he celebrated the Eucharist and that his body was already dead Lactantius in his fourth booke and fourteenth Chapter dooth formally denie the Diuinity of Iesus Christ and in his seuenth booke and one and twenty chapter he saith that the soules of men as well good as bad In vna communique custodia detinentur are detained in one common prison Saint Gregory Nazianzen in his Sermon of Baptisme willeth that vnlesse it be in case of vrgent necessity the Baptisme of young children be deferred vntill such time as they may be capable to aunswere and to yeeld account of their faith Himselfe in his Epitaph vpon Basill doth preferre him before Enoch Contemninus n. Phegor omnem ignominiam eius scientes quod qui in carne sunt non possunt placere Deo and compareth him to Abraham Saint Ierome in his first booke against Iouinian often calleth marriage an vnchast state of life and an ignominy and that the fruite of it is death and that a woman that doth marry the second time ought not to participate of the Almes no nor of the body of the Lord. The Church of Rome doth no longer beleeue the Purgatorie of Gregory the first which hee placeth sometimes in Bathes sometimes in the winde sometime in the water Nor the opinion of Honorius Bishop of Rome who was a Monothelite the Epistles whereof are inserted in the fift and sixt generall Councels For all these good seruants of God were subiect to mistaking and had their faults and vices like warts in a faire face to the end that in reading them a man should haue alwayes in his hand the Compasse of the holy Scripture and the rule of the word of God And that a man should beleeue that which they haue well said not because they haue said it but because it is found in the word of God if they erre in any thing Antiquity cannot authorize an errour There can be no prescription against the truth And a time there was when these Fathers were no Fathers and before they wrote the Christians were ruled by the word of God As touching that which the King of great Britaine saith that they doe contradict one another the verification of it is easie For euery man knoweth the contentions betweene Chrysostome and Epiphanius the Disputes betweene Cyrill and Theodoret the sharpe Epistles and full of gall of Saint Ierome to Saint Austin And S. Austin speaketh farre otherwise of Free-wil of Predestination and of the gift of Perseuerance then all the Greeke Fathers of his age He that will haue a cleare mirrour of this their discord let him compare the Commentaries of S. Austin vpon the Psalmes with those of Saint Ierome and he shall scarcely finde them to agree in two verses together It is then with very iust reason that Coeffeteau doth graunt this to the King of great Britaine and doth acknowledge the faults and contradictions of the auncients whom notwithstanding we ought to loue and honour as great lights in their times and worthy seruants of God who hauing combatted Heresies in their life time doe yet beat downe Popery after their deaths For we maintaine against whosoeuer he be that in the foure first ages and yet wee might discend much lower there shall not be found out any one man who hath had a Religion not so much as approaching to that of the Romish Church now-a-dayes And in this challenge I will lay downe my Ministers cloake ready to be frocked and cladde in a Monks-coule if I shall finde a man that will satisfie me in this point And to the end to expresse my selfe more clearly I say that betweene vs and our aduersaries there be two kindes of Controuersies for some there be vpon which they are wont to produce some passages for proofes But eyther they be quotations altogether false or maimed and curtalled or of no vse to proue the point in question or else places taken contrary to the authours meaning Yet being a thing ordinary with these Messieus to put the ancient Fathers vpon the racke to make them speake in fauour of an vntruth Such is the question of transubstantiation of praying for the dead or Purgatory and of the Sacrifice of the Masse But there are other Controuersies no lesse important and more in number In which they are cleane destitute of all authority of the auncient Church and vpon which being interrogated they answere besides the matter For changing the question they endeauour to proue that which is not demaunded of them See here some examples 1. They cannot shew that any auncient Church did celebrate the eucharist without communicants as it is done ordinarily in the Church of Rome yea and sometimes also without any assistants 2. They cannot shew that any ancient Church hath excluded that people from the communion of the cuppe or chalice 3. Or that in any ancient Church the publike seruice was done in a language not vnderstood of the people 4 Or that any ancient Church hath hindered the people from reading the holy Scripture As it is no way permitted in those Countries where the Pope is absolutely obeyed without speciall priuilege 5. Or that in any ancient Church they haue made Images of God and representations of the Trinity in stone or in picture 6. Also they cannot proue vnto vs that in any ancient Church the people hath beene instructed to pray without vnderstanding that which they say speaking in a tongue not vnderstood of himselfe that prayeth 7. Or that any ancient Church did yeeld worship or religious seruice to the Images of creatures kissing them decking them with robes kneeling before them and presenting them gifts and offerings c. 8. Or that the ancient Church hath beleeued that the Virgin Mary is crowned Queene of the heauens and Lady of the world as this is painted throughout all their Churches 9. Or that the ancient Church hath giuen to the Saints diuers charges as to one the commaund euer such a country to another the cure ouer such a maladie to a third to be Patron ouer such a trade and mysterie 10. Or that the ancient Church hath beleeued that the Pope can giue and take away Kingdomes And dispense with subiects for the oath of their alleageance Can canonize Saints and dispense with Vowes and promises solemnly made to God c. 11. Or that in the ancient Church the Pope by his pardons did distribute supererogatory satisfactions of the Saints for the remission of paine and punishment of other mens sinnes 12. Or that the Pope did then place his pardons in one Church and not in another In one Towne and not in another and that sometimes for an hundred and two hundred thousand yeares of pardon 13. Or that the auncient Church hath beleeued the Limbe of little children 14. Or that the auncient Church hath adored the host which the Priest holdeth vp with the worship of Latria which is done to God alone And to this end the Priest hath caused the Eleuation of
Reader shall obserue first that these bookes to wit Tobie Iudith the booke of Wisdome Ecclesiasticus the Machabees they are not found in the Hebrew tongue and consequently they are not in the originall of the old Testament wherein there are but two and twenty bookes 2. Secondly we ought also to know that the Church of the old Testament neuer acknowledged these bookes nor receiued into the Church See Eusebius lib. 8. of his Storie cap. 10 as witnesseth Iosephus in his first booke against Appion 3. Thirdly it is also very considerable that Iesus Christ nor his Apostles who alleaged vpon euery purpose Texts and passages out of the old Testament neuer named any of those bookes nor neuer drew quotation out of any of them 4. Fourthly the chiefe and principall is that in these bookes there be many faults aswell in the Doctrine as in the Storie whereof * In my booke intituled the waters of Siloé cap. 6. we haue elsewhere produced many proofes But let vs heare the testimony of the auncients S. Hierome in his preface vpon the bookes of Salomon speaketh of Ecclesiasticus and of the wisdome of Salomon a Sicut ergo Iudith Tobie Machabaeorum libros legit quideÌ„ Ecclesia sed eos inter Canonicas Scripturas noÌ„ recipit Sic haec duo volumina legat ad aedificationem plâ—bis non ad authoritatem Christianorum dogmatum confirmandam As then the Church doth reade indeede the bookes of Iudith of Tobie and the Machabees but doth not receiue them among the Canonicall Scriptures so let it also reade these two volumes for the edification of the people but not to confirme the faith of the Church He saith the same in his Prologus Galcatus and marke by the way that he saith that it is the beleefe of the Church Sciendum tamen est quod alij libri sunt qui non Canonici sed Ecclesiastici a maioribus appellati sunt vt est SapieÌ„tia Solomonis Ecclesiasticus libellus Tobiae Iudith macabaeo rumâ—libri quae omnia legi quidem in Ecclesiis voluerunt non tamen proferri ad authoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam Praeter istos sunt adâ—uc alij eius dem veteris instrumenti libri non Cononici qui Catechumenis tantum leguntur Sapientia Solomonis c. Amongst the workes of S. Cyprian there is a Treatise which seemeth rather to be the worke of Ruffinus touching the exposition of the Creede There he reckoneth vp the bookes of the old and the new Testament Then he addeth * These are then the bookes which the Fathers haue included in the Cannon or Rule and from which are drawne the proofs of our faith Notwithstanding we must know that there are other bookes which the auncients haue not called Canonicall but Ecclesiasticall bookes as is the wisdome of Salomon Ecclesiasticus Tobie Iudith and the bookes of the Machabees Then he addeth All which they would should be reade in the Church but that they should not be produced to confirme the authority of the faith S. Athanasius in his booke intituled Synopsis nameth al the bookes of the old Testament according to the Hebrew Bible Then he addeth Besides these there are yet other bookes of the old Testament not Canonicall which are not read but to the Catechumeni or Nouices newly taught and catechized such are the wisdome of Salomon the wisdome of Iesus the Sonne of Syrach Iudith Tobit c. Melito Bishop of Sardi as witnesseth Eusebius in his fourth booke of his Hystorie and the fiue and twentith Chapter Origen in Eusebius sixt booke and foure and twentieth chapter S. Hilary in his Preface vpon the Psalter S. Gregory Nazianzen in his verses of the holy Scripture Eusebius lib. 3. of his story cap. 10. Epiphanius in his booke of measures Damascene himselfe though long after in his fourth booke of the Orthodoxe faith cap. 18. And diuers other Fathers make an enumeration of the bookes of the olde Testament and yet do they not put in neyther Iudith nor Tobite nor Ecclesiasticus nor the booke of VVisedome nor the Maccabees But rather all with one consent and accord say that there are but two and twenty bookes in the olde Testament as many as there bee letters in the Hebrew Alphabet And yet further to conuince Coeffeteau let vs heare the very iudgement of him whom they most honour of all the Popes And this is Gregorie the first in his twenty sixe booke of morals vpon Iob cap. 29. where being desirous to alleadge the booke of Maccabees in the fact of Eleazar he excuseth himselfe in these wordes Of which thing we speake not out of reason Qua de re non inordinatè agimus si ex libris si non Canonicis sed ad Ecclesiae aedificationem scriptis testimonia proferimus if we produce the testimonies of bookes not Canonicall but written for the edification of the Church This ought to suffice to represent what was the heleefe of particular men who being assembled together are equiualent to a generallity Howbeit for the more store and the better supply let vs heare the Councels The Councell of Laodicea which was almost about the same time with the first Nicene Councell setteth ouer the last Canon this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say How many bookes there be of the olde Testament that men ought to reade Then it reckoneth vp the number of them as farre as two and twentie Genesis Exodus Leuiticus Numbers Deuteronomie Ioshua Iudges Ruth Hester the Kings or Samuel two bookes of Kings two bookes Paralipomena or the Chronicles Esdras Psalmes Prouerbs Ecclesiastes Canticles Iob the twelue Prophets Esay Ieremy Baruch or the Lamentations and Epistles Ezechiel Daniel But of Tobie or Iudith or the Maccabees c. there is no newes Aboue all it is a thing to be be noted that this Councell of Laodicea is confirmed by the sixt generall Councell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of which Councell the Fathers assembled together in the Palace made one hundred and three Canons in the second of which it is said We doe confirme and ratifie the sacred Canons made by our holy Fathers at Laodicea of Phrygia And this was now in the yeare of Iesus Christ 684. I adde the fourth Councell of Carthage which in the Tomes of the Latin Councels which are horribly mangled and falsified hath beene very ill handled For we haue not these Councels in Latine but by the meanes of the Church of Rome who hath deliuered them vnto vs such as she would her selfe But she hath not had that power ouer the Greek Coppies where there is no speech at all of the Maccabees Reade the Greeke Canons of the Councels printed at Paris in the yeare 1540. with a Praeface of Iohn du Tillet and the Canons of Balsamon and you shall finde that which I say to be true But Coeffeteau being content to write as Hunters breake their Fast that is
