in sanguinem potestate diuina There is one vniuersall church of all faithfull people without the which no man is saued at anye time in the which Iesus Christ him selfe is both the priest and the sacrifice whose bodye and bloude be truely conteyned in the sacrament of the aultar vnder the fourme of bread and wine the breade being transubstanciate into his body and the wine into his bloude by the power of God This forme of doctrine after this sort in these termes hath bene taught professed and beleued throughout the whole catholike churche euer since that time howsoeuer some Heretiks forsaking their faith proceding from Gods omnipotent worde and the vnitie of his Church and leaning to their sensuallitie and blinde reason against fayth haue repined and barked against the same But I put no doubtes but by gods grace if the time would suffer me to make this matter of transubstantiation as plaine as the other of the reall presence It semeth to me a straunge thing CROWLEY that you which bragge of vniforme consent of the Church fiftene hundred yeres before this daye doe now produce witnesse that is not yet .400 yeres olde Decrees made by Pope Innocent doe not proue things done 1200. yeres before his daies and woulde haue the world to think that bicause Pope Innocent the third hath decreed the transubstantiation of bread and wine and the reall presence of Christes bodie and bloud in the sacrament therefore it must néedes be beleued to be so nowe and to haue bene so euer since the first institution of the sacrament But in the aunsweres that I haue made to the matter of greater antiquitie produced by you in your first sermon and in the former part of this your second sermon it doth sufficiently appeare to the indifferent reader that you neyther haue made playne the matter of the reall presence nor are like to make plaine the matter of transubstantiation though you take as much time therto as you haue now to liue I wil not stick to graunt you that this counsell of Lateranense did determine this matter according as you haue saide but what is that to the purpose you haue in hande for in the dayes of the thirde Innocent the Church of Rome was as farre from the sinceritie of christen religion as it is now And what doth that determination that they made of this matter proue against vs that stande in the defence of the sinceritie that was in the primatiue Church I put no doubts therfore but I shall be able to aunswere all that you shall be able to saye for your transubstantiation As I haue bene able to aunswere all that you haue produced for the matter of the reall presence The general counsel also of Constance holdē of later daies WATSON Diuision 10. the yeare of our Lorde 1451. doth agree and testifie the same Concilium constantiense in that they condemned Iohn Wyclefe the heretike and all his errours against this blessed sacrament Thus haue I shewed you the consent of the Church by the determinations
and haue assured me That is to saye that the bread and wine which are set on the aultar are not onely a sacrament after the consecration but also the very body and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ that not onely the sacrament but the body of Christ in déede is sensibly handled and broken by the priestes handes and grounds with the téeth of the faythfull The homely glose vpon the same place doth so mislike with this recantation of Berrengarius or rather the decrée of the Synode A pretie recantation that he sayth thus Nisi sane intelligas verba Berrengarij in maiorem incides haeresim quam ille habuit Except a man doe warsly vnderstande the wordes of Berrengarius he shall fall into a greater heresie then euer Berrengarius helde any The Pope and the whole Synode doe decree an heresie By this it is manifest euen by the writer of this glose that Pope Nicholas and the whole Synode at Rome did decrée and teach to be holden and enforce Berrengarius to confesse a greater heresie then euer he helde before And howe doth this proue the consent of your Popishe Church in condemning of heresies For the condemnation of Wyckliefe in the counsell of Constance I referre the reader as before And your owne Lirinensis will not take your part in this matter For he was deade many hundred yeres before Berrengarius was borne But I am glad that you haue now found that there may be great treasure of good learning in sixe penie bookes Sixe penie bookes I trust you will not now denie but there may be some good learning in books of halfe the price WATSON Diuision 16 Against the blessed Masse which is the sacrifice of the Church many wordes of many men haue bene sayde but sufficient reprofe of it hath not yet bene heard Here the prayer was made Scriptures neuer one was yet alledged against it sauing one out of the Epistle to the Hebrues where saint Paule wryteth Hebr. 9. that Christ entred into heauen by his owne bloud once and afterward he sayth Christ was once offered vp to take awaye the sinnes of many and all the argument consisteth in this worde once which I shall God wylling discusse hereafter But in very deede that same scripture that they bring against the Masse to no purpose is the verye foundation of the Masse wherevpon the Masse is builded and established after what sort I shall declare as time will serue Howe sufficient proofes haue bene brought against the Masse CROWLEY shall easily appéere to as many as will reade that which Byshop Iewell hath written for an aunswere to your friende Maister Harding And some sufficient proofes may be séene in this that I haue aunswered to your two notable sermons One scripture onely you say hath bene hitherto alledged against your Masse Bylike you haue not séene Iohn Caluines Institutions Where in the fourth booke and .xviij. Chapter he alledgeth more then foure places of scripture against it Thrée out of the first Epistle to the Corinths Manye proofes against the Masse one out of Saint Iohns Gospell the .19 Chapter and the same text that you take for the theme of your two Sermons But what should we make reconing of a multitude of places sith one alledged in the true meaning is sufficient But you haue promised to proue that one place which is alledged against your Masse to be the foundation of the same Which when you shall go about to doe I wyll God wylling proue that no such building can stand vpon such foundation Lyke as there is one God the father WATSON Diuision 17 Ephes 1. Hebr. 7.9 and 10. one Christ our redeemer one body and Church which is redeemed so there is but one onely sacrifice whereby we be redeemed which was once and neuer but once made vpon the aultar of the Crosse for the sinnes of all men 1. Iohn 8. This sacrifice is propitiatorie and a sufficient price and raunsome of the whole world as saint Iohn sayth he is the propitiation for our sinnes and not for our sinnes onely but for the sinnes of the whole worlde Iohn 1. and in his Gospell he wryteth Beholde the Lambe of God that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde The vertue of this sacrifice beganne when God promised that the seede of Adam should bruse and breake the Serpents head Genes 3. without the merit of this sacrifice there is no saluation 2. Cor. 5. for God was in Christ reconcyling the world to himselfe This sacrifice is common to both the Testaments wherof both take their effect whose vertue is extended from the beginning of the worlde to the last ende Apoc. 13. for the Lambe was slaine from the beginning of the world as saint Iohn sayth It is also a bloudy and a passible sacrifice extending to the death of him that offered himselfe Galath 3. and it was promised to the fathers and performed in the fulnesse of time the merites whereof receaue no augmentation because it is perfite nor yet diminution because it is eternall And although this sacrifice be sufficient to saue all men yet it is not effectuall to the saluation of all men it is able to saue all but yet all be not saued for what doth it profite the Turkes Saracenes vnfaithfull Gentils and counterfeyt christians The fault is not in God being mercifull to all his workes who created vs without vs but the fault is in our selues CROWLEY Watson can speake truth If all the rest of your two Sermons had bene according to this péece I would not haue misliked with you For I confesse all this to be most true WATSON Diuision 18. Therefore that this sacrifice of Christ as it is sufficient for all so it may be effectuall and profitable for all God hath ordeyned certaine meanes whereby wee may be made able to receaue the merite of it and whereby the vertue of it is brought and applyed vnto vs in the new testament after his passion as it was to the fathers in the olde testament before his passion Of these meanes some be inwarde some be outward the inward be common to both the testaments of which the first and principall is fayth for without faith it is not possible to please God and as saint Iohn sayth he that beleeueth not Hebr. 11. Iohn 3. is nowe alreadye iudged to hym therefore that is an Infidell Chryst hath dyed in vayne Charitie also is a meane 1. Iohn 3. 1. Iohn 2. 1. Cor. 13. for he that loueth not remayneth in death he that hateth his brother is in darkenesse and walketh in darkenesse and can not tell whether he goeth and if I haue all fayth and haue no charitie I am nothing He is not therfore partaker of Christs merites in the remission of sinne that lacketh charitie And so may we say of hope without the which no man receaueth mercye at Christs hande It is true that you say
sacrifices were proper to the olde lawe so there must of necessitie be one sacrifice proper to the newe testament seing there is but one God c. I haue sufficiently aunswered in mine aunswere to the tenth deuision of your former Sermon where you haue touched it as you say here And when you say that to the vnperfect lawe there succéedeth a perfect lawe c. it séemeth that you haue forgotten that which you sayde before in the .xx. Watson forgetteth hys last sayings deuision of this Sermon where you affirme that the sacraments of the olde lawe did conferre grace Ex opere operando by the worke that was then to be wrought and nowe you say that they were but figuratiue and not effectuall working sacraments and therfore such must succéede them When you shall proue that Moses his lawe and the sacraments thereof be an vnperfect lawe and vnperfect sacraments then will I allowe your similitude But so long as you shall not be able to proue any imperfection in eyther of them I wil reiect your similitude as foolishe and vayne Galath 3. I knowe that the lawe could bring nothing to perfection because it was not ordeyned to that ende to bring things to perfection Rom. 10. Christ is the perfection of the lawe but as saint Paule wryteth to leade vnto Christ And Christ is the perfection and end of the law That is to say Christ maketh those perfect whome the lawe with the sacraments and ceremonies thereof doe bring vnto him And so that sacrifice that Christ offered once for all is the ende and perfection of all the sacrifices of the olde lawe which is no more all one in substaunce with the sacrifices of the olde lawe that you speake of then the shadowe of any bodye is one in substaunce with the body it selfe Law sacrifice priesthood c. be relatiues and as saint Paule sayth when the priesthood is translated the lawe must also be translated But what maketh this to your purpose to proue that there must néedes be in the new lawe such a sacrifice priesthood and altar as you imagine Is it not sufficient that we haue such a sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. Peter 2. Apoc. 6. priesthood and altar as Paule Peter and Iohn speak of Must we néedes haue such a priesthood sacrifice and altar as the Popes Antichristian Church hath deuised and maintaineth You must proue it more substantially before any that is eyther learned in the scriptures or godly wise will beleue you A perfect and contynuall lawe requireth a perfect and continuall sacrifice as you say and shall not that reasonable seruing of God that saint Paule speaketh of in the place that you haue taken for your theme be as perfect and contynuing a sacrifice Rom. 12. Rom. 3. as the lawe of fayth is a perfect and contynuall lawe I thinke there is none that vnderstandeth what christian religion is but the same will consent to that which I haue saide hereof For this cause say you our sauiour Christ did in his last supper institute c. you tell vs here of two seuerall vses of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud One is that it should be receyued of vs. c. This you confirme with a note in the mergine 1. Cor. 11. It is true that Paule teacheth that doctrine there Paules doctrine not so grosse as Watsons euen as he himselfe had learned of the Lorde but not in such grosse maner as you doe teach in these two fine Sermons He teacheth there that our sauiour christ did ordain that this holy sacrament should be receiued of christians in the remembrance of his death passion that being so receiued of vs it is a foode that doth nourish vs in spiritual life Otherwise it is a cōdēnation to the receiuers As for the other vse which you say is to be offered in remembraunce of Christes passion you go about to proue by doe this in my remembrance And then very well you say that you haue but simply declared it without euident proofe It had bene good that you had delt simply not so subtilly as to cite the words of Christ in such sort that it might séeme Watson dealeth not simplie that he had giuen commaundement that the sacrament of his body should be offered in sacrifice where as it is manifest by the circumstaunce of the place that he commaunded the sacrament to be receiued in the remembraunce of his death and passion But your onely assertion without proofe is sufficient to perswade an obedient Catholike c. Watsons obedient Catholikes You accompt for obedient Catholikes such onely as will captiuate all their senses and beléeue all that you say and doe to be good and godly and folow you whether soeuer you leade them though they sée plainely that you go before them into the bottomlesse pit of hell Wel let vs sée nowe how you can conuince by arguments those that will not obediently say white is black light darkenesse and good euill for such you call heretikes that denie the Church and impugne the doctrine and determination of the same WATSON Diuision 22 But to our purpose that the oblation of Christes body and bloud in the Masse is the sacrifice of the Church and proper to the new testament I shall proue it you by the best arguments that we haue in our schole of diuinity that is to say first by the institution of our sauiour Christ then by the prophecy of Malachy the prophet thirdly by the figure of Melchisedech in the olde law and this shall I doe not expounding the scriptures after mine owne head but as they haue bene taken from the beginning of the most auncient and Catholike fathers in all ages 1. Cor. 11. This sacrifice was instituted by the commaundement of Christ saying to his Apostles do this in my remembrance Our new men laugh at vs where we say that this commaundement of Christ doth proue the oblation of the sacrament But we pittie them that set so light by that they are bounden to beleue and can not disprooue seeming euidently not to regarde and way the fact of Christ and their obedience to his commaundement When Christ sayde doe this by this worde this must needes be vnderstanded all that he did concerning the institution of this sacrament Let vs now see what Christ did First he did cōsecrate his precious body bloud by blessing the bread saying this is my body this is my bloud for if this consecration be not comprehended vnder this worde Hoc this then haue we no commaundement nor authoritie to consecrate this sacrament so should we be vsurpers to doe that thing we haue no warrant to shewe for vs in holy scripture But without doubt this is so plaine that we nede say no more of it except we should vtterly denie this sacrament and the whole ministration of it which I think no man doth Secondarily Christ did offer that he did consecrate which appeareth
Epist 3. Saint Ciprian sayth Qui magis Sacerdos Dei summi quam dominus noster Iesus Christus qui sacrificium deo patri obtulit obtulit hoc idem quod Melchisedech id est panem vinum suum scilicii corpus sanguinem Who is more the Priest of the highest GOD then our Lord Iesus Christ who offered a sacrifice to God the father and offered the same that Melchisedech did that is to say bread and wine that is to say his body and bloud And a little after he sayth Qui est plenitudo veritatem praefiguratae imaginis adimpleuit Christ which is the fulnesse fulfilled the truth of this image that was figurate before By these places of Ciprian we learne that Melchisedech and his offering were figures of Christ and his offering in his supper and like as Melchisedech offered breade and wine so Christ being the truth offered his bodie and bloud vnder the formes of bread and wine And least anye man should be offended with that Cyprian sayth hoc idem quod Melchisedech the same that Melchisedech Heare what saint Hierom sayth more plainely Quomodo Melchisedech obtulit panem vinum sic tu offeres corpus tuum sanguinem verum panem verū vinum Hiero. in Psal 109. Like as Melchisedech offered bread and wine so thou shalt offer thy body and bloud the true bread and the true wine The other was the figuratiue breade and wine this is the true breade and wine the truth of that figure not the same in substance but the same in mysterie Paula Epist ad Marcellā The same saint Hierome among his Epistles hath an Epistle of the godly matrone Paula ad Marcellam wherein be these wordes Recurre ad Genesim Melchisedech Regem Salem Huius principem inuenies ciuitatis qui iam tunc in tipo Christi panem vinum obtulit misterium Christianum in saluatoris sanguine corpore dedicauit Returne sayth Paula to the booke of Genesis and to Melchisedech the king of Salem and thou shalt find the prince of that Citie which euen then in the figure of Christ offered bread and wine and did dedicate the mistery or sacrament of the Christians in the bloud and bodye of our sauiour Marke in this most manifest place the oblation of the figure which is breade and wine and the oblation of the truth which is the misterie of vs Christen men the bodie and bloud of our sauiour Christ And it is to be noted what is ment by this word order which saint Hierome expoundeth thus Hiero. questio in Genesim Mysterium nostrum in verbo ordinis significauit nequaquam per Aaron irrationabilibus victimis immolandis sed oblato pane vino .i. corpore sanguine domini Iesu By this worde order he did signifie and expresse our misterie not by offering of vnreasonable and brute beastes as Aaron did but by the oblation of bread and wine that is to say the bodie and bloud of our Lord Iesus After this fathers minde order is taken for the maner of offering not by shedding of bloud but vnbloudily as we offer Christes bodie and bloud in our mistery For Christes offering concerning the substaunce of it was but one but concerning the order and maner it was diuerse vppon the crosse after the order of Aaron in the supper after the order of Melchisedech For so saint Augustine sayth August in Psalm 33. Coram regno patris sui id est Iudaeorum mutauit vultum suum quia erat ibi sacrificium secundum ordinem Aaron postea ipse de corpore sanguine suo instituit sacrificium secundū ordinem Melchisedech Before the kingdome of his Father that is to say the Iewes hee chaunged his countenance for there he was a sacrifice after the order of Aaron afterward he did institute the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud after the order of Melchisedech Marke the diuersitie and distinction of these two offerings of Christ not in substaunce but in order that is to say the maner and that Christ did institute the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud to bee offered of vs after the order of Melchisedech which thing he expresseth more plainely in an other booke expounding a place of Ecclesiastes Non est bonum homini nisi quod manducabit bibet August De Ciuitate Dei li. 17. Cap. 20. saying thus Quid credibilius dicere intelligitur quam quod ad participiationem mensae huius pertinet quam sacerdos ipse mediator noui Testamenti exlabit secundum ordinem Melchisedech de corpore sanguine suo Id enim sacrificium successit omnibus illis sacrificijs veteris testamenti quae immolabantur in vmbra futuri What is more credible we should thinke he ment by those wordes then that pertayneth to the participation of this table which Christ himselfe a priest and mediatour of the newe Testament doth exhibet after the order of Melchisedech of his bodie and bloud For that sacrifice did succede all the other sacrifices of the olde Testament which were offered in the shadowe of this to come What can be playner then this to shewe the figure of our mystery to be abrogated and the truth which is our sacrifice in the bodie and bloud of Christ in fourme of bread and wine to succeede Oecumenius in Epist ad Hebreos But to ende this matter heare one place playnest of all which Oecumenius hath vpon this place of Saint Paule Tu es sacerdos in aeternum c. in these wordes Significat sermo quod non solum Christus obtulit incruentam hostiam si quidem suū ipsius corpus obtulit verum etiam qui ab ipso fungentur sacerdotio quorum Deus pontifex esse dignatus est sine sanguinis effusione offerent Nam hoc significat in aeternum Neque enim de ea quae semel à deo facta est oblà tio hostia dixissit inaeternum sed respiciens ad presentes sacrificos per quos medios Christus sacrificat sacrificatur qui etiam in mystica coena modum illis tradidit huiusmodi sacrificij The worde meaneth that not onely Christ offered an vnbloudy sacrifice for he offered his owne bodie but also that they which vnder hym vse the function of a priest whose Bishop he doth vouchsafe to be shall offer without shedding of bloud For that signifieth the worde euermore For concerning that oblation and sacrifice which was once made of God he would neuer say euermore But hauing an eye to those priestes that be now by whose mediation Christ doth sacrifice and is sacrificed who also in his mysticall supper did by tradition teach them the maner of such a sacrifice This authoritie if it were any thing doubtfull I would stand in it to open such poyntes as were conteyned therin but being so manifest as it is it nedeth no more but to desire the hearer or reader to wey it and he shall see this
Melchisedech did not in substaunce but in misterie I wyll let the reader sée what Hierome hath written immediatly before and after the words that you cite First he sayth thus Superfluum est nos de isto versiculo velle interpretari cum sanctus Apostolus ad Hebreos plenissime disputauit Ipse enim ait Iste est Melchisedech sine patre sine matre sine generatione Et interpretatur ibi diligentissimè quare sine Patre c. It is a thing superfluous for vs to go about to make an interpretation of this verse seing that the holy Apostle hath in his Epistle to the Hebrues reasoned this matter at the full For he sayth This that is to say Christ is Melchisedech Wherein Christ is like Melchisedech without father without mother and without generation And he doth there most diligently enterprete wherefore he is without father without mother and without generation And all ecclesiasticall persons doe say That Christ is sayde to be without father in that he is man and without mother in that he is God Let vs therefore interprete this onely thou art a priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech Let vs onely declare this thing Wherfore he hath said after the order According to the order is as much as to say Thou shalt not be a priest according to the Iewish sacrifices but thou shalt be a priest after the order of Melchisedech And then follow those words that you haue cyted Quomodo enim c. And immediatly after those wordes he sayth Iste Melchisedech ista mysteria quae habemus dedit nobis c. This Melchisedech hath giuen vs these mysteries that we haue It is he that sayde He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud He hath giuen vs his sacrament after the order of Melchisedech No indifferent reader can iudge that saint Hierome meaneth here to teach that Christ did at his last supper offer his body and bloud vnder the formes of bread and wine as you affirme But as Melchisedech did offer bread and wine so Christ should offer vpon the crosse hys owne body and bloud which is the true bread and true wine and giue vs a sacrament to be frequented in the remembraunce thereof But in that Epistle that Paula and Eustochium wrote vnto Marcella You haue found a most manifest place Paula Eustoch ad Marcellam Recurre ad Genesim Melchisedech say they c. Here I must tell you that where you doe in the Englishe make Melchisedech the Datiue case and in the Latine put the point Periodus after Salem you shew your selfe not to vnderstand the grammaticall sense which is thus Returne to the booke Genesis and thou shalt finde that Melchisedech king of Salem was Prince of thys Citie which euen then c. Men of your sort are very néere driuen Watson is neere driuen when they alledge womens wordes or wrytings for proofe of matters so diuine as is that which in this Sermon you treate of But graunt it were Saint Hierome himselfe that wrote that Epistle might not Melchisedech offer bread and wine in a figure of Christ and dedicate the mysterie of Christians but it must néedes folow that Christ did at his last supper offer his owne body and bloud vnder the formes of bread and wine as you doe affirme I thinke none that is learned in Logick will graunt that argument But as you haue slightly touched before the booke hath not Obtulit but Protulit He brought forth bread and wine Watson maketh light of that which he is not able to waigh As lightly as you let passe the reasons that men make against your opinion by the vauntage that the text gyueth being Protulit and not Obtulit neyther you nor any of your sort shall euer be able to aunswere otherwise then by calling them fond cauillations as you doe In the Latine these two Verbes are sometime vsed both in one signification but Profero is neuer found in that signification that you and such other doe vse Offero when you speake of Melchisedechs comming forth to méete Abraham and offering him bread and wine to refreshe himselfe and his companie withall The Hebrue interpretors who doe best know the signification of the wordes of that tongue wherein that hystory was first written doe teach that it was the maner in those dayes for such as remayned at home in peace to come forth against them that returned from battayle with victorie bringing with them bread and wine to refreshe the wearie Souldiours withall and so receyue them friendly Antiquit. li. 1 Capit. 18. Iosephus a Iewe borne and so well learned in the Iewes lawes and histories that he was able to write a continuall historie of the antiquitie lawes and ceremonies of the Iewes and of their warres doth when he commeth to this part of the historie write thus Suscipitque cum rex Melchisedech quod significat rex iustus erat vtique sine dubio talis ita vt propter hanc causam etiam Dei sacerdos esset Solimorum quam Ciuitatem postea Hierosalymam vocauerūt Ministrauit autem iste Melchisedech Abraham exercitui xenia multam abundantiam rerum oportunarum simul exhibuit super epulas eum collaudare caepit benedicere deum qui ei subdiderat mimicos Abraham verò dante ei etiam decimas spoliorum munus accepit And hée was receyued of king Melchisedech which signifieth a righteous king and verily and without all doubt he was such a one so that for that cause he was also Gods priest in the Citie Solyma which Citie men did afterwarde call Hierosolyma And this Melchisedech did minister gifts to the armie of Abraham and he did also giue them great abundaunce of things néedefull And as they were at meat he began to prayse him and to blesse God which had subdued his enimies to him And when Abraham gaue him the tythes of the spoyle he receyued the gift Hiero. ad Euagrium Iohn 3. Saint Hierome in his Epistle ad Euagrium doth proue that the Citie Salem whereof Melchisedech was king was not that which was afterward called Hierusalem but that Salem that is mencioned in the Gospell where Iohn baptized bicause there was plentie of water there He doeth therefore disproue not onely Iosephus but also all Christen writers for that they suppose Melchisedech to haue béene king of that Citie which was called Hierusalem after his dayes but in his dayes Salem He alloweth the iudgement of those which doe suppose that Melchisedech was the first sonne of Noe and that he liued after Abrahams death .35 yeares at the least which is easie to be seene by the supputation of the yeares from the byrth of Sem to the death of Abraham which is .565 yeares and the whole tyme of Sems life is .600 yeares but fayling somewhat in the supputation he sayth that Sem liued after Abraham .40 yeares He alloweth also the opinion of Iosephus and other which thinke that
Melchisedech brought forth bread and wine to refreshe Abraham and his seruauntes in their returne from the slaughter of the kinges Yea and for this matter that you make so light of he citeth the Hebrue text translating the Hebrue verbe Hotzi Protulit not obtulit thereby making his iudgement of that place manifest If you can proue that Hierome or any other wryter haue in this place vsed obtulit in any other sense then protulit is here vsed in the plaine text I must be bolde to vse Hieroms owne wordes against himselfe and the rest In his Commentarie vpon Math he sayth Hoc quia de scripturis non habet authoritatem In Math. 23. eadem facilitate contemnitur qua probatur Because this thing hath none authoritie of the scripture it is as easily contemned as alowed And in his Apologie of his bookes against Iouinian he sayeth Apolog. lib. aduers Ioui Commentatoris officium est non quid ipse velit sed quid sentiat ille quem interpretatur exponere Alioqui si contraria dixerit non tam interpres erit quam aduersarius eius quem nititur explanare Certe vbicunque scripturas non interpretor libere de meo sensu loquor The dutie of a good interpreter arguat me cui libet durum quid dixisse contra nuptias It is the duetie of one that doth comment vpon the wrytings of other to expound not what he himselfe lusteth but what the meaning of him is whome he doth enterpret Otherwise if he shall say contrarie he shall rather be an aduersarie then an interpretour of him whome he would explane Truely whensoeuer I doe not interpret the scriptures but doe fréely vtter mine owne meaning let him that lusteth reprehend me as one that hath vttred some hard saying against mariage Yet one other place you cite out of Hierome Hiero. quest in Genesim to vnderprop your Popishe priesthood withall Mysterium nostrum c. By thys worde order he did signifie c. If you had bene disposed to deale plainely you would haue ioyned the former part of the Oration with the latter and not haue picked out the latter to serue your purpose leauing out the first Melchisedechs blessing declared Saint Hierome sayth that the Apostle saint Paule in his Epistle to the Hebrues making mention of Melchisedechs being without father and mother doth referre it vnto Christ and by Christ to the Church of the Gentiles For sayth he the glorie of euery head is referred to the members bicause one that was not circumcised did blesse Abraham that was circumcised and in Abraham he blessed Leui and by Leui he blessed Aaron of whome the priesthood did afterwarde come Whereof he would haue vs gather that the priesthood of that Church that was not circumcised did blesse the circumcised priesthood of the Synagoge And then folow the wordes that you should haue cyted Quod autem ait Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech Mysterium nostrum in verbo ordinis significatur c as you haue cyted Our mysterie is signified sayth saint Hierome but you tell not vpon what occasion he sayde so Where as the Apostle sayth sayde saint Hierome thou art a priest after the order of Melchisedech our mysterie is signified in the worde order Not by Aaron in offering vp sacrifices of vnreasonable beastes but by bread and wine that was offered that is the bodye and bloud of the Lorde Iesus Thus farre saint Hierome You must néedes graunt that our mysterie is our coupling togither into members of one body in Christ wherof saint Paule speaketh to the Ephesians When he sayth Mysterium hoc magnum est Ephes 5. ego autem dico in Christo Ecclesia This mysterie is great sayth Saint Paule but I speake it of Christ and the congregation Of the same speaketh saint Austen in his Sermon Ad Infantes Where he sayth thus Vos estis corpus Christi membra Si ergo vos estis corpus Christi membra mysterium vestrum in mensa Domini positum est Citatur à Beda in collect mysterium Domini accipitis Ad id quod estis amen respondetis c. You are the body and members of Christ If you therefore be the body and members of Christ your mysterie is set vpon the Lordes table you receyue the Lordes mysterie To the thing that you your selues are you aunswere Amen And in aunswering you doe subscribe This mysterie was not signified by Aarons sacrifices sayth saint Hierome but by the bread and wine that Melchisedech brought forth to refreshe Abraham and his Souldiours withall 1. Cor. 10. August in Ioh. Tract 26. Which bread and wine was the body and bloud of the Lord Iesus euen as the Manna that fell from heauen and the water that issued out of the rock were the same Your application of this place of Hierome might well haue bene spared therfore if you had dealt plainly with your auditory For it is now manifest to the reader that saint Hierome ment nothing lesse then to teache that Christ offered himselfe once at two times and after two orders The order of Melchisedech declared but he buyldeth vpon saint Paules wordes who sayth that Christ was not a priest to offer after Aarons order but after the order of Melchisedech an eternall and euerlasting sacrifice Now must Austen help you to patch out this matter August in Psal 33. De Ciuit. Dei li. 17. cap. 20. Vpon the tytle of .33 Psalme he sayth thus Coram Regno Patris sui c. And vpon this sentence of Ecclesiastes Non est bonum homini c he sayth thus Quid credibilius dicere c. If saint Austen should in these two places teach as in your application you doe beare your Auditorie in hande that he doth teache Watson would haue Austen teach false doctrine then were his doctrine most false and contrarie to the Euangelicall hystorie For where as the Gospell sayth that Christ did institute the sacrament of his body and bloud the night before he suffered saint Austen must say if you apply his words aright that he did first suffer and then institute the sacrament of his body and bloud afterward But I will not for your pleasure conceyue such an opinion of Austen for I know he was farre from that shamefull errour and open falshood He taught truely that in the time of the olde lawe among the people of the Iewes Christ was a sacrifice after the order of Aaron for by euery bloudy sacrifice was the death of Christ plainely set forth to as many as had eyes to looke and se thorow the shadow of the law But after al those sacrifices that were offered in the shadow of a thing to come he prepared a sacrifice after the order of Melchisedech that is euerlasting and that of his owne body and bloud which is the foode that féedeth into euerlasting lyfe And that this is saint Austens meaning is
