of man is to his Soule Which was the opinion and beleife of Plato of Cicero of Virgil and of all the Platonick Schoole that bore the sway in Ireneus his time Such was the beleife of the Author of the Booke of the Lords supper attributed to Saint Cyprian That Author speaketh thus f Panâ—s ste communis in carnem sangumem mutatus procurat vitam incrementum corporibus ideoque ex consueto rerum effectu fidei nostrae adjutamsirmit as sensibil argumento edocta est visibilibus Sacramentis inesse vitae aeternae effectum The common bread being changed into flesh and into blood bringeth â—ife and growth unto the body And therefore the infirmity of our flesh being helped by the accustomed effect is taught by a sensible proofe that in the visible Sacraments there is an effect of eternall life When he saith that the common bread is turned into flesh and into blood he doth not meane that it is turned into the flesh and blood of Christ but into our flesh and blood by disgestion for hee addeth that this bread nourisheth our bodyes and maketh them to grow and all the currant of the speech sheweth that But a little after hee addeth some wordes whereupon our Adversaries doe triumph and glory for lack of understanding what this Authors beleefe was * Panis queÌ„ Dominus discipulis porrigebat non effigie sed natura mutatus omnipotentia Verbi factus est caro Et sicut in persona Christi humanitas videbatur et latebat d vinitas ita Sacramento visibili ineffabiliter divina se infudit essentia The bread saith hee that the Lord gave to his Disciples being changed not in shew but in nature is made flesh by the omnipotency of the Word But in the words following he sheweth that this conversion of the bread into the flesh of Christ is made not by Transubstantiation but by an union of the Godhead of Christ with the bread like unto the union of Christs divine nature with his humane nature For he added immediatly after And even as in â—he person of Christ his humanity was â—eene but his divinity was hidden so the * Panis itaque hic azymus cibus verus sincerus per speciem Sacramentum nos tactu sanctificat divine essence is infused in the visible Sacrament by an unspeakable manner There is nothing more expresse nor more contrary unto Transubstantiation For according to this Authors beleefe even as Christs divine nature did not transubstantiate his Manhood but made it to be the flesh of the Son of God So the divine Essence which he saith to be infused in the bread of the Sacrament maketh it to become Christs body without being Transubstantiated Wherefore a litlte after he saith that that which we receive in the Sacrament * Caro quae VerbuÌ„ Dei Patris assuÌ„psit in utero virginali n un tate suae personae et panis qui consecratur in Ecclesia unum corpus sunt Divinit atisenim plenitudo quae fuit in illa replet et istum paâ—em is unleavened bread which sanctifieth us by touching it acknowledging that it is bread still Bellarmin in the 15 chap. of his third Book of the Eucharist alleadgeth Saint Remigius that wrote about the yeare of our Lord 520 in these words a The flesh which the Word of God the Father tooke in the Virgins wombe in unity of person and the bread that is consecrated in the Church are one and the selfe-same body For the plenitude of the divinity which was in that flesh filleth also this bread Bellarmin addeth that Haimo held the same language and that Gelasius and Theodorets words that we have alleadged above may be fitted to this opinion The Author our Adversaries alleadge with more ostentation is Damascene whom they rank among the Saints This man may be tearmed the Lombard of the Grecians because he is the first among the Grecians that handled divinity in Philosophicall tearmes And is the first that wrote for the adoration of Images Now he did write about the yeare of our Lord 740. This man in his 4 Book of the Orthodox Faith chap. 14. extendeth himselfe upon this matter and will have the bread b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be changed into the body of the Lord not by transubstantiation but by c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Assumption and union with the divinity like unto the union of Christs divinity with his humanity Because saith hee d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is the custome to eate bread and to drink wine and water the Lord hath conjoyned his divinity to these things and hath made them to be his body and blood And a little after e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou inquirest in what manner that is done let it suffice thee to understand that it is done by the holy Spirit after the same manner as the Lord hath made himselfe to himselfe and in himselfe a flesh taken of the holy Mother of God by the holy Ghost And a little after he saith that the bread and wine c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the body of Christ Deified Chiefly he is very expresse in that he addeth d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The bread of the Communion is not meere bread but it is conjoyned to the Divinity But still he acknowledgeth that it is bread saying the bread is the body of Christ and calling it the bread of the Communion And a little after The loaves of proposition did figurate this bread Item The broad is the first fruits of the future bread And a little after We partake all of one bread Only he hath this of particular to himselfe that he will not have the bread to bee called the figure of Christs body rejecting that kind of speech usuall and ordinary in the Fathers that have written afore him It appeareth likewise in that he will have the Sacrament to bee honored but not to be worshipped d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us saith he honor it with purity corporall and spiritual and will have it to be received with the hands set in forme of a Crosse For then it was not as yet the custom to chop it into the mouths of Communicants Rupertus was imbrued with the same opinion e Rupertus Tuitiensis in Exod. c. 12. Sicut Christus humanam naturaÌ„ nec mutavit nee destruxitysed assumpsit it a in Sacrameto nec destruit nec mutat sub stantiam panis et vini sèd assumit in unitatemcorporis et sâ—ngumis sui Even as Christ saith he did neither change nor destroy the humane nature but joyned himselfe unto it So in the Sacrament he neither destroyeth nor changeth the substance of the bread and wine but joyneth himselfe unto it in the unity of his body and blood For which cause also Bellarmin placeth him among the Impanators This doctrine doth no whit agree with the ubiquity For they did put this union of
far as to be able to make God with words and to have Christ in their own power This abuse beginning to creepe in France King Charles the Bald about the yeere 870 made a commandement unto one Bertram a Priest and as learned a man as these times did affoord to compose and write a Book of this matter which Book we have yet whole and â—xtant at this day wherein hee maintaines the true doctrine and withstands stoutly and vigourously that opinion of the reall presence of the body of Christ under the species of the bread For of Transubstantiation there was yet no speech of it For which cause also Bellarmin in his first Book of tee Sacrament of the Eucharist first chap. puts this Bertram amongst the Hereticks Who not withstanding in his time lived with honor and was neither troubled nor received any rebuke or reprehension upon this subject Of the same opinion were Iohn Scotus and Drutmarus and others of the same time And I make no doubt but many others with them have defended the same cause in writing But the following ages in which error prevailed have abolished their writings and it is marvel how this Book of Bertram could escape thus The tenth and eleventh Ages are the Ages wherein this error did strengthen it selfe most in which neverthelesse God left not himselfe without testimony For Bruno Bishop of Angiers and after him but more vigorously Berengarius his Arch-Deacon taught and maintained openly that the bread and wine of the Eucharist were not the body of Christ but the figure and remembrance of it * Sigebert ad annum 1051. This Berangarius began to shew himselfe about the yeare of our Lord 1050. Against whom Pope Victorius 2. caused a Councel to be gathered at Tours about the yeare 1055 and foure yeeres after Nicholas II. cited him to Rome to the Councel assembled for that effect where Berengarius was forced to condemn his own doctrine submit himself to the Popes wil. By the reading of that Councel it appeares that â—here were in it many others of the same opinion of Berengarius And Leo * Leo Hostiensis Chrâ— Cassinensi li. 3. c. 35. E que cum nullus valeret resistere Alberiâ—us â—deÌ„ evoâ—ntur Hostiensis recordeth that none of those that were there present could resist Berengarius The forme of the abjuration prescribed unto him is to be found in the Collections of the Decrees made by Ivo Carnutensis and by Gratian which forme is set down in absurde tearmes and which the Church of Rome her selfe beleeves not For they make him say a Can. Ego Berengar Dist 2. de consecr that the bread is the true body of Christ and that Christs body is truely and sensibly handled and bruised by the teeth of the Faithfull But Berengarius being rid out of the hands of that Councell and returned back into France protested against the violence offered unto him and continued to teach the same doctrine till the yeere 1088. in which he died Upon his tombe Hildebertus * Hild. Epitaphio Berengar apud Malmesburiensem Quem modo miratur semper mirabilâ—ter orbis Ilâ—e Berengarius non obiturus obit Quem sacrae fidei fastigia summa tenentem c. Vide Baron ad ann 1088. § 21. who after was Bishop of Mans made an honorable Epitaphe wherein he tearmes him the Prop and Support of the Church the hope and the glory of the Clergy And France Germany Italy and England were full of people that embraced his doctrine as William Malmesbury testifies in the 3. Book of his English Historie All France saith hee was full of his doctrine And Matthew of Westminstâ—r in the year 1087 * Eodem tempore Berengarius Turonensis in haereticam lapsus pravitatem omnes Gallos Italos Anglos suis jam pene corruperat pravitatibus Berengarius of Tours being fallen into heresie had corrupted by his depravations almost all the French Italians and English Platina in the life of John XV. speaks thus of Berengarius It is certain that Odius Bishop of Clugni and Berengarius of Tours men famous and renowned for doctrine and holinesse were in great esteeme in that time Adde to this that Berengarius distributed all his meanes to the poore and betooke himselfe to get his living with the labour of his hands * Guit alias Berengarius istevir bonus plenes eleemosynis et humilitate magnorum possessioneÌ„ qui omnia â—â—usiâ—spauperum â—dispersit c. Antoninus Arch-Bishop of Florence whom the Pope hath canonized and made a Saint gives him this testimony in the 2 Tome of his Chronicles Tit. 16 § 20. This Berengarius was otherwise a good man full of Almes deeds and humility and having great possessions and riches which hee distributed to the poore and would have no woman to come before his eyes About the latter end of Berengarius his life lived Gregory the seventh who entred into the Papacy in the yeare of our Lord 1073. called Hildebrand before he was Pope This Gregory was suspected to incline to Berengarius his opinion Sigonius in his 9 Book of the reigne of Italy in the yeare 1080 recordeth that the Bishops of Germany assembled at Brixina in Bavaria did call this Gregory Vâ—terem haeretici Berengariâ— discipulum an old disciple of Berengarius the heretick accusing him of calling into question the Apostolicall Faith touching the body and blood of the Lord. And this agrees with Cardinall Benno Arch-Priest of the Cardinals who was very inward and familiar with the said Gregory and who wrote his life wherein hee saith that Gregory appointed a fast to three Cardinals to the end God might shew whither of the two to wit Berengarius of the Church of Rome had the rightest opinion And there he relates that John Bishop of Port in a Sermon at S. Peters Church did declare in presence both of Clergy and People that Gregory for to obtaine some divine answer had in the presence of the Cardinals cast the holy Sacrament into the fire Berengarius being dead he had many successors that maintained the same doctrine even to the time of Petruâ— de Valdo of the City of Lions whose disciples were named by their enemies Valdenses and Albigenses Of whose Religion and Confession of Faith conformable to ours Fasciculus rerum expetâ—ndaruÌ„ fol. 95. Indocus Câ—â—cius Tom. H. lib. 6. de Euchar fol. 602. hath been spoken before in the 21 chapter of the first Book and shewed that their Churches remaine even unto our times Furthermore John Wicklâ—f in England in the yeere 1390. taught the same Of whose doctrine contained in eighteen Articles here is the first That the substance of the bread remaines after the Consecration and ceases not to bee bread Against the Faithfull that professed this doctrine the Pope stirred up Kings and Princes and caused an incredible butchery to bee made of them preaching the Croisadoe against them whereby hee gave the same spirituall graces unto those that should
