expounde them to those that came to visite him who comming vnto him with pretence to bring conforte through his heauenly knowledge receiued conforte But among the people how great number is there of lewed loselles gluttoÌ„s and dronckerds whose bealy is theire God who folowe their vnruly lustes is it to be thought this sorte of persones may without meditation and exercise of prayer pearse the vnderstanding of the scriptures and of those holy mysteries which god hath hidden as Christ confesseth from the learned and wise men Matth. 11. The gospellers diuided in to coÌ„trarie sectes And whereas learned men of our tyme be diuided into coÌ„trarie sectes and write bitterly one against an other eche one imputing to other mistaking of the scriptures if amongest them who would seme to be the leaders of the people be controuersies and debates about the vnderstanding of the scriptures how may the common people be thought to be in safe case out of all danger of errours if by reading the Bible in their owne tonge they take the matter in hande If any man thinke I sclaunder them for that I saye they be diuided into coÌ„trary sectes let him vnderstaÌ„d their owne countrie men I meane them of Germanie and speciall setters forth of this newe doctrine report it in their bookes and complaine lamentably of it Namely Nicolaus Amsdorffius in his booke intituled Publica confessio purae doctrinae euangelij etc. Also Nicolaus Gallus in his booke of Theses and Hypotyposes who acknowlegeth the strifes and debates that be amongest them to be not of light matters but of the high articles of christian doctrine For euen so be his wordes in Latine Non sunt leues inter nos concertationes de rebus leuibus sed de sublimibus doctrinae Christianae articulis de lege euangelio etc. The same man in the last leafe of his forsayde booke with great vehemendie reporteth haereses permultas esse prae manibus plerasque etiamnùm hâ—rere in calamo that very many herelies be allready in hande and many as yet sticke in the penne as though he meant they were ready to be set forth Of late there haue ben put out in printe two great bookes one by the Princes of Saxonie the other by the Erles of Mansfeld chiefe maineteiners of the Lutheranes in which be recited eleuen sectes and the same as detestable heresies condemned they are conteined in this cataloge or rolle Anabaptistae Seruetiani Antinomi Iesuitae OsiaÌ„drini MelaÌ„chthonici Maioristae Adiaphoristae Suencfeldiani Sacramentarij Albeit the Iesuites haue wrong to be numbred among them This much is confessed of the sectes and controuersies of our newe gospellers by their owne princes that stande in defence of the confession of Auspurg and by two of the Lutherane superintendentes No man hath so exactly declared to the world the number and diuersitie of the sectes of our tyme Fridericê° Staphylê° which hath sprong of Martin Luther as Fridericus Staphylus a man of excellent learning one of the Emperours counsaile that now is who might well haue knowledge herein for as much as he was a diligent student ten yeres at Wittenberg among the chiefe doctors of them and for that tyme was of their opinion and afterward by consyderation of their manifold disagreeinges and conteÌ„tions within theÌ„ selues induced to discredite theÌ„ and through the grace of God reduced to a whole mynde and to the catholike faith and now remayneth a perfecte member of the churche This learned man in his Apologie sheweth that out of Luther haue sprong three diuerse heresies or sectes the Anabaptistes the Sacramentaries and the Confessionistes Protestantes who made confession of their faith in open diete before the Emperour Charles the princes and states of Germanie at Auspurg anno domini 1530. and for protestation of the same there are called Protestantes Now he proueth further by testimonie of their owne writinges that the Anabaptistes be diuided into syx sectes the Sacramentaries into eight sectes the Confessionistes and they which properly are called protestaÌ„tes Protestantes diuided into tvventy Sectes into twenty sectes euery one hauing his proper and particular name to be called and knowen by This lamentable diuision of learned men into so many sectes in the countries where the gospell as they call it hath these forty yeres and is yet most busely handled may be a warning to the gouernours of Christendome that they take good aduisement how they suffer the rude and rashe people to haue the scriptures common in their owne tonge The perill of it is knowen by sundry examples bothe of tymes past and also of this present age For out of this roote hath sprong the secte of the Valdenses Valdenses otherwise called Pauperes de Lugduno For Valdo a merchant of Lyons their first author of whom they were named Valdenses being an vnlearned laye man procured certaine bookes of the scripture to be traÌ„slated into his owne language which when he vsed to reade and vnderstoode not he fell into many errours Of the same wellspring yssued the fylthie puddels of the sectes called Adamitae or Picardi Begardi and Turelupini and of late yeres besyde the same secte of Adamites newly reuiued also the Anabaptistes and Suenkfeldians Wherfor that edicte or proclamation of the worthy Princes Ferdinando and Elizabeth kyng and Quene of Spayne is of many much commended by which they gaue streight commaundement that vnder great penalties no man shuld traÌ„slate the Bible into the vulgare Spanish toÌ„ge and that no man shuld be fownde to haue the same translated in any wise These and the like be the reasons and consyderations which haue moued many men to thinke the setting forth of the whole Bible and of euery parte of the scripture in the vulgare tonge for all sortes of persons to reade without exception or limitation to be a thing not necessary to saluation nor otherwise conuenient nor profitable but contrarywise dangerous and hurtefull Yet it is not meant