it and worshipp it Ergo yowr argumeÌ„t is this that what so euer is not coÌ„maunded to be done is to be left vndone And where then are all customes which yow haue set so much by as it appeereth by the fyrst side before yowr SermoÌ„ Also where is it in all Scripture that Christ coÌ„mauÌ„ded his Apostles to fawle downe and worship hym hym selfe The Magians S. Peter as he was in the bote together with Christ the mother of S. Iohn and S. Iames the straynge woman the Syrophaenissa the blind man whoÌ„ Christ healed by tempering of his spettle and earth together the Apostles after the resurrection all these fell downe and worshipped Christ. but where read we that he commaunded them so to do Is there no voluntarye seruice of God but that al must be obtained by way of coÌ„maundemeÌ„t It was inowgh I trowe that he said to his disciples take eate this is my body which shall be deliuered for you For to doubte thereof whether Christ his body were to be honored it was for them whiche doubted whether he were Christ or no. Christ dyd byd his Apostles to take and eate but he dyd not expressely coÌ„maund them to open their mouthes to soften the meate in the mouthe to lett it downe in to the stomake for what need was there so to do wheras he which lycenseth me to eate lycenseth me also to vse all those meanes by which eatyng is performed So in lyke manner owr Sauyor sayd This is my bodye and this being receiued and beleued of Christians to what purpose was it to say Aryse Sirs and fall downe before yowr God or to say Adore me in yowr hart When the kyng doth shewe hym selfe in his robes and croune or when he woulde in the dark vtter hym selfe by speakyng vnto the lordes of the court is it to be required that he must saye precisely putt of yowr cappes vnto me and bowe downe yowr knees or ells doth not euerye obedyent hart straytewayes geaue all reuerence dew vnto hys prince withowt further warning By lyke reason then the kyng almighty hath spoken the worde Thys ys my bodye by which worde they which are accustomed vnto his voyce are as sure of his presence as if they should see hym visiblie and shall we if we are of the king his court requyre yet to here and see more in this case and may we wonder at others folyes which make lowe courtesie where as they had no commaundement And yet M. Iuell is so delited in this kynde of argument which procedeth by negatiues that he goeth fuâ—ther therein and sayeth S. Paule toke the Sacrament at Christ his handes and as he had taken it he deliuered it to the Corinthians and neuer willed adoratioÌ„ or Godlie honor to be done vnto it To which I answer with askyng this question whether S. Paule commaunded vs to stand or kneele to lye a long at the communion or sytt doune Trulye of these thinges there is no worde or commaundement what then may any man tumble at the communion or leane vpon his breast or vpon one of his elbowes or doe what please hym bicause nothing is appointed by S. Paule as concernyng adoration The English coÌ„municantes them selues doe vse to kneele except perchaunse in some very stiff harted men there be no kneeling at all bicause they stand in their owne conceâ—tes But Christ and S. Paule commaunded not kneeling and yet Christ knew best what he had to doe and S. Paule delyuered that which he receiued of Christ. what strength then hath this kynd of argument to saye Christ or S. Paule commaunded not these thinges ergo they are not to be kept or beleued at all Truly it hath so litle against the Catholykes that the argumeÌ„t is flatlye denyed So greate for all that against the protestantes that it shameth all the order of theire communion as concernyng apparell place standing kneeling confessyng thankes geuing and such lyke Which all I doe not say or think to be repugnant with Scripture but I say that as concerning the order which there is vsed there ys no commaundement in Scripture and no commâ—undement being in Scripture of it ther is no iust cause or reason wherfor it should be regarded Such is the protestantes logyk Well if this argumeÌ„t which runneth by negatyues had been good the authorytie and name of Christ or Sainct Paule in that behalfe had been sufficient but now it ys most weake and simple and not worth the bringing and yet M. Iuell will be copious in it saying The old Doctors and holye fathers of the Church Sainct Cyprian Sainct Chrysostome Sainct Ambrose Sainct Hierome Sainct Augustyn and others that receiued the Sacrament at the Apostles handes and as it may be thowght contynued the same in such sort as they had receiued it neuer make mention in any of all their bokes of adoring or worshipping the Sacrament ergo c. This ys a nowghtye lying argument Nawghtye by cause if in all their workes they neuer doe speake of adoring the Sacrament that doth not disproue the adoration which Christians haue euer vsed And lying bycause in deed they make mention in their workes of