world He telleth in déede that in the ministration of the holy communion and in al his other publike prayers he prayeth for those thinges that you speake of But what maketh this for the proufe of that which you haue in hand which is that in your Masse for the moraine of cattell you do not make an oblation for measeled swine c. As for that Chrysostome saith that the priests office is to pray for the sinnes of the quicke and the deade I referre the Reader for aunswere to that which I haue aunswered to the .30 diuision of this sermon where you alledge his thirde Homilie vpon the Epistle to the Philippians Saint Austen also telleth a storie of a Gentleman c. In mine aunswere to the .28 August de Ciuitate Dei li. 22. ca. 8. diuision of this sermon I haue giuen the reader occasion to consider the corruption that is found in this worke of saint Austens by the conference of many copies wherof some containe a sound doctrine according to the scriptures and some cleane contrary Which I doubt not should easily appéere in the Chapter that you alledge if the first copie or some true copie thereof were to be had Lodouicus Viues in his Commentary vpō this Chapter saith thus In hoc Capite non dubium est quin multa sint addita velut declarandi gratia Lodouicus Viues ab ijs qui omnia magnorum authorum scripta spurcis suis manibus contaminabant quorum alia resecabo alia more meo contentus ero velut digito indicasse There is no doubt but that in this Chapter there be many things added as it were to declare and make the matter more plaine by such as with their filthie fistes haue defiled all the writings of great authors whereof I will cut of some and some other I will be contented after my maner as it were to haue poynted at with the finger This may suffice the indifferent reader and giue him occasion to thinke that this fable which you alledge for your purpose was neuer written by saint Austen You haue no good ground therefore in this place to say that you do as the holy saints haue done when you say Masse for measeled swine and sicke horses neyther to say that we which do say that you do naught therein are members of the deuill Now a little of priuate Masse and then make an ende WATSON Diuision 37 Many there be that can well away with the Masse but not with priuate Masses These men be deceaued in their owne ymagination for there is no Masse priuate but euery Masse is publike It is called in Greeeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a publike ministery Saint Thomas calleth it sometimes a priuate Masse but not in that respect as it is contrary to publike but as it is contrary to solempne Euery Masse is publike concerning the matter and ministerie but not solemne concerning the place and other rites and circumstaunces Therfore these men speake against that they know not what They haue a newe vnderstanding of priuate They call it a priuate Masse when the priest receyueth the sacrament alone And thys they say is agaynst the institution of Christ They say so sine fine and neuer make an ende but they neuer proue it I shall shew you that it is not against the institution of Christ The institution of Christ concerning this sacrament contayneth three things which he himselfe did and by his commaundement gaue authority to the Church to doe the same The consecration the oblation and the participatiō To the due consecration foure things be required the matter forme minister and intent The necessary matter is bread of wheate which is due as it ought to be if it be pure sweete and vnleauened But our newe maisters that crye out so fast of Christes institution did ordeyn it should be ministred in vnleauened bread but in common bread and the worse the better with them some sayde horsebread was to good Well there was more vilany shewed herein than I wil expresse at this time And for the other kinde whereas the due matter is wine mixed with water they notwithstanding the institution and example of our sauiour Christ commaunded no water to be put in raysing vp again the pernicious rotten and extincted heresies which Fermentarij and Armeni did maintaine The forme of the sacrament is the wordes of our Sauiour Christ saying This is my body This is my bloud duely and perfitly pronounced vpon the bread and wine Our newe maisters that still cry vpon the institution of Christ some sayde it was a sacrament or euer the words were spoken as soone as it was brought to the Church for the vse of the communion some would haue the wordes sayde but as one should read a lesson or tell a tale not directed to the bread and wine but that the Minister should looke away from the bread and wine in the time of the pronouncing Fearing belike the wordes should haue more strength than they would they should haue And thus howsoeuer now they pretend a zeale to maintaine the institution of Christ then they vtterly destroyed the institution of Christ eyther denying or defrauding the necessary consecration of the sacrament The minister ought onely to be a priest duely consecrated ordred after the rite of the catholike Church whose ministration God onely doth assist These men did not only maintaine that it was lawfull but also did appoint and permit mere lay men to minister yea and lay women sometimes as some sayde without any lawfull vocation or ordering at all Arnobius in Psal 139. not regarding what Arnobius writeth Quid tam magnificum quà m sacramenta dei conficere quid tam perniciosum quà m si is ea conficiat qui nulum sacerdotij gradum accipit What is so excellent than to consecrate the sacraments of God and what is so pernicious than if he consecrate them that hath receyued no degree of priesthood The intent also to doe that the Church doth without mocking dissimulation or contrarye purpose is required For although the priest in the consecration may haue his thoughtes distract to some other thing and so lack attention which is a great negligence in the worke of God and deadly sinne to the minister yet if he lacke intention not intending to doe that God commaundeth and the Church doth there is no consecration nor no sacrament at all And for this point what intention shall we thinke these men had of late that vtterly denied to consecrate or receyue Christes body bloud vnder the formes of bread and wine but onely to receyue the creatures of bread and wine and thereby to be partakers of Christes body and bloud For in the booke of their last communion these were the wordes of the inuocation Good Lord graunt vs that we receauing these thy creatures of bread and wine according to thy sonnes institution may be partakers of his body and bloud Was there euer heard of any such
better and more certaine foundation then the most vncertaine intent of the priest What intent we had or haue God doth knowe and shall iudge Our doings doe declare that we intend to vse the sacraments of Christ according to hys holye institution The effect of this sacrament in remembraunce of his death and passion And by them to call to memory what we are by Christ what we must continue to the end and what we shall haue in the ende And being such as by receyuing those holy mysteries together we séeme to be we are by them assured that Christ dwelleth in vs and we in him And that as the creatures bread and wine doe by the mouth enter into our bodies to be the foode thereof so doe the flesh and bloud of Christ by fayth enter into our soules to be the sustinaunce of them whereby both body and soule shall lyue for euer in ioy And in our last booke of Communion our inuocation is some thing more large then you haue reported it For we saye thus Heare vs O mercyfull father we besech thée And graunt that we receyuing these thy creatures of bread and wine according to thy sonne our sauiour Christes holye institution in remembraunce of his death and passion may be partakers of his most blessed body and bloud c. If you would haue considered this inuocation better you should not haue néeded to haue wylled your auditorie to looke throughout the scriptures to finde where Christ did institute that by eating of bread and wine men should be partakers of his bodie and bloud For the wordes of our inuocation are that we doing that which Iesus Christ did will to be done for such purpose as he did appoynt it to be do ne may bée partakers of the thing in déede that is represented by that which is done Not by the outwarde act that we do but by the inwarde fayth that mooueth vs to doe it being commaunded by him in whom we beleue The institution of this doing is declared immediately after the inuocation that you speake of 1. Cor. 11. and was written by S. Paule to the Corinthes Wherefore we do not beare men in hand that Christ did institute that which he neuer thought neither doe our déedes shewe that we be enimies to his institution And as they vsed themselues in consecration so they did in the oblation WATSON Diuision 38 which they did not corrupt as the other but vtterly tooke away denying any such thing to be as I haue proued it is in so much that in all their newe communion they could not scarcely abide the name or worde of oblation but pulled it out of the booke so much did they fauour the institution of Christ which they nowe pretende CROWLEY As in mine answere to your proufes I haue sufficiently disproued the same so shall I here in fewe wordes disproue your slaunderous report In our Communion booke we desire oure heauenly father mercifully to accept our sacrifice of prayse and thankesgiuing And we say that we doe offer and present vnto him our selues our soules and bodies to be a reasonable holy and liuely sacrifice vnto him The sacrifice of the newe testament And is this to put the name or worde of oblation out of our booke The auncient fathers say that this is the sacrifice of the newe testament as I haue briefly noted in mine aunswere to the fourth diuision of your former Sermon Nowe when they haue taken away the due matter as sweete vnleauened bread WATSON Diuision 39 the mixture of the Chalice and peruerted the forme by leauing out the principall verbe est in the words of Christ as it was in the last booke in the first printing how it came in againe I can not tell and neglected the due ordring of the minister suffring them to vsurpe the office of a priest that neuer receaued that authority neither of God nor man and in that they did which was very bad neuer intended to do as the Church doth wholy did abrogate as much as lay in them the oblation of Christs body in remembrance of his passion at length would haue nothing to remaine but a bare cōmunion what face haue they to cry vpon christs institution institution which they haue in so many pointes broken and violated as I haue shewed yet that they would haue is no part of Christs institutiō For the vse of the sacrament is that it should be receaued and eaten Concilium tolet anum prim ca. 14. Conci Cesar aug ca. 3. and therefore in dyuers councels it was decreed that whosoeuer tooke the sacrament at the priestes hande and did not eate it for the which end Christ did ordeyne it was holden accursed and excommunicate Thus farre extendeth the institution of Christ concerning this point because he sayde Accipite manducate bibite Take eate drinke and also that all should eate and drinke of it that coulde proue themselues after saint Paules admonition But such thinges as pertaine to the ceremonie of the eating as how many in one place togither what time place maner order and such like be thinges pertayning to the ordinaunce and direction of the Church and not to the institution of Christ as necessary vpon paine of damnation to be obserued of euery christen man For else if all the rites that Christ vsed at hys supper were of necessitie and pertayning to his institution then there must needes be thirtene together at the communion and neyther moe nor fewer And it must be celebrate after supper and in the night after the washing of the feete and in a Parler or Chamber and all that receaue must be priests and no women For all these things were obserued of Christ and his Apostles at his last supper But for our instruction to declare that they be not fixed by the instituted of Christ but left to the disposition of the Church the Church hath taken an other order in these things wylling that all shall communicate that be worthy and disposed So that the number whether there be many or fewe or but one in one place that receyue maketh not the ministration of the priest for that thing vnlawfull And it hath ordered that it shall be celebrate in the morning and receyued fasting before all other meates and in the Church except necessitie otherwise require And therfore saint Augustine taught Ianuarius after this sort August Epist 118. Ideo saluator non praecepit quo deinceps ordine sumeretur vt apostolis per quos dispositurus erat ecclesiam seruaret hunc locum Therefore our Sauiour did not commaund by what order it should be receyued after him but reserued that matter to the Apostles by whome he would order and dispose his Church By this wee may conceyue that the receyuing of the sacrament is Christes institution but the maner number other rytes of the receyuing be not determined by Christes institution but ordered at the Churches disposition
reconciled that the body of sinne might be destroyed that it reigne not in our bodies And here the prayer was made In many wordes immediatlye before these that you cite CROWLEY S. Bernarde prooueth that our saluation commeth of the mercifull goodnesse of God onely and not of any thing that is in vs. For to that ende he citeth the name Sauiour both out of the wordes spoken by the Angell Gabriel to the Virgine Marie and also out of the Aungels wordes to Ioseph and to the Shepheardes declaring also the cause thereof to be for that he should saue his people from their sinnes To what vse Watsō would haue Christ to serue But you M. Watson would haue Bernarde to teache that Christ serueth for none other purpose but to be offered in the Masse to helpe out with that that lacketh in our merits For you say sée how saint Bernarde ioyneth the offering of our bodies and of Christes body togither That if the oblation of our bodies be imperfect and suffice not the oblation of Christes body may fulfill and supplie that lacketh in vs. If Bernarde had béene of that minde then might it not onely haue bene truely said of him Bernard saw not al things but rather thus Bernard was blind in euery thing For what is more manifest both by the scriptures iudgement of auncient fathers then that Christ alone is our Mediator and reconcilor to God his father Did not the Aungell say to Ioseph he shall saue his people from their sinnes In the Latine it is saluum faciet Math. 1. He shall make them safe And what is required to be done by his people towardes their saluation if he alone shall make them safe Againe Esay sayth Esay 53. Liuore eius sanati sumus By his stripes are we made whole Et disciplina pacis nostrae cecidit super illum The correction that might purchase our peace Oseas 13. fell vpon him And Oseas sayth O Israel perditio tua tantum ex me auxillium tuum O Israell destruction is thine owne but thine helpe commeth of me alone What can be more playnely spoken then this And agayne Iohn Baptist sayth Iohn 1. Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Beholde him that taketh away the sinnes of the world And shall we now set him to serue but for a shift that when we are not able to go thorow with oure matters then he must helpe out withall Oh blinde Bernarde if he were suche a one as Watson would haue him to bée But Bernarde was none suche Bernard was deceiued in some things was none suche although he were deceyued in somethings according to the déepe ignoraunce of the time he liued in But in these wordes that you take holde of he meaneth to teache that for as much as there is not in vs any abilitie at all to satisfie for sinne we must flie to that meane that God hath appointed euen Iesus Christ and offer him vp a sacrifice propitiatorie for our sinnes not by massing but by beléeuing the promise of God his father made in him and so shall we supplie that that in vs lacketh altogither and not in part For when we shall haue done all that is giuen vs in commaundement to doe we must saye that we are bondmen that can deserue nothing Luc. 17. How should we then by offering vp our bodies satisfie for anye part of oure sinnes When we offer our bodies therefore to God in obeying his holy will How that which lacketh in vs is supplyed we doe declare thereby that we beleue the promise of God made in his sonne Christ which is all that he requireth of vs and in so doing we supply by Christ the thing that was vtterly lacking in vs. That is the satisfaction for our sinnes WATSON Diuision 8. Now entring to speake of the Sacrifice of the Church I presuppose one thing which is the foundation of the same to be most certainly and constauntly beloued of all vs that be here present Here the praier was made which is that in the most blessed sacrament of the Aultare is present the true bodye and bloud of our Sauiour Christ the price of oure redemption not in figure onely but in truth and very deede Which the learned men call really and essentially that is to saye that thing that substance that was vpon the Crosse is now verily present in the blessed Sacramēt before we receiue it the cause of which reall presence is the omnipotent power will of God assisting the due administration of the priest the which body bloud we christen men receyue by the seruice of our bodies senses though not by the iudgemēt of our senses but only by the iudgement of faith bicause it is giuen not in the outwarde forme of the selfe same body and bloud as it was slaine shed vpō the crosse but in the formes of our daily and special nutriments of bread wine and that for sundry weighty necessary causes foresene by our sauiour Christ Now you begin to builde CROWLEY and you presuppose the foundation to be already layd in the minds of all your hearers which is as you say that in the most blessed sacrament of the Aultar the true body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ is present not in figure only c. Surely this foundation is not that wheron S. Paule that wise and good builder did build Watson and Paule builde not both vpon one foundation then the which as he sayth none can be laide for christians to build vpon For Christ hath not taught that his Church should offer such a sacrifice as you doe teach that your Sacrament is Wherefore although this foundation were layde in the harts of all your hearers yet were it not sure grounde to builde vpon bicause it is beside the Rock Christ But I suppose that your hearers were of thrée sortes One sort I thinke had your foundation hard rammed in their hartes another sort could not receyue any such rubbishe into their harts Watsons hearers were of three sorts as you doe vse to ramme into your false foundation but hauing alreadie receyued the Rock Christ they cannot admit any other But the thirde sort are lyke bottomlesse quakemires whereon no building can stande And manye of your hearers haue since that time when you made your Sermons shewed themselues to be such Wherefore your supposition séemeth to me to be deceyued But to your purpose The reall and essentiall presence of Christes bodye and bloud in the Sacrament is the foundation of that you minde to teache in this Sermon The foundation of Watsons sermon If I can proue then that they be not so present therin then must you séeke a new foundation to builde vppon Which thing by the helpe of God I doubt not to doe First by reall and essentiall presence you meane suche a presence that who so receyueth into his body the visible Sacrament must of necessitie
be confessed to receyue the bodye and bloud of Christ also euen into his bodye But that is not true Ergo. c. The Maior of this argument is your owne wordes and the Minor must be prooued by Scriptures and Doctours which is easie ynough to be done First our Sauiour Christ sayth Whatsoeuer entreth by the mouth Math. 15. goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught Which thing I thinke you will not confesse to be true of the body and bloud of Christ Ergo. c. Iohn 6. Agayne Christ sayth he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloude doth dwell in mée and hath mée dwelling in hym but not euerye one that receyueth the Sacrament dwelleth in Christ and hath Christ dwelling in him Ergo. c. Actes 3. Agayne Peter sayth that heauen must holde him vntill that tyme come wherein all things that the prophets haue spoken be fulfilled The Scripture ouerthroweth Watsons foundation Wherefore I conclude that by the Scriptures it is manifest that the body and bloud of Christ are not receyued into the bodyes of men by the receyuing of the Sacrament thereof And consequently that it is not really and essentially present in the Sacrament But you are not wont to credite the Scriptures vnlesse you haue the sayings of the Doctours to confirme the same vsing their wrytings as a touchstone to trie the Scriptures by where as they themselues do desire to haue their wryting tryed by the scriptures refusing to haue credit further then they shal be found consonant to the Scriptures We might therefore say that it is more then néedeth to go about to trie the touchstone by that mettall that should be tried by it Neuerthelesse to let them whose eyes ye haue bleared sée how you haue deceyued their sight I wil not stick to cite some sayings out of such among the Doctours as be most auncient and sounde in opinion wherby it may appeare that they thought not as you haue taught Basilius Magnus although not wryting of this matter Basilius De Spiritu sanct Cap. 22. yet going about to proue the holy ghost to be God sayth thus Angelus qui astitit Cornelio non erat in eodem tempore etiam apud Philippum Neque qui ab altari Zachariam alloquebatur eodem tempore etiam in coelo propriam sedem ac stationem implebat At vero Spiritus simul in Abacuc in Daniele in Babilonia operari creditus est in Cataracta cum Hieremia esse dictus est cum Ezechele in Chobar The Aungell that stood before Cornelius was not at the same time with Philip also Neyther did he that from the Altar spake vnto Zachary at the same time occupie his owne place and order in heauen But we beleue that the holy ghost did at one time worke in Abacuc and in Daniell beyng in Babilon And it is sayde that he was with Hieremie in the Dongion and with Ezechiell in Chobar Basill thinketh this to be a sufficient reason to proue the holy ghost to be God And so will all godly men confesse For no creature can occupie moe places at one time than one onely But you affirming Christs body to be really present in the sacrament doe teache that it is present in a multitude of places at once Ergo Watsons doctrine denieth the manhood of Christ you affirme it to be God and so doe yée destroy the mans nature in Christ in that ye confounde it with the deuine contrarie to that Catholike fayth that you would séeme to defende wherein we confesse with Athanasius that God man is but one Christ not by confusion of substaunce but by the vnitie of person This Basill is no newe writer as you know M. Watson for he lyued about .320 yeres after Christes ascension Origin also somewhat more auncient Origin in Math. 25. for he lyued about 200 yeres after Christ wryting vpon the .25 Chapter of Math sayth thus Quod si semper omnibus suis est presens quomodo introducunt cum Parabolae eius peregrinantem Vide vt possumus soluere hoc modo quod quaeritur Qui enim dicit Discipulis suis ecce vobiscum sum vsque ad consummationem saeculi Et item vbi fuerint duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo ibi sum in medio eorum c. Et qui in medio etiam noscientium se consistit Vnigenitus Dei est Deus verbum sapicutia iustitia veritas qui non est corporeo ambitu circumclusus Secundum hanc diuinitatis suae naturam non peregrinatur sed peregrinatur secundum dispensationem corporis quod suscepit Secundum quod turbatus est tristis factus est dicens Nunc anima mea turbatur Et iterum Tristis est anima mea vsque ad mortem Haec autem dicentes non soluimus suscepti corporis hominem cum sit scriptum apud Iohannem Omnis spiritus qui soluit Iesum non est ex Deo sed vnicuique substantiae proprietatem reseruamus If so be that he be alwayes present with all them that be his Howe doe his Parables bring him in as one that is gone into a straunge Country Marke how we may answere the questiō that is now moued Certes he that sayth to his Disciples behold I am with you to the end of the world also where two or thrée shal be gathered togither in my name there am I in the midst of them c. And he also which standeth in the midst of them that knowe him not the same is the onely begotten sonne of God God the sonne and the wisdome that iustice and that truth that is not closed in with bodily compassing According to the nature of this his diuinitie he is not gone into a straunge Country But as touching his body which he hath receyued he is gone into a straunge Country According to the which he was troubled and made heauie when he sayde Now is my soule troubled And againe My soule is sorowfull euen vnto death When we speake thus we doe not lose in sunder the manhood of the bodye which he hath receyued bicause it is written in Iohn euery spirite that dissolueth the sauiour is not of God but we doe reserue to eche substaunce the propertie thereof In these wordes of Origin it is manifest that he thought the presence of Christ with his Origin against Maister Watson to be vnderstanded of his diuine nature his absence from them of his mans nature Whervpon I conclude that Origin was not of your minde in that you say that Christs body is really essentially present in the Sacramēt August ad Dardanū Saint Austen also who lyued about .400 yeres after Christs ascension wryteth thus vnto Dardanus Noli itaque dubitare ibi nunc esse hominem Christum Iesum vnde venturus est Memoriterque recole fideliter tene Christianam confessionem quoniam resurrexit à mortuis ascendit in coelum sedet
consisteth of two things of the visible forme of the elementes and of the inuisible bodye and bloud of oure Lorde Iesus Christ both that outward Sacrament and the thing or substaunce of the Sacrament that is the body of Christ These words neede no declaring but poynting and for that cause why should I tarie in this poynt any longer seing that our Bookes be full of such like authorities Therefore as I began seing the substaunce of our Sacrifice of the new Testament is the very reall and naturall body of Christ if this body be not present in the Sacrament as the enemies of Christes Crosse and the destroyers of oure faith falsly pretende then be wee christen men left altogither desolate without anye Sacrifice priuate vnto vs for both the Sacrifice of Christ vpon the crosse and also the inwarde Sacrifice of mans heart be not priuate but common to vs and to all faythfull men from the beginning of the worlde to the last ende All these wordes are to proue CROWLEY that we whome you call the enimies of Christs Crosse and destroyers of your fayth doe take awaye from the Church of Christ that sacrifice that they maye and ought continually to offer to God and leaue them in worse case then were the Iewes or any other sect except the Mahumetans for they only are without a peculier sacrifice to offer to their God Your Argument when the flowers of Rhetorick be taken from it is in this forme Seing that the substaunce of our sacrifice is the verie reall and naturall body of Christ they that denie it to be in such sort present doe denie the Church to haue any Sacrifice to offer to God But the Protestantes doe denie it to be in such sortes present Ergo they denie the Church to haue any sacrifice to offer to God To proue the Maior proposition of this Argument Cyprian lib. 2. Ep 3. you make a long parenthesis And first you begin with the wordes of Cyprian In sacrificio quod Christus est non nisi Christus sequendus est In that Sacrifice that is Christ no man is to be folowed but Christ True it is that in the thirde Epistle of his seconde Booke Saint Cyprian hath those wordes that you cite But that he ment by those wordes to affirme that Christes reall and naturall body is present in the sacrament I deny and doubt not to be able to stand to that deniall agaynst all that can be iustly proued by the words of Cyprian in that place or any other of his workes And least you should think that of an obstinacie I doe without good ground denie that I am not able to aunswere I will shewe you what moueth me to denie that which you affirme First the same Cyprian in the same Epistle sayth thus Admonitos autem nos scias vt in Calice offerendo dominica traditio seruetur neque aliud fiat a nobis quam quod pro nobis Dominus prior fecit Vt Calix qui in commemorationem eius offertur mixtus vino offeratur Nam cum dicat Christus Ego sum vitis vera sanguis Christi non aqua est vtique sed vinum Nec potest videri sanguis cius quo redempti viuificati sumus esse in Calice quando vinum desit calici quo Christi sanguis ostenditur qui scripturarum omnium sacramento ac testimonio praedicatur Ye maye vnderstande sayth Cyprian to Coecilius that we are warned that in the offering of the Cup we obserue the Lordes tradition and that we doe nothing therein other then that which the Lorde did for vs before That the Cup which is offered in remembrance of him be offered being mixed with Wine For when Christ sayth I am a verie Vine doubtlesse then the bloud of Christ is not water but Wine Neyther can it séeme that his bloud wherwith we were redéemed and quickened is in the Cup when it wanteth Wine whereby Christs bloud is set forth and shewed which is by the Sacrament and testimonie of all the Scriptures preached abroade Agayne the fame Cyprian sayth in the same Epistle Lauabit in vino stolam suam in sanguine vnae amictum suum Quando autem sanguis vuae dicitur quid aliud quam vinum dominici sanguinis ostenditur He shall washe his robe in Wine and his apparell in the bloud of the Grape And when mention is made of the bloud of the Grape what other things is shewed then the Wine of the Cup of the Lordes bloud And after a few words the same Cyprian sayth thus Vini vtique mentio est ideo ponitur vt Domini sanguis vino intelligatur Et quod in Calice dominico postea manifestatum est prophetis annumiantibus praedicatur Mention is made of the Wine sayth Cyprian and for this cause is it done that the Lordes bloud might be vnderstanded by the Wine And that thing that was afterwarde manifestly shewed in the Lords Cup was before preached when the Prophets shewed forth the same And in the same Epistle after he hath spoken of the wordes of our Sauiour Christ written in the .26 chapter of Saint Math. Gospell he sayth Qua in parte inuenimus Calicem mixtum fuisse quem Dominus obtulit vinum fu sse quod sanguinem suum dixit In which part sayth Cyprian speaking of the Cup we finde that the cup which the Lorde offered was mixed and that the thing which he called his bloud was Wyne And againe after he hath spoken of the words of the Apostle he sayth Miror satis vnde hoc vsurpatum sit vt contra euangelicam apostolicam disciplinam quibusdam in locis aqua offeratur in dominico calice quae sola Christi sanguinem non possit exprimere I maruayle much sayth Cyprian howe it commeth to passe that contrarie to the doctrine both of the gospell of the Apostle water is in certayne places offered in the Lordes cup which being but water alone can not expresse the bloud of Christ These sayings of Cyprian being written in the same Epistle that you cite Cyprians words in the same Epistle that watson citeth make against him doe cause me to deny that which you affirme For he saith The Wine of the cup of the lords bloud is shewed forth The lords bloud is vnderstand by the Wine And that it was Wine that he called his bloud And last of all that water alone could not expresse the bloud of Christ No man that is not blinded by affection will saye that Cyprian ment in that Epistle to teache that Christes reall and naturall body is present in the Sacrament otherwise then spirituallye and sacramentally But I maruell much that you were so blinde when you reade that Epistle that you could not sée these playne wordes of Cyprian euen in the last sentence of the Epistle Religioni igitur nostrae congruit timori ipsi loco atque officio sacerdotij nostri frater charisme in Dominico Calice miscendo offerendo
many as would be satisfied of the opinion of Austen and Prosper And that Austen is so farre of from being full of such sayings as you doe boast that he is that he speaketh fully and plainly the contrarie of that which you holde in moe places then one or two August De Ciuit. Dei lib. 21. ca. 25. First he sayth thus Qui manducat meam carnem bibit meum sanguinem in me manet ego in eo Ostendit quid sit non sacramentotenus sed reuera corpus Christi manducare eius sanguinem bibere Hoc est enim in Christo manere vt in illo maneat Christus Sic enim hoc dixit tanquam diceret Qui non in me manet in quo ego non maneo non se dicat aut existimat manducare corpus meum aut bibere sanguinem meum c. He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud doth dwell in me and I in him He doth shewe what it is not in sacrament onely but in déede to eate the fleshe of Christ and drinke his bloud That is so to dwell in Christ that Christ maye dwell in him For he spake those wordes euen as though he should haue sayde thus Let not that man that dwelleth not in me nor hath me dwelling in him thinke that he doth eate my bodye or drinke my bloud c. Idem In. Ioh. Tract 26. And agayne vpon the same wordes he sayth Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam illum bibere potum in Christo manere illum in se manentem habere Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo in quo non manet Christus proculdubio nec manducat spiritaliter carnem eius nec bibit eius sanguinem licet carnaliter visibiliter premat dentibus sacramentum corporis sanguinis Christi Sed magis tantae rei sacramentum adiudicium sibi manducat bibit c. This is therefore to eate that meat and drinke that drinke to dwell in Christ and to haue Christ dwelling in him And by this he that dwelleth not in Christ and in whom Christ dwelleth not without doubt he doth neyther eate his fleshe nor drinke his bloud spiritually although he doe fleshely and visibly crushe in his téeth the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ But he doth rather eate and drinke the Sacrament of so great a thing to his owne condemnation Agayne he sayth Si enim sacramenta quandam similitudinem earum rerum quarum sacramenta sunt non haberent omnino sacramenta non essent Ex hac autem similitudine Idem Ad Bonifacium Epist 23. plerumque etiam ipsarum rerum nomina accipiunt Sicut ergo secundum quendam modum sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est ita sacramentum fidei fides est c. For if the sacraments had not a certaine similitude or lykenesse of those things whereof they be Sacraments they could not be Sacraments at all And of this similitude they doe for the most part take the names of those things wherof they be sacraments Euen as therfore the sacrament of the body of Christ is after a certaine maner the bodye of Christ the sacrament of his bloud is his bloud so the sacrament of fayth is fayth c. By these places it is playne Whereof Austen is full that Saint Austen is not so full of such sayings as you cite out of his Confessions c but rather that he is full of Sentences to the contrarie of that which you would confirme by his wordes Why should I tarie anye longer therefore in aunswering this point seing the auncient fathers bookes be full of good matter against your doctrine I conclude therefore that as you vnderstande by substaunce so is not Christ the substaunce of our sacrifice of the new Testament neyther is that our sacrifice that you doe boast so much of But our sacrifice of the new Testament is our fayth in Christ and oure obedience to his worde as I haue shewed before and this sacrifice is acceptable in Christ therefore and in that sense Christ is the substaunce of our Sacrifice notwithstanding that he is not after your maner present in his sacrament Neither is it any inconuenience What the sacrifice of the newe Testament is that we haue not any sacrifice priuate to our selues and not common to all the faythfull that haue bene before vs and shall be after vs. For we are all one Church and saued by one sacrifice propitiatorie which Christ offered once for all and why should not one sacrifice of thankes to God be generall to vs all vnlesse you will haue that euery age should haue a sacrifice by it selfe And furthermore WATSON Diuision 10. seing a Sacrifice is an outwarde protestation of our inwarde faith and deuotion if we christen men now haue no sacrifice priuate vnto vs then be we the most miserable men that euer were being without anye kinde of religion For take away our sacrifice take away our religion Cyprianus Sermo De Caena as S. Cyprian confuting the carnall thoughts of the Capernaits that thought they should haue eaten Christes fleshe eyther rosted or sod and so should haue consumed it to nothing wryteth thus Cum illius personae caro si in frustra partiretur non omni humano generi posset sufficere qua semel consumpta videretur religio interisse cui nequaquà m vlterius victima superesset Seing that if the fleshe of his person were deuided into pieces it coulde not suffise all mankinde to eate vpon which flesh after it were once cleane wasted and consumed our religion might likewise seme to perish and be destroied which had no more any sacrifice remayning Wherevpon I conclude that if we haue not Christes body and bloud present in the sacrament for our externall sacrifice wherby we may mitigate and please almightie God and obteyne remission of sinne and spirituall grace and giftes then should we be no better then the Turkes seing all nations from the beginning of the worlde both Gentils and Iewes haue had one kinde of outwarde Sacrifice to declare and expresse their inward deuotion and religion eyther to the true God of heauen or to such as they fantasied or feyned to be Gods sauing onely the Turkes as Petrus Cluniacensis writeth wherby it appeareth that this sect that denieth and destroyeth the Masse which is the Sacrifice of the Church is verily the sect of Mahumet preparing a waye for the Turke to ouerrunne all Christendome as hee hath done a great piece alreadie For what could the Turke doe more against our saith if he did ouercome vs beside our thraldome tirannicall oppression but as these men doe now to take awaye our sacramēts sacrifice to leaue vs nothing but the bare name of Christ if there be any good man that hath true religion in his hart to compell him
