alleadge against them the authority of the Church of Christ and will tell them Not the Iewes but the Church holdeth the books of Machabees to be canonical And his owne reason will tell him that to deny the authority of the Church is to deny all Scriptures and to confounde the order of the whole world Tertul. Tert. l. de coron militi◠c. 3. Amb. orat pro Theod. Aug. l. 8. de Genes con Manichaeos Oblationes pro defunctis facimus We make offerings for the dead S. Ambrose in his speech of the Emperour Theodosius prayeth for him Thou o Lord giue rest vnto thy seruant Theodosius S. August speaking of him that dyeth in sinne saith after this life he shall haue either the fire of Purgatory or eternal fire And in Psal 87. In this life purge mee and make mee soe that I may not neede the purging fire The doctrine of Purgatory is soe planely deliuered by the auncient fathers of the Church that Caluin could not deny or conceale it but l. 3. Instit c. 5. § 10. calleth it a most auncient obseruation of the Church and saith that the fathers as humane were deceiued But who can endure this saying in him were the auncient fathers of the Church and both the Church which was aunciently and which was when Caluin came into the world deceided and Caluin not deceiued shall Caluin take vpon him to correct the auncient fathers and present obseruations of the Church And shall any hazard his soule with Caluin against them He asketh what authority of Scriptures they had Must the whole Church be examined by him in the Scriptures And shall not he be thought an haeretike for this and to abuse the Scriptures in condemning of the Church S. Augustine shall answere him Aug. l. de cura pro mortuis Jn the books of the Machabees we read that sacrifice was offered for the dead but although in the auncient Scriptures it were not at all to be read the authority of the vniuersal Church is noe small matter which is cleere for this custome where in the prayers of the priest which to our Lord God are powered forth at his altare the commendation of the dead hath its place S. Augustins argument was good in which he prooued Purgatory both hy the Scriptures and the Church But if this be not enough for Caluin to whom nothing will serue but his owne will and word We will also produce his owne words against him l. 4. Instit c. 2. num 3. he saith that without controuersy nothing from the beginning untill that age was changed in doctrine To wit vntill the times of Tertullian Origen and Augustine of whom he was speaking If therfor this were the doctrine of the Church in those times it was the doctrine of Christ and of the Apostles euer from the beginning And soe Caluin is condemned by Scriptures fathers Church and by his owne words and Purgatory is prooued to be the true Catholike Apostolike doctrine There for pennances are rightly enioyned prayers may be said almes deeds giuen indulgences granted and many voluntary afflictions haue bene vndergone by the Saints and faithfull of the Catholike Church to escape the paines of Purgatory which although they be but temporal yet they are most greeuous and vehement more then can be spoken And because the Catholike doctrine of Indulgences by many is not vnderstoode I wil say somethinge of them in this which is also their propper place An Indulgence is as much as to say a fauourable remission or pardoning of some due punishment Such are the indulgences of the Church either absolute remissions without exchange or imposing of any other taske or exchanges of a greater into a lesser penalty The power of granting indulgences or absoluing from punishment which is all one was granted by Christ vnto his Apostles and especially to S. Peter to whom he promised the keyes of the kingdome of heauen Mat. 16. and told him whatsoeuer thou shalt loose vpon earth shall be loosed in heauen What can be vnderstoode by the keyes of heauen and the words following but power soe to open heauen gates as to take away all that hindereth for entring in at them to wit sinne and punishment He gave also the like authority to the rest of the Apostles saying whatsoeuer you shall loose vpon earth shal be loosed in heauen Mat. 18. If whatsoeuer they loose be loosed then punishment loosed by them on earth is loosed also in the sight of God in heauen Neither is there any good connexion in those words if they be not vnderstoode of absoluing as well from punishment as from sinne Now if any aske how it can be that sinnes of which the diuine iustice requireth soe much satisfaction should be satisfyed for with soe litle as some indulgences require and some indulgences require nothing at all to be done for the gaining of them he may vnderstande that indulgence or pardon of punishment is neuer granted but full satisfaction is made to God for the sinne For there is in the Church a treasury of Satisfactions soe great that it can neuer be exhausted by satisfying for sinnes There are in this treasury the satisfactions of Christ infinitly more then all the sinnes in the world