by them that the people be kepte wholly from the scripture so as they reade no parte of it at all As the whole in their opinion is too strong a meate for their weake stomakes so much of it they may right holesomely receiue and brooke as that which perteineth to pietie and necessary knowledge of a christen man What partes of the scriptures apperteine to the people to knovve Wherein they would the examples of the olde holy fathers to be folowed S. Augustine hath gathered together into to one booke all that maketh for good lyfe out of the scriptures which booke he intituled SpeculuÌ„ that is to saye a myrrour or a looking glasse as Possidonius witnesseth in his lyfe S. Basile hath set forth the like argument almost in his fouerscore moral rules perteining all together to good manners S. Cyprian also hath done the like in his three bookes ad Quirinum Such godly bookes they thinke to be very profitable for the simple people to reade But how much and what partes
est corpore Christi etc. This is that we saye sayeth he which by all meanes we go about to proue that the Sacrifice of the church is made of two thinges and cōsisteth of two thinges of the visible shape of the elemētes which are breade and wine and the inuisible fleshe and bloude of our lord Iesus Christ of the Sacrament that is the outward signe and the thinge of the sacrament to witte of the body of Christ etc. By this we vnderstand that this word Sacrament is of the fathers two waies taken First for the whole substance of the Sacrament as it consisteth of the outward formes and also with all of the very body of Christ verely present as saint Augustine sayeth the Sacrifice of the Church to cōsist of these two Secondly it is taken so as it is distincte from that hydden and diuine thing of the Sacrament that is to saye for the outward formes onely which are the holy signe of Christes very body present vnder them conteined Hovv the fathers are to be vnderstāded callīg the Sacrament a figure signe token etc. Whereof we must gather that when so euer the fathers doo call this most excellent Sacrament a figure or a signe they would be vnderstanded to meane none otherwise then of those outward formes and not of Christes body it selfe which is there present not typically or figuratiuely but really and substātially onlesse perhaps respecte be had not to the body it selfe present but to the maner of presence as sometymes it happeneth So is Saint Basile to be vnderstanded in Liturgia calling the sacrament antitypon that is a sampler or à figure and that after cōsecration as the copies that be now abroade bee founde to haue So is Eustathius to be taken that great learned father of the Greke churche who so constantly defended the catholike faith against the Arians cited of Epiphanius in 7. Synodo Albe it concerning S. Basile E◠4. c. 14. in caput Matth. 26 Damascen and Euthymius likewise Epiphanius in the second Nicene councell actione 6. and Marcus Ephesius who was present at the councell of Florence would haue that place so to be taken before consecration As S. Ambrose also calling it a figure of our lordes body and bloud lib. 4. de sacram cap. 5. And if it appeare straunge to any man that S. Basile shuld call those holy mysteries antitypa after consecration let him vnderstand that this learned father thought good by that word to note the great secrete of that mysterie and to shewe a distincte condition of present thinges from thinges to come And this consideration the church semeth to haue had which in publike prayer after holy mysteries receiued maketh this humble petitiō vt quae nunc specie gerimus Sabbato 4. tēporū mēsis Septemb certae rerū veritate capiamus that in the lyfe to come we may take that in certaine truth of thinges which now we beare in shape or shewe Neither doo these wordes importe any preiudice against the truth of the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament but they signifie and vtter the most principall truth of the same when as all outward forme shape shewe figure sampler and coouer taken awaie we shall haue the fruitiō of God him selfe in sight face to face not as it were through a glasse but so as he is in truth of his Maiestie So this word antitypon thus taken in S. Basile furthereth nothing at all the Sacramentaries false doctrine against the truth of the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament And because our aduersaries doo much abuse the simplicitie of the vnlearned bearing thē in hand that after the iudgement and doctrine of th' auncient fathers the Sacrament is but a figure a signe a token or a badge and conteineth not the very body it selfe of Christ for proufe of the same alleaging certaine their sayinges vttered with the same termes I thinke good by the recitall of some the chiefe such places to shewe that they be vntruly reported and that touching the veritie of the presence in the Sacrament they taught in their dayes the same faith that is taught now in the catholike churche Holy Ephrem in a booke he wrote to those that will serch the nature of the sonne of God by mannes reason Cap. 4. sayeth thus Inspice diligenter quomodo sumēs in manibus panem benedicit ac frangit in figura immaculati corporis sui calicemque in figura pretiosi sanguinis sui benedicit tribuit discipulis suis Beholde sayeth he diligently how taking bread in his handes he blesseth it and breaketh it in the figure of his vnspotted body and blesseth the cuppe in the figure of his pretiouse bloude and geueth it to his disciples By these wordes he sheweth the partition deuision or breaking of the Sacramēt to be done no otherwise but in the outward formes which be the figure of Christes body present and vnder them conteined Which body now being gloriouse is no more broken nor parted but is indiuisible and subiect no more to any passion and after the Sacrament is broken it remaineth whole and perfite vnder eche