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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12211	A friendly advertisement to the pretended Catholickes of Ireland declaring, for their satisfaction; that both the Kings supremacie, and the faith whereof his Majestie is the defender, are consonant to the doctrine delivered in the holy Scriptures, and writings of the ancient fathers. And consequently, that the lawes and statutes enacted in that behalfe, are dutifully to be observed by all his Majesties subjects within that kingdome. By Christopher Sibthorp, Knight, one of his Maiesties iustices of his court of chiefe place in Ireland. In the end whereof, is added an epistle written to the author, by the Reverend Father in God, Iames Vssher Bishop of Meath: wherein it is further manifested, that the religion anciently professed in Ireland is, for substance, the same with that, which at this day is by publick authoritie established therein.	Sibthorp, Christopher, Sir, d. 1632.; Ussher, James, 1581-1656.	1622 (1622)	STC 22522; ESTC S102408	494,750	610

at my vvords But thirdly be not Lay-men of the Church of God aswel as those that be Church-Ministers And may not these be Theodidactoi that is taught of God and instructed by his spirit aswell as others for the right understanding of the Scriptures especially in all points necessarie to salvation Yea doe wee not see and finde experimentally that manie great Scholers and learned men doe notwithstanding all their learning erre verie much in the exposition and understanding of the Scriptures for why else doe they differ so much and hold contrarie opinions All which what else doth it shew but that indeed not anie humane spirit how learned soever but a divine spirit onely is the opener and the right expositor and understander of those sacred and divine writings And this S. Paul also hath before assured us that the things of God no man knoweth but the spirit of God Now this Spirit of God none can denie to be grantable as well to lay-men as to those that be of the Ecclesiasticall Ministerie Yea everie childe of God hath Gods Spirit given unto him For if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his as S. Paul witnesseth Inasmuch therefore as lay persons have received or may receive the spirit of GOD whereby it is that the Scriptures be rightly understood and are of the number of Gods Church and people no reason can be shewed why they should be debarred by others or why they should debarre themselves from the reading and searching of those Scriptures which they may possibly understand by the grace power of Gods Spirit within them aswell as others especially if they reade and search them as I said before in the feare of God and with all humble reverence and with often and earnest praiers unto God for the right understanding of them and with a godly purpose of minde to beleeve follow and doe thereafter For as S. Paul saith againe The spirit of God searcheth all things even the deepe things of God If anie finde difficultie and hardnesse in some places of the Scriptures he must not thereby be discouraged but provoked rather to use so much the more diligence in them For that which is difficult and hard in one place is as the ancient Fathers themselves have told us made more plaine and easie by another And touching such places of difficultie beside praier unto God and conference of Scriptures together it will be good also to reade Interpreters and to consult with godly and learned Pastors and Teachers and use all such good meanes for the understanding of them as God hath allowed For the godly and learned Pastors and Teachers be Gods own ordinance in his Church to them usually above others doth he give more speciall gifts for the edifying and instruction of his people and for the opening and unfolding of those harder and difficulter places of the Scripture so that they are not to be neglected but to be resorted unto and to be evermore much honored reverently esteemed If peradventure by all meanes used a lay-man or an ecclesiasticall Minister shall not understand some hard and obscure Scripture yet let him reverence as becommeth him that which he understandeth not and therein suspend his judgement and opinion untill it please God further to enlighten him For whereas some alledge that lay persons should not reade the Scriptures lest through misunderstanding of them they might possibly fall into some errors or heresies it hath beene before answered that such a reason is verie feeble and of no weight inasmuch as it may as well serve to disswade Pastors Doctors and Ministers of the Church from reading the Scriptures because there is also a possibilitie for them as well as for lay persons in the reading of them to misunderstand them and so to fall into errors and heresies as wee finde experimentally that sundry of them heretofore have done and still doe And whereas some againe imagine and feare not to say that the permitting of the Scriptures to bee read of the lay people in the vulgar tongue is the cause of all the schismes sects errors and heresies that now flow in the world they are herein mightily deceived by mistaking the cause for not the reading of the Scriptures either by lay persons or ecclesiasticall Ministers but the misunderstanding and misapplying of them through the frailtie and corruption that is in mens minds wresting and forcing them to serve their owne humors fancies and conceits is the cause of all those schismes sects heresies and errors and this is not the right using but abusing of the Scriptures Now even Reason and Philosophie doe teach as well as Divinitie that Of vvhat things there may be an use of the same things there may be also an abuse and it is a Ma●●ime with all that abusus rei non tollit usum an abuse of a thing doth not take away the lawfull use of it Manie men you know doe abuse meate and drinke to surfetting gluttony and drunkennesse shall that be therefore made an argument to perswade anie from all eating or drinking or is therefore eating