Egyptian speaking of those who lived before Jesus Christ It never entered into their hearts that there should be a Baptisme of Fire and of the Holy Ghost and that they should offer in the Church Bread and Wine as a Figure of his flesh and of his blood and that those who partake of the Bread which is visible should feed spiritually upon the Flesh of our Lord. Ephraim of Syria in the year 360. in his Treatise against the curious Inquisitours into the nature of the Son of God Observe heedfully how that taking the Bread into his hands he blesseth and breaketh it in Figure of his immaculate Body and blesseth the Cup in figure of his precious Blood Ambrose or the Author of the Book of Sacraments See that this offering turn into an acceptable and reasonable account to us which is the figure of the body and blood of our Lord. Gaudentius Bishop of Bress in his second Treatise upon Exodus The figure of Christs body is received in the bread Moreover the blood of the Lamb is fitly represented under the species of Wine Chrysostome Bishop of Constantinople in the year 386. in an Epistle to Cesarius the Monk doth thus unfold this great Mystery Before that the bread be sanctified we name it bread but it being once by Divine grace sanctified it is certainly freed from the appellation of bread and is dignified with the name of the Lords body howheit the true nature of bread doth still continue therein Turrianus and Gregory of Valence both Jesuits perceiving themselves to be wonderfully racked and puzled with this passage do most groundlesly aver that it was none of Chrysostome's but of one John of Constantinople which is confession sufficient since that it bears the mark of its antiquity This Epistle hath been seen by many in a Manuscript in the Bibliotheque of Florence by which if not stifled by our Adversaries the common fate of what ever is contrary to themselves it may be easily verified to be of a truth the genuine testimony of the great Chrysostome But it is high time that we hearken to holy Augustine who flourished in the year 410. behold how he explains himself in his 12 th Chapter against Adimantus The Lord doubted not to say this is my body when as he gave the sign of his body and upon the third Psalme The Lord admitted Judas to the Banquet at which he recommended and gave to his Disciples the figure of his body and blood The same Father upon the 98. Psalme wherein he expoundeth these words of our Lord If yee eat not the flesh of the Son of Man ye shall not have life brings in our Saviour speaking thus Vnderstand spiritually that which I have told you ye shall not eat this body which ye see neither shall ye drink that blood which my Crucifiers shall shed I have recommended to you a sacred signe which being spiritually understood shall give you life And in the third Book of Christian Doctrine Chap. 16. When the Lord saith if ye eat not the flesh of the Son of Man and drink not his blood ye shall have no life in your selves he seems to command an impiety or great crimâ—â— This then is a Figure whereby he enjoyneth us to communicate in the Lords death and Passion and delightfully and profitably to remember that his Flesh was crucified and bruised for us And in his first Treatise upon the first of St. John The Lord comforteth us who can no longer feel him with the Hand but only by the touch of faith And in the 53d Sermon upon the words of our Lord Every one almost calls that the body of Christ which is a sacred sign thereof Theodoret Bishop of Cyre in the year 420. in his first Dialogue entitled the Immutable speaking of these words This is my body saith the Lord hath dignified the visible signes with the appellation of his own body and blood not changing of their nature but adding grace to nature a little before he had said the Lord hath confer'd upon the sign the name of his own body And in the second Dialogue entitled The Inconfused The Divine Mysteries are signes of the true body And a little after he brings in an Eutychian Heretick maintaining Transubstantiation to whom he answereth in these words Thou art caught in a Net of thine own twisting for even after Consecration the mystical signes change not their nature but remain for subâ—â—â—nce form and figure the same as before Cyril Bishop of Alexandria in the year 440. Christ gave to his Disciples morsels of bread saying take eat this is my body He saith also that the faithfull believe that though he be absent from us in the body yet are all things and even our selves governed by him Again though he be absent in the Body appearing before his Father and sitting at his right hand yet nevertheless he is present in his Saints by his Spirit The same Father speaking of Nestorius Hath he not turn'd saith he our mystery into an Anthropâ—phagy that is to say a manducation of Man's flesh through an irreligious entangling of the spirits of the faithfull through vain conceits and attempting to subject to humane ratiocinations things which surpass all manner of scrutiny save that of faith only Gelasius himself Bishop of Rome about the year 590. speaketh thus Certainly the Sacraments which we receive of the body and blood of Christ are a Divine thing whence also we are by them made partakers of the Divine nature yet nevertheless the substance or nature of the â—read and the Wine doth uncessantly continue such and the Image and resemblance of the body and blood of Christ is infallibly celebrated in the exhibition of those