can require There are also the good works of our B. Lady that had nothing of her owne to satisfy for There are the good works of S. Iohn Baptist of the Apostles and of many others whose works were much more satisfactory then their owne sinnes needed and may be applyed by the pastors of the Church to those that stande neede of them For the Church is a body and all the members of it haue a Communication and participation of good works with one another as we professe in the Creede saying I beleeue the Communion of Saints And the psalmist sayeth Ps 118. Col. 1. I am partaker of all that feare thee And S. Paul I now reioyce in suffering for you and doe accomplish those thinges that want of the passions of Christ in my flesh for his body which is the Church He did not fullfill the passions of Christ for any defect or want which was in them but that by his sufferings the passion of Christ was applyed actually to the Colossians as it is by the suffrages and good works which are done in the Church for others and by them their punishments are fully satisfyed for If any aske why the Pope onely and bishops giue indulgences I answere that the words of Christ before alleadged were spoken onely to S. Peter who was to be the Pope and to the Apostles who were at first the onely bishops of the Church And the practise of the vniuersal Church which ought to be our rule in all things hath bene allwais for the Pope and bishops and not for priests to grant Indulgences S. Augustine speaking of the obseruations of the Church saith If the Church through out the World frequent any of these things to dispute of
the Apocalypse And Suencfeldius seeing such a strife about the scriptures cleered himselfe readily in a word reiecting all Soe that if we might contradict the Church and follow either our owne or the conceits of any priuate men we might reiect the true scriptures as these haue done and receiue false scriptures as the Apocryphi did or deny all scriptures as Suencfeldius Quintinus the Libertines and other haeretiks haue done The authority of the Church bindeth vs to receiue scriptures and appointeth what scriptures we should receiue and for that authority we receiue the ghospell which S. Marke wrote who was noe Apostle and not that of S. Thomas who was an Apostle and we reiect the ghospell of Nicodemus who had seene Christ and receiue the ghospell of S. Luke who neuer saw him Therfor we must ground our selues vpon the authority of the Church and obey it or els we should not know what scriptures to receiue S. Augustine hath said this in plane termes Epis fund c. 5. when he said that he would not beleeue the ghospell but for the authority of the Church And addeth that for the same authority he would not beleeue Manichaeus the haereticke Further more the word of the scriptures is not profitable to vs but in its true sense and that true sense can not be knowne but by a true interpretour which euery priuate man as we see is not for although there be a great disparity in the abilitys of men excelling one another yet noe man of himselfe is free from errour and can but by his owne reason probably affirme that which another may probably deny and therfor all priuate opinions must be referred vnto some certaine authority which must decide all controuersys in the sense of the scriptures Besides the scriptures in themselues are soe hard to be vnderstoode and full of difficultys that it were against reason to leaue euery man to his owne sense and construction of them They haue beside the litteral sense many kindes of allegorys in which if we should follow the letter it would kill vs. The deuill alleadged the letter and word of holy scriptures but in a false sense to tempt Christ and Christ refuted him by the words of scripture in their true sense but if we had not at all times the like authority of Christ in the Church the deuill would easily peruert the scriptures to vs and we should be subiect to continuall errors S. Peter saith that in the Epistles of S. Paul there are certaine thinges hard to be vnderstoode which the vnlearned and vnstable depraue as also the rest of the scriptures to their owne perdition and S. Augustine Pet. 2.3 Epis 119. who was one of the learnedest sort of men confesseth that there were more places of the scriptures which he vnderstoode not then that he vnde stoode The sense of the scriptures is soe depraued by haeretiks that Luther called the scriptures the booke of haeretiks euery haeretike alleâ—dging scriptures and all of them deprauing them to their owne perdition and in this they are knowne to depraue them that they follow their owne interpretations and priuate conceipts against the whole Church Simon Magus would giue soe much honour to the Angels that he would haue them our mediators aboue Christ and he alleadged scriptures and reason for this doctrine Protestants honour them soe litle that they will not grant them any mediation at all neither vâ—der Christ and they also alleadge scriptures and reasons for their