and drinking the cause of mens gluttonie and drunkennesse or is not their owne excesse and intemperate humor the cause of it So albeit manie abuse the Scriptures wresting and wringing them to a wrong sense and to their owne humors and fantasies as doe Papists Anabaptists and other Sectaries and Heretickes yet must that bee no argument therefore to disswade anie from the reading of them or from taking that lawfull use comfort profit and benefite that may be had out of them and for which they were ordeined Yea the true cause both of the beginning and continuance of all the schismes sects errors and heresies that now be in the world is in verie deed for that men will not suffer themselves to be over-ruled by the Scriptures but will contrarie to the Scriptures and to the true sense of them follow their owne waies conceits and inventions or the devises of other men Let none therefore pretend or alledge excuses for their owne sloth or negligence in this case but with all alacritie betake your selves even ye that be lay persons as well as the rest to the reading of the Scriptures with reverence humilitie praier and a right inclined minde and affection to beleeve live and doe thereafter And then shall yee not need to make anie doubt of Gods blessing or good successe and profit unto you by the reading of them yea then shall yee see and discerne the errors heresies Idolatries filthinesse and other abhominations of the Popish Church and Religion which otherwise ye will not be able to discerne This is the condemnation saith Christ that light is come into the vvorld and men loved darkenesse rather then light because their deeds vvere evill for every one that evill doth hateth the light neyther commeth hee to the light lest his deedes should be reproved But

Secondly I must crave leave to say that I find not Popery how subtill or sophisticall soever it be to be of anie such puissance but that a man of meane learning armed with the strength of the divine Scriptures may easily ruinate and overturne it Thirdly those that oppugne the Religion His Majesties Supremacie what doe they else but oppugne therewithall as they must needs at least inclusively the Lawes and Statutes of the Kingdome whereby they are both established And what reason then can bee shewed why hee that is a Lawyer by profession may not defend and maintaine the Lawes and Statutes of the Realme in those two great points especially wherein they be so unjustly and causelessely oppugned But when I consider my selfe further to be a servant though unworthy to his most excellent Majestie and that in so high and eminent a Court as His Maiesties Bench is beside my profession the duetie of my place also tyeth mee to defend his Maiesties Supremacie as being a thing properly app●rtayning to his verie Crowne and Regall dignitie And doth not moreover the Oath of Supremacy to His Majestie which I have taken necessarily binde mee hereunto Yea even for this verie cause that I am a subiect to his Maiestie though there were no other reason doe I hold my selfe in duetie tyed to my power to uphold and maintain that his Regall Supremacie For if everie good childe will maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Father and everie good servant the right and Authoritie of his Lord and Master ought not everie good subiect to maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Soveraigne Lord and King And as touching the Religion if there were no other reason but this that I am a Christian by profession though no professed Divine doe I hold it for that verie cause not onely well beseeming mee but my duetie likewise according to such measure of knowledge and abilitie as God hath given mee to defend and maintaine the true and Christian Religion I professe against that which is untruly called the Christian and Catholike and is indeed the false erroneous and Antichristian For whereas some have a conceit that not Lay men at all but Clergie men only and such as be of the Ecclesiastical Ministerie should meddle with the Scriptures and matters of Religion it appeareth to be a verie vaine conceit and an untrue opinion because S. Paul directly requireth even of Lay Christians as well as of others that the Word of Christ should Dwell in them and that not poorely or in a small or slender measure but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is richly plentifully or abundantly Whereupon Primasius saith that Hence wee learne that the Lay people ought to have the knowledge of the Scriptures and to teach one another not onely sufficiently but also abundantly And therefore are they further expressely charged to admonish exhort and edifie one another yea to contend and not onely to contend but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earnestly to contend for that faith which was once given unto the Saints And doth not God himselfe also command thus Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but Thou shalt in anie wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sinne to be upon him Agreeably wherunto would not S. Iames likewise have all Christians to labour the conversion of such as be in error and goe astray telling them for their better encouragement in this matter that if any doe erre from the truth and another convert him let such a one know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soule from death and cover a multitude of sinnes You see then what duties in respect of the good of others as well as of himselfe be required even of a lay person in matters concerning God and his religion And indeede verie strange it were if lay Christians should be tyed in charitie to take care of mens bodies and yet should in no sort be permitted to have anie care or to shew anie Christian charitie or affection in respect of their soules and the good and safetie of them It is true that no man may take upon him the office and function of Bishops Pastors or other Ministers of the Word without a lawfull calling or ordination first had and obtayned but although a lay man may