could not remaine The drinke sanctified in the bloud of our Lord brake out of her polluted bowels c. Out of this Historie Maister Heskins gathereth two thinges First that the sacrament in that time was ministred to infantes which was in deede a great abuse contrarie to the worde of god Secondly that this childe receiued onely the cup which is false for though she was not so troubled at the receipt of the bread yet it followeth not that she receiued no bread but contrariwise Cyprian saith the Eucharistie by whiche wordes the fathers alwayes vnderstand the whole sacrament could not remaine in her bodie And whereas he reasoneth foolishly that if she had receiued the bread she should like wise haue beene troubled he must vnderstand that when God worketh a miracle he taketh times and occasions at his pleasure And it is like he would not discouer her pollution that come by bread and wine before she had receiued both bread and wine as the sacrament If I should vrge vpon this place as the scoole men doe whether this that was vomited was the bloud of Christ and what should be done with it or what was done with it in this storie I should trouble him more then he could easily answere Another tale he telleth out of Sozomenus Eccl. hist. lib. 8. Cap. 5. Ioanne Constantinopolitanum c. When Iohn Chrysostome did very well gouerne the Church of Constantinople a certeine man of the Macedonian heresie had a wife of the same opinion When this man had heard Iohn teaching what was to bee thought of God he praysed his doctrine and exhorted his wife to be of the same minde with him But when she did more obey the words of noble women then his conuersation and after many admonitions her husband had profited nothing Except quod he thou be a cōpaniō with me in Diuine matters thou shalt not be hereafter a partaker of liuing with me When the woman heard this promised her consent dissemblingly she cōmunicated the matter with a certeyne maide seruant which shee iudged to be trustie vnto her and vseth her seruice to deceiue her husband And about the time of the mysteries they that be receiued to them know what I say she keping that she had receiued fell downe as though she would pray Her maide standing by giueth her priuily that which she brought in her hand with her which thing when it was put to her teeth it congeled into a stone The woman beeing astonnied fearing least any euil should happen to her for that thing whiche came to passe from God made hast to the Bishop and bewraying her selfe sheweth the stone hauing yet vpon it the markes of her bit and shewing an vnknowen matter and a wonderful colour and also desiring pardon with teares promised that she would agree with her husband And if this matter seeme to any man to be incredible this stone is a witnesse which is kept to this day among the Iewels of the Churche of Constantinople If this storie be true as it is no article of our beleefe yet proueth it not that the communion was ministred in bread only to all the rest that would receiue the cuppe although I wote not what was turned into a stone before the time came she should receiue the cuppe If M. Heskins will vrge she could not haue any thing to conuey into her mouth in steede of the wine I answere she might easily counterfet the drinking by kissing the cuppe and so letting it passe from her without tasting thereof Wherefore this is but a blind and vnreasonable coniecture of Maister Heskins that the sacrament was ministred in one kinde because she that had dissembled in the receipt of one kinde was punished with depriuation from both kindes The last reason he vseth Is that it is testified by learned men that the manner of receiuing vnder one kinde which is vsed in all the Latine Church vpon good Friday on which day the priest receiueth the hoste consecrated vpon maundie Thursday hath been so vsed from the primitiue Church But what learned men they be except such as him selfe and what proofes they haue of this vsage he sayeth not so much as halfe a word The whole matter standeth vpon his owne credite But if he and all the learned of that side should fast from good Friday vntill they haue shewed proofe of such an vse in the primitiue church not as they vse to fast in Lent but from all manner of nourishment there would not one learned Papist be left aliue on gang Monday to shew what proofes they haue found Thou hast seene Reader what his reasons and authorities are iudge of the answers according to thy discretion ¶ The end of the second Booke THE THIRD BOOKE OF MAISTER HESKINS PARLEAment repealed by W. Fulke The first Chapter entereth by Preface into the first text of S. Paule that toucheth the sacrament and expoundeth it according to the letter TThe Preface is out of Didymus that diuine matters are to be handled with reuerence and considering the difficultie of the scriptures by Hierome that in matters of doubt recourse must be had by Irenęus his aduise vnto the most auncient Churches in which the Apostles were conuersant In so much that Irenaeus saith Libro 3. Cap. 4. Quid autem c. And what if the Apostles had left vs no writinges ought we not to haue followed the order of tradition which they deliuered to them to whome they had committed the Churches Wherevpon Maister Heskins gathereth that not onely for matters conteined in scripture but also for traditions vnwritten in the holie scriptures the fathers are to be credited But he goeth farre from Irenaeus minde who confuted the heretiques both by the scriptures and by the authoritie of the moste auncient Churches whose traditions must haue beene all our institution if there had ben no scriptures But seeing that scriptures inspired of God by his gratious prouidence are left vnto vs al traditions are to be examined by them that is twise proued after Irenaeus minde whiche is proued both by the scriptures and by the authoritie of the Churches Otherwise the scriptures are sufficient of them selues 2. Tim. 3. And no tradition or authoritie is to be receiued which is repugnant or contrarie vnto them The text of Saint Paule that he speaketh is written 1. Cor. 10. Brethren I would not haue you ignorant that all our fathers were vnder the cloude and all passed through the sea and were all baptised by Moses in the cloude and in the sea and did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of the same spirituall rocke which followed them and the rocke was Christe Where it is to be noted that Maister Heskins in steede of the same spirituall meate and the same spirituall drinke translateth one spiritual meate and one spirituall drinke as though the sense were that the Fathers did all eate drinke of one spiritual kind
but is confessed of al men except it be to condemne the Clergie of Papistrie which for the most part are ignoraunt not onely of Gods lawe but of all honest knowledge and vpon very necessitie open a gate vnto the people to seeke instruction them selues where the ordinarie passage is stopped through the ignorance of the Ministers The first place by him alledged is Deu. 17. That if there rise a matter too hard for the people in iudgement betweene bloud and bloud c. they shall come to the Priestes and stand to their iudgement on paine of death c. Although I might answere that this ordinaunce appertaineth to iudiciall causes of which God gaue his lawe also yet if it be taken generally so long as the Prieste determineth according to the lawe it is well ynough But this proueth not that the people must haue no vnderstanding beside the priests mouth For the decree is onely of matters that are difficult and such as cannot be decided at home No more do the wordes of Malachie That the lips of the Priest shall keepe the law and men shall require it at his mouth And much lesse the commaundement in Aggee Enquire the lawe of the Priestes And least of all that Christ commaundeth the Scribes and Pharisees to be heard sitting in the chaire of Moses These places proue that it is the Priestes duetie to be learned in the lawe of God but repel not the general lawe wherby euery man is cōmanded also to studie in the law of God yea though the Priestes neither would nor could teach him For if the blinde followe the blinde they both fall into the ditch which our sauiour Christ willeth all men to take heede of Hieronyme in the place by you alledged M. Heskins gathereth rightly of these places that it is the Priestes office to know and expound the scriptures but I muse how the greatest number of your Priestes can brooke those words of his If he be ignorant of the law he proueth him selfe to be no Priest of God. Much more against your cleargie your cause is that large sentence you set down out of Hieronyme thē to hurt your aduersaries where he concludeth out of 1. Tim. 3. Tit. 1. that both by the new Testament and the old it is the priests office to know and teach the lawe of god As is also that which you adde out of 1. Cor. 12. that God hath appointed some Apostles some Prophets some pastors teachers as though these orders might not stand with the peoples reading of the scriptures whē euen in the Apostles time the Thessalonians or Berrhoeans wer cōmended for that thei did not only heare the Apostles but also cōferred their doctrin with the scriptures Actes 17. Hauing rehearsed your texts you fal to collecting of three things out of thē 1. That it is the dutie of a Priest to be learned in the law of God and godly life also which euerie man confesseth 2. That there be doubts and hard matters in the law And that also shal be confessed But withall out of the same place it is proued that there are many plaine and easie pointes in the lawe because the decree was not for all the lawe but onely for harde cases of the lawe Thirdly that the people must bee taught them and learne of the priestes and this also shall be granted to the vttermost so that you will allow the people to learn such things as are easie not only of the priests but also of their own reading study conference with thē that are no priestes And this is no inuerting of Gods order M. Heskins how much soeuer you enuie the peoples instruction For it is gods commaundement as I shewed before that his people shoulde not onely reade the lawe themselues but teach the same to others yea parentes are commaunded to teach the lawe of God to their children and yet I weene you will not say that all parents be priestes But the marke you shoote at is easie to see the ignorance of the people is more for your worshippe and gaine then their knowledge The examples you bring of the people teaching Aaron of Chore Dathan Abiram rebelling against Moses and Aaron and of the Israelites in deposing Samuel and desiring a king are of no force to dissuade men from reading of the Scriptures no thoughe they haue learned and true teachers much lesse when they are vnder dumbe dogges and heretikes as all popishe priestes are nor to abridge the authoritie of lawfull magistrates in banishing and suppressing all vsurped power and false teachers nor to shake off the yoke of Antichrist to submit thēselues vnto a king There is too great oddes betweene the Pope and Samuel betweene Moses and Aaron the popish cleargie that they which withstande the Pope and his Prelates should be in the case of Dathan and his complices or of the people that refused the regiment of Samuel The saying of Augustine Ep. 118. Although it come in here out of season yet it maketh nothing against vs He saith It is most insolent madnesse to dispute whether that is to be done which the Church throughout all the worlde doth obserue Excepte M. Heskins can shewe what is obserued of the Church throughout the worlde which we doe not obserue or deny to be obserued For S. Augustine in that place speaketh of Ceremonies The seuenth Chapter declaring the same by examples of the Fathers and authorities of the Doctours of the Church The title of this Chapter pretendeth to declare howe the people shall come to the vnderstanding of the scriptures but the examples are most of the preachers and teachers how they shall atteine to knowledge sufficient to discharge their office But the first argument whervpō almost all the rest of the Chapter doth runne is a maruellous conclusion God commaundeth the children of Israell 32. Aske thy father and he will shewe thee thy Elders and they will tell thee Ergo God did not sende all the people only to the fiue books of Moses to learne but willed them to learne of their Elders So now all men may not be sent to the scriptures to learne but they must learne of their Fathers what be the goodly workes of God conteined in the Scriptures Why M. Heskins you forget not only lodgike but common reason We would not haue men to learne onely by reading the scriptures but muche more by hearing their teachers first their Pastors and then all other whom God hath indued with any gift of knowledge And wil you conclude with shame that because men were not sent only to the fiue Bookes of Moses men may not now be sent at all to the scriptures And are you so blinde that you cannot see this text to ouerthrowe the purpose of both your sixth and seuenth Chapters after this manner by necessary conclusion Men must learne of their fathers therefore not only of the Priestes The rest that followeth for certeine pages is so tedious a