adoration Neuer ys a long day the prouerbe ys and also Neuer ys a long way And that those holye fathers in all their workes which be so manye dyd neuer make mention of adoring the Sacrament it ys largelye and lowdelye spoken It would haue eased me very much if M. Iuell in speakyng this great worde Neuer and in all their bokes would haue named the bokes which he taketh to be the proper workes of those holye fathers For perchaunse he taketh no more for Sainct Cyprian Sainct Ambrose Sainct Chrysostome Sainct Hierome and Sainct Augustynes workes then hym selfe hath readen and alowed And by that way he may quickly make good his worde if he shall according vnto his pleasure denye that boke to be Sainct Ambrose or Sainct Augustynes in which any mention is made of adoring the Sacrament But if he will be tryed by the consent of Christendom or by that seuere and hardye notar of the holye fathers Erasmus quicklie shall I proue that either M. Iuell hath not readen all the doctors which is in hym lykelye or that he hath not well remembred them in all places which euery man doth as I suppose generallie or that wittingly he belyeth them which sometymes is done lowdely in their pulpites or that adoration of the Sacrament may be obserued and found in holy Fathers wrytinges which is quyte and cleane contrary vnto Neuer to be mentioned in them There be extant whole treatiseis of excellent lerned men as concernyng the profe and testymony of worshipping the holâ—e Sacrament but one place or two shall be as good for my purpose as a hundred where crakes be made that no mention of adoration can euer be fownd in any one place of old doctors S. Chrisostome therefor in the .83 homylie vpon S. Mathew
in reasoning as your yea For although the coÌ„meÌ„dation of some person hath made you a Bishopp And by order of the church I am a simple priest yet as good the legges of a larke as the body of a kyte If we goe to craking in dede it is not good but this yet they would constraine many to do I wil yeld nomore vnto his auctoritie then reason will require Yet I may iustly crake not in my selfe but vnder the churches auctoritie and in the name of S. Cyprian and Tertullian Was that say you an abuse to carye the SacrameÌ„t home at those dayes and receaue it before other meates I vnderstand what greueth you in this example of the primitiue churche For it proueth plainly against you that euen in so nigh daies vnto Christ ther was no necessitie to receaue the Sacrament vnder both kindes And wheras the persequutioÌ„ and hatred of Christians was then so great that they could not frely meete together in any common and open place and so quietly serue God and receaue his benefices as they desired can ye blame them yf the clergie were coÌ„tent to let the Christians cary home with them that present comfort of their soule which is the body of Ihesus Christ to haue it alwaies in redinesse and to strengthen their weaknes therwithall if sodenly they were called vnto martyrdom Be you wiser then S. Cyprian and he writing not his priuate fashion and maÌ„ner which might be well inough corrected by greate counsell but writing of a certain fact of a woman which reserued the Sacrament in her chest wherby the custome of that tyme and most vndoutedlye the faith of that tyme may be gathered doe you reproue the odre of the primityue church and haue you forgotten so sone that old customes must preuaile where haue you readen in any old father or doctor or in any generall councell or how can you shew it by any treu example of the primitiue church that the carying home reseruing of the Sacrament was an abuse but let vs heare what S. Cyprian writeth in his sermoÌ„ de Lapsis He proueth Wherin I confesse he did vilye and damnablye misvse the people and coÌ„trary the church But it is to be noted that this Marcus went about to winne vnto him selfe an estimation aboue all other priestes which could not but folow when that at his coÌ„secrating the people should see the wyne turned as it were in to bloud and that the like did not appeare when other Priestes did consecrat And note that except the faith of the church in those dayes had ben that the very bloud of Christ was in the mysteries of the Christians he could neuer haue made any to reuerence hym the more for that practise but rather to haue brought him before the officers of the church and examined him saying We doe beleue that we receaue Christ onely by faith which faith goeth vp to heauen and eateth him as he sitteth at the right hand of his father but this man sheweth vs very plaine bloud in the chalice which is against our belefe And wheras this Necromanser did turne his craft to the pleasing of the people and so made bloud to appeare in the chalice it foloweth that the whole people of the church did reioyce in the bloud of Christ which thei beleued to be in the mysteries and so he craftely serued their faith an deuotion that he