doctrine The Manichees forbadde some meates as in themselues vnlawfull to be eaten and alleadged scriptures and reason for this doctrine Protestants allow of all meates to be eaten at all times although it be against the praecepâ— of the Church and alleadge also scriptures and reason for their doctrine The Marcionists Encratites and other haeretiks forbadde marriage as vnlawfull and alleadged scriptures and reasons for this doctrine Protestants esteeme soe highly of marriage that they make it lawfull for virgins and religious persons that haue dedicated and vowed their chastity to God and alleadge also scriptures and reasons for it Pelagius attributeth our good works to our owne natural forces and to freewill more then to grace and hath more shew of scriptures then most haeretiks haue for their doctrines Protestants on the contrary grant noe freewill at all and will not want scriptures nor reasons for themselues Thus you haue two contrary doctrines both of them alleadging scriptures and both of them in a false sense the truth being betwixt them both saith a learned authour as Christ was betwixt two theeues Mald in Io. 6. But how doe we know that neither of them hath the true sense of the scriptures We know it by the authority of the whole Church which at first declared against those doctrines and therefor whosoeuer shall obstinatly mainteine them are haeretiks because they deny the ninth article of the Creede not beleeuing the Catholike Church but standing obstinate against all authority that was then in the world Which if at any time it were lawfull to doe then were there none to interprete the scriptures and to destinguish betwixt sense and sense and reason and reason and we might as well haue noe scriptures at all as haue noe meanes to know the true sense of them Lastly if there were not at all times some authority amongst men infallibly assisted of God to gouerne and direct in his worship and to determine the verity of all propositions that were to be beleeued with diuine faith then might euery man beleeue and say what he liked and all order and gouernment were taken away and vtmost disorder would reigne amongst vs euen to the denying of God For although natural reason doth declare the diuine existence and a demonstration may be made by a good Philosopher to prooue it yet liberty would induce to that which is against reason and would draw into atheisme as it doth to other vices which by the reason and nature of all men are abhorred Besides not one man among a thousand can make that demonstration and what then should become of those that can not if they were to forsake the authority of the Church and follow onely their owne reasons should he onely be saued that can make it noe nor he neither by that which were but a natural knowledge and humane faith in him Out of all which it followeth that the Catholike Church hath diuine authority to determine all veritys and to decide all controuersys of faith and to direct vs infallibly in that which we are to beleeue and to doe in relation to the honour of God or els the Creede had bene in vaine as also the scriptures all proofe of reason had bene vncertaine all vnion and orderly gouernment and the very foundation of all religion were vtterly destroyed and therfor one may as well say I will haue noe Creede nor religion at all as to say I will haue or beleeue noe Church and those onely remaine sure and
the Councell of Trent after the decision of controuersys in faith and declaratioÌ„ of the diuine truth in the next place would prouide for Catechizing that the true doctrine declared might be deliuered to the people And for this end they caused the Romane Catechisme to be made and that not to incite Pastors howsoeuer to instruct but to propose such a manner of instuction as was most propper for times of heresy as it declareth of purpose in the Preface where speaking of the suttelty of haeretiks in insinuating of their new and poysonsome doctrines it hath these words Wherefore to apply some remedy to these pernicious euills the Fathers of the Oecumenicall Councell of Trent haue thought it not sufficient onely to determine the cheife points of the Catholike doctrine against the haeresys of these times but haue also deemed it necessary to setiforth a certaine forme and manner of instructing of Christian people which in all Churches should be followed by those who haue the office of a lawfull Pastour and teacher Now for the forme and manner of instructing which it deliuereth it is by Discourses Speeches or Sermons made vpon seuerall parts of the Christian doctrine such as the auncient fathers of the Church haue left of the same subiect and haue called Homilys which in Greeke also is the same as to say Discourses or Sermons And for the methode which it hath obserued in those Discourses it is such that a more profitable can not be deuised for by it Catholiks are soe taught in doctrine that they are also confirmed in faith and piously excited to holinesse of life Three principall