the whole host into the Chalice he swallows downe both the hoste and wine together without any breaking of it and yet such a Masse looseth not the name of a sacrifice 2. Besides if the breaking were an action of the Sacrifice it should follow that that which were broken in the Eucharist were sacrificed Now the holy Scripture testifies that Christ Iesus brake bread and then should Christ haue sacrificed bread and the bread should be the price of our redemption which is a grosse impiety Now that Iesus Christ did breake bread the Euangelists doe tell vs Mat. 26.26 Iesus tooke bread and brake it Likewise S. Paul 1. Cor. 10. The bread which we breake And the whole Church Act. 20.7 The Disciples were gathered together to breake bread And this doth conformably agree with the Church of Rome that mayntaineth it to be still bread before the consecration And by the text of the Gospell it is euident that Christ brake it before he said This is my body Which is the reason why the Romish Prelates haue corrected the Gospell and will haue the bread to be broken after the wordes pronounced For whereas they will haue the breaking to be an action of the Sacrifice they say well that should they breake the bread after the words pronounced as our Sauiour did they could not say that they doe sacrifice Iesus Christ and then their sacrifice propitiatory should bee a sacrifice of bread thirdly Therefore can they not finde in the institution of the Eucharist which is in the Gospell this fraction which the Priest vseth after the wordes which they would haue to be an action of a propitiatory sacrifice neyther can they finde in their Masse that breaking of bread which Christ vsed The chiefe point is that when we desire our Masters to tell vs what it is that the Priest breaketh in the Masse they are blancke for tell me Mr. Doctors doth the Priest breake bread in the Masse They answere no for it is no more bread when he breakes it Doth he breake the Lords body No neyther for that is impassible and cannot be broken it is wholy in euery part in euery crum of the Hoste what then What is there left for him to breake They say the accidents of the bread which soone after they call the formes that is to say the length and breadth of the bread but not the bread And as Pope Innocent the third sayth and with him the whole Church of Rome Innocent 3. l. 4. de Mysterijs Missae cap. 11. Est enim hic color sapor quantitas qualitas cum nihil alterutro sit coloratum aut sapidum quantum aut quale it is of the length not of the thing that is long of the colour not of the thing coloured Let vs leaue this monstrous Philosophy and let vs only bring their doctrine to the scale They said that which was broken in the Masse is sacrificed Now the accidents colours and dimensions of bread without bread are broken in the Masse and consequently these accidents are sacrificed and offered for our redemption O spirite of slumber that runnes headlong into impiety And here obserue the fruite of these subtilities fiftly for to say that Christs body is broken vnder the accidents and yet continues whole is all one as to say that it is broken and not broken Againe we doe not aske of them vnder what it is broken but onely whether or no it bee broken for that which is broken vnder another thing is broken neuerthelesse sixtly Which error of theirs is new in the phrase of Scripture wherein the breaking of bread is not an action of sacrifice but a signe of charity and pledge of vnity See Esay 58.7 Lament 4.14 Yea and S. Paul doth expresly tell vs that this is the end of breaking bread in the Sacrament 1. Cor. 10.6 The bread which we breake is it not the communion of the body of Christ inasmuch as we which are many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of one bread It was also the manner of our Sauiour at his ordinary times of meate to begin with blessing and breaking of bread Mar. 6.41 Luc. 24.30.31 And this I beleeue doth sufficiently refute this fraction which they make an action of sacrifice Of the Consecration The consecration which they say is performed by pronouncing these wordes This is my body cannot be said to be eyther an action of sacrifice or the essence thereof first for they hold that the Pope cannot erre and Pope Innocent the third in the sixth chapter of the fourth booke of the Mysteries of the Masse holdeth that Iesus Christ was not consecrated by these wordes This is my body but that he was consecrated before by the power of his Diuinity And all the auncients do maintaine In the booke of the Apology for the holy Supper cap. 7. that where declared by a great number of places 2 Let vs hereunto adde that the essence of a sacrifice consisteth in the offering of some oblation vnto God Now by these wordes This is my body which they say are the consecrating wordes there is not any thing offered vnto God therefore the consecrating wordes are not of the essence of the sacrifice And that there is nothing offered vnto God by these wordes it is plaine for Christ in speaking them doth not addresse himselfe vnto God but speakes and offers that which he holdes to his Apostles saying Take eate this is my body 3 And if consecration doe necessarily import sacrificing then shall it follow that the consecration of vessels and of the Temple was a sacrifice 4 To proceede it is certaine that in the Masse there can be no consecration because there is nothing consecrated for the bread is not consecrated because it is no more bread also Christ is not consecrated for men cannot consecrate him but it is he that doth consecrate men vnto God Some Sophister wil tel you that the consecration is done vpon the bread but wil not tell you what it is that is consecrated Now we doe not aske them whereupon the consecration is done but what it is that is consecrated and there they champe vpon the bit and know not what to answere Of the Eating As great or greater an absurdity is it to say that the Sacrifice consisteth in the eating 1. For it is a thing vnheard of that to eate should be to sacrifice Iesus Christ for a sacrifice propitiatory secondly And if eating doe why should not drinking import the same thirdly Againe to sacrifice is to offer and present but to eate is to receiue so that there is asmuch difference between sacrificing and eating as betweene giuing and taking betweene offering and receiuing for to reconcile these things is to make contrary things to be the same as if one should say the right hand is the left and white is blacke fourthly If to eate were to sacrifice Iesus Christ the lay people celebrating their Passeouer
We rancke among the holy customes of the Church this fashion of carrying the body of our Lord in the most solemne supplications and Processions he tels vs his opinion and we knew it well enough before We expected that he should haue taught vs not what himselfe beleeueth but why he beleeueth it when this custome began who was the authour of it if it haue any ground in the word of God or in the Fathers Of all this not a word a Turke or a Iew might defend himselfe in like manner we beleeue we affirme And should he then set vpon a King by saying so little to the purpose ARTICLE XV. Touching workes of Supererogation and of Superabounding satisfactions and of the treasure of the Church The KINGS Confession SVch are the workes of Supererogation which are rightly called the treasure of the Church The Doctor Coeffeteau answereth We know no such matter For we call workes of Supererogation those which haue for their obiect the Euangelicall Counsels to the which all Christians are not bound as for a man to sell all his goods and to giue them to the poore c. And of these sayth he we doe not make any treasure but that which is gathered and layd vp in heauen But as touching the treasure of Indulgences Coeffeteau saith that it is composed of the Superaboundance of the merites of Iesus Christ and of the Satisfactions of the Saints who haue suffered more then they deserued as of the holy Virgin and other Saints God not permitting that any thing of their sorrowes or sufferings should perish it being a thing iust and reasonable that they should serue to the communion of the Saints as members of the same body In all this not a word of scripture no authority of the Auncients The Answere no example of Antiquity Coeffeteau onely telleth vs his opinion I might satisfiè him with like reason by opposing our opinion but he shall not so lightly goe away with the matter For this is one of the Cankers of the body of the Church of Rome one of the principal pieces of the mystery of iniquity The opinion of the Church of Rome according as Bellarmine doth represent it in the seuenth and eight Chapters of his booke of Monkes is that there are certaine excellent workes which are called Counsels of perfection which God doth not command but doth only counsell workes which as they are more cumbersome and vneasie to be done so also being performed they are more perfect and more excellent then all that GOD hath commanded in his Law more then to loue God with all his heart and his neighbour as himselfe Workes to which a man is not bound and if he do them not he is not punishable but in obseruing them he getteth a degree of glory aboue the common sort Such are perpetuall Virginity Martyrdome and the distribution of all his goods to the poore But especially the vowes of Obedience of Pouerty and Chastitie which are the three vowes of the Monkes whose expresse profession it is to doe workes of Supererogation by the merite of which they shall gaine in Paradise an eminent degree of glory aboue the popular Saints and the Communalty of soules All this being but a swolne Blister of pride we will pricke it and abate it with the worde of God And indeede a man had need read this often ouer before he shall finde any thing relishing of the spirite of God 1 It is a thing almost incredible that there are any men to be found which thinke themselues to be more perfect then God hath commanded Seeing that Iesus Christ Matth. 5. dooth giue vs this commandement Be you perfect as your father which is in heauen is perfect Is there any man that can be more perfect then God For although no man can euer approach to his perfection yet will he haue vs to conforme our selues to his example So that amongst men he shall be the most perfect who shall most frame himselfe thereunto Now that this is an expresse commandement and a perfection necessarily required Bellarmine himselfe dooth acknowledge it chap. 13. of Monks where notwithstanding he doth malitiously loppe off these last wordes § Tertio As my father which is in heauen is perfect 2 With like pride these people will be more perfect then Iesus Christ whose righteousnesse in regard of his humanity consisted in nothing else then in doing the will of his Father And therefore he saith Heb. 10. Here I am O Lord to doe thy will And Galat. 4. He was made subiect to the law to the end that he might redeeme them which were vnder the law 3 All the perfection and righteousnesse likewise of the Angels consisteth onely in executing the commaundements of God Psal 103. You mightie Angels that excell in vertue you that doe his commaundement in obeying the voyce of his wordes ye his seruants that doe his pleasure It is not found that they do any works of supererogation And by that reason the Angelical perfection should be inferior to the Monasticall Me thinks that the Capuchins by calling themselues Angels Arch Angels Spirits Cherubin or Seraphin Friars illuminated Fathers c. haue done wrong to their worth and dignity by taking names too base for them and inferiour to their Capuchine perfection 4 I adde that this word of Counsell of Perfection is iniurious against the law of God and accuseth it of imperfection for it is as much to say that the law is not a perfect rule of Righteousnesse seeing that man a weake and sinfull creature can surpasse it and doe workes much better then it commaundeth That wealth is not great which is surmounted by pouerty It is but a weake and feeble righteousnesse which can be exceeded by sinners If besides the law there haue beene counsels of perfection what doth thence follow but that the law of God is a rule of imperfection 5 But let vs heare a little what are the commaundements of God Iesus Christ Ioh. 13. speaketh thus A new commaundement giue I you that you loue one another as I haue loued you Where is the man so much puffed vp with his owne merites that can surpasse this loue Or loue his neighbour more then Iesus Christ hath loued vs He being righteous hauing giuen his life for sinners The authour of life for mortall men The Sonne of God for the slaues of the Diuell to make them his seruants yea his friendes yea his brethren yea his Spouse yea his body yea one with him These be depths that cannot be fathomed but depths of his loue and grace All the feruor of our charity is but coldnesse in comparison of it how farre then from doing any thing ouer and aboue it 6 God commaundeth in his law that we should loue him with all our heart and with all our strength He commaundeth all that we can doe we cannot then doe more then he commaundeth to say that a man can loue God more then he can is to
