represse our naughtie will and affections to mortifie our earthlye members and conuersation And so to banish sinne that it reigne not in our mortall bodies the largenesse of which matter is so great and doth extende it selfe in so many partes causes and circumstances that although the whole matter doe pertayne and haue respect to one ende yet the intreating of it being long must needes be various and for that reason can not be tedious to him that loueth to learne to liue well and please almightie God CROWLEY Satan transforming himselfe into the likenesse of an Angell of light is neuer the later an enimie still according to the true Etymologie of his name Watson counterfeteth S. Paule Euen so you M. Watson can not by counterfeiting S. Paule cause vs to beléeue that you beare lyke good will to vs as he did to the Philippians It is verie true that no matter can be more profitable to be intreated off in these euill days than that which doth teach vs to offer vp our selues to God a liuing holy and acceptable sacrifice to him But if you entreated it no better in your other two Sermons that you speake off than you doe in these you might haue bene much better occupied in entreating of other matter although the same had not béene so various as this and therfore more tedious to the hearers The ende of this my matter is WATSON Diuision 3. to destroye the kingdome of sinne for which purpose Gods sonne was incarnate to bring which thing to passe in vs was all the life the exaÌ„ple the passion the Resurrection of Christ and all the doctrine and sacramentes of Christ Like as contrarie to erect and establish this kingdome of sinne is al the trauaile and temptation of the deuill now fawning lyke a serpent transforming himselfe into an aungell of light to entrappe and seduce the simple and vnware nowe raging like a Lion to ouerthrow the feble and fearefull And not only is it his trauaile but also it is the whole labour and practise of all his children by imitation As Infidels Iewes Heretiks Scismatikes false brethren and counterfet christians both in lyuing and learning labouring night and daye with all witte and will to destroye the fayth of Christ the sacraments of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ as much as in them lieth Which three be speciall meanes to destroye the kingdome of sinne which they with all their power set vp and maintaine It is verie true as you say that the ende of our mortification CROWLEY the incarnation life suffering resurrection doctrine and sacraments of Christ is to destroy the kingdome of sinne Watsons words true in himselfe such other And on the contrary it is all true that you haue written vnderstanding your selfe and other of your sort to be the Heretikes Scismatikes false brethren and counterfet Christians that you speake off The practise of the deuill and his Ministers in thys poynt WATSON Diuision 4. I haue partlye touched and by Gods grace and your pacience shall now procede further I haue opened the decay of fayth good workes and penance which be remedies against sinne One other remedie there is that lieth in much decay which will lye still except good men according to their bounden dueties put to their helping handes I meane the sacrifice of the church the sacrifice of the newe testament the sacrifice of our reconciliation in the bodie and bloude of our Lorde Iesus Christ which he hath instituted in hys last supper and so as Ireneus sayth Noui testamenti nouam docuit oblationem Ireneus li. 4. cap. 32. quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in vniuerso mundo offert deo Christ confessing the cup to be his bloud hath taught the newe sacrifice of the newe testament which sacrifice the Church receyuing of the Apostles doth offer to God throughout the whole worlde CROWLEY You say you haue opened the decaye of faith good workes and penance I haue neyther hearde nor séene in writing what you haue sayd of these decayes But me thinke I maye gesse that you doe account it a decaye of faith when men can not beléeue that whatsoeuer the Pope and his Clearkes shall teach is true of good workes when men waxe werie of giuing their landes and goods to the maintenaunce of Idolatrie Maister Watsons decay of faith good works and penance and false worshipping of God and of penance when men can not be perswaded that their owne works can be any part of satisfaction for their owne sinnes If this be your opening of these decayes then haue you done as well therein as you doe here in the decaye of the fourth remedie which you call the sacrifice of the Church c. For neither may the supper of the Lorde bée properlye called the sacrifice of the Church the sacrifice of the new Testament nor the sacrifice of our reconciliation more than to beléeue all that the Pope shall teach may be called the faith in Christ or to giue lands or goodes to the maintenance of Idolatrie may be called a good worke or the séeking to satisfie for sinnes by our owne workes may be called penance And as for your wordes cited out of Ireneus they are not so many as they should be and therfore I will cite them as Ireneus wrote them although it be something long that the simple Reader be no longer deceyued by your subtile handling of the Fathers writings And first I must tell you that your Printer hath quoted your booke wrong For it is in the .32 Watsons booke wrong quoted Chapter of Ireneus his fourth booke and not in the .35 as your printed copie hath it Thus sayth Ireneus lib. 4. cap. 32. Hij sunt inquit Zacha. cap 8. sermones quos facietis Loquimini veritateÌ„ vnusquisque