thinges then are intended in the Romane Catechismes Discourses The first is Instruction of the ignorant the second is Confirmation of the Catholike faith the third Aedification to good life As for instruction it performeth it very abundantly and more at large in those subiects which it treateth of then other Catechismes commonly doe As for the second it confirmeth the Catholike doctrine especially against moderne heresys soe as in that breuity is very sufficient for the satisfaction of any that would haue a care of his soule As for the third which is Aedification to good life it sometimes threateneth with such zeale the iudgments of God to make vs to feare him and againe when the subiect requireth it layeth open soe efficaciously the bowels of his loue and mercy to draw vs to loue him that we haue in it not onely a Catechisme for instruction but also soe many Sermons and exhortations to vertue and Pastors by following of that methode in these three things may well be said to pay the debt which they owe both to the wise and vnwise The same methode of discourse I desire to obserue and the same three things I will labour to imitate with that spirit that it shall please God to giue mee For the first which is instruction considering that in the opinion of authors some expresse and explicite knowledge of the mysterys of faith is absolutly necessary for euery one to haue soâ— necessary that to those that are come to the vse of reason there can be noe saluation without it I haue therefor collected a short and easy Summe or abbreuiation of the Christian doctrine conteined in the answeres to a few questions which moe doubt but compriseth as much as is absolutly necessary for Lay people to know and more then authors in rigour exact of them The learning then and indifferent vnderstanding of that Summe shall satisfy the obligation which all haue to learne the Christian doctrine and shall excuse them from the sinne of ignorance which they might incurre In which answeres I doe not intende the rigorous definitions of those things which are there asked but onely to declare soe much as is necessary for the vnderstanding and in breife for the remembring of that point This I often explicate to the people and procure that they haue it with them to get without booke for I finde by experience that neither explication onely withour getting somethinge without booke nor the getting without booke onely without explication is sufficient for the people to learne the christian doctrine I haue explicated the same things ouer and ouer againe many times and vntill I gaue them somethinge in breife for their memory I perceiued that my labour was in a manner lost especially with the yong and ruder sort who when I came to examine againe were as farre to seeke as at first And on the other side I haue knowne some children who through their parents care haue knowne all Cardinal Bellarmins litle Catechisme without booke yet for want of explication haue bene litle or nothing better for it Wherfor to bring the people both to vnderstande and to remember the christian doctrine I was forced to vse these meanes to giue them that Summe to gett without booke for their memory and to expounde it to them as they doe in their â—rones in France onely with this difference that where as there the people haue onely the cheife parts of the Christian doctrine read to them before the explication I require that they say it themselues answering all together alowde to the questions of the Summe for by this meanes the most rude and ignorant hearing others answere and answering with them come in time to learne the answeres whether they will or noe and that much more easily in their owne language then those who gett without booke whole psalmes in Latine by onely hearing and singing them with others in the Church As for explication I sometimes expounde all the Summe in breife for the ignorant and sometimes for the good of all I make a discourse after the manner of some of the following Discourses either of Faith or of the Signe of the Cros or of some article of the Creede or other part as occasion shall serue and as is most agreeable to that dayes solemnity The second thinge which I labour for is to confirme in the Catholike faith by such proofs of the Catholike doctrine as may suffize for that purpose And that you may better vnderstande how I proceede in this I desire you to take good notice in the Creede For in the other Discourses there is noe difficulty For the vnderstanding of which you are to minde well the methode which the Apostles haue obserued in composing of it which they carried with them in their liues and left behinde them at their deaths as a rule of diuine faith First against Atheists who would perswade themselues that there is noe God they laid this ground I beleeue in God Secondly against Pagans who on the contrary beleeue in many Gods they professe their beleefe in one onely God the maker of heauen and earth Thirdly against Iewes and Turks and all such as they foresaw might beleeue in one God yet deny Christ they professe their beleefe in Iesus Christ the onely Sonne of God Yet all this was not sufficient finally to resolue in point of faith For being