their fidelity to the Pope thinke themselues bound to disloyalty towards their King And yet notwithstanding his Maiestie herein contained himselfe and would not that his mercy shold be surpassed by their wickednes so far that he hath rather chuse to take in hand the pen then the sword and hath studied to instruct those whom he might iustly haue destroyed desiring more to conuince them by reason then to ouercome them by force Maluit sanguinem suffundere quam effundere What would not hee doe for his faithfull subiects that lets himselfe downe so low to his enemies that laies aside the quality of a Iudge to become an Aduocate but he whom God hath lifted vp to a Soueraigne greatnesse neuer exalteth himselfe higher then by humility This King then to refute these Papal Letters and to iustifie what he had done made a booke entituled An Apologie for the Oath of Alleageance but not setting his name thereunto for it was nothing to him vnder what title the truth appeared so that his enemies might come to the knowledge of their fault This was no combat of the ability of wit but a meere manifestation of his innocency But the stile of a King is hardly disguised for Kings being in more eleuated places receiue nearer at hand the inspirations from heauen Their conceptions are as much aboue the vulgar as their conditions this onely thought that they are GODS Lieutenants and that they exercise his iudgements quickens their spirits with an extraordinary life and vigour besides if it so happen that their youth hath beene dressed and ordered by study and their iudgments polished by experience as it hath happened to the King of great BRITAINE why should any body wonder if their their spirits flye a pitch aboue ordinary This Royall Apologie hauing then bin knowne as a Lyon by his clawes stirred vp certaine English-men and Italians to write against it who as this King elegantly saide haue cast lots vpon his booke for that they could not part it for the reasons thereof are vnseparably weaued together but they not being able to bite his worke barke at his person with an incredible impudence so far some of them as to equall themselues with so great a Prince and to compare him to Iulian the Apostate Such are the flowers of their diuellish Rhethorique wherewith their writings are adorned on whom the Apostle S. Peter in his second Epistle Cap. 2.10 11 12 giueth this iudgement calling them brute beasts led with sensuality that despise gouernment which are presumptuous and stand in their owne conceit and feare not to speake euil of them which are in dignity whereas the Angels which are greater both in power and might gaue not rayling iudgement against them before the Lord. Then if it be ill done to speake ill of a Pagan Prince such as in those times all Monarches were how much more of a Christian King and if Angels forbore ill speaking of Princes how much more would it beseeme men and most of all their owne subiects But no more then the Moone is turned out of her course by the barking of Dogges that looke vp to her no more was the tranquility of his Maiesties spirit by these outragious iniuries disturbed nor his resolution diuerted from doing good to those which bore him hatred It is a poore and meane thing to tread vpon wormes There is no glory in ouercomming such people of whom he is sufficiently reuenged by the griefe and displeasure which they sustain in seeing that God hath blessed him and highly exalted him He would therefore haue contemned their sleighting of him would haue abstained from refuting their calumnies by a second writing had it not beene in regard not of them but of his people and of his neighbours and aboue all of the glory of God for God hauing honoured him with the true knowledge of him his Maiestie would not permit that the enemies as well of the Gospel as of his Crowne should find in his persō any subiect or colour to defame the true religion He is then by an admirable example constituted the aduocate of Gods cause by a second booke made in forme of a Preface to his former hath fully and throughly iustified himselfe In which booke he discouereth the flights and backe-turnings of his enemies representing the vniustnes of their proceedings He likewise maketh confession of his Religion conformable to the holy Scriptures and with a happy boldnes figures and depaints the Bishoppe of Rome and his Sea with liuely colours borrowed from the Apocalips and the Apostle S. Paul Neuer was Table drawne with a more exact hand or in liuelyer colours Such is the Torrent of his eloquence such is the weight of his reasons such is the linking together of his discourse such the variety of his learning and such his Maiesty in all thinges as hee may best iudge of it who shall compare them with that puft-vp weakenesse of the Popes letters and with the writing of his Aduersaries Oh happy eloquence which being armed with power is become the hand-maide of Gods word the sourse and spring whereof falling from high are like to the waters of Silo which water the City of our God Hee doth truely exalt his Scepter which layeth it downe at the foote of the Crosse and that placeth his height and greatnesse beneath the reproch of the Sonne of God he sanctifieth his house making his Cabinet a Temple for Diuinity and a retrayt for holy Meditations Then as in ancient times the earth was more fruitfull when it was laboured by Kings as though she had taken pride to beare a crowned Plough and to be tilled with a Triumphall Coulter So it is to be hoped that Religion and Piety will abundantly encrease since Kings are become labourers in the Haruest This latter booke then being come to succour and helpe the first did diuersly stirre mens spirits some with ioy some with feare some with hate but all generally with admiration The booke being little it was giuen out we should haue it answered within three dayes and sure their good will was not wanting but they found it a harder matter then so and that they were faine to take more time For it was eight moneths after it was published before the first Answeres came forth and what kinde of Answeres they were God he knoweth One Coeffeteau was the first that like an Infant perdu of the Romish army aduanced himselfe This Seraphicall Doctor of the order of the Iacobins or preaching Fryers one of the most remarkeable amongst the Sorbonists is of late through his companions negligence become the defender of the cause And he now after eight moneths being in labour hath brought forth a booke which is not like to liue because of the vntimely birth and indeede it had beene already extinct and dead had not the greatnesse of him against whom he writes kept it aliue wherein he shewed a point of skill to addresse himselfe against a person so illustrious that he might
receiue some lustre from his reflection But those that desire to make themselues knowne by the greatnesse of their Aduersaries are alwaies such as haue little in themselues why the world should take note of them This Doctor in his booke handleth the King of great Britaine as a Nurce doth her nurce-childe who after shee hath dandled it beates it mingling curstnesse and flattery For in humble termes hee wrongeth him and giueth him respectfull lyes flatters him with iniuries accuseth him to speake vpon trust and that he busieth himselfe with quirkes and subtleties and sayes that he makes S. Paul an Interpreter of the Apocalips This is the forme of his writing as for the matter and substance of his booke I finde that he hath ill measured his owne strength and that with the weakenesse and meanenesse of his skill he hath made the strength of his Maiesties reasons more manifest Gyants are not to be ouerthrown with a breath neyther is a Lion to be fought against with a Festue Other kind of forces are necessary to make resistance to so exquisite a doctrine that is euer abundantly sustained by the truth And indeede he clearely confesseth his weakenesse in this that hee neuer cyteth the Text of the Kings booke but only reporteth the sense thereof disguised and weakened that he may giue himselfe greater scope and liberty forming to himself Chimera's which he impugneth with other Chimera's of his owne as will sufficiently appeare by the examination of his booke to which we now will enter God herein enlighten vs since that which wee say is for his truth which is the light of our soules CHAP. II. Certaine Remonstrances of COEFFETEAV his iudgement touching the Treasons and attempts vppon the life of the King of England ARISTOTLE in the second booke of his Rhetoriques Chap. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith that the Countrey people vse to haue their speeches very full of sentences but folly is more sufferable then vnseasonable wisedome Coeffeteau beginneth his booke much after such fashion making to the King of great Britaine many sententious Remonstrances interlaced and mingled with threats and commendations But whilst he representeth to Kings their duties he goeth beyond his owne for S. Ierome forbids Monkes to be teachers saying in his booke against Vigilantius Monachus non docentissed plangen tis habet officium wishing Monks rather to bewaile and be sorrowfull for their owne faults then to reprehend those of other men But chiefly his Remonstrances are ill employed to a King that is better read in the Bible then he is in his Missall and that hath carefully put in practise the commaundement of God in the seuenteenth of Deuteronomy where hee commaunds Kings to read the booke of the law all the dayes of their liues verse 19. The exhortation that Luther often vsed by his Letters to Pope Leo the tenth to renounce the papacy and to liue of his owne and to come and doe as he did had more grace with it then this of Coeffeteau for it is more probable of the two Sleidan li. 2. that the Pope was the likelier to haue followed Luthers counsell This Doctor hauing thus employed the seuen first pages of his book in these exhortations which haue no other fault but that they are ill applyed comes to those motiues which estrange and keepe the King of England from the Romane Religion supposing the conspiracies that haue beene against his person to be the causes of it thereupon protesteth Fol. 5. pag. 1. that the Romane Church no way approueth such attempts but condemnes them as parricides and wisheth to Princes secure gouernement victorious armes obedient people and faithfull Councell And after addeth That for these considerations the head of the Church which is the Pope cannot disaproue the courses that your Maiestie holaeth to secure your authority and person against the miserable enterprizes so that they bee not repugnant to that Religion which he is bound to desend To this I say Coeffeteau hath beene very ill enformed for the conspiracies against the King of Englands life haue not with-held or kept him from Popery since euen from his Infancy he hath made open profession of the true Religion and before this conspiracy had published the confession of his faith conformable to that which we professe And whereas he condemnes such attempts as are made vpon the liues of Kings we greatly commend him for it and thereby suppose that he no way approued the enterprize of Iames Clement who was domesticke with him and his companion From thence I likewise gather that when the Iesuite Mariana in the sixt Chapter of his booke De Regno prayseth the Act of Iames Clement saying that he was perswaded and enduced thereunto by Diuines with whom hee had conferr'd I gather that Coeffeteau was none of those Diuines and that when this Parricide Saint and Coeffeteau went a begging together hee made him not acquainted with his secret And further it is no small vertue in this Doctor that he feareth not in so iust a cause to condemne many Iesuites who were complices or instigators of this last conspiracy and haue been executed for it Nay more it sheweth a magnanimity in Coeffeteau that hee dares so couragiously oppose himselfe to the Pope and Bellarmine who by their letters before mentioned incite the English to rebellion which could neuer take effect so long as the Kings life should be in safety By the same meanes he likewise condemneth the Authors of the Legend of S. Iames Clement which wee haue seene with our eyes but not without much wonder and admiration The successe of things haue grudged him this honor and men haue beene nothing fauourable and propitious to this Saint otherwise doubtlesse hee had before this beene put into paradice It is likewise a cause of iust ioy vnto vs to see that a Doctor of the Sorbons dare approue the sentence of the Court of Parliament against Iohn Chastell though the Pope of late hath newly censured it By which it dooth also follow that he doth not thinke it well done that Garnet and Ouldcorne Iesuites and parties in the gunpowder treason are at Rome inserted in a roll of Martyres Whosoeuer prayseth and approueth an acte already done will questionlesse counsel and aduise the doing of it for that which is wicked in the vndertaking cannot be good in the execution But the Pope in his breue before mentioned calleth the punishment of Treason and rebellion by the name of Martyrdom which is a dangerous speech able to make Kings tremble when the people shall be taught by Murders and Treasons to seeke the Crowne of Martyrdome An abhominable and detestable doctrine can there be any so colde and frozen zeale that will not hereby be warmed and moued to a iust anger that this so sacred name of Martyr so much reuerenced in the Church should in such sort be prostituted that whereas the holy Scripture calleth them Martyrs which suffer for the testimony of the
4. Epist 5. or heresie In this sense therefore are we hereticks and Sectaries sith that now-a-dayes to acknowledge no other Mediator then Iesus Christ nor any expiation but by his blood or any propitiatorie sacrifice but his death nor any satisfaction of Gods iustice but by his obedience nor any rule to guide vs to saluation but his Worde conteyned in the holy Scriptures is accounted heresie But more clearely to purge himselfe of this crime his Maiesty of England following the commaundent of the Apostle S. Peter which is to be alwayes ready to yeeld an account of the hope that is in vs doth set downe at large a confession of his faith agreeable to the holy Scripture and al vncorrupted antiquity Who shal henceforward be ashamed to confesse the name of God or defend the truth of the Gospell being thus ensampled by a mighty King but this confession conceiued in choyse and significant wordes full of euidence and of power doth worthily challenge a seuerall Discourse And besides it is that against which Coeffeteau doth principally discharge his choller THE DEFENCE OF THE CONFESSION Of the Faith of IAMES the first King of Great BRITAINE THE SECOND BOOKE ARTICLE I. Touching the Creede The KINGS Confession I Am such a Catholicke Christian as beleeueth the three Creedes That of the Apostles that of the Councel of Nice and that of Athanasius the two latter being Paraphrases to the former And I beleeue them in that sense as the Auncient Fathers and Councels that made them did vnderstand them To which three Creedes all the Ministers of England do subscribe at their Ordination And I also acknowledge for Orthodoxe all those other formes of Creedes that eyther were deuised by Councels or particular Fathers against such Heresies as most raigned in their times To this Article Coeffeteau findeth nothing to reply and holding his peace thereupon hee iustifieth vs by his silence ARTICLE II. Touching the Fathers in generall AS for the Fathers I reuerence them as much and more then the Iesuits doe The KINGS Confession and as much as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers for the first fiue hundred yeares did with an vnaâ—ime consent agree upon to be beleeued as a necessary point of saluation