proofe of that which is not at all in controuersie that it yrketh me to abridge it but for orders sake The Apostles learned of Christ in three yeares study prayer is required to the vnderstanding of the scripture by Origens iudgement The Fathers of the Church learned of their Elders as Clemens Marke Linus Cletus of Peter Titus Timotheus Luke Dionise of Paule and so one of an other Basil and Gregorie Nazianzen studied thirteene yeres in a monasterie Hieronyme learned of the Hebrues trusted not his own iudgement wherefore all rashe readers and arrogant teachers may be abashed which take vpon them to teach before they be learned whereas no man may be his owne teacher in the scriptures All this and much more shall be graunted to M. Heskins without any strife at all But that which he also granteth though it be not very liberally yet it must not be refused That in S. Hieronymies time many did study the scriptures which if the people coulde nowe reuerently and meekely vse might be tollerated Well then the allowance of antiquitie is of our side and the conditional tolleration of M. Heskins for I may not say of the Popish Church knowing what horrible persecution they practise against thē which haue but a book of the scriptures in their mother tonge found in their hand or house although it cannot be proued that they read it Wherefore it is most absurd that hee chargeth the proclamer with slaundering their Churche to bring hir in hatred with the lay people as though she had nowe forbidden them to read the Scriptures in their owne tongue whereas he knoweth no suche prohibition giuen to the lay people vniuersally But the reason is most monsterous For if there had bene any such prohibition there should not haue bene so many lay men which haue both read and written of the scriptures in their natiue tongues c. As thoughe learned lay men coulde not haue readd the scriptures but in their mother tongue But the church fearing the abuses of the scriptures by the vnlearned lay men forbad them But such lay men as vnderstād the scriptures in Hebrue Greeke the Church wil allow them to read thē in english O wise prouident Church Nay meruell not at this For the learned if they be rashe fall into heresies much more the vnlearned And the learned also yea and phisitians themselues sometimes take surfeites therefore it were a sure way for the people neuer to eate meate Noble men and wisemen somtime haue their houses burned therefore it is much more dangerous for poore and simple men to haue fire in their houses The knowledge of Mysteries muste not bee made common to all men for the Iewes would not suffer Genesis and Cantica to be redde of young men before 30. yeares of age The heathen men also as the Romanes Philosophers kept close their secrets the one Sibyllaes bookes the other Morall philosophie especially Metaphysike If I had time I might make sporte with this Metaphysical argument that Christian men must folow the practise of Infidels But I must passe ouer to the rest Chrysostom in the Greeke Church as wel as Hieronyme in the Latine wold haue the people to learne by hearing their teachers and not onely by reading them selues because the scriptures are darke and are a storehouse not common for all men but out of which the stewardes must deliuer to euerie man his portion Remember all this notwithstanding that M. Heskins confessed before that Chrysostome doth often earnestly exhort the lay and vnlearned people to the diligent reading of the scriptures Then followe similitudes of young children and vnthriftes the one if they feede thēselues the meate runneth about their mouth bosome and clothes the other spende their fathers goods in suites and quarels and contention with their brethren So men without witte grace abuse the scriptures to the hurt of others no profite of themselues Except all laye men want witt and grace these similitudes proue nothing For many priestes also want wit grace whō you admit to read the scriptures After similitudes come examples Valdo an vnlearned man caused Bookes of scripture to be translated and so beganne the sect of Valdenses or Pauperes de Lugduno Out of the same founteine of ignorance sprang the heretikes called Begradi Turrelupini Valdo was a godly man seeing the ignorance and vngodlines of the Priests did very wel to procure the translatiō of the scripture and vppon good groundes departed from the Church of Rome vnto the Church of Christ what the other were as stories are vncertein so I leaue them in doubt But Luther and Zwinglius are charged to affirme The scriptures to be easie and make it free for all men to read and expound them and teach that not onely men but also women may openly preache the worde of God and that as well a childe and a woman absolueth as a Bishop If these were not meere slaunders he would haue set downe their owne wordes the circumstance of which no doubt would discharge them of such absurdities as he collecteth For they would neuer affirme euery place of the scripture to be easie nor women but in case where al men or the most faile of knowledge to teach as the prophetesses of the olde lawe did nor women and children to absolue as well as a godly bishop by the doctrine of the Gospell but perhaps better then an ignorant Popish Prelate Likewise where he chargeth Luther To boast that he was ignorant in no part of the scripture and yet bringeth in his owne wordes wherein he confesseth that he knew not whether he had the right vnderstanding of the Psalmes and saith also that it was most impudent rashnesse for any man to professe that he vnderstoode any one booke of scripture in all partes I say the conference of these places doeth declare that no man except he were blinde madde or dronke with malice would beleeue the slaunder of boasting to be true in manner and forme as Maister Heskins setteth it downe Hauing vomited his malice against Luther Zwinglius he inueyeth with mayn sayle of open rayling against the people of our time for the rashnesse and disorder of some As though there were no talke but rash babbling of predestination free wil iustification yea God to be the author of sinne of the number of the sacraments especially the sacrament of the altar and no where but in Tauernes Innes Alehouses and Barbarshops in streetes highwayes and fieldes and in the mouthes of women boyes and girles God be thanked this slaunder is false Although there be great rashnesse in some and vnreligiousnesse in more yet the true members of Christ profite much by reading of his word We confesse with Gregorie Nazianzene that it is not for euery man rashly to dispute of God nor yet of diuine matters but with humilitie and sobrietie which they shal learne no where so well as in the holy scriptures of god The
And of Caluine yet not as Heskins like a lewde lyer slaundereth him to say This is the verie substance of my bodie but it is not my bodily substance but agreeing in effect with all the rest that the verie bodie of Christ is receiued but not after a carnall or bodily manner but after a spirituall vnspeakable manner As for the fiue sectes numbred among the Lutherans which dissent from vs in this point we make none accompt of them Thus where M. Hesk hath gathered as he reckoneth sixteene seueral sectes foure of them being condemned of vs for hereticall with the authors of them fiue agreeing with the papistes in the carnall presence and Luthers owne secte if he dissent from them as Heskins maketh him to doe the sixt tenne are of vs generally refused The other sixe that remaine in Maister Heskins number are falsely forged to disagree when they holde all one thing in effect although they expresse the same thing in diuerse formes of wordes as it is not possible for diuerse interpreters though they agree in sense and interpretation to iump all in one forme of words for then all commentaries should be one But as God giueth his giftes diuersely some expound the scriptures briefely some more at large some more plainly some more obscurely so all these and fiue hundred more God be thanked learned men either in writing or in preaching haue shewed the vnderstanding of Christes wordes hardly fiue of them agreeing in all termes and phrases yet all moste sweetely consenting in one sense and meaning which consent and agreement is more notable when it is vttered in so many diuerse formes of wordes And yet to take away all cauels and flaunders all the churches for the moste parte in Fraunce Scotland Sauoy Heluetia Germanie Hungarie Piemont Polonia c. beside the persecuted Churches of Italians Spanyards and others haue subscribed to one forme of confession concerning not onely the sacrament but all other principall poyntes of religion which wee do likewise receiue in this Church of England And if disagreing of men among themselues were a matter of such importance it were no harde thing to shewe the battels of the schoole doctours among the Papists not onely about other matters but euen about the manner of the presence of Christes bodie in the sacrament transsubstantiation If you say all these whome you reiecte as the Lutherans in this poynt the Swinkefeldians Anabaptistes Libertines Henrinicolaites and such other do all disagree with you from the Catholike church of Rome therefore you are all together naught By this reason all Christianitie might bee condemned of the Iewes and Gentiles because so many sectes and heresies as be vnder the name of Christianitie together with the true Church of Christe be all against Iudaisme Gentilisme But agreeing or disagreeing of men among themselues is a weake argument to proue or disproue any thing onely agreeing with the trueth is a sure reason to allowe and disagreeing from the trueth is a certeine argument to refuse either men or matter propounded by them The two and fourtieth Chapter beginneth the exposition of the wordes of Christe after the Catholike manner with certein proues of the same First he setteth downe the sayings of the three Euangelistes Mathew Marke and Luke and of the Apostle Paule in which they describe the institution of the sacrament of which he sayeth not one maketh any mention of tropes figures or significations wherein hee vseth a shamelesse kinde of Sophistrie for although they name no tropes or figures or signification yet by the Papistes owne confession Saint Luke S. Paule vse manifest tropes figures and significations namely where they say This cupp is the newe testament in my bloud First it is a trope or figure to saye the cupp for that which is conteined in the cup vnlesse they will say that the cupp of what metall or matter so euer it was was likewise transubstantiated into the bloud of Christe Likewise where he sayeth this cuppe is the newe testament or couenant he must either acknowledge a signification this cuppe signifieth the newe testament or else he must make the newe testament to be nothing else but a cuppe Finally where he sayeth this cuppe is the newe testament in my bloud except hee acknowledge a trope or figure he will vtterly denye that which is in the cup to be the bloud of Christe And out of all controuersie this manner of speache vsed by Saint Luke and Saint Paule is a manifest interpretation of the wordes vsed by S. Mathewe and Saint Marke this is my bloud which are all one in sence and meaning and teache vs howe the wordes spoken of the breade are to be interpreted this is my bodie this is the newe testament in my bloude which is as much to saye this is a seale and confirmation of the newe couenaunt which is remission of sinnes purchased by the breaking of my bodie and the shedding of my bloud for you This breade and this cuppe receiued of you shall assure you that you are truely incorporated into my bodie so made partakers of eternall life This interpretation hath in it nothing farre fetched or strange from the words of Christ the vsuall maner of speaking in the scripture But nowe M. Heskins will proue that the wordes of Christ are to be vnderstanded without trope or figure by the slaunders of the Infidels which defamed the Christians in the primitiue Church for eating the fleshe of men and of children as appeareth in Euseb. lib. 5 Cap. 2. 3. in the storie of Blandina and Attalus martyrs when they did eate the flesh of Christ. But none of them neither in Eusebius nor yet Iustine Origen Tertullian or any other that haue written Apollogies defended the Christians by the commaundement of Christ to eat his bodie but vtterly denyed and derided the slaunder that they were sayde to eat the fleshe of men or children as they did other slaunders which had no ground nor similitude of trueth as that they worshipped an Asses head that they companyed together in the dark like brute beastes and such like whereas if they had eaten the naturall fleshe of Christ as the Papists teache they woulde neither haue simply denyed the eating of a mans flesh nor yet haue spared to shewe how it was eaten vnder the formes of bread wine to auoide all crueltie and lothsomnes As for the legend of S. Andrewes passion which M. Heskins sayeth was written per Presbyteros diaconos Achaie is of as good credit as the booke of Beuis of Hampton the like I say of the fable of Amphilochius a newe found olde writer concerning the Iewe that sawe a childe diuided when the sacrament was broken The Legend and festiuall haue many such miracles But why did he not see a man diuided seeing Christe is not nowe a childe but a man Belike the authours of those miracles thought that if they feigned him to be a little child like Tom
