had no calling to doe it There the first booke stayeth without speaking of any sacrifice or praier for the deade The second book goeth further Iuda saith it hauing beaten Gorgias came to carry away the bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his countrimen which had beene slaine before for to burie them who found vnder the garmentes of euery one of them which had beene slaine things sacrificed to idols Euery man iudged them worthily punished and gaue glory vnto God praying him that he would blot out this sinne or rather as it is in the best copies that they might not bee quite raced out that is to say that they might not bee vtterly rooted out for this sinne But Iuda did openly make knowne vnto the people this notable iudgement to the end they might beware and keepe themselues from sinne c. he maketh a collection of twelue thousand groates or rather according to the Greeke of two thousand which he sendeth into Ierusalem for to offer in sacrifices for the sinne For the sinne simply that is to say of the people to the end that it might not be as that of Achan namely imputed to all in generall and not for the sinnes of the dead Biblia impressa madatu Concil Trident â—ub Sixt. 5. Clem. 8. Missal in anniuersariis defunctorum triginta Missale reformatum Pii 5. as our aduersaries haue corruptly falsly turned the same in certaine of their Bibles and those imprinted by the authoritie of the Councell of Trent and as they reade it as yet vnto this day in their Masse bookes Hitherto according to the law Iosua 7. Deuteronomie 21. That which followeth goeth further that is that it pretendeth also that the oblation of these groates did serue for the purging away and blotting out of the prouocation of that sinne committed by the dead But now we are to see how farre this may make for purgatorie It appeareth that Iuda ought not to belieue or doe this either by reason of the law or in respect of any example of the fathers or yet by reason of any custome receiued in the church for it is not spoken of in all the scripture And in deed the Author himselfe giuing his iudgement theron sheweth sufficiently that he doth it by way of a particular discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dealing verie honestly and ciuillie saith he in discoursing vppon the resurrection And it is likewise as apparant that it was not in any consideration of Purgatorie but rather saith he of the last resurrection In so much as that the intention and drift of this prayer properly was that this sinne might not be imputed vnto them in the day of the iudgement of the Lord which shall bee at the generall resurrection a praier which conueieth not either good or euil vnto the dead no more then that of Paul for Onesiphorus when hee was aliue 2. Tim. 1. Ingolstadienses The Lord giue him to find mercie with the Lord in that day For as for that which certaine Iesuites say that hee speaketh of the mysticall resurrection from sinne and not of the actuall there needes no more but the reading of the text to refute them It appeareth likewise by our aduersaries their doctrine that this praier and sacrifice could not be to draw them out of Purgatory For the sinne according to their owne distinction was mortall being idolatrie which is treason against the Maiestie of God that in the highest degree Now purgatorie is not for mortall sinnes Againe God say they doth neuer punish one and the same thing twise But it was saith the Author for this sinne that they had beene slaine and that euerie man did iudge it so wherefore they were not to haue inflicted vpon them any more temporall punishment that is to say any purgatorie Againe purgatorie say they doth not satisfie for the fault but for the punishment and notwithstanding Iudas doeth there offer a sacrifice for sinne which was neuer offred in the law for the punishment onely but for the fault wherefore it followeth that in that his action hee had no mind of purgatory so much as to thinke once thereof so farre was he from the thing For the Author addeth He considered that those which were dead in a true godly sort could not faile to find grace and fauour which is saith he by a parenthesis a sound and wholesome thought And so it is in the Greeke text far differing from that which they pretend namely that all lesse or more may bee supposed to stand in need to bee freed from purgatorie But say they yet he praid for the dead let it be so How beit we shal see by and by that it is but an euill argument to go about to proue purgatory because of such praiers And on the contrary we haue reason to belieue seeing that according to the doctrine of the Church of Rome it selfe this place cannot stand with purgatory that this sacrifice hath no other end as may appeare by the text but to pray vnto God that in the last resurrection he wold be fauorable vnto theÌ„ But there is more in the matter Iudas did it say they therefore it is wel done That we deny How many actions do we reade of in the scriptures of famous men which notwithstanding are not to be imitated In the church of God men liue by his lawes not by our owne examples neither do we see in deed since the time of the Machabees vnto the comming of Christ that this example was euer followed in the Church The mourning also and lamentation made for Lazarus is contrarie hereunto Ioh. 11. And as concerning that the author of this booke doth approue it so hee did the fact of Razias who murthered himselfe And this is the cause why S. Augustine sayeth to the Donatistes which woulde haue made it a good consequent That these bookes ought to be read soberlie and the same libertie haue wee to aunswere our aduersaries after the same sort in a different and diuerse cause but about the same author To bee short this seconde booke of the Machabees doth approue prayer for the dead but to bring them to bee allowed by the Church it is requisite that they should first bee allowed of by the word and all this notwithstanding as wee haue seene doth not make any thing for Purgatorie Insomuch as that of so manie textes alleadged out of the olde Testament wee haue seene them by the confession of Perion to haue not so much as one left them besides this same as being put besides all holde and proofe in the Canonicall and tyed to one onelie Apocrypha text and that such a one as is the most Apocrypha of all the rest and yet euen that cannot stand match with Purgatorie Whereupon wee conclude here That Purgatorie hath not anie one foundation or ground in all the olde Testament not anie one in all the Church of Israel where notwithstanding it seemed to haue beene most
Of the vnperfect worke vpon Saint Mathew wherein Arianisme sheweth it selfe most euidently howsoeuer notwithstanding condemned and conuinced by Chrysostome in all his bookes c. The Liturgie how can it proceede from S. Iames seeing it euery where speaketh of this worde Consubstantiall a name in his time not heard of in the Church The booke of the Hierarchie how can that be made by S. Denys at least the Areopagite seeing it citeth Clement Alexandrinus Or that of Christian questions Iustine Martyrs seeing it speaketh of the Manichies De variis quaest q. 23. Or how can that of diuerse Questions bee made by Athenasius seeing it alledgeth Athanasius the great That of the calling of the Gentiles by S. Ambrose seeing it speaketh of the Pelagians Those by Clement Abdias and Iulianus Africanus which are full of Temples of Altars and of Porches of Sextens chambers seeing they were built in the honour of Saint Iohn at Ephesus That of the Resurrection in Ethiopia that by the commaundement of S. Mathew in a time when al Christendome dreamed of nothing but Martyrdome When as there was nothing more busily prouided then pyles of wood to burne the Apostles and their disciples withall And when they prepared nothing but Theaters from whence the people might behold them deuoured of wilde beasts And yet forsooth these are the goodlie bookes whereto our aduersaries for the most part doe appeale for ayde and that oftentimes in those things which haue beene the cause why they were condemned of falshood and which haue caused the Church to account of them but as fables But after all who knoweth not how greatly the heretikes haue giuen themselues to falsifie thē how greatly they haue bestirred themselues to slip in either some of their heresies S. Hieronym in Symb. Ruff. as Ruffinus witnesseth in the bookes of Clement and S. Ierome in many others or of their Traditions as it is easie to be obserued in those of the Montanists And if further according to the measure of the growth and getting of foote of errours in Christendome the Church of Rome haue beene also carefull as we haue seene at Trent to cut off or alter in the bookes of the Fathers what soeuer might be founde to impugne their superstitions and who can doubt of this practise to haue beene followed for the space of many ages hauing beene guided by one and the same spirit who shall be able to assure himselfe of the truth sinceritie and naturalnesse euen of the most legitimate Seeing in Gratian his Decretall wee may marke so manie places of the Fathers and Councels notoriouslie corrupted according as the authoritie of the Pope or powerfulnesse of deceipt did growe in the Church and tempered ad sensum currentem as they call it according to the disease of the time and course of the Market Seeing by name in the Copies of Beda and Theophylact who are of the time when the doctrine of the Eucharist began to varie we perceiue by the comparing of them with old bookes found in Monasteries places concerning this matter either gelded or cut out or added and augmented And thus also it is euen at this day wherein great personages haue complained themselues how they haue beene driuen to labour to discerne and finde out for vs the stiles and spirits of writers from whose paines taken herein wee may ease our selues in the practising of this rule And let this bee saide for no other ende then of manie to giue an example in some few particulars of the cursed practises that Sathan hath continued in the Church for the bringing in of his errours vnder the name of the most approoued Teachers And this verilie not newe or straunge seeing that euen presently after the life time of the Apostles if Saint Iohn who ouerliued them had not prouided against it he had fathered some vpon Saint Paule Saint Peter and certaine others and those also of the peregrination of Saint Paul and Thecla which our aduersaries at this day labour to raise againe out of the graue and to set in their former liuelihood and credite The third is That we marke diligently if the father or ancient Doctor which we handle To consider well if such father haue vsed a good translation haue followed a sound translation haue well vnderstood the words and phrase of the Text in controuersie or not for for example what apparance is there that the Commentaries of S. Hillarie or of S. Gregorie vpon Iob of S. Ambrose S. Augustine or S. Bernard vpon the Psalmes can alwaies reach vnto the sense and meaning when they haue vsed a translation wherein there are almost as many faults as words That S. Anselme or S. Gen. 3. Bernard should be able to gather good doctrine from that place in the translation of Genesis Ipsa conteret caput Serpentis the woman and not Christ shall breake the Serpents head Gen. 4 Or out of that other Gen. 4. Quam vt veniam merear from whence our aduersaries gather the doctrine of merit There where it is My punishment is greater then that I can beare Whereas then we shall find that a Father shall haue followed a false translation we shall not possiblie be able to come by a true exposition so that in such case we are to preferre and make more account of the least that shall haue had it right then him who shall haue followed the false following the precept which they themselues did giue vs here tofore That we are not to rest vpon the Latine translation but to haue recourse vnto the originall and fountaine whether Hebrew or Greeke And now behold the fourth which is that when we are once agreed of the literall sense we should weigh the expositions of the Fathers the Interpreters both in the ballance of the Scripture and in the analogie of faith respect their pietie doctrine and time wherein they liue and receiue their opinions with reuerence whether they shall be differing or agreeing in one or arising from diuerse and sundrie persons let vs preferre that which is spoken in handling the place of purpose before that which is spoken in touching of it by the waye that which is saide in teaching familiarly before that which may bee spoken rhetoricallie as it somtimes falleth out in preaching that which is spoken affirmatiuely before that which is spoken doubtfully that which is spoken from the proper sense of the Authour before that which is spoken by imitating of another that which is gathered from the literall sense before that which is drawne from some allegoricall sense which proueth not and aboue all that which is spoken of some place in cōtrouersie before the controuersie rise at such time as there is nothing sought after therein but the simple truth yea or otherwise after it hath beene argued when as we shall haue searched out thereof for the fortifying of our opinion Here also will occasion be administred to put difference betwixt the Fathers according to the degree
Sabinian his next successor caused so many of them to be burnt as he could But some on the contrarie haue sought by all the wayes they can to make them to bee belieued for the procuring of the greater authoritie to Purgatorie And by name Anno. 730. Gregorie the thirde caused them to bee published throughout all Christendome to the same ende Damascen Damascen confirmeth it if a man will lend his eare vnto them hath not smally aduaunced this building but alwayes with the selfe same Argumentes for in a certaine prayer which they attribute vnto him S. Steuen by his prayers saueth Falcouilla a Pagan deceased in Idolatrie God also made the head of a certaine Priest that was dead and a Gentile borne for such a one doth Durandus describe him to bee to speake to Macarius and declare to him the consolations that they in Purgatorie receiue by the suffrages of the liuing Againe at the prayer of Gregorie passing through Traian his Countrie God deliuered Traian out of hell c. But I maruaile that they are not ashamed of these fables or why at the least they set them not in better order Seeing that out of hell there is no redemption Seeing also that according to their doctrines the Gentiles cannot be in Purgatorie But it seemeth that this pretended Damascen is ashamed of himselfe when he concludeth saying that he speaketh not any thing that he meaneth to stand vnto and that what hee saith is but by way of discourse but such is his discourse as that they make a Creed of it And yet it is not credible that this was his prayer seeing that in his Bookes de Orthodoxa fide in which it is his drift to comprise the Christian faith he maketh no mention of Purgatorie Anno. 750. Now this fell out about the yeare 750. From this time forward the opinion of the sacrifice The growth of Purgatorie through the opinion of a sacrifice as also that of Purgatorie began mutually wittingly to lend their hands the one to the other ignorance groweth grosser and grosser and that sensibly and to the sight of the eye throughout all Christendome and in this darknesse the spirit of darknesse dispatcheth and bestirreth himselfe about his busines Once to looke into the Scriptures was by no meanes to be heard of but to hearken after myracles was the whole imployment of the mind One man had seene the soules tormented vpon the Gridyron an other vpon a Spit this man had seene them burning in the fire that man had espied them dipt in the Ice one was hung vp to be dried in the chimney smoake an other to vnderlay the washing raine distilling and dryuing downe a Gutter one liuing but in a traunce an other returning againe after death Further more this man had discouered one of the Gulfs in Ireland an other that in Sicilia and a third that in Pozzuolo the one by the conduct and guidance of an Angell the other by reuelation from the Diuell And all the bookes of those times are full of such fooleries other instructions then these there was not any currant amongst the people namely the Legends the Lombardicke historie and such like In a word whereas the Fathers had practised the remembrance of the dead as we haue seene for the comfort and consolation of the liuing they begin to turne all to the contrarie For those said that they were in Abrahams bosome in a place of blessed and happie rest these said they were in extreame torments nothing differing from those of hel c. And in stead that those knew how to teach them to die in an assurance of eternall life these tooke the way to make them apprehend conceiue of death as of the doore opening to an vnauoidable fire if they redeeme not themselues from thence by suffrages for now there was no more leaning vnto the mercie of God God was become a rigorous mercilesse tyrant and tormentor neither was any thing to be looked for from the satisfaction of our Lord for hee had paid no debt but what was answerable for the meere faults and transgressions the infinite merite of his passion was become vnable to satisfie for our demerits his paines and punishment for ours But Aut satis faciendum in hac vita say they or Satis patiendum in altera Either a man must prouide to make satisfaction in this life by doing sufficiently well or in the other by suffering sufficiently euill So that this is nothing else but to say let the suffrages of those that liue after vs ransome and redeeme vs from our paines And thereupon a man must cause great store of Masses to bee said for the dead for them also men must found yearely feasts Obits Chapels or Monasteries And the ordinarie clause of these foundations is Anno. 800. Anno. 1000. Anton. l. 15. c. 15. Violater l. 2. Lombar hist l. 8. Polyd. l. 6. c. 9. We giue bequeath c. such or such a thing for the saluation or redemption of our soules of the soules of our predecessors and successors c. And these fashions of doing and speaking began since the yeare 800. Toward the yeare 1000. there was a vision set out to be knowne of the people How that a man guided by an Angell had seene a number of Soules diuersly handled and intreated some lying vpon Gold some vpon Chaffe or straw some in aboundance some in want and penurie according as they were helped there by the suffrages of their friends or otherwise neglected and finding no bodie to care for them Whereupon sprung a deuotion of ordaining that vpon some certaine day in the yeare there should be generall prayers made for all soules And that is it which is called Dies omnium animarum the day of the dead attributed by the most to Odilo the fourth Abbot of Clugni perswaded by the flames of the mountaine Etna in Sicilia of the certainty of the tormentes of Purgatorie But by other some to Boniface the fourth a little after the time of Gregory the great after the fashion and imitation of a certaine feast of the Romaines celebrated yearely in the month of Februarie for the soules of the deceased that is to purchase rest for them by sacrifices night praiers waxe candles Plutarch in Romulo Anton. ut 13. S. I. Histor Lombard leg 157. Polyd. l. 6. c. 9. Canones Reform a Card. Camp propositi Not generally all at once Synod Tolet. 3 Epist Bonif. ad Gregor 3. Gregor 3. ad Bonifac. and torches light vp amongst al the people c. And thereupon it commeth that Plutarch calleth the moneth of Februarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purgatiue or purgatorie Now in the meane time it is not to be forgotten that in the councel of Lyon 1244. it was not receiued hauing rooted it selfe no where else but within the Monasteries of the order of Clugni as also that in the yeare 1524. Cardinall Campegius propounding certaine Canons of reformation was
And amongst men who was more great then Iohn Baptist of whom the Lord saith amongst those that are borne of women c. Thou seest then this great mountaine to shine but heare his confession We haue saith he all receiued of his fulnes It is then from him of whom they haue receiued that we must looke for our succour and not from these mountaines from Christ the Sonne of the most high and soueraigne father c. And if thou lift not vppe thine eyes by the scripture thou shalt not bee admonished and taught how to bee enlightened of him Saint Ierome haue lifted mine eyes Hieronym in psal 121. the eies of my spirite vnto the toppe of the bookes that is of the laâ— and the Prophetes from whence I see comming vnto mee my Lord my aide and my helpe that is Christ and so Saint Augustine vpon S. Iohn doth expound it of the scriptures I an other place Saint Ierome ioyneth these two places together to the same end August tract 1 in Iohan. Hieronym in Esa c. 52 l. 14. I â—â—ue lifted mine eyes vnto the hils and I haue lifted mine eyes vnto thee which dwellest in the â—â—auens opposing and setting them against the ordinarie intention and drift of the â—â—euill who would curbe and keepe in our soules vnder the slauerie of these inferior pâ—wers Theodoret Being compassed and set about with calamities say the captiues of Baâ—lon Theod. in psal 120. we haue cast our eyes on euery side but we know that there is no help of man that can do 〈◊〉 good we rest in the good pleasure and will of God c. Saint Bernard likewise speaking of Christ persecuted in the Church and in his members saith Who is hee that without teares can see the teares of Christ Bernard in ep ad Simonem Abbatem S. Nicol. lifting his eyes from the deepe pitte of mire and elay vnto the mountaines from whence help and succour is to come vnto him c. And surely then not from the Saintes for they know themselues to stand in neede to bee helped of Christ but rather saith he From the Lord which hath made heauen and earth Caietan also most fitly and for the purpose saith This is here as a dialogue betwixt the people and the Prophet shall I here stand and waite for my helpe from the mountaines from the princes and potentates of the earth nay rather from the Lord c. In the Psalme 134. it is said Iudicabit Dominus populum suum in seruis suis deprecabitur Psal 134.14 Of a bad and naughtie Grammar construction they make a bad piece of diuinitie He shall bee prayed vnto say they in his seruants But the Hebrew saith Hee shall repent himselfe or he shall be appeased towarde his seruantes And so haue Caietanus Pagnin and Arias Montanus their interpretors translated the same And the Chaldie Paraphrast in like manner that is That God according to his mercie will be appeased towards to his people At the least they should haue kept themselues vnto their Glose which from a badde translation hath notwithstanding gathered a good doctrine Deprecabilis saith it efficietur seruis suis exaudiendo seruis suis placabilis fiet hee will bee intreated at the prayers of his seruantes and in the same manner Haimo But let vs heare the fathers Haimo in psal 134. Saint Augustine hath read it Et in seruis suis adorabitur and expoundeth this place of the casting off of the Iewes and calling of the Gentils comming into the Church on euerie side Saint Ierome Consolabitur and gathereth the former sence thereof also That the Lord shall bee comforted in the incredulitie of the Iewes and in the faith and beliefe of the Gentiles But Theodoret commeth more neere vnto the purpose and scope of the Prophet For saith he Thou O Lord seeing vs assailed by enemies wilt not cast vs off neither wilt thou chasten vs according to our sinnes And thus likewise Caietanus But say they doth not intercession presuppose inuocation Now the fathers of the olde Testament haue caused the names of the Patriarkes to steppe in to helpe their prayers If intercession presuppose innocation Genes 32. Exod. 32. Deutr. 9. Psal 131. Exod. 6.5 32.13 Leuit. 26.42 Dan. 3. Deut. 8.26.34 1. Kings 8. Psal 89. Iacob said The God of my father Abraham and Isaac deliuer mee c. Moyses Call to minde thy seruantes Abraham Isaac and Iacob Call to mind thy seruant Dauid and his afflictions c. But assuredly they do plainly enough expound themselues in the same places To whome saith Moyses thou hast sworne by thine owne selfe I will multiply their seede and giue vnto them this lande And Salomon Performe vnto thy seruant Dauid that which thou hast said the couenant that thou hast assured and confirmed vnto him c. And the Lord himselfe I haue remembred my couenant made with your fathers and not your fathers not their merites to witte they all alleadging to God and God vnto them the whole cause and reason of the graces and deliuerances that they craued at his hand or that hee performed vnto them to be the free promise which hee vouchsafed to make to the Patriarkes to Dauid to his people c. and not their merites which as wee shall see hereafter are none at all at Gods hand And this is the same which the Glose saith in the like places Firmiter promisisti non licet mutari Thou hast infalliblie promised and it is not lawfull for thee to reuoke or change thy promise But whereas they go about to deriue and find the originall of intercession these places cannot serue for an example For by their owne coafessions those that were in the limbes could not be intercessors And that wee may not need to bee still repeating the same thing let this which hath beene saide serue and be vnderstood of all such like places In Iob 33. Iob. 33.23 Elihu after he had shewed by how diuers sortes and waies God chastiseth men for their amendment hee addeth these wordes according to the old translation If there bee an Angell speaking for him one of a thousand to declare of the equitie of this man Then will he haue mercie vpon him and say deliuer him for I haue found wherefore to bee reconciled vnto him c. Thereupon they infer that Angels do make intercession for vs. But according to the Hebrew the truth of the word translated Angell is ambiguous and may be taken for a messenger and seemeth also presently after that it ought to be vnderstood for a prophet or interpreter of the will of God as in the booke of Iudges 2. Chap. And that because of the worde which followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say an Interpreter And hee saith not for him but with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him make God acquainted with the vprightnesse of the man but vnto man his