I eyther will beleeue it also or at least will be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same Here againe Coeffeteau is silent and knoweth not what to reprehend The Reader may please to call to minde that the points in which his Maiesty of England doth abstaine to condemne the Fathers albeit his beleefe is not bound to follow them are eyther points not necessary to saluation or opinions in which as well our Church as the Church of Rome doth condemne them The Auncients for the most part held that the fall of the Diuels came to passe by reason of their cohabitation with women This is altogether false and a point little important to our saluation They held also for the most part that the soules shall all be purged by the fire of the last iudgement in the expectation of which day the soules as well of the good as of the bad are shut vp in certaine receptacles And in this point they are neyther followed by vs nor by our Aduersaries ARTICLE III. Touching the Authority of the Fathers in particular The KINGS Confession BVt for euery priuate Fathers opinion it bindes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery on of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I will therefore in that case follow S. * Lib. 2. cont Cresconium cap. 32. Augustines rule in iudging of their opinions as I finde them agree with the Scriptures what I finde agreeable thereunto I will gladly embrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect Doctor Coeffeteau dooth yet approue of all this for good seeing he saith nothing to the contrary He acknowledgeth then that the Fathers often disagree among themselues and that they doe not alwayes accord with the word of God neyther must we settle our selues alwayes vpon what some one Father hath taught Causa 12. Quaest 1. Canon Dilectissimi Denique quidam Graecorum sapientissimus haec ita sciens esse colam debeatur ait Amicorum comia esse omnia In omnibus autem sunt sine du bio Coniuges And indeed his Maiesty of England saith this with iust reason for not we alone but also the Church of Rome doth not allow the opinion of Pope Clement the first who would that mens goods and their wiues should be common among Christians Neyther doth the Church of Rome approue the opinion of Ignatius who in the Epistle to the Philippians saith that to fast on the Saterday or on the Sunday it is to be a murtherer of Iesus Christ nor the doctrine of Iustin Martyr who saith in his Dialogue against Tryphon That God in the beginning gaue the Sunne to be adored Nor the opinion of Athanagoras in his Apologie that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That second marriage is but a handsome Kinde exercise of Adulterie Also the Church of Rome doth not beleeue with Origen that the Diuels shall be saued Nor with Clemens Alexandrinus in the sixth booke of his Stromata that the Greeks were saued by their Philosophy Nor with Arnobius in his second booke that God is not the Creator of soules And that the soules of the wicked are reduced to nothing Nor with Ireneus Lib. 2. cap. 63.64 that the soules separated from the body haue feete and handes Iustin was a Chiliast Tertullian a Montanist S. Cyprian an Anabaptist Saint Hilary in his tenth booke of the Trinity mayntaineth in diuers places Virtus corporis sine sensu paenae vim paenae in se desaeuientis excepit Christus cum cibuÌ„ potum accepit non necessitati corporis sed consuetudmi tribuet Secundam ducere secundum praeceptumo Apostoli licitum est ecundum autem veritatis rationem verè fornicatio est He saith the same about the end of his booke De fide Symholo that Iesus Christ in his death suffered no paine And that he did not eate because his body had neede of sustenance but onely by custome Chrysostome alleadged in the Canon Hac Ratione in the Cause 31. Question 1. he saith that S. Paul commaunding second mariages hath spoken against truth and reason and that is truely fornication Saint Austin in his fift booke of his Hypognosticks and in his Epistles 93. and 106. held that the Eucharist is necessary for young children newly borne that they may be saued And in his booke De Dogmatis Eccles cap. 11. He saith that the Angels are Corporeal and in his booke of the Christian combat cap. 32. he sayth that our bodies after the Resurrection shal be no longer flesh nor blood but an heauenly body Gregory of Nyssa in his first Sermon of the resurrection teacheth a prodigious errour namely that the soule of Iesus Christ was already in the graue euen then whiles
Eucharist a sacrifice That the essence of the sacrifice doth not depend from the assistants That the vertue of this Oblation is alwaies one as wel in as out of solemnities Add hereunto that the action cannot be priuate albeit the Priest doe it in particular seeing that he is a publike person That S. Austin speaking of a place haunted with wicked spirits saith that one of his Priests went thither offered the Sacrifice of the body of Christ The Answere The Priest in the Masse saith that he doth offer SacrificiuÌ„ laudis pro redemptione animarum which could no otherwise be done but priuately and without solemnity I answere that Coeffeteau takes much paines to no purpose for we agree with the Fathers that the holy supper is a Sacrifice but yet a Sacrifice Eucharisticall that is a giuing of thankes not propitiatory for the redemption of soules where Christ is really sacrificed which we shall see hereafter Yea were it such a sacrifice as our aduersaries would haue it yet ought it to bee celebrated with the communion of assistants because God hath so commanded 1 Christ Iesus saying to the assistants take eate commaundeth them to participate 2 Againe he addeth Doe this that in the celebration thereof we should follow his example And the Apostle S. Paul 1. cor 10.16 defineth this Sacrament by the Communion saying That the bread which we breake is the communion of the body of Christ 4 The Apostle there addeth wordes that strike sure We are all partakers of one bread then all ought to participate 5 Also the word supper which he vseth in the twentieth verse of the Chapter following signifies a common supper and importeth a communion and we haue elsewhere declared that all auncient Writers doe call this Sacrament a supper Now what can be more absurd then to inuite people to a supper to looke on and eate nothing Who euer heard tell of a feast where the inuiter doth eate alone They reply that at a Feast people cannot be forced to eate whereunto I say that if they should not be compelled they should at least be entreated to eate but in priuate Masses there are none inuited and the Priest is often alone I say farther that the guests should be constrained to eate if God haue so expresly commanded and he hath commanded to take eate and communicate in this holy supper It is no wonder then if the word Supper be grown odious and out of vse seeing it serues to discouer the abuse and that the Etymologie therof is a kinde of commandement 6 Besides what resemblance is there between Christ set at the Table with his Apostles distributing the bread and the cup to euery of them and the Priest that not onely eates and drinkes by himselfe but is often alone and grumbles some few wordes vnheard vpon the Host 7 More especially it is to bee considered that the Church of Rome teacheth that the Eucharist is not onely a sacrifice but also a Sacrament whence it followes that although the Eucharist as it is a sacrifice may be performed without Communicants yet as it is the Sacrament of that Communion which wee haue together with Iesus Christ so is the communion thereof among many required as necessary which shewes how impertinently Coeffeteau speakes That it is not necessary that the Sacrifice be offered by many and that the essence of the Sacrifice dependeth not of the Communicants and that the vertue of the Sacrifice is still the same both with the ceremonies and without them seeing we do not here speake of the Eucharist as it is a sacrifice but a Sacrament If any Sophister make answere that the essence of the Sacrament consisteth not in the Communion but in the consecration my replication is that it contradicts the Apostle who defineth this sacrament by the Communion as we haue seene and definitions are the very essence of things Againe the communion of one bread hath an essentiall reference to our Communion with Iesus Christ which two words are relatiues wherof the former depends vpon the latter Touching the pretended consecration of the Church of Rome it cannot be of the essence of the sacrament for euery sacrament is a holy signe but this consecration is not a holy signe because it doth not signifie any thing no body vnderstands any thing or sees any thing In the booke of the Apology chap. 7. And we haue declared in it place that the true consecration is done by prayer and the auncients so beleeued 8 Noâ—withstanding let vs graunt that the Communion is not of the essence of the Sacrament doth it therefore follow that it is not necessary Is there not validity in Gods commandement to make it necessary Is there nothing necessarie besides that which is of the essence of things then shall not the law or the Gospell be necessary for men because they are not of the essence of men and so shal it not be necessary for Coeffeteau to draw his breath because it is no part of his effence there can nothing be said more wide from the purpose 9 Touching that which he addeth that the cheefe sacrifice of the Synagogue was performed by the High Priest alone within the Holy of Holies I doe admire the negligent rashnes of this Doctor that he dares speake of the Scripture before he read it for had he read it he would haue found the contrary he should haue seene that the blood which the High Priest alone caried into the Sanctum SanctoruÌ„ was the blood of a beast already sacrificed in the Court vpon the altar of burnt offerings in the presence of the people and there was no sacrifice more publique or more solemnly performed Is there any such a nouice in the sacred History that euer thought that Aaron did sacrifice or offer any beast within the place that was most holy It was then a sprinkling of bloud which he made vpon the Arke as the conclusion of the publique sacrifice and was no sacrifice done in priuate Read the thirtieth of Exodus and the sixteenth of Leuiticus 10 Of like stuffe is that which he addeth that Masses without Communicants or assistants cannot be said to be priuate because the Priest is a publique person this is a goodly conceit So then if a Minister doe pray alone in the Church his prayer shal be a publique prayer And should not this Minister deserue a greene coate if being alone hee should say Attend my Masters when he reprehended the walles yet this is that which the Massing Priest in priuate doth at which priuate Masses being all alone he saith Orate pro me fratres Brethren pray for me and which is more he saith Accipite man ducate ex hoc omnes Take and eate all of this and yet offers nothing to any body but eates alone With like abuse doth he say Vt quot quot ex hac altaris participatione sumpserimus c. That al we which by the participation of the Altar haue receiued the
bodie c Wherupon the question is asked to whom the Priest speakes when he saith Brethren pray for me Pope Innocent the third doth answere finely in the second booke of the mysteries of the Masse chap. 25. It must saith he be religiously beleeued that the Angels doe beare them companie that pray according to the saying of the Prophet I will sing vnto thee in the presence of the Angels Which will also serue to resolue other doubts presuming that when the Priest saith Take eate he doth invite the Angels to eate for they come with good stomackes And so of the rest At length the place of Austin is brought which is the onely passage of antiquity that Coeffeteau can finde This Father lib. 22. De ciuit Dei speaking of a place haunted with euill spirits saith that one of his Priests went and offered a Sacrifice there wherupon Coeffeteau saith that this could not be done but priuately and without solemnity but he dares not to affirme that he had no assistants or communicants which is that which he should or else the place makes not to the purpose And indeede we may presume the contrary forasmuch as S Austin speakes of a great house and of some great person of quality that sent not for a Minister of the Church of Carthage to celebrate the holy Sacrament Nusquam expresse legimus a veter ibus oblatum sacrificium sine communione alâ—cuius ve aliquorum to leaue him alone without assistants or communicants and indeede Bellarmine confesseth the impertinency of this place lib. 2. de Missa cap. 9. where he acknowledgeth That there is no expresse place sound where the auncrents haue offered the Sacrifice without some Communicants The common excuse and the same which the Councel of Trent vseth in the seuenth Session is that it comes to passe through the indeuotion of the people which speech doth both confes and yet approue the abuse for the same Councell addeth The holy Councell doth not forbid those Masses wherein the Priest alone doth communicate sacramentally as priuate and vnlawfull but doth approue and commend them which their practise doth proue for if it be through the want of deuotion in the people why doe they not endeauour the remedie for if there be any question of casting into the boxe if any busines fall out concerning tithes and offerings they easily finde the meanes to holde the people in the humor of contribution neither do I finde that the Cardinalls and Bishops doe communicate ofâ—ener then the people For the Priests hinder the people from assisting them because they say an infinite number of Masses in priuate and vpon the sudden of which they giue no warning For three sundry persons will one Priest dispatch three Masses to euery one his own that each of them may pay for a whole Masse And they that will haue yearely Masses doe found yearely Pensions for neuer was any priuate Masse said for him that gaue nothing they vse not to make God for nothing Masses are sold for more or lesse according to the prouision