ad proximum suum iudicium pacificum iudicate in portis vestros vnusquisque malitiam fratris sui non recogitet in corde suo iurationem falsam ne dixeritis Quoniam haec omnia odi dicit Dominus omnipotens Et Dauid autem similiter Quis est Psalm 34. inquit homo qui vult vitam amat dies videre bonos Cohibe linguam tuam à malo labia tua ne loquantur dolum Declina à malo fac bonum inquire pacem sequere eam Ex quibus omnibus manifestum est quia non sacrificia holocaustomata quaerebat ab eis Deus sed fidem obedientiam iusticiam propter illorum salutem Oseae 6. Sicut in Osea Prophetae docens eos Deus suam voluntatem dicebat Misericordiam volo quam sacrificium agnitionem Dei super holocaustomata Math. 9. Sed Dominus noster eadem monebat eos dicens Si enim cognouissetis quid est misericordiam volo quam sacrificium nunquam câ—ndemnaretis immerentes testimonium quidem reddens Prophetis quoniam veritatem predicabant illos autem arguens sua
We say that the scripture hath many such spéeches as this is my bodye and this is my bloud which are not proper spéeches but figuratiue wherefore it is not of necessitie required that this is my body and this is my bloud should be taken for proper spéeches The circumstances must giue the vnderstanding But if the circumstaunces be such that by them the spéeche can not be proper but figuratiue then is there no cause why we maye not vnderstande these places by the figure as well as the other I will therefore consider your circumstaunces and then shape you a further aunswere But if we will consider the circumstaunces of the text WATSON Diuision 14 who was the speaker for what intent what time and such other it shall plainely appeere that the literall sense as the wordes purport is the true sense that the holy Ghost did principally intend As for example First it appeareth euidently the speaker to be Iesus Christ our Lord Gods sonne equall and omnipotent God with the father and that these hys wordes be not wordes of a bare narration and teaching but wordes whereby a sacrament is instituted And for that reason we must consider that it is otherwise with Christ then with vs for in man the worde is true when the thing is true whereof it is spoken In God the thing is true when the worde is spoken of the thing Mans worde declareth the thing to be as it is before Gods worde maketh the thing to be as it was not before In man the truth of his worde dependeth of the truth of the thing Contrarie in God the truth of the thing dependeth vpon the speaking of the worde as the psalme sayth Ipse dixit facta sunt He spake the worde Psalm 148. and the things were made And this thing the Deuill knewe well ynough being sure that if Iesus were Christ and God hee could with his worde both create newe thinges and also chaunge the nature and substaunce of any thing Math. 4. and therfore sayde vnto him tempting him whether he was Gods sonne or no if thou be Gods sonne speake the worde that these stones maye be made bread Whereby we maye learne that although in mans speeche it is not true to saye these stones be bread yet if God should say so it should be true the inferior nature of creatures gyuing place to the omnipotent power of God the Creator After which sort Ireneus reasoneth against those heretikes that denied Iesus Christ to be Gods sonne vsing that most constantly beleeued truth of the sacrament that we holde nowe grounded vpon Christes wordes for an argument to conuince Iesus the speaker to bee Gods sonne His words be these Quomodo autem constabit eis eum panem in quo gratiae actae sunt corpus esse domini sui Libr. 4. ca. 34. calicem sanguinis eius si non ipsum fabricatoris mundi filium dicant Howe shall it bee certaine vnto them that that bread vpon which thankes are giuen that is to say the Eucharisticall bread is the body of their Lord and the Cup of his bloud if they say not that he is the son of him that made the worlde as though he should reason thus These words which Iesus spake of the blessed bread saying This is my body This is the Cup of my bloud be eyther true or false If the speaker of them be pure man and not God as they saye then can they not be true for mans worde chaungeth not the nature of things as it is here But if the wordes be true as they certainely beleeue then the speaker of them must needes be Gods sonne of infinite power able to make the things to be as he sayth they be And also in his .57 Ireneus lib. 4. Cap. 57. Chapiter the same fourth booke he maketh the lyke argument in these words Quomodo iustè Dominus si alterius patris existit huius conditionis quae est secundum nos accipiens panem suum corpus confitebatur temperamentū calicis sui sanguinem confirmauit If our Lorde be a pure man that nature and condition that wee be of the sonne of an other father then God Howe did he iustly and truely taking bread into his hande confesse and saye it to be his body and confirme that mixture of wine and water that was in the Chalice to be his owne bloud By these two places of Ireneus that lyued within .150 yeares of Christ we are taught not to flie to our figures of Grammer to make these wordes of Christ true which indeede we must needes doe or else say they be false if Christ the speaker be but onely man and not God but we bee taught by him to beleue them to be most true and for that reason to beleue also that Christ the speaker is Gods son by whose almightie power the things be chaunged made as he speaketh so that we may iustly after the minde of Ireneus and dyuers other olde Authors which were long to rehearse nowe conceaue this opinion of these