which terme he giueth to the waters in baptisme Maister Heskins chattereth I wot not what about it nor to what purpose Certaine it is that he vseth not the terme as the Papistes doe for they apply it only to the sacrament of the altar as they call it Leo is cited Serm. 7. de pass dom Iesus confisij sui certus c. Iesus being at a point with him selfe and ready to doe his fathers disposition without feare finished the olde Testament and made the newe Passeouer For his disciples sitting with him to eate the mysticall supper while they in the house of Caiphas were treating howe Christ might be slaine he ordaining the sacrament of his body and bloud did teach what manner of sacrifice should be offered to God and from this mysterie remoued not the traytour This place being against Maister Heskins where hee calleth it the sacrament of his body and bloud c. hee would aunswere the matter by this principle that olde writers did so call the very naturall body of Christ in the sacrament which is all the matter in question But hee will proue it by an other saying in the same place Vt vmbrae c. That shaddowes might giue place to the body and images might ceasse vnder the presence of the trueth the olde obseruance is taken away with a newe sacrament the sacrifice passeth into the sacrifice bloud excludeth bloud and the festiuitie of the lawe while it is chaunged is fulfilled These wordes must needes bee referred to the passion of Christe whereof the sacrifice is a memoriall for the sacrifice of Christe and his bloud shedding on the crosse was the very fulfilling of the shaddowe and image of the Paschall Lambe in the olde lawe and not the institution of the sacrament whiche is a figure or sacrament thereof And so the groundwork of al M. Hes. building is quite ouerthrown The seuen and fiftieth Chapter proceedeth in the exposition of the same wordes by S. Cyrill and S. Gregorie Cyrillus is cited as he is often ad Colosyrium Non dubites an c. Doubt thou not whether this be true when hee saith manifestly This is my body but rather receiue the worde of our Sauiour in faith For seeing hee is the trueth hee doth not lye Maister Heskins inferreth that the wordes of Christe are manifest and so to be taken in the literall sense without figure bicause he vseth these wordes Christ saide manifestly this is my body but this is a childish mockerie Christe saide manifestly I am the doore Doeth it therefore followe that it is no figuratiue speach and that the woordes of Christe are manifest and therefore to bee taken in the literall sense And yet I beleeue bicause Christ saide manifestly I am the doore that he is in deede the doore though not literally but figuratiuely taken It greueth M. Hes. that the proclamer should play with Duns his indiuidâ—um vagum saying that by the like meanes hee might disgrace the faith of the trinitie to open the quiddities of distinctions and relations of persons that bee spoken thereof And I thinke the same if hee shoulde teach that holy mysterie after the schoole manner not after the word of god But he returneth to an other place of Cyrill Ne horreremus carnem sanguinem Bicause this place is already rehearsed more at large and answered in the 51. Chap. of this booke I will send the reader backe to consider it in that place Gregorie is cited Lib. 4. dialog cap. â—8 Debemus itaque praesens sÄ™culum c. We ought therfore seing we see this present world to be passed away with al our mind to contemne it to offer to god the daily sacrifices of teares the daily sacrifices of his body and bloud For this sacrifice doth singularly saue the soul from eternal destruction which repayreth to vs the death of the only begotten by a mysterie Who although since he arose from death he doth not now dy and death shal haue no more dominion of him yet liuing in him self immortally incorruptibly is sacrificed againe for vs in this mysterie of the holy oblation For his body is there receiued his flesh is diuided for the health of the people his bloud is shed not nowe vpon the hands of the Infidels but into the mouthes of the faithfull Hereof therefore let vs consider what sacrifice this is for vs which for our deliuerance doeth followe the passion of the onely begotten Sonne For which of the faithfull ought to haue any doubt that in the same houre of the immolation the heauens are opened at the Priestes voyce that the companies of Angels are present in the mysterie of Iesus Christ That the lowest things are coupled to the highest earthly things are ioyned to heauenly thinges and that one thing is made of thinges visible and inuisible Of these last wordes of ioyning high and lowe heauenly and earthly thinges he maketh a greate matter which is saith hee that Christe is ioyned to the earthly formes of breade and wine Where note I praye you that he nameth the accidents of things for the thinges them selues which is a toy to mocke an ape And yet he pleaseth him selfe so well therein that he would drawe Irenaeus which is cleane contrarie to transubstantiation to bee a great patrone thereof Irenaeus saith as wee haue shewed before more at large that Eucharistie consisteth of two thinges earthly and heauenly Nowe hee inquireth of vs what is the heauenly part of the sacrament And he reasoneth that it is neither the grace of God nor thanksgiuing nor the worde of God nor sanctification Well what is it then Gregorie saith it is the bodye of Christ and so say we spiritually receiued But if I shuld aske M. Hes. what is the earthly part of the sacrament hee wil say the accidents of bread wine but sauing his wisdome accidents be neither earthly not heauenly but the earthly thing must needs be a substantiall thing what other earthly substance can there be but the substance of bread and wine He saith that corporall receiuing is here auouched by Gregory Then must he tel me how in these words the sacrifice of teares is matched with the sacrifice of his flesh and bloud and how the death of Christe is repaired by a mysterie howe the fleshe of Christ is diuided or parted if this can not bee done but spiritually then Christes body can not be eaten but spiritually The iudgement of Barnard which followeth we leaue to be weighed according to the corruption of the age in which he liued The eigth and fiftieth Chapter endeth the exposition among the eldest Fathers by Euthymius and Isidorus Although neither of these writers are within the compasse of the challenge yet bicause Euthymius vseth much to followe auncient Doctours and Isidorus was neere the time of the challenge I will set downe their places and examine their wordes Euthymius is cyted In 26. Math. Sicut vetus testamentum c.
suppressing the rest for very shame they make so much against him Surely in all reasonable mens consciences what so euer hee left out of this place hee left the aduauntage of his owne cause and no title againste him But let vs see here what Maister Heskins a man of inuention passing Sinon the GrÄ™cian hath gathered out of it There bee two thinges in this place plainely taught The first is the reall presence of Christes body and bloud in that he so reuerently calleth the sacrament vnder one kinde the portion of the Lords body and the other he calleth the cup of the holy bloud For the spiritual bloud is not contained in external or material vessels No syr but the sacrameÌ„t of his natural bloud is wherof he speaketh as it is manifest by the words immediatly before the portion of the Lords body for his natural body is not broken into portions but the bread which is a sacrament thereof is broken and therby is shewed what wicked men receiue both in this saying of Gelasius in the other of Leo not the naturall body of Christe which cannot be receiued in portions but a portion of the sacramental bread which is therfore called the body of Christ bicause it is so indeed to them that receiue it worthily is consecrated to that vse that it may be the coÌ„munication of the body of christ And as it hath ben often shewed sacraments beare the names of the very things wherof they are sacrameÌ„ts The second thing that he teacheth saith M. Hes. is that he calleth not these two kindes Sacramentum a sacrament but Sacramenta sacramentes in the plural number signifying therby that each of them is a whole sacrament O new Diuinitie theÌ„ ye Papistes haue eight sacraments But are you such a prudent gatherer M. Hes it appeareth you wil lease none aduantage for the taking vp I commend you But for all that doth not your Authour Leo call both kindes sacramentum a sacrament and that is more for it is too too childish to reason of the singular number doth not Gelasius call the sacrament in both kindes Vnum idémque mysterium one and the same mysterie And when he vseth the plural number the ground of your Achillean argument doth he not say Integra sacramenta percipiant aut ab integris arceantur Let them take the whole sacramentes or else let them be kept from the whole signifying that they which tooke the bread onely tooke but halfe the sacramentes and none took the whole but they that tooke the cup also But nowe for the practise of the Primitiue Church to haue receiued in one kinde he saith that in time of persecution the Priest deliuered them of the sacrament wrapped in fine linnen clothes to carie home with them and to receiue it secretly by them selues and this could bee none other but the sacrament vnder the foâ—ne of breade Admit it were so that they caried home the sacrament yet it followeth not but they might as well carie the wine in a faire pot as they caried the breade in a faire cloth And although TertulliaÌ„ writing to his wife name bread only yet doth it not followe but that he comprehendeth the cup also The wordes of Tertullian are before rehearsed and answered Lib. 1. cap. 24. 