that is made if one pay for one Masse is it any reason that another should equally share with him Yea they buy Masses for the soules of young children dying soone after baptisme which they hold must needes be in Paradice for if Masses doe no good to them that are dead yet they profite those that are aliue Doubtlesse it is couereousnesse that hath hatched this abuse and superstition hath fomented it These men do againe reply although but weakly for say they if no Communicants offer themselues must the Sacrifice be therefore discontinued Let them heare S. Chrysostome thundring thereupon in the third Homily vpon the Ephesians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O custome O presumption in vaine is Sacrifice daily offered in vaine doe we stand at the Altar and none communicate And a little after Whosoeuer doth not communicate in these mysteries is impudent and rash in standing by And further adde that they do falsly presume that the holy supper is a Sacrifice in that sense which they take the word Sacrifice as we shal presently see Now let vs heare the testimonies of the Auncients Peracta consecratione omnes communic ent qui noluerint Ecclesiasticis carere liminibus Sic enim Apostoli sta tuerunt Sancta Romana tenet Ecclesia Tanta in altario holocausta offerantur quanta populo sufficere debeant c. The auncient rule of the Church of the Citie of Rome which is found in the second Distinction of the consecration vnder the name of Anaclet in the Canon Peracta is this The consecration being ended let all those communicate that will not be excluded out of the bounds of the Church for so haue the Apostles ordained and the Church of Rome obserueth And in the Canon Tribus gradibus of the same Distinction Let as many offerings be laid vpon the Table as will serue for all the people to communicate and if any doe remaine let them not be kept vntill the morrow And in the first Distinction of the Consecration in the Canon Hoc quoque the Pope speakes thus It is ordained that no Priest presume to celebrate the solemnities of the Masse if he haue not two others that may answere him and that the Priest be the third because when he saith in the plurall number The Lord be with you and that which he saith in secret pray for me it is apparantly requisite that answere be made to his salutation Iustin Martyr in the second of his Apologie The Deacons doe disiribute the bread to euery one that is present Ignatius in the Epistle to the Philadelphians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominica Coena omnibus debet esse communis One loafe hath beene broken to all S. Ierome vpon the first to the Corinth cap. II. The supper of the Lord ought to be common vnto all The Reader may compare this word the common Supper with the priuate Masse The Authour of the Constitutions ascribed vnto Clement lib. 2. cap. 61. Let euery one receiue the bodie of the Lord. And so haue all the auncient Liturgies Accipiant singuli per se Dominicum corpus although they be much falsified yea and some traces thereof are to be seene in the Masse where the Priest though he be alone doth alwaies speake as vnto many communicants Cum ex more Diaconus clamaret Si quis non communi at det locum Gregory the first Bishop of Rome in the second booke of his Dialogues chap. 13. saith that the Deacon according to the custome crieth if there be any that doth not communicate let him depart And this was sixe hundred yeares after Christ and we could disscend lower But this sufficeth against a man that feares the triall who being not able to alleadge against the King of great Britaine any syllable of Scripture no nor any of the Auncients that speake of priuate Masses doth flie from the matter and desperately
that in a manner the whole earth was filled with it The second place is out of the booke de caena Domini falsly ascribed 10 S. Cyprian as are also all the Treatises De Cardinalib operibus whereof this is one to which there is prefixed a Prologue wherein the Author saith that he hath suppressed his name by which it appeareth that the Authour of this Treatise is vnknowne yet might this booke bee purposely alleadged had it beene written by any auncient Authour that had liued within the first foure or fiue hundred yeares but the stile testifies that it is newly forged witnesse these wordes Distributê° non demembratur incorporatus non iniuriatur This is the worke of some prentice Frier that meant to wrong Priscian The third place is out of S. Ambrose in the ninth Chapter concerning those that are newly instructed in the Mysteries where Ambrose sayth that the benediction chaungeth the nature of the Sacrament and that it is not that which nature hath made but what the blessing hath consecrated And to shew that in this action there is a supernaturall worke he brings the example of Airons rod turned into a Serpent so farre doth Coeffeteau alleadge S. Ambrose but hee doth malitiously omit many examples following by which it appeareth that S. Ambrose did not thinke that that which was to be admired in this Sacrament was the Transubstantiation of the bread For he addeth also these examples that Moses deuided the redde Sea that the Riuer Iordan turned his course that water issued out of the Rocke that the bitter waters of Mara were made sweete that Elizeus made Iron to swimme vpon the water which were all workes of God whrein there was no transubstantiation which declare that he beleeued not that the bread became the body of Christ so as it was no more bread in substance which did plainly appeare for that in the words following comparing these miracles of the Prophets wherein God changed the nature of things Non minus est nouas res rebus dare quam mutare naturas with the change that is wrought in the Sacrament he saith That it is no lesse to adde some new things vnto things then to change the nature of things Auerring plainely thereby that the bread hath receiued some new thing without losing the nature of bread And we may not thinke it strange if he say that the bread remaining bread hath changed it nature For so a bit of Waxe becomming the Kings seale changeth it nature without Transubstantiation and is not any more commonly called Waxe euen as the common bread becommeth holy in the Sacrament Vera vtique caro Christi quae crucifixa quae sepulta est Verè ergo carnis illius Sacramentum est Ipse clamat Dominus Iesus Hoc est corpus meuÌ„ Ante benedictionem verborum caelâ—stium alia species nominatur post consecrationem corpê° Christi significatur and by this consecration is often called the body of Christ Therefore he further addeth It was the true flesh of Christ which hath beene crucified and buried This then is as truely the holy signe of the flesh The Lord himselfe crieth aloud this is my body before the blessing of the heauenly wordes another kinde is named after the blessing the body of Christ is signified The last place is out of S. Chrysostome in his Sermon of the Dedication where in his flourishing Discourse after his manner he heapes vp Hyperbolies to enflame his Auditory You which come saith he thinke not to receiue the Diuine body of a man but that you receiue the very Seraphins of fire with their tongues And a little after the spirituall fire streameth downe from the table Transported with the same zeale he saith there that the mysteries are consumed by the substance of the body And so in the fiue and fortieth Homily vpon S. Iohn We are mingled and knead with him we fasten our teeth in his flesh All which are hyperbolicall phrases and such as being hardly taken were absurd in the very iudgement of our aduersaries which make the helpes of deuotion to couer Idolatry for to know what is a Doctors opinion we must not take his Oratorious Amplifications nor Hyperbolical extasies Acceptum paneÌ„ distributum discipulis corpus suum fecit dicendo hoc est corpus meum id est figura corporis me i. Panem suum corpus appellans vt hinc iam eum intelligas corporis sui siguram pani dedisse I I le cibus qui sanctificatur per verbum Dei perque obsecrationem iuxta id quod habet materiale in ventrem abit in secessum emittitur but out of the places in which they aduisedly and expresly treate of this matter of which you shall haue here some passages Tertullian in his fourth booke against Marcion cap. 40. Iesus Christ hauing taken bread and distributed it to his Disciples he made it to be his body saying This is my body that is the figure of my body The same in his third booke against Marcion cap. 19. God hath so reuealed it in the Gospell calling the bread his body to the end that thereby thou mayest vnderstand that he hath giuen to the bread to be a figure of his body Origen vpon the fifteenth of Matthew That meate which is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer as touching the matter it goeth downe into the belly and is cast out into the draught and doth not sanctifie of its owne nature Cyprian in his third Epistle of the second booke Vinum fuit quod sanguinem suum dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Non dubitauit dicere Hoc est corpus mâ—um cum daret signum corporis sui Sicut ergo secundum quendam modum Sacramentum corporis Christi orpus Christi est Sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est Ita Sacramentum fidei fides est Spiritualiter intelligitur quod locutus sum non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis bibituri illum sanguinem quem fuâ—uri sunt qui me crucifigent Sacramentum a liquod vobis commendaui Spiritualiter intellectum viuificabit vos We find that the Cup which the Lord offered was mingled and THAT WHICH HE CALLED HIS BLOVD WAS WINE Eusebius in the eighth booke of the Demonstration of the Gospell chap. 1. towards the end Iesus Christ gaue to his Disciples the signes of the diuine dispensation commaunding them to celebrate the figure of his owne body For seeing that he did now no longer receiue the sacrifices of bloud nor the slaughter of diuers beasts ordained by Moses he hath taught vs to vse the bread for a signe of his body S. Austin against Adimantus chap. 12. The Lord made no difficulty to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body Where we see that he expoundeth this word Body by signe of my body In his three and twentieth Epistle to Boniface The holy signe of Christs
body is after a sort the body of Christ and the holy signe of the blood of Christ is the blood of Christ and so the holy signe of faith to wit Baptisme is faith Certainely Baptisme is not transubstantiated into faith neyther the Sacrament then of the body of Christ into the body of Christ Now we must note that himselfe in his tenth book of the Citie of God and in the fift Epistle to Marcellius declareth that this word sacrament signifieth an holy signe Vpon the ninety eight Psalme Vnderstand that which I say spiritually you shall not eate his body which you see neyther shall you drinke the blood which my tormentors shall shedde I haue recommended vnto you an holy signe which being spiritually vnderstood shal make you liue Himselfe in his third booke and sixteene Chapter of Christian doctrine Nisi manducauerit is carneÌ„ filij hominis non biberitis eius sanguinem facinus vel flagitium videtur iubere Figura est ergo praecipions passioni dominicae esse communicandum suauiter atque vtiliter recondendum in memoria quod pro nobis caro eius crucifixa vulnerata sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Except you eate saith Christ the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood you shall haue no life in you It seemeth that he commaundeth a wickednesse It is then a figure which commaundeth vs to communicate of the Passion of our Lord and quietly and profitably to lay vp in our memories that his flesh was wounded and crucified for vs. Obserue how he expoundeth this Figure to wit that to eate the flesh of the Sonne of man is to communicate of his Passion and to ruminate and meditate thereon carefully in our memories Theodoret in his first Dialogue intituled Immoueable fol. 8. of the Romane Edition The Lord hath giuen to the signe the name of his body What can a man say more expresly And a little after He hath called the signe his blood A little after Iesus Christ hath honoured visible signes with the Appellation of his body not hauing changed their nature but hauing added grace to nature So many wordes so many flashes of lightning In the second Dialogue the Eutychien Heretique agreeth with Coeffeteau and maintaineth the Tranâ—ubstantiation of the bread into flesh But Theodoret doth reprehend him thus The Mysticall signes doe not change their nature after the consecration for they remaine in their first substance and forme and figure and are visible and to be handled as before but they are vnderstood to bee the things which they are made and are beleeued and reuerenced as being become that which they are beleeued to be Gelasius aboue all is excellent in his booke of the two natures Et tamen esse non desimit substantia vel natura panis vini cert è imago siâ—â—â—itudo corporis sanguinis Christi in actione mysteriorum celebrantur Certainly the Sacraments of the body and blood of Christ which we receiue are a diuine thing and therfore also by them we are made partakers of the Diuine nature and yet notwithstanding the Substance and nature of the bread and of that wine doth not let to remaine And surely the Image and semblance of the body and blood of Christ are celebrated in the action of mysteries What more Let vs heare the Canonists of the Church of Rome in a Glosse more auncient then the Transubstantiation Caeleste Sacramentum quod verè repraesentat carnem Christi dicitur corpus Christi sed impropriè vnde dicitur suo modo non rei veritate sed significante mysterio vt sensus sit vocatus Christi corpus id est significatur Sicut caelestis panis qui Christi caro est suo modo vocatur corpus Christi cum revera sit Sacramentum corporis Christi ill us videlicet quod visibile c. couched in admirable formall termes vpon the Canon Hoc est in the second Distinction of the Consecration thus speaketh the Glosse The heauenly Sacrament which truely representeth the flesh