men that say these wordes of Christ cannot be true except they be vnderstanded by a figuratiue speeche that they eyther beleeue not themselues that Christ is Gods sonne or else giue occasion to other to reuiue that olde damnable Heresey of Arius that denied Christs Godhead the experience whereof we haue had of late dayes of some that from Sacramētaries by necessarie consequence of that Heresey became Arianes The first circumstaunce that you consider CROWLEY is the speaker of these wordes I am contented to beginne with the same And also to agrée with you vpon the equalitie of Christ with his heauenly father in all pointes touching his diuine nature wherefore if you conceyue such an opinion of me as you speake of bicause I say that these wordes This is my body is a figuratiue spéeche you conceyue a wrong opinion And I am sure I may safely say as much for all those that you speake of But nowe let vs sée howe honestly you haue behaued your selfe in applying the words of Ireneus to your purpose Libr. 4. ca. 34. He saith thus Quomodo autem constabit c. First I must tell you that euen as in the place that you did before cite out of Ireneus you picked out a péece for your purpose and left that which might make the Writers meaning playne so you haue done here also For in the same Chapiter not twentie lynes before those wordes that you cite Ireneus sayth thus Igitur non sacrificiae sanctificant hominem non enim indiget sacrificio Deus sed conscientiae eius qui offert sanctificat sacrificium pura existens praestat acceptare Deum quasi ab amico The sacrifices doe not make the man that doth offer them holye for God hath no néede of Sacrifice but the conscience of him that offereth being pure doth make the sacrifice holye and causeth God to take it in good part as
these Non enim alius ipse est quam caro sua Non id dico quia natura non sit alius sed quia post incarnationem in duos diuidi filios minime patitur For he is not any other then the same which his flesh is I speake not this bicause he is not another in nature but bicause after his incarnation he doth not suffer himselfe to be deuided into two sonnes All these words you doe slylie passe ouer bicause the meaning of Cyrillus in the other wordes which you cite is made playne by these And then you cite the wordes that folowe Ego igitur c. But you go not so farre as you should For Cyrillus sayth this much more in the wordes immediatly folowing Nempe impossibile omninò est ne in territus mors ab eo qui naturaliter vita est superetur propterea quamuis mors quae propter peccatum nostrum in naturam nostram insilijt corpus humanum ad corruptionem impellat tamen quia filius Dei homo factus est omnes profectò resurgemus Non enim potest natura nostra vitae coniuncta non viuisicari For it is vtterly impossible that destruction and death should not be ouercome of him which naturally is lyfe wherefore although death which for our sinnes hath skipt into our nature doe driue mans body to corruption yet bicause the sonne of God is made man we shall all surely rise agayne For it is not possible that our nature which is ioyned to lyfe Christes incarnation is the cause of our resurrection should not be quickned Here it is manifest that not the eating and drinking of Christes body and bloud sacramentally but the incarnation of Christ is the cause of our resurrection as Cyrillus thinketh But you haue yet another place of Cyrillus where he sayth Recordare c. You haue a maruellous grace in leauing out that which should make against your purpose But this foly I doe note in you that you can not beware of cyting matter for your purpose which in the places that you cite is beset with matter against you as though you were assured that no man had those bookes but you or that no man would take paynes to waigh those places or were able to espie your slights Immediatly before those wordes that you cite Lucae 7. Cyrillus hath sayde vpon these wordes Adolescens tihi dico surge Yong man I say vnto thée arise Non ergo verbo solum semper vt diximus verum etiam tactu mortuos exitahat vt ostenderet corpus quoque suum viuificare posse Quod si solo tactu suo corrupta redintegrantur quomodo non viuemus qui carnem illam gustamus manducamus Reformabit enim omninò ad immortalitatem suam participes sui Nec velis Iudaice quomodo quaerere sed recordare c. He did not therefore alwayes as we haue sayde rayse vp the dead with a worde onely but with a touche also to declare that his body also was able to giue lyfe And if thinges corrupted be made sounde againe by touching alone how should we which doe both taste and eate that flesh be without lyfe For it will reforme vnto the immortalitie that is in it selfe those that be partakers therof Neyther be thou wylling after the maner of the Iewes to enquire how but remember c. as you haue cited afore Cyrillus doth here go about to proue that there was power in the body of Christ to make sounde those corrupted things that he did but touch And that therefore such as doe tast and eate the fleshe of that body must néedes be quickned therby But how doth this proue that the sacrament of Christes body and bloud being eaten is the cause of resurrection and euerlasting lyfe to the eater By your vnderstanding of Cyrillus The sequele of Watsons doctrine his doctrine must teache vs that if the Capernaits had layde handes on Christ and eaten him vp euerye morsell they had done verie well and wisely for so they should haue bene sure of euerlasting lyfe But farre was that learned father from so vnlearned a meaning as may well appéere euen in the