not therfore preach minister the sacraments nor do anie such acts as be proper and peculiar to those that be Ecclesiasticall Ministers yet in such things as be not proper and peculiar unto them but be acts and duties common with them to other Christians a Lay man may lawfully intermeddle It is likewise true that the knowledge of Gods Word and consequently of Divinitie doth in a more exact and more plentiful and fuller maner and measure and chiefly belong to those that be professed Divines and of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery but thereupon it followeth not that therefore it belongeth onely to them As also although those of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery are to teach and instruct the Lay people out of the Scriptures and that the Lay people are to learne what they rightly teach from thence yet neither doth it thereupon follow nor is that anie argument or impediment but that the Lay people may neverthelesse reade and get knowledge in the Scriptures and thereout learne what good they can also even by their owne industry diligence and endevour We reade of Aquila and Priscilla his wife that they were by their Trade Tentmakers and that Apollos was a man eloquent and mightie in the Scripture● yet so skilfull learned expert were those two name●ly not onely Aquila but Priscilla also his wife in the Word of God as that they tooke unto them the same Apollos and expounded unto him The Way of God more perfectly All men know that Kings Princes and such like civill Magistrates be none of that Order of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery and yet of them it is specially required that they reade the Scriptures Book of God and that they be verie diligent and conversant in it For God expressely requireth of a King that When hee shall sit upon the Throne of his Kingdome He get him the Book of his Law and chargeth him to reade therein all the Dayes of his Life that he may learne to feare the Lord his God and to Keepe All his Words and ordinances not turning from them eyther to the right hand or to the left That so he may prolong his Dayes in his Kingdome Hee and his Sonnes after him And to Iosuah a civill Magi●●●ate hee likewise giveth this charge and commandement saying Let not This Booke of the Law depart out of thy mouth but Meditate therein Day and Night that thou maist Observe and Doe according to All that is written therein for then shalt thou make thy Way prosperous and then shalt thou have good successe Was not the Treasurer to Candace Queene of the Ethiopians also a Lay man and not

without further search and examination For all their Councells bee they never so generall consist of men and of such men as may possibly fall into error and be themselves deceived either through ignorance and want of sufficient knowledge or through corruption partialitie or through some one meanes or other Their Councels I am sure are not better then those that were in Gregory Nazianzens time nor altogether so good and yet he saith out of his owne observation of the Councels of his time that The lust of strife and desire to beare rule did raigne there many times And Eusebius saith likewise of those times that The chiefe Rulers of the Church forgetting Gods commandements vvere enflamed one against another vvith contention emulation pride malice and hatred And therefore it appeareth to be a thing possible enough even for general Councels aswell as for Provincial sometime to erre and goe astray For example They remember the general Councels wherein the Arrian heresie was established whereof that of Arimine was one as also the second Ephesine Councell which decreed for the Nestorians Did not these generall Councels erre that even in matters of Faith I am sure they will grant that they did for so the Rhemists and other Papists themselves confesse Why then may not their generall Councels likewise erre which make decrees in maintenance of their Poperie as those other did which decreed in maintenance of their Arrianisme and Nestorianisme The Rhemists answer That those Councels wanted the Popes assent assistance or confirmation and therefore they erred howbeit that is not the reason why they erred but the true reason and cause of their error was because they decreed not according to the holy and Canonical Scriptures but contrarie thereunto For even Councels also which had the Bishop of Romes assent were not therefore priviledged from error as appeareth by the second Councell of Nice which decreed that Angels and mens soules also be corporeall for this the Papists themselves cannot denie to be an error Yea how is it possible that by the Popes assent or confirmation anie Councell should or can be ever the more priviledged from error when even the Popes themselves have no such priviledge in that behalfe For it is well knowne that Pope Liberius erred and that not onely personally but iudicially also and defin●tively and in a matter of Faith when hee subscribed to the Arrian heresie as testifieth Athanasius Apolog. 2. ad solitariè vitam agentes S. Hierome in Catalogo Damasus in Pontificali Marianus Scotus Petrus Damianus epist. 5. cap. 16. c. Honorius also Pope of Rome was a Monotbelite and did not onely fall into that heresie but in a Decretal Epistle did also publish and confirme the same as is proved by the Councel of Constantinople the sixt where he was condemned Constant. 