by the dutie of the righteousnesse and iustice of God Rom 8.18 Cleane contrarie to that which Saint Paule saith But eternall life is the grace of God c. The miseries of this life that is to say the tortures and torments that we suffer for the name of Christ Are not worthie Non sunt condignae of the glorie which is to come c. As if they would vse this word Condignum of purpose in despite of the Apostle Durand l. 2. D 18. q. 4. art 12. Arist 8. Ethic. And Durand likewise saith in plaine tearmes That no man can merit Deâ—condigno according to the iustice of God either commutatiuely or distributiuely That such merit hath his place in the dealing betwixt man and man but not with God that the Philosopher teacheth vs That in things that concerne God Fathers and Mothers there is no equiualencie or equalitie That to gainesay the same cannot bee without temeritie and blasphemie That though God should not giue eternall glorie to him that should die in grace yet hee could not be called vniust no not though hee should take it away from him that had it On the contrarie that God might say vnto him that which is in the Gospell May I not doe with mine owne as best liketh me And what should such a partie haue to replie but onely the saying of Iob The Lord gaue it me and the Lord hath taken it away from me c. Jn as much as euerie good thing whatsoeuer is of the free gift of God c. Afterward Thomas had said That there was some manner of meanes for man to fulfill the Law although not in the highest degree and most absolute manner yet after a meaner and weaker fashion But these men say much more That it may not onely bee perfectly fulfilled but things much more difficult as namely some such as whereunto wee are not any way bound and therefore bee called and are workes of Supererogation And that as by the fulfilling of the Law wee purchase eternall life vnto our selues so by the working of that which is ouer and aboue the Law we purchase the same for others In which ranke the traditions of men are reckoned and placed Deut. 12. Numb 15 Esay 1.29 Mat. 15. as also their voluntarie deuotions afflictions affected fastings whippings and beating c. Of all which things God hath said vnto vs Doe not that which seemeth right in your eyes but that which I haue commaunded you Who hath required such things at your hands It is in vaine that you worship me according to the precepts of men c. To bee short a graie Frier became so shamelesse in the Councell of Trent as to declaime expounding the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Romaines That those who had liued before the Lawe had obtained eternall life without the faith of Christ. And wee reade in a booke intituled Flosculi B. Francisci That all those that were come into the world since the time of Saint Frances calling vpon him were saued by him And wee haue seene it that to weare his hoode was held for a second Baptisme to die in his hood or to put his hand onely in the same at the time of death with an intent to weare it as worthie a worke as to suffer martyrdome And what shal we say when as yet to this day to beare about blessed graines cast Pictures and such other the Romish marchandise are accompted to be as so many steps to lift a man vp into Paradise Romish ceremonies or to bring him backe out of Purgatorie When as also their Agnus Dei are consecrated with this blasphemie That they may haue the same power to deliuer vs out of the power of the Diuell that the Sonne of God the vnspotted Lambe slaine and offered vpon the Altar of the Crosse had to blot out our sinnes to obtaine our pardon and to relieue vs with grace and that such grace as whereby we may both merit and receiue eternall life We were come then so farre neither can we yet get out that we would not be any more indebted vnto God and withall we had robbed him if it had bin possible of the honour of our creation So mightily had pride masked vnder the shadow of humility wrought in vs as that we failed not willingly to arme our selues with our owne righteousnesse and therein to wrastle against his whereas indeed our miserie should haue brought vs on our knees and haue taught vs to implore and sue for his mercie Yet all these monstrous blasphemies were not vncontrolled For as S. Paul opposed himselfe to them of the Circumcision S. Augustine against Pelagius and S. Bernard against Abailardus and others of his time so in this age wherein the Schoolemen and Mendicant Friers stept foorth for the vpholding and fortifying of the same the Waldenses and Albigenses did oppose themselues thereunto of whose Articles this was one That euerie belieuer is iustified by onely faith in Christ c. Wickliefe in England in the yeare 1400. in the open Vniuersitie Profess fidei Waldens ad Vladislaum reg Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prague in the yeare 1415. in the Councell of Constance and Ierome Sauonarola in the yeare 1490. or there about whose bookes are so full of most excellent places for the prouing of free iustification against the pretended merits of whatsoeuer Saints or Martyrs as that it would beseeme vs to set them downe here word for word and the rather because hee was a man so highly esteemed of in Italy Tota meditat in Psal 5 1. as that the Counte Picus Mirandula called him the holy Prophet and tooke vpon him boldly to defend him in a booke written to that purpose against the Pope And what shall we say Adrian 6. in 4. Sent. when they themselues in our time vpon the beginning of the reformation of Religion were euen ashamed thereof Certes Adrian of Vtrecht who was afterward Pope Adrian the sixth saith plainely Our merits are a staffe of Reede whereupon if a man leane it breaketh and the shiuers therof runne into his hand Our righteousnesse a defiled cloth vpon this cloth of a good life which we haue a purpose to weaue vp with the workes of righteousnesse we continually distill and let droppe Clithou in Cant. the purulent and filthâ—â— matter of diuers crimes c. And Clithouius said at Paris Our merits are none before God vnto whome wee owe all our good workes if there be any such are not good vnto him but through his goodnesse our righteousnesse is nothing but filthinesse c. In like manner Iohannes Ferus a graie Frier whom they haue in our daies tearmed to be the chiefe and principall Preacher and Doctor in all Germanie is censured by Dominicus a Soto a Iacobine and Spaniard in 67. places but principally for hauing spoken euill of this Article according to their intention in his Commentaries In whose defence one Michael Medina a Spanish gray
there members owe yea what doe they not owe one to an other Seeing also that this head most liuely feeling all that which these members doe or suffer doe not disdaine to declare and manifest vnto vs that what is done or denied vnto the least is done or denied vnto himselfe and from him hath either reward or punishment And this is the cause why the Fathers haue called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an assemblie a Communion And this second fruit and effect is also wanting in the Masse where there is no Communion betwixt the members nor any signification of this coniunction of Christ with vs of our selues together all men vsing of so many cornes to make but one Loafe and one wine and al of vs sucking life out of the same death nourishment from the same meate of the fleshe and bloud of our Lord But particularly in respect of our selues we being members of Christ and quickned by Christ are there nourished and strengthned both in Christ and of Christ And it is not more sure that the Minister doth giue vs the bread and wine that wee take them with our hands that we eate and drinke them that they are conuerted into our substance and become nourishment for our bodies to maintaine and strengthen this life then it ought to be sure and certaine to euerie Christian that our Lord in the holy Supper celebrated according to his institution dooth giue vnto vs at the same instant his flesh and bloud That we take them by faith that we eate and drinke them that they are turned into the life and substance of our soules becomming the foode of the same to maintaine and strengthen vs vnto eternall life Yea and which more is that by the predominant and ouer-ruling power that they haue they turne our soules both to Christ and into Christ vniting them vnto him and making them one with him and our bodies consequently and proportionablie after the manner of our soules doe make vs bones of his bones flesh of his flesh members of that head gouerned by his spirit and one with him to raise againe one day our bodies and soules to be glorified and raigne with him And this fruit also of the holy Supper is lacking in the Masse of the Church of Rome wherein there is not any thing at all representing this straite and neere coniunction with Christ or that true eating by the which it is cherished and maintained wherein such as are present doe neither eate nor drinke corporally nor spiritually wherein they become all together idle gasers and starers vpon the Priest which eateth and drinketh and vpon a pretended mysterie both deafe and dumbe and wherein in a word there is not any one action which stirreth vp their consciences nor any manner of instruction to helpe forward and ad vnto their knowledge These are the principall ends for which our Lord instituted his holy Supper and whereof wee haue beene altogether destitute vnder the Church of Rome which in steed of this sacred meate which we were wont to eate at our Fathers table hath fed vs with huskes apish toyes and mummeries intertaining in stead of all that which was the old fashion of Rome the poore people with vaine pompes and ceremonies and therefore famished with the want of the grace of God From that farre countrie whether our humane fancies had transported and led vs wee are put in mind of our Fathers table and become resolued to returne againe home vnto him from these abuses and deceits so farre differing from his institution to his truth and from our sinnes to his grace and that by his grace Father haue we said We haue sinned against heauen and against thee we are not worthie any more to be called thy children And hee hath according to the same euen his wonted mercie put a ring vpon our finger cloathed vs with Christ and caused vs to eate his flesh and his bloud They were dead hath hee said but they are returned to life they were lost and they are found againe c. To God bee praise and glorie for euer by the same his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord Amen Let vs now runne ouer and briefely rehearse againe all that which we haue handled and intreated of in this whole worke In the first Booke we haue handled the rearing and raising vp of the Masse A briefe rehearsal of the whole worke from time to time and from parcel to parcell we haue shewed that the old seruice did consist of a publike confession of sinnes in the reading of the old new Testament and that of whole bookes of the same in singing of Psalmes by the whole Congregation in a Sermon vnto the people which was made by the Bishop or Pastor expounding either some place that had beene read or some such other as hee iudged fit for the edifying of the Church in offerings which were offered by the people for the poore and other vses of the same in a generall praier for all the necessities of the Church state in the institution of the holy Supper taken out of the Gospell or the Apostle in a witnessing of the sincere loue of the faithfull one towards an other before they should draw neere vnto the holy Table and in a denunciation vnto such as were not of this number to the wishing of them to abstaine in the distribution of the holy Supper vnto all the people vnder both kindes during the time of which action they ceased not to sing Psalmes or to read the Scriptures and finally in a solemne thankesgiuing for the benefit receiued as well in the death and Passion of our Lord as in the Communion of his body and bloud in the holy supper Which done the Bishop or Pastor sent the people away with a holy blessing And it is not to be forgotten as we haue seene that all this was done in an vnderstood and knowne tongue As for prayers for the dead praying vnto Saints the Canon of the pretended sacrifice and all the parts whereof it is framed wee haue seene them brought in many ages after and that at seuerall times and great distaunces betwixt one and an other and still impairing and growing worse from time to time Retaining therfore for our seruice that which we well perceiue to bee truely auncient and reiecting that which is notoriously new what shall such seruice bee to speake according to a good conscience but the same that is now vsed in the reformed Churches In the second Booke we haue compared the circumstances of the old seruice and those of the Masse First we haue found the Church vnder persecution without publike places to call vpon the name of God in Afterward wee did see Churches built for the same but without any manner of Images with tables let vs call them if you will Altars for the communicating of the holy supper but without Lampes burning of Incense Consecrations Dedications c. We haue obserued the lawfull election and calling of
the Iesuite which is sung in great Greece or that part of Italie which is called Basilicata But who will belieue or giue anie credite vnto him seeing that Gregorie telleth vs and manie others after and besides him that S. Peter did celebrate the Eucharist most plainelie and simplie without adding to the words of the institution so much as the Lords prayer And who can perswade himself that the Church of Rome holding so much of S. Peter that vnder his name it exalteth it selfe aboue the whole world would offer him the iniurie as to make his Masse inferiour to that of S. Gregories yea to driue it out of Rome to restraine and keepe it within the number of a few poore priests keeping the mountaines of Basilicata And such notwithstanding altogether are the proofes which they produce for their Masses or Lithurgies which they pretend to be the Apostles Of the Masse attributed to S. Denys Acts. 17. Neither yet haue they anie firmer ground or more assured warrant for those Masses which they attribute vnto the Apostles their Disciples It is said in the Actes that Denis Areopagita was conuerted at Athens at the preaching of S. Paule a great mischief if he shall not haue left with vs the same institutiō which he receiued of Paul but yet verilie it is greater if S. Paule deliuered anie other to him then he did to the Corinthians yea such an other as he neuer receiued or was taught of Christ the Son of God In the meane time they clap vs vp together a Masse of his diuine function and seruice but farre differing as shall bee seene from that which they themselues do exercise and practise and yet notwithstanding the same hauing as little part and portion in Denys as the others had in the Apostles That wee may not alledge against them how that the stile is altogether differing from the Apostolicall manner of writing neither yet the curious speculations therein propounding and setting before vs as it were in an Inuentorie whatsoeuer is contained in the heauens howsoeuer they be expresly forbidden by that great Apostle howbeit that he had beene rapt and carried vp into the third heauen because it may bee that these thinges would not content the contentious Let vs come and see how these bookes can be thought to bee his hauing obserued the proofes to the contrarie as they follow Eusebius reckoning vp all the famous men in the Church called by the name of Denys and whatsoeuer they had written sayeth not a word of this man S. Ierome in his Catalogue of worthy men speaketh of two or three of this name but of this man or of any of his books he is not remembred Origene Chrysostome and all the first Greekes and Latines in like manner altogether as little Gregor homil 33 de decem drachmis Yea Gregorie the great citing the bookes of this Denys calleth him not Areopagite He speaketh of the consecration of Monkes who can denie but that these ceremonies were vnknowne more then three hundred yeares after Christ And that Denys speaketh also of their shauing which cannot bee proued to haue beene knowne or heard of more then 600. yeares after saue that the Fathers in generall termes did admonish those of the Clergie that they should not fashion themselues after the vaine manner of such men who gloried in their long haire Of the vse of Godfathers in Baptisme but who is hee that is able to shew out of anie old either Greek or Latine writer I say not this name but so much as any trace or smal impression of the thing for many ages after Howsoeuer they haue beene verie exact and exquisite in describing all the ceremonies obserued in Baptisme Dionisius de diuin nominib But what Denys soeuer this might bee he neuer so much as once pretendeth that it should bee the Areopagite for in his bookes of diuine names he reckoneth vp Clement the Philosopher and they will haue him to bee the Romaine but it appeareth that hee was an Alexandrian seeing it is so found and proued by a place in his viii booke hee liued about the yeare 200. And therefore further or otherwise then hee witnesseth of himselfe what haue wee to doe to expect and looke what others doe say In like manner wee see that Theodore Gaza in his preface vpon the Problemes of Alexander Aphrodiseus Theod. Gaza in praef in proble Aphrod Erasmus vpon Act. 17. Caietan vppon the Actes cap. 17. and vpon the third of the Kings Sixtus Senensis lib. 4. in dictione Athanasius dedicated vnto Pope Nicholas the fift pronounceth that these bookes of the Hierarchie were neuer made by Denys the Athenian So sayeth Erasmus also writing vpō the Acts and he addeth his reason I do not thinke sayeth he that in these first times the Christians had so manie ceremonies c. Laurentius Valla that the learned of his time did attribute them vnto one Apollinaris as also the Cardinall Caietan sheweth that they could not bee his and Sixtus Senensis dooth so faintlie and doubtfullie mantain the contradictorie part as that he reiecteth the questions concerning the old new Testament attributed to Athanasius Seeing sayth he that in the fourth question there is mention made of the misticall Diuinitie which I thinke to haue beene vnknowne at that time To bee short I doubte not but that it will befall the man whosoeuer hee bee that shall reade them through as it happened to one Gulielmus Grocinus a worthy man an English Diuine nothing suspected of our aduersaries who as Erasmus maketh mention hauing vndertaken in the time of king Henrie the eight publikelie to expound this writer in S. Paules Church in London did straine himself mightilie euen from the beginning to take away all doubt from such as should once imagine that Denys Areopagite should not be the author thereof but scarse was he proceeded to the middest before that he vnsaide it againe and was neare to haue craued pardon and foregiuenes of his auditors whereby we may note what consciences our aduersaries beare about them not letting to paye out anie manner of counterfeyted coyne whatsoeuer Nicen. Synod 2. Against all this they set the councell of Nice but let vs marke that it is the second held about the adoration and worshipping of Images about the yeare 800. and therewithall that in the same he is not called Areopagite Constantinop Syn. 3. They alledge also the Councell of Constantinople the third wherein there is a certain place though cold and blunt inough alledged about his books against the Monothelites This was helde about the yeare 680. But what is this for to proue vnto vs the antiquitie thereof For as concerning that which they take out of the first Homilie of Origen vpon S. Iohn they might blush and be ashamed seeing he nameth none but the Manichies and Arrians in that place and how long was that after him But what shal we say seeing in France where it is held that