27. Next is brought in Basil. Episto ad Caesareant patriciam Illud autem c. As for that to be a grieuous thing in the times of persecution any man to be inforced to receiue the communion with his owne hand the Priest or Deacon not being present it is more then nedeth to proue for bicause the same thing is by a long custome and by the very vse of things established For all they that in the wildernesse lead a solitarie life where there is no Priest keeping the communion at home communicate of them selues But in Alexandria and Aeâ—ypt euery one of the people for the most part haue the communion in their owne house For when the Priest doth consecrate the sacrifice and distribute it we must well beleeue to participate and receiue it For in the Church the Priest giueth part and he that taketh it receiueth it with all libertie and putteth it to his mouth with his owne hand It is therfore the same thing in vertue whether a man take one part of the Priest or many parts together Of the credite and authoritie of this Epistle which being cited in the name of Saint Basil is not to be found in all his workes I haue spoken before sufficiently as also of the reseruation of the sacrament gathered out of it in the first booke cap. 27. But for the communion in one kinde I see nothing that he saith sauing that Maister Heskins gathereth that Such small portions of wine will not be kept in those hote countries conueniently in their own kind such long time as they were forced to reserue the sacrament in the wildernes and else where But I aunswere him that such strong wine as they haue in those hote countries will bee kept longer from sowring then the breade will bee from moulding and therefore his gathering is altogether fond ridiculous But now you shall heare a more plaine testimoine for this receipt vnder one kinde if you will hearken to S. Cyprian He is cited In sermone de Lapsis a long saying to litle yea to no purpose at all Praesente ac teste meipso c. Heare what came to passe my selfe beeing present and witnesse The parentes of a childe flying by chaunce while for feare they tooke no good aduisement leaft their young daughter vnder the cherishing of a nource the nource brought her so left vnto the Magistrates They before an Idole where the people were gathered because for her age she could yet eate no flesh gaue vnto her bread mixed with wine which remained also of the sacrifice of them that perish Afterwarde the mother receiued her daughter But the litle mayde could no more speake and declare the offence that was committed then vnderstand it before and forbidde it Through ignorance therfore it fell out that her mother brought her in with her whyle we were sacrificing But truely the girle beeing among the Saintes not abiding our prayer and supplication sometime was constrained to crie out sometime with vehement greefe of minde was tossed here and there euen as though a tormentor compelled her the ignorant soule by such tokens as she could acknowledged the conscience of her fact in those yong and tender yeres But after the solemnities beeing accomplished the Deacon began to offer the cup to them that were present and when the rest had receiued and her place was next the little one by the instinct of Gods Maiestie turned away her face pressed her mouth with her lippes stopped refused the cuppe Yet the Deacon persisted and though it were against her will powred in somewhat of the sacrament of the cuppe Then followed belking and vomite In a bodie and a mouth that was defiled the Eucharistie
nothing of the institution of the sacrament bicause hee spake of it most plentifully in this Chapter by Augustines iudgement Ioannes c. Iohn saide nothing in this place of the body and bloud of our Lord but plainely in an other place he testifieth that our Lord spake of them most plentifully Here he will haue vs note that Augustine calleth it not a signe or figure but plainly the body and bloud of Christ therefore it is not a figure or signe By the same reason he may say Augustine calleth it not a sacrament therefore it is no sacrament But Christ him selfe saith Not as your fathers did eate Manna in the wildernesse and are dead He that eateth this bread shall liue for euer In which wordes M. Heskins noteth two thinges The first that Manna is a figure of Christe in the sacrament for proofe of which he sendeth vs backe to the 4.5.6.7.8.9 10. Chapters of this booke The second is the excellencie of the body of Christ in the sacrament aboue Manna the eaters whereof are dead but the eaters of the body of Christe in the sacrament shall liue for euer M. Heskins saith he wot not what for if you aske him whether all they that eat the body of Christ in the sacrament shall liue eternally he will say no. For wicked men as he saith eate it which shall not liue eternally Againe if you aske him whether al they that did eat Manna are dead he will say no. For though they be dead in body yet bicause many did eate Christ spiritually by faith they shall liue for euer You see what pith is in his reason and substance in his doctrine But in very deede Christe compareth his flesh with Manna as it was a corporall foode only and so all that did eate it are dead but all they that eat the flesh of Christe which is eternall life shall liue eternally for though they dye corporally yet will be raise them vp in the last day And whereas Maister Heskins voucheth S. Augustine to warrant De vtilita poenit Manna de coelo c. I must send the reader to the eight Chapter of this booke where that authoritie is cited and answered to be flat contrarie to M. Heskins Likewise the sentence of Cyprian de Coen Dom. Coena disposita c. is handled in the first booke Chapter 17. and the other beginning Significata in Lib. 1. Cap. 39. The saying of Ambrose Lib. 4. de sacra Cap. 5. is also against Maister Heskins as we shall plainely see Ipse Dominus c. The Lorde Iesus him selfe testifieth vnto vs that wee receiue his body and bloud ought we to doubt of his fidelitie and testification Nowe returne with me to my proposition It was truely a great and a venerable thing that he rayned Manna to the Iewes from heauen But vnderstand which is the greater Manna from heauen or the body of Christe The body of Christe truely who is the maker of heauen Further he that hath eaten Manna hath dyed but he that shall eate this body it shall be made to him remission of sinnes and he shall not dye for euer By the effectes of the sacrament which are remissioÌ„ of sinnes eternal life M. Hes. saith the excellencie thereof is proued aboue Manna I answere Ambrose folowing our sauiour Christ doth not compare Manna the sacrament with our sacrament but Manna the corporall foode with the body of Christ the heauenly substance of our sacrament so it is more excellent without comparison But Maister Heskins skippeth ouer with a drye foote that Ambrose saith Whosoeuer shall eate of this body it shall be made to him remission of sinnes and he shall not not die for euer by which words it is euident that no wicked man eateth this body but they only which eat it spiritually by faith An other place of Ambrose hee citeth De myster initiand Cap. 9. Considera nunc c. Consider nowe whether is better the bread of Angels or the flesh of Christ which truly is the body of life That Manna was from heauen this aboue heauen that of heauen this of the Lorde of heauens that subiect to corruption if it were kept vntill the next day this farre from all corruption which who so euer shall taste religiously he can feele no corruption The water did satisfie them for an houre the bloud doth wash thee for euer The Iewe drank and thirsteth when thou hast drâ—nke thou canst not thirst And that was in a shaddowe this in the trueth And after a fewe wordes he saith Thou hast knowne better thinges for light is better then a shaddowe the trueth then a figure the body of the Authour then Manna from heauen This place of Ambrose vtterly denieth the body of Christ to be receiued of the wicked which perish and so consequently denyeth it to be corporally present But least we should obiect that Ambrose speaketh not of the sacrament he addeth a long discourse following immediatly Forte dicaâ— c. which bicause it is contained in the 51. Chapter of the second booke I will send the reader thither where he shall see it aunswered by Ambrose him selfe and in the same place and in the tenth Chapter of the second booke where some part of it is touched For it were in vaine to trouble the reader with one thing so often as M. Heskins listeth to repeat it The fifteenth Chapter prouing all our sacraments generally to be more excellent then the sacraments of Moses First baptisme in respect of The noble presence of God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost must bring with it some more noble gift then a bare signe or token See howe this impudent beast would make Popish fooles beleeue that we teach baptisme to be nothing else but a bare signe or token We thinke and speake of it as honourably as the scripture teacheth vs Let the forme of baptisme vsed in the Church of England testifie whether we make it nothing but a bare signe or token Let our catechismies of al sorts beare witnesse of the same But nothing will stop a slanderous mouth Yet to aunswere the title of that Chapter S. Augustine is cited contra Faust. lib. 19. cap. 13. Prima sacrameÌ„ta c. The first sacraments which were obserued celebrated by the lawe were the foreshewing of Christ that was to come which when he had fulfilled by his coÌ„ming they were taken away therfore they were taken away bicause they were fulfilled For he came not to breake the law but to fulfill it And other are instituted greater in power better in profite easier to be done fewer in number Maister Heskins asketh wherein bee they greater in power but in this that the sacramenets of the olde lawe had no power but to signifie onely oures not onely to signifie but also to giue that they signifie And I will aske him seeing he maketh the sacraments instruments of Gods grace by what instrument did they receiue the grace of
and stronger sentence of these writers which when it commeth wee shal examine it in the meane time they haue no voyce in the vpper house and therefore we feare not greatly what they say The twelfth Chapter proceedeth vpon the same text by Haime Theophylact. It were losse of time to quarrell about the testimonies of these two burgesses of the lower house Maister Heskins sayeth that there wanteth nothing in Theophylact that is necessarie for a credible witnesse At least he should haue excepted that he defended an heresie of the proceeding of the holie Ghost against the churche of Rome in 3. Ioan. As for his antiquitie which hee maketh to be before the controuersie was moued by Berengarius although it were so yet it were none argument of his trueth But it seemeth hee was much about the time of Berengarius Anno. 1049. Neither doth Peter Martyr whome Maister Heskins rayleth vppon so much esteeme his authoritie that he would wrest it to his side more then the verie words of Theophylact would beare as the learned that read his workes can testifie The one and twentieth Chapter proceedeth yet vppon the same text by Anselmus Bruno Let M. Hesk. make the moste of those burgesses the bill will passe neuer the sooner though all the lower house allowed it so long as it cannot be receiued into the higher house The latter ende conteineth a vaine repetition of Cyprian and Prospers sayings so often aunswered before with a foolishe insultation against the proclaimer as though he sawe not these doctors as well as M. Heskins who I beleeue neuer opened halfe the bookes of them whose sayings he hath alledged he hath cited the most of them so corruptly not onely falsifying them to serue his turne but also when there was no aduantage for him in his corruption The two and twentieth Chapter endeth the exposition of this text by Dionyse Gagneius Two worshipfull burgesses vnto whome hee addeth Bishop Fisher for the thirde after he hath made a shorte rehearsall of all those writers whose authoritie he hath vsed abused to mainteine this his exposition The three and twentieth Chapter beginneth the exposition of this text Quoniam vnus panis c. The text is this Because there is one bread and wee being many are one bodie for we are all partakers of the same bread of the same cupp First M. Hesk. sayeth that the Apostle speaking of our Communion with Christ and with our selues declareth that bread and the cuppe bee not taken for bare figures of the bodie bloud of Christ in which argument he fighteth with his owne shadowe for we detest bare figures as much as grosse transubstantiation Secondly he sayeth our communion with Christ is both spirituall and corporall spirituall in baptisme and corporall in this sacrament or else this sacrament was instituted in vaine if we haue none other communion with Christ thereby then spirituall which is in baptisme I answere his argument is nought for the diuerse dispensations of the same grace is testified and confirmed to vs by diuerse sacraments our regeneration by baptisme and our preseruation as by spirituall foode by the Lordes supper As for the superstitious bread that was giuen in Saint Augustines time to those that were Catechumeni in steede of the sacrament hee doeth well to compare to their popish holie bread sauing that there is greate difference for that was giuen onely to them that were not baptised this altogether to them that are baptized many that haue receiued the other sacrament at