might winne their praise and fauor and that he might be pointed vnto with loe there goeth a good priest and a blessed man But will yow heare more abuses Som take the Sacrament for a purgation against slaunder som hang it before their brestes for a protection S. Benet sayeth he ministred the communion vnto a woman that was dead Ergo what doth folow Ergo the sacrament may be abused I graunt it may be as when wicked and false coniures doe make it a meane to binde the diuell or when heretikes or infidells tread it vnder foote or cast it in the fire or pricke it with kniues to proue whether God his worde be trew that this is his body which was deliuered for vs. But none of your premisses almost doth inferre rightly that conclusion For wherby shew you that S. Benet did abuse the Sacrament in ministring it vnto a woman that was dead All your argument is this Christ did not appoint that the Sacrament shold be hanged about ones necke or put in chest or geauen to dead women ergo these be great abuses Is this in deed good reason that what soeuer Christ hath not expressely willed that may not be vsed Sir Christ did not bid vs that if ther were not present three at the least which would receaue ther should be therfore no communion that daye Christ did not bid vs knele downe and say Lorde we doe not presume to com to this thy table trusting in our owne merites Christ did not bid vs when one chalice is supped vp to fill it again out of the whole potle or quart potte Christ did not bid vs cary home with vs the pieces of bread or cantells therof and doe what we would with it Ergo these be great abuses in the coÌ„munion boke no Sir no the truth must be tryed by other argumentes then these rhetoricall repetitions and negatiues of Christ did not appoint this ergo it is an abuse especially whereas to many doe thinke that Christ will be content with no other thinges but such onely as are writen as though the holy ghost the spirite of truth were idle in the church all this while how dare you to iudge of S. Benet his fact the like vnto which S. Gregory doth alleage for a miracle and for a notable matter S. Austen so wise and blessed a man wheras he disputeth in his boke De Ciuitate Dei of deathes which som haue vsed towardes them selues and wheras he well remembred that the precept of God was Thou shalt not kill also remembred that the church doth honor for martyrs certain which did runne into the waters and to kepe their virginitie lost their liues in this so doubtfull a case wherin the church seamed to stand against God and the precept of God to be contraried by the holye daye of the church he dared not rashely to conclud but stoode herein that the precept of God must haue his force and with what conscience and prayse those virgins drowned them selues that must be left vnto the working of God the holy ghost and not curiously serched of men for what if they did so sayeth he not deceaued as women may be but commaunded by God neither â—rring therin but obeying As of Sampson it is not lawfull for vs to thinke any other thing And we therfore sayeth he afterwardes come to the conscience by hearing but of secret thinges we take not vpon vs the Iudgement Thus Sir it did becom you to doe for asmuch as you confesse Sainct Benet for a Sainct and wheras
present are thei all lost and art thow thi self togeather with them condempned It was not for a man alone to compile out of bothe testamentes so manye testimonyes for the sacrament and so compile them that lyke two Cherubins the old should looke vpon the new aud the new answer the old It was not of flesh so to doe but of the spirite of God Read ouer the antempnes the respondes the versicles of that blessed daye and by the verie sound and sense of them thei declare plainlie from whence thei proceded The first respond owt of the old lawe is this The numbre of the children of Israel shall offer vp a kydd at the euening tyde of their passeouer and thei shall eate flâ—sh and vnleauened bread The versicle answering the same out of Sainct Paules epistle is this Christ our passeouer ys offered vp therefore lett vs eate in the vnleauened bread of sinceritie and veritie Againe an other respond is Helias looking back dyd see at his head a cake and rysing dyd eate and drinck and with the strength of that meate he walked vnto the hyll of God This is the respond but what is there in the new testament to answer this It foloweth owt of Sainct Iohn his Ghospell Yf any man eate of thys bread he shall lyue for euer It ys writen in Iob The men of my tabernacle haue sayd who might geue vs of his flesh that we might be satisfied and the respond is that whyles thei were at supper Christ toke bread and brake it and gaue it and sayed take ye and eate ye this is my bodie What could haue been deuysed more agreeable and comfortable Then in other partes of the seruice how playnelie ys the faith of the church in how few