wordes that you cite For in vsing the similitude of water made whot by fyre he sheweth what life it is that doth quicken vs into euerlasting lyfe Euen that lyfe which is Christ God and man which commeth vnto vs by faith and maketh vs forget our coldnesse of infidelitie and lack of loue and doth heat vs with most constaunt faith made fruitful by loue And so we doe profitably eate the fleshe and drinke the bloud of Christ for we dwell in Christ and haue him dwelling in vs. And yet more plainely doth Cyrillus open his owne meaning in the wordes that follow immediatly after the wordes that you cite For he sayth thus Nec putet ex tarditate ment is suae Iudaeus inaudita nobis excogitata esse mysteria videbit enim si attentius quaerit hoc ipsum a Mosis temporibus per figuram semper factitatum fuisse Quid enim maiores eorum ab ira Aegyptiorum liberauit quando mors in primogenita Aegypti seuicbat Nonne omnibus palam est quia diuina institutione per docti agni carnes manducauerūt postes superliminaria sanguine perunxerunt propterea mortem ab eis diuertisse c. Neyther let the Iewe through the dulnesse of his minde thinke that we haue sacraments deuised for vs which haue not bene hard of before for if he will looke well he shall sée that by a figure the verie same thing hath bene done euer since the dayes of Moses For what was it that did delyuer their fathers from the wrath when death did rage against the first borne of Egypt Doe not all men knowe that they being thorowly enstructed of God did eate the fleshe of a Lambe and did annoynt the two side postes and the vpper postes of their dores with the bloud of the same and that therfore death turned away from them And a little after he saith Et cuinis carnibus atque sanguine sanctificati Deo ita volente perniciem effugiebant They being made holye by the fleshe and bloud of a Lambe did by the will of God escape the destruction I suppose that there is no man so mad as to thinke that these words of Cyrill should be taken in such sort and meaning as you take those wordes that you cite For then shoulde Cyrillus bée thought to ascribe the deliuerance of the people from destruction to the eating of the fleshe of a Lambe and the annoynting of the dore postes with the bloud thereof Which were to farre from such christian knowledge as appeared to be in the christian Bishop Watsons cōclusion differeth much from Cyrillus minde Wherefore I maye conclude that you conclusion is verye farre from Cyrillus minde when you say that this place is verie playne declaring vnto vs that lyke as our selues you should haue sayde our soules
pledge is giuen For in that sense is Symbolum taken here And vnlesse you can proue that these be efficient causes you shal neuer prooue that our immortalitie and resurrection be the effects thereof The lyke may be sayde to the Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem aeternae vitae A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodies to the immortalitie of eternall life But bicause it is your custome to cite matter in such sort that the true meaning of the Author can not be perceyued by the wordes that you cite I will let the reader sée all the wordes that Athanasius doth in that place write of that matter Sed proptered ascensionis suae in caelum mentionem secit Athanasius De p ccato in spiritum sanctum vt eos a corporali intellectu abstraheret ac deinde carnem suam de qua locutus erat cibum è supernis caelestem spiritualem alimoniam ab ipso donandam intelligerent Quae enim locutus sum vibis inquit spiritus est vita Quod perinde est acsi deceret Corpus meum quod ostenditur dâ—tur pro mundo in cibum dabiâ—ur vt sparitualiter vnicuique tâ—â—buatur fiat singulis tutamen praeseruatioque ad Resurrectionem vitae aeternae Ita quâ—que Samaritanam abstrahens Dominus a rebus sensibilibus Deum esse spiritum pronuntiauit vt deinceps illa non corporalia sed spiritualia de Deo cogitaret But for this cause did he make mention of his ascention into heauen that he might drawe them away from the bodily vnderstanding and that they might afterwarde vnderstand his fleshe whereof he had spoken to be foode from aboue heauenly and spirituall nourishment and such as he must giue For sayth he that which I haue spoken vnto you is spirite and lyfe Which is as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be meat that it may be spiritually giuen to euerye man and that it maye be to eche man a defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall lyfe In like maner also drawing the Samaritish womaÌ„ from sensible things the Lorde affirmed that God is a spirite that from thence forth she should not think of God as of corporall things but as of things spirituall Now let the indifferent reader iudge how faithfully you haue vsed your selfe in alledging the saying of this auncient Father His grounde is the wordes of Christ in the sixt of Iohn Where speaking of the eating of his body he sayth It is the spirite that doth giue lyfe the fleshe profiteth nothing at all The words that I haue spoken vnto you are spirite and lyfe Which is sayth Athanasius as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be foode that it may spiritually be giuen to euery man and that vnto eche man it may be made a defence and preseruation to the resurrection of eternall lyfe And to make his meaning playne Athanasius sayth that Christ made mention of his ascention into heauen that he might draw his hearers from the bodily vnderstanding And further he sayth that our sauiour talking with the Samaritish woman did draw hir from sensible things affirming