their hands But where he hath tossed his corporall communion to fro at last he addeth a condition of receiuing worthily so that he denyeth in effect that he saide before that by receipt of Christes bodie men are incorporate to Christ forceth the wordes of the Apostle to be many and not all which is false for he sayeth all that eate of this bread though we be many yet are made one bodie Finally in that the Apostle sayeth we all eate of one bread drink of one cupp M. Hesk â–ª saith that he tooke it not for bare material bread for then it were not true as for his bare bread let him keepe to crome his pottage But howe prooueth he that Saint Paule spake not of materiall bread as the earthly parte of the sacrament Forsooth all do not eat one bread for the Greekes eat leuened bread the Latines fine vnleuened bread In the Popish church is giuen to euery communicant a sundrie bread in the scismaticall church euery conuenticle hath a sundrie bread and sometimes diuerse breades therfore it is no materiall bread that S. Paule speaketh of but the heauenly bodie of christ If I were as froward a reasoner as M. Hesk. I would aske him whether the body of Christ be not a materiall body because he maketh materiall heauenly diuerse differences as though he were an Eutychian But admitt that by materiall bread hee meaneth bread properly so called and the heauenly bodie figuratiuely called bread which he is loth to come to what mad man woulde vnderstand that one breade which S. Paul sayeth to be distributed in euery communion to all that are present and whereof euery one taketh parte in token of the communion or fellowship of many in one bodie for all the kindes fashions of bread that are vsed in all communions in the worlde For the Apostles argument is grounded of the similitude of bread which of many graines is made one bread so wee being many are made one bodie And therefore in vaine doeth he racke these wordes of S. Paul to the meaning of Barnarde whose authoritie we receiue not or to the words of Chrysostome which he falsly alledgeth to be in 1. Cor. 10. Hom. 17. whereas they be in ad Hebraeos 10. Hom. 7. which is nothing but an obiection of his the place is wholy cited in the first booke 37. Chapter where you shall see how much it maketh for M. Hesk. The 24. Chapter proceedeth vpon the same text by Chrysostom and S. Augustine Chrysostome vpon this place is cited thus Quoniam vnus panis vnum corpus c. For there is one bread wee being many are one bodie For what do I call saith he a commemoration wee are the selfe same bodie What is the breade the bodie of CHRIST and what are they made which receiue it the body of Christ not many bodies but one body For as the breade is made one of many cornes so that the cornes do not appeare and yet there are cornes but ioyned together so that they can not be discerned so are we ioyned one with an other and with christ For thou art not nourished of one body and he of an other â–ª but all of the same therefore he added all we which doe partake of the same bread Of these wordes Maister Heskins wil haue vs to learne three things First that communication is to
verbi sanctificatur ad benedictionem mysticaâ— adeâ— actiuum fit vt possit sanctificationem nobis fuam imâ—â—ttere Therefore saith he none euill can happen vnto you though I shall be absent in flesh seeing the power of my Godhead which hath saued you hitherto shall also preserue you hereafter We speake not these thinges therefore bicause we doe not greatly esteeme the Lordes bodie but bicause wee thinke that these maruellous effectes are to be attributed to the glorie of his Godhead For euen the same body of our Lorde is sanctified by the vertue of the Worde that is ioyned with it and made so effectuall vnto the mysticall blessing that it can send in to vs the sanctification thereof Note here gentle reader that the flesh of Christ though it be absent yet by the diuine power is able to make vs partakers of his sanctification Absent I say as concerning locall presence after which it is in heauen and not vpon earth yet hath it these maruellous effectes by the glory of his Godhead as Cyrill saith that ioyning vs vnto it by faith in the participation of the holy mysteries it feedeth vs vnto eternall life The place of Cyrill in 15. Ioan. Cap. is contained and aunswered in the 6. Chapter of this third booke where you shall see that the proclamer denyeth nothing that Cyrill in that place affirmeth As for the saying of Thomas of Aquine one of the scholasticall sophisters in Diuinitie I passe ouer hee is cocke sure of M. Heskins side The seuen and twentieth Chapter proceedeth vpon the same text by Euthym. and Hugo Concerning the antiquitie of Euthymius I haue often testified before that he is no Lorde of the higher house Notwithstanding bicause he borroweth most of his matter of the elder writers I will set downe his wordes which make nothing for M. Heskins purpose In Math. 6. Quemadmodâ—m c. As breade doâ—h comfort so the body of Christ doth the same and more also it sanctifieth both the body and the soule And as wine doth make glad so the bloud of Christe doth the same and moreouer is made a defence And if all we that are faithfull doe partake of one body and bloud we are all one by the participation of these mysteries both all in Christe and Christe in us all He that eateth saith he my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in me and I in him For the wordâ— truely by assumption is vnited to the flesh and this flesh again is vnited to vs by participation This place seemeth to M. Heskins to be very plaine and so thinke I for there is nothing in it but I graunt to bee true being rightly vnderstoode M. Heskins saith he expoundeth the breade and the cuppe to be the body and bloud of Christ or else the text were cleerer then the exposition in which fantasie he pleaseth him selfe exceedingly We graunt that the breade and cup in S. Paule signifie the body and bloud of Christe which we receiue in the sacrament after a spirituall and diuine manner Thirdly he noteth that we are vnited by participation into the flesh of Christe which he saith we deny but hee lieth impudently for we constantly affirme that except we be partakers of the flesh and bloud of Christe we can not be partakers of eternall life But that this partaking is after a corporall manner or only in the sacrament that we deny And that also doth Euthymius deny in effect where he teacheth that whereas we are vnited to Christe Christe to vs so are we vnited together but this is after a spiritual ineffable manner so is the other We graunt that Cyril saith we could not be partakers of eternal life except we were ioyned to the body of natural or true life that is to the body of Christ in Ioan. 6. li. 15. but we are ioyned otherwise then by the Lords supper or els no infants shuld be partakers of eternall life Finally where M. Hes. affirmeth that the words of Euthymius by no engin â–ª can be wrested from his carnal maner of preseÌ„ce bicause he speaketh before of the transmutation of the bread wine into the body bloud of Christ I answere he speaketh of no such transmutation but that we do graunt the same namely a sacramental change such as is of the water in baptisme of which also he taketh a similitude Siquidem in baptismo sensibilis quidem est aqua sed donum intelligibile est regeneratio QuoniaÌ„ enim in nobis anima coÌ„serta est corpori in sensibilibus intelligibilia tradidit nobis Deus For in baptisme also the water truely is a sensible thing but regeneratioÌ„ is an intelligible gift For bicause our soule is inclosed in our body God hath deliuered vnto vs intelligible things in sensible things The water in baptisme is not chaunged into regeneration nor regeneration included in the water and speaking of the same transmutation hee saith the breade and wine are transmuted into the body and bloud of Christe and into the grace of them But the substance of the bread wine is not turned into the grace of the body and bloud therfore neither into the body and bloud And this is the great helpe he hath out of Euthymius As for Cardinall Hugh I will not trouble the reader with his saying whose authoritie I vtterly refuse In the latter end of this Chap. as he vseth to deale when he hath such single witnesses in hand he patcheth in a piece or two of his old stuffe serued before as that of Dionyse falsly called the Areopagite Eccle. Hierach 1. part cap. 3 answered before Li. 1. Ca. 35. That of Ambrose de mysterijs initiandis Cap. 9. lib. 2. cap. 10. ser. 2. and else where oftentimes He nameth also Irenaeus Lib. 5. aduers. haer but he setteth not downe his wordes The eight and twentieth Chapter proceedeth vpon the same text by Oecumenius and Anselmus In the beginning of this Chapter he glorieth vainly of the multitude of writers of his side but then they must be such as he nameth in the title that is late writers although Oecumenius hath nothing that maketh strongly for him the place that is here alledged in 1. Cor. 10. is in a maner the very words of Chry. which we had euen now in the cap. 24. Vnus panis c. We are one bread one body For we are al partakers of one breade He addeth a reason howe we are made the body of Christe For what is the bread saith he forsooth the body of Christe And what are they made which partake it Surely the body of Christe For that maketh vs also partakers of the body of Christe For one breade is Christe For of many graines as for example we may speake one breade is made and we being many partaking of that one are made one body of Christe For bicause our olde flesh is corrupted vnder sinne we had neede of a newe flesh I had not thought to
death vntil he come How is he that is to come distinct from him that is present for Saint Paule maketh an exposition of this breade this cuppe which are present to shewe the Lordes death that is to come But let vs heare what Saint Ieronyme sayeth that may helpe him in 1. Cor. 11. Ideo hoc c. Therefore our Sauiour hath deliuered this sacrament that by it we might alwayes remember that he dyed for vs For therefore also when we receiue it wee are warned of the priestes that it is the bodie and bloud of Christ that we might not be thought vnthankefull for his benefites I like this saying verie well which teacheth that the sacramēt is therefore called the bodie bloud of Christ that thereby we might be put in minde of the benefite of Christes death to be thankfull for it And that his meaning is none otherwise his owne wordes shal declare going both before and after Vpon these wordes Gratias egit c. Hoc est benedicens etiam passurus vltimam nobis commemorationem sine memoriam dereliquit Quemadmodum si quis peregre proficiscens aliquod pignus ei quem diligit derelinquat vt quotiescunque illud viderit possit eius beneficia amicitias memorare quod ille si perfectè dilexit sine ingenti desiderio non potest videre vel fletu That is blessing or giuing thankes euen when hee was to suffer he left to vs his last commemoration or remembrance Euen as a man going into a farre countrey doth leaue some pledge to him whome he loueth that so often as he seeth it he may remember his benefites and frendship which pledge he if he loued perfectly cannot beholde without great desire or weeping In these words you see S. Hierom compareth the sacrament to a pledge which is left in remembrance of loue benefites receiued of him that in person is absent The same writer vpō the same words of our text donec venerit vntill he come thus writeth Tam diu memoria opus est donec ipse venire dignetur So long we haue neede of a remembraunce vntill he him selfe vouchesafe for to come Nothing can bee more plaine to shewe his meaning not to be of a carnall or bodilie presence although as Christ hath giuen vs the president he call the bread and cuppe by the name of the bodie and bloud of Christe The testimonie of Theophylact being a Greeke Gentleman of the lower house I haue hetherto refused to admitt and therefore in this place also will not trouble the reader with him The challenge was made of writers within sixe hundreth yeares after Christe this man liued about a thousande yeres after Christ yet if I would wrangle about his wordes he hath nothing that may not bee reasonably construed on our side without any wresting The fiue and fortieth Chapter abideth in the exposition of the same text by S. Basil Rupert S. Basil is alledged de baptismo Oportet accedentem c. It behoueth him that commeth to the bodie and bloud of our Lord to the remembrance of him that was