he exercised his Apostleshippe we haue so negligentlie looked to the keeping of this Masse as that wee had it not till after the yeare 900. or thereabout when Michaell the Emperour of Constantinople sent it vnto Lewes the son of Charles the bald where we must not forget that so great ignorance raigned when it was brought vnto vs so able were wee to giue a sound and vpright iudgement vpon it as that to the end wee might be able to celebrate and keepe the same yearlie vpon S. Denis his day in the Abbay of S. Denis neare Paris as it was then appointed it must needes bee written in Latine in which language it is read as yet vnto this day Let vs come to Clement They shew vs his Lithurgie I dare take them vpon their oath Of the Masse attributed to Clement to speake in what estimation they haue it concerning the goodnes and sufficiencie thereof and whether that they would think themselues to haue made a right consecration and according to the lawes of their Canons if they should bee ruled by the same and yet notwithstanding Euseb lib. 3. cap. 16. S. Hieron de eccl Scriptor they are not ashamed to make it a buckler of theirs Eusebius and S. Ierome allowe not anie worke of this Clements from whome euerie day doth giue vs a newe spring of volumes saue onelie one Epistle written to the Corinthians and yet that same is lost and perished although they let not to confesse that there are manie bookes that walke abroade vnder his name but such as are verie much swaruing from the doctrine of the Apostles those especially which are intituled his reuiewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Ruffinus alledged by S. S. Hieron in Apol. aduers Ruff. Dist 15. sancta Romana Epiph. haeres 27. Sixt. l. 2. Bibl. Ierome doth affirm that they contain the heresie of the Eunomians in such euident and manifest manner as that it might seeme to haue beene Eunomius himselfe speaking in them Gelasius the Pope giueth the same censure vppon the booke called Itinerarium Petri or S. Peter his voiage And Epiphanius addeth that the Ebionites did make vse of the same for the prouing of their heresies And the Inquisition saith Sixtus Senensis hath likewise disalowed of and condemned them As for his Epistles vnto S. Iames the Bb. of Ierusalem it is apparantlie cleare that he was dead 30. years before that S. Clement could be Bb. of Rome and yet notwithstanding hee taketh vpon him this facultie But how can it be maintained being before the death of S. Peter And yet after all this who is there that will stand forth and warrant vs that there is no falshoode in the bookes of Constitutions newlie brought ouer from Candie by a certaine Venetian called Capellus in which we may reade this pretended Lithurgie of S. Clements seeing that the Councell of Constantinople held in Trullo doth complaine that these Constitutions of Clement haue beene falsified seeing also that the Cardinall Bessarion not knowing possibly how to approue the words of consecration vsed therin doth vtterlie reiect the authority therof as Apocrypha openlie suspected of being counterfeite and fained Now therfore what haue they merited or what seruice haue these bookes of Clementes done vnto the Church since that time hauing beene condemned by the Primitiue Church that they should now find allowance and approbation in our Church Shall books containing the seede of controuersies bee admitted as deciders of controuersies what shoulde let vs to condemne euerie particular of the doctrines which they containe seeing they were euerie where and vniuersallie then condemned in the Church But let vs see some notes of vntruth in them such as are in others and withall such particular ones as are proper vnto them alone Behold prayer for Confessors not receiued as saith Bellarmine for the space of 700. yeares after in the Church of Rome and so they woulde proue that from that time there was a Pope That the remainder of the Euchariste should be cast into the Sextens chamber or roomes called Pastophoria which in olde time were certain galleries in the Temples of the Painims appointed for lodgings for such as resorted thether for to offer sacrifice and how short came poore Christians as then of hauing anie such Temples or buildinges Let vs make an end of that which remaineth concerning this matter Decretall Epistles all after the same manner what shall we say then of those goodlie Epistles written by the first Bbs. of Rome wherein so oftentimes mention is made of the Masse shall they also swing in the same ballance and obtaine as vile an end This would it may bee but anger and vexe them too much But who can indure that it should bee thought that such Epistles should bee attributed vnto so great Clearkes and personages and that in those ages wherein the Latine tongue most flourished being more full of incongruities and barbarismes then euer were found amongst the verie Gothes as for example Episcopi sunt obediendi sunt vener andi non sunt detrahendi and in that written to Euaristus non sunt respuendi non insidiandi againe in an other to Telesephorus Also ab iis omnes se fideles cauere debent and such like who euer spake such Latine or else who cannot say if they did speak so that of all the Latine the B bs of Rome the head citie of the whole world were the most barbarous and the least Latinistes But is it in these pretended Epistles that we find these goodlie Decrees Of Clement the first Let not the Laitie enter into the Presbiterie whilest Masse is in saying when as at this time not 300. yeares after there were not anie eyther Temples or Presbiteries witnesses herein are Origene and Arnobius And as wee shall see the name of the Masse was as little amongst the Latines and lesse amongst the Greekes Of Alexander the first Let not a Priest say anie moe then one Masse a day De Consecr D. 1. Can. Sufficit Can Nocte Sancta c. And of Telesephorus That hee may say it thrice vpon Christes day and that because the people flocke and run together by thousands vnto Christianitie and that euerie one is desirous to communicate vppon that daye yea hee had an expresse commaundement And thus they euerie where deceiue with the name of Masse in stead of Communion or Eucharist And yet of all this while haue they not got so much as one Masse neither of the Apostles nor of their Disciples neither yet of the first Bbs. of Rome by turning ouer and pressing all the recordes of one hundred yeares space after the death of Christe And although we should allow for good and currant whatsoeuer they alledge how far off notwithstanding should we finde them from that great Masse of these our times and how farre to seeke for their priuate Masses But they replye who is able to proue any thing to you seeing you deny so manie Testimonies
and bookes Nay rather how can we receiue and admit of them seeing they belie themselues or build our selues vpon them seeing they plucke downe themselues hauing receyued the black sentence by the Primitiue Church and being confounded by their owne mouthes wordes And in all this who goeth away with the losse our aduersaries for producing false witnes or we for charging them therewithall they for offering to make vp theyr payment of counterfeyte coyne and that in a bargaine of merchandize of such prices and worth or we for touching and making an assay thereof But what is the greatest gaine that riseth by such faining and counterfeyting of bookes Certes euen such as ordinarilie attendeth Sathan in all the trauell and paine hee putteth himselfe vnto namelie to drawe and allure and afterwarde to keepe man kinde in the snares of ignorance or errour by his counterfeyte and fained deuises The same which fel vpon those deceyuing Spirits in the first ages of the christian Churches for foisting in the goodlie Gospells of Nicodemus S. Iames S. Bartholomew S. Thomas and others which was a derogating from the authoritie of the holy true Scriptures so much as in them laye by the bringing in of those which were false What did the Manichies pretend sayeth S. Augustine by their false Actes of the Apostles Euen nothing else but to weaken the truth of the holie historie and to strengthen the arme of falshoode which suteth verie well with that which Leo the first saide That these pretended writinges of the Apostles which vnder this faire name contained the seedes of manie false doctrines ought not onelie to bee forbidden in the church but quite banished yea burned Againe it is most certaine that one of the hotest persecutions that euer the Primitiue Church endured and whereof it so grieuously complayneth was that which was kindled with the bellowes of false and counterfeyte writinges and those proceeding so farre as euen to shrowde themselues vnder the name of Iesus Christ of the truth it selfe so ragingly did the spirite of lying ouerflow and so licentiouslie did he run loose at his libertie in these first ages as there was not to be found a more deadly wound then that against the puritie of the Gospell so the ancient Fathers did fortifie and arme themselues to the vttermost of their might for the keeping out of the same as Ireneus Iustine Origene Melito and others by distinguishing the Canonicall bookes from the Apocrypha whereas our aduersaries now a dayes that they may haue the better meanes to support and beare out their lies are nothing so carefull for or so zealously and earnestlie set vppon anie thing as to shake and weaken the authoritie of the holie Canonicall Scriptures and that partlie by slipping in amongst thē such books as the Primitiue Church had cut off as dead vnprofitable members partlie by reuiuing yea by new coining such store of such manner of fables such store of such such fooleries as possiblie they could deuise al to that end that amongst so much filthie and durtie stuffe as they brought and as had beene of olde swept and cast out of the Church by the auncient Fathers they might at the leaste finde out some scantlins more or lesse of the stuffe wherewith they did infect and corrupt their Church CHAP. III. What manner of diuine Seruice was vsed in the Christian Church in the time of the Apostles and their Disciples NOw it may not content vs to know that the Masse which is vsed at this day was no parte of the diuine seruice of God in the Christians Church in the time of the Apostles and their Disciples nor yet anie other thing comming neare vnto the same but wee must goe further and search what manner of seruice it was though wee bee put to fish and finde out the truth from the botomles lake of lying deceitfulnes a thing become very hard and difficult for vs to atchieue by reason of the piled heaps of ceremonies and the mighty multiplying of Nouelties for men to play and sport themselues withall throughout the whole continuance of so manie ages and because also that besides all such we shall bee forced to vndertake the clearing of this so intricate and intangled a matter by the darke and dimme traces as they may be found which are apparant in the bookes that are left vs and which our aduersaries themselues doe approue to the ende that on the one side we may bee able to discerne of Superstition from which we must depart and that on the other side we may not hang in suspence what is the true seruice of God wherunto we are to cleaue and according whereunto we ought as neere as may bee to desire and labour for the reformation of the Church Now this ought to suffice vs 1. Cor. 11. that S. Paule hath tolde vs that he hath not taught the Churches anie thing but that which he had receyued from the Lord and which also he hath declared vnto vs and againe that S. Peter by the bookes of our verie aduersaries is sayed to haue tyed and kepte himselfe to his institution And who is hee that would receiue or belieue otherwise of anie one or al the rest but yet notwithstanding men will not be content herewithall wee must be forced for their satisfaction to handle the matter in a more large and ample manner And here first we are to consider what S. Angustine telleth vs that is What the seruice was amongst the Christians that the church of God yea of Christ had his beginning in Adam shall end in this world by the last Christian which is asmuch to say as that there is but one Church euer since the beginning euen vnto the worlds end howsoeuer it haue his diuerse periods amongst all which that was the chief and principall which happened vpon the change of Iudaisme into Christianitie for to speake properlie a good Iewe was no other thing then a Christian by faith looking and waiting for the Messias which is Christ as in like manner a Christian is a true and naturall Iew of the true seed of Abraham in asmuch as by the same faith he hath receiued Iesus for the Christ The diuine seruice likewise amongst the Iewes notwithstanding that they were darkened in their opinions by the peruerse glosses of the Pharisies was abiding sincere and pure purged and free from all Idolatrie in as great measure as euer at any time before when our Sauiour Christ came into the world whereupon wee see he made it not straunge neither yet his Disciples to be conuersant in their Temple and Synagogues But on the contrary there was the place where our Lord did chuse oftentimes to take occasion to teach instruct the people to interprete the Scriptures which were therein diligentlie read as in like manner his Apostles did after his example Iohn 18. Actes 15. and to this end we haue infinite store of plaine and manifest places both
the Scriptures Walafridus speaketh Who first instituted and appointed lessons to bee read out of the Epistles of the Apostles Walafrid de diuin Oftic c 22. Microlog c. 1. and out of the Gospels before the celebrating of the Sacrifice it is not certainely knowne but it is thought the Apostles their first successors did so ordaine especially because the celebration of these Sacrifices is commaunded in the Gospels and in the Apostle is taught the manner how it must bee done c. And in the same Chapter Telesphorus sayeth hee the ninth Bb. of Rome ordained that the Gospels and Epistles should be read in the assemblies of the Christians in steade of the propheticall writinges And againe Before Pope Celestine that is before the yeare 430. or thereabout there was nothing rehearsed before the consecration but the Epistle and Gospell Againe sayeth hee there was a time when there was nothing read but Saint Paule namelie as may bee presumed the place which concerneth the holie Supper Albinus Flaccus in like manner sayeth Albinus Flaccus de diuinis officiis Rabanus de instit cleric Berno Aguiensis cap. 1. Heretofore the Epistle of Saint Paule onelie was recited and after it the holy Gospell and then the Masse was celebrated Rabanus likewise vseth almost the verie same wordes saue onelie that hee addeth that this fashion of singing was not vsed in the Church in such sorte as it is at this day All these cited Authors were about the yeare 800. and 900. The Abbotte Berno alleadging the life of S. Gregorie He bindeth vp saieth hee into one volume Gelasius his booke of the solemne orders and Customes vsed in Masses cutting off much changing a little and putting to somewhat and calleth it the booke of the Sacraments and it may be that in the former times there was nothing read but the Epistles of Saint Paule Then afterwarde it fell out that other Lessons Amalar. lib. 3. cap. 5. both of the olde and of the new Testament were mingled therewithall in such order ad manner as solemne thinges are wonte to require Amalarius Bishoppe of Trire Celestine was the first that ordayned that the Psalmes of Dauid shoulde bee sung by course not sayeth hee that they had beene vsed to haue beene sung for before time the Epistle of Sainte Paule and the holie Gospell were onelie wonte to bee read and afterwarde the Sacrifice was celebrated and the Masse beganne by the foresaide Lecture where vppon custome hath retayned it vntill this daye in the vigilles of Easter and Whitsontide that is to saye at these solemne feastes wherein now in these latter dayes euerie man appointed himselfe to receiue the holie Supper And this I woulde haue marked by the waye against those that finde faulte with the reformed Churches for hauing taken the chiefe grounde and principall foundation for their prescript forme of administring and receyuing of the holie Supper out of the first Epistle of Saint Paule to the Corinthians chap. 11. where hee rehearseth the institution of our Lord seeing they may well perceiue that it was so practised in the first olde age as their owne Authors doe witnes vnto them Of Psalmes Radulph Deane of Tongres sayeth That the olde Diuine Seruice consisted in Psalmes and in Lessons but that the Psalmes made vppe the greater parte insomuch as that the Psalter was runne through there euerie weeke and hee giueth a reason for it Because sayeth hee that it is a perfect abridgement of Diuinitie wherein Dauid hath spoken more like an Euangelist then a Prophette and furthermore it is to vs and to all true repenting sinners an example of the mercie of God and that for the same cause the reading of Saint Paule his Epistles was so much vsed as wherein we are instructed and taught the manner of his conuersion and profiting Walaf c. 26 in them likewise obseruing the rich and bountifull goodnes of God and in like manner Walafridus in Chapter 26. Now after these Lectures there was a place wherein they vsed to speake of the preaching that had beene made and framed thereof for the Bishoppe or Pastor was wonte to expounde some one place or other vnto the people wherevppon wee reade these wordes in the Lithurgie attributed vnto Clemente How that after the Lessons the Bishoppe speaketh vnto the people by waye of exhortation and hereuppon sprung so manie Homilies of the olde Fathers Clemens siue alius in Liturgia aswell Greeke as Latine as likewise the Bbs. when they tooke their oath did bind themselues by promise to performe this dutie in signe and token whereof the booke of the Gospell was deliuered to them with these wordes Take the Gospell and preach it vnto the people that is committed vnto thee as wee shall see hereafter The traces and steps whereof may seeme still to bee seene in that part of the Masse called in French the Prosne wherein the Curates doe laye open vnto the people some rudimentes of their Christian faith but the ignorance or else the riotousnes of the Prebates hath now through tract of time so preuailed with these Copiers out of bookes as that they haue left out what was mentioned of making of Sermons and goe on with a smooth foote from the Lecture to the Offertorie or offring which Walafridus and Berno affirme to bee sprung vp Walafr c. 22. Berno Augiensis c. 1. ex prioris populi consuetudine of the custome of the Iewish Church And these offrings in the Christian Church were for the most parte of breade wine or of the first fruites thereof in corne and in grapes and these were consecrated vnto God by prayer afterward they tooke that which was necessarie for the Communion of the holy Supper and looke what remained it was eyther eaten of all in common or else giuen to the poore And further let it bee marked that both of them say in proper and apte tearmes We do not reade it in plain and euident forte who it was that added vnto our Lithurgies that which is sung inter offerendum at the offring and as little of that singing by course vsed in the communion and as certainelie doe wee receiue verily belieue that the holie Fathers in the first times did offer and communicate without anie voice heard which also is furthermore obserued vpon the holie Saturday of Easter Wherby wee perceiue verie clearelie that the Bbs. or Priestes did not say Offero Sacrifico Offerimus Sacrificamus but that according to the example of our Lorde after they had pronounced and vttered the holie wordes of the institution of the Sacrament they gaue it vnto the people without saying anie thing all those precise and strict ceremonies coupled and fastened to a number of wordes vttered with one breath to certaine signes of the Crosse c being crept in a long time after and whereof these honest fellowes can render no other reason saue that according to the measure of the growth of the Church in mightines
it is that antiquitie resteth and in which it is that noueltie hath built her selfe a nest as namely whether antiquitie dwell with the Church of Rome which of the old and auncient seruice retaineth onelie the sleight and vnprofitable rind or with our reformed Church which hath restored and reestablished both all the parts as also the substance thereof vnto his former estate and whole right But here it is obiected against vs Obiections for ceremonies yet you cannot deny but that many ceremonies were now already brought into the Church and into the seruice and ministerie of the same which you allow not of in your Churches And who doubteth but that in the space of fiue hundred years containing more then one hundred thousand nights the aduersarie Sathan who vseth to rise in the night had sowen mo then a few tares And who can find it strange that in these fieldes before time both possessed and husbanded by the Gentiles as also by the Iewes there should remaine of their seed And on the contrarie who is he that will not wonder where the dore is once set open to licentious liberty traditions and mans inuentions if there should anie thing abide continue sound and sincere But who will not rather finde occasion with vs to praise God who in despight of Sathan and all the malice of the Diuell the tyrannie of Custome the licentiousnes of Tradition the slipperie nature of Superstition the presumption of mans spirit and the darkenes of ignorance ouershadowing and couering all toward the end of this time hath vouchsafed so long to conserue the principall part of his seruice at least so much as was of the substance Or who will not yet more admire his goodnes for causing as it were a new creation of the Sun of truth in these our dayes after so horrible a confusion and after such an eternall and euerlasting night S. Augustine writing of the ceremonies and Traditions of his time said vnto Ianuarius Before all other thinges I would that thou shouldest know the great maine point of this disputation August Ep. 118. ad Ianuar that is that Iesus Christ our Lord is willing to subiect al his to bring them to beare his sweete yoke and light burthen as hee calleth it himselfe in the Gospell and thereupon also it is that he hath ioyned and coupled together the societies and companies of his new people by the Sacramentes which are verie few in number verie easie to obserue and keepe and yet notwithstanding most excellent in signification c And what is it that he sayeth vnto vs therewithall in the Epistle following August Ep. 119. Cortainelie sayeth hee it displeaseth mee that there is no more care and regarde had of thinges that are most safe and wholesome and commaunded in the sacred bookes whereas in the meane time euerie thing is full of presumptions that is of forestalled opinions in such sorte as that a man is more reproued for hauing touched the ground with his bare foote these holie dayes then if hee had made himselfe drunke with wine c. So that the state and condition of the Iewes is more tollerable then that of the Christians who as they haue not knowne anie time of libertie so neyther haue they beene charged with anie other burthens then those of the Law which was of God and not with the presumptions of vaine man for hereby the Church of God seated in the middest of great heaps of chaffe darnell vndergoeth and is made to beare manie burthensome things c. And this S. Augustine said vpon the speeches of certain Christiās which were giuen in such sort to abstaine from eating of flesh as that they iudged those vnclean who did eate the same And this thing saith he is most plainely against the rule of faith of holesome doctrine Now then let vs shoule away this chaffe and darnell 2. Cor. 3. laid vpon a golden and siluer foundation sowen in the field of Christ and notwithstanding adiudged worthie to bee burned with fire by the word of the Lord and by the writ of the Apostle Let vs praise God onely that these good Doctors haue to deale with him a Lord full of mildnes a Maister full of clemencie but and if their workes and inuentions burne before the fire of his spirit yet at the least they are saued as concerning themselues because of the foundation through his mercie in Iesus Christ They alleadge against vs for the first that which they call holy water Holy water Basil 〈◊〉 S. Spiritu ad Amphilochium c. 27. Ambros l. 2. de Sacr. c. 5. going about to proue it vnto vs out of Basile in his booke of the holy Ghost written to Amphilochius where he saith We consecrate the water of baptisme c. And out of S. Ambrose That in the Westerne Churches there was a prayer made to God that it would please him to blesse the water c. I aunswere that this argument is not well framed being from the water of baptisme to the holy water from a prayer by which the vse of creatures is blessed according to the nature and right vse of euerie one of them to the exorcising of a creature turned quite an other way from his right vse And as for S. Basil you may adde an other answere with Erasmus that this booke from the midst thereof containeth nothing that is Basils Gregor Nazianz hom 3. de Sancto Ianuario And Gregorie Nazianzene his brother had aunswered him that baptisme may indifferently be administred with any water And if the vse of their holy water were at that time in the Church it had but S. Bafill his particular approbation and how commeth it then to passe that it is not found in the Liturgie which they attribute vnto him For whereas some would impute it to Alexander 1. let vs not go about to offer the Church of Rome that iniurie De consecr D. 3. Aquam either by word or beliefe as that at that time when S. Iohn said in his Epistles The bloud of the sonne of God doth purge vs from all iniquitie there should bee a Bishop at Rome that should say in his That water besprinkled with salt and consecrated by prayer doth sanctifie and make cleane the people after the manner of the ashes of the redde cow c. But the verie truth is that this water was brought in a long while after and that by the imitating of the Gentiles their purging or expiatorie water who vsed it at this time and with the verie same ceremonie Iustine saith The Gentiles when they enter into their temples Iustinus Martyr Apol. 2. doe sprinckle themselues with water and then they go and offer sacrifice vnto their Gods Valentinian a Tribune of warre vnder Iulian the Apostate following him to the temple of Fortune the Churchwardens which were at the dore cast water vpon all those that went in in so much as that there lighted one drop