6. act 13. Pope Innocentius likewise erred in a matter of Faith when he held that Infants could not bee saved unlesse they received the Communion for this the Papists themselves confesse to be an error and yet Pope Innocentius held it as S. Augustine witnesseth cyting the Decretal Epistle of the same Pope to the Bishops of Numidia for proofe thereof cont duas epistol Pel. ad Bonifac. lib. 2. cap. 4 cont Iul. lib. 1. cap. 2. If Popes then may erre and become Heretickes as both here and before and afterwards also is verie evident it is thereby manifest that their assenting subscribing or confirming of Councels can give the same Councels no more priviledge from error then formerly they had But they then alledge that the Holy Ghost is promised to Councels and therefore they cannot erre I demand of them whether the Holy Ghost is not promised to Provincial Councels as well as to General They cannot denie but he is And yet the Rhemists and other Popish Teachers grant that a Provincial Councel may erre in matter of Faith notwithstanding this promise of the Holy Ghost whence is rightly inferred that a General Councell may by the same reason likewise erre in matter of Faith as well as a Provincial notwithstanding that promise For you must ever remember that it is not in respect of a greater Number or Multitude but in respect of the promise of the Holy Ghost that this priviledge from Error is pretended and supposed But yet further observe that the holy Ghost the spirit of truth is promised and given to everie particular godly Pastor Doctor and Minister of Christ as well as to Councels yea everie true Christian and faithfull member of Christ hath also the holy Ghost to guide and direct him as the Scriptures doe plainly testifie By vertue then of this reason drawn from the promise or giving of the holy Ghost I may as well conclude that no godly particular Pastor or Doctor or other Minister of Christ can possibly erre in a matter of Faith yea inasmuch as the holy Ghost the spirit of sanctification is also promised and given to everie godly man I may aswell conclude that no godly man therefore can possibly erre at any time as touching life conversation for the holy Ghost is as well able to guide a man continually in a good and not erring life as in a right not erring faith But touching this matter S. August saith That evē general Councels which are gathered out of all the Christian world be oftentimes corrected the former by the latter when by any triall of things that is opened which before was shut that is known which before lay hidden And therefore also was it appointed that even in a general Councel it selfe they should pray unto God that hee would Ignorantiae ipsorum parcere errori indulgere spare their ignorance and pardon their error Doth not this cleerly declare that even a General Councell may also possibly erre as well as a Provinciall Yea your selves doe grant that a Generall Councell may erre in matters of fact notwithstanding this promise why then wil you not grant that it may by the same reason possibly erre also in a matter of faith For is not the holy Ghost promised to a General Councel as powerfull to preserve and keepe from error in the one case as in the other No question but hee is Concerning this point therefore ye must not forget that which I said before namely that although most true it is that the Holy Ghost cannot possibly erre nor anie men or Councels so long as he guideth them that they follow his directions yet because Men and Councels be not alwaies guided and directed by him but be suffered sometime to follow their owne concei●s fancies and affections for the Holy Ghost may at his owne good pleasure and doth sometimes leave men to themselves not extending nor shewing forth his strength vertue force and efficacie at all times In such cases and at such times it is a most easie matter for men and Councels to erre sinne and goe astray Wherefor S. Chrysostome

therefore can be no Sacrament For who is hee at this day that hath this miraculous gift of healing the sicke by annointing them with oyle I Popish Priests had it it would appeare in their extreame unctions and annointings but no such thing appeareth For what sicke man doe they recover or restore to health by that meanes Yea they use not this their unction and annoyling but when the sicke partie lyeth in extreamitie of sicknesse and is no way likely to recover and indeed most usually dieth notwithstanding these their annointings and whatsoever else they doe Thirdly the Sacraments whereof wee speake be such as bee common and appliable to all the members of Christ aswell when they bee well and in health as at other times But this their extreame Vnction belongeth and is applied onely to those that bee sicke and at such times as they be in their extreamest sicknesse and therefore it can bee no Sacrament Fourthly they use this forme of words in it By this annointing and his most holy mercie God doth forgive thee whatsoeuer thou hast offended by seeing hearing smelling tasting and touching Whereby appeareth that they make this their extreame Vnction to extend but onely to such sinnes as the man hath committed by seeing hearing smelling tasting touching that is to say by those his exterior five senses But those that bee true Sacraments indeed as is evident by Baptisme and the Lords Supper bee not so particularly limited or restrained but be Sacraments to a faithfull and godly man of the full remission and forgivenesse of all sinnes committed not onely by those his five outward senses but anie other waie else whatsoever either by thought word or deede And therefore this their extreame Vnction can bee no Sacrament rightly and properly so called 7 Now remaineth to be shewed that even those that be the verie true Sacraments indeede doe not give grace ex opere operato For they verie erroneously attribute remission of sinnes to the Sacraments administred as namely to Baptisme and the Lords Supper ex opere operato even by the verie worke done and performed whereas it is not in verie deede the external water in Baptisme administred that hath this power and vertue in it to take awaie sinnes or to cleanse and purge them neither is it the consecrated bread and wine in the Lords Supper that hath this power and vertue in it For so to suppose and imagine were to ●ttribute that to the outward signes or Sacraments which rightly and properlie belongeth to Christ Iesus inasmuch as hee onelie is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world and it is his blood onely that cleanseth us from all sinne as S. Iohn expresly witnesseth and all the rest of the Scripturs accord For which cause it