passion worke but litle to their amendment Parents must also prouide for their children with a moderate care and not as some doe who vnder pretence of proulding for them neuer thinke themselues rich enough These ought to consider that their children are the children of God and he will prouide for them if they serue him and the best foundation of riches and of a long and prosperous race is to bring vp their children in the knowledge and feare of him for if God build with them their houses will stande Many poore children who haue bene left without parents haue prospered better with the blessing of God then others haue done with large reuenewes left them Finally parents must be most of all carefull that they giue noe ill example to their children this being that vpon which the good or euill of the whole world very much dependeth euen as the goodnes of the branches dependeth of the roote and bole of the tree Otherwise occasion is giuen for children to learne their parents vices and to teach them to their children againe and soe vice goeth from generation to generation by the ill example of parents and as the links of a chaine are drawne by one another and fall one after another soe fathers draw their children downe into sinne after them that for many generations they come in the end to meete all in hell I et parents and children often reade the booke of Toby they haue there an example of a good father and of a good sonne and God blessing them both THE FIFT COMMANDEMENT THOV shalt not kill By which we see that this as all other places of scripture hath its propper sense For as S. Aug. de ciu c. 20. sayth we are not forbidden here to kill meate for our sustenance nor to kill men in our owne defence as in a iust warre or for execution of iustice vpon malefactors Because nature allowing and requiring these things God doth not disallow of them Some also by particular inspiration of God haue lawfully killed as Moyses who although he were the mildest man in the world yet when he saw an infidel heathen beating one of the people of God moued with a holy zeale he killed him and buried him in the sand This was lawfull as being by diuine inspiration in signe of future mysterys Exod. 32. Soe when he saw the people committing of idolatry he ioyned vnto him those that were of our Lord the Leuites and sent them to kill the idolatrous people and they returning with the slaughter of about three thousand men he commended them saying you haue consecrated your hands this day to our Lord that blessing may begiuen to you Phinees also moued with the like zeale Nu. 5. killed the two fornicators in their wicked act and auerted the wrath of God by it God the authour of the Commandements dispensed then in the keeping of them and soe they were not formally broken That which is forbidden here is to kill vpon priuate authority and not onely to kill Anger but also all actions of anger by which the peaceable conuersation of men is disturbed Mat. 5. You haue heard saith Christ how it was said of old thou shalt not kill and who soe killeth shall be in danger of iudgement but I say to you that whosoeuer is angry with his brother shall be in danger of iudgment and whosoeuer shall say to his brother Raca shall be in danger of Councell And whosoeuer shall say thou foole shall be guilty of the hell of fire By which we are taught the right vnderstanding of this Commandement to be not onely to prohibite killing but also to be inwardly angry or to make outward shewes or to giue words of anger Of all the sinnes which are committed by men none are soe horrible to nature as the sinnes of blood Is 8. and to shew how great a sinne it is to kill Christ would call the deuill a mankiller from the beginning because the malice and euill of murder could not be better expressed then by putting it and the deuill together and making him the authour of it Cain was the first mankiller amongst men who inticeing his brother into the fields roze vp against him and killed him And presently he was strucke with such a horrour at his crime that he despaired of mercy and like a desperate reprobate went hanging downe his head thinking that euery one that saw him would kill him and cried Gen. 4. Loe now thou dost cast mee out this day from the face of the earth and from thy face I shall be hid and I shall be a vagabonde and fugitiue vpon earth euery one therefor that findeth mee shall kill mee And God to increase this horrour of murder in vs both in the law of nature and of Moyses prohibited the eating of blood Lou. 17. Nay they were not soe much as to let blood to ly open vpon the ground but to couer it And euen dumbe beasts that could not sinne were to loose their liues if they killed any man All this was that men should abhorre the sinne of murder and not be ouer bloody then when the true