of Christ is called the body of Christ but improperly and therefore it is so called after a sort and not according to the verity of the thing it selfe but by a significant mysterie so that the sense is this it is called the body of Christ that is to say the body of Christ is signified thereby The same Text of the Canon drawne out of S. Austin is no lesse direct to the purpose The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ is after it manner of speaking called the body of Christ albeit in truth it be a holy signe of the body of Christ to wit of him who is visible palpable mortall hanged on the Crosse Adde hereunto the auncient customes diametrally contrary to Transubstantiation The a Hierom. in 1. ad Corinth cap 11. auncient Christians made a feast in which they did eate the remaines of the Sacrament It was also the custome of many places to giue those residues to little children as * Euag. 4. lib. Histoâ—iae cap 35 Niceph. lib. 17. cap. 25. Euagrius and Nicephorus doe witnesse In other places they burnt them as Hesychius teacheth in his second booke vpon Leuiticus chap. 8. They gaue the bread of the Sacrament into the peoples b Euseb libr. 7. cap. 8 August contra literas Petiliani lib. 9. cap. 30. handes and sometimes permitted them to carry it home They did not make any eleuation of the Host neyther did the people adore it They did not speake in those dayes of that concomitancy which putteth the whole body of Christ into euery drop of the Chalice In stead of a little Wafer cake which now they lift vp they couered the Table with bread and wine To licke vp the drops which fall from the Chalice to burne the Parings and to put them vp for relicks to seeke for the Host in the vomitings to celebrate the God-feast or Corpus Christi day and to carry God in procession betweene two rowes of Tapestry are customes of which we finde no tract or trace in the auncients who doe neyther likewise speake of accidents without subiect of length without any thing that is long or of roundnesse and nothing round no more then of a body without place and of a body of Christ farre separated from it selfe higher and lower then it selfe which also they affirme to be in this Sacrament figure of it selfe and to be with all his length in each part of the Host to haue a length without extent to haue all his length in one point which hath no length at all In a word there is no mention of a thousand such like prodigious fancies which now they beleeue in the Church of Rome with more respect then the Gospell out of which Coeffeteau without doubt would haue produced some proofes if he had found any rather then haue alleadged foure miserable places of the Fathers falsified and curtalled after his manner 1 For
which did neyther sweat nor suffer Which of these two was our Sauiour If hee bee but one how is he contrary to himselfe For we haue shewed else where that the Distinction of diuers respects cannot be but when onething is compared to diuers things at one time as when one and the same man is poore and rich little and great in comparison of diuers persons But here they apply these diuers respects to the body of Iesus Christ without comparing him to any other body nay they oppose him to himselfe That I may not further say that this doctrine doth annihilate the body of our Lord by being receiued into the stomacke for when the formes are altered in the stomacke by the digestion they say that the body of the Lord is no longer there neyther yet is it come forth it must follow then that eyther it is reduced to nothing or changed into something else Both the one and the other are alike blasphemous ARTICLE XII Touching the Adoration of the Host THe Confession of the Kings Booke doth place among the new inuentions of the Church of Rome The Adoration of the Host and the Eleuation which is made to haue it adored This poynt is important and which doth surprise our spirits with a heauinesse mixt with horrour when at the sound of a little Bell the Priest lifteth vp the breade and euery man prostrateth himselfe to adore it Or when the people doth not let to kneele in the dyrt to adore their God which passeth along the street inclosed in a Pixe or Boxe It had beene greatly therefore to haue beene wished that Coeffeteau could haue produced some commandement of God for the same or some example of the Apostles but that could he not doe neyther hath any man done it hithervnto He commeth therefore to the Fathers and produceth for the same three passages the one of Chrysostome in his foure and twentieth Homily vpon the first to the Corinth the other of S. Ambrose in his third booke of the Sacraments chap. 12. And the last of S. Austin vpon the foure-score and eighteene Psalme All three exhort the faithful to adore the flesh of Iesus Christ and that which is more to adore him in the Eucharist Neuer did man more abuse his Reader and he seemeth to thinke that we are beside our selues for is there any thing in all this which we doe not willingly graunt him Is there any amongst vs who hath euer denied that wee ought not to adore the flesh of Iesus Christ Yea who hath euer doubted that we ought not to adore him in the Eucharist Ought not God the Father also to be adored And what is this to the purpose to inclose Iesus Christ vnder formes He that doth adore Iesus Christ in the Eucharist doth not for al that adore that which the Priest holdeth in his hand but he adoreth Iesus Christ which is in heauen Of these three places that which our aduersaries doe most presse is the place of S. Austin vpon the foure-score and eyghteene Psalme where hee saith that no man doth eate this flesh vnlesse hee haue first adored it Nemo carnem illam manducat nisi prius adorauerit An excellent passage For doth not S. Austin speake of the true and serious adoration Iudas then did not eate this flesh for he did not adore it According to this rule the Hypocrites who partake of the Sacrament doe not eate the flesh of the Lord for they doe not adore it Now what it is to eate the flesh of the Lord himselfe hath tolde vs as hath beene before alleadged Lib. 3. de Doctr. Christ cap 16. That to eate his flesh is a figure which signifieth to communicate of his passion and to meditate thereof in our memories And as he speaketh in his twenty sixe Tract vpon S. Iohn To beleeue in him is to eate the bread of life Credere in eum hoc est manducare panem vivumâ—qui credit in eum manducat eum he that doth beleeue in him doth eate him We hoped then that Coeffeteau would here haue produced the publique customes to shewe that it was then the custome to adore the Host which the Priest doth holde vp with diuine worship called Latria but he hath not beene able to finde any Dionysius who in his Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy discribeth very exactly the forme of the publique seruice which was some foure hundred yeares after Iesus Christ and the Apostolical constitutions of Clement where all the Ceremony of that time is depainted and the auncient Liturgies howsoeuer fouly falsified doe in no wise speake of this adoration of the Host Theodoret saith indeede that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the signes are reuerenced This word Signes sheweth sufficiently that he doth not speake of diuine adoration which they call Cultus Latriae For that should be impiety ARTICLE XIII Touching the Eleuation of the Host to haue it to be Adored THe King of great Britaine demaunded proofes out of the fiue first ages or first fiue hundred yeares after Christ that is to say aswell Scripture as the auncient Doctors by which it might appeare that Iesus Christ or his Apostles made eleuation of the host Hereat Coeffeteau holdeth his peace Fol. 50. pag. 2. and in stead thereof saith that the auncient Church did shew the mysteries or sacraments to the people by drawing a Vaile or Curtaine from before the Table which is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and he hath learned that out of my booke of the Apology of the Lords Supper Chrysostome in his third Homily vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians When thou shalt see the double Curtaines to be drawne then thinke that heauen doth open and inlarge it selfe And Dionysius in his Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy The Bishop discouereth and setteth out to open view the thing celebrated by the signes holily proposed And Basil in like manner in his booke of the holy Ghost Who is it of the Saints who hath left in writing the wordes of the prayer when they shew abroad the bread of the Eucharist and the Cup of blessing This vncouering of the Sacrament was done saith Coeffeteau to cause it to be adored and as he speaketh this without all proofe so doth he it most falsely and was not able to alleadge any one authority where mention is made eyther of the eleuation or of the Adoration of the host but in stead thereof he bringeth certaine passages which speake of the vncouering of the bread and of the drawing of a Curtaine ARTICLE XIIII Touching the carrying of God in the Procession The KINGS Confession Pope Vrbane the fourth instituted this feast in the yeare 1264. THe God-feast or Corpus Christi day and the walking or Circumportation of the Sacrament in procession is of this ranck and the King of great Britaine doth place it among the Nouelties Hereupon Coeffeteau fearing the touch and triall maketh an honest retreat without standing vpon his defence for he onely saith Fol 51
Confession TOuching the Reliques of Saints if I had any such that I were assured were members of their bodies I would honourably burie them and not giue them the reward of condemned mens members which are only ordained to be depriued of buriall But for worshipping eyther them or Images I must account it damnable Idolatry Vnto this doth Doctor Coeffeteau oppose foure passages of the Fathers alleadging S. Ierome dissputing against Vigilantius for the Reliques of Saint Ambrose in his Sermon of S. Nazarius and S. Celsus saying in many places that he honoureth the bodies of Saints S. Chrysostome who in his Homily of S. Iuuentius and Maximus saith that men doe visite and adorue their Tombes and touch their Reliques with faith to the end they may receiue some blessing thereby S. Augustine in the two and twentieth booke of the City of God speaking of three persons that were cured with the touch of certaine Reliques He alleadgeth no one testimony of holy Scripture it hath no voyce in the Chapter and yet hee skips at once ouer the first foure hundred yeares after Christ for the auncientest of these foure wrote about the end of the fouth age 1 To begin then with the word of God Wee read in the olde Testament that the bodies of the holy Patriarches haue beene enterred Gen. 50.25 and buried in the Sepulchres of their Fathers Ioseph when he died gaue order that his bones should be kept till their departure out of Egypt for he desired that the keeping of his bones should be an instruction to continue the hope of their deliuerance but of any worship done vnto his bones there is no mention at all 2 When Moses died vpon the mountaine of Nebo Deut. 34.6 God would not suffer the Israelites to know the place of his buriall the reason being doubtlesse a feare that they would haue Idolatrously abused his bodie 3 In the first booke of Kings chap. 13. God raised a dead man by the vertue of Elizeus his touching of the dead body the Lord intending by this Miracle to authorize the doctrine of his faithfull seruant But we finde not at all that the body of Elizeus was for this taken out of his graue neyther that the people did kneele to his bones that they brought any offerings vnto it or that they kissed or carried it in procession Ver. 17 4 In the second booke of Kings cap. 23 King Iosias forbids the digging vp of the bones of a deceased Prophet but will haue them left in the Sepulchre He doth not then commaund any transportation of his bones or to yeelde any veneration or worship or oblation or adoration Ver 12 5 In the ninteenth of the Acts there are cures wrought by touching of the Kerchiefes brought from S. Paul yet is not the linnen put apart for a relique nor is there any ceremony done vntoit For the Miracles were not wrought by any vertue of the linnen but by the power of God who by these Miracles confirmed the preaching of his holy Apostle 6 Therefore Esay 8.19.20 the Prophet hauing reproued those that went from the liuing to the dead sends vs to the law and the testimony if wee will haue the light of heauen to shine vpon vs. 7 To be short our aduersaries finde not one sillable in the word of God nor any example of any religious seruice or adoration of Reliques For it is vntruely affirmed by Bellarmine that the Scripture alloweth the religious worship performed to our * Lib. de reliquijs sanctorum cap. 4 §. Ad tertium Seriptura approbat cultum Sepulchri fimbrie Christa Item vmbrae Petri sudariorum semicinctâ—orum Pauli Sauiors Sepulchre and to the hemme of his garment and to Peters shadow and Pauls Kercheifes How should it approue that whereof it makes no mention at all Why doth he not alleadge some passage of Scripture wherein the worship or veneration of the linnen or shadowes or Sepulchres is mentioned who will be perswaded that a learned man affirming a matter so full of vntruth should haue any conscience in him So in the beginning of the third Chapter hee falsely alleadgeth these wordes out of the eleuenth of Esay ver 10. His Sepulchre shall be glorious for it is in the Hebrew his rest shall be glorious whereunto let this be added that there is no word in that place of any worship performed to this Sepulchre Now that the point in difference betweene vs may be vnderstood wee dispute not whether the bodies of Saints and Martyrs may be reserued respectiuely or in case their Sepulchres were vndecently placed or ridiculously exposed to prophane insolencies whether it be lawfull to remoue their bodies to some other place for thus farre we agree And his Maiesty of England protesteth that if hee certainely knew any Reliques which were indeede the body of any Saint he would honourably burie them and keepe them with respect for if men doe curiously affect the sight of the monuments of auncient Kings or pagan Emperours who should be so prophane as not to desire the sight of the Tombs of the Apostles and of those sacred lights whose glory shineth euen after their death Or who in this regard would not be touched with a louing respect to them and their memory But the question is whether wee must performe any seruice to these Reliques or must adore them or speake to things without life or offer vnto bones or clothes or whether God haue commaunded to lay them vpon Altars or carry them in procession For the Conuenticle held at Nice Pag 104 of the Colen Edition Ossa cineres pannos sanguinem sepulera denique martyrum adoremus about the yeare 789. which the Church of Rome reckoneth for a generall Councell in the fourth Act willeth that the bones ashes and the ragges be adored And Bellarmine in the fourth chapter * §. Quod autem Chrysostemê° Sermone in Sanctos Iuuentium Maximum dicit Tumulos Martyrum adoremus of his booke of Reliques proueth the adoration of Reliques by these wordes of Chrysostome in his Sermon of Iuuentius and Maximus Tumulos Martyrum adoremus Let vs adore the Monuments of Martyrs but the words in Chrysostome are Tumulos Martyrum adornemus Let vs adorne the monuments of Martyrs which is a horrible falsification but this is ordinary with the Cardinall whereof Coeffeteau himselfe is euen ashamed for alleadging the same passage he translates it faithfully Fol. 55. pag. 2. Let vs adorne their monuments The same Cardinall about the end of the second chapter sayth We adore not Reliques as God then by his owne confession he worshippeth Reliques but it is with an inferiour adoration Now wee require our aduersaries to shew vs some commaundement of God or some example out of the holy Historie for this adoration and religious worship for whatsoeuer distinction of worship they may produce is alwaies such a seruice and religious worship as God hath not commaunded and is consequently comprised vnder that