is againe said in the Revel of S. Iohn that it is Christ that hath washed us from our sinnes in his blood Seeing then it is Christ and his blood onely that washeth purgeth and cleanseth in verie deede and materially from all sinnes the water in Baptisme administred must not have this power and vertue attributed unto it nor also the consecrated bread and wine in the Lords Supper received You will then demand why or in what sense it is that in the scripture the water in Baptisme is said to cleanse to sanctifie to regenerate I answere that it is said so to doe not that it hath these vertues inclosed in it or did these things efficiently or materially but for that it doth them sacramentally and significatively that is to say in plainer termes because the water in Baptisme is a Sacrament signe and seale unto us of that regeneration sanctification and cleansing which wee have through Christ For it is Gods spirit that efficiently worketh faith repentance regeneration sanctification or whatsoever other supernatural grace in a man and not the element of water And therefore also did S. Iohn Baptist say to those whom he baptized thus I Baptise you with vvater unto repentance but hee that commeth after mee is mightier then I whose shooes I am not worthie to beare he shall baptise you with the holy Ghost Where you plainely see that S. Iohn Baptist acknowledgeth that he in his Baptisme administred by him gave but water and that it was Christ that gave the holy Ghost and consequently that in the elemental water the holy Ghost was not conteined nor included but was to come another way Saint Peter hath a like speech saying That Baptisme doth save us not that it is the material cause of our salvation for Christ Iesus only is our Saviour in that sort but for that it is a sacrament signe and seale of that salvation which we have by Iesus Christ. And thus you see how all the scriptures stand well together and be rightly reconciled whereas otherwise according to their sense there would be a confusion and repugnancie Yea if it were true that the verie external act of Baptisme performed did ipso facto regenerate clense sanctifie and save then should all without exception that be baptised be also regenerated clensed sanctified and saved soules But this you neither do nor will affirme and therefore no reason have you to affirme the other whereupon this must necessarily follow In like sort if consecrated bread and wine externally distributed and received in the Lords Supper did ipso facto give grace and remission of sinnes then might Iudas that Traytor or anie other the most wicked and ungodly reprobate that externally receiveth that bread and wine receive also grace and remission of sinnes thereby which it were verie grosse and absurd for anie to affirme Yea S. Paul himselfe sheweth that there be some unworthy receivers that be so farre from receiving grace and remission of sinnes by it that contrariwise They eate and drinke Iudgement or condemnation to themselves as hee speaketh and directly witnesseth CHAP. X. Concerning the Popish Masse and the Popish Priesthood thereto belonging NOw give mee leave to tell you how detestable a thing your Popish Masse is which ye neverthelesse so much and so highly reverence being misled by the doctrine of your Teachers For yee say that your Priests doe therein offer up Christ Iesus everie day or often to his Father and that in a bodily manner and affirme it moreover to be a sacrifice propitiatorie for the sins of men What can anie that professe Christ or Christianitie be so absurd as to beleeve that Christ is often or daily offered up in a bodily manner to his Father for the sinnes of men Doe not the Scriptures themselves proclaime that Christ Iesus was in that his bodily sacrifice to be offered but Once and not often and doe they not withall expressely testifie that with that one Oblation or offering He hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified What needeth then or how can there be anie more bodily offerings of him then that one whereby hee offered himselfe once upon the

Crosse Your selves againe doe say that this bodily offering up of Christ in your Masse is unbloudie and consequently hath in it no effusion of bloud whereupon it must needs be granted that therefore it cannot possibly be a propitiatorie sacrifice or take away the sinnes of men For the Scripture saith expressely that without effusion of bloud there is no remission of sinnes But beside all this there is also no other Priest appointed of God for the offering up of Christ Iesus in a bodily sacrifice but Christ Iesus himselfe only who therefore did performe it in his owne most sacred person and is also the only Priest according to the order of Melchisedech For yee must be put in minde that the Scripture mentioneth not Priests plurally according to the order of Melchisedech as though there were or might be manie or sundrie according to that order but it mentioneth onely One according to that Order affirming this one to be Iesus Christ as the Epistle to the Hebrewes manifestly declareth Yea verie plainely doth that Epistle shew that though there were in the Old Testament under the Levitical and Aronical Priesthood many that were Priests in succession one after another the death of the one causing the other so to succeede yet is it not so in the New Testament under that Priesthood which is according to the Order of Melchisedech where is shewed that Christ Iesus who is the only Priest according to that Order hath neither Vicars nor successors in that his Priesthood nor possibly can have because himselfe never dieth but liveth and continueth a Priest for ever according to that order For which cause it is there further said directly that he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is such a Priesthood as doth not passe goe or is convaied from him to anie other Seeing then there neither be nor ought to be anie moe Priests according to the Order of Melchisedech but only One which is Christ Iesus and that this Christ Iesus