wordes declared and how effectuallie be the effectes of the sacrament proponed O holie feast sayeth the antempne of the later euensong in which Christ ys receaued the memorie of his passion ys repeted the mynd ys filled with grace and a pledge of the glorie to come ys geuen vnto vs. The heretykes say that we must remembre Christ his passion and that that ys the verie some of the institution of the Sacrament But they forget three partes of the whole bycause we not onlie remember his passion but we receaue hym also in deed and grace presentlie ys geuen vnto vs and a pledge of the glorie to come hereafter The church tawght them eueÌ„ that veritie which thei hold as it appereth in the praier of corpus Christi daye O God which hast left vnto vs the memorie of thi passion vnder a wonderfull sacrament but then she sayeth further Grawnt vs we besech the so to honor the holie misteries of thy body and bloud that we may daylie feele in owr selues the fruct of thi redemption So then she grawnteth the memorie of his passion but she holdeth the veritie of his bodie she pelteth not with God denying this to be his body bicause she is coÌ„maunded to do this in remembraÌ„ce of hym but she doth best remembre hym when she hath the bodie which suffered before her She calleth the sacrameÌ„t the misteries of his bodye and bloud yet she doth plainelie adore and worship his presence which is couered I may seem to be to long in my seruice but certeÌ„lie if we should coÌ„sider the marueilouse wisedome of almighty God and the multitude of misteries which by the mowth of S Thomas were vttered in that matter it were argumeÌ„t inough that it come froÌ„ God And is all this geare lost now And where as most manifest miracles haue testifyed vnto the world that our Sauyor accepteth hym and hath takeÌ„ hym in to heaueÌ„ shal the sprite of pride lyeing with one worde coÌ„dempne hym euerlastinglie ThaÌ„ked be God that euer the holiday was made in the worship of Christ his body in the sacrament for this argumeÌ„t is so euideÌ„t that bothe he which can read no letter in the boke an other which wil read no good thing the third which for honest necessarie busynes can not well intend it all yet be sufficientlie warned what to think of the ChristiaÌ„s sacrameÌ„t bicause they haue coÌ„pted it worthie of an especial holiday And wher as no text can be alleaged so plaine for adoration no not owt of this verie seruice which is for corpus Christi day but the heretykes will putt it owt of strength by spirituall and misticall vnderstanding which wordes thei vnderstand not them selues but lyke smoke vanysh awaye in their cogitatioÌ„s yet the apointing of an holydaye in honor of the sacrament ys so manifest an argument against them that they haue no other remedie but to saye Vrbanus was not auncient inowgh for them Which holye pope if he had wryten a whole boke in the prayse and honor of the sacrameÌ„t calling it as the holie doctors haue done the bread of liffe the bread of diuyne substance the bread vnited to the diuinitye the pledge of everlasting lyâ—â—e the bodie most holie pretiouse saue inestimable with an hundred other such tytles they would haue escaped by leing or denying But now what can they saye not onlie S. Vrbanus but all Christendome not onlie doe speake but commaund and proue by sensible and visible argument that the very bodie of owr Sauior is in the SacrameÌ„t and that they adore it with a proper holidaye But Christ sayeth M. Iuell and his Apostles the holie fathers in the primitiue church the doctors that folowed them and other lerned men whatsoeuer for the space of a thousand and two hundred yeares after Christ neuer heard of it Neuer will you abyde by it Yea sayeth he once agayne I saye for the space of a thowsand and two hundred yeares after Christ his ascension in to heauen this worshipping of the Sacrament was neuer knowen or practised in any place within the whole Catholyke church of Christ within the whole world Here I am at a staye I tell yow troth bycause I can not tell by which waye I might begin to answer so vehement an asseueration For were it best think I to tell hym he lyeth and to proue it or to wish hym shame onlie and to permitt the matter to the handes of God or to reason with hym as if he were present or what waye might I take I haue alleaged S. Ambrose and S. Augustyn before and if those two be not sufficient Theodoretus sayeth that the misticall signes remayn in their formar substance and figure and forme and they may be seen and felt as they were before but they are vnderstode to be those thinges which they are made and they are beleued and adored as being those thinges which they are beleued to be Euthimius also sayeth in the 64. chap. vpon S. Mathew Lett vs so doâ— in the worshipping of the misteries not onlie looking on those thinges which are sett before vs but beleuing his wordes And whereas be sayeth this is my bodie