some giving him three stripes and some five With the like effeminatnesse that King yeelded up to the Pope the Investures of Benefices which the Kings his predecessors had possessed till that time That King being dead in the yeare 1189. had for Successor Richard his son and after him John a King brutish and furious who made some attempts to recover the Investures which his Father had yeelded up to the Pope But being hated and contemned of his subjects Pope Innocent the third had a faire way to handle him ill He did declare him to have lost the right of his Kingdome dispensed his subjects from their Oath of allegiance a thing never seene nor heard of before in England caused Divine Service to cease throughout all the Kingdom and Churches and Church yards to be shut up Which continued by the space of six yeares and a halfe He also excommunicated the King and gave the Kingdome of England to Philip Augustus King of France upon condition to Conquer the same at his owne perill and fortune and that for the remission of his owne sinnes That constrained King John to yeeld up his Kingdome to the Pope and to binde himselfe to doe homage unto him for his crowne So hee made himselfe the Popes vassall and England became Saint Peters patrimonie And a Patent with a golden seale was made and framed by which the King did oblige himselfe and his successors for ever to pay yearely unto the Pope a thousand marks in gold in signe of subjection besides Saint Peters moneys that were paid by polle Unto which that poore King was forced to adde an Oath whereby hee swore that hee was induced so to doe without constraint and of his owne accord and by the motion of the holy Spirit and that for the remission of his sinnes Vnder this slaverie died this King in the yeare of our Lord 1216. to whom succeeded Henrie the third who did put his Crowne at the Legats feete one knee upon the ground doing homage unto him for his Kingdome Then did the Pope beginne to send his Legats who skimmed England of money by a thousand kindes of devices The Orders of the Franciscans and Jacobins were newly instituted The same Friers preached the Croisado whereby the Pope promised the remission of all sinnes and a degree of glorie in heaven above the common sort to all those which being arm'd would make the vâ—w to goe to the holy I and fâ—r the recovering of Christs Sepulcher possessed by the Sarrasâ—ons At these Predications every one câ—ossed himselfe with a crosse upon the shoulder and a great multitude of Gentry and people sold and moâ—gaged their Lands and estates for the charges of that Journey But as they were armed and furnished for the journey another Legate would come that dispensed the English from their vow and gave them the same graces and Indulgences without bâ—dgeing from their owne houses provided they would give to the Pope as much money as was necessary to have beene spent in their journey By these meanes this Legate gathered huge summes of money And that money was employed by the Pope for to conquer the Cities and Provinces which the Emperour had in Italy Thus did the Pope inlarge his limits Never a yeare came over head but hungry Italians came over into England with new Commissions to raise moneyes with power to excommunicate all such as would refuse and put the Churches into interdict What good horses soever there were or curious houshold stuffe or fine wares in shops were conveyed away without paying for and carried into Italy The Exactors tooke up the tithes of the corne yet unsowen The Italians possessed in England the best Benefices The Pope called England his garden of pleasure and his bottomlesse treasure Whereupon great clamours arose among the People The Nobles said Matth. Paris pag. 267. Marxidiribaldi These are the successors of Constantine and not of Peter O shamefull thing rascally ruffians that know not what armes and honour is will domineere over all the World by their excommunications Matth Paris pag. 423. The Monkes in the Countrey did say The Daughter of Sion is become a brasen faced Whore and without shame at all through the just judgement of him who because of the sins of the People makes an Hypocrite to raigne and a Tyrant to governe and rule But all these clamours were unprofitable and without effect because the holie Scripture was a Booke then altogether unknowne amongst the English people They spake of nothing but of Miracles and of Images and of Pilgrimages and of Reliques Vntill such time as an English Doctor and Preacher named John Wicklef fell to preaching and writing openly against the Pope and against the Masse about the yeare of our Lord 1370. Hee was listened unto with great applause and was able to have caused a great alteration in England if the King would have given way to it Of this oppression in England Matthew Paris and Westmonasteriensis English Monks that lived in those dayes wrote strange and prodigious things Now as John Wicklef was a teaching Aencae Sylvii Hist Bohem. it fell out that a Bohemian Gentleman who was a student of Oxford did taste and rellish wicklefs Doctrine and coppied out his Bookes which he carryed over into his owne Countrey and imparted them to John Huz a famous Preacher to whom Wenceslans King of Bohemia brother to Sigismond Emperour had committed the government of the Schoole of Prague renowned at that time This John Huz overcome by the evidence of Wickless reasons fell a preaching his doctrine and being a vehement and perswasive man he drew after him a great number of People To whom Hierome of Prague did adjoyne himselfe who surpassed John Huz in eloquence and learning There came also out of Germanie one Petrus Dresdensis and one Jacobellus that spake with vehemencie against Transubstantiation and against the Communion under the onely species of the bread For to appease these stirres and commotions the Arch-Bishop of Prague called Subinco Cepus caused Wicklefs Bookes publickly to bee burned and drove out John Huz from Prague But seeing the number of those that he called hereticks did encrease dayly he himselfe fled into Hongaria towards Sigismond and John Huz returned back to Prague Then Benedict the thirteenth Gregory the twelfth excommunicated one another the one having his seat at Auignon the other at Rome A Councell was kept at Pisa in the yeare 1409. in which they created a third Pope to wit Alexander the fifth who dying shortly after John XXIII succeeded him So there was then three Popes all at once and there was no body in all the Church of Rome but was excommunicated by some one of these Popes This John had warre against Ladislaus King of Naples and for to strengthen and fortifie himselfe against him he sent Preachers abroad over all the Countries of his obedience to preach the Croisadoe whereby hee promised the forgivenesse of all sinnes to all
that in this Sacrament Christs body is not onely worshipped but also the roundnesse colour and savour of the bread That if any religious worship were to be given to this Sacrament some trace of it would be found in the Institution of the holy Supper and some commandement of the Lord But neither trace nor appearance of that is to be found But rather we see that the Apostles sate at the table during this action as it appeareth by what is said iâ— Saint John 13.12 that Christ after hâ— had taken his garments he sate downe againe During which repast Saint John was leaning on Jesus bosome Verse 23. And Saint Paul relating the Institution of the Lord saith I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you Since then hee doth not speake of any adoration of the Sacrament it is certaine hee had not received it of the Lord and beleeved not that the Church was obliged to worship the Sacrament The ordinary shift of our Adversaries is to say that the Apostles worshipped not the consecrated hoste because they had Christ every day with them and must have beene continually kneeling before him I answer that to eate Christ with their teeth and receive him in their mouthes and sacrifice him in sacrifice propitiatory are actions which were new to the Apostles and which necessarily required Adoration Every Sacrifice is performed in the worshipping of him to whom the Sacrifice is offered up These things so extraordinary and admirable if they were true did well deserve an extraordinary veneration Specially in the first Institution which was to serve for a rule unto the Church and a patterne to conforme her selfe unto And since our Adversaries will have Christ in the holy Supper to have eaten himselfe he might by the same reason worship himselfe and bowe the knee before himselfe which is a very merry and recreative conception and sutable unto Transubstantiation Whereupon we give our Adversaries the choice Will they have Christ to have adored the consecrated hoste But it would follow from thence according to their doctrine that Christ had worshipped his owne selfe and that he was holyer than himselfe And it is certain that he that worshippeth and he that is worshipped are two persons Will they have Christ not to have worshipped the consecrated hoste But it will follow from thence that the Apostles neither then nor since never worshipped it For Christ saying unto them Doe this commanded them to doe as he had done That if the Lord would have had the Apostles to have worshipped the Sacrament he would have made an elevation of the hoste as was observed in al Sacrifices for to binde the sacrificers and the assistants to the adoration A thing neverthelesse which Christ did not doe for he offered up nothing to his Father He did not say Father receive this oblation But sayd to his Apostles Take Eate Even in the very time of Tertullian and of Cyprian as we shall see hereafter the custome of divers Christians both men and women was to carry into their houses the sacred bread they had received in the Church to wrap it up in a cloth and to lock it up at home in a chest or cupbord A manifest proofe they worshipped not the Sacrament For would they have permitted a woman to take God with her hand put him up in her pocket and keepe him locked up close at home Would the Christians have upbraided the Pagans that they worshipped Statues that could not move themselves See Arnob. lib. 6. and Lactantius lib. 2. cap. 2. nor rise when they were fallen nor breathe subject to rust wherein mice make their nests c. if the Pagans might have upbraided them the same and tell them that they worshipped an hoste that could not breath nor rise up when it is fallen nor open its eyes nor stretch out its hands that may be stolne by men and eaten by mice and will grow mouldie c Durst Theodoret have sayd in the 55 question upon Genesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is an extreame folly to worship that which one eateth if the Christians of his time had worshipped the Sacrament afore they are it It is this errour above all others that keepes the Pagans from embracing the Christian Religion as Averroes testifieth of whom Salmeron the Jesuite cites these words out of the 12 booke of his Metaphysickes Salmeron Tomo 9. Tract 18. S. Ca lvi nus Quoniam Christiani Deum suum quem adorant manducant sit anima mea cum Philosophis Since Christians eate the God they worship let my soule be with the Philosophers The ancientest forme of celebrating the Eucharist in the Christian Church is that which is described about the later end of the second Apologie of Justin Martyr wherein no mention is made of any adoration No more than in that which is extant in the booke of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie of Denis who is surnamed Areopagite There are some places in the Fathers that say that Christ is worshipped in the Eucharist but that makes nothing to this purpose For the Father also and the Holy Ghost ought to bâ—â— worshipped in the Eucharist It is one thing to worship Christ in the action of the Sacrament and another thing to worship the Sacrament Yet notwithstanding the third Councel of Carthage in the 23 Canon forbids one to addresse his prayer to the Sonne in the Eucharist in these words When any one assists at the Altar Cum ad altare aâ—â—â—statur semper ad l'atrem der gatur oralâ—o let his prayer alwayes be directed to the Father If then they had worshipped the consecrated hoste doubtlesse it would not have beene forforbidden to invocate it There be also in Ancient Fathers some Oratorie Apostropho's wherein they speake to the water of Baptisme Ambros in Luâ—am cap 10. O qua qua Saâ—â—amâ—utum Châ—â—st esse â—â—â—ruâ—sti and to the bread and wine of the Eucharist but that makes nothing for the adoration neither of the water nor of the bread So the Scripture speakes often to heaven to the Earth to the Sea to the Mountaines yet none can inferre from thence that they must be worshipped Of Theodoret who in his 2. Dialogue saith that the signes are worshipped â—â—all be spoken hereafter There is in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cannot be understood of the soveraigne adoration â—â—eing he speakes of the signes or Symâ—â—les which cannot be worshipped reliâ—â—ously and with the worship of Latria without manifest Idolatry In the Greeke copies of the Affrican codex Aurelius Bishop of Carthage is ofteÌ„ called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abraham worshippeth or rather proâ—â—rateth himselfe before the Sons of Heth Genes 23. vers 7. 12. And Jacob doth the same to his brother Esau Gen 33.3 and David to Jonathan 1. Sam 20.41 Whom neverthelesse Abraham and Jacob and David esteemed not to be Gods Tertullian against Hermogenes chap. 22. saith that he worshippeth the plenitude of