the scriptures Iohn 5. When all the Apostles had consented that none should go in vnto the heathen to preache the Gospell vnto them Act. 11. and Christ had sayde go and teache all Nations where was then the sure staffe to leane to What staffe was it that the worshipfull of Berrhaea leaned vnto when they had heard Paule preach there Act. 17. Was it the consent of the Church No saint Luke sayth Scrutabantur scripturas They searched the scriptures That was then the sure staffe to leane to Saint Austen woulde haue no credite further then hys wordes might be confirmed De Trinitat libr. 3. by Scripture and sounde reason His wordes are these Noli meis literis quasi scripturis canonicis inseruire sed in illis quod non credebas eum inueneris incunctanter crede in istis autem quod certum non habebas nisi certum intellexeris noli firmiter credere Be thou not bound to my wrytings as to the canonicall scriptures but in the scriptures beléeue without feare whatsoeuer thou shalt finde therein which thou didst not beleue before But in my wrytings doe not firmely beléeue that which thou wast not sure of before vnlesse thou mayst certainly vnderstand it Doe not correct my wrytings by thine owne opinion or contention but by that thou readest in holye Scripture or vnshaken reason c. Contr. Petiliani Epist Cap. 12. Agayne the same Austen sayth Nemo mihi dicat O quid dixit Donatus Aut quid dixit Parmenianus aut Pontius aut quilibet illorum Quia ne Catholicis Episcopis consentiendum est sicubi sorte falluntur vt contra canonicas scripturas aliquid sentiant Let no man say vnto me Oh what hath Donatus saide Or what hath Parmenian sayde Or Pontius Or any of those men For we maye not consent to the Catholike Byshops if they be at any time deceyued so that they holde anye thing contrarie to the canonicall Scriptures Here it is manifest that saint Austen supposed the scriptures to be the sure staffe that we should stay vpon And the consent of the Byshops or other learned men to be but a weake stay and such as no man maye trust to when it is seuered from the other contrarie to the opinion that you holde M. Watson And yet more playnely the same saint Augustine sayth in an other place Cedamus igitur consentiamus autoritati scripturae sanctae Libr. De Peccat merit Remissi Cap. 22. quae nescit falli nec fallere Let vs therfore consent to the aucthority of the holy scripture which can neither be deceiued nor deceiue Gerson also sayth thus Dicto autoris autoritate canonica munito plus quam declarationi Papae credendum est We must giue more credite to the saying of an Author Gerson against maister Watson that is confirmed with the aucthoritie of the canonicall scripture then to the declaration of the Pope himselfe And agayne he sayth In sacris litteris excellenter erudito atque autoritatem catholicam proferenti plus est credendum quam generali concilio More credite is to be giuen to a man that is excellenly learned in the holy scriptures and bringeth forth a catholike aucthoritie then to the generall counsell All this considered I thinke it better to leane to the staffe of the scripture with Austen Gerson and other auncient fathers then with you and such as you are to trust to that broken staffe that maye and often times hath deceyued such as haue stayed themselues thereon I doe reuerence the wrytings and sayings of Fathers Chrysost in Galat. 1. so doe I the consent of the Church but the worde of God aboue both and neither of both without it For as Chrysostome saith Paulus verò etiam Angelis è coelo descendentibus praeponit scripturas idque valde congruenter Siquidem Angeli quamlibit magni tamen serui sunt ac ministri Caeterū omnes scripturae non à seruis sed ab vniuersorum Domino Deo venerūt ad nos Paule doth preferre the scriptures before the Aungels that come downe from heauen and that verie orderly For although the Aungels be great yet are they seruaunts and ministers But all the scriptures are commen vnto vs from him that is Lorde and God of all creatures I allowe therefore all your thrée staues and I lyke them all well so long as they be fast tyed togither But if you doe once pluck them in sunder then I am well pleased that you take to your selfe the two latter and leaue me the first to stay vpon Now concerning this matter of the presence WATSON Diuision 13. I am able by Gods helpe to shewe all these three thinges ioyned and knit togither so that we can not be deceyued in this point except we will deceaue our selues as many wilfully doe The scripture by playne and manifest words against the which hell gates shall neuer preuayle doth testifie and confirme our fayth in many places but specially in the wordes of our sauiour Christ himselfe in his last supper saying to his Disciples Math. 26. Take eate this is my bodye which is giuen for you This is my bloud of the newe Testament which is shed for many and for you in remission of sinnes which most plaine scriptures many haue gone about to delude to reduce them to a base vnderstanding by figuratiue speeches contending these words This is my body This is my bloud to be spoken figuratiuely and not as the words purport bicause other like sayinges in the scripture be taken figuratiuely as these I am the waye I am the dore The stone is Christ and such other wherein they haue declared their deuilishe and detestable sophistrie to their owne damnation and the subuersion of a great many other They professe themselues to be learned men but who heard euer tell of any such kinde of learning as to prooue one singuler by an other as if one should reason thus Thomas is an honest man ergo Iohn is an honest man The Swan is whyte ergo the Crow is white Which arguments be like this I am the waye is a figuratiue speeche ergo likewise This is my body is a figuratiue speech With such fond folies sophismes is the truth assaulted against all good learning and the rules of all true reasoning God open their eyes to see and followe his heauenly wisedome CROWLEY For the matter of the presence of Christ in the sacrament you haue manifest Scripture as you saye thys is my body this is my bloud c. Which Scriptures some haue gone about to delude with fonde follies and sophismes such as it pleaseth your selfe to frame I am sure you did neuer reade in any of their writings that you speake of any argument so framed as you haue set forth in your Sermon We doe know that one méere particuler cannot be proued by another And therfore we vse not to conclude as you would make your Auditorie beléeue that we doe
at the hande of a friend And agayne he sayth Oportet enim nos oblationem Deo facere c. We must needes make an oblation to God and be found thankfull to God our maker in all things In pure iudgement in faith without Hipocrisie in firme hope in feruent loue offering vp the first fruites of those thinges which are his creatures And the Church only may offer this pure oblation to hir maker offering vnto him some part of his creature with thankesgyuing vnto him But the Iewes doe not now offer for their handes be full of bloud for they haue not receyued the worde whereby offering is made to God No more doe all the Synagogs of heretikes And other which saye that there is another father besides him that is the maker doe therefore when they offer to him those thinges that be of the same creation that we are declare thereby that he is desirous of that which is not his owne and coueteth after those things that appertayne to other And such as doe saye that the things which are of the same creation with vs be made by defect and ignoraunce and suffering doe when they offer the fruites of ignoraunce and of suffering and defect sinne against their father reuiling him rather then giuing him thankes After these wordes doe those wordes followe that you haue cited for your purpose Quomodo autem constabit eis c. Howe shall it be certaine vnto them that that bread wherein thankes are giuen is the body of their Lorde and the Cup of his bloud if they say not that he is the sonne of him that is the maker of the world Thus farre go the wordes that you cite And where as you shut vp the matter with an interrogation as though there were the whole of that which the Author doth there wryte of this matter in as many Copies as I haue séene the poynt there is but a comma and the sentence contynued with these wordes id est verbum eius per quod lignum fructificat c. That is his wordes whereby the trée is made fruitfull the Fountaynes to flowe that gyueth first the blade then the eare and then the full corne in the eare And agayne how doe they saye that the fleshe which is nourished with the body and bloud of the Lorde doth come into corruption and not receyue lyfe Therefore eyther let them chaunge their minde or abstayne from offering the things that are spoken of before As for our iudgement it is agréeable to the Euchariste or thankesgyuing and on the contrarie part the Euchariste doth confirme our sentence or iudgement For we doe offer vnto him the things that are his and doe agréeably preach the communion and vnitie of the fleshe and the spirite For euen as the breade which is of the earth taking the name of God is not nowe common bread but the Eucharist or sacrament of thankesgyuing consisting of two things one earthly and another heauenly so our bodies also being made partakers of the Euchariste are not nowe corruptible for as much as they haue the hope of the resurrection c. And agayne in the ende of the Chapter he sayth Sic idio nos quoque offerre vult munus ad altare frequenter sine intermissione Est ergo altare in caelis c. His will is also that in such sort and therefore we should oftentimes and contynually offer a gift at the aultar The aultar therefore is in heauen For thither are all oure prayers and oblations directed and our temple euen as Iohn sayth in his reuelations And the Temple of God and tabernacle was set open If you had weighed all these wordes of Ireneus togither Watson did not weight Ireneus wordes being written in the same Chapter with those that you cite in your Sermon I suppose you would not haue thought his wordes so méete for your purpose The sacrifice sayth he is sanctified by the pure conscience of the offerer We must be founde thankefull to our maker in all things in pure iudgement in vnfayned fayth in stedfast hope and in feruent loue offring to him the first fruits of those things that be his creatures And the Church onely may offer this oblation The bread which is of the earth receyuing the name of God is not now common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things the one earthly and the other heauenly He wyll haue vs to offer a gift vpon the aultar continually wythout ceasing The aultar therefore is in heauen How doe these words agrée with the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament And howe can these wordes suffer your Masse to be accompted the sacrifice of the Church The whole purpose of Ireneus in that Chapiter is to shewe that the workes of loue procéeding from an vnfayned fayth and a pure conscience are that sacrifice that God regardeth And in the vse of the sacrament which he calleth the Eucharist or thankesgiuing this sacrifice so acceptable to God is not onely taught by sensible signes but also exercised And the aultar whereon this sacrifice is offered is Christ which is in heauen Against whome Ireneus did write The wordes that you cite were by Ireneus spoken against such as affirmed that God is not the maker of those creatures that we haue the vse of Which affirmation if it were true then Christ being the sonne of God whome those men denied to be the maker of the worlde had no power to institute the sacrament of his body bloud in any of those creatures for he should not then haue béene Lorde ouer them As touching the names body and bloud giuen to this sacrament the reason thereof his declared before Your reasons therfore that you make in Ireneus name are not worth a Lowse To the same ende tendeth the other place which you cite out of the .57 Chapter of the same booke Wherefore those two places of Ireneus who liued within .150 yeres after Christ doe teach you to vse the figure called Metaphora or translation in the vnderstanding of these wordes This is my body and this is my bloud notwithstanding that Christ the speaker is both God and man Psalm 148. and euen he of whom Dauid spake when he sayde Ipse dixit facta sunt He spake the worde and the things were made For he spake not those words as one that would by them creat a new or alter and chaunge the substaunce of that which he had before created Christs purpose in speaking the wordes of his last supper but his purpose was to institute a sacrament or visible signe of the excéeding great mercie that he should shortly shewe in giuing his body and bloud for the redemption of the sinnes of the worlde and of that wonderfull misterie of ioyning the faythfull togither into the felowship of members of one body and of the same to him their head These wordes of Christ therefore are true in his meaning notwithstanding ought that you can saye
and yet to be vnderstanded by the figure and not as the wordes doe purport And yet are we that saye so farre ynough from the Arians heresie The second circumstance I spake of WATSON Diuision 15. was to consider to what purpose and intent Christ spake those wordes and I sayde they were wordes not of a bare narration teaching some doctrine but the wordes of the institution of a sacrament of the new Testament And then it followeth that if they be the forme of a sacrament as they be in dede then must they needes be that instrument wherby Gods almightie power assisting the due ministration of his Priest worketh that grace inwardly that the words purport outwardly For so it is in all other sacraments In Baptisme these wordes Ego Baptizo te I baptise thee and so forth like as outwardly to the eares of the hearer they signifie a washing so almightie God assisting the due pronouncing of them doth inwardly woorke the grace of washing the soule of him to whome the wordes be spoken if their be no stop or impediment of his partie And lykewise in penaunce as the wordes of the Priest saying Ego absoluo te ab omnibus peccatis tuis in nomine Patris filij spiritus sancti I absolue thee from al thy sinnes in the name of the father and the sonne and the holy Ghost doe signifie forgiuenesse so God doth inwardly forgiue if the partie be truely penitent Lykewise in marriage that knot the man knitteth with the woman in taking hir to his wyfe and she him to hir husband God also inwardly doth knit the same which man can not loose and so foorth of all other sacraments Nowe to oure purpose The grace which is included in these wordes this is my body this is my bloud is not only accidentall grace as in the other but the body of Christ to be our sacrament which is the substaunce of grace the Author Bernar. Sermone De Coena Fountayne Well of all grace as S. Bernard sayth Dicitur Eucharistia per excellentiā In hoc enim Sacramēto non solum quaelibet gratia sed ille à quo est omnis gratia sumitur This sacrament is called Eucharistia for some excellencie aboue all other for in this sacrament is receyued not onely any other grace but he of whome proceedeth all grace Then it followeth that where as the grace of this sacrament which the wordes purport to the outward eares of all men is the essentiall grace of Christes body and bloud to be there present it followeth I saye that Christ by these wordes as by a conuenient instrument worketh inwardly in that he gaue to his Disciples the reall presence of his owne body and bloud Emesenus Oratione De corp sanguine Christi as Eusebius Emesenus sayth Fide aestimandi non specie nec exterioris censenda est visu sed interioris hominis affectu To be esteemed by fayth and not by the outwarde forme and not to be iudged by the sight of the outwarde man but by the affection of the inwarde man CROWLEY First you considered the person of him that spake these words This is my body and nowe you consider his intent in speaking His purpose was not saye you by these words to shewe what the thing was that he spake of but to vse the words as an instrument whereby the inwarde thing signified by the outwarde wordes is wrought And to make this your opinion playne you vse the wordes in Baptisme in Penaunce and the contract in mariage for examples Surely M. Watson this must néedes appéere a straunge maner of doctrine when it shall be waighed by them that doe cōsider what the vse of wordes is and what the almightie power of God is Learned men haue alwayes taught that the vse of wordes is to teach the hearers and that they be instruments seruing onely to that vse None but Sorcerers wyll say that words are instrumentes to worke wonders with In déede the Poete speaking of magicall verses sayth thus Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere lunam Verses are of such force that they are able to bring the Moone downe from heauē But we finde not in the holy scripture or in any Catholike Wryter that wordes haue any other vse then to teache Peraduenture you will saye that the Prophet Dauid will take your part bicause he sayth Verbo Domini caeli firmati sunt Psalme 33. spiritu oris eius omnis exercitus eorum By the worde of the Lorde were the heauens established and all the armie thereof by the breath of his mouth But saint Austen and as many as I haue séene that doe write vpon that Psalme doe with one voyce affirme that the Prophet doth not there meane of such a formed worde as you doe here neyther of the breath that issueth out at the mouth in the vttering of such wordes but of the sonne of God and the holy Ghost So that his wordes are this much to say In the sonne and the holy Ghost hath the Lorde which is but one diuine power established the heauens c. The power of God is such that at his worde beck or twinckling of his eye he is able to doe what he will doe According to the wordes of the same prophet in another Psalme Deus noster in caelo omnia quaecunque voluit fecit in caelo in terra Our God is in heauen Psal 114. looke what he would doe that hath he done both in heauen and in earth I conclude therefore that it is the power of God that worketh all in all And that the worde formed is no instrument to worke by otherwise then in teaching And therefore your examples be euill fauouredly applied As for your Bernarde and your Emisenus I néede not much to estéeme sith as it maye séeme they be Doctors of your owne making and therfore I can not blame them though they speake as you would haue them speake But it should haue bene much more for your honesty being father of the act when they procéeded to haue instructed them so before hand that they might haue béene able to speake congrue latine I know not by what rule of Grammer this can be iustified to be congrue latine Fide estimandi non specie nec exterioris hominis censenda est visu c. Neyther doe I know by what figure it may be excused But though your Emisenus had written as good latine as euer did Cicero yet could I not much regarde his iudgemēt for that I finde that he was Signifer arianae factionis Chronico Hieronymi the standard bearer of the Arian faction Or if you haue any other Emisenus to shewe I suppose he will be founde when you shall shewe him such one as Byshop Iewell prooueth Mayster Hardyngs Amphilochius to be Your Bernardus also must be such another For that Bernardus that was Claraeuallensis Abbas was of another minde as it appéereth in his Sermon In caena
verie things themselues For he did not shape a sharpe aunswere to their cruelty neyther doth he by any meanes contende but he doth indeuor more then once to print in their mindes the quickning knowledge of this mysterie But after what maner he will giue his owne fleshe to be eaten he doth not declare bicause they could not vnderstande it But howe great good things they shall obtayne if they shall with faith eate it he doth oftentimes declare that by the desire of eternall lyfe they might be compelled to imbrace fayth by the meane wherof they might the more easily be taught For thus hath Esay sayde If ye will not beléeue ye shall not vnderstande It behoued therefore first to cast the rootes of fayth in the minde and afterwarde to séeke those things that man should séeke But those men did before they beléeued out of season seeke for those things For this cause therfore the Lorde did not declare how that thing might be done but he doth encourage them to séeke it by fayth In lyke maner vnto his Disciples which beléeued he gaue the péeces of bread saying take and eate this is my bodye The cup also he did in like maner beare about saying drinke ye all of this this is the Cup of my bloud which shall be shed for many for the remission of sinnes Thou séest that he opened not the maner of the mysterie to them that sought it without fayth but to such as beléeued he did expound it before they asked any question Nowe let the indifferent Reader iudge howe faythfully you haue handled the wordes of Cyrill and so he may haue the lesse cause to credite you in your large affirmation wherein you saye Watsons store is but small that all the good auncient Writers doe with one consent expound this place of Iohn as you doe Whereas when your store shall be sought there shall not one that lyued within .600 yeres after Christ be founde of your minde in thys point Wherfore we may well conclude that Christes fleshe is not in the sacrament in such sort as ye teach and that Christ ment not by those wordes that you cite out of Iohn to promise that he would giue his bodye in such sort to be eaten as ye haue affirmed that he did But that he ment to teache that he himselfe is that heauenly foode that the father giueth for the lyfe of the world The meaning of Christ in the 6. of Iohn and that he would giue them none other foode from heauen but onely that which at the time appointed he would yéelde vp for the lyfe of the worlde And that not to be eaten after a fleshly sort but after such a spirituall sort as the fathers that lyued afore he was incarnated had and did eate it Your exposition of saint Iohns wordes therefore is but a vayne and fayned glosse for that text WATSON Diuision 17 The time also is to be considered that he spake these wordes the night before hee suffered death at which time and the next day after he ended and fulfilled al figures saying on the crosse Consummatum est All figures and shadowes be ended and expired which was no time then to institute and begin new figures Is it lykely or probable that our sauiour Christ then entring into his Agony and beginning his passion accustoming commonly before to teach his Disciples in playne wordes without Parables or figuratiue speeches would then so lightly behaue himselfe as to delude his chosen and entirely beloued Disciples in calling those things his bodye that is giuen for them and his bloud that is shed for them which were neither his body nor his bloud but bare bread and wyne Or is there any religion in oure christen fayth in nicknaming thinges or calling them otherwise then they be If any man thinke himselfe able to aunswere that bycause Christ sayde he was a Vine he was a dore being neyther Vine nor dore that man seemeth to mee not substantially to way the wordes and speeches of scripture For let him consider thorowout all the scripture whersoeuer he shall finde that Christ spake any thing of himselfe by wordes of our common speeche for the God head and the properties of the Godhead be ineffable and cannot be expressed to our capacitie but by wordes and names of wordly and naturall things here among vs. He shall alwaies finde that Christ was a better and more singular thing then the worde did properly signifie that was attribute vnto him and to make this matter more playne by examples Where Christ sayde I am the waye he ment not that he was the way that leadeth to the Citie or to some other place but that he was a more excellent waye A way that leadeth to the father to heauen to euerlasting lyfe When he sayde he was the dore he ment not Iohn 10. that he was the dore of the sheepefold here in earth but a farre better dore the dore of the Church the spirituall sheepefold by the which dore whosoeuer entereth shall be saued Also calling himselfe a Vine Iohn 15. hee ment that he was the spirituall Vine whereof all christen men be braunches and better then such a Vine as groweth in the fieldes And lykewise by that he calleth himselfe the light we vnderstand that he was not the sensible light of this world but the heauenly light that neither by course is chaunged nor by shadowe is darkened So that it maye be obserued for a rule when Christ doth attribute the name of any sensible creature to himselfe euer the vnderstanding exceedeth and excelleth the worde in dignitie And if this be true in all kinde of teaching and doctrine shall we nowe in the highe mysteries and sacraments of God come from the Hall to the Kitchin from the better to the worst that where Christ sayth This is my bodye we shall vnderstande it is bread a worse thing then his body This is my bloud that is to say wine a worse thing then his bloud This be fond and false gloses neyther true nor lykely nor yet tolerable Wherfore leauing out a great many other circumstaunces that would serue verye well Math. 26. to set foorth the truth of this doctrine I shall conclude thus seing saint Mathewe sayth in plaine termes it is my body it is my bloud Saint Marke sayth it is my body Mar. 14. Luc. 22. 1. Cor. 11. Iohn 9. Saint Luke sayth it is my body Saint Paule sayth it is my bodye Saint Iohn sayth it is my fleshe shall we nowe fiftene hundreth yeare after them handle the matter so finely and waye the scripture so substantially that we shall affirme the contradictory to be the true sense saying this is not my body this is not my bloud but a figure and a signe of my bodye and bloud These euident scriptures moue me to continue still stedfast in that fayth I was borne in and not to be moued with vaine words and reasons without probabilitie
come did giue vs a great tokē of a sacrament or hid secret Yea rather God did giue it vs in him For in his sléepe he obtayned a wyfe and of his owne ribbe there was made a wyfe for him Bicause that of Christ sléeping vpon the crosse the Church should be made of his side that is to saye of his side whilst he was sléeping For the sacraments of the Church did flowe out of his side which was pearsed with a speare whilst he hanged on the crosse These wordes of saint Austen haue some shewe of that which you cite but they are not the same wordes neyther can haue the same sense that you would those wordes should haue As may well appéere by the wordes that saint Austen addeth immediatly after saying Sed quare hoc dicere volui fratres Quid infirmitas Christi nos facit fortes c. But wherefore would I speake this sayth saint Austen Bicause the weakenesse of Christ doth make vs strong A great ymage was it that did there proceede or go before For God might haue taken from the man fleshe whereof he might haue made the womā And it séemeth that it might haue as it were agréed better For the sex that was made was the weaker and the weakenesse should rather haue bene made of the fleshe then of the bone For in the fleshe the bones are the strong part He did not take from man fleshe to make a woman of but he did take a bone And when a bone was taken out a woman was made therof and flesh was filled vp in the place where the bone was God was able to haue restored a bone for the bone that he tooke out he was able to haue taken out flesh to haue made the woman and not a ribbe what did it therefore signifie The woman was made of a ribbe as being strong and Adam is become fleshe as being weake Christ and the Church His infirmitie is our strength Thus farre saint Austen As many as wyll may by these wordes vnderstande what Saint Austen ment by those wordes that go before wherevpon you would conclude that the sacrament which you terme the sacrament of the aultar is not Wine but bloud For in these wordes saint Austen sheweth his meaning to be farre otherwise He doth in diuers places of his wrytings vse this maner of speaking but in euerye of those places hée doth by playne wordes shewe himselfe to minde nothing lesse then to teache that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ The scope of saint Austens doctrine is not bread and wine but bloud onely His meaning was as it maye be iustly gathered of his wordes to teach that our sacramentes take their worthynesse of none other thing then the worthynesse of the death and bloudsheding of our Sauiour Christ and that the infirmitie of oure nature in Christ is become our strength in him It séemeth to me a straunge maner of reasoning that you vse when you saye that for as much as there came no wine out of Christs side therefore our sacrament is not wine but Christes bloud If you will giue me leaue to reason after that sort I will proue yet once againe that the Church hath but two sacraments For saint Austen sayth that the sacraments of the Church did flowe out of Christes side and you say two sacraments did flowe out of his side that is to saye water and bloud Therefore I conclude that the other fiue be no sacramentes for they flowed not out of Christes side Yea I will by this maner of reasoning proue that these two sacraments are not whole sacraments neyther For the word and fleshe flowed not out of Christes side but without the worde and fleshe these two sacraments be not whole sacraments Ergo they be but maymed sacraments Saint Austen sayth In Iohannem tract 80. Detrahe verbum quid aqua nisi aqua Accedit verbum ad clementum fit sacramentum Take away the worde from the water and what is the water other then water The word commeth to the element and so is it made a sacrament And in the other sacrament except you haue two creatures bread and wine or as you terme them flesh and bloud it can be no perfite sacrament Yea and the word of fayth is necessarie here also For as saint Austen sayth in the same place Hoc verbum fidei tantum valet in Ecclesia Dei◠vt ipsum credentem offerentem benedicentem tingentem etiam tantillum mundet infantem c. This worde of fayth is of such force in the Church of God that by it he doth make cleane the beléeuer the offerer the blesser yea and him that baptiseth the little infant although it be not yet able to beléeue with the hart vnto righteousnesse and confesse with the mouth to saluation Watson concludeth fondly A fond maner of conclusion is it that you gather therfore M. Watson of the flowing of water and bloud out of Christes side For you doe not onely denie your holy fathers fiue sacraments but also mayme the other two Yea you make the baptisme that was ministred before the death of Christ and the sacrament of Christs body and bloud that was ministred at his last supper to be of none effect And last of all you affirme that part of the sacrament to be the whole sacrament which you and your sort doe withholde from all Christians that be not massing priestes WATSON Diuision 20 Beside these circumstaunces and arguments deduced vppon the scripture there be also other of no lesse strength then these able to confirme anye true christen man in the faith of the reall presence of Christes body and bloud in the blessed sacrament And these be the effectes of the sacrament expressed in the scripture which be so great so glorious so excellent and heauenly that it were great blasphemie to ascribe the same to bread and wine which be onely the workes and effectes of almightie God and of such creatures onely as Gods son hath taken and vnited to himself in vnitie of person which be the body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ The first effect is that our Sacrament is the confirmation of the newe testament as saint Mathew and saint Marke also doe write Math. 26. Mar. 14. Hic est sanguis meus noni Testamenti this is my bloud of the newe Testament that is to say which confirmeth the new Testament as all holy wryters doe expound Lyke as the bloud of Calues did confirme the olde Testament Exod. 24. as the booke of Exodus doth declare so the bloud of Christ our priest and sacrifice doth confirme the newe Testament which Testament bicause it is eternall and shall neuer haue ende is confirmed by the eternall bloud of the Lambe of God that euer is receyued and neuer consumed and not by any corruptible bloud or any other creature of lesse value and efficacie In the olde lawe and also in saint Paule it is sayde