dead for vs and rose againe not onely to be pure from all vncleannesse of bodie and soule lest he eate and drinke to his owne condemnation but also to shewe euidently and to expresse the memorie of him that hath dyed for vs and risen againe And what sayeth Basil in these words that we do not graunt vnderstanding purenesse by faith and repentance Maister Hesk. sayeth in steede of that S. Paule sayde this bread and this cupp he sayeth the bodie and bloud of Christe although I might stande with him that this is no interpretation of Sainct Paules wordes but an exhortation which Basil maketh to the worthie receiuing of the sacrament what inconuenience is it to graunt that it is both bread and wine and also after a spirituall manner his verie bodie and bloud which is receiued of the faithfull But either Maister Heskins note booke serued him not or els his malice against the trueth would not suffer him to see what the same Basil writeth not many lines before these wordes which he citeth vpō the rehearsall of the wordes of Christ of the institution of this blessed sacrament and immediatly after the verie text of the Apostle now in hande As often as you eate of this bread and drinke of this cuppe you shewe the Lordes death vntill he come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What then do these words profit vs that eating drinking we might always remember him which dyed for vs and is risen againe and so wee might bee instructed of necessitie to obserue before God and his Christe that lesson which is deliuered by the Apostle where hee sayeth for the loue of Christe doeth constreine vs iudging this that if one hath dyed for all then all are dead M. Heskins denyeth the sacrament to be a remembrance of Christe for feare he shoulde confesse Christ to be absent affirming it is a remembrance only of the death of christ But Basil saith that in eating and drinking we must remember Christe that is dead risen againe for vs and so be transformed into his image by mortification and newnesse of life This is all the profite that Basil gathereth of the institution of the supper of the Lorde Where is then the carnall presence the sacrifice propitiatorie the application of it according to the priestes intention and such like monsters of the Masse The testimonie of Rupertus a burgesse of the lower house I will not stand vpon notwithstanding it little helpeth Maister Heskins cause For he doth not say that the sacrament is so a remembrance of Christes death that it is not a remembrance of Christ him selfe But Maister Heskins sayeth all the rable of sacramentaries cannot bring one couple of catholike authors that saye Saint Paule spake here of materiall bread neither can Maister Heskins bring one single auncient writer within the compasse of the challenge which is 600. yeres after Christ that denyeth that S. Paule spake of materiall breade as the earthly part of the sacrament He hath named Hierome Basil but neither of them denie it as for Theophylact Rupertus although neyther of them also denye it in the places by him cited yet I knowe not why we might not as well produce Berengarius and Bertrame as auncient as they which affirme that Saint Paule spake here of bread But that there is materiall bread in the sacrament as the earthly part thereof we haue already cited Irenaeus Lib. 4. Cap. 34. Origen in 15. Matthaei Cyrill in Ioan. Lib. 4. Cap. 24. and many other Toward the end of this Chapter Maister Heskins taketh vpon him to aunswere an obiection of Oecolampadius who iustly chargeth the Papistes of wilfull ignorance in that they make the body of Christ both the exemplar and the thing exemplified the figure and the thing figured the signe and the thing signified whereas relation must be betwixt two thinges distincted and not of
nec festinantes nec accurrentes Tel me I pray thee If any King had commanded and said if any man haue done this or that let him not come to my table wouldest not thou haue done any thing for his sake God hath called vs into heauen vnto the table of the great and wonderfull King and doe we refuse and make delayes neither making haste nor comming to so great and excellent a matter This place of Chrysostome doth teach vs that Christes bodie commeth not downe corporally to vs but that we are called vp into heauen to receiue him there spiritually by faith This is in deede a great and wonderfull mysterie which Chrysostome doeth garnish with many figures as he was an eloquent preacher to make the people to haue due reuerence thereof Neither is Luthers doctrine one hayre breadth differing from Chrysostoms iudgement concerning the preparation necessarie for all them that shall receiue the sacrament worthily howsoeuer it pleaseth Maister Heskins neuer to haue done railing and reuiling him charging him with that which I thinke the holy man neuer thought certeine I am he neuer did teach but the contrarie And because this is the last testimonie he citeth out of Chrysostome I thought good to set downe one place also directly ouerthrowing his transubstantiation for which he striueth so egerly It is written Ad Caesa. monachum Et Deus homo est Christus Deus propter impassibilitatem homo propter passionem vnus filius vnus Dominus idem ipse procul dubio vnitarum naturarum vnam dominationem vnam potestatem possidens etiamsi non consubstantialiter existant vnaquaeque incommixta proprietatis conseruas agnitionem propter hoc quod inconfusa sunt duo Sicut enim antequam sanctificetur panis panem nominamus Diuina autem illum sanctificante gratia mediante sacerdote liberatus est quidem ab appellatione panis dignus autem habitus est Dominici corporis appellatione etsi natura panis in ipso remansit non duo corpora sed vnum filij corpus predicattâ—r sic haec Diuina inundante corporis natura vnum filium vnam personam vtraque haec secerunt Christe is both God and man God because of his impassibilitie man for his passion being one sonne and one Lord he himselfe doubtlesse possessing one domination one power of the two natures being vnited although they haue not their being consubstantially and either of them vnmingled doeth keepe the acknowledging of his propertie because they are two vnconfounded For euen as the bread before it be sanctified is called of vs bread but when the grace of God doth sanctifie it by meanes of the priest it is in deede deliuered from the name of bread and is compted worthie of the name of our Lordes bodie although the nature of the bread hath remained in it and it is not called two bodies but one body of the sonne so both these the diuine nature ouerflowing the body haue made one sonne one person I knowe Stephan Gardener when he can not aunswere this place denyeth it to bee written by Iohn Chrysostome ascribing it to an other Iohn of Constantinople but seeing it caÌ„ not be denied to be an ancient authoritie it is sufficient to proue the doctrine of transubstantiation to be newe and vnknowen to the Churche of God in the elder times The fiue and fiftieth Chapter proceedeth vpon the same by Isichius and S. Augustine To garnishe his Booke with the name of Isichius he continueth his most vniust and slaunderous quarrell against Luther as though he denied all preparation requisite to the woorthie receiuing of this holie sacrament which is so impudent an vntruth that all the world doth see it And God in time will reuenge it Isichius is cited In 26. Leuit. Probet autem c. Let a man examine him selfe and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cuppe What manner of examination doeth he speake of It is this that in a cleane heart and conscience and to him that intendeth to repent those thinges wherein he hath offended men should participate of the holy things to the washing away of their sinnes M. Hesk. would make men beleeue that Luthers doctrine were contrarie to this saying and multiplieth his slaunders against him which seeing they be without al proofe yea and manifest proofe to the contrarie it shall suffice to denie them and so to consider what he will bring foorth of S. Augustine He citeth him Ad Iulianum Ep. 111. Whereas in deede ther is no such Epistle in any good edition of Augustine and the treatise he speaketh of may rather be called a Booke then an Epistle for the length of it But the stile of it is as like vnto the stile of Augustine as our Asse is to a Lyon. It hath no inscription to whom it should be directed and therefore some say to Iulianus some to Bonifacius It beginneth O mi frater c. and so continueth in such balde Latine that Erasmus hath not only reiected it out of the number of Augustines Epistles but also out of his authenticall workes such iudgement or honestie M. Heskins vseth in citing the fathers all is fishe that commeth to his nette I will set downe the wordes Ab ijs pietas c. From them let the pietie of our Lorde Iesus Christe deliuer vs and giue himselfe to be eaten who saide I am the bread of life which came downe from heauen he that eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting life in him But let euerie man before he receiue the bodie and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ examine himself and so according to the commandement of the Apostle let him eate of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that vnworthily eateth the bodie and bloud of our Lord eateth and drinketh his owne condemnation making no difference of the bodie of our Lorde Therefore when we shall receiue we ought before to haue recourse to confession and repentance and curiously to searche out all our actions and if we finde in vs any punishable sinnes leâ— vs hasten quickely to washe them away by confession and true repentance least we with Iudas the traytor hyding the diuell within vs doe perish protracting and hyding our sinnes from day to day And if we haue thought any euill or naughtie thing let vs repent vs of it and let vs make hast to scrape that speedily out of our heart This is the saying of this counterfet and forged Augustine out of which Maister Heskins gathereth not only his manner of presence to be such as the wicked receiue the bodie bloud of Christ but also his auricular confession But what the iudgement of the true Augustine is you haue hearde before concerning the former as for the later question is neuer touched in all his owne workes De ciuit Dei Lib. 21. Cap. 25. Non dicendum eum manducare corpus Christi qui in corpore non est Christi It is not to
S. Augustine concerninge figures is applyed to Images Images were made without all scruple in the primitiue Church Bowing to the image of Christ in S. Chrisostoms â—ime His liturgie is defended Seuerus painted the images of S. Martine and Paulinus in a holy place S. Gregorie laye prostrate before an holy Image Saint Augustine is cited De doct Christian. lib. 3. cap. 9. Qui aut operatur aut veneratur c. He that worketh or reuerenceth M. Sander translateth worshippeth a profitable signe instituted by gods authority whose strength and signification he vnderstandeth doeth not reuerence or worshippe that which he seeth and passeth away but rather that thing whereunto all suche thinges are to be referred First I note the corruptioÌ„ of Master Sanders translation that turneth Veneratur worshippeth after the popishe meaninge For God did neuer institute any signe to be worshipped in that sense which Master Sander defendeth worshippinge of Images But all signes instituted of God are to be reuerently esteemed regarded as baptisme which we do reuerently esteeme yet we worship not either the water or the action of baptizing Secondly we haue to consider how Master Sander can proue images to be profitable signes instituted by gods authoritie They be profitable saith hee because they bring vs in remembraunce of good thinges I denie this argument because nothing is profitable in religion but that which is instituted by God for otherwise we might bring the gallowes into the Church whiche bringeth vs in remembraunce of Gods Iustice c. as I haue shewed before Likewise the Prophet Abacuc vtterly denyeth Images to be profitable Cap. 2. vers 18. But let vs see how he proueth popishe images to be instituted by Gods authoritie which is al in al for if that be proued we wil not doubt of the profitablenesse of them First he alledgeth the imitation of nature and of nations the institution of some images in the law of Moses last of all the tradition left to his Church freely to make images of good things The former reasons are answered before in their proper chapters namely the lawe of nature and nations