portion Agayne by the same wordes he signifieth that outward breaking to be a certaine holy figure and representation of the crucifying of Christ and of his bloude shedding Which thing is with a more clearnes of wordes set forth by saint Augustine in Sententijs Prosperi Dum frangitur hostia De consecrat dist 2 can dum frangitur dum sanguis de calice in ora fidelium funditur quid aliud quám Dominici corporis in cruce immolatio eiusue sanguinis de latere effusio designatur Whiles the hoste is broken whiles the bloud is powred in to the mowthes of the faithfulles what other thing is thereby shewed and set forth then the sacrificing of Christes body on the crosse and the shedding of his bloud out of his syde And by so dooing the commaundement of Christ is fulfylled Doo this in my remembraunce That it may further appeare that these wordes figure signe image token and such other the like sometymes vsed in auncient writers doo not exclude the truth of thinges exhibited in the Sacrament but rather signifie the secrete maner of th'exhibiting amōgest all other the place of Tertullian in his fouerth booke contrâ Marcionem is not to be omitted specially being one of the chiefe and of most appearaunce that the Sacramentaries bring for proufe of their doctrine Tertullianes wordes be these Acceptum panem distributum discipulis suis corpus suum illum fecit hoc esse corpus meum dicēdo id est figura corporis mei The breade that he tooke and gaue to his disciples he made it his body in saying this is my body that is the figure of my body The double taking of the worde Sacrament afore mentioned remembred and consideration had how the sacramentes of the Newe testament comprehend two thinges the outward visible formes that be figures signes and tokens and
godly thinges neither behoofull the same be done in all tymes and places nor that all thinges touching God be medled withall Which aduertisement taketh no place where all be admitted to the curiouse reading of the scriptures in their owne vulgare tonge And the scripture it selfe saye they sheweth plainely that of couenience the scriptures ought not be made common to all persons For Christ affirmeth the same with his owne wordes where he sayeth to his Apostles Lucae 8. Vnto you it is geuen to knowe the secretes of the kingdom of God but to other in parables that when they see they shuld not see and when they heare they shuld not vnderstande They to whom it is geuen to knowe these secretes be none other then the Apostles and their successours or disciples They to whom this is not geuen but must learne parables be they for whom it were better to be ignorant of the mysteries then to knowe them least they abuse them and be the more grieuously condemned if they sette litle by them which we see commonly done among the common people Vide Hilarium in Psal 2. It is reported by sundry auncient writers of great auctoritie that among the people of Israel the seuenty Elders onely could reade and vnderstande the mysteries of the holy bookes that we call the Bible For whereas the letters of the Hebrewe tonge haue no vocalles they onely had the skill to reade the scripture by the consonantes and therby the vulgare people were kepte from reading of it by speciall prouidence of God as it is thought that pretiouse stones shuld not be caste before swyne that is to saye such as be not called thereto as being for their vnreuerent curiositie and impure life vnworthy Here I nede not to spende tyme in rehersing the manifolde difficulties of these holy letters through which the reading of them to the simple and vnlearned people hauing their wittes exercised in no kynde of learning their myndes occupied in worldly cares their hartes caryed awaye with the loue of thinges they luste after Bernard Super cātica is not very profitable As the light shyneth in vaine vpon blinde eyes sayeth a holy father so to no purpose or profite is the labour of a worldly and naturall man taken for the atteining of thinges that be of the spirite Verely emōges other this incōmoditie is sene by dayly experience hereof to procede that of the people such as ought of right to take lest vpon them be now becomme censours and iudges of all despysers of the more parte and which is common to all heretikes mockers of the whole simplicitie of the churche and of all those thinges which the churche vseth as pappe or mylke to nourrishe her tender babes withall that it were better for them not to reade then by reading so to be pufte vp and made insolent Which euill cometh not of the scripture but of their owne malice and euill disposition The dangers and hurtes which the common peoples reading of the scriptures in their owne lāguage bryngeth after the opinion of those that reproue the same be great sundry and many I will here as it were but touche a fewe of them leauing the whole matter it selfe to the iudgemēt of the churche First seing the poyson of heretikes doth most infecte the common people and all heretikes drawe their venyme out of the Bible vnder pretence of gods worde it is not thought good by these men to lette euery curiouse and busie body of the vulgar sorte to reade and examine the Bible in their common language Yet they would not the learned discrete and sober laye men to be imbarred of that libertie Againe if heresie spring of wrong vnderstanding De trinitate li. 2. not of the scriptures as Hilarius sayeth heresie is of vnderstanding not of scripture and the sense not the worde is a crime who shall sooner fall into heresie then the common people who can not vnderstande that they reade verely it semeth a thing hard to beleue that the vnlearned people shuld vnderstande that which the best learned men with long studie and great trauaill can scarcely at length atteine Whereas Luther would the scriptures to be translated into euery vulgare tonge for that they be lyght and easie to vnderstande he is confuted by the scripture it selfe For both S. Peter and also S. Paul acknowlegeth in them to be great difficulties by occasion whereof some misconstrue thē to their owne damnation 2. Pet. 3. 