Exod. 24. Heb. 9. Hic est sanguis Testamenti quod vobiscum pepigit Deus This is the bloud of the Testament that God hath couenaunt with you he sayth not This is the bloud of the newe Testament But if these wordes This is my bloud of the newe Testament the Euangelist had ment that it had beene the figure of the bloud of the newe Testament what had he sayde more then Moyses sayde before for the bloud of Calues and Goates was the figure of this bloud of Christ And then were the Iewes and the olde lawe of more dignity then we Christen men of the newe lawe bicause beside we both be but vnder figures as these men saye yet their figure was of more estimation then oures is being as they saye but bare bread and wine wherfore seing these words of Christ this is my bloud be the forme of our sacramēt the effect wherof is the confirmation of the new Testament it foloweth well that the cause must be of like or more dignity and so by no meanes can be the materiall creature of wine but must needes be the innocent and precious bloud of our immaculate and vndefiled Lambe of God Iesus Christ When you haue after your maner CROWLEY passed thorow the circumstaunces of this text Hoc est corpus meum c. You come to the effects of the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ The first effect of our sacrament say you is to confirme the new Testament c. Much adoe you make about the confirming of the two Testaments by bloud The olde by the bloud of Calues and Goates and the newe by the bloud of Christ If you had bene so expert in the wrytings of the fathers as you would séeme to be you would neuer haue spent halfe this labour about the confirmation of the two Testaments by bloud Affirming that all holy wryters doe expounde these wordes of our sauiour Christ This is my bloud of the newe Testament to signifie this bloud doth confirme the newe Testament Me thinketh you might haue done very well to haue named some one of these holy wryters But for as much as you name none I will not trouble the reader with any other expositions of those wordes then that which may iustly be gathered of the verie scriptures S. Paule wryting to the Hebrues sayth of the confirming of the olde Testament or couenaunt that God made with Habraham Hebr. 6. that it was confirmed with an othe not with the bloud of Calues and Goats Abrahae namque promittens Deus c. For saith saint Paule when God made a promise to Habraham bicause he had none greater then himselfe by whome he might sweare he swore by himselfe saying I will blesse and multiplie thée excéedingly c. As for the maner of spéeche that is vsed by Moses and the Euangelists 1. Cor. 11. in the places that you doe cite is playnely expounded by saint Paule when he sayth Hic calix nouum testamentum est in meo sanguine This Cup is the newe Testament in my bloud And these wordes doth saint Paule wryte not as his owne but as the wordes of the Lorde Iesus spoken at his last supper when he deliuered the holy Cup to his Apostles The couenaunt of God is confirmed with an othe and not with bloud By this it is manifest that the couenaunt which God made with Habraham and all the faythfull that should beléeue that couenaunt or promise was confirmed with an othe and not with the bloud of Calues or Goates But the bloud of Christ wherein that couenant was made was prefigured by the bloud of Calues and Goats and is nowe kept in memorie by the vse of the Lordes Cup as saint Paule teacheth in the same place saying Hoc facite quociescunque biberitis in meam commemorationem Doe this as oft as ye shall drinke in the remembraunce of me The difference that is betwéene the olde Testament and the newe is playnely shewed by saint Austen in his booke against Adimantus His wordes are these Duorum testamentorum differentiam sic probamus Contr. Adimant cap. 17. vt in illo sint onera seruorum in isto gloria liberorum In illo cognoscatur prefiguratio possessionis nostrae in isto teneatur ipsa possessio On this wise doe we proue the difference of the two Testamentes for that the burdens of bondmen are in the one and the glorie of frée men in the other In the olde the prefiguration of our possession is knowne and in the newe the possession it selfe is enioyed We therefore that be christen men of the new Testament be not vnder figures as were the Iewes but we are in possession of the thing signified by the figures of the olde Testament And yet we may be bolde to saye that we haue the signes or figures of the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ to put vs in remembraunce of that possession and doe not doubt to call the same by the name of the things signified as saint Austen wryteth against the same Adimantus Non enim Dominus dubitauit dicere hoc est corpus meum cum signum daret corporis sui Capit. 12. The Lord doubted not to say this is my body when he delyuered the signe of his body We holde therefore that the confirmation of the olde Testament and of the newe both is the othe that God made vnto Abraham and his faythfull séede And that the thing promised was prefigured by the figures of the olde law And that the same is playnely represented and set forth before our senses by those figures that our Sauiour hath instituted not as a thing to come but as a thing alreadie had in possession and not to be forgotten of such as haue receyued it We therefore are not vnder figures as were the Iewes before the shedding of Christs bloud but we doe vse those figures that Christ himselfe hath instituted to such purpose as he did institute them for Neyther doe we say or thinke that they be but bare bread and wine but we teach that the worthy receyuer is by them assured euen as it were sensibly that he is made one with Christ and Christ with him that he dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him that he receiueth into his soule whole Christ We teach not that the sacrament is but bare bread and wine euen as he receyueth the sacramentall bread and wine into his body And to conclude that he hath by Christ euerlasting lyfe euen as our bodies haue this temporall lyfe by the meanes of bodyly foode whereof the chiefe is bread and wine the one seruing to strengthen mans hart and the other to make it chéerefull and merie I conclude therefore thus The othe which God swore to Abraham is the confirmation of the olde and newe Testament Ergo neyther was the olde confirmed by the bloud of Calues and Goates neyther the new by the sacrament of Christes bloud And so consequently it is
out of their sight neither had he stil such a body as might be much conuersant with them after a bodily maner that thereby their desire might encrease When these wordes be well weighed and considered togither they doe rather teache vs that the power of Christs fleshe is vnspeakable in vanishing out of the Disciples sight then in opening their eyes For he sayth not that the eyes of them that did receyue his fleshe were opened that they might knowe him but the eyes of them that did receyue that bread where ouer he gaue thankes which he calleth blessed bread were opened to knowe him Howe can you then prooue by this place that in the sacrament of Christes bodye and bloud there is neyther bread nor wine Your conclusion therefore is to large when you saye To large a conclusion that thereby men may sée that the opening of our eyes to sée God is one of the effectes of the sacrament that you talke of And that in no wise the same may be eyther bread or wine Christ sayth Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt Blessed are the cleane in hart for they shal sée God It is therfore the cleanesse of the hart that worketh the effect that you speake of And without that it can not be wrought And many thousandes there be that receyue the sacrament of Christes bodye without cleane hartes and therefore doe not by the receyuing of the sacrament sée or know God But let vs sée your other effects Another effect is WATSON Diuision 22 the immortalitie of our bodies and soules the resurrection of our fleshe to euerlasting lyfe to haue lyfe eternall dwelling in vs. This effect is declared in the sixt of saint Iohn He that eateth me shall liue for me Ioan. 6. he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe and I shall rayse him vp in the last day Vpon this place Cyrillus sayth Ego enim dixit id est corpus meum quod comedetur resuscitabo eum Cyrillus li. 4. Capit. 15. ego igitur inquit qui homo factus sum per meam carnem in nouissimo die comedentes resuscitabo Christ sayth I that is to say my body which shall be eaten shall raise him vp I that am made man by my fleshe shall raise vp them that eate it in the laste daye Cyrillus in Ioan lib. 10. Capit 13. And in hys tenth booke he sayth more playnely Non potest aliter corruptibilis haec natura corporis ad incorruptibilitatem vitam traduci nisi naturalis vitae corpus ei coniungeretur This corruptible nature of our bodies can not otherwise be brought to immortalitie and life except the body of naturall lyfe be ioyned to it By these Authorities we learne that the effect of Christs body in the sacrament is the raysing vp of oure bodyes to eternall lyfe And also we learne that the eating of Christs body is not onely spiritually by fayth as the sacramentaries saye but also corporally by the seruice of our bodyes when Christes body in the sacrament is eaten and receyued of our bodyes as our spirituall foode and bicause it is of infinite power it is not conuerted into the substaunce of oure fleshe as other corruptible meates bee but it doth chaunge and conuert our fleshe into his propertie making it of mortall and dead immortall and liuely As the same Cyrillus writeth in his fourth booke Recordare quamuis naturaliter aqua frigidior sit Cyrill lib. 4. Capit. 14. aduentu tamen ignis frigiditatis suae oblita aestuat Hoc sanè modo etiam nos quamuis propter naturam carnis corruptibiles sumus participatione tamen vitae ab imbecillitate nostra reuocati ad proprietatem illius ad vitam reformamur Oportuit enim certè vt non solum anima per spiritū sanctum in beatam vitam ascenderet verum etiam vt rude atque terrestre hoc corpus cognato sibi gustu tactu cibo ad immortalitatem reduceretur The Englishe is this Remember howe water although it be colde by nature yet by reason of fyre put to it it forgetteth the colde and waxeth whot euen so doe wee although we be corruptible by reason of the nature of our fleshe yet by participation of Christs flesh which is lyfe we are brought from our weaknesse and reformed to his proprietie that is to say to lyfe for it is necessary that not onely our soule should ascend to an happy and spirituall lyfe by receyuing the holy ghost but also that this rude and earthly body should be reduced to immortalitie by tasting touching and corporall meat lyke to it selfe This place is verie playne declaring vnto vs that lyke as our selues are reuiued from the death of sinne to the lyfe of grace and glory by the receiuing of Gods spirite the holy Ghost in baptisme euen so our bodyes being corruptible by nature and dead by reason of the generall sentence of death are restored againe to lyfe eternall and celestiall by the receyuing of Christes lyuely fleshe into them after the maner of meat in this sacrament of the aultar And in his eleuenth booke he sayth Cyrill li. 11. Capit. 27. that it is not possible for the corruptible nature of man to ascende to immortality except the immortall nature of Christ doe reforme and promote it from mortalitie to lyfe eternall by participation of his mortall fleshe In the proouing of this effect of your sacrament CROWLEY you deale as faythfully as you haue done in the rest First how faythfully doe you deale in cyting the words of our sauiour Christ Watson will not leaue his olde wont in the sixt of Iohn as ment of the sacramentall eating of his fleshe whereas the circumstaunce of the text will not suffer any such sense For if he should meane there of the sacramentall eating of his fleshe and drinking of his bloud then could none be saued but such only as doe so eate and drinke the same And contrariewise none that doe so eate and drinke them could perishe For he sayth he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe It is manifest therefore that these wordes of Christ be spoken of the spirituall eating and drinking of his flesh and bloud and not of a sacramental eating or drinking For the sacrament was not then instituted neyther did our Sauiour Christ go about to institute a sacrament of his body and bloud at that time But in cyting the wordes of Cyrill in the fiftene chapter of his fourth booke your faithfull dealing is most manifest If you had cyted Cyrillus his wordes wholy as they stande in his booke they would haue made to much against you And therfore when you had sayde Ego enim dixit id est corpus meum quod comedetur resuscitabo eum Christ sayde I that is to saye my body that shall be eaten will raise him vp then you passe ouer the wordes that folowe which are
pledge is giuen For in that sense is Symbolum taken here And vnlesse you can proue that these be efficient causes you shal neuer prooue that our immortalitie and resurrection be the effects thereof The lyke may be sayde to the Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem aeternae vitae A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodies to the immortalitie of eternall life But bicause it is your custome to cite matter in such sort that the true meaning of the Author can not be perceyued by the wordes that you cite I will let the reader sée all the wordes that Athanasius doth in that place write of that matter Sed proptered ascensionis suae in caelum mentionem secit Athanasius De p ccato in spiritum sanctum vt eos a corporali intellectu abstraheret ac deinde carnem suam de qua locutus erat cibum è supernis caelestem spiritualem alimoniam ab ipso donandam intelligerent Quae enim locutus sum vibis inquit spiritus est vita Quod perinde est acsi deceret Corpus meum quod ostenditur dâ—tur pro mundo in cibum dabiâ—ur vt sparitualiter vnicuique tâ—â—buatur fiat singulis tutamen praeseruatioque ad Resurrectionem vitae aeternae Ita quâ—que Samaritanam abstrahens Dominus a rebus sensibilibus Deum esse spiritum pronuntiauit vt deinceps illa non corporalia sed spiritualia de Deo cogitaret But for this cause did he make mention of his ascention into heauen that he might drawe them away from the bodily vnderstanding and that they might afterwarde vnderstand his fleshe whereof he had spoken to be foode from aboue heauenly and spirituall nourishment and such as he must giue For sayth he that which I haue spoken vnto you is spirite and lyfe Which is as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be meat that it may be spiritually giuen to euerye man and that it maye be to eche man a defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall lyfe In like maner also drawing the Samaritish womaÌ„ from sensible things the Lorde affirmed that God is a spirite that from thence forth she should not think of God as of corporall things but as of things spirituall Now let the indifferent reader iudge how faithfully you haue vsed your selfe in alledging the saying of this auncient Father His grounde is the wordes of Christ in the sixt of Iohn Where speaking of the eating of his body he sayth It is the spirite that doth giue lyfe the fleshe profiteth nothing at all The words that I haue spoken vnto you are spirite and lyfe Which is sayth Athanasius as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be foode that it may spiritually be giuen to euery man and that vnto eche man it may be made a defence and preseruation to the resurrection of eternall lyfe And to make his meaning playne Athanasius sayth that Christ made mention of his ascention into heauen that he might draw his hearers from the bodily vnderstanding And further he sayth that our sauiour talking with the Samaritish woman did draw hir from sensible things affirming that God is a spirit that so she might imagine no corporal thing to be in God but al spiritual I can not therefore but thinke that such as will ioyne with you in alledging this place to proue immortalitie and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud are by obstinate wylfulnesse blinded as you doe shewe your selfe to be For it is as manifest as the cleare sunne light that his meaning was to disproue the grosse opinion of all such as imagine The meaning of Athanasius that Christ should giue his fleshe to fill the bellies of men And to teach that such as will benefite by eating of his body must eate the same spiritually and not carnally And that when it is spiritually eaten it is Tutamen praeseruatioque ad resurrectionem vitae aeternae A defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall life But this is not to teach that it is the efficient cause of our immortalitie and resurrection as you labor by this other places to proue But nowe let vs sée what you haue founde in Ireneus that was a great deale older then Athanasius He hath sayde Quomodo dicunt carnem c. By what reason doe they saye that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lorde This place of Ireneus is sufficiently opened before in the aunswere to that which you haue sayde of the first circumstaunce of the sacrament which is who it was that spake these words This is my body c and is playnely proued not to make any thing for your purpose eyther there or here Yet we haue not sayde any thing to that other place which you cite out of the fift booke of this Ireneus where he sayth Ireneus li. 5. Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse c. How doe they denie c. I might put you in remembraunce of that which Erasmus wryteth concerning his iudgement of the authoritie of this booke for I am sure you can tell that he hath written thus Censura Eras Roterodami In hoc quinto libro quum multa scripturarum loca diligenter explicentur quaedam tamen insunt quae nisi quis comode interpretetur non satis congruere videntur cum bis dogmatibus quae hoc tempore praescribit Ecclesia Where as in this fift Booke there be many places of Scripture diligently expounded yet are there certaine things in it which vnlesse a man doe well interpret doe not séeme to agrée verie well with those doctrines that at this time the Church doth prescribe Auncient writers must be read with fauour c. And afterwarde he sayth Sed in huiusmodi multis veteres illi cum candore nonnunquam cum venia legendi sunt c. But in many such things those auncient wryters must be read with fauour and sometime with pardon also But be it that Erasmus had not giuen vs this warning is there not warning ynough giuen vs in the wordes of the place it selfe to looke well to the wryters meaning You doe according to your custome cite those wordes onely which may at the first sight make some shewe of that you would proue by them But according to my custome I will let the reader sée the whole circumstaunce that he may be able to iudge which of vs both goeth most nigh to the meaning of the writer His wordes be these Vani autem omnimòdo qui vniuersam dispositionem Dei contemnunt carnis salutem negant regenerationem eius spernunt dicentes non cam capacem esse incorruptibilitatis Sic autem secundum haec videlicet nec Dominus sanguine suo redemit
bloud and body of Christ that he speake of is that whereby the substaunce of our flesh is encreased doth continue But you doe denie that For you say that it nourisheth not our flesh as other earthly meates doe to this temporal lyfe but to eternall lyfe I would gladly knowe therfore what Ireneus may meane by the encreasing of the substaunce of our fleshe by this foode Well this matter is playne ynough to as many as will sée And so it is that neyther Catholikes nor heretikes did in the dayes of Ireneus beléeue and confesse that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is the cause of the vncorruption of our bodyes and the eternall lyfe of the same And that we which doe nowe denie our resurrection and euerlasting lyfe in an immortall state to be the effect of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud doe not giue thereby any iust occasion to be suspected of the error of them that doe denie the resurrection of our fleshe And for that you charge vs with beastlynesse of lyfe for my part I referre the iudgement to them that know vs both Let other aunswere for themselues Well For further proufe of this effect you could bring in many mo Authors as the saying of Hilarius c. Hilarius hath sayde thus say you Haec vero vitae nostrae causa est c. This is the verie cause of our lyfe that we haue Christ by his flesh dwelling in our fleshe First I must tell you that you shew your selfe to impudent in translating the text that you cite out of Hilarius in this place Hilarius de Trinitate li. 8. Let the learned iudge whether Hilarius haue sayde this is the verie cause c. And againe in the ende of the sentence dwelling in our fleshe The wordes in Latine for the first are these Haec vero vitae nostrae causa est And for the other the words be these Quod in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christū habemus If I should translate the whole sentence I could not be bolde to say otherwise then thus Truely this is the cause of our life that we which be carnall or fleshly haue Christ dwelling in vs by the meanes of the fleshe But this is a common thing with men of your sort not onely to alledge Patches out of the fathers in such sort that the true meaning cannot by the wordes that you cite be perceyued but also to make them séeme to serue your purpose you will not stick to adde somewhat in the translation that can not be founde in their wordes as in this place it doth most mafestly appéere Censura Erasmi And how easie a thing it is for such as be disposed to apply the wordes of auncient wryters contrarie to their meaning to vse the wordes of this wryter so may well be séene by that which Erasmus hath writtē in his Epistle set before this Authors works where he sayth Plurimum sudoris compereram in emendando Hieronymo sed plus in Hilario cuius talis est sermonis Charecter vt etiam si res per se dilucidas tractaret tamen esset intellectu difficilis deprauatu facilis I did finde sayth Erasmus much labour in the correcting of Hierome but more in the amending of Hilarie Whose maner of spéeche is such that although he did entreat of thinges which were of themselues euident and playne yet should he bée hard to be vnderstanded and easie to be depraued No maruell therefore though you in this place fayling of the first which is harde haue happened on the latter which is easie Affirming that Hilarius is one of those auncient fathers that doe teach that the resurrection of our bodies and euerlasting lyfe is the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud Yea and in the selfe same Booke out of which you cite those wordes the same Erasmus doth iudge him to teache doctrine that is not sounde And therefore in the aforenamed Epistle he sayth thus of him Et quum alias tum libro de Trinitate 8. magna contentione defendit nos quoque cum filio patre vnum esse natura non adoptione neque consensu tantum And both in other places and chiefely in his eyght booke De Trinitate he doth with great contention defend that we also are all one with the sonne and the father by nature not by adoption and consent onely And immediatly after he sayth thus Rursus eius operis lib. 3. sed magis lib. 10. sic loquitur de Corpore Christi vt sentire videatur Mariam virginem praeter concipiendi gestandi pariendi ministerium nihil addidisse de suo cum orthodoxi credant Christum ex opificio quidem spiritus sed ex substantia virginei corporis conceptum Quin alia loca sunt quae ciuilem commodum requirant interpretem Againe in the thirde booke of the same worke but rather in the tenth booke he doth so speake of the bodie of Christ that he may séeme to thinke that besides the ministerie of conceyuing bearing in hir wombe and bringing forth into this life the virgine Marie did adde nothing of hir owne Whereas such as be of right beliefe doe beléeue that Christ was conceyued by the work of the holy ghost but of the substance of the virgins bodie Other places also there be which do require a curteous and gentle interpretour I suppose you knew all this before Watson hath a wrong opinion of vs. but by lyke you thought that all such as be not of your minde must néedes be ignorant herein Else you would haue weighed Hillaries wordes better before you had cited them for your purpose But let vs sée nowe how we can weigh them and what doctrine will ensue vpon the taking of them in such sense as you doe And if we finde that some absurde doctrine will follow vpon such a meaning as you gather of his words why shoulde we not call to memorie the wordes of Erasmus in the Epistle aboue named where he sayth thus Nemo quantumuis eruditus oculatus non labitur non caecutit alicubi videlicet vt omnes meminerint homines esse à nobis cum delectu cum iudicio simulque cum venia legantur vt homines There is no man be he neuer so well learned and circumspect that doth not slip and in some point shew himself to lacke sight that no man should forget them to be men and that we shoulde reade them with choyse wyth iudgement yea and with fauour also as men But bicause you haue as you are wont left out those words of Hilarie both immediatly before and after which might gyue more light to hys meaning I haue thought good to cyte the words that you doe with somewhat of the circumstance Thus he sayth Quod autem in nobis naturalis haec vnitas sit ipse ita testatus est qui edit carnem meam c. And that this naturall vnitie
members of one body is the effect of their sacrament of the aultar Let them take the spéeche to be in what kinde they wyll eyther playne figuratiue or hyperbolicall But you haue not yet done with Cyrill in this matter He must nowe expresse by a similitude of two waxes melted mingled togither Cyrill li. 10. Capit. 13. li. 4. capit 17. this coniunction of vs with Christ A man might aske you what this maketh to the purpose You must proue that our knitting togither into members of one body is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But let vs weigh his wordes He sayth thus Quemadmodum si quis c. Lyke as if a man mingle c. You haue cyted the wordes of Cyrill verie truely but you haue not coated the place aright For in the .17 Chapter of the tenth Booke are no such wordes to be founde neyther is there any such matter handled there But in the .13 Chapter of the same Booke the wordes that you cite are founde And in the .17 of the fourth are founde wordes to the same effect Watsons olde tricke will not be left But in the translating of these wordes Communicationis corporis sanguinis Christi You vse one little péece of your common trick For you say thus By the communion and receyuing of the body and bloud of Christ where as the true Englishe of the wordes is thus By the communicating of the body bloud of Christ which communicating is in the faithful beléeuers of the promise of God made in Christ though the same doe neuer receiue the sacrament of the body bloud of christ If you would haue looked in the last Chapter of the ninth booke Cyrill li. 9. Capit. 45. you should haue séene what Cyrill meaneth by this worde Communicatio His wordes be these Non erat possibile aliter corruptibilem secundum naturam hominem mortem effugere nisi primum adeptus gratiam rursus particeps Dei fieret qui omnia per filium in spiritu viuificat Carne ergo sanguini communicauit id est qui secundum naturam vita est vnigenitus Dei Patris filius homo factus est mediator Dei atque hominum vt scribitur Natura Deo coniunctus ex quo est hominibus rursus vt homo c. It was not possible that man which by nature is corruptible should otherwise escape death except obtayning the first grace he might agayne be made partaker of God that doth in the spirite quicken all things by his sonne He hath therefore communicated himselfe to fleshe and bloud that is to say the onely begotten sonne of God the father which is by nature lyfe is become man the mediator of God and men as it is written being by nature ioyned to God of whome he hath his being and agayne vnto man as he is man Thus it is manifest howe euill fauouredly The accorde of Cyrill and Watson the meaning of the auncient wryters doth agrée with your purpose in cyting them in your Sermons Cyrill speaketh of the communion or felowship that man hath with Christ by his incarnation you cite him to proue the ioyning of al christians into the felowship of one body by receyuing the sacrament of the aultar as you call it Nowe let vs sée what Hilarius hath sayde in this matter Hilarius in Psalm 6. His words you say are these Per communionem sancti corporis c. By the communion of his holy body You note in the margent of your printed booke that this sentence of Hilarie is written in his Commentarie vpon the sixt Psalme When you can shewe vs that Commentarie you shall haue the wordes that you cite aunswered Saint Hierome saith that Hilarie wrote onely vpon the first and second Psalmes the. .51 and so forth to the .62 and from the .118 to the last And in his printed workes we finde but eyght mo whereof the sixt is none Wherefore I must thinke that the great learned and godly Byshop that you speake of is your selfe or some other such as you are But if it may be found in some other part of Hilarius works what shal it make for your purpose sith these wordes may haue a good sense if we vnderstand by the first Communion that which we haue by the incarnation of our Sauiour Christ and by the later that which we haue one with another For by the communion that we haue with Christ we be placed in that communion that we haue one with another And so doe these wordes make nothing to proue that our cowpling into one body in Christ is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But nowe that your store is well spent you vse your figure of Rhetoricke to blere the readers eye withall In such playne matter as this what néede I heape places one aboue another All the fathers are full of it How full the fathers that you speake of be of this so playne matter doth I trust sufficiently appéere in that which I haue alreadie written in the aunswere to that which you haue as yet alledged in the proufe of this matter Wherefore seing you haue not as yet proued neyther shall hereafter be able to proue eyther by the wordes of the scripture or of the auncient fathers that our knitting togither into one body in Christ is the effect of your sacrament of the aultar it is no wickednesse nor blasphemie at all to ascribe that effect to the efficient cause thereof which is God the father through his sonne Iesus Christ and the holy ghost But nowe let vs sée what other effectes you haue WATSON Diuision 26. Beside these effectes gathered out of the new Testament there be also other mentioned in the Psalmes Whereof one is that this sacrament is an armour and defence against the temptations of our ghostly enimie the Deuill as it is written in the .22 Psal 22. Chrysost in Psal 22. Euthymi in Psal 22. Psalme Parasti in conspectu meo mensam aduersus eos qui tribulant me Thou hast prepared in my sight a Table against them that trouble me By this Table sayth Chrysostome vpon this place is vnderstanded that thing that is consecrated vpon the aultar of our Lorde and Euthymius a Greeke Author sayth so also Par hanc mensam intelligit altaris mensam in qua caena mystica illa iacet by this table he vnderstandeth the table of the aultar vpon which lyeth the misticall supper of Christ which doth arme and defend vs against the Deuill which sometimes craftily layeth in wayte for vs sometimes fiercely and cruelly assaulteth vs that be fed at Christes table Saint Cyprian teacheth vs the same lesson saying Quos excitamus exhortamur ad praelium non inermes nudos relinquamus sed protectione sanguinis corporis Christi muniamus Cyprianus li. 1 Epist 2. Those persons whom we prouoke and exhort to fight against their enimies be it eyther the Deuils our ghostly
perteyneth to his owne nature Of this wryteth S. Cyprian Sed quia ebrietas dominici calicis sanguinis non est talis qualis est ebrietas vini secularis Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. cùm diceret spiritus sanctus in Psalmo Calix tuus inebrians addidit perquám optimus quòd scilicet calix dominicus sic bibentes inebriat vt sobrios faciat vt mentes ad spiritalem sapientiam redigat vt à sapore isto seculari ad imtellectum Dei vnusquisque resipiscat But bicause the dronkennesse of our Lords cup and bloud is not such as the dronkennesse of worldly wine when the holy ghost in the Psalme sayde Thy cup that maketh men dronke he added is very godly and excellent bicause the cup of our Lorde doth so make the drinkers dronke that it maketh them sober that it bringeth their mindes to spirituall wisedome that euerye man may bring himselfe from this drowsinesse of the world to the vnderstanding and knowledge of God To this intent saint Ambrose wryteth in dyuers places Ambros in Psalm 1. as vpon the first Psalme At vero Dominus Iesus aquam de petra effudit omnes biberunt and so forth The place is long and for auoyding of tediousnesse I shall faythfully rehearse it in Englishe But our Lorde Iesus brought water out of the stone and all dranke of it They that dranke in figure were satiate they that dronke in truth were made dronke the dronkennesse is good which bringeth in mirth and not cōfusion that dronkennesse is good that stayeth in sobernesse the motions of the minde And he speaketh more playner in these words Ambros in Psal 118. sermone 15. Eate the meat of the Apostles preaching before that thou mayst afterward come to the meate of Christ to the meate of oure Lordes body to the deynties of the sacrament to that cup wherewithall the affection of the faythfull is made dronke that it might conceyue gladnesse for remission of sinne and put away the thoughts of this worlde the feare of death and all troublesome carefulnesse for by this dronkennesse that body doth not stumble and fall but riseth to grace and glorie the soule is not confounded but is consecrate and made holy Yet one effect more and then an ende of this matter CROWLEY The dronkennesse that the Prophet Dauid speaketh of in the .22 Psalme c. Here you séeme to haue forgotten your selfe Watson forgetteth what he hath in hande Your whole labour hitherto hath bene to prooue that the sacrament of the aultar worketh many excellent effects and so you haue made it the efficient cause of those effects But now as one that remembreth not what you haue in hande you say that it is the instrument of grace If you will abide by that then I will not striue with you for I am of the same minde that you are in that point if you haue written as you thinck when you say that it is the instrument of grace For euen as the worde of God is an instrument of grace so are the sacraments also But God whose word and sacramentes they be is the efficient cause that worketh by them as by instruments But it séemeth by that which you cite out of Cyprian and Ambrose to proue this effect that ye speake of that it was but a slip of memorie when you called it an instrument I will therfore suppose that you be the same man that you were before till I sée better lykelyhood of your sounde iudgement in this matter Cyprian hath sayde say you Sed quia ebrietas c. Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. According to your custome you leaue out those wordes that might make the writers meaning playne Cyprian had sayd before that for as much as neyther the Apostle Paule nor an Angell from heauen might declare or teache any otherwise then Christ himselfe had once taught and his Apostles had declared he maruelled that contrarie to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine there was in some places water offered in the Lordes cup which coulde not of it selfe alone expresse the bloud of the Lorde The sacrament wherof the holy ghost doth not passe ouer in the Psalmes making mention of the Lordes cup and saying Thy cup which doth make dronke is excéeding good And the cup that maketh men dronke is surely mixed with wine for water can not make any man dronken And the Lordes cup doth make a man dronke euen as Noe was made droken when he dranke wine as it is written in Genesis And then doe those wordes that you haue cyted solow All indifferent readers maye perceyue by these wordes of Cyprian what his meaning was Not to teach that the spiritual dronkennesse is the effect of the sacrament but that the sacrament might not be ministred with water alone without wine For vnlesse it haue in it a naturall strength to make the drinkers dronken it can not expresse that is to say it can not lyuely represent the bloud of Christ which being dronken of such as bée members of his body in spirite by fayth and sacramentally in the sacrament according to his institution doth make them dronken with that dronkennesse that saint Cyprian speaketh of here And to make his meaning more playne he addeth to the ende of those words that you haue cyted these playne and manifest wordes Et quemadmodum vino isto communi mens soluitur anima relaxatur tristitia omnis exponitur ita potato sanguine Domini poculo salutari exponatur memoria veteris hominis fiat obliuio conuersationis pristinae secularis moestum pectus triste quod prius peccatis angentibus praemebatur diuinae indulgentiae laetitia resoluatur Quod tunc demum potest laetificare in Ecclesia Domini bibentem si quod bibitur dominicam teneat veritatem And as by the drinking of this common wine a mans minde is loosed and his soule set at lardge from all cares and all sorowfulnesse is sent out from the same euen so when the Lords bloud and the cup of saluation is dronken the remembraunce of the olde man may be expelled and the olde worldly conuersation forgotten and the sorowful and pensiue hart which was before oppressed with sorowe for sinne may be resolued by the ioyfull gladnesse of forgiuenesse at Gods hande Which cup may chéere him that drinketh it in the Church of the Lord when the thing that is dronken doth hold the truth of the Lorde By these wordes of Cyprian it is manifest that he meaneth of such a dronkennesse as saint Austen doth August in Psalm 22. wryting vpon the same verse of the .22 Psalme Where he sayth thus Et poculum tuum obliuionem praestans priorum vanarum delectationum quam praeclarum est And thy cup which doth make men forget their former vayne pleasures is very notable and excellent And this is according to that which saint Paule wryteth to the Ephesians saying Be ye not dronken with wine wherein is