cap. 11. the making of some images in Moyses lawe cap 12. also the example of practise of this supposed tradition out of Eusebius cap. 10. And they are all three wiped away with the expresse commaundement of God in his lawe of religion Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image or the likenesse of any thing c. Neuerthelesse let vs see how by tradition left to the Churche images are prooued to be instituted by god We reade saith hee in S. Augustine as well of the Ethnikes as of the Christians There is first one falshood for Augustine in the place by him cited speaketh onely of Ethnikes De consen Euang. lib. 1. cap. 10. which because they had seene Christes image pictured with Peter and Paule imagined that Christ had written bookes to Peter and Paule Secondly he citeth the wordes thus Pluribus locis simul Petrum et Paulum cuÌ„ Christo pictos viderunt quiae merita Petri Pauli etiam propter cundem passionis diem celebrius ac solemniter Roma commendat They sawe in verie many places Peter Paule painted together with Christ because Rome doeth set foorth the merites of Peter and Paule the more famously and solemnly euen for that they suffered both vppon one day In this allegation hee addeth wordes that are not in Augustine Although not contrary to his meaning yet shewing thereby that he borrowed this place as manye of our Englishe papistes doe commonly of some other mans noting rather then of his owne reading But the greatest fault of all is that he doth deceiptfully suppresse the words following immediatly which declare howe profitable Sainte Augustine esteemed the doctrine of Images to be His whole sentence is this Credo quod pluribus locis simul eos cum illo pictos viderunt quia merita Petri Pauli etiam propter cundem passionis diem celebrius solemniter Roma commendat Sic omnino errare meruerunt qui Christum Apostolos eius non in sanctis codicibus sed in pictis parietibus quaesierunt I beleeue that they haue seene them painted with him in manye places because Rome doeth more notably and solemnely set foorth the worthinesse of Peter and Paule euen because of the same day of their suffering So they were altogether worthy to be deceiued whiche haue sought Christ and his Apostles not in the holy bookes but in painted walles Now see with what honestie Master Sander hath alledged this place of Augustine to prooue that images are of Gods institution But you will saye perhappes this place doeth prooue that Images of Christe and his Apostles were then made by Christians I graunte but not in the Churches for then the Ethnikes coulde not haue seene them because they were neuer suffered to enter into the Churches of the Christians But Gregorie Nyssen in his Oration De Theod. martyr laud. testyfieth that the paynter had set foorth the whole storie of Theodorus the martyr in his Churche And yet the Image of the martyr was none otherwise painted then the fierce and cruell formes of the tyrauntes neyther otherwise on the walles then on the pauemente For he saith Capillorum item concinnator historiae par opuâ— in pauimento quod pedibus calcatur effecit Also the pauier hath made the lyke woorke of historie vppon the pauemente whiche is trodden vnder feete These deuises of painters and pauiers Master Sander is faine to take holde of in steede of the holy scriptures and aunciente writers But if hee saye that Gregorius doeth also allowe these I answere as ornamentes of the Churche not as matter of Gods religion and worshippe whiche yet he shoulde rather haue defaced with Epiphanius then suffred or allowed for inconueniencâ— that folowed This report of Gregorie sheweth the errour of that time rather then prooueth images to be instituted by god That Paulinus caused images to bee painted on the Church walles as it is confessed to be done so it is denied to be well done The like I say of the images painted in Saint Martins Church in Towers in Fraunce witnessed by Gregorius Turonensis although it was long after the time of Paulinus in which Satan beganne to lay the platforme for his Idolatrie whiche afterwarde he brought into the worlde And these be all the arguments that he hath to prooue that images are profitable signes instituted by Gods authoritie Except he meane the text of Paul to the Galat. 5. to be an argument whiche he citeth to prooue that we are made free in Christ both to knowe our signes and images to be images and signes and also to knowe whereof they are signes which the Iewes saith he did not So that the libertie of Christ is by M. Sanders doctrine not from a yoke of bondage and seruitude vnto ceremonies but from ignorance and want of knowledge of the vse of them And whereas by the lawe
thus If the sacrament being an image a signe c of Christs bodie not his owne bodie may be worshipped and reuerenced therefore it doth follow that an image of an holy thing being absent as of Christ or saint Laurence may be worshipped of the newe Gospellers Who will say the Papistes lacke learning that make such wittie arguments An image or signe instituted by God may be reuerenced therefore an image forbidden by God may be honoured That which is vnproperlye called an image may be worshiped ergo that which is properly called so may be worshiped Christ is the image of his father Christ is God therfore euery image is god A signe or sacrament of Christs institution ought to be reuerently esteemed therefore a stocke or a stone in fashion of an image ought to be senced kneeled too kissed prayed to c. But maister Iewell proceedeth further saying we worship the worde of God according to this counsell of Anastasius Dominica verbae attentè audiant fideliter adorent Let them diligently heare and faithfully worship the worde of god Briefely we worship other thinges in such religious wise vnto Christ belonging Of these wordes Maister Sander argueth thus But Christs owne image belongeth to him in a religious wise instructing the eye the more worthy sence better then the worde doth the eare therefore Christs image is to be worshipped by the force of master Iewels doctrine I deny that your image belongeth to Christ which he abhorreth or that faith is to be instructed by the eye but onely by the hearing of the worde Rom. 10. Further maister Iewell saith doubtlesse it is our duetie to adore the body of Christ in the worde of God in the Sacrament of baptisme in the misteries of Christs bodye and bloude and wheresoeuer we see any steppe or token of it Hereof maister Sander resoneth thus a steppe is only a token of the foote an image of the whole bodilie shape a step must be adored ergo much more an image I deny that an image is any steppe of the body of Christ but a false lying and deceiptfull counterfet beside that it is a wise reason that is drawne from a Metaphore to a proper speach Moreouer maister Iewell saith in an other place the sacraments in this sort are the flesh of Christ and are so vnderstanded and beleued and adored But the whole honor resteth not in them but is passed ouer from them to the things that be signified Here saith maister Sander he giueth to the sacraments the honor due to an image and as he worshipeth the sacrament without daunger of idolatrie so do we honour holy images without feare of committing idolatrie A sounde conclusion The sacramentes are to be reuerenced as signes ordeined of God to represent the body of Christ without idolatrie therefore images forbidden by God may be worshipped without daūger of idolatrie And yet againe maister Iewell saith The very names of the old fathers are worthie of much honour M. Sander addeth the names of the old godly fathers are attributed to the images For the images of S. Augustin S. Hierome are called S. Austen and Ieronime therefore their images are by M. Iewels owne confession worthie of much honour Shal I say a doctor hath framed this argument or a goose hath hissed it In effect it is this the olde doctours names are falsely attributed to images therfore the images are to be honoured But saith he these names be not giuen them by chaunce but of purpose Verily of such purpose as the Poet Horace saith of the image of Priapus Olim truncu◠eram ficulnus inutile lignum Cum faber incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum Maluit esse deum Sometime I was a stocke of a figtree an vnprofitable peece of woode when the carpenter being doubtfull whether hee shoulde make of me a stoole or Priapus chose rather that I should be a God. Againe he saith these names are not giuen them without cause for the lyknesse of the shape that is in them A worthie cause if there were any liknesse in Saint Augustines image more to him then to any other man. But leauing maister Iewels wordes we must come to his deeds What shall we say if euen in that reply against Harding touching grauen images maister Iewell hath oftentimes grauen images yea besides Gorgons and antiques heades which are Idolles There is a filthie image of a desperate naked boye set forth in such sort that an honest man woulde go backwarde and couer it with his cloake I am sory the printer hath troubled your chaste eyes with such a picture but why is maister Iewell charged with the printers or grauers fault Forsooth you say hee had the ouersight and correction of his booke paraduenture you are deceiued But what if he had howe proue you that this picture was pressed when that leafe came to correction for commonly such superfluous vinites I trowe they call them bee not set to vntill they presse the whole leafe But what if it were pressed and he not regarded it you say if it had beene the picture of the Crucifixe he would haue espied it at the first and caused the printer to haue corrected it Peraduenture he woulde not haue regarded it perhaps he shoulde not haue espied it But seeing you are such a narrowe vewer of such idle pictures maister Sander I meruaile you coulde not see a dronkerd bibbing in the first letter of your owne booke of images nor euen such an impudent naked boye as you speake of in the first letter of your Epistle before your booke of the rocke of the church and the same againe in the rocke of the church Nowe see whereto your lewde hipocriticall outcries do tend O the iudgements of God is it so heinous a matter in maister Iewell which toke no heede to such toyes and yet M. Sander so exacte a reformer of all abuses in images cannot avoide it in his owne bookes Turpe est doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum It is a shame for a teacher when the crime returneth vpon his owne heade THE XVII OR XVI CHAP. Whether it be profitable or no to haue Images set vp in Churches and to permit them to be worshipped Also that maister Iewell hath Englished tolli to be taken downe where as it signifieth to be taken vp Images are not so much permitted to Christians for their weakenes as for their strength The commodities that come to vs by images This discourse is needelesse to them that denye any setting vp or worshiping of images in churches to be lawfull Neither hath Maister Sander one text of scripture or any one sentence of any one doctour to proue it profitable to permit images to bee worshipped But first hee setteth downe the iudgement of M. Iewell in these wordes The best remedie in this behalfe and most agreeable with Gods worde is vtterly to abolish the cause of the euil So Ezechias brake in pieces the brasen Serpent Epiphanius rent in sunder the