1. Tim 1. 2. Cor. 4. some vnderstande not what thinges they speake nor of what thinges they affirme and to some the gospell that S. Paul preached is hydden euen to them which perishe If the scriptures were playne how erred Arius how Macedonius how Eunomius how Nestorius how many mo men of great learning specially seing they all tooke occasion of their errours of the scripture not rightly vnderstanded Luther sayeth that S. Hierome was ouerseen in the vnderstanding of the scripture that S. Augustine erred in the same that S. Ambrose Cyprian Hilary Basile and Chrysostome the best learned doctours of Christes churche were oftentymes deceiued And yet in the preface of his booke de captiuitate Babilonica he speaketh of them very honorably and graunteth that they haue laboured in the lordes vineyarde worthely and that they haue employed great diligence in opening the scriptures If these being of so excellent learning after long exercise in the holy letters after long studie and watche after long and feruent prayer after mortification of them selues and purgation of carnall affections were deceiued as he witnesseth how can he saye they are cleare plaine and easye to be vnderstanded And if these worthy fathers were deceiued in one pointe or two is it not likely the common people may be deceiued in many specially their diligēce and study not being comparable to theirs and their lyues not being such as the cleannesse of their inward affectes might lighten their vnderstāding and the annointing of god might teach them And least all the vnlearned laye people shulde seme hereby vtterly reiected from hope of vnderstanding gods worde without teaching of others it may be graunted that it is not impossible a man be he neuer so vnlearned exercised in long prayer accustomed to feruent contemplation being brought by God into his inward cellares may from thence obteine the true vnderstanding and interpretation of the holy scriptures no lesse then any other alwaies brought vp in learning Of what sorte S. Antony that holy and perfecte man the Eremite of Egypte was Who as saint Augustine writeth Prologo in libros de doctrina Christiana without any knowledge of letters both canned the scriptures by hart with hearing and vnderstode them wisely with thynking And that holy man whom S. Gregorie speaketh of who lying bedred many yeres for siknes of body through earnest prayer and deuout meditation obteined helth of mynde and vnderstanding of the scriptures neuer hauing learned letters so as he was able to
Or that it vvas then thought a sovvnde doctrine to teache the people that the Masse ex opere operato that is euen for that it is sayde and donne is hable to remoue any part of oure synne Article 21 Or that then any Christian man called the Sacrament his lorde and God Article 22 Or that the people vvas then taught to beleue that the body of christ remaineth in the Sacrament as long as the accidētes of the bread remayne there vvith out corruptiō Article 23 Or that a Mouse or any other vvorme or beaste maye eate the body of Christ for so some of oure aduersaries haue sayd and taught Article 24 Or that vvhen Christ sayde Hoe est corpus meum This vvord Hoc pointeth not the bread but indiuiduum vagum as summe of them saye Article 25 Or that the accidentes or formes or shevves of bread and vvyne be the Sacramentes of Christes body and bloud and not rather the very bread and vvyne it selfe Article 26 Or that the Sacrament is a signe or token of the body of Christ that lyeth hydden vnderneathe it Article 27 Or that Ignoraunce is the mother and cause of true deuotion and obedience These be the highest mysteries and greatest keys of theire Religion and vvith out them their doctrine can neuer be mainteined and stand vpright If any one of all oure aduersaries be hable to auouch any one of all these articles by any such sufficient authoritie of scriptures doctoures or councelles as I haue required as I sayde before so saye I novv agayne I am content to yelde vnto him and to subscribe But I am vvell assured they shall neuer be hable truly to alleage one sentence And because I knovv it therefor I speake it lest ye happely shuld be deceiued They that haue auaunted them selues of doctoures and councelles and cōtinuance of tyme in any of these pointes Fol. 51. vvhen they shall be called to tryall to shew their proufes they shall open their handes and fynde nothing I speake not this of arrogancie thou lord knovvest it best that knovvest all thinges But for as muche as it is godes cause and the truth of God I shuld doo God great iniurie if I shuld concele it THE VVORDES OF MAISTER THE SAME CHALENGE AND offer and imputing to the catholikes of vnhablenes to defend their doctrine vttered by M. Iuell in other places of his booke as folovveth MY offer vvas this he meaneth in the sermon vvich he made in the courte that if any of all those thinges that I then rehearsed In the first ansvver to D. Coles letter fol. 4. could be proued of your syde by any sufficiēt authoritie other of the scriptures or of the aunciēt Councelles or by any one allovved example of the primitiue churche that then I vvould be content to yelde vnto you I saye you haue none of all those helps nor scriptures nor councelles nor doctours nother any other antiquitie and this is the negatiue Novv it standeth you vpon to proue but one affirmatiue to the contrary and so to requyre my promise The Articles that I sayde could not be proued of your parte vvere these That it can not appeare by any authoritie other of the olde doctours or of the auncient Councelles that there vvas any priuate Masse in the vvhole churche of Christ at that tyme Or that there vvas then any communion ministred etc. the articles rekened there