mysteries Facundus an African Bishop who in the 550th year of our Lord wrote in defence of the three heads or points of the Council of Chalcedon The Sacrament of Adoption to wit Baptisme may be called the Adoption upon the very same account that we call the Sacrament of Christs body and blood which consists in the consecrated Bread and Cup his own body and own blood Not that the Bread is indeed his body and the Cup his Blood in proper speech but hecause that the mystery of his body and blood is contained therein Dionysius falsely surnamed the Areopagite an Author of whom we know not certainly in what time he lived howbeit to procure the greater Authority to his writings he assumed the name of Dionysius the Areopagite mentioned in the Book of Acts chap. 17. vers 34. But divers reasons move us to believe that he flourished about the end of the fourth Age others make him more ancient whoever he was he doth more than ten times in one Chapter tearm that which is given to us in the Supper Images Signes and Symboles and saith that the Communion of Bread and Wine is a commemoration of that most Divine Supper at which the signes of things therein celebrated were first of all instituted
Leo the Second changed this symbole of reconciliation into a superstitious vanity instituting that Plate of Silver or Copper which after Consecration is presented to be kissed And in this very particular one may perceive how much the antient Ceremonies have been either diverted or perverted through successive alterations therein Anno 790. BUt behold the Idolatry which under the vail of darkness was propagated in the Church even to the very Sanctuary Images were only as so many memorative objects in Churches yet did the vulgar begin to exhibit honour to them whereupon disputes were commenced In this difference reasons of State offered themselves which are to be seen in History for upon other accounts are Images pretended in subserviency to their interest The Latines and the Greeks and afterwards the Greeks amongst themselves took occasion from hence of much altercation one while demolishing and breaking down the Images another while re-erecting of them Finally Irene Empress of Constantinople a Pagan both by Nation and Religion a Woman of many notorious enormities assembled a Council at Nice excluding from it the best Doctors and employing menaces violence and all manner of artifice whereby she might compass her design Thus this Conventicle moulded and model'd according to her own mind producing instead of offers of reason nothing but impertinencies in behalf of the Images concluded upon adoration contrary to the judgment of all solid Antiquity and the opposition then generally made to a piece of such palpable impiety For at the same time the Emperour Charles the great converted a Council at Frankefort wherein that of Nice was condemned being declared false and abusive and the Decree touching Images incassated and made null thus was their resolved Adoration suppressed But being that Images were always continued in Churches this Superstition whereunto the People were strongly inclined did at last recover it self and prevail This second Council of Nice was held towards the year 790. Anno 880. POpe Adrian was the first that advised the Canonization of Saints imitating herein the Apotheoses or Consecrations used amongst the Romans under Paganism a thing which till then was unheard of in the Church The Authority of canonizing Saints was afterwards confirmed by Decree as we shall see in its proper place Anno 965. POpe John IV. baptized the great Bell of St. John Lateran in Rome nameing it after his own name Thence came the custome of baptizing Bells and giving them names Anno 1000. c. FRom the time above mentioned till about the year 1000. those corruptions were not only continued but likewise gradually multiplied To the consecration of Churches they added sprinkling of holy Water with a Nose-gay of Hyssop pronouncing these words of the Psalmist Attollite portas c. Lift up your Gates c. the Bishop in the mean time rapping at the Gate with his Pastoral-staff the mingling of the Ashes and Water of the Salt and the Wine of Exorcisme of painted and graven Characters and certain confused Prayers Finally the anniversary Feast of every Church in memory of the day of its dedication And like as the Sacrament of the Eucharist was changed into a Sacrifice even so the Priests which were called to preach the Gospel were then ordained to sacrifice they began to create them with these words Accipe potestatem c. Receive thou power to offer sacrifice to God to celebrate Masses as well for the living as for the dead Anno 1003. POpe John xix instituted the Feast of All-Souls appointing it to be celebrated upon the Morrow after All-Saints Anno 1050. BUt behold the summe of the whole matter That they might defend the Sacrifice which they pretend to offer in the Mass they behoved to deny the whole Essence of the Sacrament and falsify and bely all that ever Antiquity hath believed in the case whose sense and several judgments therein do here ensue S. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch and a Disciple of the Apostles in the 72 d. year of our Lord expresseth himself thus There is one only Flesh of our Lord Jesus and one only blood which was shed for our sins one only Bread also was broken for us and one only Cup was distributed to us Could he possibly make a more manifest opposition between the Body of Christ broken upon the Cross and the Bread broken in the Supper Justin Martyr towards the year 130. Our Christ hath vouchsafed to make and use the Sacramental Bread in Commemoration of his Body formed for such as believe in him for whose sake he became passible the Cup also he ordained to be made and used with thanksgiving in Commemoration of his Blood Ireneus Bishop of Lyons in the year 160. When once the Chalice being fill'd and the Bread being broken hath received the benedictive word of God it becomes the Sacrament of the Blood and Body of Christ whereby the substance of our flesh is augmented and compounded Certainly none can say that our flesh is augmented nor compounded of the real flesh and blood of Christ but only of the substance of the bread which this Father plainly acknowledgeth to continue in the Eucharist even after the Consecration of the same Clemens Alexandrinus in the year 190. Christ took of the Wine and blessed the Wine saying take drink This is my blood the blood of the Vine denominating by way of Allegory the Word which shed his blood for the remission of sins a sacred liquor of joy and gladness c. Now that that which he blessed was true Wine he further sheweth saying to his Disciples I will drink no more of the fruit of the Vine c. This very same reason do we urge to prove that they drank Wine at the Supper Briefly it is remarkable that he disputes against the Encratites who held the drinking of Wine to be unlawfull alledging for their conviction the example of Jesus Christ who drank Wine at the Supper which were a ridiculous Argument if so be Wine had ceased to be Wine after that Christ had drank thereof Tertullian in the year 205. doth thâ—s explain the words of Jesus Christ This is my Body that is to say the Figure of my Body Moreover Jesus Christ called Bread his Body to the end that thou might'st thereby understand that he appointed Bread to be the Figure of his Body Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem in the year 320. declares to us that The Flesh is now absent and that that which we are commanded to tast of is the Figure of his Body and Blood Eusebius Bishop of Cesarea saith that our Lord hath taught us to serve him with Bread as a sign of his Body Gregory Bishop of Nazianze in the year 350. in his second Oration concerning Easter speaketh thus of Sacramental participation We partake indeed of the Christian Pass-over in a Figure albeit more clearly than at the ancient Pass-over for the ancient Pass-over I dare say so was a more obscure figure of a Figure Macairus the
reproach and obloqâ—y did commonly attend those whose faults were thus displayed to the open view of the whole World they therefore ordered that Delinquents should in the first place consult their Pastor who cognoscing upon the nature of the offence should consider whether it were convenient to declare the same in publick or only to mention it in general without specification of the crime it self There were many also who out of shame shun'd publick confession It came to pass likewise about the Year 260. that when as such as had abandoned themselves to the Apostacy which fell out under the Persecution stir'd up by Decius required to be re-admitted into the Church there were many who withstood their reception alledging that they were not longer capable of re-admission into Her and under that pretence many did separate themselves which made way to the Schisme of the Novatians It was therefore found expedient for avoiding of scandal accrewing to many from publick confessions to change the same into private ones and to that purpose it was decreed that out of their many Pastors they should choose one of a good Conversation a prudent Person and capable of a secret to whom that charge should be committed from thence came the Penitentiaries Howbeit this change happened only at the beginning in the Greek Church for the Western Church retained the Custome of publick confession until the time of Leo Bishop of Rome about the Year 450. Finally whereas publick confession was only of more notorious and enormous Crimes the same being once changed into particular they began to recommend it to practice exhorting the People to confess their very least escapes and defects from the beam to the mote and that more frequently then they were well able to do Now this confession was not of Divine Right nor did Antiquity ever believe it to be such for afterwards to wit about the Year 396. upon occasion of a scandal arising from it it was abolished by Nectorius Bishop of Constantinople that which he would never have attempted had they believed that it was of Divine Institution Neither did it consist in a scrupulous enumeration of all thoughts words and actions which might be accounted faulty for in the Church of Constantinople which was one of the most populous amongst them there was of the whole Clergy but one only Person whose charge it was to receive Confessions which had not been sufficient for so great a multitude had every one been obliged to repair to confession and to render a particular account of all his actions It was not therefore judged needful for obtaining of remission of sin but useful for instruction of the ignorant for consolation to the afflicted for reforming of sinners for resolving of such difficulties as might ripen into a case of Conscience and lastly for counsel to the perplexed Authors of the same Age make mention also of certain