Pope Leo saide at his death that this one thing he should gayne by dying that he shoulde be resolued concerning the question of the immortalitie of the soule Wherein all the learned men in the worlde before could not satisfie him Last of all what an impudent lyer Maister Rastell is you may plainely perceiue when he chargeth the Bishop with this confession That these nine hundreth yeres and more none did euer take this way which he doth follow For although the Bishop made his chalenge of sixe hundreth yeares after Christe â–ª yet did he neuer confesse that in the nine hundreth yeres following none did euer reteine or imbrace the Gospell whiche he teacheth when God be praised there was a number euen in the moste blindest times that sawe the light thereof although they were fewe and persecuted by Antichriste SECTIO 4. From the second face of the 23. leafe to the first of the 38. leafe In which he taketh vpon him to proue that the English communion and seruice doth not followe Christe and his Apostles in taking into their handâ— and blessing the cuppe and the challice nor the primitiue Church in praying toward the East mingling water with the wine signe of the crosse altars incense tapern praying to Saintes and praying for the dead The â— in his sermon affirmed as R. saith 1. The holy coÌ„munion to be restored to the use form of the primitiue Church 2. To the same order that was deliuered appointed by Christ 3. and after practised by the Apostles 4. and continued by the holy doctours and fathers by the space of fiue or sixe hundreth yeares throughout all the catholike Churche of Christ 5. without exception or anye sufficient example to be shewed to the contrarie Al these Master Rast. saith be lyes which is his short aunswere And I coulde aunswere as shortly that then they be lyes of Master Rastells forging For the bishoppe affirmed no such thing of the ceremoniall forme of our Communion but of the doctrine thereof But let vs see his answere at large He woulde know how this Communion of ours doth agree with that which Christ deliuered and theÌ„ rehearseth the institution of Christ beginning at the eating of the Pascall Lambe and the washing of his disciples feete as though either of these perteined to the sacrament and forsoothe we must tell him how many thinges more how many things lesse our order in the coÌ„munion booke hath And firste what scripture we haue for the linnen clothe for the priestes standing on the North side of the table for our prayers confessions collects other ceremonies and seeing wee haue no scripture for these the Communion is not restored to the order appointed by Christ. I aunswere that forasmuch as those matters perteine to order and decencie we haue scripture sufficient to authorize them although as I saide before the bishop speaketh not of the ceremoniall forme of ministration but of the substaunce and doctrine which is the essential forme of the Communion concerning which we haue neyther more nor lesse then Christ vsed and deliuered Yet saith Master Rast. we haue many pointes lesse then was done by Christ at his last supper First he will not presse vs with that question why we do not Communicate after supper which peraduenture yet some doth with the sicke as a thing not vnlawfull nor tyed to any time but by the generall rule of order and decencie but he demandeth why we take not the bread into our handes before we consecrate it as Christ did A profounde question As though we doe not both take it breake it receiue it and deliuer it with our handes as Christ did Or as though Christ appointed at what moment we should touch it or that M. Rastel is able to say that Christ spake nothing of his institution before he touched the breade or as though we did not vse ordinarily before we make the exhortation vnto the Communion to take the bread and breake it and with the cup to set it before vs not to let it stand at the ende of the table as he belyeth vs as though we werâ— ashamed to folow Christ. The seconde thing that we haue lesse then Christ did as he saith is blessinge of the breade which is vtterly false for we blesse it as Christ did not with the signe of the crosse as ye would haue vs but with thanksgiuinge and prayer as the Euangelistes doe testifie that Christe did and as the primitiue and Apostolike Church did practise And therefore Iustinus martyâ— speaking of the sanctified or blessed nourishment of the sacrament calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that nourishement for which thankes is giuen by the worde of prayer receiued of him And touching the reuerende gestures vsed by Christ at his supper as we doubt nothing but that he vsed them alwayes so can M. Rastell with all his prating prooue none other then the Euangelists haue set downe And therefore for his loking on the bread separating it from the rest of the bread on the table blessing it by some special signe as the signe of the crosse c. when he can prooue out of the scriptures we shall bee content to refourme our Communion accordinge to those supposed gestures In the meane time notwithstanding his ruffian like raylinge our order of celebration hath all things instituted and deliuered by Christ to be obserued in the reuerent ministration of this most holy sacrament The seconde lye he chargeth Master Iewell with all is that he saith we haue the same order that was practiâ—ed by the Apostles where as we reade of none order practised by them For Actes the 2. we read saith he that they did breake breade in houses And yet it may be doubted whether that was the communion and actes 13. saith he when the Apostles had fasted and sacrificed they sent forth Paule and Barnabas But where finde you that translation Master Rastell that they sacrificed will you now forsake your owne Latine translation Ministrantibus illis Domino when they ministred vnto the Lorde and so wilfully runne into the curse of the Tridentine councell or will you appeale to the Greeke text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which worde signifieth any publike Ministerie by the iudgement of all learned Graetians and Erasmus himselfe whom you folowe in this translation though you count him an heretike and forsake your Catholike translation confirmed by generall Councelles Well then I see that papists iangle of general councels and catholike interpretations vnto other but they themselues will be holden of none anye longer then they liste But to the matter he saith that S. Paule 1. Cor. 11. testifieth of the veritie of the sacrament but not of the order referringe that to his owne comming As though he doeth not manifestly reforme a disorder or as though other thinges which he saith he woulde set in order at his comminge could be taken for the same thinges that he wrote of in his Epistle But what of al
praescriptionibus aduersus haereticos which is such as hee saieth that euen religion muste agree to it if with anye reason it will bee credited But in deed it is suche as while Tertulian followed too muche hee fell from the Catholike Church to be an heretike The summe of that saying which M. Rast. hath shamefully gesded falsely translated so that it seemeth he hath not red it in Tertulians booke but in some mans notes that hath ioyned together as it were cantles or patches of Tertulians saying the effecte I saie is this That because some heretikes of his time receiued not all the scriptures and those which they did receiue they receiued not whole but by additions and detractions corruptions and wrong expositions they peruerted them to their purpose his iudgement was that against such heretikes the triall was not to bee made by scriptures by which the victorie should either be none or vncertaine or not sure and therefore in as much as they were not agreed what was scripture and how great was the authoritie thereof he thought that the order of disputinge required that these questions shoulde first be decided Vnto whom the Christian faith pertaineth whose are the scriptures of whom and by whom and when and to whom the learning is deliuered by which men are made Christians For where it shall appeare that the trueth of the Christian learning and faith is there shal be the trueth of the scriptures and of the expositions and of all Christian traditions This is the iudgement of Tertulian But seeinge we receiue all the scriptures Canonicall without addition or detraction yea and for the principal articles of our religion wherein we differ from the papistes we receiue the exposition of the most auncient writers both of the Greeke and Latine Churche not bringinge in any newe doctrine but requiring that the olde doctrine may be restored this rule of Tertulian doth not concerne vs Yet are we able to aunswere to all his demaundes without any taryinge and so as it shall satisfie Tertulian or anye man that vnderstandeth him We say that Christian faith pertaineth to true Christians and that the scriptures are theirs also We say also that the learning by which men are made Christians was deliuered of Christ by his Apostles and Euangelistes in the time of the raigne of Tiberius the Emperour first vnto the Iewes and after vnto the Gentiles making one vniuersall Chruch dispersed ouer the whole worlde And the trueth of this Christian learning and faith thus and then deliuered we do hold and mainteine therefore by Tertullians rule the truth of the scriptures and expositions all Christian traditions are with vs the rather because it cannot be proued that we hold any one article of beliefe but the same is conteined in the manifest wordes of the scriptures by which onely it may be tryed what learning Christ deliuered to his Apostles and they to the churches For seeing the memory of man cānot ascende vnto so many hundreth yeares the certeine remembrance must be had out of Records of writings for so much as no writings are either so auncient or so credible as the holy scriptures the trial must be onely by the scriptures notwithstanding Tertullians opinion as Augustine teacheth in many places of his writings against the Donatistes After this discourse vpon Tertullian he addeth sixe articles more falsely pretending that they are the demaundes of Tertullian but altering them into the manner of a challenge where as I haue both set forth and answered Tertullians demaundes according to his owne words and meaning The first is if we can proue by any sufficient and likely argument that we haue any true Christian faith at all among vs for faith saith hee cleaueth vnto authoritie which they can neuer shewe for themselues c In deede suche faith as cleaueth vnto mennes authoritie wee haue none but suche as cleaueth vnto the worde of God as saint Paule saith faith commeth by hearing of the worde of God which is onely true Christian faith wee haue the whole faith of Christians as we do dayly proue not onely by the auctoritie of scriptures but also by the testimony of aunciēt writers agreeable to the same And because he is so impudent to deny that we haue any true Christian faith at all I demaunde of him why hee doth not then rebaptise those that are baptised of vs seing he is persuaded that neither the minister nor the godfathers whose faith according to their doctrin maketh much fo◠baptisme haue any true Christian faith at all The seconde that the scriptures are deliuered vnto vs that we be the right keepers of them is proued by this argument that we be the church of God vnto whome the scriptures and the custodie of them perteineth That wee are the church of God we proue by this argumēt that we beleeue and teach all that and nothing else but that which God by his holy scriptures hath appointed to be beleeued and taught for Christian faith The thirde we knowe from whome wee haue receiued the gospel not from the Papists Namely frō the doctrine of god and his holy spirite from such ministers as were stirred vp of God and lightened with his spirite according to the scriptures and from the books of the Greekes and Hebrues and not of the papists The fourth we knowe by what successours the gospell came vnto vs from God the authour of it euen from the prophets and Apostles Euangelistes pastours and teachers of the church of all ages florishing in sight of the worlde vntill the comming and tyrany of Antichrist had ouerwhelmed all the worlde with darkenesse by whom they were persecuted and driuen into corners according to the prophecie of Christe in the Apocalipse cap. 12. but yet so as they alwayes continued and testified the trueth oftentimes openly protesting against Antichrist vntill nowe at the length the time being come in which Antichrist must be consumed they are againe brought into the sight of the worlde and the kingdome of Antichrist is made obscure ignominious contemptible The fift we knowe at what time the Gospell was first delyuered vnto the Church of the gentiles namely in the reigne of Tiberius in whose time Christ suffered since which time it hath alwayes continued and shall do to the end of the worlde To the sixt wherein he requireth vs to shew the foundatiō of some Church house communion table or booke c. by which it may bee gathered that a true apostolike religion was within the 600. yeares as void of ornamēts ceremonies reuerence distinction of places and dignities sacraments and solemnities perteining to sacraments as ours is I answere our religion hath all sacraments ornaments ceremonies distinction solemnities reuerence necessarie vnto eternall life and therfore to shewe a monument of a religion voide of these it perteineth not to vs Beside that it is a foolishe and vnreasonable demaund for vs to shewe any such monument remaining aboue 900. yeares when by so often