that God is a spirit that so she might imagine no corporal thing to be in God but al spiritual I can not therefore but thinke that such as will ioyne with you in alledging this place to proue immortalitie and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud are by obstinate wylfulnesse blinded as you doe shewe your selfe to be For it is as manifest as the cleare sunne light that his meaning was to disproue the grosse opinion of all such as imagine The meaning of Athanasius that Christ should giue his fleshe to fill the bellies of men And to teach that such as will benefite by eating of his body must eate the same spiritually and not carnally And that when it is spiritually eaten it is Tutamen praeseruatioque ad resurrectionem vitae aeternae A defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall life But this is not to teach that it is the efficient cause of our immortalitie and resurrection as you labor by this other places to proue But nowe let vs sée what you haue founde in Ireneus that was a great deale older then Athanasius He hath sayde Quomodo dicunt carnem c. By what reason doe they saye that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lorde This place of Ireneus is sufficiently opened before in the aunswere to that which you haue sayde of the first circumstaunce of the sacrament which is who it was that spake these words This is my body c and is playnely proued not to make any thing for your purpose eyther there or here Yet we haue not sayde any thing to that other place which you cite out of the fift booke of this Ireneus where he sayth Ireneus li. 5. Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse c. How doe they denie c. I might put you in remembraunce of that which Erasmus wryteth concerning his iudgement of the authoritie of this booke for I am sure you can tell that he hath written thus Censura Eras Roterodami In hoc quinto libro quum multa scripturarum loca diligenter explicentur quaedam tamen insunt quae nisi quis comode interpretetur non satis congruere videntur cum bis dogmatibus quae hoc tempore praescribit Ecclesia Where as in this fift Booke there be many places of Scripture diligently expounded yet are there certaine things in it which vnlesse a man doe well interpret doe not séeme to agrée verie well with those doctrines that at this time the Church doth prescribe Auncient writers must be read with fauour c. And afterwarde he sayth Sed in huiusmodi multis veteres illi cum candore nonnunquam cum venia legendi sunt c. But in many such things those auncient wryters must be read with fauour and sometime with pardon also But be it that Erasmus had not giuen vs this warning is there not warning ynough giuen vs in the wordes of the place it selfe to looke well to the wryters meaning You doe according to your custome cite those wordes onely which may at the first sight make some shewe of that you would proue by them But according to my custome I will let the reader sée the whole circumstaunce that he may be able to iudge which of vs both goeth most nigh to the meaning of the writer His wordes be these Vani autem omnimòdo qui vniuersam dispositionem Dei contemnunt carnis salutem negant regenerationem eius spernunt dicentes non cam capacem esse incorruptibilitatis Sic autem secundum haec videlicet nec Dominus sanguine suo redemit
bloud and body of Christ that he speake of is that whereby the substaunce of our flesh is encreased doth continue But you doe denie that For you say that it nourisheth not our flesh as other earthly meates doe to this temporal lyfe but to eternall lyfe I would gladly knowe therfore what Ireneus may meane by the encreasing of the substaunce of our fleshe by this foode Well this matter is playne ynough to as many as will sée And so it is that neyther Catholikes nor heretikes did in the dayes of Ireneus beléeue and confesse that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is the cause of the vncorruption of our bodyes and the eternall lyfe of the same And that we which doe nowe denie our resurrection and euerlasting lyfe in an immortall state to be the effect of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud doe not giue thereby any iust occasion to be suspected of the error of them that doe denie the resurrection of our fleshe And for that you charge vs with beastlynesse of lyfe for my part I referre the iudgement to them that know vs both Let other aunswere for themselues Well For further proufe of this effect you could bring in many mo Authors as the saying of Hilarius c. Hilarius hath sayde thus say you Haec vero vitae nostrae causa est c. This is the verie cause of our lyfe that we haue Christ by his flesh dwelling in our fleshe First I must tell you that you shew your selfe to impudent in translating the text that you cite out of Hilarius in this place Hilarius de Trinitate li. 8. Let the learned iudge whether Hilarius haue sayde this is the verie cause c. And againe in the ende of the sentence dwelling in our fleshe The wordes in Latine for the first are these Haec vero vitae nostrae causa est And for the other the words be these Quod in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christū habemus If I should translate the whole sentence I could not be bolde to say otherwise then thus Truely this is the cause of our life that we which be carnall or fleshly haue Christ dwelling in vs by the meanes of the fleshe But this is a common thing with men of your sort not onely to alledge Patches out of the fathers in such sort that the true meaning cannot by the wordes that you