worship of God was mainteined rather by force and by shedding of their enemys blood then propagated by patience as now it is in the faith of Christ Here enter those ignominious single combats of which the Councell of Trent hath these words That the detestable vse of Duells contriued by the deuill to a bloody death of the body and destruction of the soule may be quite banished out of the Christian world In which yong men who vnderstande not what belongeth to wisdome and true glory meete in the field to wound teare and kill one another like madd doggs And after their miserable deaths they become infamous to posterity purt out of the Communion of Saints both of the militant and triumphant Church of God and depriued of christian buriall to ly like doggs in the fields That the words of the Apocal. 22. are fully verifyed in them Without are doggs sorcerers and murderers There is a booke here newly published called LA DESTRVCTION DE DVEL in which is shewed how contrary to reason and true christian honour Dâ—â—els are and in which is declared how that the Marshals of France and diuerse Gentlemen of quality haue protested against them and promised that they will neuer regard any challenge nor fight a duell vpon any occasion of iniury whatsoeuer An heroicall and christian like minde guided by vertue and discretion will make iniurys honorable through patience which is the most propper vertue and honour of christians Christ was borne patient liued a patient life and at his death his patience was most eminently great more then we can vnderstande He founded his Church first in his owne sufferings and then in those of his Apostles after him and after them he enlarged it by the patience of many martyrs and soe he still continueth and preserueth it And therefor christians
Temple to receiue him in his armes and full of toy to blesse him Anne a Prophetesse was then also sent vnto the Temple to speake of him to all that expected the redemption of Israel and the Priest to represent this great ioy spreadeth his armes prayseth blesseth adoreth glorifyeth and giueth thanks to God for it Then he turneth about to the people Dominus vobiscum and he turneth to the right hand both for more decency and also because it is more mysterious the right hand in the Scriptures signifying power glory and dignity and the left hand on the contrary signifying imperfection weakenesse and ignobility Psal 117. The right hand of our Lord hath wrought strength saith the Psalmist the right hand of God hath exalied mee and the Apostle saith On the right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour At Orate fratres he turneth round about on the left hand to the Altare in token of his sinnes and imperfections for which he desireth the people to pray Then he saith Dominus vobiscum our Lord be with you Which is both a prayer that God will eleuate their spirits to him and a salutation inciting them to eleuate their spirits to God by a seruerous attention tothose misterys So the Angell saluted Gedeon Iud 6. Ruâ—h Our Lord be â—ith thee ô most valiant of men So Booz saluted his haruest men praying for them and inciting them to worke as we doe when we say God be with you or God speede your worke and therefor the Priest turneth often to the people with those words They answere cum spiritu tuo praying also for him that God may be with his Spirit Then he turneth to the Altare againe The Collect. and going to the booke he sayeth Oremus Let vs pray because he prayeth in the name of all and gathereth together the prayers of all all praying with him and therefore the prayer is called a Collect as the prayer of many to wit of the whole Church he lifteth vp his hands at prayer to signify the eleuation of the hart Exod. 16. It is likely that our Sauiour prayed so on Mount Oliuet for it was the custome of holy men so to pray Moyses prayed so lifting vp his hands whilest the Israelits fought and as long as he lifted vp his hands they preuailed Reg. 3.8 but his hands failing their enemys preuailed against them So also Salomon prayed lifting vp his hands and blessing the people with much deuotion And these two were the especiall figures of our Sauiour Moyses as the Redeemer of the Israelits and Salomon by his infused wisedome I will sayth the Apostle that men pray in ewery place lifting vp pure hands Tim. 1.2 he prayeth with his hands open as requiring of benefits At the end of the prayer he ioyneth them to shew the vnity of nature in the blessed Trinity to whom we pray as to one diuine power and also to signify the vnion of our harts and of the Catholik Church All prayers are concluded through our Lord Iesus-Christ because all benefits are granted through him Io. 16. who said If you aske the Father any thing in my name he will giue it you The people answere Amen Amen to ioyne prayer with the Priest as when Gabelus at the sight of yong Toby wept for ioy kissed him and prayed hartily for him all that were present answered Amen After the Collects the Epistle is read The