it foloweth And if any one of all these articles can be sufficiently proued by such atuhoritie as I haue sayde Fol. 5. and as ye haue borne the people in hand ye can proue them by I am vvell content to stand to my promise After in the first ansvver to D. C. fol. 6. In the ende there fol. 7. I thought it best to make my entree vvith such thinges as vvhere in I vvas vvell assured ye shuld be able to finde not so much as any colour at all But to conclude as I begane I ansvver that in these Articles I hold only the negatiue and therefore I looke hovv you vvil be able to affirme the cōtrarie and that as I sayde afore by sufficient authoritie vvhich if ye doo not you shall cause me the more to be resolued and others to stand the more in doubt of the rest of your learning In my Sermon at poules and els vvhere I required you to bring forth on your part eyther sum scripture sn the second ansvver to D. C. fo 13 or sum old doctour or sum aunciēt councell or els some allovve example of the primiue churchē For these are good grovvndes to buyld vpon And I vvould haue marueiled that you brought nothing all this vvhile sauing that I knevv ye had nothing to bring As truly as god is god if ye vvold haue vouchesaued to folovv either the scriptures or the auncient doctours In the 2. ansvver fol. 15. and councelles ye vvold neuer haue restored agayne the Sup̄macie of Rome after it vvas once abolished or the priuate Masse or the communion vnder one kinde etc. Novv if ye thinke ye haue vvrong There fol. 17. shevv your euidence out of the doctours the councels or scriptures that you may haue yout right and reentre I require you to no great paine one good sentence shall be sufficient You vvold haue your priuate Masse the bisshop of Romes sup̄macie the commē prayer in an vnknovven tonge Fol. 18. and for defence of the same ye haue made no small a doo Me thinketh it reasonable ye bring sum one authoritie besyde your ovvne to auouche the same vvith all Ye haue made the vnlearned people beleue ye had all the doctours all the councelles and fiften hundred yeres on your syde For your credites sake let not all these great vauntes comme to naught Ye desyre ye may not be put of Fol. 18. but that your suite maye be consydered And yet this half yeare long I haue desyred of you and of your brethren but one sentence and still I knovv not hovv I am cast of and can gete nothing at your handes You call for the special proufes of our doctrine Fol. 21. vvhich vvould require a vvhole booke vvhere as if you of your part could vouchesafe to bring but tvvo lines the vvhole matter vvere concluded VVe only tell the people as our devvtie is that you vvithstand the manifest truth and yet haue neither doctour nor councell nor scripture for you and that ye haue shevved such extremitie as the like hath not bē seene and novv cā giue no rekening vvhy Or if ye can let it appeare Fol. 23. You are bovvnde ye saye and maye not dispute etc. But I vvould vvish the quenes Maiestie vvould not only set you at libertie in that behalfe but also cōmaunde you to shevve your grovvndes VVhere as you saye you vvould haue the sainges of bothe parties vveighed by the balance of the olde doctours ye see that is oure only request and that in the matters ye vvrite of I
Gelasius went about to spredde their heresie in Rome and in the parties of Italie Their hereticall opinion was that Christ tooke not oure fleshe and bloude but that he had a phaÌ„tasticall bodye and dyed not ne rose agayne trulye and in dede but by waye of phantasie And therefore at the communion they absteined from the cuppe and the better to cloke their heresie came to receiue the Sacrament in the forme of breade with other catholike people Against whom Leo sayeth thus Serm. 4. de quadra gesima Abdicant enim se sacramento salutis nostrae etc. They dryue theÌ„ selues awaye from the Sacrament of oure saluation And as they denye that Christ oure lorde was borne in truth of oure fleshe so they beleue not that he dyed and rose agayne truly And for this cause they condemne the daye of oure saluation and gladnes that is the sunnedaye to be their sadde fastinge daye And where as to cloke theire infidelitie they dare to be at oure mysteries they temper them selues so in the communion of the Sacramentes as in the meane tyme they may the more safely kepe them priuye With vnworthy mowth they receiue Christes bodye but to drinke the bloude of oure redemption vtterly they will none of it Which thing we would aduertise your holynes of that bothe such men maye be manifested by these tokens vnto you and also that they whose deuilish simulatioÌ„ and fayning is fownde being brought to light and bewrayed of the felowship of saintes maye be thrust out of the churche by priestly auctoritie Thus farre be Leo his wordes Gelasius that succeded fourty yeres after Leo imployed no lesse diligence then he dyd vtterly to vanquish and abolish that horrible heresie of whom Platina wryteth that he banished so many maniches as were fownde at Rome and there openlye burned their bookes And because this heresie shuld none elles where take roote and springe he wrote an epistle to Maiâ—ricus and Ioannes two bisshops amongest other thinges warning them of the same Out of which epistle this fragment onely is taken whereby he doth bothe briefly shewe what the Maniches dyd for cloking of their infidelitie as Leo sayeth and also in as muche as their opinion was that Christes bodye had not verye bloude as being phantasticall onely and therefore superstitiously absteined froÌ„ the cuppe of that holy bloude geueth charge and commaundement that either forsaking their heresie they receiue the whole Sacramentes to witte vnder bothe kyndes or that they be kepte from them wholy Here the wordes of Leo afore mentioned and this canon of Gelasius conferred together specially the storye of that tyme knowen it may sone appeare to any Iuell Or that the people