was in bodily sacrifice to be offered also but Once and not oftner and that himselfe is also the sole and onely Priest allowed and appointed of God to make that bodily oblation which bodily oblation of his is also only propitiatorie How intolerably blasphemous and abominable be and must needs be those Popish Priests that dare arrogate to themselves that particular honor office place and person of Iesus Christ and say that they offer him up in a bodily manner and that often and that their sacrifice of the Masse is a propitiatory sacrifice We know that Christ instituted a Sacrament in bread and wine in commemoration and remembrance of his bodie crucified and his bloud shed for our sinnes But that bodily sacrifice of his was not performed by anie but by himsefe nor was it done at this time of his instituting of this Sacrament but afterward when actually and in verie deed he made that sacrifice of himselfe upon the Crosse and said Co●summatum est It vvas then finished And therefore when Christ said at his last Supper to his Apostles and consequently to the rest of his Ministers their successors Hoc facite c. Doe this in remembrance of me hee bad them to administer that Sacrament in such maner and sort as he did it but hee did not thereby make them Priests to offer him up in a bodily and propitiatorie sacrifice as is by Popish Priests most impiously and absurdly suggested and surmised And yet it is granted that ancient Fathers do cal this supper of the Lord a sacrifice but they so call it a sacrifice in respect it is a memorial of that bodily sacrifice of Christ performed upon the Crosse as even Peter Lombard himselfe expressely telleth you As also it may be called a sacrifice in respect of the sacrifice of praise and thankesgiving and other spiritual sacrifices which at these times the godly offer up unto God For which cause those ancient Fathers doe also call it an Eucharist that is a Thanksgiving noting it even thereby also to be not a Propitiatorie but an Eucharistical sacrifice A memory of this sacrifice of Christ upon the Crosse vve have received saith Eusebius to celebrate at the Lords Table by the signes of his body and of his healthfull bloud according the divine Lawes of the New Testament Christ saith S. Augustine is our Priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech vvho offered himselfe a sacrifice for our sinnes and hath commended the similitude of that sacrifice to be celebrated in the remembrance of his passion VVee keepe saith Theophilact a remembrance of the Lords death And againe VVee keepe a memory of that Oblation vvherein he offered himselfe Our high Priest saith Chrysostome is he vvhich offered the sacrifice that purgeth us c. But this vvhich vvee doe is done in remembrance of that vvhich was done by him for doe yee this saith Christ in remembrance of mee And againe he saith VVee celebrate the remembrance of a sacrifice By all which and sundrie other sayings which might be cited if need were out of ancient Fathers you may easily perceive that howsoever they call this Sacrament a sacrifice they meane it not to be anie Propitiatorie or Bodily sacrifice but that in the proper appellation it is rather to be termed as themselves here declare a similitude memorial or remembrance of that sacrifice of Christ which himselfe performed upon the Crosse. 2 And yet the Rhemists and other Popish Teachers say that Christ is called a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech specially in this respect of the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud instituted at his last supper in the formes of bread and wine in which things they say Melchisedech did sacrifice But first they cannot prove that Christ instituted this sacrament of his last supper to be his verie bodily sacrificing of himselfe yea it is before apparantly disproved for his verie bodily sacrifice was done only by himselfe upon the Crosse and that but once and that sacrifice only is propitiatory and no other And how is it possible that that which is a representation similitude remembrance and sacrament of that sacrifice should be the verie sacrifice it selfe But secondly why doe they or anie other talke of fo●●es of bread and wine for yee know that they were not the formes or accidents of bread and wine but verie substantial bread and wine which Melchisedech brought forth to Abraham and his people for their refreshing after their battell and slaughter of the kings Yea if they had beene bare formes and accidents of bread and wine and not verie bread and wine in truth and in substance they would have given Abraham and his companie but verie small and slender refreshing This example therefore of Melchisedech in giving not the formes or accidents of bread and wine without the substance but verie bread and wine substantially to Abraham and his souldiers for their refreshing doth prove strongly

shall be able to diswade them Howbeit I would desire you to be better advised and though it be to the utter overthrowing of your fancies and wills to yeeld to that puissant and unvanquishable truth which not onlie reason but all right faith and religion also requireth at your hands for even faith and religion aswell sense and reason perswadeth against that monstrous conceipt of Transubstatiation and of the natural bodie of Christ to be eaten with the bodilie mouth For further declaration whereof doe but consider some absurdities and inconveniences wherewith it is accompanied First you thereby make the Lords Supper to be no Sacrament for if it be a Sacrament it must of necessitie have aswel an outward visible signe of an holie thing as the holie thing it selfe The outward visible signe in this point is the bread and the holie thing whereof it is a signe is the verie natural bodie of Christ which was crucified for us Now you s●y That after consecration there is no bread at all remaining but onlie the verie natural bodie of Iesus Christ and so making no bread at all to be there you also make no outward visible signe to be there and consequentlie