and sung twice The Psalmes at the first were wont to be sung intire whole of all the people and with one voice where afterward they were diuided into pauses and in the ende into verses in the singing whereof the Cleargie and the people did by course sing one one verse Hermanus Gigas in Flore temp Psalmes and the other the other Gregorie appointed an Antiphonarie for the time and space of the whole yeare consisting of Versicles Responsories for euery day Likewise he ordained a schoole of singers to sing the lithurgie and hee laboured greatly to haue his song or maner of singing receiued euery where throughout the Latine Churches finding himselfe much offended with the barbarous voyces of the French Singing Germaine English men Ioann Diaconus l. 2. c 6. 7. Walafr c. 22. Kyrie cleison as not hauing beene able to fit and tune themselues thereunto He taketh the Kyrie eleison from the Grecians and was found fault with therefore for said some This is far off from reducing the Church of Constantinople vnder the church of Rome seeing thereby he did nothing els but draw their fashions manners vnto Rome But he excuseth himselfe in these wordes Amongst the Grecians all the people doe say it but amongst vs the Cleargie that is the Ministers of the Church onely and the people answereth Greg. l. 7. epi. 63. indict 2. Prayers Againe Looke how oft we say Kyrie cleison so many times also do we say Christe eleison which is not done amongst the Grecians For prayer hee made a booke some part whereof was taken and drawne out of that of Gelasius which is called the Sacramentarie containing those thinges which were to be said euerie day throughout the yeare If there be found saith Walafridus any thing in this booke which halteth it is to be thought Gregor l. 2. c. 17. Walafr c. 22. Lessons that it is none of his but that some other hath added the same thereto afterward yea and there are old Masse-bookes to be seene where are noted the praiers secrets and Post-communions of Gregorie to make them tobe knowne from the others which in deed are more corrupt then his For the lessons of the Gospell and Epistle he followeth directly and altogether the booke of lessons or the bookes called Comes attributed vnto Saint Ierome saue onely that vpon the festiuall dayes the institution of Pope Vigilius was receiued and kept and thereto also was his booke of Anthemes fitted and squared endeuouring to raise and draw Anthemes taken out of the Psalmes to answere to the seuerall drifts and purposes of the lessons whereas before this prescript forme of reading the Gospels Epistles Prophesies and other bookes of the old and new Testament were read through Sermons And as for their preachings and expositions of the word of God vnto the people hee speaketh of himselfe in a certaine place that he had expounded forty lessons out of the Gospel as it had beene accustomed to be read vpon certaine daies in the Office Gregor in praef Homil. and that some of his expositions were deliuered by word to his Clearke or Secretarie that he might afterward reade them to the assemblie and that he had himselfe pronounced and vttered other some of them with his owne mouth But therewithal he complaineth himselfe greatly of the iniquitie and abuse of the time which had preuailed so far as that The Pastors of the church had left and abandoned the chaire of teaching and preaching of the Gospell Gregor D. 92. and would not find leasure to do any other thing then sing And this saith he grew because singing men were aduaunced and placed in the Ministerie of the Church who supposed themselues to haue discharged their duty when they had opened their pipes tickled the people with their singing though they had done nothing vnto them eyther in instructing of them in the articles of their faith or in the doctrine of manners For offerings Offeringes they continued and were brought in euerie day notwithstanding that the Church was growne very rich in so much as that diuers of the old Fathers complained themselues saying that the Bishops had not done as Moses did who caused proclamation to be made amongst the people that they should not bring any more Gregor in Dialogis when he saw that there was enough for the building of the tabernacle For wee find likewise that in the time of Gregorie there were offered sheep and calues c against the expresse Canon which commanded that nothing but bread wine should be offered But the greater abuses hapning about the consecration of the offerings cause vs to leape ouer the other which were not so waightie with a lighter foote Now we haue alreadie seene that it was the peoples custome to offer of their fruits and increase vnto God as the old people of the Iewes did and that these fruits were consecrated vnto him by a holy prayer after the manner vsed by the Priest amongst the Israelites wherin he was humbly intreated to take in good part that their thanksgiuing and to accept of this their sacrifice of praise And these fruits as all the peace offerings amongst the Iewes were lifted vp or shaken for to shew them vnto the people after that of the same fruits that is of the bread and wine was taken that which was sufficient for the Sacraments and the remainder reserued for the poore c. Now all this so commendable a custome beganne not to degenerate but to turne into a plaine poison about this time of Gregorie Walafr c. 22. and not without iust cause saith Walafridus seeing he ordained the order of Masses consecrations as well as of singing For in deed the forme of consecration was so far changed at that time by chaunging of the subiect as that the words properly vsed in the blessing of the gifts and offerings were appropriated directly to the Sacraments The Canon There then beganne the worke about that part of the Masse which properly they call the Canon In the Primitiue Church the holy Supper was celebrated euery Lords day and all the faithfull there present were bound to participate thereof by little and little thir zeale waxed cold whereof we heare S. Ambrose S. Chrysostome and others to crie out In the ende it came to that point Can. non iste C. quotidie de consecrat dist 5. that the people did not for the most part accustome any more to communicate neither were they pressed any thing thereunto by the diligence of the Pastors Whereupon likewise followed a tolleration and ceasing from the looking vnto of the seueritie and straitnesse of the Canons namely those which enioyned men that they should communicate at the least three times a yeare at the natiuitie of Christ Easter and Pentecost otherwise they should not bee taken for good Catholikes which afterward was restrained to the Natiuitie of Christ onely And thus it
open and whole and in the same place where they had laid it and contrarywise that of S. Gregories all rent and torne in peeces and scattered round about the Temple Thereuppon it seemed to bee the law of the game that S. Ambrose his Masse-booke should continue whole and that of S. Gregories rent and torne in peeces But on the contrarie they expounded it quite after an other manner Quia placuit aut placeat because it so pleased them as they say in their councels for they neuer giue anie other reason That that of S. Ambrose should not bee permitted in any place but Millaine but that of S. Gregories should bee licensed to passe throughout the whole Church And thus beholde it was first receiued throughout all Italie there being no other place properlie left or remayning to come and witnes any thing against it except the Diocesse of Millaine by reason of the authoritie of S. Ambrose Berno Augiensis testifieth that before the time of Gregorie The change and alteration in France Epist Hildewin ad Ludouicum pium there was an other manner of seruice in France then there was at Rome and this hee proueth by a certaine epistle written by Hildewinus to the Emperour Lewes the Gentle and that notwithstanding Pope Innocent Gelasius Gregorie Bbs. of Rome had done their vttermost endeuour by gentle intreaties and faire words to bring them to conforme themselues to the Order of Rome and hee sayeth asmuch of Spaine and Germany yea further that in the Registrie of his Monasterie he hath as yet an olde masse-Masse-book that is farre differing from that of Rome Guaguin l. 3. Pipin then to shew himselfe deuoted and inwardlie affected towardes the See of Rome which had set him in the throne of the kingdome defrauding Chilperich the lawfull king of the Crowne of France at the instant request of Pope Steuen who came of purpose into France for to hallow it receiued at the first the whole order of Rome and gaue charge for the establishing of the same vnto Giles or Remigius Archbishoppe of Roan his brother But as it falleth out in such changes that they cannot bee done all at a dash Charles the great vnder colour that by combining knitting together of both the seruices the church and the Empire would be vnited in a neerer and straiter bond of loue and agreement tooke it to bee needfull for him of his owne accord to intermeddle in the matter and to shew some parte of his power and authoritie seeing especially the fauour of Pope Adrian the first acknowledging him for Emperour did somewhat stir him vp thereto for so also he constrained sayeth Durandus all the people of the Church that were of the nations vnder him by tormentes and punishmentes to obserue the seruice instituted by Gregorie and yet by reason of the resistances that hee met withall in that attempt hee was contented to begin his purpose by the help and assistance of the Monks which at that time had Masses in their Monasteries wheras the custome had been Carol. l. 1. c. â—0 that they should bee bound to those of the Parishes And this is that which we read in the ordinances of Charles the great Let the Monkes sayeth hee obserue and keepe the manner of singing vsed in Rome for now it was come to that that no man spake of any thing but singing according as our Father of worthy memory Pipin decertauit vt fieret Alias decretauit did his endeuour to bring to passe when hee tooke away gallicanum cantum the French manner of singing for the confirming and better ratifying of the concord and vnitie betwixt him and the See Apostolike c. which also he continued by the Gouernours in the Churches Lib. 5. c. 219. Let euerie Priest sayeth hee celebrate the Masse ordine Romano after the manner of Rome with sweete so unders and let the people bee put in minde to offer euerie Lordes day and that the same bee receiued without the place compassing in the Altar Sigibertus in Chronic. Odo Cameracen in Canon Walas c 25. Ioan Salisburiens lib. 1. Policr c. 6 Chronic. Engolis Gregory his Masse receiued in Germany And yet the soundest opinion is that the fift book and those following are of the constitutions of the Emperours that came after him But so it is as the Chronicle of Engolisme sayeth that Charles demaunded some of Pope Adrian his singing men to conforme the manner of the French singing to that of Rome and that thervppon hee graunted Theodore and Benet whome hee calleth doctissimos Cantatores and the bookes of Anthemes which S. Gregorie had noted with his owne hand that hee might correct those of France by them And the greatest maistrie of singing saieth hee doth abide in the City of Mets. About the same time the Popes forgot not Germany Gregorie the seconde shooting at the same marke with those before him sent thether for Legate a certaine Englishman named Venofridus a slaue well knowne for his ambition who afterward for hauing preached his owne inuentions and not the Christian faith which continued pure and vncorrupt there for a long time was surnamed the Apostle of the Germaines This man after he had well sounded the state of Germanie and throughlie looked into all their affaires returned to Rome where the Pope for the easier atchieuing of his purpose created him Archbishoppe of Mentz and appointed that hee should bee called Boniface hee gaue him the booke of the Decrees of Rome according to the ordinances whereof hee willed that the Churches of Germanie might be reformed and thereupon to that end taketh an oath of him Hee setteth him out with manie letters of recommendation of diuerse and sundrie Princes Estates and Nations insinuating by them that hee craueth nothing but that they would patientlie and willingly suffer themselues to bee reformed hee promiseth Paradise to all such as shal help forward this his enterprise but denounceth a curse against all them which shall not receiue him as the Legate of Iesus Christ himselfe and for to make vppe the paire hee ordained Charles Martell to stand by him as a stout Champion in the defence and patronage of this attempt and great enterprise in respect of the high conceite and hope that was put in him for his prowes 2. Tom. de coÌ„cil vbi epist Gregor 2 3. Auent lib. 3. Naucl. Gent. 25. Gregorie the third comes after and walketh as crookedlie as the crab Gregorie the second that went before hee fortifieth himselfe in his place with as much care vsing Pipin and Charles the great with their ioynt power and authoritie Pipin by name being indebted and bound vnto this Boniface whome the Pope Zacharie had vsed as his Agent in the deposition of Chilperich and the establishing of him in his place and in absoluing and discharging of the French men of their naturall oath insomuch as that they induced the people of Franconia Hessia Bauaria Saxonie Frisia c.
following impression to bee eyther omitted or chaunged or cut off and namely those which are found in the commentaries which haue beene written vppon the auncient Doctors Amongst others they doe not forget Volaterrane Polydore Virgill Faber Stapulensis Reuchlinus Munster Langus Rhenanus Viues Erasmus Cassander c. and to bee briefe the most worthiest men of this age that professe as the Church of Rome professeth That therefore wee may returne to our former purpose such was the Masse in the time of S. Gregorie yea and a long time after Charles the Great through the greatest part of Christendome such I say as against which notwithstanding for many nouelties contained therein there were that opposed themselues and yet neuerthelesse such as in which there remained the communiō intire administred vnder both kinds and vnto al the people Concil Bracar 2 c. 84. neither did there any Canons or Doctors appeare at that time which did anie thing contresay the same The Councel of Bracare the second Jf any man enter into the Church of God and there hearing the Scriptures doe insolenthe auoide himselfe from the communicating of the Sacraments Concil Altisiod c. 42. c. we will that he be excommunicated and cast out of the catholike Church The Councell of Auxerre Let euerie woman when shee communicateth haue her Sabath but and if shee haue not then let her not communicate the next Lordes day And Rabanus describing the seruice of his time After the Sanctus sayeth hee the consecration of the body and blood of our Lorde is celebrated then a verie earnest and feruent prayer vnto God and after that the Lordes prayer afterwarde when they come to communicate the faithfull doe mutuallie giue and take the kisse of peace one at a nother singing O Lambe of God that bearest the sinnes of the world haue pittie vppon vs to the ende that receiuing the sacrament in peace wee may bee thought worthie to bee numbred among the children of God And indeed to shew that the consecration serued not for any other purpose then for the Communion Alexander Hales the auncientest of all the schoolemen hath vttered these wordes a long time since Alex. Hales 4. q. 35. memb 2. Ibid. solut 2. Consecratio est propter communionem communio maior est in effectu sanctitatis quà m consecratio c. that is the consecration is for the communion and the communion is more holie in effect then the consecration c. And Cardinall Humbert Hoc quotiescunque feceritis c. As oft sayth he as you shall blesse as you shall breake as you shall distribute giue Humber cont libel Nicet Monach. Gabr. Biel. Lect. 38. you shal do it in remembrance of mee because sayth he that if anie one of these three which soeuer it be be omitted it is not perfectlie to represent and shew the remembrance of the Lord. And Gabriell Biell of our time hath these wordes The consecration is not alwaies the end of consecration but rather the vsa that the faithfull make thereof for the bodie and the blood are properlie consecrated to the end that the faithfull may make vse thereof in eating of the same c. And neuerthelesse wee are not to doubt but that the priuate Masses were very nimble and full of endeuour after the best manner that they could to plant and establish themselues though it were against the discipline of the Church and that for both respectes that is to say in the first place vnder the name of being priuate and secondlie in as much as they were without communion for against these wee haue the expresse lawes of Charles the Great and of his sonnes Lib. 5. c. 38. Addi 4. c. 39. Lib. 1. c. 25. 154. The Priest which performeth the Agenda that is the seruices in priuate places without the license of the Bishoppe let him bee degraded let no man doe it in an other mans parish yea and let none bee ordained but such as are appointed to some certaine parish c. And against the same in a further degree then the former Walafridus who liued in the time of Lewes the Gentle after hee hath discoursed vnto vs by what degrees the Masse came to bee so common as that in stead of one which was wont to bee celebrated vppon the Lordes day in euerie Parish at such time as the faithfull were wont to communicate all together doth come in the end to make comparison or rather opposition betwixt the legitimate and lawfull Masses and the solitarie or priuate ones calling the lawfull and legitimate those Where there are sayeth hee a Priest Answerers Offerers and Communicants as the forme of prayers vsed doth shew and by consequent the solitarie or priuate ones as hee calleth them wherein there is no communion Walafr c. 22. illegitimate vnlawfull and bastardlie Adde hereto further that in the time of Charles the Great it was not wont to bee saide Pro quibus tibi offerimus for whom wee offer vnto thee but which offer vnto thee this sacrifice of praise Qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis seeing it was the people and not the Priest which of fered vnto God Lib. 6. c. 173. and that a sacrifice not propitiatorie but of praise Againe it is not to bee forgotten how that amongst all the Churches which professed the name of Christ there was not one but the Latine Church which did receiue them witnes to all those of Greece Russia Syria and Ethiopia No Lithurgie but the Romish without a Communiō in all which there was not vsed anie priuate Lithurgie or Masse yea some goe further and say that there was not anie at all vsed either for the liuing or for the dead neither yet vpon anie other particular deuotion but rather a publike one and that according to the multitude of the people whether it were dayly or but euerie Lordes daye and that in the language of the common people and in which they did all communicate together in the Sacraments and that vnder both kindes Now let vs come to that which these ages and latter times haue added ouer and aboue vnto the making vp of the Masse first we reade how that in the time of Agatho Additions to the Masse after the time of Gregorie Plat. in Agath that is to say about the yeare 670. Iohn Bishoppe of Port did say the first Latine Masse in the Temple of S. Sophie at Constantinople whereupon the allowance of Masses is drawne from the Grecians and then we aunswere them that if they approue and allow of that which was then and not of that which is now that then it must bee now at this day such as it was then But was hee not ashamed for the insinuating of himselfe into the fauour of the Grecians to father vppon Chrysostome a booke of the Masse seeing wee finde it euident by that which hath beene saide heretofore that it was not possible for him to heare
for the part and portion of the priest It is not so at this day but there is set before and giuen to all one and the selfe same bodie one and the same cup. The lithurgie also which they attribute to him doth so celebrate the same And when he would stirre vp the people to reuerence the sacraments he doth it alwaies by ioyning together of both kindes What manner of mouth wilt thou bring for this bread Chrysost de Eucharist Theophilact in 1. Cor. c. 11. Idem in Ioha c. 10. Idem in Ioh. c. 10. and what manner of lips for this cup and such like speeches Whereupon also Theophilact which hath made in manner an abridgement of Chrysostomes workes saith That the cup of the Lord was ordained for all equally and alike And in another place When saith he thou commest to the cup of the communion of the blood of Christ so dispose thy selfe as if thou camest to drinke of his proper cost and charges These wordes when thou commest can not be vnderstoood but of the faithfull people In the time of Leo the first about the yeare 440. The condemning of them that take but the bread Leo serm quadrag 4. Rom. 16. the communion vnder both kinds was so ordinarie and certaine as that it was the marke whereby to know the Manichees the most pernicious heretickes that were in the Church And thereupon Leo the Pope saith in a sermon They take in their vnworthie mouthes the bodie of the Lord refuse altogether to drinke the blood of our redemption which he calleth a sacrilegious hypocrisie and applyeth to the same purpose the words of S. Paul to the Romaines Beware of them that raise dissentions and offences contrarie to the doctrine which you haue learned c. What would he haue said then if the priests and Bishops had refused to administer it to the people But as euerie Processe doth intend an arrest and heresies ingender decrees so there being certaine presumptuous and superstitious priestes about the yeare 540. which were tampering to seperate the bread from the cup Pope Gelasius vttereth his iudgement De consecrat D. Can. 2. We haue heard saith he that there are some mē which hauing receiued the bodie do abstain refuse to receiue the cup of the sacred blood whom seeing superstition hath blinded them we will either wholly entirely to receiue the Sacraments or els to be wholly vtterly restrained shut out from the same because that the renting a sunder and diuiding of one and the same mysterie cannot be done or tollerated without great sacriledge Note and marke that he saith Superstition not heresie He speaketh not then of the Manichees as Leo doth but of other persons receiued into the Christian Church Again that Gelasius saith and declareth that not to receiue any more then the bodie is not to receiue the whole Sacrament but to the contrarie it is so far from receiuing the Sacrament as that it is nothing else but a notorious inwrapping of a man in sacriledge And here Gratianus his Glosse is not to be admitted that this Canon is to be vnderstood of certain priests who hauing consecrated both kinds did take but one of them neither yet the deprauing and corrupting of the same as it is done by some Chroniclers who to apply themselues to the abuses of their times say that Gelasius ordained this Canon that the priests should not consecrate the one kind without the other For here I would aske of them if they consecrate both what must bee done then with the other but if one onely must be consecrated then I would know of thē where I might find any history making mention therof But the truth is that by that Canon are condemned such superstitious persons as would receiue but the one as may well be collected out of these words Ab integris arceantur let them bee wholly put backe debarred which must needs be applyed vnto the parties receiuing and not to the parties distributing Now superstition is called of the schoolemen Cultus Dei indebitus that is when one serueth God after his owne manner not according to his commandementes Let vs adde as an ouer-measure of these first fiue hundred years S. Remigius who is called the Apostle of the French men Hincmarus Archb. of Rheimes writing a book on set purpose of him telleth vs that he neuer celebrated it otherwise For saith he these verses are yet found written vpon his cup vnto this day Hauriat hinc populas vitam de sanguine sacro Iniecto aternus quem fudit vulnere Christus Remigius reddit Domino sua vota Sacerdos S. Gregorie The further continuance thereof after the time of Gregorie the Great an 600. Gregor in ho. de Pasch De consecrat di 2. C. Quid sit Greg. Dialog l. 3. c. 36. notwithstanding that he was a great changer and alterer of religion in his time yea and in that parte thereof namely the administration of the Sacraments doth not meddle any thing with this point In the Homelie on Easter day What is it saith he that you haue not yet learned of the blood of the lambe in hearing of it as also in drinking of it which blood is then sprinckled vppon the two postes when it is drunke not onely with the mouth of the bodie but also with the mouth of the heart now hee speaketh in that place vnto all the people He sayth the same in the Homelie which beginneth Fractus longa molestia And writing to Augustine Bishop of Canterburie as also in his dialogues he reporteth how that a certaine man named Maximinian afterward Bb. of Sarragossa in Sicilia being distressed by tempest all they which were in the vessell receiued the bodie blood of our Lord after they had prayed for the peace one of another in stead whereof they vse not now a dayes to say any but drie Masses vppon the sea Ordo Romanus Micrologus But that which is more the Romish order which is held to haue beene ordained in his time doth carrie it in expresse tearmes as that the Archdeacon did distribute the cup to all them to whom the Bb. did giue the bread and the blood to those to whom the body was giuen whereby the one was called by the name of communicating and the other of confirming and that these words were vttered and spoken vnto them Corpus Domini sanguis Domins c. custodiat te ad vitam aeternam the bodie of our Lord c. the blood of our Lord c. preserue keepe thee vnto eternall life and there are by name comprised and specified the clearkes and the laitie men and women of euery condition And in deed the prayers before and after haue these wordes We beseech thee O Lord that all we which haue receiued the holy body blood of thy Son may be replenished with all grace heauenly blessing c. And the Post-communion that is the Thanksgiuing after