Epistle which is taken out of the Apostles Epistles or of some of the Prophets and signifyeth the preaching and writings of the Prophets and of S. Iohn Baptist before the Ghospell of Christ and that by the Apostles labors we receiue the light of the Ghospel After the Epistle followeth the Gradual or Responsory Graduall which is a deuout Canticle corresponding to the Epistle as the last preparation or stepp to the Ghospell and therefore it is called the Gradual and signifyeth the preaching of Saint Iohn Baptist as the last stepp or degree of preparation to the Ghospell of Christ And because Saint Iohn preached pennance to the people saying Doe pennance for the kingdome of Heauen is at hand Therefore the Gradual which intimateth lamentation and mourning of pennance is not said in the dayes of Pentecost which is a time of ioy We are admonished by it that as by the Prophete from time to time succeeding one another and lastly by Saint Iohn Baptist the world was prepared for the comming of Christ so we may ascende from vertue to vettue and attaine to the perfection of good Christians Alleluya Alleluyn is added to signify that after the mourning of pennance commeth ioy and glory for Alleluya The tract is a word of reioycing as much as to say Praise our Lord. The Tract which is a graue and dolesull mourning is said in times of sorrow and austerity Ghospell Then the Ghospell is read the booke being turned to the left hand to signify the receiuing of the Ghospell by the Gentils who are denoted by the left side of the Altare as being in insidelity vntill the light of Christs Ghospell shined to them Act. 13. To you said S. Paul and S. Barnaby speaking â—o the Iewes it behoued vs first to speake the word of God but because you repell it and iudge yourselues vnworthy of eternall lise â—â—hold we turne to the Gentils and therefore the booke of the Ghospell is turned from the right hand which signifyeth the Iewes to the left which signifyeth the Gentils The people stande at the Ghospell as also at the Creede to signify the hearing of the Faith of Christ then preached When Verbum caro factum est or Homo factus est is said wee kneele downe in reuerence to the mystery of the Incarnation The signe of the Crosse is made vpon the Ghospel because the doctrine of our Redemption is conteined in it And the Priest signeth his forhead mouth and heart with that figâ—â— of our Redemption that his thoughts words and deeds may allwayes redounde to the honour of Christ crucifyed He kisseth the booke in the end as the booke of life and of all happinesse to vs. Then the people answere The Creede laus tibi Christe giuing prayse to Christ The Creede is said alowd to shew that we must not be affraid but boldly and cheerfully make profession of our Faith when neede requireth for if we be ashamed of Christ now he will be ashamed of vs afterwards and with shame we shall be damned The Creede being said the first part of Masse is ended then Ite missa est vsed to be sung to dismisse the Catechumeni who not being yet Christians by Baptisme where not to be present at the Christian Sacrifice but were to depart now that the cheife parts of Masse beganne and therefore this part of Masse vntill the Offertory was commonly called Missa Catcchumenorum The Masse of the Cathecumens At the Offertory beginneth the second part in
the whole world and what more could theeues robbers and all wicked malefactors desire to exempt themselues from all humane lawes and obligation of conscience then to deny all obseruations as of the autority of man and to referre all to the tribunal of God which they know that they can not escape but must stande to whether they will or noe You may see what reuerence is here to the word of God and how easily that sacred word is abused by those that will stande against the whole Church First therefor I tell them that they cannot but see those words to haue the same force against fasting in generall which commonly they allow of as against the fasts of the Church which now they reiect but that is indeede noe force at all the circumstances being altered in which Christ spoke them to reprooue the fasts of vaine and hypocryticall men who fasted without order and humility for shew onely Secondly I tell them that the authority of the Church is the authority of God as I haue sufficiently prooued and therefor the Praecepts of the Church are not onely the obseruations of men but the Commandements of God Thirdly I tell them that God by his Church commanded fasting in the Law of Moyses and in the Law of grace euen in the Apostles times the Councell of Hierusalem prohibiting some meates Act. 15. as is specifyed in the fifteenth of the acts Fourthly I tell them that fasting as it is a Praecept of the Church is vsed as a corporall affliction to subdue the euill inclinations of our flesh and corporall afflictions vsed with order as the Church praescribeth them are pleasing to God therefor fasting as it is a Praecept of the Church is pleasing to God Cor. 1.9 S. Paul