had their commen prayers then in a straunge tonge that they vnderstoode not Of the Church Seruice in learned tonges vvhich the vnlearned people in olde tyme in sundry places vnderstoode not ARTICLE III. IF you meane Maister Iuell by the peoples common prayers such as at that tyme they commonly made to God in priuate deuotion I thinke they vttered them in that tonge which they vnderstoode and so doo Christen people now for the most parte and it hath neuer ben reproued by any catholike doctour But if by the common prayers you meane the publike Seruice of the churche whereof the most parte hath ben pronounced by the bishops priestes deacoÌ„s and other ecclesiasticall ministres the people to sundry partes of it saying Amen or otherwise geuing their assent I graunt some vnderstoode the language thereof and some vnderstoode it not I meane for the tyme you referre vs vnto euen of syx hundred yeres after Christes conuersation here in earth For about nyne hundred yeres past it is certaine the people in some countries had their Seruice in an vnknowen tonge as it shall be proued of our owne countrie of England But to speake first of antiquitie and of the compasse of your first syx hundred yeres it is euident by sundry auncient recordes bothe of doctours and of councelles specially of the councell Laodicene in Phrygia Pacatiana holden by the bishops of the lesser Asia about the yere of our lord 364. that the Greke churches had solemne Seruice in due order and forme set forth with exacte distinction of psalmes and lessons of houres dayes feastes and tymes of the yere of silence and open pronouncing of geuing the kisse of peace to the bishop first by the priestes then by the laye people of offering the Sacrifice of the only ministers coÌ„ming to the aulter to receiue the communion with diuerse other semely obseruations As for the Latine churches they had their prayers and Seruice also but in such fixed order long after the Grekes For Damasus the Pope first ordeyned that psalmes shuld be longe in the churche of Rome alternatim enterchaungeably or by course so as now we sing them in the quyere and that in the ende of euery psalme shuld be sayde Gloria Patri Filio Spiritui sancto sicut erat etc. Which he caused to be done by counsell of S. Hierome In rescripto Hieronymi ad 2. epist Damasi Papae ad HieronymuÌ„ presbyterum that the faith of the 318. bishops of the Nicene councell might with like felowship be declared in the mowthes of the Latines To whom Damasus wrote by Bonifacius the priest to Ierusalem that Hierom would send vnto him psallentiam Graecorum the maner of synging of the Grekes so as he had learned the same of Alexander the bishop in the East In that epistle complayning of the simplicitie of the Romaine churche he sayeth that there was in the Sunnedaye but one epistle of the Apostle and one chapter of the Gospell rehearsed and that there was no synging with the voice hearde nor the comelynes of hymnes knowen among them About the same tyme S. Ambrose also tooke order for the Seruice of his churche of Millane and made holy hymnes him selfe Lib. ConfessionuÌ„ In whose tyme as S. Augustine writeth when Iustina the young Emperour Valentinians mother for cause of her heresie wherewith she was seduced by the Arianes persecuted the catholike faith and the people thereof occupied them selues in deuoute watches more then before tyme ready to dye with their bishop in that quarell it was ordeyned that hymnes and psalmes shuld be song in the churche of Millane after the maner of the east parties that the good folke thereby might haue some comfort and spirituall reliefe in that lamentable state and continuall sorowes Thereof the churches of the West forthwith tooke example and in euery countrie they folowed the same In his seconde booke of Retractations Cap. 11. he sheweth that in his tyme such maner of synging began to be receiued in Aphrica Before this tyme had Hilarius also the bishop of Poiters in Fraunce made hymnes for that purpose of which S. Hierom maketh mention In 2. prooemio coÌ„mentariorum epist ad Galat. Much might be alleaged for proufe of hauing Seruice in the Greke and in the
byrdes doo For owselles popiniayes rauens and pyes and such the like byrdes oftetymes be taughte of men to sownde they knowe not what These wordes are to be taken of th'understanding of the sense not of the tonge which the Seruice is songe in For the people of Hippo where he was bishop vnderstoode the latine tonge meanely Which sense can not rightly and safely be atteined of the common people De ecclesiasticis diuersis capitulis Constitutione 123. Greg. Haloādro interprete Nā in veteri translatione nihil tale habetur but is better and more holesomly taughte by the preaching of the learned bishops and priestes The commaundement of Iustinian the Emperour which M. Iuell alleageth that bishops and priestes shuld celebrate the holy oblation or Sacrifice which we call the Masse not closely * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but with vtterāce and sownde of voice that they might be heard of the people maketh nothing for the Seruice to be had in the Englishe tong in the churche of England or in any other vulgare tonge in the churche of any other nation but requireth onely of the bishops and priestes open pronouncing Iustinianes ordinaunce truly declared vocall not mentall speaking not whispering with the breath onely in the celebration of the holy Sacrifice and other Seruice Wherein he agreeth with S. Augustine who in his booke de Magistro Cap. 1. sayeth that when we praye there is no nede of speaking onlesse perhappes we doo as priestes doo Who when they praye in publike assemble vse speaking for cause of signifying their mynde that is to shewe that they praye not to th'intēt God but menne maye heare and with a certaine consent through putting in mynde by sownde of voice maye be lyfted vp vnto God This much