Of which censures these Jesuites made a laughing stock in a Booke full of bitternesse which they have titled Spongia For to refute this Spongia the Sorbonne made use of the penne of a Sorbonist called Petrus Aurelius In whose Booke printed at Paris by Charles Morell I finde these words in the page 175. The Bishops have the power to produce Christ Anno. 1634. that is to say God himselfe c. Which vertue is in a manner infinite and equivalent not onely to the fecunditie of the Virgin Mother of God inasmuch as the Virgin-Priests procreate upon the Altar the same God whom the Virgin procreated first in her most holy wombe But alsâ— hath some â—â—â—ulation with the eternall operationes by which the divine persons are produced and with the eternall generation by which the Fâ—â—ther produceth with his divine mouth the same Word which the Priests produce with their sacred mouthes And gathers from thence that the power of Priests surpasses very farre all the Angelicall power And in the page 177. he saith that Priests doe perfect and accomplish the Redemption of mankinde And in the page 187. he saith that the power of Priests is most like unto the Divine power and that they have power over the reall body of Christ and over his mysticall body which is the Church and that with the Approbation of the Sorbon set in the front of the Booke Long before Pope Vrban the second * Simeon Dunelmensis lib. â— Chron. Vignier in his Ecclesiastiall History pag. 310. in the yeare 1097. called a Councell at Rome against the Emperour Henry the fourth in which he did thunder against earthly Princes who challenged to themselves the investiture of Benefices alleadging it is a thing abhominable that the hands of those which create God their Creator by their Character should be bound to this ignominie to be as drudges or servants to the hands that are night and day polluted with filthy and dishonest attractations If these things be true reason requires that so great a power hath not beene given unto Priests without great necessity and without some great profit should come thereby unto the Christian Church and that so many wonders as our Adversaries pile up in the Eucharist be greatly usefull and profitable to the faithfull Yet when we come to examine what the fruit is that comes from Transubstantiation and from the Sacrifice of the Masse we find they reduce it almost to nothing and make the Masse almost needlesse and unprofitable That appeares as cleare as the day by comparing it with Baptisme For in Baptisme there is no Transubstantiation made After these words I baptise thee in the name of the Father c. the water remaines in its owne nature and is not turned into blood Yet notwithstanding according to the doctrine of the Roman Church Baptisme is a thousand times more profitable and beneficiall and of a more excellent nature For in the Roman Church they hold Baptisme with water absolutely necessary to Salvation But as for the Eucharist our Adversaries hold that many are saved without being partakers thereof as appeareth by the example of John the Baptist and of the Theife crucified with Christ our Lord and of many faithfull people that dye without having partaked thereof specially of those which the Ancient Church did call Catechumenes Secondly our Adversaries say that by Baptisme not onely originall sinne is pardoned but even wholly taken away so that those which are Baptised have no more originall sinne nor nothing to speake properly that may be called sinne But concerning the Eucharist the Roman Church doth not beleeve that it wipes away the vices nor vicious customes in such sort as it may bee sayd that all those which are made partakers of the Eucharist bee without pride or without covetouesnesse or without lascivious lusts The principall is that our Adversaries teach that by Baptisme is remitted and abolished all the guilt and punishment both eternall and temporall of all the sinnes as well veniall as mortall committed before Baptisme But as for the Eucharist they say it availeth but against venial I sinnes which they make to be so light that a man needs not so much as to have and contrition or repentance for them Vasquez the Jesuite * Vasquez Tomo III. in 3 parteÌ„ Thomae Disp 179. cap 3. num 26. Rudes non debâ—nt hude ar tâ—â—ulum seire neque virtutem hujus Sacramentâ— prouâ—areâ—â— ad remitâ—â—dum vâ—â—ia lâ—â— quiâ— haec â—â—â—issiâ— non est ad sâ—lutem neâ—essarâ—â— The rude and vulgar sort ought not to know the particular vertue of this Sacrament in remitting veniall sinnes for that remission is not necessary unto salvation And the Catechisme of the Councell of Trent in the chapter of the Sacrament of the Eucharist * Catechis Trident. Remittâ— Eucharistiâ—i condonari leviora peccat a quae venialia dici solent noÌ„ est quod dubitarâ— debeat It must not be doubted but by the Eucharist light sinnes which are called veniall are remitted and forgiven which remission Vasquez told us just now not to be necessary Bellarmin in the seventeenth Chapter of his fourth Booke of the Eucharist putteth this among Luthers errors to have said that the first effect of this Sacrament is the remission of mortall sinnes And about the end of the same Chapter The whole question is reduced to this article Whether the Sacrament of the Eucharist doe conferre the forgivenesse of mortall sinnes wherewith a mans conscience is charged or else for it comes all to one if for to receive the Communion worthily it be required that a mans conscience be not charged with any mortall sinne For all Catholicks teach that the Eucharist remits not such sinnes wherewith a mans conscience is loaden and therefore it is requisite they should be purged before And in the beginning of the eighteenth Chapter In this chapter it is not taught that the Eucharist be instituted for the remission of sinnes but onely for to preserve spirituall life And though even these Doctors were not so expresse upon this subject Yet the practise of the Roman Church shewes evidently that the Eucharist and the Masse availes nothing for the remission of sinnes For he that will receive the communion must be confessed before and after confession he receives of the Priest the absolution and forgivenesse of all his sinnes Whereupon it followeth that when a little after he receives the hoste there is nothing at all to be pardoned and that the Eucharist is a plaister for a healed wound and a remedie for a disease which is not Of how small efficacy likewise the Sacrifice of the Masse is in the Romane Church appeares in that they sing or say tenne thousand Masses for to draw one Soule out of Purgatory and yet after so many Masses they doubte still whether that Soule be in Heaven and are still uncertaine of its condition They Sacrifice in private Masses the body of Christ in a corner of a Church for the
Inventions They use meere Water in Baptisme They have no holy Water They me not consecrate their Church-yards They bury their dead in the fields and with â—easts as also they deserve it c. And â—ee addeth that the Emperour in stead of destroying them granted unto them safety and liberty But he should have added to this that the Emperor Sigismond having by armes assaulted and scuffled with them lost there many Battles For which cause he did let them rest in peace In this discourse Aeneas hath chopt and thrust in some calumniations as when he saith they give the Eucharist to madde men and to Infants and bury their dead with beasts Things very absurde and that never were As for the rest all our Religion almost is seene in it Hungaria at the same time was full of Faithfull people holding the same beleife They presented to the King Vladislaus in the yeare of our Lord 1508. their Confession of faith conformable to ours defending themselves against an Austin Frier that had accused them to the King of many errors namely for that they did not obey the Pope called not upon Saints denied Purgatory received the Communion in both kinds and rejected Transubstantiation Vpon which last point they speak thus This Frier writeth that the bread and wine in their naturall substance are changed into the body and blood of Christ This Confession is to be fouÌ„d in Fascioulo rerum expetendarum and are changed into Christ God and man so that nothing of the substance of the bread and wine remaineth but that the onely accidents are meerely upheld by miracle This Confession of faith hath no foundation in the Lord Christ Jesus his words who never spake one word of the conversion of the substance And a little after By that is manifested that the Primitive Church had this Beleife and hath confessed it and hath not erred and did not bowe at this Sacrament For in that time they received the Sacrament sitting and reserved nothing of it and carried none of it out of the house c. About the same time in the yeare 1520. Calvin being yet very young the Faithfull of Provence presented to the Parliament of Aix their Confession of Faith conformable to ours Vpon the point of the Sacrament they speak thus We are not entangled with any errors or heresies condemned by the Ancient Church and we hold the documents and instructions approved by the true Faith And as for the Sacraments particularly we have the Sacraments in honour and beleeve that they be testimonies and signes by which Gods grace is confirmed and assured in our consciences For which cause wee beleeve that Baptisme is a signe whereby the purgation that we obtaine by the blood of Jesus Christ is corroborated in such sort that it is the true washing of Regeneration and renovation The Lords Supper is the signe under which the true Communion of his body and blood is given unto us And these poore Churches were the remainder of the horrible Persecutions exercised by the space of three or foure hundred yeares by Kings and Princes at the instigation of Popes Which Churches they had defamed with horrible heresies accusing them to be Manicheans and enemies of Marriage even as they accuse us now to be enemies unto the Saints and the blessed Virgin and to beleeve that good workes are not necessary to salvation and that we make God Author of sin A few yeares before under the raigne of good King Lewis the XII who was called the Father of the People happed a memorable thing which Carolus Molinaeus a famous Jurisconsulte reciteth in his Booke of the French Monarchie He saith that certaine Cardinals and Prelates did goe about to stirre up and incite this good King to destroy and exterminate the Inhabitants of Cabrieres and Merindoles in Provence saying they were Sorcerers Incestuous persons hereticks condemned already by the Apostolick Sea But this King answered that he would condemne no body to death without hearing both sides and be fully acquainted with the cause And that for that end he sent one Adam Fumee a Master of Request and John Parin a Jacobin Frier his Confessor for to transport themselves into the place where they lived and be informed of their Religion Which they did and reported to the King that among these men they had found no Images nor any â—race or vestige of any ornaments of Masses or Papall Ceremonies That they had found nothing touching Magicall Artes whoredomes and other crimes laid upon them The King understanding this cryed out with a lowde voice and swore that those people were better Christians than hee and his people and confirmed their priviledges and immunities That fell out about the yeare 1412. Calvin scarce being borne Pope Julius the second made warres against this King But the King defeated his Armie and the Emperours neare the City of Ravenna Assembled a Councell at Piso against the Pope Caused money to bee coyned with this Inscription round about PERDAM BABYLONIS NOMEN as Thuanus relateth in the first Booke of his History But under the raigne of King Francis the first Successor unto Lewis the twelfth these poore Churches of Provence suffered hard and rude persecutions and Massacres Neverthelesse they subsist yet at this day and Thuanus in the sixth Booke of his History speaketh of their Religion Hee saith that these Valdenses for hee tearmes them so did say that the Church of Rome had departed from the faith of Christ Jesus and was become Babylon and the great Whore whereof is spoken in the Revelation That none ought to obey the Pope nor his Prelates That Monachall life was a sinke of the Church and an Infernall thing That the fiâ—â—â— of Rurgatorie the Masse the Dedicatiâ— of Churches the Service of Saints as Suffrages for the dead were inventionâ— Satan Then hee addeth To these 〈◊〉 and principall heads of their doctrine 〈◊〉 thens were falsly added touching Muriage the Resurrection the state anâ— condition of the dead and touchâ—â— meates The same Author in the 27 Booke speaketh of the Churches of the Valsies of the Alpes which he saith to be descended from the ancient Valdeuses which have yet at this very day a Religion altogether conformable to ourt and saith that in the yeare 1560 they presented their Confession of Faith unto those whom the Duke of Savoye their Lord had sent them by which they declared that they stuck fast and adheared to the ancient doctrine contained in the Old and New Testament and to the Apostles Creed and to the foure first Generall Councels and that for the rule of a good life they kept themselves close to the renne Commandements of the the Law That they taught to live chastely soberly and justly and to yeeld obedience unto Princes and Magistrates That neverthelesse they rejected Sacrifice of the Masse the â—â—â—rament of Penance Auricular Conâ—â—sion humane Traditions Prayers for the dead but cleaved to the holy Scripâ—â—es Which things they said to have â—â—eived