concealed and kept backe Concil Tolet. 1. c. 14. Concil Caesar August c. 3. Liturg. PraesanctificatoruÌ„ Interprete Genebrardo that they were condemned by the Councels The first of Toledo saith If any man do receiue the Eucharist of the Minister and doe not eate it let him be put backe and excommunicate as a Church robber And that of Saragosa If hee doe not eate it in the Church that is in the verie place let him be accursed for euer Whereas Bellarmine alleadgeth the lithurgie of the presanctified amongst the Grecians which was said in Lent pretending that therin they did not consecrate or take any moe then one kind for certaine the lithurgie saith expressly that after that the Minister hath sanctified the bread he powred out the wine and water into the cup pronounced the accustomed words And the praier of the faithfull saith For behold his bodie without spot and his quickning blood c. which are set vpon this table And in the Post-communion they giue thankes vnto God for the receiuing of the one and the other That which is more speciall proper herein is that they consecrate for many in one day whereof they alleadge some one or other tradition But these are their cold and friuolous arguments vpon this point and in deed how can they be otherwise against the expresse word of God But we against these particular deuotions so endles and bottomles doe set this Maxime and generall rule In vaine do you serue me after your owne fancies being properly called in the scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will worship And against that custome Tertul. de virg veland Cypr. ad Quin. ad Iubaâ—â—num August lib. 2. contra Donatist c. 6. de Bapt. cont Donat. lib. 2. c. 14. that euerie man frameth and fashioneth to himselfe whether new or old as best pleaseth him let vs set the true antiquitie Iesus Christ saith Tertullian and S. Cyprian hath said I am the Truth and not Custome And whereas Custome hath preuailed against the law let vs say with S. Augustine We must waigh and ponder the doctrines in the right balance of the scriptures and not in the false and deceiptfull scales of Custome But let vs draw all vnto a conclusion and let vs not be ashamed with S. Cyprian his saying That what others before vs haue erred in and done amisse let vs correct at the admonition and warning of the Lord and where doth he speake lowder and more clearely then in his word to the end that when he shall come in his glorie and heauenly Maiestie he may find vs holding fast such admonitions as hee hath giuen vs obseruing that which he hath taught vs and doing that which he hath done So be it And now by this time wee haue looked into all the partes thereof A Recapitulation how and by what degrees the holy Supper of our Lord is degenerate and turned into the Masse how of the corrupting of the one the other was first begotten then nourished and afterward brought vp to that state wherein it hath stood for these certaine ages and that so long as vntill it hath vtterly brought the other to nothing in the Church of Rome So straunge an alteration as that in the whole frame and booke of nature there is not the like to bee met withall seeing the Masse now retaineth no more of the holy Supper either in his outward or inward partes seeing that the best sighted hauing considered the one could not obserue or find so much as one step or note of the other because also it is to go against and exceede the lawes of nature to passe from one extremitie to another a thing not credible not possible to be acknowledged if the diligent obseruation of histories did not point out vnto vs both the first proceedings and also the growing of the same till it came at the midst The holy supper was an assemblie a bodie of the faithfull vnited and knit together in one spirite strengthning the faith stirring vp the charity and kindling the zeale one of another in one common manner of celebrating of the seruice of God The Masse what containeth it being said by a priest in some corner of the church shuffled vp by a cleark who vnderstandeth not for the most part of the time one word that he speaketh The holy supper did resound with songs to the praise of God sung indifferently by all the people it taught them by the reading expounding of the holy scriptures it lifted them vp vnto God raised them out of themselues by feruent ardent praier But what impression can the Masse make in the heartes of men being a certaine kind of muttering noise posted ouer by one man alone not vnderstood of those which are present yea hardly vnderstood of himselfe where the scriptures are read of purpose so as they may not be vnderstood the praiers vttered with a low voice in an vnknown tongue that so they may not be heard with attention and lesse followed deuoutly by the people where by consequent they abide fixt vpoÌ„ that which they see not minding any higher matters it hath signes without any signification it hath pretended mysteries without any thing misticall in them except it be the muttered hums artificially affected by him that consecrateth and the carefull regard of a premeditated ignorance to be wrought and effected by such meanes vpon and in the poore silly people In the holy Supper was celebrated the memory of the death and passion of our Lord by a plaine and open rehearsall of the cause manner and benefites of the same and thereby the faithfull were taught to acknowledge and call to minde the greatnesse of their sinnes and to admire and magnifie the great and vnspeakeable mercies of God stirred vp consequently to renounce and forsake themselues to giue themselues vnto God to die vnto their lusts and concupiscences to liue vnto Christ to Christ I say who hauing once deliuered himselfe to the death of the Crosse for to giue them life did yet further vouchsafe to giue himselfe to them in his sacramentes euerie day as meate and drinke vnto their soules to the feeding of them vp vnto eternall life In the Masse I appeale vnto the consciences of all those that eyther say or see the same who of them it is that can say by being at the same euerie daye that hee can learne or carrie away any of all this that the infidell can thence playe the diuine that thence hee can receiue any instruction either of the deadly fall of Adam or of the quickning death of Christ that the Christian can profit therby any thing be it neuer so little in the true acknowledging of the mercies of God or in the knowledge of himselfe or in briefe that he can therein perceiue his transgressions that so he may run to seeke the remedie or this drynes alteration of the soule and mind which our Lord calleth the thirst of righteousnes
them whom they iudged worthie of honour and whom they acknowledged for Sauiours Whereupon also Beatus Rhenanus saith vpon Tertullian Beat. Rhenan in Tertul. de Coron Milit. Niceph. l. 20. c. 30. That the Gentiles which receiued the Christian religion in their old age did very hardly forsake the fashions which they had beene accustomed vnto all their life long But that it was but for a monument or remembrance and not for any religious vse appeareth by Nicephorus likewise though the most superstitious of all other the ecclesiasticall writers For besides that we see that this image is not in any Church but in a streete there were not for whole 300. yeares any eyther Altars sacrifices perfumes praiers or pilgrimages made vnto it Hee speaketh properly as of an old one when he saith That processe of time had worne out all remembrance of it concerning wherefore it was there and whose it should be that the dropping of water slime and mosse had so rot it that there was not any of the letters about it to bee knowne and that this miraculous hearbe within some short time after was not any more to bee found c. Assuredly if images deserued either reuerence or worship then that more then any other being the image of Christ authorized by a miracle c. And therefore if that were so vtterly neglected by the old Church we cannot excuse it of a most notorious contempt yea and of an vnauoidable error Or else certainly seeing that it made no greater accompt thereof being that Church which we follow set before vs for our patterne let vs say that it was because they then belieued as it now behooueth vs to belieue that there is not due to speake according to the termes of religion eyther worship or reuerence vnto any image whatsoeuer And if not at those times when images might haue beene kept in some true proportion of resembling them for whom they were made how much lesse at this day when euerie man painteth as his humour and fansie perswadeth him c. We say the same of the crosse Of the Crosse August de verb. apost serm 8. Galath 3. Tertul. in Apol. and we haue also said it before in another place In the beginning it was nothing els but a signe which was made with the fingers in the ayre as we reade in Tertullian And S. Augustine giueth a reason thereof saying To the end that men may not imagine that we are ashamed of the crucified How farre better had it beene to haue had him grauen to haue had him crucified saith the Apostle before our eyes Thereuppon the Paganes called the Christians as saith Tertullian Religiosos crucis the religious of the crosse in way of derision but truely for as much as as the Apostle saith this crosse was a stumbling blocke vnto the Iewes to bee offended at and foolishnes vnto the Gentiles it was acknowledged of them for a misterie of the vnspeakeable wisedome of the eternall God Arnob. siue Minutius lib. ◠contra Gentes But when the Pagans obiect vnto the old Christians that they adore and worship it how doe they take it in the question of honour Arnobius telleth how saying Wee doe not wish for neither yet do wee worship the Crosse but rather you who consecrate Gods of wood doe worship also it may be the crosses of wood as partes of your Gods For what are your banners of armes but gilded crosses And what are your Trophies and Monumentes of victorie but men fastned to the crosse nothing but crosses Constantine to shew to whom he gaue the honour of his victories namely to Christ altered the Labarum that is to say his oriflam or imperiall banner causing the name of Christ briefly written and abbreauiated to be set therein after he had had the vision for the confirming vnto him of his calling and vocation to the deliuerance of the Church For as for the Crosse wee haue seene in Arnobius that from the times of the Pagans the staues of their Ensignes were crosse-wise made and fashioned But what communion is there betwixt a temple and a campe a warlike banner or standard and a banner of procession an ensigne ordained for the attonement and keeping together of an armie with a tablet carried about to bee worshipped And againe where will they find that Constantine did euer worship it Cyril lib. 6. cōtra Iulianum or cause it to be worshipped And what will they say of Cyrillus the Patriarke of Alexandria who answered the Emperor Iulian a long time after the death of Constantine reproching him for the honour giuen vnto the Crosse that the Christians did not giue any worship or honour vnto the signe of the Crosse Petr. Crinit l. 9. de Honest discipl Or vnto the Emperours Theodosius Valens which yet after that did forbid Crosses by expresse edictes saying In as much as wee haue not any greater care for any thing then for the seruice of God wee forbidde all manner of persons to make the signe of our Sauiour Iesus Christ either in colours or in stone or in any other matter or to graue him paint or carue him but on the contrarie we will and command that in what place soeuer any such bee found that it bee taken away vpon paine of being grieuously punished for withstanding and doing to the contrarie Whom notwithstanding we see not to bee reprehended by the great and famous Doctors of that time Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose c. men like enough not to haue concealed or kept backe any good admonition or instruction from them which they were to know or to bee admonished of much lesse by the Councels of the Church which at this time were more vsuall then in all the former And as for the Poet Prudentius his wordes they are not any barre or stop against the soundnesse of this matter Crux pellit omne malum The Crosse driueth away all euill and mischieuous thinges c. For this is a poeticall phrase and their ordinarie manner of speaking attributing to the signe the properties of the thing signified as vnto the Crosse the effectes of the shamefull and reprochfull death which the Sonne of God suffered thereuppon for vs. As in deede it is very plaine and manifest in that treatise of Saint Cyprians called Lignum vitae and hath beene obserued by the best learned that the olde writers by the Crosse did not vnderstande the woode but the Lorde himselfe fastned vnto it fastning thereunto by his death the hand writing of eternall death wherein we stood obliged and bound In so much as that the Councell of Trent hath decreed Index expurg pag. 28. 30. that this should bee raced out of the bookes of Georgius Fabricius touching his censure vpon the workes of Christian poets Now as wee haue seene the diligent endeuoure and industrie of the first Pastors of the Church to remoue and put farre away all idolatrie That images were first vsed
is the cause also that S. Ambrose would haue men to be throughlie intentiue Ambros 1. Cor. 83. Chrysost in 2. Cor. hom 8. To the end sayeth hee that this oblation which is of many may be celebrated together And Chrysostome seteth it downe vnto vs for a general rule That in the mysteries that is in this sacrament the Pastor differeth not from the Parishioner c. In like manner the forme and ceremonie of ordaining and instituting of Ministers in the Apostolike Church is most cleare and euident The maner of the laying on of hands vsed of the olde Church The Church prayed God that it would please him to be present by his holie spirit at the election to blesse it And to the end that they might be the more feruent in praier they vsed to fast before after which those which were elect by the Church receiued the imposition of hands in the beginning by the Apostles and afterward by the Pastors Bishops but neuer without a perfect knowledge and triall of their doctrine and life It is also to bee obserued that whereas our Lord breathed vppon his Apostles saying vnto them Receiue the holie Ghost the Primitiue Church notwithstanding did not practise the same because such signes haue no other power then that which God hath giuen vnto them and therefore must not presumptuously be conceiued to haue anie such except there appeare the expresse institution and ordinance of the Lord for the warrant of the same In the election of the Bb. Fabian Eusâ—b l. 6. c. 29 wee see the simplicitie that was in the olde Church The Church came together aswell the Elders and Deacons as the other people manie were propounded as thought worthy to vndertake the charge in the end Fabian by the common consent and voice of the whole Church is named Bb. and sometimes wee see the common people make the election and after to present the elected to the Presbyterie that is to the ecclesiasticall assemblie and other sometimes wee see the Presbyterie to propound them vnto the people for to approue them if there bee no man that can say anie thing against them onelie it was alwaies vsed that before they were ordained and installed in their Ministerie there was a generall agreement and consent of the people and ecclesiasticall order that is of the whole Church as concerning the soundnes of his doctrine and vnspottednes of his life which was to bee chosen Bishoppe or Elder And this wee coulde proue through all ages successiuelie if so be it were anie controuersie amongst vs. For the present the questioÌ„ is first of the charge of the Minister of the church whether Bishop or Priest for the first were intituled by the Ancientes with the name of Ministers the old Episcopall bookes doe yet make mention thereof secondlie of the ceremonie which was obserued in the ordaining of the same And seeing that these two pointes doe one of them cleare and make plaine the other wee purpose to insist and stand vppon them The charge of such a one I say was to preach the Gospell and administer the Sacramentes not to say Masses not to sacrifice the bodie of Christ for the liuing and for the dead The forme of giuing of orders in the ancient time Theodoret l. 4 c. 23. Concil Carth. 4. c. 1. 2. Epiphan l. 1. tom 2. Sozom. l. 4. c. 24. Iust Nouel 123 de eccles diuer The auncient forme and manner also say wee had not any ceremonie that did shew anie thing eyther of Priestes or sacrifices And this wee must proue by taking the search and view of the auncient recordes of antiquitie Theodoret teacheth vs in the election of one that was to succeede Meletius the Great that it was the custome in ordaining of a Bb. that all the Bbs. of the Prouince should be present therat at the least three or fowre Where hee was examined of his doctrine and sometimes called to make confession of his faith and in his life so farre foorth as that hee was to aunswere therein to whatsoeuer hee could bee accused of or charged withall whereuppon wee haue a most expresse lawe made by Iustinian the Emperour Afterwarde it was agreede that the Metropolitane or in his absence the most auncient Bishoppe should lay his hand vppon him and blesse him and all the others likewise laide to their handes in signe of consent And to the end that he might bee aduertised and put in minde of his dutie by an eye signe two Bishoppes helde the holie Gospels ouer his head to the end hee might know that his calling tyed him to the preaching of the Gospel And this ceremonie was ordinarily done before the holie Table where the Sacraments were wont to bee administred Nazian in leudem Basil In some places likewise it was obserued that the Bishoppe passed through all the degrees of the Church before that hee came to that place and roome S. Denys describing this ceremonie sayeth The Bishoppe is kneeling before the Altar hee hath the bookes giuen of God helde ouer his head and the hand of the Bishoppe that is his who layeth his handes vppon him and is blessed of him by most holie praiers the consecrating Bishoppe doth set vpon him the signe of the Crosse c. but of the Masse or any sacrifice or yet any other ceremonie hee speaketh not at all August l. 3. cont Crescon c. 21. 22. Sozom. c. 19. l. 8. Chrysost 2. Cor. 8. hom 18 Volaterr l. 22. Herman Gigas Concil Aquisgran c. 9. The same forme and manner was practised in the person of Cresconius Maximilianus Theophilus Alexandrinus c. and these alwaies with publike praiers and fasting going before And from thence the Romaine Church retaineth as yet the fastes of the fowre times because that Pope Gelasius did ordaine that Orders should be giuen onelie fowre times a yeare vpon a Saturday the dayes going before being spent in examining their liues and manners The ages following added therto the staffe and the ring saying The staffe as a shepheardes crooke to reforme and call the stragling into the way as also to vpholde the infirme and weake and the ring in signe of the honour due vnto Bishoppes and for to seale their secrets withall But the truth is that this was after that they were become Lordes of great Lordshippes that the Popes and Emperours would receiue fealty and homage from them inuesting them with these ensignes and badges as Knightes and Squiers are wont to bee noted out by the speare the sword and shield c. But what get wee hereby but that the Bb. both in his election and examination as also in the whole forme and maner obserued in his ordination was charged onelie to teach the word of God well and faithfullie and to administer his holy sacraments purelie and sincerely to correct his people by his prescribed form of discipline and his church with such a gouernment as is truly ChristiaÌ„ And look what
also a continued course of offering vnto them the consecrated bread which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if any man would say one gifte for an other the better to entertaine their contentation and this they distributed after it was consecrated by a praier whereas before it had beene giuen them for common bread In the lawes of Charles the great it is inioyned That they should make the people to vnderstand how manie waies the Masse doth profite them aswell in respect of themselues as of their friendes eyther dead or liuing and this they call Vim Missae the force and efficacie of the Masse and together therewithall to make them the better to vnderstand the efficacie of Memento wherein sayeth hee prayer is made for the Soules aswell of them which offer as of those which belong vnto them assuredly because that otherwise the Masse would bee forsaken and cast off Where it is likewise further to bee noted that it was not then saide in the Canon For whome wee offer vnto thee but which offer vnto thee the Priestes hauing afterward taken to themselues this prerogatiue of offering to the debarring and shutting out of all others for hauing anie dealing in the same whereas it was the worke of the people at the first properlie which did offer From that time forwarde also the office of the Priest in the Latine Church was brought to haue his Masse book much altered and corrected that so hee might sing the Masse And thereupon also was the bread of the Sacrament called singing bread and the exercise of a Christian restrained to the hearing onelie of the Masse or else as they say in Italie to the seeing of it things vnheard of and meere strangers in the Primitiue Church a long time after Gregorie the first although that a great parte of the abuses may bee attributed vnto him inasmuch as hee established the new seruice framed and set forth by one named Scholasticus who applied the olde seruice to a new vse the old prayers to the abuses and corruption of the time Now for the fortifying of this pretended sacrifice manie thinges doe concurre The worde Sacrifice vsed in the Church after the manner of the olde lawe to signifie the giftes which were offered to God by the people as it hath beene prooued heretofore for these offeringes were commonlie called oblations and sacrifices and this is confirmed by Pope Gelasius his ordinance That the sacrifices which shall be offered by the people at the Masse shall be distributed into foure partes that is for the Bishop for the Cleargie for the poore and for the maintaining of the Church Charles the Great calleth them Oblations These offeringes were after the Iewish manner consecrated by one or moe prayers which as yet are continued to bee read in diuerse Lithurgies and in the Romish Masse also which as we haue seen are wrested by a most pernicious paralogisme namelie from the sacrifice which was giuen for a name to those offeringes that were offered vnto God to their pretended sacrifice which the Priest consecrateth Ab oblatis inquam ad oblatam and by consequent from a sacrifice of fruites offered to God by the people to the sacrifice of the Sonne of God our Lord whome the Priest presumeth to sacrifice vnto him vppon this Altar Wee neede not anie other proofe of this matter then the prayers vsed in the Masse Wee pray thee sayeth the Canon that thou wilt accept of and blesse these giftes these oblations and holy sacrifices Againe We recommend vnto thee those who offer them vnto thee or as it is read at this day For whome wee offer vnto thee this sacrifice of praise Againe That thou wouldest vouchsafe to regarde and looke downe vpon them with a milde and mercifull countenance and accept of thē as thou vouchsafedst to accept of the offerings of iust Abell thy chosen childe c. Again Commaund thē to be laid vpon thine holie Altar by the hands of thine Angell For in their conscience can all these prayers bee conceiued by any Christian for the sacrifice of our Lord Iesus Christ which their Priestes pretend to offer For in them wee haue sacrifices alwaies in the plurall number where it is neuer qualified or intituled by anie other name then the sacrifice of praise where God should be prayed vnto to vouchsafe to looke downe vppon his welbeloued Sonne with a fauourable eye being one with him and hee in whome hee is well pleased That hee would vouchsafe to accepte of him as of the offeringes of iust Abell of him in whome alone all the Fathers haue beene accepted without whose righteousnes the righteousnes of Abell shoulde bee pollution and filthy vncleannes to commaund that hee should bee laide vpon the Altar by the handes of an Angell being the eternall sacrifice the euerlasting oblation and who found as Iob sayth vncleannes in the verie Angels And indeed this is manifestly appearing in the Lithurgie Liturg. Clem. which they attribute vnto Clement wherein there is an expresse praier Pro dono oblato for the oblation offered but in these tearms That it would please our good God to receiue it vpon his Altar by the intercession of his Christ for a smell of a sweete sauour c. In other Greeke Lithurgies also whose desert we haue heretofore examined wherin there are cleare and euident praiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is for the oblations offered and brought framed like vnto those aboue where they are called a spirituall sacrifice of praise offered without blood-shedde c. The name of Sacrifice now shufled and closely conueied into the Christian Church which at the first receiued the same from the Iewes helped it not a little to passe from the action of thankesgiuing to a propitiatorie sacrifice and from an action of remembrance to a reall offering and oblation being ioyned with that ignorance which raigned after barbarisme in those ages as also with that which was ordinary amongst the people and which in stead of being dispelled and driuen away by the bright light of the Bishoppes was on the contrarie more ouercast and darkened For it is openlie acknowledged and confessed as a thing most plaine and apparant in the sight of such as know anie thing in historie that the Bishoppes of that time besides the publike and ordinarie ignorance were altogether giuen to the minding of worldlie matters which the lawes of Charlemaine by name doe confirme and proue vnto vs Let them abstaine from worldly affaires from the Court from the warres from hunting hawking playes gaming c. And hereto you may also adde the corruption of speeches which was in those times by the mixture of many nations together for of vulgar ones they became meere barbarous and of such as were familiarlie spoken such as were not vnderstoode a great aide oportunitie and aduantage for Sathan to sowe his tares for who woulde not otherwise haue reiected this realitie of the sacrifice when in euerie corner of the fielde there was