canes lenones silicet tenebrarum libidinum impiarum inuerecundiam procurent We are reported to be the worst men of all for the sacrament of murdering of children and the foode of Iudas and for incest after the feast bicause Dogs that is to say Bawds that ouerthrow the lightes doe procure vnshamefastnesse of darkenesse and wicked pleasures This word sacrament you say is a vayne worde and standeth there for no purpose but to declare vnto vs that their occasion did rise for lack of the true and precise knowledge of oure sacrament If I might be so bolde I would tell you that your iudgement of Tertullians wryting is verie vaine and foolishe in that you iudge him to haue cast in this worde sacrament as seruing to none other purpose but as you imagine For what is more probable then that the heathen did report of them that they had a mysterie or sacrament which did consist in the murdering of yong children And doth not Rhenanus in the argument of this booke say that it was obiected to the christians that in their diuine seruice they did kill a yong Infant and imbrue with his bloud the bread that they would eate But this was false sayth he But you saye it was true concerning the substaunce of the matter Well Watson against Rhenanus I will leaue you to deale with Tertullian and Rhenanus as you can in this matter But I maruaile much what you meane in that you chaunge Iudae into Inde You doe English it eating their flesh and drinking their blood I think you haue not found it so in Tertulians works in any impression that is now to be séene I must néeds say then that you depraue misconster enforce the wrytings of the auncient fathers to serue your purpose I can not sée but you might as well haue suffered it to stand as it was Pabulo Iudae as to make it Pabulo inde sauing that then you might not haue translated it as you doe But you must néedes haue sayde the foode of Iudas And why might not the enimies obiect to the Christians these thrée crimes The kylling of Infants The féeding of Iudas And committing of incest Why might they not imagine that the Christians should at their méetings haue one to counterfeyt Christ and another Iudas the one dypping a sop and the other receyuing the same at his hande Or why might they not call the eating of that bloudy bread by the name of Iudas feast You say that the Christians kept their mysteries so secret that the enimies could haue no knowledge of the maner of their doings But in the same Chapter Tertullian sayth thus Ipsi etiam domesticis nostris quotidie obsiâ—emur quotidie prodimur in ipsis plurimum caetibus coÌ„gregationibus nostris opprimimur c. We our selues also sayth Tertullian are euery day beset with our owne families we are daylie betrayed and verie often are we oppressed euen in our verie assembles and congregations And who did at any time come sodainely vpon vs and finde a childe crying in such sort Who did euer finde our mouthes bloudie lyke Cyclopians and Cirenians and did open the same to the iudge By this it is manifest that the Christians did not in those dayes kéepe their mysteries so secret as you would haue men thinke they did Watsons conclusion foloweth not Neither doth that folow that you would conclude that is that bicause the enimies to christian religion did imagine that they did murder Infants and embrue the bread that they should eate in their communion with the bloud of those children therefore it was true that they did eate the fleshe and drinke the bloud of Christ in the sacrament in such reall and carnall sort as you teache And yet afterward our mysteries as they came in more knowledge amongs the Gentiles WATSON Diuision 30 so they came into more contempt for when the multitude of Christian men were so increased that they cared not who did looke vpon them in the time of their mysteries being out of feare of any externall violence persecution then the Gentils seing them knock and kneele and make adoration to the sacraments not knowing them to be any thing else but as their eyes senses and reason did iudge that is to say bread and wine as our sacramentaries doe nowe being blinded nowe with heresie as they before were with infidelitie then I say they sayde that we did not worship and adore one God as we pretended but many Gods as they were accustomed for they sayde as saint Augustine wryteth that we did worship Ceres and Bacchus the Gods of Corne and Wine August con sanst libr. 20 Capit. 13. taking our sacraments to be nothing else but bare bread and wine as the Sacramentaries doe and not to be Christ our Lorde and God his fleshe and his bloud as all true faythfull men doe which appeareth by the adoration of them the which adorarion we learne that it was done to the sacraments from the beginning as is proued by the testimonies of our enimies the Gentils as saint Augustine reporteth And also by their adoration we learne that the things which they did adore were not simple creatures but Christes body and his bloud vnited to the second person in Trinitie Saint Basill being asked with what feare perswasion Basilius in reg in terrog 172. fayth and affection we should come and communicate the body and bloud of Christ aunswereth thus Concerning the feare we haue the saying of the Apostle He that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth drinketh his iudgment and damnation What fayth we should haue the words of our Lord doe teach who sayde This is my body which is giuen for you doe this in my remembraunce Hesichius li. 6. ca. 22. And Hesichius sayth likewise Sermo qui prolatus est in dominicum mysterium ipse liberat nos ab ignorantia The wordes of Christ which were spoken vpon our Lordes mysterie they deliuer vs from ignoraunce that is to saye they teache vs what fayth what estimation wee should haue of them Nowe except they be taken as they sound to euery man although he be vnlearned and not instructed in our fayth before they could not teach vs what fayth we should haue concerning the sacraments therefore in that they be wordes wherevpon we must learne our fayth which delyuer vs from ignoraunce what the things be that be deliuered for that cause they must be taken as they sounde that is to say that the sacraments deliuered be the very body and bloud of Christ that gaue them 〈◊〉 â—om 17. in Math. Chrysostome sayth Quod sacerdos de manu sua dat non solum sanctificatum est sed etiam sanctificatio est That thing that the Priest doth giue out of his hande is not onely a thing sanctified but it is sanctification it selfe Therefore our sacrament must not onely be an holy thing as they sayde holy bread holy wine but it must bee the
doth aunswere that both the Iewes and the Christians are farre ynough from seruing eyther Saturne Ceres or Bacchus notwithstanding that the one of them obserued the seauenth day and the other vsed bread and wine in their communion And a little afore in the same Chapter also he vttereth his minde verie plainly against the grosse opinion of the Manichies which helde that they did in all maner of meates wherwith they sustayned their bodies eate Iesus Christ euen as you holde that you eate him in the sacrament receyuing him into your bodies by the ministerie of your mouthes Of this grosse eating of Christ doth Austen write thus in that place Vobis autem per fabulam vestram in escis omnibus Christus ligatus apponitur adhuc ligandus vestris visceribus soluendusque ructatibus Nam cum manducatis Dei vestri defectione vos reficitis Et cum digeritis illius refâ—ctione deficitis Cum enim vos plenos reddit resumptio vestra ipsum premit c. But if your fable be true you haue Christ fast bound set before you in euery meat that you eate and must be bound agayne in your bowels and vnbounde by your belkings For when you doe eate you doe refresh your selues by the consuming of your God and when you loose the belly you doe by his refreshing faint or decay For when he doth fill you ful your receyuing of him againe doth oppresse him Which thing might be accompted for a déede of mercy seing that he doth in you suffer something for you except he did agayne leaue you emptie that being deliuered from you he might escape You thought belyke that no man would take the paines to waigh this place of Austen and therefore you were bolde to cite his wordes to proue that which none that is learned will denie That is Watson doth misse of his purpose that the Gentils did suppose and say that the christians did worship Ceres and Bacchus bicause they vsed bread wine in their sacrament But your purpose was so to cite his wordes that he might séeme to allowe that which you had sayde before concerning the knocking and knéeling and making of adoration to the sacrament as to Christ himselfe which these verie wordes that I haue reported out of the same Chapter doe flatly denie And where you say that adoration hath bene done to the sacraments euen from the beginning you shall neuer be able to proue it for the testimonie of the heathen that you stick vnto is disproued Neyther shall you be able to proue that we whome you call sacramentaries doe iudge the sacrament to be nothing else but bare bread and wine But we confesse that Christ is receyued of the worthy receyuer although not carnally as you teach Yea we say with Austen in that same place that you doe cite Noster autem Panis Calix non quilibet quasi propter Christum in spicis sarmentis ligatum sicut illi desipiunt sed certa consecratione mysticus fit nobis non nascitur c. Our bread and cup be not of the common sort as in stéede of Christ bound togither in eares of corne and twigs as they that is the Manichies doe foolishly imagine but by vndoubted consecration it is made vnto vs mysticall or sacramentall bread it doth not growe such wherefore that foode that is not so made although it be bread and wine it is a nourishment of refection but not a sacrament of religion otherwise then that we blesse and giue thankes to God in all his giftes not onely spirituall but corporall also Thus may all men sée that no man can alledge better matter for vs then that which Austen hath written euen in the place that you haue produced against vs. Such is your lucke in framing of Arguments to proue conuince the truth of your faith But what hath Basill sayde to this matter In the .172 Basil magnus in Reg. Interrogat 70. question you saye by your note in the margine but you should haue sayde .70 Saint Basill being asked c. But bicause you haue not dealt so faythfully in reporting writers mindes as ye might I will write his wordes in Latine Quali timore vel fide vel affectu percipere debemus corporis sanguinis Christi gratiam Pater Basilius Timorem quidem docet nos Apostolus dicens Qui manducat bibit indignè iudicium sibi manducat bibit non diiudicans corpus Domini Fidem verò edocet nos sermo Domini dicentis Hoc est corpus meum quod pro multis datur hoc facite in meam commemorationem Et iterum sermo Iohannis dicentis quòd verbum caro factum est habitauit in nobis The Monke moueth this question to S. Basill Father sayth he with what feare faith affection ought we to receiue the grace or frée gift of the body and bloud of Christ Basill aunswereth The Apostle doth teach vs with what feare we should receiue it when he saith Who so doth eate and drinke vnworthily doth eate and drinke his owne condemnatioÌ„ bicause he maketh no difference of the Lords body And the words of the Lord when he sayth This is my body which is giueÌ„ for many do this in remembrance of me do perfitly teach vs faith And again the words of Iohn when he saith The son of God is become flesh hath dwelt amongst vs. c. First I must tell you that you haue enforced Basill to speake otherwise in Englishe thorowe your lippes then eyther he wrote in Greeke or his translatour in Latine For he speaketh not of communicating the body bloud of Christ but of receiuing the grace frée gift of the body bloud of Christ Neither doth he say which is giuen for you but for many I note this to giue men occasion to consider what silly shifts you séeke to haue a little aduantage The fathers vsed sometimes to cal the sacraments Gratias graces or frée giftes of mercy In this place therfore S. Basill doth vse Gratiam for Sacramentum So that the question is in none other meaning theÌ„ thus With what feare c. must we receiue the sacrament of the body bloud of Christ but this maketh nothing for your purpose therfore you enforce him to say with what feare c. should we come to communicate the body and bloud of Christ As though Basill had affirmed the sacrament to be the body bloud of Christ in such sort as you affirme it to be But these shiftes wil not serue you so long as men may come to the sight of those authors workes that you doe so wrest for your purpose and be able to waigh their wordes and gather their meaning aright Isychius li. 6. Capit. 22. Isychius also sayth likewise saye you And you cite his wordes thus Sermo qui prolatus est c. The words of Christ which were spoken c. whether the fault be in you or your Printer I cannot tel but in
verie bodie of Christ is not but the mysterie of Christes body is therein conteyned how much more ought we not to giue the vessels of our bodye which God hath prepared to be a dwelling for himselfe to be a place for the Deuill to worke his will in Here you sée what luck you haue when you aduaunce the authoritie of obscure matter by cyting the same vnder the names of such as be famous No man can speake more playnely against you then this man doth in this place But what though he had not written this but had written only of this matter in such sort as you haue cyted his wordes and were of as great authority as euer was Chrysostome what had you wonne by his wordes when they be taken whole togither I will therefore adde those wordes that you leaue out that the indifferent reader may iudge Quoniam hoc non solum datur quod videtur sed etiam illud quod intelligitur So that his words togither are thus much That thing that the priest doth deliuer out of his hande is not only sanctified but it is sanctificatiō bicause not only that which is séene is delyuered but the thing that is vnderstanded also We graunt that the thing signified and vnderstanded by the sacrament is delyuered by the minister and receyued by the receyuer that is a member of Christ but not in such sort as you holde Sacramentally and spiritually the thing that is signified and vnderstanded is giuen and receyued as I haue before declared These words therfore taken togither rightly weighed doe make nothing against vs but rather with vs notwithstanding that we neyther drawe them to the figuratiue maner of speaking nor yet depraue the words or meaning of the writer But a perillous point of sophistrie you thinke méete to be noted and some what opened to your auditorie Children at the vniuersitie can tell that to exclude a speciall and singuler definition by a generall discription is a deceitfull way of reasoning It is commonly séene that such as doe vse to digge pits for other to fall into doe fall into the same themselues first of al. Your purpose was by preferring the knowledge of children in the vniuersitie before the knowledge of your betters in learning which were Bishops in king Edwarde the sixt dayes Watson going about to deface other is defaced himselfe vtterly to deface those learned fathers and to bring them out of credite as men that knew not so much as children in the vniuersity do knowe And so to extoll your owne knowledge aboue the starres For you are none of the babes at the vniuersitie But when your wordes shall be well weighed they shall be found more babishe and foolishe then commonly can be founde among the children at the vniuersitie A speciall and singuler definition you say is excluded by a generall description A childe at the vniuersitie would aske you what maner of definition that is which you call speciall and singuler And in whose Logick he might learne to know that definition The Logitians that hither to haue written haue made no mention of any such definition Boetius maketh mention of many sortes of definitions but of this that you speake of he maketh no mention at all Commonly the authors write but of foure sortes of definitions One Essentiall another Causall the thirde Integrall and the fourth Accidentall And besides this the children might aske you howe speciall and singuler may in Logicall matter be both verified of one thing in one and the same respect and at one time as you doe here vse them Those therefore whome in derision you call no small men but your greatest Bishops if they were nowe lyuing would make the worlde sée that for your good knowledge in Logick A worthye promotion that you shew in this Sermon you might leaue the Diuines Chayre and set you downe amongst the babling Sophists agayne till you had gotten you better skill in Logick The generall description of consecration that those men did receyue shall be found as good a definition of the same as you or any of your sort shall be able to make The consecration that those men receyued is that benediction and decrée of Christ wherby the visible signes are appointed to an holy vse We speak not of your generall consecration whereby the heathen and you Papistes haue without any warant of the worde of God yea contrarie to Gods word consecrated so many of Gods creatures to Idoles and Idole seruice but we speake of consecration that Christ himselfe hath made doth still make as oft as his Church and congregation doe take his creatures and vse them according to his commaundement to represent vnto their senses those inuisible graces that he hath appointed those creatures to signifie to vs. And this is no newe deuise for Chrysostome in his .30 Homily which is of the treason of Iudas sayth thus Chrisost hom .30 De proditione Iudae Et nunc ille praesto est Christus qui illam ornauit mensam ipse ipsam quoque consecrat Non enim homo est qui proposita de consecratione mensae Domini corpus Christi facit sanguinem sed ille qui crucifixus pro nobis est Christus Sacerdotis ore verba proferuntur sed Dei virtute consecrantur gratia Hoc est ait corpus meum hoc verbo proposita consecrantur Et sicut illa vox quae dicit crescite multiplicamini replete terram semel quidem dicta est sed omni tempori sentit effectum ad generationem operante natura ita vox illa semel quidem dicta est sed per omnes mensas Ecclesiae vsque ad hodiernum diem vsque ad eius aduentum praestat saccrificio firmitatem The same Christ that did adourne and beautifie that table is nowe present and he doth consecrate the same also For it is not a man that doth make those things that be set before vs of the consecration of the Lords table to be the body and bloud of Christ but the same Christ which was crucified for vs. The wordes are pronounced by the mouth of the Priest but the thinges are consecrated by the power and grace of God This is sayth he my body by this worde are the things that be set before vs consecrated And euen as that voyce which sayth growe and be multiplied and replenishe the earth was but once spoken but yet doth at all times by the worke of nature féele effect to generation so that voyce also was but once spoken and yet it giueth sure stay to the sacrifice throughout all the tables of the Church euen to this day and from henceforth till his comming Chrysostome doth here compare the wordes that Christ spake at the institution of his supper to the words that God spake when he appointed man to be multiplied by generation affirming that the same power that worketh still in the one doth still worke in the other also
scimus nullis inatiatos mysterijs viderunt omnia quae intus erant quin sanctissimus Christi sanguis sicut in tali tumultu contingit in praedictorum militum vestes effusus est The souldiers came violently into the holy place of whom we knowe that some were not baptized and there they saw all things that were within and the most holy bloud of Christ as chaunceth often in such a tumult was shed vpon the garments of those souldiers Here I marke that he sayth not the figure or signe of Christs bloud but the most holy bloud an other inferiour creature can not be most holy Also I marke that this most holy bloud was reserued there in the holy temple and was not onely in Heauen to be receyued by fayth of the faythfull but also was in the temple and violently handeled of the vnfaythfull being there contemned abused and spilt vpon their garmentes Doth not this barbaricall violence and externall situation of the most holy bloud of Christ proue a reall presence of the same in the sacrament Gregory Nazianzene speaketh after the lyke maner Nazianze orat ad Arianos how that the Arians would not suffer the Catholikes to pray in their temples but troubled them killed them mingled Christes misticall bloud with the bloud of the Catholike Priestes which they slue and so forth whereby we vnderstande a reall presence of Christes bloud by that violence that was shewed vnto it of the heretikes part though Christ were there after that sort that he could suffer no violence of his part We read in saint Hierome and in diuers other Hieronimus ad hedibiam Ipsa conuiua conuiuium comedens qui comeditur that Christ is both the eater of the feast and the feast it selfe both the eater and the meat that is eaten Whereby we vnderstande that Christ giuing his body and his bloud to his disciples did receaue the same himselfe before And as Chrysostome wryteth that least his Disciples should haue bene troubled and offended hearing him say Chrysost in Math. hom 83. This is my bloud Euthymius in Mat. cap. 64. drinke ye all of this as the Caparnaites were before and so should abhorre to haue dronke of the same Christ did first drinke of the same cup before them that he might by his example induce his Disciples to drinke lykewise Hesichius in Leuit. li. 2. Cap. 8. And Hesechius sayth Ipse dominus primus in caena mystica intelligibilem accepit sanguinem atque deinde calicem Apostolis dedit Our Lord himselfe in the mysticall supper first dranke his owne bloud that was not sene but vnderstanded and then gaue the cup to his Apostles By this fact of Christ we may learne that in the cup was verily and really Christes owne bloud or if Christ did eate his bodye and dranke his bloud but in figure then he did eate and drinke it before after that maner in the Tipicall and Legall supper and then how can this mistical supper be the truth and the other the figure if this be but a figure likewise And then why should the Apostle be afrayde to doe that nowe they were wont to doe alwaies before It was no new thing worthy the newe Testament to eate and drinke Christ in a figure and therefore it is certaine that Christ in his mysticall supper did not eate and drinke his body and bloud onely figuratiuely And if ye will say that he eate it and dranke it spiritually onely then ye must say that Christ did eate it by faith for spiritual eating is beleuing And if ye say Christ did beleue then it foloweth that Christ was not God Who hath perfite knowledge of al things by sight not vnperfite knowledge by fayth as wee haue seing as through a Glasse in a darke rydle And surely they harpe much vpon this string for this heresie against the presence of Christ in the sacrament is an high way leading to the other heresie that Christ is not God as is proued by diuers wayes and arguments into which pit diuers be falling by this meanes if God doe not put vnder his hande to stay them betimes for if they continue long in this they will fall into the other no remedie whereof we haue alreadie seene experience Then if Christ did eate his body and drinke his bloud in the mysticall supper neyther figuratiuely as he did in the Paschall lambe nor yet spiritually as we doe by fayth then it is certaine that he eate it only sacramentally which is not onely in signe as the sacramentaries expounde the worde but in truth vnder a sacrament whereof the substaunce is the reall and naturall body and bloud of Christ our Lorde After this sort wryteth Chrysostome of Dauid saying thus Non contigit Dauid gustare talem hostiam Chrysost hom de Dauid Saul neque particeps fuerat sanguinis dominici sed legibus imperfectioribus educatus neque tale quicquam exigentibus tamen ad euangelicae philosophiae fastigium peruenit animi moderatione It neuer chaunced to Dauid to taste of such a sacrifice nor he was nor receauer and partaker of our Lordes bloud but being brought vp vnder lawes not so perfite and requiring no such thing yet by the moderation temperaunce of his owne minde he came to the hight of all Euangelicall Diuinitie Here is plaine that Dauid did neuer taste and receaue Christes bloud as we doe in the Gospell and yet Dauid did receaue Christes bloud figuratiuely being partaker of the sacrifices of the olde lawe which were figures of Christes bloud also he did drinke of the same bloud spiritually as we doe whose faith was as good or rather greater then oures Therefore there remayneth one other way that we drink of it which was not graunted vnto him that is to say verily and really in the sacrament To auoyde this place well they must haue mo solutions then they haue inuented yet for neyther figuratiuely nor spiritually will serue it were best for them to yeelde to the truth and confesse that it is there really the very same substaunce of his bloud that was shedde vpon the crosse though not in that forme for the reliefe of our weake nature which else could not sustaine it Here you haue heaped togither the sayings of certain writers CROWLEY to confirme that which you haue hitherto laboured to proue and doe perswade your selfe that you haue sufficiently proued And first you beginne with Chrysostome Another is not the same The same Chrysostome say you c. Here I must put you in remembraunce of that which I haue sayd before that the sentence which you cited before as out of Chrysostome was none of his Wherefore you doe wrong to Iohn Chrysostome to say that he is the same But to the purpose You say that you marke in this place of Chrysostome that he sayth not the figure or signe of Christs bloud but the most holy bloud And another inferiour
c. In déede Chrysostome hath written all those wordes that you report and in such order as you doe write them sauing that to blinde the hearer or reader you put Dauid in the place of Illi least your hearers and readers should haue occasion to thinke that there is somewhat going before vnto which Illi hath relation Well I will let the reader sée some of those wordes that go before and some of those that folowe that euen your friendes may sée and iudge howe great a cause you haue to thinke that our best way were to yéelde After Chrysostome hath begun to paint out the toleraunce of Dauid not only in forbearing to reuenge himselfe vpon king Saul but also in séeking to doe him good he beginneth to compare him with such as liue in the time of the newe testament and doth preferre his tolleraunce before theirs bicause he did not heare and see that which they haue both heard and séene And thus he sayth Neque enim paria sunt sub vetere lege degentem nunc post illustratam Euangelij gratiam talia condonare gratis Non audierat Dauid parabolam de decem milibus talentorum neque de centum denarijs c. The doings are not alyke when one that lyued vnder the olde lawe and one that lyueth nowe after the grace of the Gospell is made manifest doe fréely forgiue such wrongs Dauid had not heard the parable of the ten thousande talents nor of the hundered pense He had not heard the prayer which sayth Forgiue men their debts euen as your Heauenly Father doth forgiue your debts He had not séene Christ crucified he had not séene that precious bloud poured out neither had he heard the innumerable sermons of the Lorde concerning the restrayning of the lustes of the minde It happened not vnto him to taste such a sacrifice neyther had he bene partaker of the Lordes bloud But being brought vp vnder lawes that were not altogither perfite neyther did require any such thing yet did he by the moderation of his minde attayne to the highest point of Euangelicall Philosophie But thou art oftentimes offended at the remembraunce of the iniuries that be past but this man although he might stande in feare of those things that were to come knowing for certaintie that if he would saue his enimie he should both be banished the Citie and lead a poore and miserable lyfe yet did he not leaue of to be carefull for him but he did all things that might nourishe this so great an enimie Who is able to tell vs of a greater toleraunce or forbearing then this If figuratiuely and spiritually may not be admitted in these wordes of Chrysostome then let vs knowe howe it can be truely saide of him that he in his time they that were before him and after Christes ascention and those that haue bene since are now and shal be to the worlds ende haue séene or shal sée Christs bloud poured out and him crucified I am sure you will not say that all these vnder the new testament haue séene or shal sée with their bodily eyes Christ crucified and his bloud poured out Well then you must giue vs leaue to thinke that Chrysostome doth vse here that same figure that saint Iohn doth vse in the beginning of his first Epistle Where he sayth thus Chrysostome vseth the figure hyperbole in extolling Dauids toleraunce We declare vnto you that thing that we haue séene with our eies c. And why may we not vnderstand Chrysostome to vse the same figure when he sayth that Dauid had not bene partaker of the Lordes bloud And that it had not happened him to taste of suche a sacrifice c. There was none of the sacrifices of the olde lawe that did paint out Christ crucified so playnely and set him out so liuely to our senses as this sacrament doth wherefore Chrysostome might well and truely say without any figure at all that it had not hapned to Dauid to taste of such a sacrifice Neyther did the lawe and prophets before Christ so plainely and fully teache that highest point of christian Philosophie which Dauid attayned vnto as doth the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles Wherefore Chrysostome might well write as he doth that Dauid had not heard c. And why might not Chrysostome say then that Dauid was brought vp vnder lawes that were somewhat vnperfite in comparison of the lawe of the gospell although there be in the lawe it selfe no imperfection at all The lawe was perfite to the ende that God did appoint it for That was to bring men to the knowledge of their sinnes and to driue them to Christ that was able to take away their sinnes And why may not Chrysostome in this place according to the common custome of the fathers call the sacrament by the name of that thing wherof it is a sacrament But here once agayne I must tell you that the verie wordes that you cite are flatly against your halfe communion And that if Dauid had bene a popishe prince he should neuer haue dronken the Lordes bloud except he woulde haue bene a popishe Priest also WATSON Diuision 32. August in Ioannem tract 11. And further then this saint Augustine sayth Si dixerimus Catechumino credis in Christo respondit credo signat se cruce Christi portat in fronte non erubescit de cruce domini sui ecce credit in nomine eius Interrogemus eum manducas carnem filij hominis bibis sanguinem filij hominis nescit quid dicimus quia Iesus non se credidit ei If we shall say to one that learneth and professeth our faith being yet not baptized doest thou beleeue in Christ he aunswereth I beleue and he doth signe himselfe with the crosse of Christ he beareth it on his forehead and is not ashamed of the crosse of his Lorde Lo he beleueth in his name But let vs aske him doest thou eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke the bloud of the sonne of man he can not tell what we say for Iesus hath not beleeued committed himselfe to him Beside other things that may be fruitfully gathered of this place for our erudition I note but this one that a man beleeuing in Christ professing the fayth of Christ with his worde and worke and for that cause eateth Christes fleshe and drinketh his bloud spiritually yet he wote not what the eating of Christs flesh meaneth whereof Christ spake in the sixt of S. Iohn But we that be baptized and are admitted to our Lordes table we know by our experience what it is to eate Christes fleshe and to drinke his bloud for to vs Christ doth trust giue himselfe to the other that beleue as wel as we he doth not commit himselfe Whereby I conclude beside the spirituall eating of Christ by faith there is also a reall eating of him in the sacrament by the seruice of our bodies to the confirmation in grace