not from Calvin but from Christ and his Apostles For the strait â—â—ssages and steepe places of the Alpes â—â—d preserved them from the persecutiâ—â—s of the Pope and his Ministers And at this very day also the Church of Ethiopia which containeth 17 great â—â—ovinces agrees with us in the funâ—amentall points of Faith though she â—ave some small superstitions For she â—eleeveth not Purgatory nor Transubâ—antiation She maketh no elevation for Adoration of the Hoste Is not subâ—ect to the Pope Knowes nor what Indulgences meane nor private Masses Celebrateth the divine Service in the Ethiopian tongue Gives the Communion to the People under both kindes Worships no Images Hath but one Table or Altar in the Church Hath Monkes but they are Muried and earne their living by the worke of their hands Baptiseth not the male Children till forty dayes after this 〈◊〉 and the females after threesâ—â—â— dayes an assured signe that she beleeves not 〈◊〉 Baptisme of Water to be necessary uâ—â— Salvation These things are seene 〈◊〉 the History of Francis Alvarez a Pâ—â—tugall Monke who lived six yeareâ—â— the Court of the great Neguz Empertâ—â— of Ethiopia The Ethiopian Churches are calâ—â—niously and falsly accused to be Eutichians True it is they be subjeâ—â— to the Patriarch of Alexandria is who 〈◊〉 an Eutichian But that subjection iâ—â—â— in the doctrine but onely in that 〈◊〉 said Patriarch hath the right of noâ—â—â— nation of the Abuna or chiefe Prâ—late of the Ethiopians when the Seâ—â—voide The Greeke Church more ancient thaâ— the Roman and of whom the Chuâ—â—â— of Rome received the Christian Religion doth not acknowledge the Pope rejecteth his Lawes knoweth not whaâ— his Indulgences are Beleeveth neitheâ— the Purgatory nor the Transubstantiation Celebrateth the divine Service in the Greeke tongue Hath her Priests married Hath no Liturgies or Private Masses and comes a greatdeale neerer to our Religion than to the Romish And this I say not that we ground our selves upon any of these examples â—or would be authorised thereby For â—â—e doe ground our selves only upon the word of God and of his blessed Apostles contained in the holy Scripture unto which the Pope braggeth not to be subject and doth not acknowledge it for Judge In a word we must stand firme upon this To wit that our Adversaries must shew us where their Religion was in the time of the Apostles before wee doe shew them where our Religion was before Calâ—in CHAP. XXIV That our Adversaries reject the Fathers and speake of them with contempt OVr Adversaries being pressed by the holy Scripture are wont to have recourse to the Fathers whom never thelesse they receive not for Judges and acknowledge in them a multitude of errors and speake of them with great contempt Denis Petau a Jesuite in his Notes upon Epiphanius pag. Multa sunt à sactissims Patribus praeapucque à Chrysostomo in Homiliss aspersa quae si ad exactae veritatis regulam accommodare volueris boni sesus mania videbuntur 244 speaketh thus In the most holy Fathers and cheifly in Chrysostome his Homilies are dispersed many things which if thore wouldest accommodate to the rule of truth shall be found to be voide of sense Cardinall Baronius in his Annals in the year 34. § 213. a Sanctiâ—â—mos Patres in interpretatione Scripturae non semper in omnibus Catholica sequâ—â—ur â—â—desia The Catholick Church doth not follow alwayes the most holy Fathers in the interpretation of the Scripture b Consultiâ—â— dâ—â—ndu puâ—aâ—â—â— Hâ—eronymum sit amen ille ipse est ut humana sert infirmiâ—as memoriâ lapsum And in the § 185. Hierome hath erred for lacke of memory And in the yeare 31. § 24. he checks Saint Austin for not understanding well these words of the Lord Thou art Peter c. And in the yeare 60. § 20. he is vexed against Theodoret because he rejected the service of Angels grounded upon a place of Saint Paul Colos 2. c Ex his videas haud feliciter ejâ—s pace dictum sit Theodoretum assecutum esse Pauls verborum sensum By this saith he it may he seene that Theodoret with his good leave did not well apprehend the Apostles meanning And in the veare 369. § 24. Hilary had also his defects Alphonsus à Castro in his first Booke of Heresies Chapter 7. a SanctoruÌ„ Patrumsetentâ—â—e saepe invicem repugnant Oftentimes the opinions of the Fathers are repugnant one to the other Melchior Canus in his seventh Book of common places Chapter 3. b NuÌ„ 2. CuÌ„ Sanctorum quisque his duntax at exceptis qui libros Canonicos eduderunt humano spiritu locutus suerit aliquaÌ„do vel in co â—rrarit quod ad sidem pertinere posteademonstratum est c. Seeing there is none of the Saints except onely those that have written the Canonicall Bookes but have spoken by the spirit of man and sometimes erred in that which afterwards was knowne to belong to the Faith It is evident that from such an authority none can build a certaine and assured Faith And thereupon he produceth for an example the errors of many Fathers so farre as to say that against the ordinary course of nature they bring forth monsters Sixtus Senensis in the Preface upon the fifth Booke of his Bibliotheca c Prisâ—i illi Ecclisiaâ—il Magistrâ— nonnibâ—l interdum à proposito veritatis scopo aberraverunt These ancient Masters of the Churches of have some times swerved from the scope of the truth at which they aimed And in the same place d In libris sancterum Doctorum quos authentica legit Ecclesia nonnunquam â—â—uni antur quaedam pravavel haeretica In the Bookes of the holy Doctors whose authority is read in the Church are found sometimes things wicked and hereticall and he speaketh this after Anselme in his Commentaries upon the second to the Corinthians Maldonat the Jesuite upon the sixth of Saint John checking Saint Austin for not well conceiving in what sense Christ calleth himselfe the bread saith a § 81. Hoc dâ—co persuasum me habere D. Augustâ—num si nostra fuisset aetate longe aliter sensurum fuisse Et S. 71. Hanc interpretationeÌ„ multo magis probo quà m illam Augustinâ— I am perswaded that if Austin had lived in ouâ— dayes he would have beene of an other opinion And in the same place I doe approve of this interpretation much more than that of Austins Cardinall Cajetan in the beginning of his Commentaries upon Genefis b Nullus detestelur novum sacrae Scripturae sensum ex hoc quod dissonat à prescis Doâ—â—oribus Non enim allâ—gavit Deus exposiâ—â—onem Scripturarum pâ—isâ—orum Doctorum sensibus Let none detest a new sense of the Scripture under colour it disagreeth from the ancient Doctors For God hath not tyed the Expesition of the Scriptures to the sense or opinions of the ancient Doctors Andradius in his second Booke of the defense of the Faith
of Trent c Vt Augustinum Basilium c. taceam quorum non semper sumus opinionibus addâ—â—â— I say nothing of Austin Basil Athanasius both Cyrils Chrysostome and Epiphanius to whose opinions we are not alwayes tyed Pererius the Jesuite in his eighth Book upon Genesis Disp 1. d Pudet dicere quae de optimâ—â— scriptoribus hoc loco dicturâ—â— sâ—â—m adco sunt non modo faâ—sa sed pudeadâ— absâ—â—dâ— I am ashamed to tell what I must say here against the best writers so much doe they say things not oneâ—â— false but also shamefull and absurde Now the Fathers whom he meaneth are Justin Martyr Ireneus Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus Cyprian Ambrose Lactantius Eusebaus Sulpitius Severus Salmeron the Jesuite in the eight Prolegomene a Pag. 85 Quisque Patrum diverse ab alio unum locum exponit immo etiam unus idem vario modo Every Father expoundeth one place of the Scripture otherwise than the rest yea one and the same Father expounds it in severall fashions And in the third Prolegomene pag. 13. he bringeth many examples of Fathers which contradict themselves The same man in the 51 Disput upon the Epistle to the Romanes acknowledgeth that the Fathers generally are against him in the point of the Conception of the Virgin Mary Whereupon he shifts off thus b Contra hanc quam objectant multitudinem respondemus ex verbo Dei Exod. 23. In judicio plurimorum non acquiosces sententiae ut devies à vero Against this multitude objected against us we answer by the Word of God Exodus 23. Thou shalt not yeeld in judgement to the opinion of many c Ego ut ingenuè fatear plus uni summo Pontifici crediderim in his quae sidci mysteria tangunt quà m mille Augustinis Hieronymis Gregorijs for to decline from the truth Cornelius Mus Bishop of Bitonto upon the 14 chapter of the Epistle to the Romanes I would give more credit to confesse it ingenuously to one Pope than to a thousand Austine a thousand Hieromes a thousand Gregories I should never make an end if I would produce all the places wherein our Adversaries abuse the Fathers and accuse them of error or of untruth or of ignorance and have reason in some things in others not a Chrys honul 45. in Matth. 21. in Iohannem Chrysostome accuseth often the Virgin Many of mbition temeritie and importunitie b Iustin Deal in T â—ph Cle. 6. Strom. Justin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus say that God created the Sun and the Moone that the Gentiles might worship them least they should bee without Religion c See Ireneus in his 5. Booke Justin Ireneus Lactantius Ambrose Tertullian and many others were Chiliastes holding a Reigne of Christ that is to endure one thousand yeares in feastings and carnall delights d Lâ—b 1. de Spirâ—tu Sancto c. 2. Ambrose teacheth that Baptisme conferred in the name of the Holy-Ghost without naming the Father or the Sonne is good and warrantable Austin hath condemned the Children dead without Baptisme to the eternall flames Cyprian taught the Rebaptization of Hereticks and assembled a Councell in which hee did condemne the doctrine of the Roman Church a Lib 10. de Trinitate in Psal 68 138. in Psal 118. litera Gimel Hilary taught that our Saviour Christ suffered no paine at his death And that the Virgin Mary is to be purged by the fire of the last judgement b Hier. lib. 1. 2. in Iovinianii saepe alibi Saint Hierome calleth Marriage an ignominie â—he end whereof is death and the persons marryed Vessels unto dishonour c Hier. iâ—â— Epist ad Titum c. 1. He taught also that Bishops and Priests are equall by divine right Whereupon Bellarmin in his first Booke de Pontif. chap. 8. saith This opinion is false and must bee refuted in its due place Gregory of Nice in the first Oration of the Lords Resurrection teacheth that when Christ instituted the Eucharist his body was already dead and that his Soule was in hell For which he is censured by the Jesuite Salmeron saying d Salm Tomo XI Tract 7. de modo resurr Christi pag. 49. Cujus in verbis continentur multa non satis in Ecclesia recepta In these words of Gregory there are many things which the Church doth not approve off Clemens Alexandrinus teacheth that the Pagans were saved by Philosophy Tertullian maketh God to be corporall Clement the first Bishop of Rome in a Decretall Epistle will have goods and women to be common In the ninth Tome of Baronius Annales there is an Epistle of Pope Gregory the second wherein hee declareth that it is not lawfull to paint out God the Father But Baronius a Postea usu venisse ut pingatur in Ecclesia Deus c. noteth in the margent that the Church now hath ordained of it otherwise Six hundred and thirty Bishops decreed at the Councell of Chalcedone that the Bishop of Constantinople should be equall in all things to the Bishop of Rome The Milevitan Councell where Saint Austin was present and framed the Canons of it forbiddeth upon paint of a curse to appeale beyond the Sea that is to say to appeale out of Africk to Rome The sixth Councell of Carthage confirmeth the same prohibition and writeth to Celestin Bishop of Rome long Letters which are inserted in the Councel wherein the Councel warnes him to take heed henceforth from receiving any appeales out of Africk and not to send them his Legats any more not make use any more of supposed Canons for to advance his authority and not to bring in worldly pride into the Church In all these things and in a thousand others more the Roman Church condemneth the Fathers and maketh no reckoning of their authority Whence appeareth that it is to no purpose that our Adversaries in certaine questions alledge the Fathers unto us seeing themselves reject them and subject them to the Judgement of the Pope and Church of Rome CHAP XXV Of the corruption and falsification of the Fathers writings and of the difficultie to understand them IN the Allegation of Fathers about our Controversies we have this disadvantage that we have them but by the hands of our owne Adversaries For all the impressions that have been made of them were made upon the Manuscripts found in Monasteries written by Monkes who had faire opportunitie to clip and alter them at their pleasure and set old titles upon new Bookes made and composed by themselves It is a hard case to one of the parties that goes to Law when he can make use of no other writings but of such as his owne Adverse party furnisheth him with who hath thrusted in such clauses as seemed good unto him But it is come to passe through the Providence of God that the most part of these falsifications are so grosse and so palpable that we have not