houshold of God doe sing in their psalmes of thankesgiuing we haue passed by fire and by water c. meaning that the hard measure of aduersitie hath not beene able to breake their course by causing them to faint neither the soft bedde of prosperitie make them to become slacke cold through delicacie c and he speaketh by name of the blessed death of S. Malachie Archbishop of Ireland Cassiodorus Because a vessell saith he well hardned and baked in the fire doth hold water better Another saith As S. Laurence passed through fire S. Clement and others through water And let this be set as a brand vpon our aduersaries that they alwaies take hold of the expositions that are least receiued and of all others the worst Caiet in psal 66. I could haue wished that they would at the least haue satisfied themselues in Caietanus his exposition saying He comprehendeth vnder these words of fire and water in briefe all the tribulations of Israel from their comming out of Egypt vnto Iordan that is we haue endured all manner of miseries and in the end thou hast made vs to come ad irriguam to a well watered soile that is to say into the land of promise Neither doth it auaile them Amb. in psal 118. serm 3. that Bellarmine to dasle the eies of the world doeth here alleadge S. Ambrose For this baptisme of fire whereof he speaketh setting the same at the entrance of Paradise allegorizing vpon the Cherubin that kept the passage in is but an appendance and limme of that ancient opinion that the world in that day when the end and consummation thereof commeth and all the creatures therein euen men and of them the most holy and sanctified should bee purged by fire and not in that space of time which shal be betwixt their death and resurrection It appeareth by these words This baptisme saith he shall bee after the end and consummation of the world when hee shall send his Angels to seperate the good from the euill Then shall the fierie furnace feed vpon iniquitie and burne it vp to the end that the iust may shine in the kingdome of God as the Sonne in the kingdome of his father And in deed saith he if that Peter and Iohn be there they shall haue their part in that baptisme Now in deed the truth is that Bellarmine doth not hold or meane that the Apostles haue passed or at any time must passe the fire of purgatorie In the Psalme 107. They cried vnto the Lord in their distresses Psal 107. v. 13. and hee deliuered them from their necessities from darknesse and from the shadow of death Thus wheresoeuer they reade darknesse the graue fire or the shadow of death there alwaies purgatorie must bee summoned to appeare This text is cleare and plaine wherein Dauid maketh a long catalogue or repetition of all the perils whereunto the life of man is subiect the deliuerances that God giueth vnto them that call vppon him although they should bee within two fingers breadth of death But they wil not belieue vs. Lyranus therfore telleth them They were stricken with remorce and sorrow in their afflictions called vpon God who deliuered them And these words frō the shadow of death August Hieron Theodor in psal 106. he expoundeth them by the psalme 23. the daunger of death As Caietan simplie vnderstandeth the same of the inconueniences of the prison S. Ierome did not acknowledge any such like thing to be contained therein but let it passe as he declareth by that which goeth before Et eduxit eos in viam rectam Neither yet S. Augustine who vnderstandeth it of the difficulties lets and impediments that the regenerate find when they should go about to do good and that after such time as God hath opened their knowledge Prosp in psal 107. Haim in psal and enlightned their vnderstanding except himselfe doe worke in them And thus doeth Prosper Aquitanicus also take it Neither Theodoret who vnderstandeth it of the darknes of ignorance and of the seruitude of sinne Haimo In darknesse that is in ignorance out of which no man can free himselfe in the shadow of death that is to say in the villanous and loose course of life which leadeth vnto death And Hugo the Cardinal taketh it in the same sence Darknes that is of ignorance the shadow of death that is faults transgressions bound that is the punishment c. Some others thus Of such as are inwrapped in heresie and are reclaimed by wholesome instruction But and if they wil cleaue to the plaine literall sence it is said There was no man to help them Where were then become the Masses and Suffrages Againe he speaketh of such as had beene rebellious vnto the word of God which had despised the counsell of the most high a mortall sinne and one of the most hainous ones that can be Now purgatorie by their owne speech is not but for veniall ones And yet furthermore if wee will credite the expositions of the old writers Dauid was but a simple fellow and knew nothing in the matter of purgatorie In the booke of the Preacher Ecclesiast 4.14 There is such a one saith Salomon which commeth out of prison for to raigne that is to say according to their vnderstanding out of purgatorie to go into the kingdome of heauen In this whole booke he discourseth of the courses alterations and changes of things happening in mans life and that which followeth in the same verse doth ouerthrow their mistaking And in like manner saith he there is such a man as of a king becommeth poore Now this should fall out contrarie to their owne doctrine that those which are once glorified do neuer fall away If this be not sufficient yet Hugo the Cardinall will help and afford vs some aid This is saith he Christ who from the prison of Pilate the graue and his handes is gone vp to receiue his kingdome Lyranus alleadgeth for an example of the one Ioseph taken out of prison to gouerne Egypt and Sedechias pulled downe from his throne of Maiestie to to be cast into the dungeon for the other I am ashamed to stand vpon the refuting of these fooleries Esay 4. yet notwithstanding we must go through to the end of them In Esay When the Lord shall haue washed away the filthinesse of the daughters of Sion and wiped the blood of Ierusalem from out of the midst of her by the spirit of iudgement and of zeale This iudgement and zeale are purgatorie Let them reade that which goeth before and that which followeth they shall perceiue that the prophet speaketh of the desolation of Ierusalem and of the restoring of the same in Iesus Christ But the Paraphrast saith By the word of iudgement and by the word of consummation He felt no smell of fire And the Glosse In the spirit of iudgement the lightest and least sinnes and in the spirit of zeale the more
bee so purged by this fire as that in the end they shall proue and trie the clemencie of God And he alleadgeth Origen thereupon concealing in the meane time the rest of his opinion for that it finally extended vnto the Deuils But what helpeth all this for the prouing of the purgatorie whereof wee speake which is made for the faithfull penitents and not for them which die in their sinne for to fulfil the punishment Sixt. Senens l. 5 and not to cleanse or wipe away the fault where sinnes haue no entrance much lesse merites where the wicked haue no place much lesse the Saints much lesse also the Apostles and much lesse the holy virgine which taketh his beginning so soone as death hath made an end and is imployed about his office euerie day without ceasing and without attending the day of iudgement And notwithstanding they are not ashamed to alleadge vnto vs these places which themselues condemne in their bookes That it was a disputable doctrine and which to be short cannot make any thing for them or against vs. Yea and that furthermore this was but an opinion wherein men were let alone and left to range according to the pregnancie of their wit and capacitie and not any doctrine receiued and admitted into the Church it appeareth clearely for Saint Augustine doth not faine or dissemble the gainsaying and disallowing of it neither yet the publike confutation thereof in his bookes and that not onely without all checke or dislike August de Genes contr Manich l. 2. c. 10 In Psalm 37. but with much praise and to the good liking of men for the same In a certaine place he suffered it to escape according to the opinion then currant As that after this life such as haue not husbanded their ground well are in daunger either of the fire of purgation or of eternall fire notwithstanding that hee vseth these wordes Videri apparere that it seemeth to be apparant and that these purgatorie punishmentes according to his owne iudgement De ciuit Dei l. c. 10.25 De ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 13. l. Cor. 3. are reserued vnto the last iudgement But in the booke of the Citie of God hee reckeneth vp all the opinions of Origen and others depending on him who carried themselues in his time in the Church as those who had founded themselues vppon the mercifull clemencie and fatherly mildnesse of God misexpounded and confuteth them all bringing them backe from their pretended likelihood of truth vnto the truth it selfe and from their conceited fantasie to the infallible scriptures Thou wilt saith he that the wicked Christians may in the end be saued by these pains of purgatorie because that God is mercifull it must then also follow that the Deuils may also bee saued that so hee may bee so much the more mercifull for it is said equally and indifferently to the one and the other 2. Cor 3. Goe into euerlasting fire c. If thou demandest the cause this it is and then the which there is none more iust neither yet more holy namely that the scripture which deceiueth not hath said so Some haue abused the place of the 1. Corinth 3. for Purgatorie but hee sheweth that this fire cannot bee vnderstood of hell because that so it should become common both to the good and euill but rather of tribulations and afflictions August de ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 16. seq Dicuntur which are the exercises by which God maketh cleane his floure in this world that after this iudgement also contrarie to Origen there is not any paines of purgatorie And as concerning those punishmentes and paines which men might imagine to happen betwixt both hee saith If in this distance of time which is betwixt the death of the bodie and the day of iudgement men say that the soules of the deceased doe suffer some such fire Secularia venialia August de fide operibus Quantum arbitror Idem in Enchirid c. 69. Idem in quaest ad Dulcitium and that whether it bee there onely or whether it be here and not there or whether it bee here and there both they find a fire of transitorie tribulation burning the veniall thinges of this world I find no fault with them for such their assertion because it may bee that it is true And in another place hee saith This exposition as I suppose doth not wander farre from the way of truth Againe That some such thing may be after this life it is not incredible Againe writing to Dulcitius after he had handled the question We haue written these thinges but in such forte as that wee would not haue any canonicall authoritie giuen vnto them Whereby wee see in the first place that hee condemneth Origen Saint Ambrose and Hillarie their purgatorie c. Secondly that what hee sayeth of that space betwixt death and the day of iudgement hee speaketh doubtfully and as it were interrogatiuelie affirming And thirdly That by the same hee doeth not vnderstande any materiall fire of the same nature with Hell-fire as our aduersaries doe but a fire of tribulation or temptation such as may fall out and happen in this life And it is not to be omitted how that the good fathers of Trent did not forget to cause to be raced out many good places of Viues Index Expurg pag. 38.39 August de tempore serm 66. De verb. Apostol serm 18. In ep 80. ad Hesich Hypognosticon l. 5. Hieronym in Ecclesiast Olympiod in Prouerb c. 11. intreating of this matter in his commentaries vpon Augustines booke of the Citie of God But in another place wee haue shewed that hee hath made but two places of abode as in heauen or in hell and that hee shutteth out all manner of purgation after this life and that hee cutteth it off quite and cleane As concerning the third place we know not any thing at all thereof we find not any thing at all thereof in the scriptures And what shall we say if S. Ierome speake no lesse resolutely Jn what place soeuer saith he the tree falleth there it lyeth be it towards the South or be it towards the North In like manner looke in what place death doth take thee in the same thou abidest for euer be it that thy last day do find thee cruell and vnappeasable or otherwise courteous and mercifull And Olympiodorus doth cleare him vpon the same place In whatsoeuer place whether light or darke a man is surprised and seazed vppon by death bee hee following after vice or bee hee following after vertue he continueth in the same state and condition and in the same degree for euer For either he resteth in the light of euerlasting happines with the iust and righteous men and Christ our Lord or els he is tormented in darknes with the vnrighteous and the Deuill which is their prince They obiect vnto vs that Saint Ierome saith in his commentaries vpon the Prouerbes That soules
other man you shall find them to haue beene of the same opinion But what maketh all this for purgatorie but onely that it may serue to dasle the eyes of men For that this was an opinion at that time helde as indifferent in the Church it doth appeare in that that Saint Augustine handling the same in his bookes of retractations leaueth it vndecided whereas Chrysostome in many places speaketh to the contrary cutting all off in a worde As that the righteous shall see God face to face and not any more by faith c. That death coupleth vs with the companie that is with Christ where the Cherubines glorifie God where the Seraphins flie where we shall see Saint Paule c. In so much as that it was pronounced hereticall and that by the name of the heresie of the Armenians by Innocent the third Benedict the eleuenth by the decree of the Councell held at Florence where it was said that the soules of the saints at their departure out of this life did inioy the presence of God Notwithstanding that Pope Iohn the 22. had made a Decree in fauour of that doctrine namely that the Vniuersitie of Paris should be restrained from admitting any to proceed Doctor or in any other degree of diuinity which did not take an oath that soules did not see God before the day of iudgement And this is verified by Gulielmus Occan in his booke intituled Opus nonaginta trium dierū And Pope Adrian the 6. vpon the 4. booke of Sentences both which do condemne it And thus as hitherto they haue not any third place where the souls are purged in the time betwixt death the day of iudgement For that of Origen S. Ambr. S. Hillary helpeth thē not a dodkin that of Augustines refuteth this of theirs and being wel looked on appeareth to be a fire of tribulation a spirituall but not a materiall fire moreouer such a one as is very doubtfull and meere arbitrarie Likewise these pretended receptacles of Soules are not places of anguish and torment but of rest and ioyfulnesse not of making satisfaction but of contentation to be receiued by the attending and wayting for of the glorie to come in like manner they are condemned of heresie by themselues And therefore it remaineth that if they will needes haue it to haue beene at this time which is fiue hundred yeares after Christ that yet they goe and find it amongst the Gentiles And great in deede is the antiquitie of that for it was before the comming of Christ many ages and yet notwithstanding it is verie young and a meere Nouice in the Church of Christ because it is without Christ and out of the Church CHAP. IX Wherein the obiections of the aduersaries whereby they goe about to proue their Purgatorie out of the old Fathers are fully answered THey say you cannot denie Of the satisfactions vsed amongst them of the olde Church but that the Primitiue Church did impose great satisfactions vpon them which had failed in the profession of the name of Christ How then could they make the same but in Purgatorie when they were dead and had left them vndone But wee rather argue quite contrarie As that if the auncient Church which imposed these Satisfactions vpon them that so they might let them goe to God in peace did as ordinarily giue them absolution then it cannot but certainely proue that it had not learned any thing of this Purgatorie But the truth is that in the times of those great and continuall persecutions which the Christians suffered for the space of three hundred yeares onely some little respite and rest giuen vnto them many did renounce and belie the profession of the faith of Christ who before in the calme and peaceable times had giuen their names thereunto becomming readie to returne to Idolatrie as the times chaunged and altered Now against this leuitie in constancie the auncient Church did not thinke any punishments that could be inflicted to be too hard or sharpe by meanes whereof it thought to find out the sinceritie or hypocrisie of the penitents as also their liuely or otherwise dull and dead sence and feeling that they had for their sinne Wherefore the end and scope of this course was to bring them to sackcloth and ashes and to suffer them to passe many daies in making humble petitions to bee reconciled to the Church who either had sacrificed or burnt incense to Idols or who had giuen the Gospels and holy Bookes to bee burned and who were therefore called Sacrificati Thurificantes Traditores Libellatici c. yea and which is yet more to the end they might adde more carefull heede to such as should offer to enter themselues into the number of the Church there were some that would not receiue Lapsos paenitentes any more then once to the taking of penance after baptisme And Nouatus proceeded yet further and denied it them altogether for the which he was condemned of the Church which also thereupon Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 2 from that time forward began to mitigate these punishments What then And now if they died before the time were they not bound by the Church And how then did they satisfie these punishments Idem l. 3. Ep. 8 Serm. 5. de Lapsis Verily the order was good that before they had fully made such satisfaction they were not to be receiued to absolution or to haue any communion with the Church But as duely was it obserued on the other side that if they were in daunger of death before the time of such accomplishment that then notwithstanding they were receiued into the peace absolution and communion of the same Assuredly not with any purpose or intent that they should euer haue gone into Purgatorie for they neuer thought of it But to the end saith S. Cyprian that dying they might goe to the Lord in peace Idem l. 3 Ep. 17. l 4 Ep 4. Euseb l. 6. c. 34 To the ende saith Dionysius That their sinne being blotted out they may depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in good hope out of this life But here withall they ioyned say they this condition that if they should recouer their health againe that then they should fulfill this satisfaction but that otherwise they should haue any thing to accomplish in the world to come not a word Contrariwise S. Cyprian sheweth a reason of this absolution in these words saying Quoniam exomologesis apud in feros nec esse nec fieri potest Seeing there neither is nor can be any publike confession or acknowledgment amongst the dead That is to say as we haue learned to expound it of Tertullian that these Acts of Canonicall satisfaction cannot be accomplished after this life Bellarmine and others before him obiect vnto vs a place out of S. Cyprian in this same Epistle Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 4. but to no end or purpose Aliud inquit est ad veniam stare c. It is one