cite be perceyued but also to make them séeme to serue your purpose you will not stick to adde somewhat in the translation that can not be founde in their wordes as in this place it doth most mafestly appéere Censura Erasmi And how easie a thing it is for such as be disposed to apply the wordes of auncient wryters contrarie to their meaning to vse the wordes of this wryter so may well be séene by that which Erasmus hath writtē in his Epistle set before this Authors works where he sayth Plurimum sudoris compereram in emendando Hieronymo sed plus in Hilario cuius talis est sermonis Charecter vt etiam si res per se dilucidas tractaret tamen esset intellectu difficilis deprauatu facilis I did finde sayth Erasmus much labour in the correcting of Hierome but more in the amending of Hilarie Whose maner of spéeche is such that although he did entreat of thinges which were of themselues euident and playne yet should he bée hard to be vnderstanded and easie to be depraued No maruell therefore though you in this place fayling of the first which is harde haue happened on the latter which is easie Affirming that Hilarius is one of those auncient fathers that doe teach that the resurrection of our bodies and euerlasting lyfe is the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud Yea and in the selfe same Booke out of which you cite those wordes the same Erasmus doth iudge him to teache doctrine that is not sounde And therefore in the aforenamed Epistle he sayth thus of him Et quum alias tum libro de Trinitate 8. magna contentione defendit nos quoque cum filio patre vnum esse natura non adoptione neque consensu tantum And both in other places and chiefely in his eyght booke De Trinitate he doth with great contention defend that we also are all one with the sonne and the father by nature not by adoption and consent onely And immediatly after he sayth thus Rursus eius operis lib. 3. sed magis lib. 10. sic loquitur de Corpore Christi vt sentire videatur Mariam virginem praeter concipiendi gestandi pariendi ministerium nihil addidisse de suo cum orthodoxi credant Christum ex opificio quidem spiritus sed ex substantia virginei corporis conceptum Quin alia loca sunt quae ciuilem commodum requirant interpretem Againe in the thirde booke of the same worke but rather in the tenth booke he doth so speake of the bodie of Christ that he may séeme to thinke that besides the ministerie of conceyuing bearing in hir wombe and bringing forth into this life the virgine Marie did adde nothing of hir owne Whereas such as be of right beliefe doe beléeue that Christ was conceyued by the work of the holy ghost but of the substance of the virgins bodie Other places also there be which do require a curteous and gentle interpretour I suppose you knew all this before Watson hath a wrong opinion of vs. but by lyke you thought that all such as be not of your minde must néedes be ignorant herein Else you would haue weighed Hillaries wordes better before you had cited them for your purpose But let vs sée nowe how we can weigh them and what doctrine will ensue vpon the taking of them in such sense as you doe And if we finde that some absurde doctrine will follow vpon such a meaning as you gather of his words why shoulde we not call to memorie the wordes of Erasmus in the Epistle aboue named where he sayth thus Nemo quantumuis eruditus oculatus non labitur non caecutit alicubi videlicet vt omnes meminerint homines esse à nobis cum delectu cum iudicio simulque cum venia legantur vt homines There is no man be he neuer so well learned and circumspect that doth not slip and in some point shew himself to lacke sight that no man should forget them to be men and that we shoulde reade them with choyse wyth iudgement yea and with fauour also as men But bicause you haue as you are wont left out those words of Hilarie both immediatly before and after which might gyue more light to hys meaning I haue thought good to cyte the words that you doe with somewhat of the circumstance Thus he sayth Quod autem in nobis naturalis haec vnitas sit ipse ita testatus est qui edit carnem meam c. And that this naturall vnitie
is in vs he himselfe doth in this sort testifie He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloude doth dwell in me and I in him For no man shall be in him but such as he himselfe shall be in hauing receyued into himself the flesh of that man only which hath taken vpon him his flesh The sacrament or mysterie of this perfect vnitie he had taught before saying euen as the liuing father hath sent me and I doe liue through the father so he that cateth my flesh shall liue through me For euery comparison is taken according to the forme of vnderstanding that by the example that is proponed we maye vnderstande the thing that is talked of Truly this is the cause of our life that we which be carnall or fleshly haue by the meanes of the fleshe Christ dwelling in vs which shall liue through him in such sort as he liueth thorow the father If we therefore doe naturally liue through him as touching the flesh that is hauing obtayned the nature of hys flesh how should it be but that sith he doth liue by the meanes of the father he must néedes haue the father in himselfe naturally as touching the spirite And he doth lyue by the meanes of the father seing that his natiuitie hath not giuen him a straunge and contrarie nature for as much as that being that he hath is of his father and yet for all that he is not by any vnlikelinesse incident to his nature separated from him seing that through his natiuitie in the strength