had much paines to discover the falsity of many places and false Workes which are in so great number that if they were taken away the Fathers Workes would bee found diminished of a third part Those among our Adversaries that are well read in the Fathers acknowledge the same with us and passe condemnation in this point Reade Sixtus Senensis about the end of his fourth Booke and the Booke of Cardinall Bellarmin Of Ecclesiasticall Writers where he hath put the Catalogue of the Fathers Works There shall ye wonder to see the multitude of Bookes which he saith to be doubtfull or manifestly counterfeit Which causes men to doubt of the other Workes whose falsitie is not easilie found out For the discovering of these falsities we have beene helped by the Catalogue of the Workes of Ancient Writers which Photius Patriarch of Constantinople who wrote about the yeare of our Lord 878. hath put into his Librarie And by Gennadius a Priest of Marseilles that wrote a Booke of the Illustrious men about the yeare of our Lord 492. Item by the diversity of stile Item by certaine places of the Fathers which are alleadged by Ivo Gratian Burchardus Lombard Thomas and others quite otherwise than they bee found in the editions printed in this last age Item by other places of the same Fathers which say the contrary so that one and the same Father is oftentimes found to contrarie himselfe Even as the ninth Age was the Age wherein the Decretals of the ancient Bishops of Rome were forged under the name of one Isidorus Mercator which was falsely framed for the grounding of the Papall Monarchy which with might and maine was a building in that Age So the eleventh Age in which Berengarius Archdeacon of Angiers withstood and impugned stoutly and vigorously the opinion of the reall presence and Transubstantiation was the Age wherein were forged sundry works in the behalf of that error and divers clauses were chopt into the Books of the ancient Fathers Of this false coyne is the Book attributed to * Bellar. lib. de Script Eccles Sixtus Senensis sub sinem libriquart Cyprian of the Lords Supper which all the learned of the Roman Church acknowledge not to be of his making And the Cathecheses Mystagogicall of Cyril of Jerusalem The Catecheses of Gregory of Nysse are indeed his but horribly corrupted and full of errors which the Roman Church approves not There is mention made there of one Severus an Heretick who is posterior to this Gregory above 150. yeares Of these falsifications and divers others we have entreated more at large in the Book against Cardinal du Perron He that should take away from the works of Cyprian Ambrose Hierome Austin and Athanasius the counterfeit Books should diminish the writings of these Fathers more than of a third part Wherefore after so many falsities discovered when our adversaries object us some place of a Father we might very justly desire them to proveunto us that that place was not added or depraved by some falsifier aswell as so many others By all manner of reasons if in an writing brought in justice there be found but one falsification the whole instrument loseth all its force and is rejected There is another difficulty that deceiveth such men as are not wel seen in antiquity to wit that the words used in old time have now changed their signification In the Fathers are found these words of Pope of Sacrifice of Oblation of Purging fire of Indulgence of Station of Species of Monke of Penance but quite in another sense than these words are taken at this day Notwithstanding these difficulties and disadvantages whereby our adversaries strive to prevaile against us we refuse not for all that to buckle with theÌ„ For what falsifications soever were made in the Books of Ancient writers yet in them remaines still so many expresse and formall places against Transubstantiation that of the collection of them a man might make a great volume Wee have produced above 500 in the Book of the Novelty of Popery and Mr le Faucheur and Mr Aubertin have laboured lately and taken paines about this subject with a â—ost exact diligence and full of great learning Here wee will content our selves to produce some few places for a taste yet with this protestation that I do not alleadge the Fathers for to be a stay to our cause which is sufficiently propped and established upon the Word of God Goâ— doth not beg the testimonies of men Hâ—â— word is as strong alone as being aâ—companied with humane testimonâ— To goe about to defend it with thâ— testimonies of men subject to errouâ— is as if a man would lighten the Sunâ—â— with a Candle But wee doe alleadgâ— the Fathers for to defend their honour because that against their â—â—tent our Adversaries make them Advocates of a bad cause And for 〈◊〉 condescend and yeeld some thing to the disease of this froward age wherein the holy Scripture hath lost its power and efficacy and which armeth it selfe with human testimonies against the Word of God CHAP. XXVI Places of the Fathers contrary to Transubstantiation and to the manducation of the body of Christ by the corporall mouth TErtullian in his fourth Booke against Marcion chapter 40. disputing aâ—ainst the Marcionites that denyed Christ â—o have a true humane body speaketh â—hus a Acceptum panem distributum discipulis corpus suuÌ„ illum fecit dicendo Hoc est corpus meum id est figura corporis mei Figura autem non fuisset nisi veritatis esset corpus Christ when he had taken the bread â—nd distributed it to his disciples made it â—o be his body saying This is my body â—hat is to say the figure of my body But it were not a figure unlesse it were a true body His reason is because men represent not by figure the things that are not And in the third Booke chapter 19. b Panem suum corpus appellans ut bâ—â—c jam euâ— intelligâ—â— corporis sui figuram paâ—i dedisse Christ called the bread his body that thereby thou mightest understand that he gave to the bread to be the figure of his body Origen upon the fifteenth Chapter of Saint Matthew speaking of that which the Faithfull receive by the corporall mouth in the Eucharist * Quod si quicquid ingreditur in os in veâ—â—e abit in sâ—cessum â—jicitur ille cibus qui sanctificatur per verbit Dei perque obsecratâ—oneÌ„ juxta id quod habet materialein ventrem aâ—â—â— in secessuÌ„ emitâ—itur c. â—â—t haecquidem deâ—ypico symboluoqueâ—orpore If every thing that entereth into the mouth goes into the belly and is sent into the prity this food which is sanctified by the Word of God and by the Prayer as it is materiall gâ—â— into the belly and is sent into the privy And a little after And thus much be said touching the typicall and symbolicall body of Christ Vpon this place
Cup his blood These things Bethren are called Sacraments because in them one thing is seene and another is understood What is seene hath a corporall forme What is meant hath a spirituall fruite If then thou wilt understand what the body of Christ is heare the Apostle saying to the Faithfull Ye are Christs body and his members If ye bee therefore Christs body and members your mysterie is set on the table of the Lord c. He giveth the same exposition in the 26 Treatise upon Saint John By this mâ—ate and by this drinke the Lord will have to bee understood the society and fellowship of his body and of his members to wit the holy Church of the Predestinate And in the Roman Canon in the a Distinction of the Consecration at the Canon Hoc est a Coelestis anis qui â—hristi caro 〈◊〉 suo modo â—ocatur â—rpus â—hristi cum 〈◊〉 vera sit â—cramentii â—rporis â—hristi illiâ—s videliâ—t quod â—alpabile â—ortale in â—uce posiâ—m est tâ—b Glos â—oeleste Saâ—amentum â—uod vere â—praesenâ—t Christi â—rnemdiciâ—r corpus â—hristi sed â—aproprie crum diciâ—r suo moâ—â—sed non â—iveritate sed significante mysterio Vt sit sensus vocatur Chriâ—â— corpus id est significatur The heavenly bread which is the flesh of Christ is after its manner called the body of Christ although to speake truely it be the sacred signe of Christs body to wit of that which being visible palpable mortall was put upon the Crosse And thereupon the Glosse of the Doctors hath these words which truely are excellent The heavenly Sacrament that representeth truely the flesh of Christ is called the body of Christ but improperly for it is thus called after its manner but not according to the truth of the thing but by a significant mystery So that the sense is that it is called the body of Christ that is to say that it is signified S. Cyprian in his 63 Epistle will have in the sacred Cup water to be mingled with the wine His reason is because that as the wine is the blood of Christ so the water is the People and that the People ought not to bee divided from Christ b §. 9. Quando in Calice vino aqua â—iscetur Christo populus adunatur c. Sivinum tantum quis â—crat sanguis Christi inc pit esse sine nobis si veroaqua sit sola â—ebs incipit esse sinc Christo If saith he any one offereth nothing but wine Christs blood beginneth to bee without us but if the water be alone the people begins to be without Christ Whereby it followeth that as Cyprian did not beleeve that the water was transubstantiated into the people so did he not beleeve that the wine was transubstantiated into the body of Christ And in the same Epistle c Vinum fuit quod sanguiuem suii dixit That which Christ called his blood was wine And in the 76 Epistle d Dominus corpus suii paneÌ„ vocat de multorii granorum adunationâ— congestum The Lord called his body the bread compounded with the gathering together of many graines We have a Treatise of the two natures of Christ against Nestorius and Eutyches made by Pope Gelasius who wrote about the yeare of our Lord 495. There is this sentence to be found which vexeth and grieves mightily our Adversaries e Certe Sacramenta quae sumimus corporis sanguinis Christi divina res est propter quod per eadeÌ„ divinae effiscimur consortes naturae tameÌ„ esse non desinit substaÌ„tia panis vini Et certe image similitudo corporis et sanguinis Christi in actione mysteriorum celebraÌ„tur Certainely the Sacraments that we take of the body blood of Christ are a divine thing for which cause also by them we are made partakers of the divine nature and yet the substance or nature of the bread and wine ceaseth not to be And verily the Image and similitude of the body and blood of Christ is celebrated in the action of the mysteries Note that hee disputed against the Eutychians who held that the substance of the body of Christ was passed and changed into the substance of the divine nature The controversy was not about the conversion of the accidents but of the Substance which Gelasius maintaineth to remaine in the body of the Lord as the substance of the bread remaineth in the Sacrament Now no man can doubt but that this Book be of Gelasius Bishop of Rome Hoc etiam eatae meâ—orie Papa Gelasius c. in co â—bro quem â—emoratus â—â—ntistes â—onscripsit â—dversus eâ—â— qui in 〈◊〉 omino Ieâ— duarum at urarum â—olunt indiâ—â—aÌ„ credere â—ritatem Quomodo â—cend t in â—â—lum nisi â—â—ia localis verus est â—mo aut â—omodo aâ—st fidelâ—â—s suiâ—â—nisi â—â—a idem â—mensus 〈◊〉 â—rus dâ—us seeing that Fulgentius who lived in Gelasius time alleadgeth it * in his Book to Feâ—randus the Deacon in the 2 proposition and attributeth it to the Pope Gelasius Fulgentius Disciple to S. Austin in his second Book to Trasimondus chap. 17. a How is Christ ascended into Heaven but because he is in a place and a man indeed Or how is he present to his Faithfull ones but because he is infinit and a God indeed Again in his Book of the Faith to Peter the Deacon chap. 19. b Cuâ— nunc id est tempore nov Testamenti cum Paâ—e et Sp Sancto cum quibs illi est una diviniâ—as sacrificium â—ais et â—â—niâ—n side et charitâ—te sancta Ecclesia Catholica per uversum orâ—â—â—â—eâ—rae offerre non cessat etc. The holy Catholick Church which is over all the world now that is to say under the New Testament ceaseth not to offer unto Christ Jesus with the Father and the holy Ghost with whom he is one and the same Godhead a Sacrifice of bread and wine in Faith and Charity For in those caâ—n ill oblations of the Old Tetestament there was a figure of Christs flesh which he was to offer for our sins being without sin But in the sacrifice of the Eucharist is made an action of thankesgiving and a remembrance of the flesh of Christ which he offered for us and of the blood that himselfe who is God hath shed for us Besides this that he calleth the Holy Supper a remembrance and a Sacrifice of bread and wine it is very remarkable that he saith that this Sacrifice of bread and wine is offered unto Christ Jesus Whereby it appeareth that this Sacrifice is not Christ himselfe for Christ is not Sacrificed unto Christ Facundus an Affrican Bishop who wrote about the yeare of our Lord 550 in the defence of three heads or points of the Councell of Chalcedon * Potest Sacramentum adoptionis adoptio nuÌ„cupari sanguâ—neÌ„ dicimus noÌ„ quod proprie corpuâ— ejus sit panis poculum sanguis sed quod in se mysterium