make it no Sacrament Secondlie if there be no bread remaining but onlie the Accidents of bread that is whitenesse roundnesse and such like without a substance as yee hold then beside that it is most absurd by the rules of reason to hold that anie accidents can be without their substance I pray further tell me what it is that the communicant receiveth and eateth for we thinke everie man should be ashamed to say that he eateth bare accidents and not the substance of bread But for cleere proofe S. Paul affirmeth it expreslie to be still bread after consecration and that accordinglie the communicant eateth bread neither will the bare accidents of bread without the substance nourish anie man Thirdlie how absurd and unseemlie a thing is it for one man to eate up another as if it became Christians to be Caniballs or Anthropophagi that is such as were eaters of men and yet if this Popish opinion were true should Christians be eaters even of the bodie of a man and of the best m●n that ever lived even of their owne Saviour and Redeemer Iesus Christ both God and man and that in a most grosse and carnal manner which is a most impious and most inhumane barbarous conceit Fourthlie it is well knowne that Christ Iesus is true man and hath all the properties of one that is a true man being like unto man in all things sinne only excepted as the Scripture witnesseth And therefore as he is a true man and hath a true humane bodie like other men sinne onelie excepted that his humane bodie cannot possiblie be in two or manie places at once no not after his resurrection as S. Augustine expresly witnesseth no more then the bodies of other men For which cause the Angel said of Christ Non est hic surrexit enim He is not here for he is risen This speech of the Angel sheweth contrarie to your conceit that the humanitie and bodie of Christ even after his resurrection is not in diverse places at once as his Deitie and Godhead is and that it cannot be in anie more places then one at a time because when his bodie was in the grave it was not anie where else and when it was risen ou● of the grave then it was not there but in another place as the Angel declareth Yea whilest you make his humanitie to be multi-present what doe yee else but confound his humanitie and fall into as manifest an errour as is the Heresie of the ubiquitares If anie alledge that the humanitie of Christ and his Deitie be inseparable and that therefore wheresoever his Deitie is there is also his humanitie and consequently because his Deitie or Godhead is everie where his humanitie also or manhood must be likewise everie where This is but a sophistical and deceitfull kinde of reasoning wherewith none should be ensnarled for although it be true that the Deitie and humanitie of Christ be inseparable in him in respect of his person in whom they are united both together making but one Christ yet are they not so inseparable but that the one may be and is namelie his Deitie or Godhead where the other is not For example the Deitie or Godhead of Christ is indeed everie where and filleth heaven and earth as it is said in the Prophet yea the heaven of heavens cannot conteine him as Solomon saith and consequently that Deitie was also even in the grave of Christ after he was risen from death and yet was not his humanitie or manhood there as the Angel himselfe hath before assured us So that although wheresoever his humanitie or manhood is there is also his Deitie or Godhead yet it followeth not contrariwise that wheresoever his Deitie or Godhead is there also is his humanitie or manhood Again doth not Christ Iesus himselfe say thus The poore ye have alwayes with you but me ye shall not have alwayes How could these words be true except wee confesse that he may be and is absent from us in his humanitie and manhood although he be alwaies present with us in respect of his Deitie and by his power and spirit In which respect he hath also said that Hee vvill be vvith his Church to the end of the vvorld You perceive then how Christ is present and how absent namelie that he is alwaies present everie where in his Deitie but not so in his humanitie or manhood And for further proofe hereof doth not Christ Iesus say againe expressely thus It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you Againe he saith I leave the vvorld and goe to the Father And againe he saith Now am I no more in the vvorld but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keepe them in thy Name even them vvhom thou hast given mee What meaneth all this but that Christ Iesus after his resurrection was to ascend into heaven and so to goe away to depart to leave the vvorld and to be as himselfe there speaketh no more in the vvorld Must not this needs be intended in respect of his manhood and bodily presence for most certaine it is that in respect of his Deitie power and spirit he is with us to the worlds end and for ever as before is said And therefore also doth S. Peter witnesse that in respect of that his manhood or humanitie the Heavens must conteyne him untill the time that all things be restored vvhich God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the vvorld began For which cause also we beleeve according to our Creede that from thence hee shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead If then ever since his ascention hee be