Virgins who consecrated themselves to God whereof this is the original The then reigning Persecutions obliged Christians to involve themselves as little as might be in the affairs of the World Now for as much as the liberty of that Profession is frequently fetter'd and infringed with the incumbrances which attend a married state there were many Virgins who with the concurrent advice and consent of their Parents resolved to live in perpetual continency and to joyn themselves with greater strictness then ordinary to Jesus Christ They presented themselves therefore to the Church who with Solemn Prayer recommended them to God and the care of the Poor to them whom they were to succour in their sickness and relieve in their necessities for it was unto such deeds of charity that they devoted themselves But as touching the Vow of Celibacy it was in their own liberty to relinquish that condition when ever it seemed good to them and in case they conceived that they could serve God with greater integrity in a state of Marriage than in that of Virginity the Vows of Continency also were not as yet esteem'd irrevocable We have said that they carried the Eucharist to the Sick and that they administred the same afterwards even to little Children but for as much as those either through infirmity of Body or through tenderness of years could not conveniently receive the Cup they therefore sometimes dipped the Bread in the Wine that so they might receive the whole Sacrament entire for the People both Men and Women did promiscuously communicate under both Signes Now albeit this expedient of soaking or dipping the Bread in the Wine was never practised but in such extraordinary cases yet notwithstanding many affected to make it a general custome introducing it into the ordinary communion of the Church of which usage some Tracts were continued in after time as we shall shew in its proper place Anno 300. c. ABout the Year 300. and afterwards there were many Ceremonies introduced Persecution continued even til then Now behold Emperours who submit their Scepters to Christ's Sheep-hook and throw their Crowns at the Foot of his Cross The Church sprung out of the Ashes of her own Children as yet of a sanguine complexion is received into savour with the great Constantine and hence forth reposing her self under the shade of his Lawrel doth as it were renew her youth she is removed from the Wilderness into Cities from Caves into Palaces from Deserts into Churches and from poverty into plenty and pompous abundance This prosperous change produced divers effects People repaired to the Church in crowdes But yet the simplicity of Christianity did dis-relish many who had still before their Eyes the pomp and magnificence of Paganisme they therefore judg'd it necessary to re-attire Religion with the more splendid and ornamental Ceremonies to the end that through the splendour of her Ornaments she might become the more august and acceptable and like as they had done formerly in compliance with Jews and Gentiles whose only talk was of Sacrifices our Christians gave the Supper the Title of Sacrifice and the Table the Name of Altar Howbeit the Language used then was not meant in that sense which was put upon it afterwards for when ever they mention the Altar they understand the Table which was placed in the midst of the Assembly whereupon they laid the Offerings that were presented by the Faithfull And thus they explain themselves when they speak of the Eucharist Now one of the first occupations that Christians under their respite from persecution busied themselves in was this The Bodies of many of their Martyrs were buried in the wide open Fields or else exposed to the High-ways and their Graves covered with filth and nastiness they began therefore to drag their Bodies out of the places where they were interred and to transport them into Cities in order to a more honourable Sepulture which transportation was performed with some solemnity the whole Church assisting thereat with Singing of Psalms the Coffin covered with a rich Cloath after
model and example of that of Rome whereupon the same Author tells us that there were many Bishops and Priests who would not in the least acknowledge him calling him the author of lyes a disturber of the Christian Peace and a corrupter of the Faith of Christians Anno 840. RAbanus Maurus Arch-bishop of Mayence and Disciple to Alcuinus whom he esteemed the most knowing person of all the Learned of those times in his Book of the Institution of Clerks speaking of the Sacrament of the Supper saith that when we are commanded to eat the flesh and to drink the blood of our Lord it is a figurative locution and that this mystery is spiritual And for this reason Thomas of Walden in an Epistle to Pope Martin V. who came to the Popedom in the year 1417 holds that he sens'd the holy Sacrament amiss and ranks him with Hereticks Anno 849. BErtram a Preacher of great fame as well by reason of his profound knowledge of the holy Scriptures as for his inculpableâ—life in a Treatise entituled Of the Body and Blood of our Lord which he addressed to the Emperour Charles the Bald upon that Emperours demanding of his Judgement touching the many Controversies moved about that Doctrine did in resolution to what was propounded to him plainly demonstrate by the Authority of Scripture of St. Augustine and the ancient Doctors that there is no such thing as Transubstantiation in the Supper but that