and sanctification both of our bodies and soules And concerning the drinking of Christes bloud really saint Cyprian writeth an other argument which I thinke can not be auoyded by any figuratiue speeches Cyprian ser de caena he sayth thus Noua est huius Sacramenti doctrina scâ—olae euangelicae hoc primum magistereum protulerunt doctore christo primum haec mundo inuotuit disciplina vt biberent sanguinem Christiani cuius esum legis antiquae authoritas districtissimè imterdicit Lex quippe esum sanguinis prohibit Euangelium praecipit vt bibatur c. Origen also writeth this same thing verie plainely vpon Numeri hom 16. Origen in Numeros hom 19. The Englishe is this of Cyprian The doctrine of this sacrament is new the Euangelicall schoole taught this lesson first of all this discipline was neuer known to the world before our master Christ who was the first teacher of it that christen men should drinke bloud the eating of which bloud the authoritie of the olde law doth most straightly forbid for the law forbiddeth the eating of bloud the gospell commaundeth bloud to be droken c. Nowe this is most certayne that the law did neuer forbid the drinking of Christes bloud figuratiuely but did commaunde drinke offerings which were figures of hys bloud and the Iewes dranke of the water that came forth of the stone which was a figure of the bloud that came foorth of Christes side which bloud as Chrysostome saith is in our Chalice Id est in calice quod fluxit è latere Chrysost in 1. Cor. hora. 24. illius nos sumus participes the same thing is the Chalice that flowed out of Christs side and we are partakers of the same Nor the law did neuer forbid the drinking of Christes bloud spiritually by fayth but set foorth the fayth of Christ being a schoolemaister to Christ pointing to him in whome they should beleeue and receaue all grace But to make short the lawe forbad the externall and reall drinking of bloud which the gospell commaundeth saying except ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man drinke his bloud ye shall not haue lyfe in you Iohn 6. and drinke ye all of this This is my bloud of the newe Testament Therefore it foloweth necessarily that the drinking of this bloud is not figuratiuely nor yet onely spiritually but really by the seruice of our bodies as Chrysostome sayth Si vederit inimicus non postibus imposutum sanguinem typi sed fidelium ore lucentem sanguinem veritatis Christi templi postibus dedicatum Chrysost ad Neophytos multo magis se subtrahit If our enimie the Deuill shall see not the bloud of the figuratiue Lambe sprinckled vpon the postes but the bloud of Christ the truth shyning in the mouth of the faithful much more he will runne away There is a place of the prouerbs which as diuers authors doe expound Prouerb 23. maketh much for the reall presence of Christs body and bloud in the sacrament the place is this after the Greeke which these authors folowed Cùm sederis ad mensam potentis sapienter intellige quae apponuntur mitte manum tuam sciens quia talia te oportet praepare When thou sittest at the table of a great man vnderstand wisely what things are set before thee and put to thy hand knowing that thou must prepare such like things againe Saint Augustine vpon saint Iohn August in Ioh. tract 47.48 and Chrysostome vpon the Psalme and Hesechius and other mo whose wordes it were to long to rehearse in Latine doe expound thys place of the prouerbs thus Who is this great man but Iesus Christ our Lorde Gods sonne Chrysost in Psalm 22. Hesichius li. 6 Capit. 22. and what is the Table of this great man but where is receyued his body his bloud that hath giuen his life for vs And what is to sit at the Table but to come to it humbly and deuoutly and what is to consider and vnderstand wisely what things be set before thee but discerne the body and bloud of Christ to be set there verily in truth and to know the grace vertue dignitie of them and the daunger for the misvsing of them and what is to put to thy hand knowing that thou must prepare such like againe but to eate of them knowing that christen men in the cause of Christ and defence of the truth are bounden to shed their bloud and spend their liues for their brethren as Christ hath done the same for vs before the like as we haue receaued at Christes table his body and his bloud so ought we to giue for our brethren our bodies and bloud This comparison of taking and giuing the like againe auoydeth all the tryfling cauillations of these figuratiue speeches that the simple peoples heads be combred withal Here is no place for eating onely by fayth for the martyrs did not onely beleue in Christ but also in verie deede gaue their bodies and shed their bloud really for Christ I am wearie of telling you of your subtile dealing in cyting sentences out of the auncient fathers Saint Austen in the .xj. CROWLEY treatise vpon Iohn sayth as you haue cyted but the wordes which go before and should open saint Austens meaning August in Ioh. tract 11. you holde from your hearers and readers He sayth thus Ipsis ergo se credit Iesus qui nati sunt denuò Iesus therefore doth betake himselfe to them that be borne a newe And afterwarde he sayth Qui ergo renati sunt noctis fuerunt diei sunt tenebrae fuerunt lumen sunt Iam credit se illis Iesus non nocte veniunt ad Iesum sicut Nicodemus non in tenebris quaerunt diem c. Those therefore that be borne anewe did belong to the night and doe now belong to the day they were darkenesse and are now light Nowe Iesus doth betake himselfe to them and they come not to Iesus in the night as did Nicodemus they doe not séeke the light in darkenesse c. By these words it is playne that Austen ment nothing lesse then to teach that which you gather of his words Yea speaking of the same wordes that are written in the sixt of Iohn he sayth Dominus autem exposuit eis dixit Spiritus est qui viuificat caro autem non prodest quicquam cum dixisset Nisi quis manducauerit carnem meam biberit sanguinem meum non habebit in se vitam ne carnaliter intelligerent Spiritus est inquit qui viuificat caro autem nihil prodest Verba autem quae locutus sum vobis spiritus vita sunt And the Lord declared vnto them and sayde It is the spirite that gyueth lyfe the flesh doth profite nothing at all when he had sayde Except a man doe eate my flesh and drinke my bloud he shal not haue any lyfe in himselfe least they should vnderstand him carnally
he said it is the spirite that quickneth and the fleshe profiteth nothing And the words that I haue spoken vnto you are spirit and life c. How your conclusion of a reall eating of Christ in the sacrament by the seruice of our bodies c. maye folowe vpon these words of Austen I leaue to the iudgement of all that be learned and not obstinately blinde in this matter Cyprian Ser. De Caena To that which you cite out of Cyprians Sermon De Caena Domini and Origine vpon the booke of Numbers I referre you for aunswere to the wordes of the same Cyprian in the same Sermon where he sayth thus Dixerat sanc huius traditionis magister quod nisi manducaremus biberemus cius sanguinem non haberemus vitam in nobis spirituali nos instruens documento aperiens ad rem adâ—â— abditam intellecluin vt sciremus quod mansio nostra in ipso sit manducatio potus quasi quaedam incorporatio subiectis obsequijs voluntatibus iunctis affectibus vnitis The teacher of this tradition had sayde that vnlesse we would eate him and drinke his bloud we could haue no lyfe in vs instructing vs by a spirituall document and opening our vnderstanding to a thing that is so secretly hid that we might know that our eating is our dwelling in him and our drinking as it were a certaine ioyning into one body with him by gyuing ouer our selues wholy to serue him by ioyning our willes to his and vniting our affections And to the wordes of Origine also in the same Homily that you cite Origines in Num. ho. 16. and not many lynes after that which you point at where he sayth thus Bibere autem dicimur sanguinem Christi non solùm sacramentorum ritu sed cùm sermonem eius recipimus in quibus vita consistit sicut ipse dicit Verba quae locutus sum spiritus vita est It is saide that we drinke the bloud of Christ not onely in the rite of the sacrament but also when we receyue his wordes in which lyfe doth consist euen as he himselfe sayth The words that I haue spoken are spirite and lyfe Now let your friendes iudge what you haue gayned by that you haue cyted out of Cyprian and Origine And for your sentence that you haue picked out of Chrysostome to helpe out with the matter August ad Bonifacium Epist. 23. I referre you for aunswere to that which Austen hath written to Bonifacius whose wordes I haue cyted in the ninth deuision of this aunswere But to make short it appéereth by thys that I haue written that the Gospell commaundeth no externall nor reall drinking of bloud wherfore it is no necessarie consequence that in the sacrament of Christes bloud his bloud is not figuratiuely nor yet only spiritually dronken but really by the seruice of our bodies although you doe beare vs in hande that Chrysostome doth so affirme both in his .24 Homily vpon the first to the Corinths and also in his Homily to those that were lately graffed into Christ For both in those places many other Chrysostome doth giue that name to the sacrament which is proper to the thing wherof it is a Sacrament according to Saint Austens saying to Bonifacius As touching the expounding of the wordes of Salomon by Austen Chrysostome and Isychius Watson belieth three at once I must néedes tell you that you belye them all three For none of them doth say as you would beare vs in hande that they doe say Austen speaketh most of the matter and sayth thus Mensa potentis quae sit nostis August in Ioh. tract 47. vbi est corpus sanguis Christi qui accedit ad talem mensam praeparet talia Et quid est praeparet talia Quomodo ipse pro nobis animam suam posuit sic nos debemus ad aedificandam plebem ad asserendam fidem animam pro fratribus ponere You know what the table of the mighty man is where the body and bloud of Christ is he that commeth to such a table must prepare the lyke thing And what is it to prepare such lyke things Euen as he gaue his lyfe for vs so must we giue our lyues for our brethren to edifie the people and to defende the fayth Here is no mention made of the sitting at the table discerning of the thing set before them nor of the putting to of the hand All that Austen hath sayde here Epist 23. is fully answered by that which he hath written to Bonifacius Chrysostome sayth thus Sed veniunt ad mensam potentis Chrysost in Psalm 22. consyderantes ea quae apponuntur eis accipere cum timore tremore tribulationes efficiuntur consolationes But they come vnto the table of the mightie considering those things that be set before them to receyue with feare and trembling their tribulations are become consolations This is farre from that which you report in his name But you could not sée that which he writeth a little before Watson can pretend shortnesse of time When he will not say all that he should where he sayth thus Et quia istam mensam praeparauit seruis ancillis in conspectu eorum c. And bicause he hath in the sight of them prepared this table for his seruaunts and handmaydens c. As is afore in the answere to the .26 deuision of this sermon If shortnesse of time would haue suffered you to rehearse al those words they would haue marred altogither and therefore you did wisely to dissemble them As for the place that you cite out of Isychius it is aunswered before and néedeth not nowe to be aunswered any further But here I must tell you that this is no simple dealing to vrge the interpretation of a fewe that felowed the Gréeke as you say both against the text in Hebrue and the exposition that such as were learned in the Hebrue tongue haue made vpon this place Yea and that in so weightie a matter as thys is You knowe that Salomon was an Hebrue and wrote his Prouerbs in Hebrue and shall we leaue his wordes in Hebrue and take that which we find in the Gréeke contrarie to or differing from that which is manifest playne in the Hebrue If Austen had had the vnderstanding of the Hebrue tongue he would not haue done so I mislike not the expounding of that text by the Alegorie for the text may well beare it But to Alegorize vpon a text that differeth from the same text in the tongue that it was first written in by the Author thereof can not but be misliked And much more it is to be misliked August libr. 12. Confess Cap. 25. that any mans priuate iudgemeÌ„t vpon any part of scripture should be made a sufficient ground to build our fayth vpon as the same S. Austen hath said Saint Hierome who vnderstood the Hebrue tongue doth Alegorize farre otherwise
moue you to consider certaine things whereby the consent may appeare First the possession of the Church in this doctrine so many yeares in such quietnesse without contradiction that no reason or yet iniunction nor no new deuise that the Deuill or his dearlings can inuent to the contrary eyther can or ought to remoue vs out of possession except wee will wilfully loose our owne right and claime seing that we that liue nowe vniuersally throughout all Christendome haue receaued this fayth of our fathers and they of theirs Cyprian Ser. De Caena and so foorth euen to the Apostles and our sauiour Christ himselfe by whose mouth this doctrine as saint Cyprian sayth was first taught to the world that Christen men in the new lawe be commaunded to drinke bloud which the Iewes in the olde law were forbid to doe And so from him and his Apostles it hath bene by succession deduced and brought throughout all ages euen to this our time and beleued as Gods worde which can not be chaunged and not as mans worde subiect to alteration as probabilitie can perswade CROWLEY The first of those certayne things that you moue your Auditorie to consider whereby the consent of the Catholike Church may appeare is prescription of tyme. To this I haue partly aunswered in the aunswere to your former Sermon And the Byshop of Sarisburie hath fully aunswered in his aunswere to Doctor Harding And here I aunswere in fewe wordes That your possessiō hath bene forcible your fathers fayth in this point a false perswasion beside the worde of God and your clayme altogither vniust and therefore iustly withstanded by vs to whom the right belongeth as by good euidence of Gods holy worde and iudgement of sounde wryters we both haue and shall proue by Gods helpe WATSON Diuision 4 Secondly this consent in this matter may appeare by that the holy fathers and pastors of Christes Church haue written of it whome god hath placed and planted in hys Church for the buylding and vpholding of it in truth that his flock be not seduced and caried about with euery blast of newe doctrine by the craftines of men to the destruction of their soules Of this I haue spoken something already CROWLEY The indifferent reader may easily perceyue in the aunswere that I haue made to your former Sermon howe well those fathers and pastours that you speake of doe maintaine that which you doe teache Euen as those that fight against you with all the knowledge they haue And whatsoeuer you haue alreadie spoken therein is in the place where you haue spoken it alreadie fully aunswered WATSON Diuision 5. Thirdly we may knowe the consent of the Church by the determination of the generall counsels where the presidents of Gods Churches the rulers and learned priestes of Christendome assembled in the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ representing the holy Church of God Militaunt being led not with priuate affectiō but by Gods holy spirit to his glory instaunt in prayer feruent in deuotion purely diligently and freely haue intreated and determined those things that perteine to the faith of Christ and the purging of his Church to whose determination as to Gods ordinaunces we are bound to obey Wherein appeareth manifestly the consent of the Church How the determination of the general counsels CROWLEY doth declare the consent of the Church and how purely diligently and fréely they intreated and determined those things that you speak of in these generall counsels shall playnely appéere to the indifferent reader in the aunswere that shall be made to all such sentences as you shall cite out of any generall counsell in order as the same shall be cited The first generall counsell both for the calling WATSON Diuision 6. Concilium Nicenum and also for the cause was holden at Nice in Bithinia by .318 Byshops in the time of Constantinus Magnus twelue hundred and thirtie yeares ago where it was determined and published to the worlde in these wordes Exaltata mente fide consideremus situm esse in sancta illa mensa agnum dei qui tollit peccatum mundi quià sacerdotibus sacrificatur sine cruoris effusione nos verè preciosum illius corpus sanguinem sumentis credere haec esse resurectionis nostrae symbola c. Let vs lift vp our mindes vnderstanding and considering by fayth that the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world is situate and lyeth vpon that holy table which is offered of the pristes wythout the shedding of bloud and that wee receauing verily his precious body and bloud doe beleue them to be the pledges or causes of our resurrection This authority serueth me very well to declare the consent of the Church both in the matter of the reall presence also of the sacrifice which we haue in hand For the words be touched maruellously euery one seruing to expresse the truth and to auoyde all doubtes For first he biddeth vs lyft vp our mindes and consider by fayth wylling vs not to sticke onely to our senses thinking nothing else to be there but what we see outwardly teaching vs that the iudgement of this matter perteyneth not to our senses but to our fayth onely and as Eusebius Emesenus sayth Verè vnica perfecta hostia fide aestimanda non specie nec exterioris censenda est visu hominis Emesenus orat de corpore Christi sed interioris affectu This hoost and sacrifice is verily one and perfite to be esteemed by faith and not by forme and appearaunce to bee iudged not by the sight of the outward man but with the affection and perswasion of the inwarde man for to faith onely and not to senses apperteyneth the knowledge and iudgement of Gods mysteries and sacraments Then the counsell declareth what faith teacheth that is to say that the Lambe of God not material bread and wine nor the figure of the Lambe but the Lambe that taketh away the sinne of the worlde is placed lying vpon the holye table of the aultar which externall situation proueth a real presence of Christ to be there before we receaue it and not a phantasticall or an intellectuall receyuing of Christ by fayth in the tyme of the receauing onely as these men contende Further it teacheth that this Lambe of God is offred to almightie God by the Priestes which is a distinte offering from that Christ made vpon the crosse for there he offered himselfe by shedding his bloud which hee did but once and neuer shall doe it agayne any more Here is he offred of the priests not by shedding of bloud but as the counsaile saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after a bloudy maner which is not a newe kylling of Christ but a solempne representation of his death as himselfe hath ordeyned After this it declareth the receauing of it saying that we verily receaue hys precious body bloud which worde verily is as much as that we call really and
declareth the vse of the sacrament in the receypt of it with the seruice of our mouth Math. 19. as Christ commaunded saying Take eate which is a corporall eating not a spirituall beleeuing And last of all it sheweth the effect of the sacrament which is the resurrection of our bodies to eternall life for because Christes body being the body of very lyfe is ioyned to our bodies as our foode it bringeth our bodies that be dead by sentence of death to his propertie which is life whereof in my last sermon I spake more at large O Lorde what harde hearts haue these men to doubt themselues or to denie or to bring in question that manifest open truth in so highe and necessary a matter which in most playne wordes hath bene taught of our sauiour Christ his Apostles and Euangelistes and declared so to be vnderstand by the holy ghost out of the mouthes of all these holye fathers whome the holy ghost did assemble and inspire with the spirit of truth to the confusion of the great heretike Arius that troubled the worlde then and also did inspire their hartes to declare so plainely the misterie of thys blessed sacrament which then was without all contention beleued of al christen men onely to preuent these heretikes that arise and spring vp nowe in these latter dayes that the worlde may see how they striue agaynst the knowne truth their owne coÌ„science the determination of the hole church being enimies of God breaking his peace and deuiding themselues from the church whose end is eternal confusioÌ„ Nowe are you come to the first generall counsell CROWLEY holden at Nice in the Citie of Bithinia vnder Constantinus Magnus In the .24 deuision of your former Sermon I haue sayde some thing to the later wordes of this sentence that you cite out of the great general counsell of Nice And in the .33 deuision of the same sermon I haue graunted as much as the words that you cite there doe teach when they be vnderstanded so as the auncient fathers do vse that like maner of spéeches But here I must tell you that in the olde allowed counsell of Nice there is no part of that which you rite here found written Wherfore the authority therof must néeds be so much the lesse But graunt that the .318 Byshops had in that counsell agréed and written euen as you haue cited must we therfore beleue that Christ is in the sacrament in such sort as you teach really and substantially c. Saint Austen in his Sermon Ad Infantes which is cyted by Beda Beda in 1. Cor. ca. 10. sayth thus Vos estis in mensa vos estis in Calice You are vpon the table you are in the Cup shall we therefore saye that saint Austen ment that those persons that he spake vnto were really substantially and bodily in the cup and on the table I thinke you will not graunt it And why will you by the wordes cyted out of the Nicene counsell bind vs to beleue that Christ is after such sort present in the sacrament As touching the maruellous touching or couching of the wordes for so I suppose you spake I can not but maruell that you could not sée howe euerye one of them serueth to expresse the truth against that which you teach First they will vs to lift vp our mindes and to consider by fayth not things that are here conuersaunt amongst vs and may be conceyued by bodily senses but that are aboue and can not be conceyued otherwise then by fayth Then they tell vs that the Lambe of God is set vpon the holy table euen as saint Austen telleth his Auditorie that they are set vpon the table to teach vs that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is not a bare and naked signe but effectuall to the worthye receyuer that is to such as beyng members of Christ are placed on the table and in the cup with Christ in such sort as the Lambe of God is placed there that is spiritually and in a mysterie And after the same sort the same Lambe is sacrificed by the priestes when by their ministerie the members of Christ be made partakers of that holy mysterie and doe euen sensibly féele the effect of that sacrifice Hebr. 9.10 which that Lambe made of himselfe once for all as saint Paule wryteth Thirdly they declare that we receyuing the precious body and bloud of Christ in déede doe beléeue that it is the pledge of our resurrection Which maner of receyuing it pleaseth you to terme a reall receyuing As though the body of Christ coulde not be receyued by fayth verilye and in déede vnlesse the same be after your reall maner But I must put you in mind that you haue fowly forgotten your selfe when you say that the offering that the priest maketh in his Masse is a distinct offering from that which Christ made vpon the crosse for you shall finde manye of your friendes of a contrarie minde if ye search their bookes well But you would séeme to make bloudy and vnbloudy the difference betwéene those two sacrifices Here say you that is in your Masse he is offered of the priests not by shedding of his bloud but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is insacrificabÃliter after an vnsacrificable maner which is not a newe kylling of Christ but a solemne representation of his death as himselfe hath ordeyned Here the latter wordes doe confute the first For if the maner of offring in the Masse be such as can not be a sacrifice howe can the Masse be a sacrifice And if the Masse be but a solemne representatioÌ„ of the death of Christ how can it be a sacrifice offered to almightie God Not the Popishe Masse but the blessed supper of the Lorde the holy communion of his body and bloud is a lyuely representation of his death and passion And as your Emesenus sayth in the wordes that you cite for you haue taught him to speake congrue latine nowe vere vna perfecta hostia c. That sacrifice which is but one and is perfite in déede must not be estéemed by outwarde shewe nor iudged by the sight of the outwarde man but by fayth and the affection of the inwarde man But eyther not vnderstanding your Emesenus his wordes or else after your olde custome of purpose you corrupt him in the translation For you say This hoste and sacrifice is verily one and perfite as though Emesenus had poynted to your Masse sacrifice Where as it is playne that he meaneth of that sacrifice that is represented by the holy communion of the body bloud of Christ I may therefore vse the wordes of your owne exclamation against your selfe and such as be of your minde For whose harts can be imagined to be more hard then youres which in so manifest a matter as this doe not onely bring in question the open and manifest truth but also in alledging the words of fathers and counselles applie them
of the generall counsels It shall not bee needefull to rehearse any particular and prouinciall counsels which all in this doctrine agree with the other general CROWLEY Your great antiquitie is well abated when you fall from 1500. yeres to lesse then 150. You were best to furnish out your number of wytnesses with the generall counsels that haue bene holden since Constance the sayings of those auncient fathers that haue writtē within these hundred yeres And then you may safely say that you shall not néede to make rehearsall of the particuler and prouinciall counsels which are all euen such as the tymes were wherein they were holden How iustly that counsell of Constance did condemne Wickliefe and his doctrine How iustlye Wyckliefe was condemned I referre to the iudgement of such as shal or haue read his workes or that which Iohn For hath reported in his monuments of Martyrs WATSON Diuision 11. Furthermore the consent of the Church appeareth by the condemnation of the heretikes of all ages which holde any false opinion in anye point against the veritie and the institution of Christ concerning this blessed sacrament The first heretike that euer we read of in this matter and father to al the sacramentaries that liue now was one in the time of Ignatius by and by after the Apostles whose name we know not but what he and his sect that folowed him did Theodaretus in his thirde Dialogue maketh mention saying that Ignatius who lyued within one hundred yere of Christ writeth in an Epistle Ad Smyrnenses in these wordes Eucharistias oblationes non admittunt Theodoretus Dialogo 3. Ignatius ad Smyrnenses eoque non confiteantur Eucharistiam esse carnem seruatoris nostri Iesu Christi quae pro peccatis nostris passa est quam pater sua benignitate suscitauit They doe not allowe and admit our sacrament and offerings because they doe not confesse the sacrament called Eucharistia to bee the fleshe of our Sauiour Iesus Christ which fleshe suffred for our sinnes and which the fathers goodnesse did raise from death againe By this we learne what was the fayth in the primitiue Churche both that the sacrament was the verye fleshe of Christ which suffered for vs and also that it was offred for vs by the priests which things those heretikes denied then as their scholers nowe springing vp vpon their ashes denie nowe and that they were condemned as heretikes by the primitiue Church then as these most worthily be condemned by the catholike Church nowe The consent of the Primatiue Church appéereth in the condemning of heretikes CROWLEY that then brought in heresies and sowed scismes and the consent of the same Church of Christ The Church of Christ doth alwaye condemne heresies hath euer since as the Church of Antichrist would suffer it shewed forth hir consent therein and doth nowe more manifestly then heretofore it could be suffered to doe But your Antichristian Church although it haue for a fashiō to get hir a good name condemned some heresies although not any such as you say yet hath it brought in receiued confirmed Antichrists Church confirmeth as great heresies as it doth condemne as many and as great as it hath condemned As the supremacie vniuersall power of hir heade the Pope the power to pardon sinnes in this lyfe and after the power to forbid meates and mariage the sacrifice for sinne the transubstanciation of bread and wine c. And here I must tell you that your friend Maister Doctor Harding doth not agrée with you about the first founder and father of the sacramentarie heresie You say that it was one that sprong vp by and by after the Apostles but your friend Harding sayth that Beringarius a thousand yere after was the first that euer impugned the truth of the article of Christes reall naturall and corporall presence in the sacrament Well agrée you two as you can I will not séeke to set you at one in this point But as touching that you cite Theodoretus affirming that Ignatius did in his Epistle to the Christians in Smyrna write of that namelesse man and his folowers Ignatius his wordes not founde in his Epistle I must let you vnderstand that in that Epistle which is extant in the Gréeke written by Ignatius to the Smyrnians there is no such sentence as Theodoretus doth note And what shoulde it helpe your cause if Ignatius had written euen so Or if there were some other Epistle of Ignatius to them wherein those wordes might be found should that proue your purpose Ignatius hath sayde that those heretikes did not admit thankes giuings and oblations because they confesse not that the Eucharist or thankes gyuing is the fleshe of our sauiour Iesus Christ c. But we doe admit both the Eucharists and oblations and doe confesse that the same is the fleshe of Christ c. Wherefore this place can proue nothing against vs. Againe here is no mention of reall naturall and substantiall presence c. Therefore it maketh nothing for you But I doe much maruaile that you could not sée a sentence that the same Theodoretus cyteth out of the same Epistle Theodoretus Dialogo 2. which is also found in the Epistle which is extant in Gréeke The wordes of the sentence are these Quando ad eos qui cum Petro erant accessit dixit eis accipite palpate me videte quod non sum Demonium incorporeum Et protenus ipsum tetigerunt crediderunt When he came vnto them that were with Peter he sayde vnto them take mée and féele me and vnderstande that I am not a Deuill that hath not a bodie And forthwith they touched him and beleued Whether these wordes of Ignatius may stande with such a reall presence of Christs body in the sacrament as you teach I referre to the iudgement of as many as be learned and not obstinate blind Ignatius doth teache none other fayth then we doe Wherefore I conclude that the wordes of Ignatius doe not teach vs anye other fayth then that which we holde Which is that the sacrament is the verie body and bloud of Christ which suffered for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification but not after your reall carnall and grosse maner Neyther doe the wordes of Ignatius giue vs occasion to thinke that Christes bodie is or can be so present in many places at once and insensibly as you and your sort doe teache and condemne other for denying the same And where as the due matter WATSON Diuision 12 wherein this blessed Sacrament is consecrated ought to be vnleauened bread of wheate and wine mixed with water according to the scriptures and the example of Christ there were one sort of heretikes called Artotoritae of whom speaketh Epiphanius contra Quintillianos which were so called for that they vsed not in their sacrifices the necessary and due matter Epiphanius contra quintillianos but in their misteries did
be méete to receyue the sacraments Howe truely you report the opinion of the Schoolemen for Opus operandum and Opus operatum I might referre to such as haue bene exercised in the wrytings of those Scholemen But least you should thinke that it were but a shift so to doe I will put you in remembraunce of some part of that which you haue read if you be so good a Shoole man as you woulde séeme to bée Nicholaus de Orbellis sayeth thus In sacramento autem propriè dicto virtute operis operati confertur gratia Libr. 4. Sent Dist 1. q. 3. ita quod non requiritur bonus motus interior qui mereatur gratiam sed tantummodo sufficit quod recipiens non ponat obicem I answere sayth he that in a sacrament that is properly so called grace is conferred by the vertue of the worke wrought so that the good inwarde motion which might deserue grace is not required but this onely is sufficient that the receyuer of the sacrament do not put a barre in the way Agayne the same Nicholas sayth Baptismus generaliter intendit gratiam iam habitam sed ita non est in Circumcisione Vnde Abrahae iam iustificato signaculum fuit ei nihil intus contulit Quia gratia Abrahae iam attigerat transcenderat illum gradum ad quem determinata fuerat Circumcisio Baptisme doth generally encrease the grace that is already had but in circumcision it is not so Wherefore to Abraham that was already iustified it was onely a seale and did inwardly encrease him nothing at all For Abrahams grace had attayned vnto yea and passed the degrée that circumcision was appointed to aspire vnto Thomas Aquinas sayth In Baptismo confertur gratia ex virtute ipsius Baptismi quam habet in quantum est instrumentum passionis Christi iam perfectae in Circumcisione verò conferebatur gratia Parte 3. quest 70. Art 4. non ex virtute Circumcisionis sed ex virtute passionis Christi cuius signum erat Circumcisio In baptisme grace is conferred by the vertue of baptisme it selfe in as much as it is the instrument of the passion of Christ alreadie perfected But in circumcision grace was conferred not by the vertue of circumcision but by the vertue of Christes passion whereof circumcision was a signe Scotus sayth In circumcisione solum peccata dimittebantur Cap. penult nec gratia ibi dabatur In circumcision sinnes were forgiuen onely grace was not therein giuen By these fewe places it may appéere that the Schoolemen be not all one with you nor one of them with another in thys matter of conferring of grace by sacraments Ex opere operato Et Ex opere operando as you alone doe imagine as I suppose I aduertise the indifferent reader therefore to giue credite to neyther of you both in this point but to vse the sacraments of Christ according to Christes institution for the confirmation of their fayth in Christ Ascribing to the mercie of God in Christ all the remission of sinnes that is by those sacraments signified WATSON Diuision 21 Beside the sacraments there be sacrifices instituted of God as meanes whereby the passion of Christ the true sacrifice is signified represented and applied As the Paschall Lambe the continuall sacrifice for sinne a sacrifice for giuing thankes Exo. 12.19 Lc. 1.4.5.7 Leuit. 3. for the sinnes of the priest and of the people for infirmitie omission for peace for any benefite to be attayned for chastitie and such other which had strength not by their owne nature but by the vertue of Christes passion which they signified And as these were sacrifices proper to the olde Testament so Christ hath instituted a newe externall sacrifice proper to the new testament by his passion abrogating the other which were shadowes signifying stablishing this which is the truth representing for this intent that the vertue and sufficiency of his bloudy sauing sacrifice may be without iteration of it self cōtinually transferred vnto vs. For seing there is but one God authour of both the testaments one body one faith of Christ to vs both though they beleeued in Christ to come wee in Christ alreadye commed it foloweth consequently that we of the newe testament may not lack this meane of sacrifice so necessarie and expedient for vs. For so should we as I haue partly touched in my last sermon be without al kinde of religion hauing now no sacrifice remayning proper vnto our selues Lyke as to the vnperfite lawe there succeeded a perfite lawe and to the figuratiue sacraments there succeeded perfite and effectual working sacraments euen so to the figuratiue and typicall sacrifices there succedeth one true and perfite sacrifice of Christ one in substaunce but diuers in maner Lawe sacrifice priesthoode and aultar be as the Logitians say relatiua that is to say one hanging and depending vpon another as saint Paule sayth Translato sacerdotio necesse est vt legis translatio fiat If the priesthood be translate Hebrae then the lawe must needes be translate likewise And then like as if there be a father there is a sonne if there be a maister there is a seruaunt so if there be a newe lawe of the newe testament there is also a priesthood a sacrifice and an aultare properly belonging to the newe Testament A perfite and continuall lawe requireth a perfite sacrifice of lyke continuaunce the newe lawe of it should lack a priesthood and sacrifice priuate to it selfe it should either be imperfite or else vtterly destroyed For this cause our sauiour Christ in his last supper did institute the sacrament of his bodye and bloud commending vnto vs two seuerall vses of it the one that should be receaued of vs 1. Cor. 11. as our heauenly foode to nourishe vs in spiritual lyfe till we come to be perfite men in Christ saying take eate this is my body The other vse that it should bee offered in the remembraunce of his passion the ministration of which offering he hath committed to his Apostles as to priestes of the new law saying doe this in my remembraunce for the which function they and their successors be specially priestes This is the doctrine of Christs catholike Church which I haue as yet but simply declared not euidently prooued which is sufficient to perswade an obedient catholike man that foloweth the Church but not sufficient to conuince an obstinate heretike that denieth the Church impugning the doctrine and determination of the Church The sacrifices that God ordeyned to be offered in the tune of the olde law CROWLEY Hebr. 10. Sacrifices are not meanes to take away sinnes were shadowes and figures of good things then to come and not the good things themselues as saint Paule sayth neyther could they by any meanes take away sinne neyther had they any such strength by the vertue of Christes passion as you doe imagine them to haue And where you imagine that as those