is it as great an absurdity by the word of Substance to understand Accidents If it may be lawfull for them to wrest the Fathers thus and when they say a thing is white understand that they mean black never will there be any thing cleare nor sure Certainely if by this word Substance the Fathers had understood the Accidents they would have said the Substances in the plurall For Accidents are many Among which our Adversaries must chuse one that may be called a Substance But Theodoret in his second Dialogue saying that the bread after the Consecration remaineth in its former substance forme and figure refuteth this evasion For hee distinguisheth expressely the Substance from the Accidents Now as this error of the bodily presence of â—hrists body under the species of the bread began to be set on broach Bertram a Priest in Charles the Bald his time about the yeare of our Lord 870. made a Book against that abuse which Book is yet extant For which cause also Bellarmin in his first Book of the Eucharist chap. 1. placeth him among the Hereticks But Bertram all his life time lived with credit and honor and was never reprooved for it CHAP. XXVII Confirmation of the same by the customes of the ancient Church THis truth is confirmed by the ancient customes different from what is done in the Masse at this day and incompatible with Transubstantiation For in the ancient Church Service was said in a known tongue Every one received the Communion in both kinds The people offered upon the table abundance of bread and wine and not round light wafers * Cypr. Serm. de Lapsis Euseb Histor lib. 7. c. 9. Theod. Histor lib. 5. cap. 18. Nazianz. Orat. de Gorgonia The people aswell men as women received the Sacrament with their hand and many carried it home a long with them * Hesychius lib. 2. in Lev. c. 8. Ivo 2 part 2 de Sacr. c. 59. Burch l. 5. c. 12. The residues of the sacred bread that remained upon the table after the Communion were either burn't or * Evagâ— l. 4 cap. 36. given unto little children coming from Schoole or carried into the Priests houses for to be eaten there Than were there no private Masses Nor no Corpus Christi day The consecrated Host was not carried in procession * Ambâ—l de Viduis Oportet eam Viduam primo carere variarum illecebris voluptatuÌ„ vitare internum corporis animiq laÌ„guoreÌ„ ut corpus sanguinem Christi ministret Ambrose in his Book of Widdows saith that the Widdowes were imployed in the administration of the Sacrament a Editionis Parisiensis anno 1624 coluÌ„ 161. Virgo postquaÌ„ coÌ„municavit reservet de ipsa coÌ„munione unde iâ—sque ad diem octavum communicet In the Roman Order which is in Bibliotheca Patrum these words are to be found Let the Virgin receive the Communion after the Masse is ended and after she hath received let her reserve of the Communion sufficiently for to communie the eight dayes together Had they then beleeved the Transubstantiation they would never have given unto maids the Sacrament to keep so long a time Certain it is the ancient Church worshipped not the Sacrament There may be found indeed some places of the Fathers that say that in the Eucharist wee worship Christ But it is one thing to worship Christ in the action of the Sacrament and another thing to worship the Sacrament The Father and the holy Ghost in the Eucharist are also worshipped In vaine do they alleadge some ancient Fathers that speak of the elevation of the Sacrament For the elevation inferreth not necessarily adoration seeing that in Moses Law the Priest * Exod. 29 24. Levitiâ— 8.27 29. Num. 5.25 waved the breast and shoulder of the offering and a handfull of the first fruits without worshipping these things Moreover that elevation was nothing like to the elevation of the Host which the Priest maketh now a dayes over his head turning his back to the people and ringing a little Bell. But then after the Priest had uncovered the bread and wine he tooke the Platter or Dish with both his hands and lift it up for to shew it unto the people and that even before the words which are called of Consecration CHA. XXVIII Explanation of the places of the Fathers that say that in the Eucharist we eate the body and blood of Christ and that the bread is changed into the body of Christ and is made Christs body Specially of Ambrose Hilary and Chrysostome That the Fathers speake of severall kinds of body and blood of Christ THe holy Scripture speaketh of two sorts of body of Christ Namely of the natural body of Christ which he took in the womb of the Virgin Mâ—ry and of his mysticall body which is the Church and of his Sacramentall or commemorative body which is the bread of the holy Supper as we have shewed already The Fathers following the stile of the Scripture besides Christs mysticall body which is the Church speak of two bodies of Christ to wit of his naturall body and of his Symbolicall and Sacramentall body of which body they speak as of a divine thing and full of Mysteries and of a Spirituall flesh which is made by the iâ—effable power of God by the meanes and for the causes which I shall relate hereafter Likewise also they make two kinds of blood of Christ the one naturall the other mysticall and Divine which we receive in the Sacrament Clemens Alexandrinus in his second Book of the Pedagogue chap. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is two sorts of blood of Christ the one is his carnall blood by which we are redeemed fâ—om corruption The other is Spirituall to wit that by which we are annointed and that is to drink the blood of Jesus to be partaker of the Lords incorruption Saint Hierome upon the Epistle to the Ephesians a Ex Hieron in Epist ad Ephes caâ—â— Dist 2. de Conse Can. Dupliciter Dupliciter intelligitur caro Christivel spiritualis illa atque divima de qua ipse aâ—t Caro meaverc est cibus vel caro quae crucifixa est sanguinis qui militis effusus est lanced Christs flesh is meant or understood in two manners either that spirituall and divine flesh of which hee saith himselfe My flesh is meate indeed Or else that flesh that was crucified and that blood which was shed by the speare of the Souldier This place is alleadged in the Roman Dâ—cree in the second Distinction of the Consecration at the Camon Dupliciter And in the same Distinction at the Canon b De hac quidem hostia quae in commemorationem mirabiliter sit edere licet De illa vero quam Christus in ara crucis abtulit secundum se nulli edere licet De hac the same Father is alleadged upon Leviticus in these words It is indeed lawfull to eate of this
blood that wee fasten our teeth in his flesh that wee put ouâ— fingers in his wounds and suck the blood of them and that a Seraphin bringeth unto us a burning coale with a paire of tongs they bee outlashing words that savour of a declamation and which our Adversaries themselves doe not beleeve CHAP. XXIX That divers Ancient Fathers have beleeved a mysticall Union of the Godhead of Christ with the bread of the Sacrament NEverthelesse I cannot deny but that many Fathers have had an opinion which with good reason is rejected by the Roman Church of these dayes They teach that as Christs divine nature hath united it selfe personally unto his humane nature so the same divine nature by vertue of the Consecration is united to the bread of the Eucharist by an union though not personall and hypostaticall yet mysticall divine and ineffable by which the bread remaining bread is made the body of Christ For they use this comparison taken from the personall union of the two natures of Christ for to shew how the bread is the body of Christ This opinion hath no foundation in the Scripture Yet I dare say it is an errour no way prejudiciall to Christian Religion For that opinion changeth not the nature of Christ and destroyes not his humanitie Neither doth it destroy the nature of the Sacrament since they did beleeve that the bread changeth not its substance Whence also they worshipped not the Sacrament neither did fall into Idolatrie To be short it was an innocent error serving to augment and encrease the peoples respect and reverence to the holie Sacrament which for that cause they call terrible and wonderfull In the meane while we have in that a most evident proofe that these Fathers did not beleeve the Transubstantiation For as they beleeved not that by the union of Christs divinitie with his humanitie the human nature was transubstantiated or his bodie abolished so did not they beleeve that by this mysticall and divine union of the God-head of Christ with the bread the bread should be destroyed and turned into another substance By this doctrine the bread of the Eucharist is the body of Christ in two manners the one because of that mysticall union of the bread with Christ after the same sorte as Jesus Christ man is called the Son of God because of the personall union with the Sonne of God The other because this bread is the sacred signe and remembrance of Christs body as it is usual to give to the signes the name of that which they doe signifie For this second consideration they say that the bread of the Eucharist is the body which was borne of the Virgin and crucified for us For as touching the first Consideration it is certaine that this bread which they say is made Christs body by that mysticall union is another body of Christ than that which was crucified for us For to effect such a transmittation they interpose the Omnipotencie of God For it must bee a divine power for to cause that the bread remaining bread bee so straitly united to the Godhead of Christ as to become the body of Christ Now that these Fathers doe hold that this mysticall body of Christ is another body than that which was crucified for us though it be the same in signification we prooved it just now by a multitude of places of Fathers wherein they say that Christ hath two sorts of flesh and that we may very well eate of that flesh or mysticall body which is taken in the Sacrament but no manner of way eate the flesh that was crucified for us The first Father that ever made use of the personall union of the two natures of Christ for to shew how the bread is made the body of Christ not by Transubstantiation but by the mysterious union of the Godhead of Christ with the bread is Justin Martyr about the end of his second Apologie where he speaketh thus Wee doe not take these things as common bread but after the same manner as Christ our Saviour was incarnate and made flesh and blood for our salvation so we have beene taught that the meate whereon thankesgivings have been rendred by the prayer of the Word whereby our flesh is nourished by a By this transmutation hee understandeth the change of the bread which is made in the stóach for the nounishment of our bodies transmutation is the body and blood of Christ Jesus Now that Justin beleeved that this meate is bread stil and hath not lost its substance he sheweth it when hee saith that our bodies are fed with it And by that which he saith in that very place that the Deacons give to all them that are present to participate the bread and wine whereupon graces have beene said The Author likewise of the Catechesticall prayer attributed to Gregory of Nysse useth the same comparison b I shew this falsity in my book against Cardinall du Perron lib. 7. cap. 22. Namely in that he speaks of one Severus an Heritick which came above a hundred yeares after the death of this Gregory The body saith he was changed into a divine dignity by the inhabitation of the Word God With good reason then also now I beleeve that the bread sanctified by the word of God is changed into the body of God the Word If this comparison be good as the body of Christ was not transubstantiated by the inhabitation of the Godhead no more likewise is the bread transubstantiated by the consecration which is made at the Sacrament Hilary speaketh just so in the eighth Booke of the Trinity c Sivere Verbum caro factum est nos Verbum carnem cibo Dominico sumimus If the Word was truly made flesh and wee also in the meate of the Lord doe take the Word flesh Gratian in his second distinction of the Consecration d Can. hoc est Hoc est quod dicimus c. Si ut Christi persona constat ex Deo homine cum ipse Christus verus sit Deus verus sit homo alleadgeth a place of Austin drawne from the Sentences of Prosper in these words The Sacrifice of the Church is composed of two things to wit of the Sacrament and of the thing of the Sacriment hat is to say of the body of Christ after the same manner as Christs person is composed of God and man For Christ is very God and very man Ireneus hath an opinion by himselfe For he saith c Quomodo constabâ—t cis eum panem in quo gratiae actae sunt corpus esse Domini sui calicem sanguinem ejus si non ipsum fabricatoris muÌ„di filium dicunt .i. verbum ejus per quod lignuÌ„ fructâ—ficaâ— defluunt fontes dat terra primo quidâ—m foenum deinde spicas that the bread is the body of Christ because Christ is the Creator of all things esteeming that the whole world in respect of God is what the body