dutie that is according to this sence That when God afflicteth vs it commeth well to passe for vs to haue bee it an Angell or be it a Prophet that may cause vs to vnderstand that it is for our sinnes and may exhort vs to repentance and newnesse of life to the ende that God may deale mercifully with vs. Which thing Elihu also may seeme to speake of purpose concerning himselfe and his companions to the end that Iob may take in good part their admonitions make his profit of them But in as much as they bee more freely giuen to belieue the old writers S. Ierome alleadgeth for an example of this place Esay praying vnto God for Ezechias when he was sicke For as concerning his coÌ„mentaries vpon Iob men are of opinion that they are not his And S. Gregorie expoundeth it of the Angell of the great Councel Iesus Christ the Mediator God man like vnto vs in consideration of whoÌ„ God became fauourable vnto men Where it is to be noted that in stead of Millibus both the one the other hath read it Similibus which could not be of S. Ieromes doing who vnderstood the Hebrew tong and was sufficient to trip find out the weaknes of their exposition The Glose saith This Angel it is Christ that speaketh vnto the father for vs shewing himself to him to be like vnto vs in one onely thing of a thousand that is in his humanity And his speech that is to shew himselfe a man vnto God besides whom ther is not one which is found iust Hugo in Ioh. c. 33. 2. Sam. 14. which being without sin may make intercessto for sinners c Cardinal Hugo expoundeth it after the same maner Absalom say they reconciled vnto his father Dauid might not yet come to see his face but by the meanes intercession of Ioab wherefore wee must haue a Ioab a saint of authority in heauen to draw neere vnto God for vs. And what saint wil they haue of more authoritie then the Son himselfe Eph. 5. Rom. 5. seeing by faith in him we haue accesse vnto the father to his throne of grace with all assurance boldnes Adonias also to obtain Abisaeg to wife of Salomon commendeth his sute to Bathseba Salomons mother saying with himselfe he cannot denie her any thing And so now must wee vnto the virgine Marie c. But where find they that our Lord hath diuided and giuen away any part of his royall dignitie with her And let them not run or rather rush any further forward in their Allegorie for Salomon refused to make any graunt and was also moued to wrath and indignation and that so far as that it cost his brother Adonias his life But in these things how far more sure is it for to hold our selues to Christ Heb. 7. Rom. 8. Whosaueth saith the Apostle those which come vnto God by him which maketh intercession for vs that so effectually as that none shal haue whereof to accuse much lesse to condemne vs. Ieremie Though Moyses Samuel stood before me Ieremie 15.1 yet should not my affection be moued toward this people Now in deed they might haue better a great deale drawne the contrarie consequence But the summe is that God hath forbidden Ieremie to pray for the people as hauing resolued to lay his rods vpon them their wickednesse being growne to the height And thus S. Ierome expoundeth it And to the end saith Theodoret that hee might not trke at it as though it were done by reason of him Though saith he these two were in thy roome and place yet should they not any more moue or pretaile with me Hieronym in Ietem c. 15. l. 3 in Ezech. l 5. c. 20. Theodor. in Ierem. Gregor l. 9. c. 9. Chrysost ad Thess 1. c. 1. hom 1 â—zech 14. These two saith Saint Ierome and Gregorie Who sundrie times had beene intercessors betwixt the wrath of God and the sinne of his people yea and betwixt God and his open enemies Pharao Saule c. at such times as his iudgementes were ripe and readie to fall vpon them And Hugo the Glose in like maner adding moreouer these words This is the true proper sence of this place And in deed Chrysost gathereth a cleane contrary conclusion out of this place That we are not to trust or leane vnto the praiers of Saintes but rather to finish and make sure our saluation with feare and trembling c. In Ezechieâ— there is the like place If these three men Noe Daniel and Ioab were in the midst of the Citie they should in their righteousnesse escape with their owne liues c. but as for the land it shall surely become desolate and lie wast Hee speaketh then as though they were still liuing in the world and euerie one of them in his former state and condition And so in Ieremie of Moyses and Samuel as also Saint Ierome Chrysostome and Thomas of Aquine doe expound the same vpon Ieremie and vpon Ezechiel Theodoret in these wordes Though these three persons Noe Daniel and Iob were found altogether in the midst of them c. that is that God speaketh according to the state wherein Moyses and Samuel were in this life Otherwise if they will vrge it as vnderstood of the other then I woulde haue them once againe to remember and thinke vppon their Limbe Of the same nature is that which followeth in Ezechiel Ezech. 22. I haue sought a man saith the Lord that should make vp the hedge and stand in the gappe against me for this land to the end I might not destroy it but J haue not found him that is as it is saide of Dauid a man according to mine owne heart which might stand betwixt mine anger and this people as Abraham for Sodome and Moyses for Israel Saint Ierome I haue searched for a man amongst them which could resist and withstand mine anger as Moyses Aaron and Samuel Note by the way these wordes from amongst them And yet Theodoret dealeth more plainly who expoundeth it by the place of Ieremie aboue expounded c. 5. Looke about you in your places and see if there bee any that executeth iudgement and seeketh after faith c. and I will be fauourable vnto him that is to say saith he amongst your princes your priests c. But what is there in all this that hath any thing to doe with the inuocation of Saints deceased For want of matter and proofe in the Canonicall scriptures 2. Macha c. 15. they runne in the end vnto the Apocrypha bookes Onias and Ieremie saith Iudas Machabeus appeared vnto him in a dreame praying for the estate of the people of the Iewes And seeing that they praied they may be praied vnto notwithstanding they see that in this hard distresse of theirs the Israelites did no such thing And as for the strength of this argument wee shall better examine the same elsewhere but the
and not for themselues onely but for those also that call vpon them Not so for they are farre off from that On the contrarie saith he God alone is without sinne Idem hom 40. in Genes 49. Idem in hom 45. in Mat. Idem hom 20 in Iohan. and to the end that he might bee without sinne he permitted Abraham to sinne by infidelitie Moises by ingratitude the virgine likewise the mother of Christ in his passion by doubting Animum matris gladius dubitationis pertransijt c. The sword said hee of doubting or diffidencie pearced her soule Likewise saith hee Sometimes by ambition by vanitie and by the forgetting of the diuinitie of the Son c. As if of purpose he would preuent or represse the abuse which sprung vp then and grew stronger afterward by the inuention and industrie of the Monkes about the infinite merites of the holy Virgine What haue they to oppose and set against this The Liturgie of Chrysostome but we haue heretofore auouched for a certaine truth that it was compiled made more then 500. yeares after him An homelie of the natiuity of S. Peter and S. Paule wherein they make him say Peter and Paule pray for vs without ceasing for you haue promised so to do And where You Paule when you said Venite mecum bonis ne deficiamur and you Peter Studebo post meum obitum c. But the best learned haue beene ashamed to giue it place amongst his workes Idem in hom post reditum ab exilio But doe they make no conscience to make him to alleadge the scripture so falslie In that which he made returning from exile I haue inuited and bid you to supper saith he with the Apostles let vs come to Timothie to Andrew c. Therefore hee teacheth them say they to haue recourse vnto saints Whereas he rather discourseth in that place to what persecutions the saintes are subiect and sendeth them to consider the examples of those aboue named to the end that they might not be strange or vnacquainted with any thing that they should find Idem hom 5. in Mat. Neither is that worthie better to be trusted which they alleadge out of the fift homelie vpon S. Mathew That which we say is not to be denied that we ought not to pray vnto the Saintes For his wordes are And we say well not that we denie that the Saintes ought to pray for sinners that is as we haue before shewed the saints aliue And likewise all this homelie maketh for the contrarie And in deed Bellarmine hath beene ashamed to alleadge the places aboue named holding himselfe to one onely in the threescore and sixt homelie vnto the people of Antioch The Emperour for so they make him to say is there himselfe with his purple to beseech the Saintes to make intercession vnto God for him He praieth vnto a maker of tabernacles and a fisher as his protectors But it is to be noted that the same words are read in a sermon attributed vnto S. Augustine De Sancto Paulo and the Canon Garet doth alleadge them of one Theodoret Daphnoipatus of farre latter time So little certaintie is there whether it be S. Augustines or S. Chrysostomes being also directly contrarie to the whole bodie and scope of their doctrine And thus we see how Epiphanius and Chrysostome do agree together in this truth notwithstanding the sharpe contentions which were in other places betwixt them Cyrill Patriarke of Alexandria followeth them neere by both for the time and doctrine His Maxims are None commeth to the father but by Christ The Sonne was made the dore and the way to reconcile men vnto the father and he himselfe doth distribute and giue grace together with him c. He is the Mediator the high Priest the Comforter that is to say the Aduocate Iohn 2. Hee giueth entrance and accesse for our praiers vnto the father He giueth vs free libertie and boldnes with him c. Yea saith he in as much as God granteth the praiers of such as doe worship him that is to say of such as call vpon him for with whom doth it agree better to graunt vnto holy men their earnest requestes then with him who alone is naturallie and truely God But as concerning the Saints as much honour as you will but without all manner of adoration and worship without any inuocating of them which are the chiefe and principall part although that in his time the priuate superstitions of men had preuailed euen so farre Iulianus the Emperour reprocheth him you Christians ye worship a man Yea Cyril ad Reg. de rect fid saith he but such a man as we acknowledge and confesse to bee both man and God together But at the least the Martyrs Nay not so saith he as that we hold them for Gods we doe not adore or worship them wee praise their constancie in hauing hated their lines for the truth c. And he telleth vs wherein this honor consisteth In a remembrance saith he which withereth not euen of their excellent and exceeding fortitude He forgetteth not in the meane time to describe how many waies the Greekes honoured their Gods euen betaking themselues vnto them as protectors and gardiantes of such as were aliue And this was the place here the oportunitie for him to haue said And what you do vnseasonablie and without any proofe of dutie vnto them the same doe wee duely and of required dutie vnto our Saintes Cultores but hee is flatte to the contrarie But we saith he doe not any thing at all Not therefore as the Grecians the proper worshippers of men who without consideration haue attributed the glorie of God to whom they please c. For the scripture saith hee doeth not preach vnto or teach vs any moe Gods then one neither haue we any custome to worship any other besides him And the Saintes saith hee in another place haue also obtained the gift of God by his grace Idem in Thesaur l. 4. c. 2. and the mutuall praiers of others but they cannot imparte it vnto others at their pleasures whereas the Sonne as the fountaine of holinesse doth sanctifie his disciples by his owne power Receiue saith he the holie Ghost c. The Conclusion of Cyrill in the end after all this disputation is Therefore we must praie in the name of the Sauiour if we will be heard of the father And notwithstanding some are growne to that impudencie contrarie to the opinion of all ancient writers as to impute and ascribe vnto him a little booke imprinted in times past in Paris The liturgie and houres of the virgine Marie As for Theodoret we haue seene heretofore what he said vnto vs of the Councell of Laodicea and yet further we must not forget what he saith vnto vs of the wordes of Saint Paule to Timothie One Mediator of God and men c. Theod. 1. Tim. c. 2. If saith he as saith Arrius and
spirite by which wee belieue and say that Iesus Christ is the Lord which no man can say by the libertie and freedome of his will but onely by the holy Ghost c. This is the same with that which the Bishops of the East did write vnto the Bishops of Africke S. Barnard Bernard de grat liber arb Libertas a peccato In the fall Adam fell from his not being able to sinne to his not being able to doe any thing but sinne hauing altogether lost the libertie of taking aduise and counsell c. as also that which he had of forbearing to sinne And this losse happened vnto him by the abusing of the libertie of his will c. Being fallen from his will it is not still remaining free for him to raise vp himselfe againe by the same For although at this day be would doe it yet the case so standeth with him as that it is not in his power not to sinne It must be Christ that must inspire and indue him with new vertue by his restauration that the Lord may transforme vs into this image howbeit euen then our perfection commeth not in this life but in the life to come c. And he is full in all his bookes of such places which shal hereafter be seene as better opportunitie serueth Peter Lombard saith Lomb. l. 2. d. 25 After sinne till there be a restauration by grace man is ouercome and pressed of concupiscence and hath infirmitie to doe euill but hee hath no grace to doe good And therefore he can sinne but he cannot cease to sinne and that damnablie c. Againe In that Adam hath sinned of free will and that sinne hath ouercome him he hath lost his free will Libertatem inquam à peccato the libertie that hee had to keep himselfe from sinning whereof the Apostle speaketh whereas the spirit of the Lord is there is the libertie and truth of the Gospell If the Sonne deliuer you not you cannot bee free c. And this libertie consisteth in being free from sinne for to serue and obey vnto righteousnes c. which thing they haue attained onely and not any others whome the Sonue hath repaired by grace c. And therefore Anselme said Anselm in 14. ad Rom. as Lombard doth alleadge him The whole life of infidelles is nothing but sinne For there is no goodnesse or felicitie to bee found where the chiefe goodnesse or felicitie is wanting Thom. in 2. sent dist 31 32 c. Thomas likewise layeth vs downe these Maxims The person of Adam hath infected nature and nature now infecteth the person the bodie infecteth the soule not by working vpon it but by receiuing from it for the soule is the proper subiect of originall sinne Idem l. 1. d. 41. Originall sinne is indifferently in all and the punishment thereof is likewise in all no man can satisfie for it but God onely making himselfe man No man can forsake or shake it off of himselfe for from the estate of nature to the estate of grace no man can passe either by free will or by merite but per appositionem gratiae ex mera gratia by the adding and applying of grace c. It may be Not one to be excepted no not the holy virgine August de nupt concupise Idem de perfect iustit Idem contr Iul. l. 5. c. 9. that they haue excepted some persons from this common and generall condition at the least the virgine Marie Let vs heare then Saint Augustine All flesh that is borne by the carnall copulation of man and woman is sinfull flesh That onely which was not so begotten is without sinne that is to say the humane bodie of our Lord. Againe Whosoeuer thinketh that there hath beene anie either man or woman for in Latine he comprehendeth both the sexes except the alone Mediator of God and men to whom the remission of sinnes is not needfull he is contrarie to the holie scripture wherein the Apostle saith by a man sinne is entered into the world c. Yea saith he in another place hee is an hereticke For if as without all doubt it is the flesh of Christ bee not sinfull flesh but like onely to sinfull flesh what remaineth but that it onely being excepted all other humane flesh is sinfull flesh c. Then he concludeth And who so denieth this iâ— a detestable hereticke Yea the flesh of the virgine For saith he It appeareth that concupiscence which Christ would not haue to beare any stroke at all in his conception hath caused the propagation of euill into all mankind For the body of Marie although that he did spring from thence did not notwithstanding transfuse any part of the same concupiscence into the body of Christ because shee did not conceiue thereby And it is not here to be obiected which he speaketh of in an other place that it is not his purpose to speake of the mother of our Lord when the question is of sinne Idem de natu grat c. 6. Because shee hath had greater measure of grace giuen her to ouercome all the parts and parcels of sinne For in that he saith to ouercome it presupposeth a combat with sinne for the ouercomming whereof shee had need of new grace To which purpole wee alleadged Origen heretofore Whereas if she had not beene redeemed iustified and sanctified by the blond of Christ then shee had not beene it at all S. Ambroâ—e saith Ambr. in Luc. Immaculatâ— Partus nouitare Idem in Esay Our Lord Iesus is he alone of all those that haue beene borne of women which hath not felt the contagion of earthly infection and that by reason of the new and extraordinarie manner of his conception and generation which was without spot or touch of sinne Againe Euerie man is a lyar and no man without sinne except God alone It is therefore to bee obserued that not one that is of man and woman that is to say of the coniunction of their bodies that is without sinne Anselm l. 2. Cur deus hom c. 16. in 2. ad Cor. c 5. as also that he that is without this sinne was also begotten without this manner of conception c. Anselme I would know saith he how of this sinfull lumpe of this mankind altogether infected with sinne God should draw foorth a man without sinne Tanquam azymum de fermento being as much as if a man should go about to make a Loafe of vnleauened bread out of a lumpe that is nothing but leauen For although that the conception of this man were pure and vndefiled yet the Virgine out of whose wombe he was taken was conceiued in iniquitie and her mother conceiued her in sinne and therefore also borne with originall sinne for shee likewise hath sinned in Adam in whose person all haue sinned Rom. 5.12 Whereby we may see the impudencie of our aduersaries who vpon the second to the Corinthians where it is said All
tooke bread blessed it c. and said Take eate for the remission of your sinnes This is my bodie c. Doe this in remembrance of me as not hauing there any other kind that hee had made choise of neither yet figure wherein his incarnation might be represented Behold then the Image of his quickning bodie which is honourably and gloriously exhibited c. But this Councell was afterward condemned by the second Nicene Councell which established the adoration of images And without all doubt not without the shaking by that meanes of the truth of this Article as it will be seene in that which Theophilact writeth But that second of Nice was also condemned by that of Francford and of Paris as we haue seene before held vnder the authoritie of Charles the great Lewes and Lotharius which may bee the cause that our French Doctors should as yet hold the same firmely Anno 900. Theoph. in Marc. c. 14. in Mat. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for true and sound doctrine Theophilact therefore about the yeare 900. to sute Damascen The bread is not the figure or any kind of paterne of the bodie of our Lord but the bodie of Christ is turned into it Or else in an other place In Ioh. c. 6. The bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned into the body Againe It is not onely a certaine figure of the flesh of our Lord but the verie flesh of our Lord c. Verily no more constant or assured then Damascen seeing that he saith in the same places God stooping downe and applying himselfe to our infirmitie doeth keepe the figure of bread and wine He saith not the accidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He transformeth and chaungeth them into the power and vertue of the flesh and bloud He saith not into thy flesh and bloud And it is not here to be forgotten that in diuers Copies these words are not to be found Againe Wee celebrate an oblation without bloud the remembrance of an oblation which he hath once made c. The remembrance how can that agree with the real presence But when he saith Transformeth or chaungeth from one element to an other who shall better interpret him then Saint Augustine that it is chaunged from an element to a Sacrament by the power of the word that is to say by the institution of Christ Otherwise if a man should goe about to take it literally our aduersaries who allow not of this proposition The bread is or is made the bodie of Christ could they admit of this of Theophilacts The bodie of Christ is turned to vs into bread The bread of the Altar is transformed and chaunged into the bodie of Christ And what exposition will they giue then thereunto except this he is become our spirituall foode and nourishment Seeing that he saith in an other place That there is not any carnall thing In a word that the bread as we say with all the ancient writers is Sacramentally the body of Christ Now in the life time of Charles the great Iohannes Eryngerus Scotus a Monke of the order of Saint Bennet companion to Alcuinus and Schoolemaster to Charles the great had written a booke of the holy Supper wherein hee dealeth against this abuse touching it euen from the conception thereof a certaine argument and proofe of that which the worthie Beda had taught for as much as hee was his Disciple The occasion of which my speech ariseth vpon certaine places in Beda his works which some haue corrupted in like manner vpon Saint Mathew which Auentinus witnesseth that he found out by comparing together the old Copies which are kept in the auncient Monasteries of Germanie In Biblioth Passaulensi Waltfacrens to haue beene falsified by some such like faithfull and vpright Catholike dealing as our fathers of Trent haue vsed in their Index Expurgatorius deuised and ordained in that Councell against all the most notable writers that haue written since the yeare 100. But of this Scotus his workes wee haue nothing for his booke was burnt in the Councell holden at Verseillis by Pope Leo the ninth more then two hundred yeares after his death at such time as Berengarius was there condemned But so it is that we haue Bertram his booke who was a Priest and writ the same to king Charles the bald brother to the Emperour Lotharius how this controuersie grew hotter and hotter in Fraunce and how there were two questions consulted vpon by the said Charles The first was Whether the bread and wine taken by the mouthes of the faithfull be the bodie and bloud of Christ in deed verily or mistically and Sacramentally The second Whether it be the same bodie that was borne of the Virgine Marie c. sitting at the right hand of the father c. And of this booke there is mention made by the Abbot Trithemius Trithem de doctorib eccle Chron. Hirtsaugien who calleth it Opus commendabile a laudable worke As also of his person whose rare gift both in diuine and humane learning as also in soundnesse of life hee much praiseth and commendeth And his resolution which hee gaue to King Charles debated and argued from the testimonies of all the old writers it was this in summe S August S. Hieronym S. Ambros c. That the Fathers vnder the Law in their Sacraments did eate the flesh and drinke the bloud of Christ as wee doe That the eating in the holy supper is accomplished after the same way and maner that regeneration in Baptisme that the visible elements are Sacraments signes mysteries and similitudes or resemblances which are taken by the mouth and hand That the inuisible things that is the flesh and bloud of Christ are receiued into the soule and taken by faith That the sanctified Elements continue and abide still in their first substance and yet exhibite vnto vs by the institution of the Lord that which hee hath promised by his word The fruit whereof is to be ioyned to Christ and made fellow sufferers with him in his sufferings the image and remembrance whereof is celebrated in this mysterie I would intreate the Reader not not to grieue to reade this book because it is learned and setteth forth in verie liuely sort the opinions of the Fathers pressing and vrging the places of Scripture and of the fathers and as it were foreseeing all the cauils of the masters of Transubstantiation But let him that buyeth or readeth it see that it be of those that were Imprinted before the Councell of Trent because that in signe of their perseuering in their honest and faithfull course they ordaine and appoint in their Index Index pag. 11 that whatsoeuer it containeth to their dislike should bee either chaunged or quite raced out that is to say the greatest part of the booke Their maner of correcting and interpreting is no grosser but to turne the affirmatiue into a negatiue so on the contrarie as for example For