of nature he hath his father in himselfe We haue made mention of these things bicause the Heretikes which fayne that the vnitie betwéene the father and the sonne is onely the vnitie of will haue vsed the example of our vnitie with God as though when we be by seruice onely and will of religion knit vnto the sonne and by the sonne to the father there were no proprietie of naturall communion graunted vnto vs by the sacrament of his body and bloud where as the mysterie of the true and naturall vnitie is to be preached both by the honor of the sonne of God which is giuen vnto vs and also by the sonne that is carnally abyding in vs being bodily and inseparably ioyned togither in him In the latter part of these words Hilarius doth playnely shew the cause that moued him to write after such sort as he doth in the former part of the same The heretikes sayth he which fayned that the vnitie betwixt the father and the sonne is onely the vnitie of will c. By this it is manifest that his purpose was to proue that the example whereby the heretikes would proue that the vnitie that is betwixt Christ and his father is but the vnity of wyll doth serue nothing for their purpose For the vnitie that is betwixt Christ and vs and through Christ betwéene God the father and vs is not onely in wyll of religion and seruice but naturall and true And in Christ we are bodily and inseparably ioyned one to another and doe altogither liue by the meanes of Christ as Christ doth lyue by the meanes of his Father And therfore he sayth as you haue cited Haec verò vitae nostrae causa est c. Verily this is the cause of our lyfe c. Nowe M. Watson call to memorie the admonition that Erasmus gyueth in his Epistle concerning the maners of spéeches that this author vseth in his workes and touching the doctrine that he teacheth in this booke wherout you alledge those wordes that we haue nowe in hande and then it shall appéere to you I trowe that you haue not vsed Hilarius well in bearing men in hande that he is one of them that teach our resurrection and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud For if shall be playne that he meaneth to teache that as Christ and his father be one in nature so Christ and we that doe beléeue the promise that God hath made in him and therfore be by loue inseparably ioyned one to another and doe therfore oftentimes come togither and be partakers of one loafe and one cup whereby this perfite vnitie that we haue with God and one with another is playnely preached vnto vs and euen oure verie senses certefied that we are by fayth inseparably ioyned vnto Christ as members to their head and by loue one to another as members of one body amongst themselues We must therefore in this point vse both iudgement and fauour in the reading of Hilarius If you should therfore go about by many such places as this to proue this effect of the sacrament you should in déede through your ouer much curiosity séeme to much to mistrust the credite of your so faithful an auditory Wherfore you doe well to cōclude without any more to doe And as for the ascrybing of the effect that you haue spoken of to so base creatures as bread and wine God is the efficient cause of our resurrection you shall not néede to feare if ye will with vs ascribe it to him that is the efficient cause thereof which is the diuine maiestie it selfe But nowe let vs sée what other effectes this sacrament séemeth to you to bring forth WATSON Diuision 25 1. Cor. 10. The principall effect of all is to make vs one body with Christ which is declared in saint Paule in these wordes Panis quem frangimus nonne communicatio corporis Christi est The bread which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodye that is to saye doth it not ioyne and knit vs in the vnity of one body of Christ Chrysost in Paul 1. Cor. 10. Vpon the which place of saint Paule Chrisostome noteth that he sayde not it is the participation but it is the communion of one body Declaring thereby the highest and greatest coniunction that can be sauing the vnitie of person for the bread which we breake that is to saye the naturall body of Christ vnder the forme of bread which we breake and deuide amongst vs not taking euery man a sundry part but euery man taking the whole the same And as Cyrill sayth Cyrillus li. 12. Capit. 32. Gods sonne going into euery man as it were by diuision of himselfe yet remayneth whole without any diuision in euery man this bread I say is the communion of Christes body that is to say maketh vs that be dyuers in our owne substaunce to be all one misticall body in Christ indued all with one holy spirite whereby the influence of Christes grace that is our head is deriued and deduced vnto vs that be members of his body fleshe of his fleshe and bones of his bones Chrysost in Paul 1. Cor. 10. Thus doth Chrisostome expound the words of S. Paule Quid enim appellio inquit communicationem idem ipsum corpus sumus quidnam est panis corpus Christi quid autem fiunt qui accipiunt corpus Christi non