S. Augustine there And this is the right meaning of that Constitution And thus he ordeined for the greke churche onely and thereto only it is to be referred for that some thought the Sacrifice shuld be celebrated rather with silence after the maner of the churche of Rome specially at the consecration And as that constitution perteined to the Grekes and not to the Latines so was it not fownde in the Latine bookes vntill Gregorius Haloander of Germanie of late yeres translated the place And where M. Iuell alleageth this commaundement of Iustinian against the hauing of the Seruice in a learned tonge vnknowen to the common people it is to be noted how he demeaneth him selfe not vprightly but so as euery man may thereby knowe a scholer of Luther Caluine and Peter Martyr For whereas by th'allegation of that ordinance he might seme to bring somewhat that maketh for the blessed Sacrifice of the churche commonly named the Masse he dissembleth the worde of the sacrifice which Iustinian putteth expressely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est diuinam oblationem the diuine or holy oblation and termeth it other wise in his replyes by the name of common prayers and in his Sermon by the name of the wordes of the ministration refusing the worde of the churche no lesse then he refuseth to be a member of the churche Thus through fooysting and coggyng their dye and other false playe these newe perilouse teachers deceiue many poore soules and robbe them of the suer simplicitie of their faith And where was this commaundement geuen In Constantinople the chiefe citie of Grece where the greke tonge was commonly knowen That Emperour had dominion ouer some nations that vnderstoode not the greke commonly Yet no man can tell of any constitution that euer he made for Seruice there to be had in their vulgare and barbarous tonge So many nations hauing ben conuerted to the faith the common people whereof vnderstoode neither greke nor latine if the hauing of the Seruice in their vulgare tonge had bē thought necessary to their saluation the fathers that stickte not to bestowe their bloude for their flockes would not haue spared that small paine and trauaile to put their Seruice in vulgare tonges If it had ben necessary it had ben done if it had ben done it had ben mentioned by one or other Psal 104. Lib. 1 cōtra haeres haeresi 39. It appeareth by Arnobius vpon the Psalmes by Epiphanius writing against heresies and by S. Augustine in his bookes De Doctrina Christiana that by accompte of th'antiquitie there were 72. tonges in the worlde In Tuscul q. Cicero sayeth that they be in number infinite Of them all neither M. Iuell nor any one of his syde is able to shewe that the publike Seruice of the churche in any nation was euer for the space of syx hundred yeres after Christ in any other then in greke and latine For further answere to the auctoritie of Iustinianes ordinance we holde well with it Good men thinke it meete the Seruice be vttered now also with a distincte and audible voice that all sortes of people specially so many as vnderstand it may the more be stirred to deuocion and thereby the rather be moued to saye Amen and geue their assent to it through their obedience and credite they beare to the churche assuring them selues the same to be good and helthfulll and to the glory of God And for that purpose we haue commonly sene the priest when he spedde him to saye his seruice to ring the Sawnce bell and speake out a lowde Pater noster By which token the people were commaunded silence reuerence and deuotion Now to saye somewhat touching the common prayers or Seruice of the curches of Aphrica where S Augustine preached in Latine as you saye and I denye not and thereof you seme to cōclude that the common people of that countrie vnderstoode and spake latine as their vulgare tonge That the Aphricane churches had their Seruice in Latine it is euident by sundry places of S. Augustine in his exposition of the Psalmes in his bookes De Doctrina Christiana and in his sermons and most plainely in an epistle that he wrote to S. Hierome in which he sheweth that the people of a citie in Aphrica was greatly moued and offended with their bishop for that in reciting the scriptures for parte of the seruice to them he read out of the fourth chapter of Ionas the Prophete not cucurbita after the olde texte which they had ben accustomed vnto but hedera after the newe translation of S. Hierome All people of the latine churche vnderstoode not the latine Seruice Lib. 3.2 belli punici Now as I graunt that some vnderstoode it so I haue cause to doubte whether some others vnderstoode it or no. Nay rather I haue great probabilitie to tkinke they vnderstoode it not For the bewraying of Hannibals Ambassadoures to the Romaines by their Punicall language whereof Titus Liuius writeth and likewise the cōference betwixte Sylla the noble man of Rome and Bocchus kinge of Numidia had by meane of interpreters adhibited of bothe parties as Saluste recordeth in bello Iugurthino declareth that the tonge of Aphrica was the