he would and that because it was his will where he taketh for graunted the thing that is in question Although it bee the figure of bread and wine notwithstanding after the consecration we must altogether belieue that it is the body and bloud of Iesus Christ And al his arguments are drawne from the omnipotencie of God without any proofe of his will But would the masters of Transubstantiation approue and like of these words Paschas ad Prudeg The bread and wine are the flesh and bloud of Christ And yet notwithstanding he is much troubled in himselfe when hee considereth That there must be in the Lords supper the figure and notwithstanding the truth And how the one may bee without the preiudice of the other c. In so much as that he is forced to say That it is no maruaile if this mysterie be a figure and if the wordes thereof bee called figures seeing that Christ himselfe is called an ingrauen forme and figure Ideâ— de Corp. Sang. Dom. l. 4. euen hee which is the truth it selfe That we belieue that that is done spiritually and that we ought so to belieue it to be That he is offered for vs mystically That wee walke by faith and not by sight That our Lord hath left vs these visible figures ascending vp to heauen to feede our spirite and fleshe by faith in spirituall things c. Neuerthelesse notwithstanding the resistances and oppositions of the most learned the abuse ceased not to spread it selfe further into diuers countries abroad because that the ignorant people who haue alwaies the stronger side did perceiue and see that both authoritie and profit would grow vnto them therby We read by name that in England there rise a great schisme betwixt Odo Archbishop of Canterburie assisted by the meaner and inferiour sort of Priestes being the parties affecting Transubstantiation and the most learned of his Cleargie To whose arguments and places alleadged out of the Fathers hee opposeth authoritie and force And secondly to winne the Idiots and simple people he vseth illusions and false myracles whereof these ignorant ages did neuer want good store This was about the yeare nine hundred and fiftie But in Fraunce Berengarius Deane of Saint Maurice of Augiers about the yeare 1050. Anno 1050. Lauâ—ranc con Berengar displaieth againe the ensigne of truth and writeth a Treatise of the Lords Supper whereof wee haue nothing more then it pleased Lanfrancus his aduersarie to cite in his writings against him And yet notwithstanding such as that thereby he doth neither iniurie the truth nor his good name although he make it euident and apparant enough that hee hath not forgotten to weaken and detract from the force of his reasons so much as he possibly could This Berengarius therefore writ priuily to Lanfrancus a Millaner then Abbot of Bec-Heloin in Normandie what hee thought of the holy supper Lanfrancus being absent his Canons did open the letter and sent it to Rome In it he praised the booke of Iohannes Scotus written in the time of Charlemaine The letter is made knowne in a Synod holden at Rome and condemned the Author being neuer heard Lanfrancus is inioyned to refute it if so be he would cleare himselfe of all suspition of hauing any part in that pretended errour which was so much the more because of such intelligences as did in verie familiar sort passe betwixt him and Berengarius Scotus his booke was burnt two hundred and fiftie yeares after his death Berengarius continueth his vertuous course and had for his Disciples and followers diuers great personages in Fraunce amongst others Freward and Waldus Knights c. A thing verie likely seeing that the Popes otherwise more curious and carefull about worldly complaints then studious in questions of Diuinitie did so much molest and trouble them Leo the ninth therefore called a Councell at Verscillis in Piemont and came thither himselfe in person Berengarius durst not appeare but sent thither onely two of his friends to tender his reasons who were easily made afraid The Councell of Rome thereupon became the more emboldned and gaue order notwithstanding that the French Church should assemble a Councell at Towrs to cause Berengarius to stoope and become subiect This was in the time of Pope Victor the second and there was Hildebrand afterward Gregorie the seuenth on his behalfe the most violent and head-strong Prelate that euer liued There appeared Berengarius who declared vnto them That he did not teach bare and naked signes in the Eucharist but that the bread and wine there vsed were most vndoubted pledges and seales of the reall Communion in the true bodie and bloud of our Lord which all those haue and there receiue which take these signes with a true faith That the bread and wine notwithstanding doe not chaunge their substances but rather of common ones are made holy ones of elements Sacraments c. And that to conclude hee held for other matters as all the auncient Fathers haue written and according also to the sence and meaning of the Lithurgie ordinarily read in the Church c. Thus the Councell rested satisfied at his hands But Pope Nicholas II. perceiuing that this doctrine was on foote againe cited Berengarius to Rome the second time to appeare in the Consistorie of Lateran and thither hee came being drawne and allured by faire and flattering speeches The first argument that was framed against him was that if he did not retract his former opinions he should be burnt and thereupon Humbert the Burgonian afterward Cardinall drew a reuocation such as we reade in the Decree That hee doth confesse C. Ego Berengar de consec d. 2. that after the Consecration the bread and wine are the verie bodie and bloud of Christ That they are there sensibly and in truth handled with the hands of the Priests broken and brused with the teeth of the faithfull c. And that hee curseth all them which doe iudge otherwise c. that is to say the whole Romish Church at this day which holdeth these propositions for hereticall That the bread is the bodie that the bodie is brused with the teeth c. Lanfranc de Sacr. Alger Where it is also to be noted that he saith Of the faithfull not of all those that are partakers thereof a remnant and small parcell of the pure doctrine and a signe of the as yet imperfect deliuerie and teaching of the impure and corrupt And therefore the Glose of the Decree addeth thereunto Beware least thou shouldest not rightly vnderstand that which Berengarius saith here and so shouldest fall into greater and more grosse heresies then euer he did And the Glose vpon the Canon Vtrum hath these words C. Vtrum de consecr d 2. ex August vbi Glos It is not lawfull to eate Christ with the teeth Berengarius saith hee said the contrarie but hee spoke hyberbolically and went beyond the listes of the
from the Gospel the same is not ioyned to the Church for this is all one saith he after the maner whereby Antichrist was brought in vnder the name of Christ by counterfetting things likely thereby subtilly to frustrate the truth where as it had behooued him to haue returned to the originall of truth haue hasted back to the spring-head to see at what place the pipes conueying the water vnto vs were broken by this meanes to haue lent his eare vnto the doctrine of the heauenly Master For saith Nazianzene vnto the Arrians The church is not defined by multitude if they haue the people we haue the faith if they haue the golde and siluer we haue the true doctrine succession must be valued by pietie and not by Sea or seate Who so retaineth the same doctrine of faith hee possesseth the same Sea as he that retaineth the contrarie in the same Sea is to be helde as an enemy Because saith Saint Chrysostome The Church consisteth not in walles but in faith so that where faith is there the Church is where faith is not there the Church is not This is the true Ierusalem whose foundations are placed vpon the mountaines of the Scriptures As also saith he he goeth not out from the Church that goeth out from the bodie but rather he that forsaketh the spirit the foundation of the ecclesiasticall truth We then saith he are gone out from them in respect of the place but they froÌ„ vs in respect of faith we haue left with them the foundations of the walles but they haue left with vs the foundations of the Scriptures Saint Ambrose Christ alone is he whom no man ought to forsake or change away to whom it is by good right said Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the wordes of life It is then giuen vs in charge aboue all things to seeke out the faith of the Church in which if Christ dwell howe that then wee must make choise thereof namely for our habitation but if wee finde therein either an vnfaithfull people or an hereticall teacher that spoileth the dwelling such Synagogue is to be auoided And if to be briefe a Church forsake the faith it behooueth vs to forsake and abandon it c. And he yeeldeth a reason Christ saith he is the rocke Petra non Petrus S. Ambr. l. 1 de paenit c. 9. the foundation of the Church that is faith if thou be in the rocke thou art also in the church But to the end we may not take one rocke for another Know saith he that they which haue not Peters faith can neither haue Peters portion and inheritance Saint Ierome expounding the Creede He hath not said I beleeue in the holie catholike church but I beleeue the holie church The holie church is that which keepeth the faith of Christ in the integritie and soundnesse thereof It consisteth not of walles but vpon the veritie of doctrine VVhere faith is there is it also and there it was at such time as heretikes possessed all these churches In Psal 133. VVouldst thou enter into this church and that by the right way In Psal 5. It is the reading of the Scriptures Do thou O Lord so lay out and fit my way as that I may not fall or take offence in these Scriptures seeing that by them I desire to enter into thy church Yea saith he these Scriptures they are the kingdome of God himselfe In S. Mat c. 21. And when it is said that the Lord hath translated the kingdom of heauen from the Iewes vnto vs it is as much as to say that he hath taken the Scriptures from them to giue them vnto vs. In them saith Saint Augustine we finde Christ in them wee are to seeke and search for the Church in them and by them it is shewed vnto vs. Aug de vnit Eccles And let vs not once imagine that we haue and hold the church because we are in that wherein Ambrosius or Optatus haue beene before vs no nor yet because there are miracles wrought therein for euen our Lord himselfe woulde that his disciples should be confirmed by the Scriptures more then by any other meanes and of that nature are the titles precepts and foundations of our cause Cont. Petil. l. 3. c. 6. in Psalm 69. If then saith he there be any question either of Christ or of the church or of any thing whatsoeuer that belongeth either to life or faith cursed bee hee that goeth out of the Scriptures To the ende that thou maist not be deceiued and that no man may cause thee to take him for Christ that is not Christ that for the church which should not be the church hearken vnto the voice of the shepheard he hath shewed himselfe vnto thee he hath shewed thee the church In Ioh. ser 131 My sheepe heare my voyce c. The church is the house of God but it is not God wee beleeue the church but we beleeue not in the church It is the mother In Epist Ioh. tract 3. In Psal 103. Obpubilatur Epist 48. Sâ—rm 237. de Temp. ad Lucernam Ber. in conuer S. Paul ser 1. but the two testaments are her teates from them we must sucke the milke of all the mysteries of our saluation The Bishops may erre there haue beene of them authours both of schismes and heresies The church in like maner is sometimes eclipsed and marred with wet and tempestuous weather The surest course is to make the Scriptures our looking-glasse as also for vs to walke in the torch-light of the scriptures O Lord our good God said Saint Bernard such as seeme to holde the Primacie in the church Iâ— Cant. ser 76 are the formost most forward to persecute thee It is not inough for such as should be our guard and watchmen to giue ouer their care of protection and vigilancie except they further worke our spoile At the least saith he elsewhere let him abound in his sense vnderstanding that will Epist 77. but as for vs I could wish that they would let vs abound in the sense of the Scriptures In the meane time Durand appellat mensuram fidei in prefat Sentent Thomas regulam intel ectus in â— ad Tim. cap. 6 lect 1. Scot. mensur Theol. in l. 1. Sent. q. 1 Gerson regulaÌ„ fid de coÌ„munic sub vtraque against these Scriptures the law of the Church the measure of faith the rule and bridle of all maner of vnderstanding I speake according to the Schoolemen themselues Thomas Durand Scotus Gerson c. These miserable Doctors and teachers either of this world or of the Prince of this world enemies of the true light children of darknesse seeing they please themselues so greatly therein doe not cease to furnish vs with appeales being imployed euer and anon more in making of such then of any other bookes So that if we had nothing else against them but that we might iustly suspect
them of vnsounde dealing seeing the auncient fathers of the Church did alwayes make their appeales vnto them against the heretikes and that in such sort as that when they once perceiued them to come within the bounds of their iurisdiction they held themselues victorers in their cause The holie Scripture say they to vs is not sufficient And what other sufficiencie doe wee looke for therein The scripture sufficient but to possesse God who is sufficient of himself euen for al maner of thinges or what other to be briefe but to come to saluation But and if thou wilt not beleeue the Apostle who telleth thee that the holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise vnto saluation by faith which is in Christ that is the man of God the Euangelist the teacher of others Iohn 5 39. Iohn 20.31 at the least beleeue the sonne of God who sendeth vs so expressely to the Scriptures Because saith he that we haue life in them And hast thou them to seeke and search for thine owne saluation The Lord commaundeth thee to search them diligently in them thou hast life Dost thou labour and seeke how to teach it others They are profitable to teach conuince correct and instruct By them the sonne of God the eternall word did teach his disciples Hast thou to deale against heretikes By the verie same hee stopte the mouthes of the Pharisies and confounded the Sadduces who did not admit of any mo parties then one The heretikes cannot keepe their holde before them yea they cannot possiblie defend themselues otherwise then by refusing them No sooner are they drawne thereto saith Tertullian but they are confounded whether Ebionites Hermogenists or Marcionites c. Yea and if the controuersie should bee against the diuell himselfe we know that from thence the Lord put him to silence that he coÌ„futed him in all his schoole points Apocal. and sent him backe againe to the bottomlesse pit of hell how much more the sonne perdition for the ouercomming and discomfiting of whom there are not any other armor or weapons spoken of As he that must be ouerthrowne with the breath of his mouth and beaten downe by the powerfulnesse of his Scriptures wherefore the Scripture hauing beene of such sufficiencie in those dayes both for the children of God and against his aduersaries where shall it sithence haue lost that his â—â—sufficiencie Or who shall not rather suspect that we are become ouer sufficient that is to say spoyled with presumption That we accuse it of insufficiencie because our pretended and deuised sufficiencies are not found therein And againe if it were so much at such times as the Church had no more but the olde Testament both vnto saluation and condemnation what shall we say of the times succeeding and those of the present According to the Fathers Iren cont haeres l. 2 c. 47. accompanied with the accomplishment of that in the person of Christ and made more cleare by the new And verilie the fathers also haue carefully kept themselues from this point rather to be tearmed infidelitie then errour or heresie Irenaeus saith We knowe verie well that the Scriptures are perfect for they are appointed and spoken by the worde of God and his spirit Tertullian Tertul. contra Prax. Hermoâ—g Cypr. de Baptism Christi I adore and reuerence the fulnesse of the Scriptures the scripture hath his reason and is sufficient of it self Saint Cyprian Speake on Lord thy seruant heareth Christian religion shall finde that out of this Scripture doe spring the rules of all manner of doctrine and that from thence riseth as also that thither returneth al whatsoeuer the discipline and gouernment of the Church doth containe Antonius the Hermite Antonius in suiâ— Epistolis Athanasius cont Idola Ad Serapion In Ep. Senten Dyonis Hillar l. 2. de Trinit The Scriptures are sufficient for all manner of knowledge of God and all manner of discipline Athanasius who notwithstanding hath to deale against the Arrians The holy scriptures are sufficient for the demonstration of the truth learne onely the scriptures for the lessons which thou findest there will be sufficient for thee Although saith he in another place I haue not found this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coÌ„substantiall yet so it is as that I haue found the thing it selfe Saint Hillarie vpon the same argument The word of God which by the testimonie of the Gospel hath beene transfused and conueyed into our eares is sufficient for the beleeuers for what is there belonging vnto mans saluation that is not to be found contained therein Or what is there therein either lame or obscure Verily euerie thing therein is full and perfect Basil de vera fide Homil. 29. In oratione Ethicaâ— In Esai c. 2. Chrys hom 9 in 2. ad Tim. c. Saint Basill attributeth it to the same pride and infidelitie to bring in any thing that is not written or to reiect that which is written The old and new Testament saith he are the treasure of the church All the commaundements of God are written and must be obserued All whatsoeuer is besides the straight and euen line of the Scripture is a cursed abhomination before God S. Chrysostome The holie Scripture teacheth thee whatsoeuer thou shouldest know or be ignorant of Thou art a Gentile and wouldest become a Christian but our controuersies doe trouble thee Thou knowest not to whom to goe for euerie man pretendeth and alledgeth the Scriptures c. Knowe that that which agreeth therewith is christian but that which disagreeth with the same In Acta hom 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. de bono Viduit De doct christâ— l. 2. c. 9. serm 88. ad fratres lib. de confes 7 c. 7. In S. Ioh. tract 49. vbi viamad vitam De consensu Euan. l. 1. c. v. t. is farre off from the rule of christianitie Likewise saith he in another place It is the propertie of the diuell to adde vnto the commaundements of God Saint Augustine The Scripture saith he doth prefixe and set before vs a law teaching vs not to be more wise then we ought looke not therefore that to teach thee on my behalfe and part is any other thing but to expound vnto thee the wordes of my master for euen saith he in the things that are openly taught in the Scriptures is fully found al that which is to be done or left vndone all that which appertaineth vnto faith or concerneth maners Some haue made choise to write of all that which may seeme to be sufficient for the saluation of the faithfull In thy Christ O Lord and in the holy Scriptures I perswade my selfe that thou hast placed the way of mans saluation Whatsoeuer he would haue that we should reade of his deedes or wordes Cyril Alexan. In S. Iohan. l. 12 c. vlt. that hath he commaunded his Apostles to write as if it had beene done with his own hands c. S. Cyprian Bishop of
Frier hath purposely written and put forth a booke The truth is that he teacheth Ioh. Ferus in Mat. l. 1. In Ioh. c. 1. v. 4.13.17.19 That all our old birth for so hee calleth the man not regenerate and all the powers of our nature are condemned in the Scriptures that wee are nothing but sinne and darknesse that our thoughts speech reason and will are accursed that our light if the same be not inlightned by the word of God worketh nothing in vs but errour and going astraie that euen the Law howsoeuer good in it selfe without grace begetteth nothing but hypocrites that without faith there is no good workes and that none but such as belieue can worke them that in the regenerate not onely after Baptisme Idem in Ioh. c. 13. v. 10. c. 14 v. 16 c. 16. v. 9. but euen after they become to an actuall faith there abideth continually a remainder of originall sinne which bringeth forth sinne in vs whereupon it must consequently bee auouched that no man is without sinne and notwithstanding that such as belieue doe not cease therefore to be cleane that is in as much as they be purified by faith and by the same ingrafted into the body of Christ participating his holinesse and possessing himselfe according to that which S. Paul saith But you are washed but you are sanctified c. And that notwithstanding that considered in themselues they are nothing but sin yet there is no condemnation for them with God who doth not impute vnto them any their sinnes vncleannesse but rather reputeth them for pure cleane because of their faith in Christ Moreouer that this faith which iustifieth vs is not any other thing then the free mercie of God forgiuing sinnes for his Christs sake which only is requisite in vs vnto saluation c. and it worketh in vs a certaintie of the same so farre foorth as that it leaueth vs not without a pledge and earnest penie of eternall life that by the only merits of Christ we are saued made partakers of the same merits by faith alone In all which points he doth verie notably agree with vs that is to say with all antiquitie and consequently is condemned by the Councell of Trent in diuers Canons in the sixth Session Now of all this discourse wee gather that this doctrine of free iustification in the bloud of Christ by faith hath beene of a long time kept maintained in the Church in his puritie howsoeuer deadly assailed by Sathan and that at diuers times in diuers depending points as the See and seate of our saluation That notwithstanding it hath beene subiect to manifold diuers great alterations and changes through the proud and presumptuous nature of man through the doctrine of Philosophers through the subtilties of the Schoolemen and the Pharisaical hmuour of the Monkes In so much as that notwithstanding the couragious defence of the same by diuers worthie and great personages holding vnto the yeare 1200. more for the grace of God against the ingratitude of man the said Pharisaicall doctrine did preuaile and get the vpper hand and yet not so absolutely but that at the same time it was still impugned and confuted almost throughout all the nations of Christendome by many good people and that euen to the suffering of death for their confession being also mightily and soundly crossed by their Maxims by whose fine conceipts and subtile deuises it had beene chiefely established that in it there is hapned vnto vs as it falleth out in the Countries farre North wherein the brightnesse of the two twilights doe happen and fall out so neere together as that the day is no sooner dead and departed on the one side but it quickneth and reuiueth againe on the other This Article hauing beene no sooner shut in and couered with the darknesse which had ouer-spread and ouershadowed the Church but that wee might see it incontinently after more splendent and glorious then euer it was before Wherein we may note the singular goodnes of God towards his Church for in as much as iustification is that point of Christian doctrine which ioyneth man Christ together which maketh the proper difference of the Church from all other sortes of assemblies and of a Christian from all other men as being that without which no man can bee a Christian with which alone well vnderstood we retaine both the name and the effect and to be short which may bee called by good right the life of a Christian the soule of the Church the bond of the mariage betwixt Christ and his Church it was surely verie necessarie seeing that God according to his promise cannot destroy his Church that this article should be conserued in the same that such Eclipse as should couer the face therof shuld be but short to the end it might returne vnto his former brightnesse and light In a word as Phisitions say that the heart is the first liuing last dying part in man That this heart also of the Church by which it began to liue notwithstanding first assailed and set vpon by the venimous poyson of Sathan was the last that was mortally wounded and striken and the first againe recouered as for certaine it is come to passe in our daies wherein God making his Gospell as it were to liue againe after so long a time of death and darknesse would of his incomparable grace that this point should bee the first restored into his former estate and perfection by them whome he had raised for the restauration of his Church Now in this third part we haue entered into the consideration of the Masse A briefe rehea 〈◊〉 of that which hath beene said before this third book in the qualitie of a Sacrifice so it remaineth for our better comming to our selues againe after so long a discourse that we briefly repeate the same which we meane to performe in manner as followeth The Masse is properly a corrupting adulterating of the holy Supper of our Lord and the Supper of our Lord was not ordained for a sacrifice taken in his proper signification but for a Sacrament Neither can it be called a sacrifice except for that it is a holy action or else because it is a commemoration of the sacrifice of our Lord once made vpon the tree of the Crosse for our sinnes or thirdly for that it is a thankesgiuing for the benefits receiued by him Wherefore the Masse cannot properly be called a sacrifice and much lesse a propitiatorie sacrifice in as much as the whole Scripture and all antiquitie do teach vs that there is not in the Church any moe sacrifices truely propitiatorie then one euen the bloud of our Lord shed for our sinnes represented and shadowed out vnder the Lawe by all the sacrifices then in vse and fulfilled in the time of grace in one onely which ought not neither can bee reiterated without sacriledge From this pretended Sacrifice of the Masse haue