by these his wordes This is my body which is giuen for you And although this oblation may be proued sufficiently otherwise yet to my simple iudgement there seemeth to be no light argument in this worde Datur is giuen for seing the scripture sayth it is giuen for vs and not to vs as Zwinglius and our great Archebishop his Disciple would haue it we must needes vnderstande by giuen for vs offred for vs so that in this place and many other to giue is to offer And although it be true that Christ was giuen and offered for vs to the father vpon the crosse the next day folowing yet because the worde Datur is in Greeke in all the Euangelistes where it is expressed in the present tense and also euery sentence is true for the time it is pronounced therefore me thinke I may certainely conclude because Christ sayth datur pro vobis is giuen for you that euen then in the supper time he offered his body for vs to his father Thirdly Christ did deliuer to his disciples to be eaten and dronken that he had before consecrated and offered Math. 29. and this appeareth by his words Take eate and drinke ye all of this The first and the thirde which be the consecration and receauing be out of all controuersie confessed of all men The second which is the oblation is of late brought in question which I haue partly proued by the plaine words of scripture as it seemeth to me so that I may well reason thus Christs action is our instruction I except his wonderfull workes and miracles specially when his commaundement is ioyned vnto it But Christ in his supper offred himselfe verily and really vnder the formes of bread and wine after an impossible maner and commaunded vs to doe the same till his second comming me thinke therefore that the Masse we doe and ought to doe sacrifice offer Christ vnto his father which oblation is the externall sacrifice of the Church and proper to the new testament CROWLEY The best arguments of the Popes diuinitie schoole Nowe to your purpose c. you will proue by the best arguments in your diuinitie schole that Christs body and bloud offered in the Masse is the sacrifice of the Church c. And as it appéereth the best arguments of your schoole are these thrée The institution of Christ the prophecie of Malachie and the figure of Melchisedech Well I trust the reader shall in that which foloweth sée howe well you doe performe your promise Doe this in my remembraunce sayth Christ that is offer vp this in my remembraunce say you and except you be deceyued Christ hath in these words instituted the sacrifice of the Masse Your newe men you say doe laugh at you c. And you doe pittie them c. Bilyke you haue a delight to be laughed at for you haue in the wordes folowing giuen more occasion to be laughed at as shall appéere in this aunswere Watsons pittie Luc. 23. Your pittie is much like that which was in the women of Ierusalem when they wept to sée the miserable estate of Christ which was condemned to die being an Innocent Watson will make his newe maysters laugh When Christ sayde doe this c. All that Christ did must néedes be vnderstanded by this worde this and therefore you will sée what Christ did First he consecrated his precious bodye and bloud c. Might not your new men thinke you iustly laugh at you when you alledge that for your purpose that maketh most against you doe this sayth Christ What shall we doe say you Take bread saith Christ And when you haue giuen thanks breake it and distribute it and eate it for it is my bodye Then take the cup and when ye haue giuen thankes drinke ye all of it for it is my bloud of the new testament which is shed for manye for the remission of sinnes Thus farre according as Mathewe wryteth What ground haue you in these wordes for the institution of the Masse He doth not say prepare you ministring garments of a straunge fashion Neyther doth he bid you make those garments holye He speaketh no word of your halowed aultare Superaltare Cup or Corporasse cloth He maketh no mention of your thinne stertch cake nor of myxing water with your wine He hath no worde of your manifolde crossings turnings and halfe turnings with the rest of the Apishe toyes whereof your Masse doth consist But he tooke bread and wine What Christ did at his last supper such as the present occasion did offer And he gaue thankes to his heauenly father and did presently distribute the same to those Disciples of his that were then present commaunding them all to eate and drinke thereof in the remembraunce of his death and passion as often as they should thinke it méete by a sacrament to celebrate the remembrance thereof Assuring them that in so doing they should be partakers of his body and bloud to the nourishing of their soules and bodies to euerlasting lyfe Here is a playne institution of the holye communion of the body and bloud of our sauiour Iesus Christ but for your transubstantiating consecration that you vse in your Masse here is no warrant at all By your owne iudgement therefore your Antichristian Clarkes are but vsurpers hauing no warrant in the worde of God to shewe for your doings in this point The matter therfore is not so playne on your side as you would haue men thinke it to be The lyke foundation you haue founde to builde your oblation vpon Christ hath sayd Which is giuen for you And to your simple iudgement there séemeth no little argument in this word Datur is giuen c. And therfore you conclude that Christ did at his last supper euen in the supper time offer his body for vs to his father Mathew and Marke make no mention of this Datur Mat. 26. Mar. 14. that you builde vpon Bilyke therefore it is not so great a matter as you would make of it For if the church can haue no sacrifice but that which is builded vpon Datur it is to be thought that Mathew and Marke knewe nothing of the Church sacrifice But in Luke you finde Quod pro vobis datur which is giuen for you not to you as Zwynglius and Cranmer his Scholer would haue it You conclude therefore that giuen for vs must néedes signifie offred for vs. So that in this place and many other but you name not one to giue is to offer Many places but none named And because all the Euangelistes haue it in the Gréeke expressed in the present tense c. you thinke you may certainely conclude because Christ sayth Datur pro vobis is giuen for you that euen then in the supper time he offered his body for vs to his father First I must say vnto you that when you shall shewe vs those places wherein to giue is to offer then we will weigh them
playne by that which in the booke that you cite De Ciuitate Dei he addeth to the wordes that you cite His words be these Propter quod etiam vocem illam in psalmo tricesimo nono eiusdem mediatoris per Prophetam loquentis agnoscimus sacrificium oblationem noluisti corpus autem perfecisti mihi quia pro illis omnibus sacrificijs oblationibus corpus eius offertur participantibus ministratur Wherfore sayth saint Austen We doe acknowledge that voyce of the same Meditatour speaking by the Prophet in the Psalme .39 in this wyse thou hast not desired sacrifice and oblation but thou hast made me a perfite bodye for his body is offered in stede of all those sacrifices and oblations and is ministred to such as be partakers thereof The continual offering of Christ This sacrifice bicause it is eternall after the order of Melchisedech is still presently offered by the Meaditor Christ who is both the priest and sacrifice and continually ministred to them that be partakers thereof by faith by that spiritual maner of ministration whereby spirituall lyfe is ministred from the head Christ to his members the Church But nowe to ende this matter your Auditorie must heare one place more which is playnest of all Oecumenius hath said Significat sermo c. If I might vse such libertie in cyting places as you doe in this I could easily finde plaine places ynough to proue whatsoeuer I lusted to take in hande Where the author hath sayde Significat sermo quod licet Christus non obtulerit carentem sanguine hostiam siquidem suum ipsius corpus obtulit attamen qui ab ipso fungentur sacerdotio c. The signification of this saying is that although Christ did not offer a sacrifice without bloud for he offered his owne body yet shall those that shall after him execute the office of priesthood whose high priest God doth vouchsafe to be offer without bloud For that is signified by this saying For euer c. These be the wordes of Oecumenius as Hentenius hath translated them out of the Gréeke But you had promised your Auditorie a playner place then this was beyng thus translated For this is playne against all that you haue done before in proouing that our Sauiour Christ did offer himselfe without bloud For this felow being thus translated sayth Although Christ did not offer a sacrifice without bloud c. Well therefore to make the place plaine in déede you haue amended the translation I trowe and you haue sayde Significat sermo quod non solum Christus obtulit incruentam hostiam siquidem suum ipsius corpus obtulit verum etiam qui ab ipso c. The word meaneth that not onely Christ offered an vnbloudy sacrifice for he offered his owne body but also they that shall vnder him vse the function of a priest whose Byshop he doth vouchsafe to be shall offer without shedding of bloud Well eyther you Oecumenius belyed in translating or your friend Hentenius haue belyed the Gréeke For here is playne contradiction The one sayth Hath not offred and the other sayth hath offered Wherfore it must néedes folow that the one hath made a lye And peraduenture if the Gréeke might be séene and well viewed you might be founde false harlots both for Hentenius was a Louanist c. For who so readeth the rest that Oecumenius hath collected out of other wryters that were before his time and patched togither into one commentarie vpon the Epistle to the Hebrues he shall haue but little occasion to thinke that Oecumenius could be of such minde concerning the meaning of these wordes Tu es sacerdos in aeternum thou art a priest for euer as in this place that you cite he sheweth himselfe to be when he sayth Christ could not be sayde to be a priest for euer but in respect of those sacrifycing priestes that are now by whose meanes he doth still offer and is offred For vpon the tenth Chapter and these wordes Singulis annis he sayth thus An ne nos semper offerimus hostias sanguine carentes sed vnius eiusdemque mortis Christi memoriam facimus vnum Christi corpus semper edimus Doe we alwaies offer sacrifices that haue no bloud But we doe make a memoriall of that one and the selfe same death of Christ and doe alway eate one body of Christ And vpon the worde Perpetuò he sayth Quum vna perpetuò sufficiat Seing that one sacrifice may suffice for euer And vpon these wordes In certitudine fidei In the certainty of fayth he sayth thus Quoniam autem nihil est post haec visibile neque templum id enim est caelum neque Pontifex is est Christus neque victima haec corpus est ipsius necessaria in posterum est fides Verum quia contingit credere simul haesitare ait In certitudine fidei Hoc est vt certisimus de his Oecumenius his meaning made plaine Bicause that hence forth there is nothing visible neither temple for that is heauen neyther high priest for that is Christ neyther sacrifice for that is his bodye fayth is from this tyme forward necessarie But bicause it doth happen that a man doth at one time both beleue and doubt he sayth in the certaintie of fayth that is that we may be certaine of these things Many such sayings as this are in that Commentarie wherefore corrupting of the Author in translating may be suspected as well on the behalfe of Hentenius as you although your doing doe more appéere then his But graunt that Oecumenius haue written in Gréeke euen as you haue reported him in Latine Is he knowne to be of such antiquitie and authoritie in the Church that his glose must be of more authoritie credit then the playne wordes of the text Saint Paule sayth Iam non est oblatio pro peccatis There is nowe no oblation for sinnes Seing Christ hath by one oblation made perfite such as be sanctified what néedeth there any more offering for sinne For the cause of the continuaunce of the offering was the imperfection of the offerings which could neuer take away sinne but alway put the offerers in minde of one that was to come who should be able by one oblation once offered fully to take away the sinnes of the whole worlde Oecumenius may haue no credite against saint Paule Your Oecumenius therefore being a great many of hundred yeres after saint Paule as may iustly be gathered by that he wrote after so many of the Gréeke wryters as he nameth in his booke should nowe be credited in that which he wryteth contrarie to saint Paule if that should be beleued as taught by him which you would so fayne maintaine by his wordes Your false dealings therfore being so playne as it is I néede not to stand vpon the opening of it any more but onely to desire the reader to waight the matter and he shall sée that the
vpon the same place is of the same minde And so are Ambrose and Hierome And to be short As many as haue written vpon this place doe vnderstande saint Paule to meane of the societie and vnitie that the eaters haue with them at whose table they do eate And the argument that saint Paule vseth is à Contrarijs of the contraries And therfore some of the interpreters do compare the spéech that he vseth here to that which our sauiour Christ vseth in the sermon that hée made in the mount Math. 6. Non potestis Deo seruire Mammoni You can not serue God and Mammon The argument therefore that you would haue vs thinke to be conteyned in this scripture is verie farre from the meaning of the place that you say it is conteyned in No forme of reasoning obserued by Watson But what néede I to spend any time in disprouing the parts of this Argument séeing it is but a méere Cauillation folowing no right forme of Argumentation For this is an infallible rule in Logicke as you knowe I am sure that of méere particulers there can no necessarie consequence folow But the antecedents in this argument are méere particulers Ergo the conclusion can not necessarily folow thereof The like argument you say may be made of the worde altare in saint Paule to the Hebrues where he sayth Habemus altare Hebr. 13. c. We haue an altare c. The argument that you say is conteyned in this place of scripture is thus If altare and sacrifice can not be the one without the other then saint Paule speaking of eating the altare must néedes meane the eating of the sacrifice made on the altare But altare and sacrifices are so annexed togither c. Ergo Saint Paule speaking of the eating of the altare must néedes meane c. This argument is like the other and therefore must be denied by the same rule And so shall not this argument proue that our Sacrament is a sacrifice before it is eaten Theophilact in Epist ad But Theophilact say you doth so take this place For he sayth Et nos inquit c. And we sayth saint Paule haue an obseruation c. Heb. 13. Either you felow some corrupted copie of Theophilacts Commentarie or else you haue of purpose corrupted the place your selfe For Iohannes Lonicerus folowing an auncient Gréeke copie hath trāslated it thus Nos inquit obseruationem habemus verum haud eam quae sit in huiusmodi cibis sed super altari siue impoluta immaculata hostia viuisici corporis We sayth Saint Paule haue an obseruation but not that which is in such maner of meates but vpon the altare or the vndefiled and vnspotted sacrifice of the bodie that quickneth or giueth life Here is no word that may signifie vnbloudie sacrifice Neither is there any place in this saying to conteyne an argument to proue that the sacrament is a sacrifice before it is receyued Neither doth Theophilactus take this place in any such meaning But he vnderstandeth saint Paule to meane of the Communion of the bodie and bloud of Christ when he sayth Habemus altare c. We haue an altare c. Which Communion Theophilact calleth Theophilactu meaning made plaine the vndefiled and vnspotted sacrifice of the quickning bodie folowing the custome that then was common among the fathers That was to call the sacramentes by the names of those thinges whereof they were sacraments This obseruation haue we that be Christians whereof the ministers of the Tabernacle that is to say such as beleue not in Christ though they be Iewes can not bée partakers Yea though they should be partakers of the outward obseruation yet could they not haue any part of that quickning bodie that Theophilact speaketh of because they remaine in incredulitie or vnbeliefe as he sayth afterwards in the same Chapter where he speaketh of the sacrifice of thankesgiuing for the bloud of Christ Here the Reader maye sée that Theophilact doeth in this place meane nothing lesse then such an vnbloudy sacrifice as you speake of But rather he may be vnderstanded to meane of such an vnbloudie sacrifice as saint Austen speaketh of when he saith thus Tunc enim ordinem legittimum consecrationis altaris cum gaudio celebramus quando altaria cordis vel corporis nostri munda pura August ser de tempore in conspectu diuinae maiestatis offerrimus Then doe we with ioy celebrate the lefull order of the consecration of the altare when we do in the presence of God offer the altare of our owne heart and bodie cleane and pure Chrysostome also wryting vppon the same place maye séeme to meane of the same sacrifice He writeth thus Num enim nos inquit Paules wordes expounded by Chrysostōe illa non custodimus Custodimus enim vehementius neque ipsis sacerdotibus ex his quicquam dantes Do not we sayth saint Paule obserue these things Truely we doe obserue them and that more earnestly neither doe we giue any part therof to the priestes Of what other sacrifice can this be spoken then those that be offered vpon the altars of our owne bodyes and hearts that is meditations and workes of obedience to God Whereof we giue no part to our selues that be the priestes and offerers but altogither to him that we offer this sacrifice to according to the order of offering that sacrifice the bloud whereof the highe Priest offered for sinne whereof the Priestes had no part for their fée but all the whole was burnt with fire For it is God alone that worketh in vs both the good will Phil. 2. and the performance thereof and therefore the whole prayse is to be ascribed to him and no part to be giuen to vs. So farre off are these auncient fathers from maintayning your carnall opinion of the corporall eating of Christes bodie in the sacrament thereof But if time would haue serued you you could haue made an argument of Daniels prophecie c. Well as time would suffer you bungle vp a reason and thus you say Antichrist can not take away the sacrifice that Christ offered on the Crosse nor the inward sacrifice of mans heart wherefore it is the Masse that is the continuall sacrifice Watson hath time ynough to proue his arguments and must be taken away by Antichrist I denie your argument Graunting you as much time for the proufe thereof with the other two that go before as you your selfe will take And because you would haue vs tell you what other sacrifice besides the Masse it is that Antichrist may take away I wil tell you what sacrifice it is in my iudgement and then let the indifferent reader be iudge betwixt my iudgement and yours In my iudgement the contynuall sacrifice that Antichrist may take away from the Church of Christ is that which saint Paule speaketh of when he sayth Hebr. 12. What sacrifice Antichrist may take
not offer him really and corporally and so set you against your selfe For you haue sayd oftentimes in these your two sermons that you receiue and offer christ in your Masse really corporally and naturally But you wil vnderstand by mystically as you doe by sacramentally and saye that mystically is verily and really For you haue learned of Gracians glose to say Statuimus id est Abrogamus We decrée Distinction Mysticall can not be reall c. that is we do abrogate you may giue to wordes what signification you lust But such as be learned in the tongues doe knowe that mysticall can not signifie reall naturall and corporall A number of things you say are done in your Masse That is to say Christ is by his omnipotent power presented to you and of you to his and your father His passion is renewed and the remission that was purchased and deserued thereby humbly prayed for to God that the same may be applyed vnto you by Christ c. Because all this is but your bare assertion without proofe either by authoritie or reason It shall suffice that I aunswere as saint Hierome doth in like case Hiero. in Mat. 23. Hoc quia de scripturis c Because this thing hath none authoritie of the scripture it is as easily contemned as allowed But here I must tell you that in one point you discent from many of your sort which say that the massing priest doth by his masse apply the passion of Christ to them that he sayth Masse for And you do but ioyne it with your fayth and deuotion in making humble prayer to God that it would please him to applye to you the remission that Christ hath deserued by his passion 1. Peter 2. To proue the third way that men offer Christ which is say you by the meditation of the minde c. You alledge the saying of Peter Sacerdotium Sanctum c. How well these wordes of Peter do serue to proue your offering of Christ onely by meditation of minde shal easily appeare to such as will reade the rest of that Chapter Spirituall sacrifices They shall finde that the spirituall sacrifices that Peter speaketh of there are a godly and honest lyfe full of good workes and not such idle meditations as you ymagine Now séeing that you haue deuided the offering vp of Christ into so many members and haue proued but one shall it not be a good argument to inculcate one reiect the rest This is the peculiar maner of the Papists the professed enimies of Christ euen as they doe in teaching the reall and corporall eating of Christes bodie in the sacrament so in this matter of the sacrificeing and offering of Christ to imagine a multitude of members where in déede there is but one And by such subtile shiftes they do seduce the vnlearned But when they be espyed and detected they appeare as these of yours do euen as they be deuilish and pernicious Sophistrie WATSON Furthermore if any man as yet doth stand in doubt whether men lawfully offer Christ to the father or no Diuision 28 let him call to remembraunce what I haue sayde before out of Dionisius Areopagita Dionisius Areopa speculat cap. 3. where the Bishop as he sayth doth excuse himselfe that he offereth the host of our saluation alledging that Christ did so commaund to be done saying do this in my remembrance Let him also remember the saying of the counsell at Nece Concilium Nicenum That the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the worlde is offered of the Priestes not after a bloudy maner Saint Augustine sayth Per hoc sacrificium in sorma serui sacerdos est ipse offerens ipse oblatio cuius rei sacramentum August de ciuit libro 10. Capit. 20. quotidianum esse voluit ecclesiae sacrificium cum ipsius corporis ipse sic caput ipsius capitis ipsa sit corpus tam ipsa per ipsum quam ipse per ipsam suetus offerri By this sacrifice in the forme of a seruaunt Christ is a priest being himselfe both the offerer and the oblation of which oblation hee woulde the daylye sacrifice of the Church should be a sacrament and seeyng he is the heade of that body and the Church is the body of that head aswell the Church by Christ as Christ by the Church is accustomed to be offered A notable place resoluing diuerse doubtes declaring that the dayly sacrifice of the Church which is the Masse is a sacrament of Christes passion representing the same and further that Christ offering himselfe vpon the Crosse did also in himselfe offer his misticall bodie the Church and thirdly that the church Christs body doth not only once or twise but is accustomed to offer Christ hir head to God in hir dayly sacrifice Heare yet a place of Saint Augustine as plaine as this Heberi in victimis pecorum prophetiam celebrabant futurae victimae quam Christus obtulit vnde iam Christiani peracti eiusdem sacrificij August contra Faustum lib. 20. cap. 18. memoriam celebrant sacro sancta oblatione perticipatione corporis sanguinis Christi The Iewes in their sacrifices of beastes did celebrate the prophecie of the sacrifice to come which Christ offred The Christen men nowe doe celebrate the memorie of the same sacrifice of Christ that is past by the most holy oblation and perticipation of Christes body and bloud Marke howe that he sayeth christen men celebrate the memory of Christes passion wherewithall euen by the offeryng of the same body that suffered passion I nede saye no more for this poynt that men doe and did vse from the beginning to offer Christ to the father CROWLEY August de Ciuitate Dei Lib. 10 cap. 20. The wordes that you cite out of Dionisius and the Councell at Nice are sufficiently answered in the places where you alledged them Concerning the place that you cite out of Austen you know how much those bookes De Ciuitate Dei haue bene corrupted and what great trauaile and paynes Lodouicus Viues tooke in conferring of diuers copies that thereby he might as much as it was possible set forth the worke of Austen in such sort as he wrote it Vpon these wordes Cum ipsius corporis ipse sit caput he noteth that in the bookes that he found in Colene and Bruges it is written thus Quae cum ipsius capitis corpus sit se ipsam per ipsum dicit offerre Which Church being the bodie of that head sayth that she doth through him offer vp hir selfe And in another Copie also he found it euen so sauing that in the place of dicit it was written discit so that the sentence is thus Which Church being the body of that head Watson will folow the most vnlikely doth learne by him to offer vp hir selfe Whatsoeuer you thinke of this diuersitie of readings I thinke that all the learned and wise that be trauayled in
worthinesse but for the merites of Christes passion Consider all this good people and see whether in this doing we make our workes a newe sauiour beside Christ or no Wee beleue also that our prayer is of more efficacye and strength in the presence of Christ in the time of the sacrifice then at any other tyme. For so sayth saint Cyprian Cyprian de coena In huius corporis presentia non superuacue mendicant lachrimae veniam nec vnquam patitur contriti cordis holocaustum repulsam In the presence of this bodie the teares of a man doth not begge forgiuenesse in vaine nor the sacrifice of a contrite heart doth neuer suffer repulse And as Chrisostome sayth In illa hora dum mors illa perficitur Chrysost in Act. hom 3. horrendū sacrificium quasi sodente rege quaecūque volueris perficies In that houre whiles that christs death is celebrate and his fearefull sacrifice euen as the king were sitting vpon his mercy seat whatsoeuer thou wilt thou shalt bring to passe Chrysost ad Philip. hom 3. Stante siquidem vniuerso populo manus in coelum extendente caetu item sacerdotali verendoque posito sacrifitio quomodo deum non placaremus pro istis orantes For when all the people standeth holding vp their handes to heauen and the companie of the priestes likewise and the fearefull and honourable sacrifice is vpon the aultare how shall not we mittigate God praying for them And therfore specially then in the Masse time we pray for the whole Church for al princes and high powers for all Bishops and pastors for our selues our friendes and all that be present for peace for plenty for al that we haue nede vpon as Chrysostome wryteth Chrysost in Act. Hom. 21 In manibus est hostia adsunt Angelij adsunt Arcangeli adest filius dei cum tanta horrore astent omnes astent illi clamentes omnibus silentibus putas temere haec fieri ergo alia temer quae pro ecclesia pro sacerdotibus offeruntur quae pro plenitudine acubertate absit The host of our sacrifice is in the priestes handes the aungels be present the archangels be present the sonne of God is present When all men stand with such trembling when the aungels stand crying the other holding their peace doest thou thinke these things are done in vaine Then the other also be done in vaine both that be offered for the Church for the priestes and also for plentie and aboundaunce God forbid One notable place of Chrysostome I thinke yet expedient to rehearse vnto you concerning this matter Chrysost de in com dei natu hom 3. Vt homines ramos olearum gerentes mouere reges consueuerent eoque arboris genere misericordiam commemorant humanitatem sic angeli tunc proramis oleaginis corpus domini ipsum protendentes rogant pro genere humano quasi dicant pro his domine rogamus quos tu adeo dilexisti vt pro corum salute mortem obires animam cruce efflares pro his supplicamus pro quibus ipse tuum largitus es sanguinem pro his oramus pro quibus corpus hoc immolasti Like as men bearing braunches of Oliue trees are wont to moue kinges to compassion and with that kinde of tree do put them in remembraunce of mercy and pittie euen so the aungels then in the sacrifice time in steade of Oliue braunches holding foorth the bodie of Christ pray for mankinde as saying thus Lorde we praye for them whom thou hast so loued that for their saluation thou hast suffered death and spent thy lyfe vpon the crosse we make supplication for them for whom thou hast giuē thy bloud for them we pray for whome thou hast offered this same very bodie Now considering this felowship with aungels this humilitie of man this pacifying of God this efficacie of prayer for the sacrifice sake this knowledging of our vnworthinesse this our onely trust in the passion of Christ can any man iustly burthen vs that we make our workes a newe sauiour beside Christ Furthermore beside praying for those things we lacke we also by this sacrifice giue thākes for our redemption for the hope of our health and saluation and for all Gods gifts not onely in our wordes but also in dede the verie oblation it selfe is a reall giuing of thankes to God as Chrysostome sayth Quod erat apud eum omnibus preciosius vnigenitum pro nobis filium dedit cum essemus inimici Chrysost in Mat. ho. 26. nec dedit solum sed nostram mensam fecit illum omnia faciens ipse pro nobis donando videlicet gratiarum actores ipsa donorum suorum vbertate faciendo c. That thing that was with him most precious of all his onely sonne hee hath giuen for vs euen when wee were hys enemies and not onely hath giuen him for vs but also hath made him our table doyng himselfe all things for vs both rewarding vs and also with the plentie of his giftes making vs giuers of thankes and because man in many thinges is vnthankfull to God he in al thinges taketh vpon him our person and supplyeth that we ought to do and euen by the very nature of the sacrifice which is his bodie stirreth vs to continuall giuing of thankes for all his benefites so that our sacrifice beyng Christes bodie is both a singuler gift of God and also is a reall giuing of thankes for all his other giftes By this it euidently appeareth that nothing doth more exercise our fayth in the knowledge of our selues and god nothing doth more encrease our charitie and hope in the mercie of God then the Masse Where as Iob was wont to do for his children the Church of God our mother being careful for al hir children least any of them by negligence infirmitie or wilfulnesse haue offended dayly prayeth and maketh sacrifice for them and by that most acceptable sacrifie of hir husbandes bodie and bloud doth mittigate almightie god doth multiply distributeth vnitie Nothing more setteth forth the benefite of Christ because in thys sacrifice of the Masse wee protest to haue all thinges by Christ redemption remission sanctification and saluatiō and do aske begge of God all goodnesse by Christ knowledging that wee haue nothing to set against the wrath of God but the passion of Christ which after this maner by thys solemne representation as Christ hath instituted we dayly renue that it might bee continually celebrate by mystery that once was offered for our raunsome that because the effect of mans redemption ceaseth not but is to euery one in his time applied by continuall succession so also that the sacrifice of this redemption should neuer cease but be alwayes to all men present in grace and alwayes liue in perpetuall memorie Two vntruthes you affirme with one breath One is that in making your Masse a sacrifice for sinne CROWLEY Two vntruthes affirmed with one breath