worship which S. Paul condemneth Coloss 2. calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is will worship or voluntarie deuotion And there can bee no Religious worship how meane so euer but turnes to an abuse when it is transferred to a dead thing Sith that the Church of Rome doeth speake to these reliques and salutes the Napkin the Speare the Teares the Crosse saying Aue sancta facies c. And Aue lignum triumphale And hee that shall obserue with what zeale the people is caried to the Adoration of these Reliques shall find that the seruice of God in comparison thereof is key-cold At Paris when the Caskets of S. Geneueifues S. Marcellus Relickes being carried about come to meete each other the people are made to beleeue that the bearers haue much adoe to plucke them asunder they bee such sociable Reliques and louing bones that they should haue beene lodged in one Tombe to giue them contentment In this solemnitie it is a wonder to see the zeale of the people and with what a tumult they throng and presse to come neere to it All the Angels together haue not the one quarter of this honour And the Soules of Moyses Abraham Noe c. are much lesse honoured then Saint Francis breeches or a peece of his Pilgrims staffe It is to small purpose to say that this is done in honour of the Saints For it should first be shewed that God hath commanded it Secondly we ought to be well assured that the Saints are well pleased with this seruice Add further if a King should put off his Doublet I thinke there is no man vnlesse he haue his wits crazed that would salute it much lesse to say vnto it God saue thee Doublet as they doe in the Church of Rome where men say I greete thee O teare And God saue thee O triumphall wood If you salute any thing in honour of Iesus Christ or of whomsoeuer it ought in reason to vnderstand what you say And here we haue the first strength of antiquitie on our side Eusebius in the fourth Booke Nullus ad Aegyptum meas perferat reliquias ne vano corpus honore scruetur Ne vituperati ritus a me vt nostis etiam circa me seruentur obsequia Vos igitur humo tegite vos patris operite corpusculum Et illud quoque senis vestri custodite mandatum vt nemo praeter vestraÌ„ dilectionem locum tumuli mei nouerit Chapter fifteene of his Historie speaking of the Martyrdom of Polycarpe saith that the Christians were charie of his Ashes and that they had procured them to bee buried but hee doeth not speake of any seruice or Religious worship or adoration done to the ashes Saint Athanasius in the life of S. Anthonie is most pregnant to this purpose where he saith that these were the last words of Anthony when he lay dying Let no man carie my Reliques into Egypt for feare lest my body be honoured with vaine honour for feare least Obsequies and Funerall solemnities which I haue blamed as you know be practised vpon my selfe For I am especially returned to this place to auoide it doe you then hide and couer this poore body with earth and obserue the commandement of your aged father that no man beside your selues know the place where I am buried Out of this place appeareth that the Christians euen from that time were excessiuely giuen to honour the bodies of the beleeuers that died And we must not thinke that S. Anthony was afraid that the Christians would adore him for GOD after his death For Bellarmine doeth acknowledge that which indeede is a truth That * it was neuer heard that any Christians did conferre Diuine honours vpon the Reliques of Saints The custome of the ancient Church was to burie the bodies of Martyrs and not to put them in Caskets out of the ground to carie them about in Procession In the eight Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles the Christians doe there burie Steuen without mention of any seruice done vnto his body The same was done to Polycarpus as Eusebius witnesseth Saint Ambrose had appointed the place which was vnder the Altar or the Communion Table for his buriall as appeareth by his last Epistle for in those dayes the Altar was most commonly a Table of wood easie to be remooued so that the pauement vnderneath might well be broken vp to lay a dead body Gaudens autem quae aderat multitudo corpora Sanctorum diligenti tradidit sepulturae Victor in his third Booke of the Vandals persecution The multitude did with ioy and withall diligence lay vp the bodyes of the Saints in a Tombe The Poet Prudentius about the end of his Hymne vpon Eulalia Relliquias Cineresque sacros Seruat humus veneranda sinu And in the beginning of the Hymne next following Bis nouem noster populus sub vno Martyrum seruat cineres sepulchro Theodoret in the first Booke of his Storie Chapter eighteene doeth sufficiently shew that the Christians Cap. 4 de relliq Sanct. § Dices Nuaquam est auditum apud Christianos ot aliqui sanctorum reliquijs dâ—uinos honores detulerint then knew not what it meant to yeeld Religious worship to Reliques in that hee saith that Constantine hauing recouered the nayles of our Sauiours Crosse set some of them in his Helmet the rest hee thrust into the Bit of his Horses bridle That is he put two * in his Head peece and the other two in the Bridle Thus did this venerable Horse chew Reliques What it was that mooued this Emperour to doe it is another matter But I say that the Bishoppes of that time would neuer haue suffered that to haue beene done if they had thought that any Religious seruice or adoration had beene due to those Nayles In the meane while it is a thing to be wondred at how these Nayles hauing beene lost for three hundred yeeres space were thus found altogether so fitte to the purpose And how Helena the Emperours mother could discerne them from the Nayles of the two theeues and how the fourth Nayle was lost For the Crosse had in the middle a little * Plautus Mostellaria Act 2. Vt affigantur bis pedes bis brachia Irenaeus lâ—bro secundo cap 42. Vnum in medio vbi requâ—escit qui clauis affigitur Super hanc tabulam tanquam hominis sâ—antis sacrae affixe sunt plantae boorde vpon which the feete of the malefactors to bee Crucified were set and each foote was Nayled a part and so also our Sauiour way Nayled as Iustin Martyr teacheth in his Dialogue against Tryphon and Ireneus lib. 2. Cap. 42. Nazianzen in his verses of Christ suffering And Theodoret before alleadged But especially Gregorie of Tours in his booke of the praise of Martyrs And therefore it was a negligence in Helen that shee did not imploye her selfe to finde out the fourth nayle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For there were foure Nayles Cypriani liber
his abode by the Reliques of Saints In another place he saith there were non done at all Surely the writings of the Fathers passed throgh certaine ages horribly darkened with ignorance in which some malicious men tooke a pleasure to falsifie them And indeede by the course of Storie of the ages following a man may obserue that by how much the more ignorance increased by corruption of doctrine by so much the more miracles were wrought Reade the Dialogue of Gregorie the first and you shall see that Christ did nothing in a manner in comparison of the miracles then wrought Gregorie himselfe in the fourth booke of his Dialogues chap. 41. wondereth at it and propoundeth this quetion to himselfe Quid hoc est quaeso quod in his extremis tem poribus tam multa de animabus clarescunt quae ante latuerant How commeth it to passe that in these latter times so many thinges are reuealed vnto vs touching the soules of the dead which before were bidden For then in those times men talked of nothing but of Ghosts that appeared which exhorted men liuing to giue to the Church And it was yet but the sixt hundreth yeare of Christ so much had the Prince of this world gotten in short time That which Coeffeteau most maketh bragges off and setteth it out with fairest colour is the testimony of S. Hierome Epistola ad Riparum aduersus Vigilantium Ergo Petri Pauli immundae sunt reliquiae who hath written two Epistles in defence of the Reliques of Saints against Vigilantius who did oppugne them But there is no affinity betweene their quarrell and ours For Hierome accuseth Vigilantius for accounting the Reliques of Saints vncleane a thing which we neuer affirmed nay the King of England speaketh of them with great respect He saith further Epist 2 aduers Vigil SanctoruÌ„ reliquias proijci in sterquilinium vt solus Vigilantius ebriê dormiens adoretur That Vigilantius would haue the reliques of Saints cast out vpon the dung hill that himselfe alone though druncke and asleepe might onely be adored Haue we euer said so Or is there any of vs that would onely be adored But as touching the question whether Reliques be to be adored S. Hierome in the Epistle before alleaged doth flatly denie that they ought to be adored Nos autem non dico Martyrum reliquias sed ne Solem quidem Lunam non Angelos non Archangelos colimus aaoramus We doe not adore I doe not say onely the Reliques of Martyrs But neither Sunne nor Moone for Angels nor Archangels Where is to bee seene that hee would haue it esteemed lesse strange to adore the Sunne then Reliques Which maketh vs to suspect the place in his Epistle to Marcella of falshood where he exhorteth her Samariam pergere Iohannis Baptistae Helisaei quoque Abdiae pariter cineres adorare to come to Samaria and to adore the ashes of Iohn Baptist Elizeus and Abdias Howsoeuer if he would haue beene beleeued he should haue grounded his saying vpon the authority of the word of God according to the rule which himselfe giueth vpon the 23. chapter of S. Matthew Because saith he Hoc quiae de Scripturis non habet authoritatem pari facilitate conteÌ„nitur qua probatur Lib. de Reliquijs Cap. 3. §. Gregor Lib. de Reliquijs c. 3. §. ex Africa this is not grounded vpon the authority of the Scriptures we may as easily reiect it as they proue it The place of Gregorie Nyssenus which Bellarmine produceth is false We haue heretofore shewed the falshood of that Oration vpon Theodorus As also that is false which he saith that the fift Councell of Carthage forbiddeth any Altar to bee dedicated without Reliques The Councell doth not speake in that place of all Altars but of the monuments of Martyrs which the beleeuing Christians assembling themselues together in the Church-yeards vsed in steede of Altars And because that for want of true monuments they sometimes erected in honour of true Martyrs false deuised sepulchres the Councel commandeth them to be plucked downe It is a thing incredible how the workes of this Cardinall doe swarme with vntruthes The other places which he alleageth doe neither speake of adoration nor religious worship Suborning of counterfait Reliques But the maine point is that through tract of time and the malice of men the question is now changed For in those times while the sufferings of the Martyrs were yet fresh in mens mindes and their Reliques certainely knowne men disputed vpon some ground and subiect how far they were to be honoured But now a dayes they thrust vpon vs fained Reliques counterfaite marchandise as a meere Artifice for gaine Reliques which they are wont â—o shew in darke places and that by vncouering them either by halfes or not at al making the seely people to rest content by bare seeing of the box or casket causing them to kneele vnto them with troubled deuotion And if they depart out of thâ—se Oratories without offering or paying it will be thought heresie or ingratitude Some Reliques there are meerely forged to mock and abuse the world And Burgos in Spaine there is a Crucifix whose bearde they cut euery moneth and pare his nailes and these parings are said to bee of great vertue At Rome there is kept in S. Iohns Church in Lateran the circumcised fore-skin of Christ as also the very Altar at the which Iohn Baptist did say diuine seruice in the wildernesse as witnesseth the booke of Romish Indulgences printed at Rome Our Pilgrims bring home out of Galizia the feathers of certaine hennes which are of the race of that cock that crew to S. Peter when he denied his master In S. Sulpitius Church in Paris there is a stone of that fountaine wherein the Virgin Mary washed the swathing-clothes of Christ newly borne There was shewed vnto my selfe at S. Denis Iudas his Lanterne which doubtlesse is a peece of great vertue As also Aarons rodde which by that reckoning must needes haue lasted three thousand and six hundred yeares without rotting and yet our good masters confesse that the coÌ„secrated hosts doe finnow and grow mouldy the presence of Christ in them cannot saue them from putrefaction Men goe to Collein to worship the bodies of the three Kings that neuer yet were The authour of the booke called Opus imperfectum vpon S. Mathew attributed to Chrysostome saith that they were of those whom they called Magi wizards or soothsayers and that they were twelue in number Their names Gaspar Melchior and Balthasar doe shew that it was the inuention of some Almaine Monke for the two first are high-dutch names That good and faithfull seruant of God Theodore Beza whom God hath now gathered to his Saints in glory in his booke against Baldwine reporteth of himselfe that he saw at Tours a crosse laden with rich stones which the people adored at the Passion amongst the rest there was an Achates or an