here useth is taken among authors oftentimes in contrarie senses eyther to signifie a great while since or else but lately or erewhile In the former sense it must be here taken if it have relation to the time wherein Bede did write his book and in the latter also it may be taken if it be referred to the time whereof he treateth which is the more likely opinion namely to the comming of Bishop Aidan into England which fell out within a yeare or little more after that Honorius had sent his admonitorie letters to the Irish. who as hee was the first Bishop of Rome we can reade of that admonished them to reforme their rite of keeping the time of Easter so that the Irish also much about the same time conformed themselves herein to the Romane usage may thus be manifested When Bishop Aidan came into England from the iland Hy now called Y-Columkille the colledge of monkes there was governed by Segenius who in the inscription of the epistle of the clergie of Rome sent unto the Irish is called Segianus Now there is yet extant in Sir Robert Cottons worthy librarie an epistle of Cummianus directed to this Segienus for so is his name there written abbot of Y-Columkille wherein he plainly declareth that the great cycle of DXXXII years and the Romane use of celebrating the time of Easter according to the same was then newly brought in into this countrey For the first yeare saith he wherein the cycle of DXXXII yeares began to be observed by our men I received it not but held my peace daring neyther to commend it nor to disprayse it That yeare being past he saith he consulted with his ancients who were the successors of Bishop Ailbeus Queranus Coloniensis Brendinus Nessanus and L●●gidus who being gathered together in Campo-lene concluded to celebrate Easter the yeare following together with the universall Church But not long after saith he there arose up a certaine whited wall pretending to keepe the tradition of the Elders which did not make both one but divided them and made voyde in part that which vvas promised whom the Lord as I hope will smite in whatsoever maner he pleaseth To this argument drawne from the tradition of the elders he maketh answer that they did simply and faithfully observe that which they knew to be best in their dayes without the fault of anie contradiction or animositie and did so recommend it to their posteritie and opposeth thereunto the unanimous rule of the Vniversall Catholick Church deeming this to be a very harsh conclusion Rome erreth Ierusalem erreth Alexandria erreth Antioch erreth the whole world erreth the Scottish only and the Britons doe alone hold the right but especially he urgeth the authoritie of the first of these Patriarchicall Sees which now since the advancement therof by the Emperour Phocas began to be admired by the inhabitants of the earth as the place which God had chosen whereunto if greater causes did arise recourse was to be had according to the Synodicall decree as unto the head of cities and therefore he saith that they sent some unto Rome who returning backe in the third yeare informed them that they met there with a Grecian and an Hebrew and a Scythian and an AEgyptian in one lodging and that they all and the whole world too did keepe their Easter at the same time when the Irish were disjoyned from them by the space of a whole moneth And vve have proved saith Cummianus that the vertue of God was in the relicks of the holy martyrs and the scriptures which they brought with them For we saw with our eyes a mayde altogether blinde opening her eyes at these relickes and a man sicke of the palsie walking and manie divells cast out Thus farre hee The Northren Irish and Albanian Scottish on the other side made little reckoning of the authoritie either of the Bishop or of the Church of Rome And therefore Bede speaking of Oswy king of Northumberland saith that notwithstanding hee was brought up by the Scottish yet hee understood that the Romane was the Catholick and Apostolick Church or that the Romane Church was Catholick and Apostolick intimating thereby that the Scottish among whom he received his education were of another minde And long before that Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus who were sent into England by Pope Gregory to assist Augustin in a letter which they sent unto the Scotts that did inhabite Ireland so Bede writeth complayned of the distaste given unto them by their countreymen in this maner When vve knew the Britons vve thought that the Scotts were better then they But we learned by Bishop Daganus comming into this Iland and abbot Columbanus comming into France that the Scotts did differ nothing from the Britons in their conversation For Daganus the Bishop comming unto us would not take meate with us no not so much as in the same lodging wherein we did eate And as for miracles wee finde them as rife among them that were opposite to the Romane tradition as upon the other side If you doubt it reade what Bede hath written of Bishop Aidan who of what merit hee was the inward Iudge hath taught even by the tokens of miracles saith he and Adamnanus of the life of S. Colme or Columkille Whereupon Bishop Colman in the Synod at Strenshalch frameth this conclusion Is it to be beleeved that Colme our most reverend father and his successors men beloved of God which observed Easter in the same maner that we do did hold or doe that which was contrary to the holy Scriptures seeing there were very many among them to whose heavenly holinesse the signes and miracles vvhich they did bare testimony whom nothing doubting to be Saints I desist not to follow evermore their life maners and discipline What Wilfride replyed to this may be seene in Bede that which I much wonder at among the many wonderfull things related of S. Colme by Adamnanus is this that where he saith that this Sainct during the time of his abode in the abbay of Clone now called Clonmacnosh did by the revelation of the holy Ghost prophecie of that discord which after many dayes arose among the Churches of Scotland or Ireland for the diversity of the feast of Easter yet he telleth us not that the holy Ghost revealed unto him that he himselfe whose example animated his followers to stand more stiffely herein against the Romane rite was in the wrong and ought to conforme his judgement to the tradition of the Churches abroad as if the holy Ghost did not much care whether of both sides should carrie the matter away in this controversie for which if you please you shall heare a verie prettie tale out of an old Legend concerning this same discord whereof S. Colme is said to have prophecyed Vpon a certaine time saith my Author there was a great Councell of the people of Ireland in the