the Bread and the Wine remain in their first substance under and by which the Body Blood of Jesus Christ are in an invisible and spiritual maner distributed and apprehended by faith alone That there is a spiritual body in this mystery that it is a mystical and spiritual comprehension of him and not that very Body which he assumed in the womb of the blessed Virgin He sticks not to say that the Body of Christ is therein for as much as the Spirit of Christ is there that is to say the power and efficacy of the Word of God which doth not only nourish but also purgeth and purifieth the soul. We find not that this great man was ever reprehended or reckoned an Heretick because of this Doctrine Anno 869. AT this time flourished John Erigine or Erwine otherwise a Scots-man skill'd in the Greek Arabick and Chaldaick Tongues a most famous and incomparable Divine all which by the relation of Antoninus himself Arch-Bishop of Florence Vincent of Beauvais Sabellicus Volateran and Platina was accompanied with singular holiness of life He was likewise so greatly endeared to Charles the Bald King of France and Emperour that he was by him detained in France where he received from him very honourable entertainment Occasion then offering it self for his declaring of his judgement touching the Doctrine of the Eucharist he expressed himself therein in a Book bearing the very same Title with that of Bertram wherein in like manner by the authority of the Divine Scriptures and of pious Fathers especially of St. Augustine he establisheth and confirms the truth of the same Faith which that learned Bertram had taught a little before In fine by reason of his great renown it came to pass that Alfred King of England having founded the Colledge now University of Oxford gave him an invitation to the Presidency thereof Anno 950. IT is recorded by William of Malmsbury that the belief both of the reality and of the conversion of Signes which were by degrees foisted into this Age of Ignorance and Barbarism was vigorously opposed and that divers Questions touching the same were agitated in England one party explaining it one way the other quite another Those who held the Affirmative part that they might the more dextrously proselyte their Adversaries obtruded Prodigies and Miracles averring that in the room of the Species they saw a comely little Infant which was thrust into the mouths of the Communicants instead of Bread that there was Blood found in the Chalice that a devout Ass worshiped the Hostie and abundance of such Miracles â—ut so gross ridiculous as that the bare mentioning of them may suffice to discover their impertinency and forgery Whereupon Gabriel Biel in his 51 Lesson oâ— the Canon of the Mass observed not aâ—iss that those apparitions of flesh blood wâ—â—rwith they entertained the people might happen through Diabolical delusion for deceiving of the simple God permitting it so to be Anno 292. THere was a Synod or Council of all the Churches in France held at Rhemes wherein Arnulphus Bishop of Orleans the learnedst and most eloquert person of those times was set apart for the conduct and managery of affairs It appears by the Acts of that Synod that this famous Bishop cognoscing upon matters therein agitated represents to that reverend Assembly that all the Poâ—es of this Age were branded with Notoriâ—us Crimes Murders and Tyrannies Monsters of men full of Infamy devoid of all Knowledg both Divine and Humane who else saith he think ye that man is who sitteth upon a high and lofty Throne glittring with Gold and Purple but the Antichrist infallibly sitting in the Temple of God whose Marbles c. are as fit to be consulted as himself He adds further that iâ— were much better to require the judgmenâ— of the Bishops of the Low-Countries and 〈◊〉 Germany than of that City which is at thâ—â— day exposed to sale and weighs Judgmeâ—â—s in the unjust ballance of filthy lucre c. That therefore Assemblies might be held without his privity since that the Canon of Nice acknowledged by the Church of Rome in all Councils and Decrees enjoyneth no such thing as that regard should be had to the authority of the Bishop of Rome that her Ministers are those of Antichrist who seems to be near at hand that the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work since that which should let to wit the Roman Power is already removed that that Man of Sin which opposeth and exalteth himself above the Name and Service of God begins to be revealed Religion exposed to ruine the Name of God trampled under foot with iâ—punity and Religious Worship vilified even by the chief Priests themselves this being all the care that Rome takes of others 〈◊〉 of her self Anno 1050. BErenger Archdeacon of Angiers did profoundly confute the real presence and other abuses ushered into the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper True it is that in the year 1059 having made his appearance before the Lateran Council whither he was cited out of fear of some cruel usage he signed a Confession contrary to his judgment mentioned below in its proper place but after his return into France he retracted the same and confirmed his Proselytes which were so numerous that William of Malmsbury in his 3d Book of the History of England doth attest that all France was full of his Doctrine which is confirmed by Matthew of Westminster who adds that not only the French but also greatest part of the Italians and English embraced