Thom. in 4. Dist 45. quaest 2. doe testifie that the soule of Traian a heathen Emperour was deliuered our of hell by the praiers of Pope Gregorie Gabriel Biel holdes the same in the fifty sixe Lecture vpon the Canon of the Masse and Ciacconus hath particularly written an Apology for this Story This Pope then prayed not for Traians soule to the end he might bring him out of Purgatorie 10 In the Masse there are among many new patches some auncient clauses and among others the Memento for the dead of which these wordes are a part The Reader shall note that in this place where the two letters N N are the Priest doth softly name some persons deceased for whom their parents haue payde Memento Domine famulorum famularumque tuarum N N. qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei dormiunt in somno pacis That is Remember Lord thy seruants which haue gone before vs with the signe of faith and doe sleepe in the rest of peace The words are very remarkable clearely euidencing that when these prayers were made Purgatory was not beleeued but it was beleeued that the soules did sleepe in a peaceable rest waiting for the resurrection and that in this sleepe they receiued some ioyfull refreshing by their prayers that were aliue 11 But aboue all haue I often wondred at the forme of the prayer ordinarily vsed for the dead for it makes no wordes of Purgatory but onely desireth of God that the soules of the dead may be deliuered from euerlasting death and from the last iudgement Libera Domine de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda Quando caeli mouendi sunt terra Cum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem Trèmens factus sum c. Obserue this whole prayer Deliuer O Lord from eternall death in that dreadfull day when the heauens and the earth shall be mooued when thou shalt come to iudge the world by fire I feare and tremble when the triall and wrath to come shall be at hand this day of wrath of calamity and misery this great and wonderfull bitter day And note that this prayer wherein the soule of the departed is brought in apprehending that it shall be sent to Hell at the day of iudgement is said also for the soule of the Pope Lib. 1. Sacrarum Cerem Sect. 15. cap. 1. in the solemnization of his obsequies by which it appeareth that there is some feare that he may be in hell but of Purgatory there is nothing mentioned no more then in all the publique prayers of the Church of Rome for the dead for they onely craue deliuerance from eternall death and to rise in glory as in this Absolue quaesumus Domine animam famuli tui N. ab omni vinculo delictorum vt in resurrectionis gloria inter sanctos electos tuos resuscilatus respiret I beseech thee O Lord to loose the soule of thy seruant from the bond of all his sinnes that beeing raised vp among the Saints I may reioyce and be lifted vp in the glory of the resurrection which is the prayer for the dead in the second book of Machabees made only for the resurrection 12 What will we haue more let our aduersaries be iudges in this cause doe not the Priests oftentimes take money for saying Masses and seruice for young children dying soone after Baptisme which yet they beleeue not to be either in hell or in Purgatory doe they this through ignorance or auariâ—â— for want of science or of conscience for by theâ—â— owne rules the prayers made for children are to no purpose forasmuch as they are in Paradise By these many examples it appears that many do pray for the dead without beleeuing purgatory and that Coeff by admitting no prayer for the dead but only to draw men out of purgatory condeÌ„neth not onely the auncient Church but also the Romish and the second booke of Macchabees which himselfe doth ranke among the sacred canonicall bookes This shal more euidently appeare vnto vs when we shall haue learned what was the opinion of the Fathers touching the condition of the dead and to what end they prayed for them The common opinion of the most part of the Fathers is that the soules of the faithfull after they are gone out of the body doe not yet enioy heauenly beatitude but either they remaine in the earthly Paradise as Irenaeus teacheth in his fifth booke About the end of the booke and Origen in his second booke de principijs else they lie in hell or in some hidden receptacles vntill the day of the generall resurrection before which they shall not see God And although sometimes they be forced through the truth to say that the dead after the departure of the soule from the body do enter into heauenly felicity yet for the most part they are carried away with the current of the common opinion Constituimus omnem animam apud inferos sequestrari in diem Domini Quae infra terram iacent neque ipsa sunt digestis ordinatis potestatibus vacua Locus enim est quo piorum animae impiorum ducuntur c. Omnes in vna communique custodia detinentur donec tempus adueniat quo maximus iudex meritorum faciat examen Tertullian chap. 55. of his booke of the soule We hould for certaine that euery soule is sequestred into hell vntil the day of the Lord. He saith the same more at large in his fourth booke against Marcioâ—â— c. 34. Nouatian in the first chapter of his booke of the Trinitie those things which are vnder the earth are not without their powers and well digested orders for it is the place whither the soules of the faithfull as well as of the wicked are led as feeling already the fore-apprehensions of the iudgement to come Lactantius in his seauenth booke c. 21. let no man thinke that the soules are iudged immediately after death for they are all detained in one common prison vntill the time come that the great Iudge bring them to an examination of what they haue deserued Victorin the Martyr saith vpon Apo. 6. that S. Iohn saw vnder the Altar the soules of the Martyrs and them that were slaine expounding these wordes vnder the Altar Sub ara id est subterra that is to say vnder the earth Hee then placeth the soules of Saints and Martyrs vnder the earth Haec humanae lex necessitatis est vt sepultis corporibus animae ad inferos descendant Quam descensionem Dominus ad consummationem veri hominis non recusauit S. Hilarie vpon the Psal 138. It is the law of necessitie whereunto men are subiect that the soules should descend vnto hell after that the bodies are buried which descent Iesus Christ himselfe did not refuse to shew him selfe a compleate man He doth not say Haec lex fuit but Haec lex est to the end that a man should not say that he speaketh of the
last iudgement that doth refine and purifie vs. And in the same place he maketh the Virgine Mary with the rest of the Saints to passe through this fire of the last iudgement saying An cum ex omni otioso verbo rationem simus prae stituri diem iudicij concupiscimus in quo nobis est inde fessus ille ignis obeundus inquo subeund a sunt grauia illa expiandae a peccatis animae supplicia St in iudicij seueritatem capax illa Dei vir go ventura est desiderare quis aude bit à Deo iudecari Seeing that wee shall giue an account of cuery idle word doe we desire the day of iudgement in which we shall paesse through that indefatigable fire and in which we shall vndergoe those grieuous torments by which the soules are to be hallowed and cleansed from their sinnes And a little after If that holy Virgine her selfe be to suffer the seuerity of that iudgement who will dare desire to bee iudged of God And vpon Matth 2. To them that are Baptized by the holy Ghost there yet remaineth that they be made perfect by the fire of the last iudgement S. Austine de Ciuit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 25. exempteth some soules from this fire By this which hath bin spoken it seemeth euidently to appeare that in that iudgement Ex his quae dicta sunt videtur enidentius apparere in illo iudicio quasdam quorundam poenas purgatorias suturas some shall be punished by these Purgatorie paines Now it appeareth both by the drift of the place and by the title of the Chapter that he speaketh of the day of the last iudgement So in the 16 booke chap. 24. This fire which appeared to Abraham signifieth the day of iudgement which shall discerne what earnall men are to be saued by the fire Significatur isto igne dies iudicij dirimens carnales per ignem jalhandos igne damuandus and who to be condemned in the fire But vpon the. 1. Cor. 3. he speaketh of this fire of Purgatory doubtfully saying that it is a thing hidden and of which a man may well doubt And lib. 21. cap. 16. he saith Non redarguo quia for sitan verum est I do not gainesay it for peraduenture the thing may be true Origen was the inuentor of this fire a man condemned by other of the Fathers for that he did not acknowledge Hell nor eternall fire and holdeth that the diuels and wicked men shall after a time of Purgation be finally saued But in this hee hath beene followed that he holdeth that the purgation of soules beginneth at the day of the resurrection and is done by the fire of the last day of iudgement That is the Purgatory of the Fathers of which S. Ierome speaketh in the last lines of his Commentary vpon Esay and vpon the 46. of Ezechiel and Gregory Nyssenus in his Oration of them that are fallen asleepe For so farre were they from beleeuing that the soules separated from the body were purged by the fire before the day of iudgement that euen a good many of them haue thought that the soule sequestred from the body could not suffer any harme Neque pati quicquam potest anima sola sine stabili materia id est carne And in his booke de Testimonio animae cap. 4. neyther be tormented without the body So Tertullian in Apologet. cap. 48. The soule alone cannot suffer any thing without solide matter that is without flesh And this is the reason why he thinketh the resurrectioÌ„ necessary to the end that the soule may be tormented saying indeed that the punishment of the soule without the body should be vniust seeing that they haue sinned together Gregory Nissen Orat. 3. of the resurrection of Christ saith in like manner * Animam vero per se separatim ignis nunquam attigerit nec tenebrae quidem ei molestoe fuerint vt pote quae oculis caret The fire can neuer touch the soule separated from the body neyther can the darkenesse be troublesome vnto it forasmuch as it hath no eyes Atque idcirco consentaneis his considerationibus ratiocinationibê° compellimur ad comprobandam resurrectionem mortuorum And for these forcible reasons we are induced to embrace the resurrection of the dead It would be infinite here to produce that which we haue else-where done the authorities of the Fathers who affirme that there are but two places for the soules to wit Heauen for the damned and Paradice or a place of rest for the Beleeuers and that the soules immediately after their departure out of the body goe into a place of rest or into celestiall glory Reade aboue the rest the Sermon of S. Cyprian de mortalitate And his Treatise against Demetrius the booke of S. Ambrose de bono mortis The Oration of Gregory Nyssenus Of the that sleepe Epiphanius in his second booke of Heresies Heresie 39. which is of the Cathari or Nouatians S. Austen in his fift Hypognosticke In his fourteene and eighteenth Sermon de verbis Apostoli and in diuers other places This place of Austin shall suffice for all in his booke of the vanity of the world Cum anima à corpore euellitur statim aut in Paradiso pro meritis bonis collecatur aut certè pro peccatis in inferni Tartara praecipitatur Nec est vllê° vlli mediê° locus vt possit esse nisi cuÌ„ diabolo qui non est cum Christo chap. 1. Know that when the soule is separated from the body it is in an Instant placed in Paradice for its good works or cast into the pit of hell for its sinnes A place which hath seemed to our aduersaries so strong that in their last Edition printed at Paris they haue put these wordes in the Margent Vbi nunc Purgatorium What is now become of Purgatorie And as touching that point that there are but two places these be his wordes in his booke of sinnes and the remission of them chapt 28. There is no middle place for any man insomuch that he that is not with Christ can be no where else but with the diuell Tertium penitus ignoramus immo nec esse in scripturis sanctis inuenimus And in his second Hypognosticke we are altogether ignorant of any third place neyther doe we finde any at all in the holy Scriptures Let not any man say that he speaketh onely of places eternall that are to continue for euer for he saith in expresse wordes penitus not at all not excepting any thing And you shall not finde that S. Austin eyther in this place or in any other makes this Distinction of places eternall and temporall for the soules seeing that S. Austin in those places doth of purpose dispute against the Limbus puerorum and relecting all temporary places he acknowledgeth no other third place Out of all that hitherto hath beene spoken I draw these two conclusions 1. The one