of the scripture the common people may reade for their conforte and necessary instruction and by whom the same may be translated it belongeth to the iudgement of the churche Which church hath already condemned all the vulgare traÌ„slations of the Bible of late yeres for that they be founde in sundry places erroneous and parciall in fauour of the heresies which the translatours maineteine And it hath not onely in our tyme condemned these late translations but also hytherto neuer allowed those fewe of olde tyme. I meane S. Hieromes translation into the Dalmaticall tonge if euer any such was by him made as to some it semeth a thing not sufficiently proued And that which before S. Hierome Vlphilas an Arian bishop made and coÌ„mended to the nation of the Gothes who first inuented letters for them and proponed the scriptures to them translated into their owne tonge and the better to bring his Ambassade to the Emperour Valens to good effecte was persuaded by the heretikes of Constantinople and of the courte there to forsake the catholike faith and to communicate with the Arians making promise also to trauaile in brynging the people of his countrie to the same secte which at length he performed most wickedly As for the church of this land of Britaine the faith hath continewed in it thirten hundred yeres vntill now of late without hauing the Bible translated into the vulgare tonge to be vsed of all in common Our lord graunt we yelde no worse soules to God now hauing the scriptures in our owne tonge and talking so much of the gospell then our auncesters haue done before vs. This Iland sayeth Beda speaking of the estate the church was in at his dayes at this present according to the number of bookes that Gods lawe was written in doth serche and coÌ„fesse one and the selfe same knowlege of the high truth and of the true highte with the tonges of fiue nations of the Englishe the Britons the Scottes the Pightes and the Latines Quae meditatione scripturorum caeteris omnibus est facta coÌ„munis Which tonge of the Latines sayeth he is for the studie and meditation of the scriptures made common to all the other Verely as the Latine tonge was then commoÌ„ to all the nations of this lande being of distincte languages for the studie of the scriptures as Beda reporteth so the same onely hath alwayes vntill our tyme ben common to all the cowntries and nations of the Occidentall or West churche for the same purpose and thereof it hath ben called the Latine churche Wherefore to conclude they that shewe them selues so earnest and zelous for the translation of the scriptures into all vulgare and barbarous tonges it behoueth theÌ„ after the opinioÌ„ of wise meÌ„ to see first that no faultes be fownde in their translations as hytherto many haue ben fownde And a small faulte committed in the handling of Gods worde is to be taken for a great crime Nexte that for as much as such translations perteine to all christen people they be referred to the iudgement of the whole churche of euery language and commended to the layetie by the wisedom and auctoritie of the clergie hauing charge of their soules Furthermore that there be some choise exception and limitation of tyme place and persons and also of partes of the scriptures after the discrete ordinaunce of the Iewes Amongest whom it was not laufull that any man shuld reade certaine partes of the Bible before he had fullfilled the tyme of the priestly ministerie which was the age of thirty yeres Praefatione in Ezechielem as S. Hierome witnesseth Lastly that the setting forth of the scriptures in the common language be not commended to the people as a thing vtterly necessary to saluation least thereby they condemne so many churches that hytherto haue lackt the same and so many learned and godly fathers that haue not procured it for their flockes finally all that haue gonne before vs to whom in all vertue innocencie and holynes of lyfe we are not to be compared As for me in as much as this matter is not yet determined by the church whether the common people ought to haue the scriptures in their owne tonge to reade and to heare or no I defyne nothing As I esteme greatly all godly and holesome knowledge and wishe the people had more of it then they haue with charitie and meekenesse so I would that these hote talkers of gods worde had lesse of that knowledge which maketh a man to swell and to be proude in his owne conceite and that they would depely weigh with them selues whether they be not conteyned within the lystes of the saying of S. Paul to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 8. If any man thinke that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to knowe God graunt all our knowledge be so ioyned with meekenesse humilitie and charitie as that be not iustly sayd of vs which S. Augustine in the like case sayde very drâ—dfully to his dere frende Alipius Surgunt indocti coelum rapiunt Confess lib. 8. ca. 8 nos cum doctrinis nostris sine corde ecce vbi volutamur in carne sanguine The vnlearned and simple aryse vp and catche heauen awaie from vs and we with all our great learning voyed of heart lo where are we wallowing in fleshe and bloude Or that it was then lawfull for the priest Iuell to pronounce the wordes of Consecration closely and in silence to him selfe Of secrete pronouncing the Canon of the Masse ARTICLE XVI THe matter of this article is neither one of the highest mysteries nor one of the greatest keyes of our religion how so euer Maister Iuell pleaseth him selfe with that reporte thinking thereby to impaire the estimation of the catholike churche The diuersitie of obseruation in this behalfe sheweth the indifferencie of the thing For elles if one maner of pronouncing the wordes of consecration had ben thought a necessarie point of religion it had ben euery where vniforme and inuariable That the breade and wyne be consecrated by the wordes of our lord pronounced by the priest as in the person of Christ by vertue of which through the grace of the holy ghoste the breade and wyne are chaunged into our lordes body and bloude this thing hath in all tymes and in all places and with consent of all inuariably ben done and so beleued But the manner of pronouncing the wordes concerning silence or open vtteraunce according to diuersitie of places hath ben diuerse The maner of pronouncing the coÌ„secration in the Greke and latine churches diuers In libello de Sacramento Eucharistiae The grekes in the East churche haue thought it good to pronounce the wordes of consecration clara voce as we finde in Chrysostomes Masse and as Bessarion writeth alta voce that is plainely out alowde or with alowde voice Sacerdos alta voce iuxtà Orientalis Ecclesiae ritum verba illa pronunciat hoc est corpus