in us hee must be eaten by the mouth of the bodie Christ by the same reason must eate us that we may dwell in him 11. Christ for to divert and turne away our mindes from carnall thoughts addeth in the 63 Verse The fâ—est profiteth nothing It is the Spirit that quickneth Since that by the spirit hee meaneth his Spirit whereby he regenerateth us by the flesh also he understandeth his human body Whereof he saith that it profiteth nothing to wit being taken after that manner as the Capernaites did imagine themselves What would it profit a man to have in his stomach the head and feet of Christ Jesus whether hee doe swallow him by peeces and parcels or doe swallow him whole For the absurditie is a like 12. Christ addeth The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and life that is to say are spirituall and quickening They are not quickning but to them that understand them spiritually and that imagine not a carnall and corporall manducation So teacheth Saint Austin in his 27 Treatise upon Saint John Hee demandeth * Quid est spiritus vita sunt Responder Spirit aliter intelligenda sunt Intellexisti spiritaliter spiritus vâ—â—a sunt Int ellexisti carnalâ—ter â—tiam siâ— spiritus vâ—â—a sunt sed tibi non sunt What meaneth these words are spirit and life His answer is That they must be under stood spiritually Hast thou understood them spiritually They are spirit and life unto thee Hast thou understood them carnally In this manner they bee also spirit and life but not unto thee 13. And upon that the Capernaites and some of the Lords Disciples were scandelized and said that these words were an hard saying he saith unto them * Illi putabant cum erogaturum corpus suum ille autem dixit se ascensurum in coelum utique integrum Cum videritis Fil um hominis ascendentem ubicral prius certe vel tune videbitis quia non co modo quo putatis crogat corpus suum Certe vel tunâ— intelligetis quta gratia ejus non consumitur morsibus What and if ye shall see then the Sonne of man ascend where he was before Which words Saint Austin in the same Treatise explaineth thus What meaneth that Thereby he resolveth that which had moved them They thought he would give them his body but he saith unto them that he would ascend up to heaven to wit whole and entire When ye have seene the sonne of man ascending where he was before certainely then at leâ—st shall ye see that he giveth not his body as ye thinke Then at the least shall ye understand that his grace is not consumed with biting CHAP. III. That the Romane Church by this doctrine depriveth the People of Salvation THat which grieves our Adversaries most in all this discourse of the â—ord is this clause of the 53 Verse Veâ—ily I say unto you Except ye eate the flesh â—f the sonne of man and drinke his blood â—e have no life in you For if by these words Christ doe speake of the partiâ—ipation of the Sacrament it followes that the People of the Roman Church whom they have deprived of the cup â—hall have no life and are lost eternally â—or they drinke not Christs blood To say as Bellarmin doth that the People â—akes the blood in the Hoste is to say â—ust nothing For Christ commandeth â—ot onely to take his blood but also commandeth to drinke it If he speaketh of the Sacrament hee commandeth men not onely to be partakers of his blood but also declareth the kind and manner how he will have them to participate thereof for to drinke is thâ— kinde and manner of participating thereof Briefly he commandeth to drinke But to eate a dry Hoste or wafer is noâ— to drinke That if to eate is to drinke the Priest drinketh twice in the Masse once in taking the Hoste and anotheâ— time in taking the Cup. Vnto which thâ— common sense contradicteth and Popâ—â— Innocent the third too in his fourt Booke of the Mysteries of the Masse Chapter 21. Neither is the blood drunâ— saith he under the species of the bread nor the body eaten under the species of tâ—â— wine Here then our Adversaries do forge an absurd figure whereby to drinâ— signifieth to eate Everywhere else the doe distinguish eating from drinking but here they confound them as if thâ— were all one Indeede to eate and 〈◊〉 drinke taken in a spirituall sense signifieth one and the same thing Bâ—â— when the question is of the Sacramâ—â— of the Eucharist and of eating thâ— bread and drinking the Chalice tâ— eate and to drinke are different thing That if to eate the Hoste be to drink so to drinke the Cup shall be to eaâ—â— the Cup. And if drinking bee take figuratively why not also the word eating Here the truth is so strong that Vasquez the Jesuite sticks not to dispute with might and maine against Bellarmin who saith that the Lord commandeth only the perception of his blood but not the manner of participating therunto * Vasquez in III. partem Tomo 3. Disp 206 num 50. Hoc respoÌ„ sum mihi non proba tur quia verba Domini non tantum reseruntur ad rem sumpt am sed ad modum sumeÌ„ dâ—eam Nam manducare bibere si verba proprie usurpentur â—â—â—tois species cor venire non possunt neque enim sanguis sub specie panis bibâ— dicitur sicut neque corpus sub specie vini manducari ut optime notat Innocent III lib. 4. de Mysteriis Missae qu mvis sumâ— dicatur Christus autem praecipit ut bibamus I do not approve saith he of this answer because the words of the Lord have not only reference unto the thing that is taken but to the manner of taking it For to eate and to drink if the words be taken properly cannot agree with any species whatsoever For the blood is not said to be drunk under the species of the bread no more than the body is eaten under the species of the wino as Innocent the third observeth very well in his 4 Book chap. 21. And he addeth a thing very considerable to wit that from this answer of Bellarmin who will have this word drinking to bee taken improperly it will follow that in the whole chapter there shall not be a word spoken of the Cup. Salmeron another Iesuite is of the same opinion saying * Salmer Tom. 9. Tract 24. Quinon bibit non bibit sanguinam â—eet carneÌ„ et sanguine siâ—mat that he that drinketh not drinketh not the blood though he do take the flesh and blood But the same Jesuites that contest against their own fellows bring no better things themselves They say that when Christ said Except ye drink my blood yee have no life in you he bindeth the people to drink the Cup and that they drink it indeed in as much as the Priest drinketh for the people and representeth the
fieâ—i ut redigatur ad locum unitatis â—t a ut quatuor homines occupent locum unius hominis when for to prove that a body may be in severall places at once hee saith that it is possible that foure men hold no more place than one of the foure alone and that all foure fill up but one place Take me a man clothed with a sute of clothes that sits close and is made just to his body Bellarmin saith it is possible for these foure men to be contained in the same sute of clothes without being made larger and the men never a whit the lesse If that be possible for foure it is also possible for ten yea for a hundred yea for a thousand so that all the men of the World shall be contained in a single doublet But if of these foure men in this little doublet one be sitting the other lying and the other standing If one of-them embrace the other and by consequent is out of the other they shall not be in one and the same place If they speake together and looke one upon another the one shall be the object of the others eyes and therefore shall not bee in one and the selfe same place Truly I thinke this Jesuite propounding such things and shutting up a whole Common-wealth in a doublet had a minde to deride his owne Religion For by the same reason a man may have both his eyes in one place and not different of sitnation Bellar. lib. 1. de Euchar c. 2. § Tertia Christus in Eucharistia non habet modum existendâ— corporum sed potius spiritâ—uÌ„ cum sit totus in qualibeâ— parte By this meanes a man shall have two eyes and shall have but one And the parts of an humane body shall not be distinct and the one shall not be out of the other This our Adversaries doe by their Transubstantiation as Bellarmin acknowledgeth saying that in the Eucharist Christ doth not exist after the manner of bodies but rather after the manner of Spirits since hee is whole in everie part It is false likewise that according to the doctrine of the Church of Rome Christs body be in the Eucharist after the manner of Spirits For when an Angell is present in any place he is not present in a thousand others severall places and is not far from himselfe and divided from himselfe aâ— they will have Christs body to bee in a million of severall places at one and the same time The same Jesuite in the third Booke and fifth chapter saith * §. Ad haec Substantia fius quanti â—ate caâ—o dâ—ci non potese that a Substance without qantity cannot bee tearmed flesh Whereupon it followes that Christs body under the Host is not flesh for there is no quantity since it is whole under every point that hath no quantity Besides that the quantity of a body is a continued quantity But Christs body in the Host is not one in continuity with that which is in Heaven sitting at the right hand of God the Father since hee is farre and remote from it Againe he saith in the same place * Quid est corpus nisi extentâ—o 〈◊〉 longitudinem latitudinem prosunditatâ—m That a body is nothing else but an extension in length breath and depth Therefore in the Sacrament there is no true body of Christ since it hath no extension no length breadth and depth As he saith himselfe in the second chapter of his first Book Christs body in the Eucharist hath no extension I have wondred many times seeing that our Adversaries hold that Christ municants untill the species be destroyed and consumed by the disgestion why they do not give them hard bread and not of easie disgestion that they might have Christ in them a longer time rather then to give them such light Hosts or wafers which are presently turned into a Chylus and disgested in an instant CHAP. VIII Of the progresse of this abuse and by what meanes Satan hath established the Transubstantiation UPon this matter the opinions of men began to varie in the eight Age wherein the controversie touching the adoration of Images was in its hight and force For Satan at the same time did labour and busie himselfe to introduce and bring into the Church these two sorts of Idolatry In the yeere of our Lord 754 the Emperor Constantin son to Lisaurus called a Councell of his whole Empire at Constantinople where 330 Bishops were present that condemned the adoration of Images Among other reasons that they bring they exhort the people to be contented with those Images that Christ had instituted having given in the holy Supper the bread and wine for Images and Figures of his body and blood And speaking of the Eucharisticall bread they say * Ecce vivificantis illâ—â—s corporâ—â—s Imaginem Behold the image of this quickning body that is honorably presented And a little after The Lord commanded to set upon the table that image altogether chosen to wit the substance of the bread least Idolatry should creep in if it were represented in an humane forme But few yeares after the Empire being fallen into the hands of Irenea an Idolatrous woman and who did put out the eyes of her own son and ravished the Empire from him this monster called another Councell at Nice in the year 787. where she caused Images to be re-established and the worshipping of them to be commanded under paine of a curse There likewise were condemned as abhominable these foresaid clauses of the former Councell whereby the bread and wine are called Images of the Lords body and blood And it is the same Councell that declares that Images are equivalent and of as much worth as the Gospell and that an Image is better than Prayer And that Angels are corporall And that he that hath the least doubt whither Images must bee worshipped is accursed For certainly the spirit of Satan reigned in that pernicious Councell Wherefore also Charles the Great who lived then called another Councell at Franâ—kford anno Domini 794 in which that Councell of Nice was condemned as erroneous by a generall consent notwithstanding that Pope Adrian had approved that Councell and made a Treatise in defense of it Whilest Satan bestirred himselfe thus in the East parts the Roman Bishops on their side did labour in the West parts For they did well perceive that these two things to wit the adoration of the Sacrament and the adoration of Images would be of great use and would serve much for the strengthning of their Empire and encreasing of the dignity of the Romish Clergy For the Pope taking out of the way the holy Scriptures from the eyes of the People hatâ—â—given them Images which they call Ignorant mens Books busying the eyes of the people whilest he conveyed away the Word of God from them And the opinioÌ„ of the real presence of Christs body in the Eucharist exalts the dignity and power of Priests so