saith I chastize my body and bring it into seruitude least perhaps when I haue preached to others my selfe become reprobate Fiftly I tell them that Aërius was condemned as an haeretike many hundreds of yeares since Haer. 53. and S. Augustine hath taken the paines to put him into his catalogue of haeretiks for this very doctrine for that allowing of fasting in generall he disallowed of it as a Praecept of the Church and would haue none to fast but as they liked themselues He that should reade the second booke of S. Hierome against Iouinian the haeretike that denied fasting should finde there much more then I haue said or can say in commendation of it And it is admirable to reade the sentences of Scriptures and the erudition which this holy Doctour hath drawne there together for this purpose shewing by seuerall authors how much this vertue was esteemed of euen by heathens in the best ages of the world who saw by reason and founde by experience the force of fasting in the tempering of our bodys in refreshing and quickening of our vnderstandings and by consequence in disposing vs vnto Morall vertues And writing to the Virgin Demetrias he hath this high expression that fasting is not onely in it selfe a perfect vertue but the foundation sanctification purity and Prudence of the rest without which none shall see God Now for the particular fasts or abstinences which the holy Church commandeth There are the forty dayes fast of Lent the fast of Ember dayes of Rogation dayes of Vigils of Frydayes of S. Marke Lent and of Saturdayes We haue for the forty dayes fast of Lent the examples of Moyses of Elias and of Christ himselfe Moyses fasted forty dayes and receiued the Law enioying in that time the familiar conuersation of God Elias fasted forty dayes and then wrought miracles reuiuing the dead Christ fasted forty dayes in the beginning of his miraculous preaching soe preparing himselfe to deliuer his ghospell and to redeeme the world And although we can not fast soe strictly and perfectly as our blessed Sauiour did eating nothing all that time yet it is fitting that we should doe our endeauour in honour and imitation of him And it is not vnlikely that Christ commended the fast of Lent as well by word and expresse commande as by example to his Apostles in those forty dayes space betwixt his Resurrection and Ascension in which he often appeared to them and taught them concerning the Church and therefor the auncient and holy fathers commonly call it the institution of the Apostles by the Commandement of Christ S. Ambrose that it was not inuented by any earthly cogitation but commanded by the heauenly maiesty Amb. de quadrag ser 36. Igna. ep 5. Aug. ser 69. de temp S. Ignatius who was the Disciple of S. Iohn Euangelist saith contemne not Lent for it conteineth the imitation of our Lords conuersation and S. Augustine saith that by the due obseruation their of the wicked are separated from the good Infidels from Christians haeretiks from faithfull Catholikes He then that honoreth the name of a Catholike and Christian will honour Lent and obserue it It is instituted to be kept against the Passion of Christ that we who professe ourselues his seruants and souldiers may in some sort suffer with our master and captaine It were a preposterous mirth and absurde in a seruant to laugh and make merry when he saw his master full of paine or for a souldier to take his ease in bedd when his captaine were enduring hardnesse in the field Good Vrias comming out of the campe to the court the King badd him to goe home and rest himselfe but he refused to doe soe Reg. 2.11 saying the arke of God c. And my Lord Ioah abide vpon the face of the earth and shall I enter into my house to eate and drinke I will not doe this thinge Neither did he it but went out and slept before the gates of the Kings house with the other seruants of his Lord because he would not pamper himselfe and ly within doores when the arke and his Lord laid without Our blessed Lord the King of heauen and earth the Sauiour of the world is suffering many blowes he is bleeding vpon the Crosse his meate and drinke is vinagre and gall and is it then a time for vs to make merry and to feast our selues is this like a seruant and souldier of Christ or is it not rather most vnseasonable preposterous and spirefull vnworthy of the name and profession of a Christian how preposterous then is the malice of those who choose the time of Lent of all the times of the yeare and Good Friday of all the dayes in lent to make their feasts on is this a good preparation to receiue the benefit of Christs Passion and Resurrection if they were Iewes or professed enemyes of Christ they might doe soe indeed in despite of him but being Christians they should be ashamed of it Saint Augustine commendeth the fast of Lent as a preparation for Easter and saith as you haue heard that the breaking of it is wicked and proper to Infidels and Haeretiks This they may glosse with some pretence and finde some thing to say