The conclusion that you would haue vs make doth verye well For by that conclusion you confesse that Christs offering of himselfe in his supper was a visible Action and that he commaunded his disciples to do as they sawe him doe Then eyther he made thrée crosses vpon the cup and bread togither The forme of the Popish Masse and again thrée crosses vppon them both togither and one crosse vpon the bread and one vpon the cup and then one vpon the bread breathing out fiue wordes vpon it and then one vpon the cup lifting vp and laying downe c. or else the Masse that you haue in the popishe Church is not that which Christ did then institute You haue graunted now that in Christes institution there is no word of offering but in your forme of Masse you say you haue expresse wordes of offering We would faine know then where you had those wordes You say that Basil Chrysostome Ambrose and the generall counsaile at Ephesus had them and the latest of these was .1300 Diuisione 9. Cyprian li. 2. Epistol 3. yeares ago But the Chronicles will pull you backe an hundred yeares and more But what if all these had it doeth this proue that Christ had it In your other sermon you coulde cite a rule out of Cyprian that was nighe hand .200 yeares before the eldest of the foure that you named nowe wherein he sayth In sacrificio quod Christus est non nisi Christus sequēdus est In that sacrifice which is Christ none but Christ is to be folowed If you can not proue therefore that Christ vsed those toyes that you do vse in your Masse you ought not by Cyprians rule to vse them though neuer so many haue vsed them before you And if it can not be proued by scripture that Christ made a sacrifice of himself in his supper you may not make a sacrifice of him in your Masse c. But it is sufficient for your purpose that you haue proued that it is not so newly brought in as we woulde slaunder but it is the most auncient thing in the Masse Well graunt it be so Yet is neither that nor your Masse so auncient as you woulde make it nor so auncient that we may take it for Christes institution And all these that you haue named doe speake of a Communion and not of a Masse and do cal it a sacrifice for such cause as I haue often declared in this aunswere To our other reason you say that it is both a commemoration and a sacrifice as the Paschall Lambe was Our Argument is in this forme A commemoration of any thing is not that thing Whatsoeuer is the commemoration of a thing is not neyther can be the thing it selfe whereof it is a cōmemoration But the sacrament is a commemoration of christes sacrifice Ergo it is not neither can be the sacrifice it selfe Your example therefore that you make of the Paschall Lambe toucheth not our reason For it was not a Commemoration of it selfe neyther was it the thing it selfe whereof it was a Commemoration As for your similitude that you take of the Lambs of the olde lawe is not woorth a button For it foloweth not that because those Lambes were very reall Lambes in déede therefore as oft as the sacrament of Christes bodie and bloud is ministred it must néedes be the real Lambe of god in déede and the same that Christ himselfe is I am sure all the Logique you haue can not proue this a good Argument That Christ offered himselfe in his last supper you haue not yet proued much lesse haue you proued that he did then institute any sacrifice wherein we should continually offer him What Chrysostome meaneth by offering and sacrifice in that place that you cite doth plainely appeare by his owne wordes in the same Homily Non aliud sacrificium sicut pontifex Chrysostome ad haebraeos homil 17. sed idipsum semper facimus magis autem recordationem sacrificij operamur We doe not make another sacrifice as did the high priest but we do alwayes make the verie same yea rather we do worke the remembrance of a sacrifice Thus hath Chrysostome made his owne meaning so plaine that it helpeth your purpose nothing at all WATSON Diuision 32. The lyke argument they make against the reall presence It is a signe ergo not the thing whereof it is a signe The foolishnesse of this reason euery Baker can tell who setteth one loafe vpon his stall to signifie there is bread to sell within his house Which lofe is both a signe of bread to be sold also is very bread to be sold it self of the same baking the other is Euē so the body of Christ in the sacramēt is Christs very body in dede and also a signe of the same body as saint Augustine sayth Carne sanguine vtroque inuisibili spirituali August li. Sent. prosp intelligibili signatur visibile Domini nostri Iesu Christi corpus palpabile plenum gratia omnium virtutum diuina maiestate By the fleshe and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ both being in the sacrament inuisible spirituall and intelligible is signified the visible body of Christ and palpable full of the grace of all vertues and of the godly maiestie And euen so likewise verye Christ is offered in the mistery in signe and commemoration of himselfe offred vpon the crosse as saint Augustine sayth Christiani iam paracti sacrificij memoriam celebrant sacro sancta oblatione participatione corporis sanguinis Christi August cont Faust lib. 20. Capit. 18. Christen men nowe doe celebrate a memorie of Christes sacrifice already past by the most holy oblation and participation of Christes body and bloud The like saying hath saint Gregory and diuers Authors which I omit to rehearse Gregor ho. 22. because the time is past CROWLEY Euery Baker can tell the foolishnesse of the reason that we make when we say It is a signe Ergo not the thing whereof it is a signe say you And I say that euery Bakers boy can tell that he is but a deceytfull Sophister that will when he hath bought the lofe that stood on the stall for a signe say that he hath bought all the bread in the Bakehouse whereof that lofe was a signe If that reason be foolishe then is not your reason wyse that will proue by that similitude that Christ the lambe of God al those Lambes of God that all the priests of the popes Church eyther haue or shall offer in their Masses are but all one in number nature condition dignitie The Baker and his boy Let the baker and his boy therfore discusse the folly of these two reasons and doe you consider better our reasons when we say that the signe is not that thing whereof it is a signe For the saying is saint Austens and therfore not to be reiected Austust in Iohn tract 26. vnlesse you can
institution Looke throughout al the scripture and shew me where euer Christ did institute that by eating of bread and wine men should be partakers of his body and bloud And if it can not bee shewed as I am sure it can not then it was a playne forged lye bearing men in hande that Christ instituted that he neuer thought wherby appeareth that they had not this intention which is required to the due consecration and also that they in words pretending to haue a zeale to maintaine Christes institution in their deedes shewed themselues enimies and aduersaries to the same Goyng about to proue that we haue a new vnderstanding of priuate you vtter your owne straunge vnderstanding therof CROWLEY I thinke it shall be hard for you to find one good author that doth vse it as you vnderstand it You say saint Thomas doth vse it so but you tel vs not where But though saint Thomas do vse it so yet must we know him to be a more approued Latinist before we folow him and make him our authour in so waightie a matter as this Cicero and other approued authours doe vse it as contrarie to publike and common Solemne is not contrary to priuate but neuer as contrarie to solemne as you say saint Thomas doth Solennis is properly that which is vsed but once euery yeare and that at a time certaine and accustomed The contrarie to that must néedes be the thing that is neuer so vsed but oftener or seldomer as occasion is offred You say we speake agaynst that we knowe not what and we are deceyued in our owne imagination but we can proue that you are deceyued by your foolishe imitation Your barbarous babling lawiers haue vsed a worde of their owne making in such sort as you would vse Solennis making it contrary to Priuus and they say solempnizare matrimoniū for celebrare matrimonium To celebrate mariage or to make an open contract of mariage in the open face of the Church The imitation of these eloquent Latinists hath deceyued both you and saint Thomas if he wryte as you report of him As for your Gréeke worde you might full well haue spared vnlesse it had made more for your purpose for nothing is more contrarie to that which is done by one alone and to himselfe then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is For you your selfe say it is a publike ministerie which can not be your Masse when the priest ministreth to none but to himself though he do it in the presence of ten thousand and at the high altare in saint Peters Church at Rome and on saint Peters day It may be sayde that it is openly done and so is secretly the contrary but it cannot be truely sayd to be publikely done because it is done but by one and to himselfe alone Yea though there were a small number that did communicate with the priest in the presence of a great number that were not partakers with them yet shoulde it not be publike because it is not common to as many as it should be common vnto So farre of is your Gréeke worde from proouing your priuate Masse to bée publike Who they be that can well away with your Masse but not with your priuate Masse you tell vs not but I tell you that I haue sayd and doe say Sine fine without ceasing that your priuate Masse is against Christes institution Yea I doe not onely say it but I will proue it also euen by your owne wordes concerning those thrée things that you say the sacrament conteyneth Priuate Masse proued to be against the institution of Christ as it is the institution of Christ I reason thus Whatsoeuer Masse hath not all these thrée things is against the institution of Christ But your priuate Masse lacketh one of them that is Participation Ergo it is against the institution of Christ The participation of prayers oblation and merites will not serue here There must be participation of that which is consecrated that is the bread and wine But that is not in your priuate Masse Ergo c. Say not now that we neuer proue that your priuate Masse is against Christes institution Thus going about to proue your negatiue you haue ministred matter to proue our affirmatiue Well you procéede to the foure things that are required in the due consecration The first is necessarie matter c. We say as you doe that the necessarye matter is breade made of such graine as is vsuall in the place which commonly is wheate and wine made of Grapes But that the bread must of necessitie be vnleauened the wine mixed with water we do in plaine wordes denie And yet do wée not rayse vp againe any rotten Heresie at all For we make no necessitie either of the one or of the other A doctor of your owne hath taught vs Nicholaus de Orbellis 4. Sent. Dest 11. quest 1. that it must be vsuall breade and conuenient nourishment His wordes be these Non sufficit autem ad hoc pasta cum non sit cibus vsualis nec conueniens nutrimentum Paste or starch is not sufficient matter for this conuersion or turning of substaunce because it is not vsuall bread nor conuenient nourishment In mine aunswere to the .12 diuision of this sermon is to be séene more of this matter And your saint Thomas hath told vs thus Non est autem de necessitate sacramenti quòd sit Azymus vel fermentatus Parte 3. q. 74. Art 4. Ibid. Art 7. quia in vnoquoque confici potest It is not of necessitie of the sacrament that the bread should eyther be vnleauened or leauened because it may be done in eyther And for the water he sayth also Dicendum quod admixtio aquae ad viuum non est de necessitate sacramenti We must saye that the mingling of the water with the wine is not of the necessitie of the sacrament And saint Thomas sayth that saint Gregorie maketh the matter plaine Gregorius in Regest for the libertie that we teach in this matter For he sayth thus Romana Ecclesia offert azymos panes propterea quòd dominus sine vlla commixtione suscepit carnem Sed certae Ecclesiae offerunt fermentatum pro eo quod verbum patris indutum est carne sicut fermentum miscetur farinae Vnde sicut peccat presbiter in Ecclesia latinorum celebrans de pane sermentato ita peccaret presbiter Grecus in Ecclesia Grecorū celebrans de Azymo pane quasi peruertens Ecclesiae suaeritum The Church of Rome doth offer vnleauened loaues of bread because the Lord hath receyued flesh without any myxture or mingling But certaine Churches doe offer leauened bread because the worde of the father that is the sonne of God hath taken vpon him fleshe euen as leauen is mingled with meale Wherefore euen as that priest that in the Latine Church doth celebrate with leauened bread doth sinne Both sinne a like so the priest that in the
are reuiued from death c. For it is plaine by that which I haue cyted out of the same Chapter of Cyrillus that he meaneth to teache that the receyuing of the outwarde sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is all one with the eating of the Passouer Lambe in Egypt Lib. 11. Capit. 27. One other place you haue founde in Cyrillus But by lyke your conscience tolde you that it serueth not so well for your purpose as you would wishe and therefore you doe but teach Cyrill to speake after you in English a tongue that he neuer vnderstood but if he were nowe lyuing Watson teacheth Cyrill to speake Englishe and should vnderstande howe you haue handled him therein he would I doubt not giue you worthy thankes And that other men of iudgement and knowledge may iudge betwéene Cyrill and you I will cite his wordes in latine as Trapezontius hath translated him out of Gréeke Nexus igitur vnionis nostrae ad Deum Patrem Christus est nobis quidem vt homo Deo autem Patri vt Deus naturaliter vnitus Non erat enim possibile corruptioni subiectam hominis naturam ad immortalitatem conscendere nisi natura immortalis atque incommutabilis ad eam descendisset ac communione participationeque sui a mortalitatis nostrae terminis ad suum bonum reformatos eleuaret Christ therefore sayth Cyrill is the bonde of our vnitie with God the father Who is naturally vnited vnto vs as a man and vnto God the father as God For it was not possible for mans nature being subiect to corruption to clyme vp to immortalitie except the immortall and vnchaungable nature had descended vnto it and by the communion and participation of it selfe lifted vp from the bondes of our mortalitie such as be reformed or fashioned a newe according to the goodnesse of that nature Nowe let all men that haue eyther learning or wyt iudge how faithfully you deale with Cyrill when you say in his name Except the immortall nature of Christ doe reforme and promote it from mortalitie to lyfe eternall by participation of his mortall fleshe For who séeth not that Cyrill doth there speake of that immortall and vnchaungable nature in Christ which came downe from the throne of maiestie in heauen to take our mortall nature vpon him that he might frame and fashion vs lyke vnto himself And so exalt vs aboue the boundes of our mortall nature Which thing he did by receyuing our nature vnto himselfe and gyuing his nature vnto vs. And so is he the bond whereby we are fastened to God But this is the maner of all your sort in cyting the sayings of the auncient fathers Here perchaunce some men will stumble WATSON Diuision 23 considering that we beleeue the bodyes of yong innocentes shall rise to euerlasting lyfe which we knowe neuer receyued Christes fleshe in the sacrament But their doubt in this point may sone be resolued if they consider that scripture and the olde fathers speake after the ordinarie working of God making no preiudice to the absolute power of God who oftentimes giueth the proper grace of the sacraments before the outwarde receyuing of the same As for example Without baptisme in water and the holy Ghost no man can enter into the kingdome of heauen Iohn 3. as S. Iohn wryteth Yet we read that the theefe on the right hande of Christ was saued and neuer baptised and many conuerted sodainely to our faith were made martyrs before they could come to baptisme in water And saint Ambrose thinketh Valentinian the Emperour to be saued which dyed in his iourney before saint Ambrose which he sent for could come vnto him And therefore though baptisme be necessarie and the ordinarie dore to saluation yet the proper grace of baptisme is sometimes giuen by Gods extraordinarie and absolute power to such as without contempt of the sacrament by their wyll and earnest desire receyue the sacrament of baptisme though not in deede euen so they that be baptised and haue an earnest desire and longing to receyue Christs body and bloud in the sacrament and by some violence or impediment are letted to receyue it in deede or such children as by baptisme haue faith infused into their hartes and are preuented by death before they can prooue and trie themselues which probation saint Paule seemeth to require before the receypt of Christes body hauing no contempt nor refusal of the same 1. Cor. 11. but depart in the faith of Christ These I saye receyue the grace of the sacrament which is the immortalitie of their bodies and lyfe eternall by Gods extraordinary working without the receypt of the sacrament in deede By this little yee maye perceyue what may be further sayde to this obiection if the time and my principall matter would suffer me CROWLEY Watson is not able to aunswere his owne obiection By making and aunswering of this obiection you would haue it séeme to all men that this is all that any man can stumble at And that this one stumbling stock being remoued the way is so playne and cleare that none can stumble vnlesse it be such as wilfully will stumble in euery playne way But as you are not able to aunswere this obiection to the satisfiyng of any that knoweth and will consider what the vse of a sacrament is so may there much more be obiected whervnto you and the rest of your mind shall neuer be able to make such aunswere as may be allowed among those that haue knowledge It might be obiected that Adam and Eue with all the holy men and women that were before this sacrament was instituted and looked for the promise of God made in his sonne shall rise agayne in the last day and haue euerlasting lyfe It might also be obiected that all both good and bad shall in that day rise againe and lyue for euer eyther in euerlasting ioy or in euerlasting torments and wishing to die death shall flie from them I am sure you being a Doctor of diuinitie doe knowe this to be true wherfore I shall not néede to prooue it The wordes of Christ Iohn 5. Marc. 9. in the fift of Iohn and the ninth of Marke may suffise for the proufe of both All that be in the graues c. And their worme dyeth not neyther doth the fyre go out c. But let vs sée howe you haue aunswered this obiection You say that this doubt may sone be resolued if men will consider that the scripture and the olde fathers doe speake after the ordinarie working of God making no preiudice to the absolute power of God But how haue you proued that I graunt that the scripture and the fathers doe so speake doe make no preiudice to the absolute power of God Shall we thinke therefore that if the resurrection of our bodies and euerlasting lyfe be one of the effectes of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud he must néedes vse his absolute
power in gyuing the resurrection of body euerlasting life to as many as we wil hold from the receyuing of the sacrameÌ„t It appéereth that in Aunstens time such as were of your minde durst not be so bolde The vse in saint Austens time as to presume vpon the absolute power of God in this point and therefore they ministred the sacrament of Christes body to the Infants so sone as they were baptised but we kéepe them from the receyuing of it till they bée growne to discretion and be sufficiently instructed in Christ and doe know how to examine themselues before they come to the lords table And if they die in this meane while shal we think that God must vse his absolute power in raising their bodies giuing them euerlasting lyfe We might as well kéepe all our children from baptisme and saye that God shall giue them the proper grace of baptisme by his absolute power without the sacrament And so should we be all one with the Anabaptistes But vayne is all that you haue affirmed of this effect of your sacrament Cyrill li. 4. Cap. 15. and therfore the obiection and the aunswere that you make can not be other then vayne We holde with Cyrillus whose wordes you haue cyted that bicause the sonne of God is become man all mankinde shall in the last daye arise out of the earth All the ofspring of the first Adam that sinned shall be raised agayne by the second Adam that neuer sinned himselfe neyther was partaker of the sinne of the first The cause of the resurrection and immortalitie The Infants therefore whome you call Innocents being of the ofspring of the first Adam shall be raysed agayne by the second whether they be partakers of any sacraments or not For the resurrection and immortalitie commeth not by the receyuing of sacraments Rom. 6. but by the incarnation of the sonne of God And euerlasting lyfe in ioye and felicitie is the frée gift of God thorow Iesus Christ our Lorde And this frée gift was giuen to all the elect and chosen children of God euen before the foundations of the world were layd But the reprobates which be not chosen in Christ shall haue by Christ that hath taken mans nature vpon him the resurrection and immortalitie of their bodies but bicause that they beléeue not in Christ they shall haue this immortalitie in those torments that their first fathers sinne did deserue The receyuing of sacraments can not make the reprobates partakers of endlesse felicitie neyther can the lack of them be a cause August De catechiz rudib Quest in Leu. 9.84 why Gods elect should not be partakers thereof But they be the visible seales of heauenlye things and being receiued without those heauenly things wherof they be feales they profite the receyuers nothing at all more then circumcision did Esau and baptisme Simon Magus But when they doe both concurre then doe the outwarde and visible sacraments confirme the fayth and comfort the weake and wauering conscience These therefore be the effectes of Christes sacraments and not such as you imagine But let vs sée what you haue more to say of this effect that you last spake of This effect is commonly taught of many auncient authors with one consent For Ignatius one of the oldest calleth this sacrament Mâ—dicamentum immortalitatis Ignatius ad Ephesos antidotum non moriendi a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death And the great generall counsayle at Nice Concilium Nicenum de Eucharistia wryteth that they beleeued these sacramentes of the body and bloud of Christ to be Simbola resurrectionis nostrae the pledges or causes of our resurrection And Athanasius who was one of the chiefe men in that counsaile calleth it Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem vitae aeternae Athanasius de peccato in spiritum sanctum A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodyes to the immortalitie of eternall lyfe Ireneus that was a great deale older wryting against the heretikes that denied the resurrection of the fleshe Ireneus lib. 4. Cap. 34. proueth it and confuteth them by the effect of this sacrament saying thus Quomodò dicunt carnem in corruptionem deuenare quae á corpore sanguine Domini alitur By what reason doe they say that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lord and in his fift booke he sayth Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse donationis Dei Ireneus lib. 5. quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur How doe they denie our fleshe to be able to receyue the gift of God which is eternall life which is nourished with the body and bloud of Christ The greatest argument that Ireneus could bring to proue the resurrection of our fleshe to lyfe eternall was to alledge the cause of that resurrection which was the nourishing of our fleshe with the lyuely fleshe of Christ in the sacrament not to this temporall lyfe as other earthly meates doe but to eternall lyfe as onely Christes fleshe doth and this cause was beleued and confessed of all men at that time both Catholikes and heretikes In so much that these heretikes of our time that denie this cause that is to say Christes fleshe to be really giuen in the sacrament and eaten of our fleshe doe giue occasion yea I am afrayde doe giue more then occasion for vs to thinke of them that they denie also the resurrection of our fleshe which is the proper effect of it although as yet they dare not impudently burst out in plaine words though they expresse the same euidently to all mens eyes in their carnall and beastly lyues To proue this effect further I could bring in many moe authorities Hilarius De Trinit li. 8. as the saying of Hilarius Haec vero vitae nostra causa est quod in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christum habemus This is the verie cause of our life that we haue Christ by his fleshe dwelling in our fleshe But I will not in so playne a matter through my curiositie seeme to mistrust the credire of you that be faythfull men Therefore to conclude knowing the greatnesse and excellencie of this effect shall we ascribe it to so base creatures as be bread and wine which be not able to worke such an effect God forbid CROWLEY Many auncient authors you saye doe with one consent teach this effect As Ignatius the fathers of the Nicene counsaile Athanasius Ireneus and Hilarius and many moe you could bring in but you will not by curiositie séeme to mistrust the credite of your auditorie Well let vs sée what your auncient authors haue sayde First Ignatius speaking of your Sacrament hath sayde Medicamentum immortalitatis c. A Medicine of immortalitie c. In hys Epistle to the Ephesians he sayth thus State fratres firmi in fide Iesu Christi in eius
te in conspectu Domini video c. As often as I doe sée thée sighing in the sight of the Lorde I doe not doubt but the holy ghost doth breath vpon thée And when I doe behold thée wéeping then I doe perceyue him pardoning thy sinnes If thou doe defile the temple of the holy ghost if thou defile and make filthy Gods sanctuarie that is within thée if thou doe communicate of the cup of Deuilles with the cup of Christ it is a contumely and not a religion an iniurie not a deuotion It is Idole seruice and horible abhomination to be wylling to serue Baall and Christ togither Stand back with thine Idole chapels thou that gapest after gaines and folowest rewards c. I referre it to the iudgement of all indifferent readers whether these wordes may maintayne your Popishe Masse or not Is not your Masse such a money matter that it is growne into a Prouerb No penie no Pater noster Such places doe you pick to maintaine your Masse But in Chrysostome you haue found other maner places In his third Homily vpon the Acts you say he hath these words In illa hora. c. In the houre c. In that hole Homily is not one word that maye be wrested to that sense but thus I finde it written there Chrisost in Act. hom 3. Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui saluifiant sed multò plures qui pereant I doe not suppose that there be many among the priestes that can be saued but verie many moe that must perish And least any man should thinke that he had spoken these words rashely he sayth before Non temerè dico sed vt affectus sum ac sentio I speake not this rashely but euen as I am affected and doe thinke Mo priestes damned than saued It should séeme by these wordes that Chrysostome did not thinke that prayers made at the Masse time should be so effectuall as you boast of For if they were moe priests should be saued then perishe For who should so soone be partakers of those prayers as they that make them But in the .21 Homily vpon that booke Chrysost in Act. hom 21. you finde other maner wordes For there he sayeth In manibus est hostia adsunt Angeli c. The host of our sacrifice is in the priestes handes the Aungels be present c. And peraduenture the wordes that you sayde are in the thirde Homily doe folow in this place For he sayth thus Quid putas pro martyribus offerri quod vocantur in illa hora licet martyres sint Etiam pro martyribus magnus honor nominari Domino praesente dum mors illa perficitur horrendum sacrificium ineffabilia sacramenta Nam quasi sedente Rege quaecunque voluerit perficit vt autem surrexerit quaecunque dicit frustra dicit ita tunc quandiu posita fuerint mysteria omnibus honor maximus in memoria haberi What doest thou thinke is offered for the Martyrs in that they are named in that houre notwithstanding they be Martyrs Yea it is a great honor for the Martyrs to be named in the presence of the Lorde whiles that death and the horrible sacrifice and the vnspeakable sacraments are performed For euen as when the king sitteth in iudgement he finisheth whatsoeuer matters he lusteth but so soone as he is risen whatsoeuer he sayth is in vayne euen so is it then also so long as the mysteries shall be set forth it is the greatest honor to euery man to be had in memorie If these were the words that you ment of before Shamefull chaunging of wordes then haue you shamefully chaunged some of them For where find you Quaecunque volueris perficies Whatsoeuer thou wilt thou shalt bring to passe The words would not otherwise serue your purpose so wel and therfore you must haue liberty to chaunge the third person into the second leaue out the rest that should declare the wryters meaning But what néede I to trouble the reader with any moe words about the meaning of thys wryter seing Erasmus the translatour doth in his short Epistle set before the translation giue all wise men to vnderstande that the worke was neuer of Chrysostomes wrytings but of some one that lyke an Ape went about to counterfait Chrysostomes doings To the place that you cite out of the thirde Homily vpon the Epistle to the Philippians Hiero in Math. 23. I must aunswere with Hierome Hoc quia de scripturis c. Because this hath none authoritie of the scriptures it is as easily reiected as allowed And the rather to be reiected because that in all Chrysostomes workes where he had by the text greater occasion to vtter such doctrine there is none such founde But in this and certaine other places where he had none or verie small occasion to speake any thing of the state of the dead he playeth or some other in his name the Purgatorie Proctor euen as though he had bene a Purgatory Chaplayne or soule Masse priest Chrisost de incomprehens Dei natura homil 3. Fourthly Chrysostome hath sayde Vt homines ramos olearum gerentes c. Like as men bearing branches of Oliue trées c. He séemeth to haue marked but a little the maner of Chrysostomes teaching that vnderstandeth his wordes in this place as you séeme to doe He findeth great fault with his Auditorie because they vsed to depart out of the Church immediatly after his sermons were ended and did not tarie to be partakers of the holy communion of the body and bloud of Christ and the common prayers that were made in the ministration therof And as his maner was he laboureth to moue their affections and to that ende he vseth those maner of spéeches that you alledge But what maketh this for your Masse Wherein such as be present are not partakers of the mysteries nor yet doe vnderstande the wordes much lesse the sentences of the prayers that are made This place may serue verye well to proue that the prayer that is made by the Minister and the hole congregation in the time of the ministration of the holy communion is most effectuall and euen as much as if all the Aungels in heauen did as Chrysostome would haue his hearers imagine that they doe As for that which you alledge out of the twentie sixt Homily vpon Mathew Chrysost in Mat ho. 26. could haue no colour of proouing your purpose were it not that you helpe it a little in Englishing the Latine of that which foloweth those wordes that you cite in Latine Bearing your hearers and readers in hand that Chrysostome hath said that Christ euen by the very nature of the sacrifice which is his bodie doth stirre vs vp to continuall giuing of thanks where as Chrysostome maketh no mention at all of Christes bodie in that place The sacrament of christes body and bloud called our table but of a kinde of sacrifice
whereby God doth stirre vs vp to continuall thankesgiuing which is the same that before he hath sayde is made our Table That is the sacrament of his bodie and bloud wherein that sonne of God that was giuen for vs is liuely represented by visible signes and we moued thereby to be continually thankfull to God for the lyfe that our soules haue by his death By this it doth euidently appeare that nothing doth more exercise our fayth in the knowledge of God and our selues nothing doeth more increase our charitie and hope in the mercy of God then doth the right vse of the holy Communion And although Iob in offering sacrifice for his sonnes did shewe himselfe thereby a louing and carefull father yet can not we acknowledge that strumpet to be our mother that will make a sacrifice of hir husbands heart bloud For Gods wrath can not be mittigated with any such sacrifice But we are the children of that mother that acknowledgeth hir selfe and all hir Children to be alreadie washed and made pure and cleane by the bloud of hir husband which he in his owne person offered to make both hir and all hir children cleane thereby And there is nothing that doth more set forth the benefite of Christ then doth the right vse of the sacrament of this death and bloud shedding For in it wée protest that we haue all thinges by Christ and so forth as you haue sayde of the Masse Which is a méere mans inuention and no ordinaunce of God The other obiections I will but shortly touch for they be of no strength or authoritie one is this WATSON Diuision 31. There is no mention nor no one worde of any oblation in the supper Ergo Christ made no oblation there a goodly reason So there is no mention made neyther of Christes owne mouth nor of any the Euangelistes concerning the oblation of the Paschall lambe yet we knowe most certainely by the olde Testament that the Paschall Lambe was neuer eaten but it was offered before which we are sure Christ did obserue litterally till the truth of that figure were established And also what is more sure then that Christ offred himselfe vpon the crosse and yet neyther Christes owne wordes nor any of the foure Euangelistes wryting the story of the passion make any mention in playne and expresse termes of oblation or offering Though we know it by other scripture sufficiently But their collection is all false they should haue concluded thus Ergo if there any oblation it is reall and not vocalle and so it is in deede Luc. 22. and therefore Christ sayde Hoc facite doe this as ye see mee doe But in the forme of our Masse there be expresse wordes of offering for the rude and ignoraunt and for the euidence of the truth Vnde memores nos domini c. Wherefore we thy seruauntes and people being mindfull of thy sonne Christ our Lorde of his blessed passion resurrection and glorious ascention doe offer to thy most excellent maiestie of thy rewardes and giftes this pure sacrifice thys holy and vndefiled sacrifice the holye bread of euerlasting life the cup of perpetuall saluation There be also other wordes of oblation folowing these words saint Basill hath them Chrysostome saint Ambrose the generall counsell holden at Ephesus the latest of these was a thousand three hundred yeres ago that it might appere that it is not newly brought in as they would slaunder it but the most auncient thing in all the Masse They reason also thus It is a commemoration ergo no sacrifice as who saye the paschall Lambe being the figure of this was not both a commemoration and a sacrifice for the Lambe was instituted to be offered for a memorie of the delyueraunce of the Iewes from the sworde of the Aungell that smote the first begotten of the Egiptians and therefore the Iewes kept this worde of offering the Lambe for a statute for them and their children for euermore Euen so this Lambe of God that lyeth vpon the table of our aultar is a sacrifice offered of vs in commemoration of our delyueraunce from the Deuill by the death of Christ In the olde Testament the first Lambe offered before their deliuery the Lambe which was offered euery yeare after in memory of the same deliuery were verye reall Lambes in deede of one nature and condition euen so the Lambe of God being Christ which Christ himselfe offered in his supper there instituting before his death what we should contynually doe after his death and that Lambe of God which we offer now in memorie of our deliueraunce be very reall Lambes of God in deede and yet not dyuers in number as the other were but all one in number nature condition and dignitie As Chrysostome sayth Chrysost ad Hebreos ho. 17. we offer daylie in commemoration of his death and the sacrifice is one not many Nor we doe not offer one Lambe now to morow another but alwayes the very same or else because it is offered in many places is there many Christs No forsooth but one Christ euery where here full Christ and there full christ one body And so foorth You frame our argument after your owne fashion CROWLEY and so are you the better able to answere it We reason thus Whatsoeuer Christ would haue vs do or beleue is in some part of the scripture so mentioned that we may plainly perceyue that it is his wyll that we should doe or beleue the same But there is no such mention in any part of the holy scripture whereby we may perceyue that it is Gods will that we should beleue that Christ offered himselfe in his last supper or that he did then institute a sacrifice wherein we should dayly offer him Ergo Christ hath not instituted any such sacrifice as you speake of As for the like reasons that you would make of the Paschal Lambe and Christ offering himselfe vpon the Crosse might bée well accepted of some of your Auditorie that were of your mind and therefore blinded by affection But as many of your readers as knowe the scriptures must néedes say that you might with more honesty haue kept them still in your bosome For who knoweth not that Christ himselfe hath sayd Non veni soluere legem sed adimplere Et qui soluerit vnum ex mandatis istis minimis minimus vocabitur in Regno coelorum I came not to breake the lawe but to fulfil it Math. 5. Iohn 14. Iohn 8. Rom. 5. Hebr. 9. And he that shall breake one of the least of these cōmaundements shall be called the least in the kingdome of heauen And againe Beholde the prince of this world commeth and in me he hath nothing at all And againe Which of you can accuse me of sinne And againe As by the sinne of one condemnation came vpon all so by the righteousnesse of one came the righteousnesse of life And againe He offered himselfe vnto God without spot c.