massacre them as to those that went into Syria against the Sarasens for to reconquer Christs Sepulcher to whom he gave the remission of all their sins and a degree of glory above the ordinary as may bee seene in the Bull of Innocent the third placed at the end of the Councell of Lateran The Earle of Montfort having with him one Dominicke author of the Order of the Jacobins with an army of these crossed ones did massacre in a few moneths above two hundred thousand of them And for to strengthen and fortifie this abuse there was no speeche in those times but of miracles coyned of purpose tending to the worshipping of Images and establishing of the reall presence of Christs body in the Eucharist They gave out to the people that such an Image had sweated blood that another had nodded his head That a woodden Crucifix prickt in the side had cast blood This fable is recited by Fulgoslib 1. c. 6. And by Nauclerus Gener. 44 That to an Image of the Virgin Maries brought from Damascus breasts of flesh were grown upon the wood That in such a place the Host had appeared in the forme of a child and an Angell by it that did hacke him to peeces That an Hoste pricked by a Jew had gushed out blood and being cast into a great cauldron or kittle was turned into a man as is to be seene yet at this day in Paris represented upon the forefront or porche of the Church of the Billetes The life of Saint Anthonie of Padoua saith that he presented the consecrated Hoste to an Asse which presently left eating of his Oates and worshipped the Hoste a Albertu Krantzius Metropol lib. 1. ca. 9. Wedekindus a Saxon Prince saw a child thrust into the mouth of the Communicants b Paschasius Rathertus de corpore sangnine Domini c. 14. Guil. Mal. mesbur l. 3. cap 27. An Angell did present Christ in the Masse unto a Priest called Plegâ—ls in the shape or forme of a childe which he kissed and imbraced with great courage 〈◊〉 A little Jewish boy comming by chance into the Church as he was playing saw upon the Altar a little boy that was minced and cut into small peeces and thrust by small lumps into the mouths of the Communicants Thomas Cantipratensis in his second Booke of Miracles Chapter 40 saith that at Doway in the yeare 1260. the consecrated host being fallen to the ground rised up againe of it selfe and pearched it selfe upon the cloth wherewith the Priest did wipe his hands in the shape or forme of a fine little boy who instantly became a tall man having a crowne of thornes upon his head and two drops of blood running downe from his forehead on both sides of his nose Jodoeus Coccius collected about one hundred of such miracles Iodoeus Coccius Thesaur Tom. II. lib. 6. de Eucharistia For in Berengarius his time such miracles were very rise and frequent Matthew Paris an English Historian in the yeare of the Lord 1247 relates that the Templers of the holy land sent to Henry the third King of England a little Christall bottle full of the true blood of our Saviour Christ that he shed upon the Crosse which Cristall bottle that silly King carried upon his nose to Westminster Church in Procession a foot clothed with an old sleâ—velesse gowne Salmeron the Jesuite in the XI Tome and fifth Treatise page 35. saith that at Rome in the Church of Lateran there is some of Christs blood kept Item in the Church of Saint Maximin at Rome which Marie Magdalen gathered up at the foote of the Crosse There was also at Rochelle some kept as the same Jesuite saith in the same place Sigonius in his fourth Booke of the reigne of Italy * Forte saÌ„guinis ex imagine crucâ—fiâ—â— Salvatoris in syria effusi portio delata MaÌ„tuam fuerat c. Carolus Leonem Pontisicem per literas obsecravit ut accurate horum miraculâ—rum vâ—ritatem vellet explorare compertam sibi significare Ob id Leo Roma â—gâ—â—ssâ—s Mantuam venâ—t re cognâ—ta ad C roâ—tum ser psit saith that in the yeare 804. was brought out of Syria to Mantua a portion of the blood that ran out of the Image of a Crucifix which did many miracles And that the fame of it being come to Charles the Great he intreated by letters Pope Leo to enquire of the truth of the matter And that the said Pope having knowne and perceived the truth of the thing wrote to Charle-maine touching the same And in the eighth Booke in the yeare 1048. he saith that the inhabitants of Mantua having forgotten this blood and knowing no more what it was this blood beganne againe to doe miracles Vasquez the Jesuite upon the 76 question of the third Part of Thâ—mas * Art 8. saith that yet at this day there is in Spaine some of Christs blood kept in Reliques Thus the darknesse grew thicke and the mysterie of iniquity strengthened it selfe dayly more and more the kings having no knowledge at all of the holy Scripture and trembling under the Popes thunderbolts and excommunications and powring abundance of wealth and riches into the bosome of the Clergie for the easing of their soules after death And for a full measure of mischiefe new Orders of Mendicant Friers did spring up namely the Franciscans and Dominicans whereof Francis Assisias in Italy and Dominick Calarogensis in Spaine were the first Founders in the yeare of our Lord 1216. and 1223. An incredible multitude of these Monks were dilated and spâ—ead over all the regions of the Popes Empire who made use of them as of so many torches and trumpets for to provoke and encourage Princes to the persecution of the faithfull And it was the said Monks that hâ—ve coyned and forged the Schoole Divinity all bristled with pricks and twisted about with subtilties much like unto the Cray-fish in which there is much picking but little to eate It is from this Divinity that suttle distinctions are drawne wherewith they cover themselves against the truth Aâ—istotle is alleadged there a great deale oftner than the Apostle Saint Paul Thus it behooved the mysterie of iniquitie should advance it selfe At the birth of these begging Friers Innocent the third in the yeare 1215. called a Councell at Rome in the Lateran Church in which the word of Transubstantiation not as yet received by any definition in the Roman Church was established by an expresse Canon and authority of Councell CHAP. IX Of the Judgement which the Doctors of the Romane Church doe make touching the apparitions whereby a little Child or a morsell of flesh hath appeared at the Masse in the hands of the Priest and touching Christs blood that is kept in Reliques A Long time hath beene that if one had doubted that a childe or a pâ—â—ce of flâ—sh that had appeared in a Priâ—stâ— hand were not truely Christ and that Christs blood that was kept in
heu Domâ—ne Deus quomodo obscuratum est aurum mutatus est color opt mus O tempus pessimum in quo defecit sanctus et diminutae sunt veritates à siliis hominum Alas Alas Alas Lord God how is the gold obscured and its good colour changed O most wicked time in which the holy one is fallen away and truth diminished among the sonnes of men And Cardinall Baronius after a long recitall of the vilanios of the Papall Sea in those times he poures out these complaints g Baron An. 912. §. 8. Que tunc facies Ecclesiae Romonae quam soedissima cùm Romae domi iarentur potentiâ— ma 〈◊〉 sordidissime meretrâ—ces quaruÌ„ arbitrio inutaretur sedes c. et â—â—truderentur in sedem Petrâ—câ—rum amasii Pseudopontifices What was then the face of the Romane Church and how foule when most powerfull and most filthie whores ruled and governed in Rome by whose will the Seas were changed and Bishopricks given away And that which is horrible and not to be related their Lovers false Popes were thrust in violently in Peters Chaire And Genebrard a great worshipper of Popes speakes of the same time in the yeare 901. of his Chronicle in these tearmes In that alone this age was unfortunate that for the space almost of one hundred and fifty yeares about fifty Popes have wholly fallen away from the vertue of their predecessors being rather Apotacticall or Apostaticall than Apostolicall Sigonius puts two hundred yeares in In the yeare of our Lord 931. John the eleventh came to the Popedome He was Bastard to Pope Sergius begotten on the body of the whore Marozia Whereupon Baronius saith The Roman Church suffered her selfe to be so vilanously oppressed by such a monster After him there was many Popes that were creatures of the fornamed whores even to John the XII who in the yeare of our Lord 955. attained to the Papacie at eighteene yeares old whom Baronius abhorres as an execrable monster Luirprandus and Fascicu us Temporum say Luirprand lib. 6. cap. 11. Sigeber ad annum 963. Antoninus Chroni Temo 11. Tract 16. § 16. that this John being in bed with some bodies wife was so beaten by the Devill that he died of it This Pope made Children Bishops dranke to the Devill when he played at dice hee invocated Jupiter and Venus and conferred the sacred Orders in a stable Then many Popes did play at thrust out and cruelly persecuted one another the Papacy was exposed to sale and vices were there up to the roofe France though in an age full of darknesse was mooved with it and called a Councell at Rheims under the raigne of Hugh Capet whose Acts we have extant In that Councell Arnulphus Bishop of Orleans who presided there speakes thus h O lugenda Roma quae nostris majorâ—bus clara patrum luminap rotulisti nostris temporibus monstrosas tenebras futuris saeculis famosas effudisti Quid hunc Reverendi Patres in sublimi solio residentem veste purpurea aurea radiâ—â—em quid hunc esse censetâ—s Nimâ—rum si charitate destitu tuâ— solaque scientia inslatur extollitur Antichrissus est in solio Dei residens c. O lamentable Rome which in the time of our Ancestors hast brought forth bright shining lights but now hâ—st powred out such monstrous darknesses that shall be infamous to future ages And a little after What thinke yee Reverend Fathers that the Pape is sitting upon a high throne glistering in a robe of searlet and gold If hee hath no charity if he doe exalt himselfe being puffed up with science alone hee is the Autichrist sitting on Gods throne Then hee addes that the Citle of Rome is exposed to sale and that Antichrist is neare and that the mysterie of iniquitie goes forward In the yeare 984. * In Baronius it is the yeare 985. as Sigonius relates in the beginning of his seventh Booke of the Reigne of Italy Bonifacius who made himselfe to bee called John the fifteenth having put to death two Popes usurped the Papacie by violence and by money Baronius calls him a Theefe and a Robber and that had not one haire of a true Bishop Genebrard in the yeare 1007 speakes thus of all the Popes of that time The Popes saith hee of this time being intruded by the Emperours rather than elected were monsters Thus the lawfull succession hath beene troubled as of old under the Synagogue in the time of the Kings Antiochi In the yeare 1033. Benedict the ninth being but tenne yeares old was created Pope by the faction of his Father the Counte of Tuscula Petrus Damianus in his Epistle to Nicolas the second and Platina and Fasciculus Temporum and Baronius describe this Pope like a monster Then three Popes held the Papacy of whoÌ„ Platina speaks thus Platina in Gregor 6. Henricus II. in Italiam cum magno exercitu veniens hâ—hita Synodo cuÌ„ Beredictum IX Syâ—vestrum III. Gregor um VI. tâ—nquaÌ„ tria teterrima monstra se abdicare magistratu coegisset Henry the second being entred into Italie with a mightie Armie and having called a Councell constrained Benedict the ninth Sylvester the third and Gregory the sixth as three horrible monsters to forsake the magistrature That was done in the yeare of our Lord 1044. when the contention touching the conversion of the bread into the body of the Lord was in its strength and Bereâ—garius in great credit in France and in the neighbouring countries for his learning and good life The discreet Reader and lover of the truth shal weigh ponder these things in his minde and say in himselfe Is it credible that God would have used such wicked instruments for to defend his heavenly truth Could any good thing spring from such wicked Popes Are not those such Ages as Sathan desireth for to bring forth monsters in in the mids of so thicke a darknes to bring in Idolatry CHAP. XI Of the oppression of England How Religion passed out of England into Bohemia Of Wicklef John Huz and Hierome of Prague Of the Councell of Constance Of Zisca and Procopius and of their Victories I Hope the Reader shall not dislike to take here a short view of the History of the troubles which hapned in Bohemia about Religion a little before God made the light of his Gospell to shine againe in France England Germanie Switserland and the Low-Countries For in it may be seene a lively Image of Satan and of the power of God Of all Countries subject to the Papall Empire Math. Paâ—is in Henrico I. An. 1171. England suffered the hardest and most shamefull servitude That slavery increased especially under the reigne of Henry the second and of John and Henry the third In the yeare 1171. King Henry the second for to expiate the crime whereof hee was accused namely to have caused the murther of Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterburie was whipt upon his naked flesh by a multitude of Monkes