substaunce of holynesse making all other things holy And here I thinke it worthy to be noted and to be opened somewhat vnto you with what sophistrie and vnlearned folye they deluded the sanctification and consecration of this sacrament Children at the Vniuersitie can tell that it is a deceytfull way of reasoning by a generall discription to exclude and driue away a special and singuler definition as they did in this case For they sayde that the consecration of the sacrament was no more but an appointing of bread and wine to an holy vse which vse they sayde was to signifie vnto vs Christes body that is in heauen and therefore some sayde that the bread was consecrat when the parishe Clarke did bring it to the Church and set it vpon the table and these were no small men but our greatest Bishops God forgiue it them other sayde it was not consecrate till the wordes of Christ were spoken but yet they noted that the Priest should not looke at the bread in the time of the pronouncing for this ende belike that they should not be disceyued that God should worke no more then it pleased them that their doctrine might some waye bee true And therfore they sayde euery man and woman might consecrate and speake the words as well as a Priest but they neuer read what Arnobius sayth Arniobus in Psalm 139. Quid tam magnificum quam Sacramenta deuina conficere quid tam perniciosum quam si ea is conficiat qui nullum sacerdotij gradum accepit What is so excellent then to consecrate the sacraments of God and what is so pernicious then if he doe consecrate that hath receyued no order and degree of Priesthood And as they erred in the time and person so they erred in the nature of the consecration making this of the same sort that all other consecrations be receauing the generall discription and denying the degrees and specialties of sanctification which be many for somethings be holy not for any holynesse that is in them but for that they be brought to the Church and dedicate to some holy vse as is the temple of God the vestures about the aultar and other things vsed in Gods seruice which things to steale and conuey is sacrilege and amongst those things there be degrees of holynesse as saint Augustine sayth Quod accipiunt Catechumini August de peccat merit remiss libr. 2. ca. 26. quamuis non sit corpus Christi sanctum est tamen sanctius quà m cibi quibus alimur Holy bread which those that be learners receiue although it be not the body of Christ yet it is holy and more holy then the meat with which we are fed daylie which also is sanctified by the worde and prayer There is also holynesse a qualitie a vertue gift of God making him in whome it is acceptable in the sight of God The soule of man is likewise sanctified holy bicause it is that substaunce and subiect wherein holynesse consisteth and dwelleth being a vessell created to Gods ymage and prepared to receaue Gods gift of sanctification holynesse And the body of a godly man is also sanctified holy bicause it is the member of Christ the temple of the holy Ghost and the house and tabernacle of the soule replenished with Gods grace and sanctification and for this reason we haue in reuerence and estimation the reliques bodyes of holy martyrs and confessors which being members of Christ were also pleasing sacrifices to Almightie God eyther for austeritie of life or for suffering of vndeserued death for the fayth or in the quarell of Iesus Christ oure Lorde The sacraments of Gods Church be iustly called holy bicause they be the instruments whereby God doth worke holynesse in the soule of man and be as causes of the same by Christes owne ordinaunce and institution But aboue all other thys sacrament of the aultar is holye being as Chrysostome sayde not onely a thing sanctified but the verie sanctification it selfe For in that it is the body of Christ by consecration whervnto is annexed the Godhead by vnitie of person it must needes be holynesse it selfe not in qualitie but in substaunce seing whatsoeuer thing is in God is also God who for his simplicitie receyueth no qualitie into himselfe but is the author and principall cause of all good qualities and graces giuen vnto man Wherefore this place of Chrysostome that calleth it sanctification it selfe can not be auoyded by no figuratiue speeches or such like cauillations CROWLEY Here you begin with a lowde lye by your leaue for there was neuer time yet wherein true christen men cared not who looked vpon them in the time of their mysteries Two lowde lyes one in anothers neck but they did shut out from the place where they did communicate all that were not thought méete to be partakers with them And if you beléeue not me looke in your Liturgies of Iames Basill and Chrysostome And then you clap another lye euen in the neck of the first saying that the Christians made a knocking and knéeling and adoration to the sacraments and that that was the thing that moued the Gentils to say that we worship many Gods and not one as we pretend But to proue this to be no lye you take saint Austen to wytnesse Who in the place that you cite sayth thus speaking to Faustus the Maniche Quomodo ergo comparas panem Calicem nostrum parem Religionem dicis errorem longè à veritate discretum peius desipiens quam nonnulli qui nos propter Panem Calicem Cererem liberum colere existimant How doest thou therfore compare our bread and cup and sayest that an errour which differeth verie farre from the truth is as good a religion as oures being more fondly disceyued then are certaine which by reason of the bread and cup doe suppose that we doe worship Ceres and Bacchus And in the same Chapter he sayth Sicut enim à Cerere libero Paganorum dijs longè absumus quamuis Panis Calicis sacramentum quod ita laudastis vt in eo nobis pares esse volueritis nostroritu amplectamur c For euen as we are verie farre from Ceres and Bacchus Gods of the Paganes although we doe after our maner embrace the sacrament of the bread and the cup which you haue so highly commended bicause you would therein be like vnto vs euen so our fathers were farre ynough from the chaines of Saturne although they did during the time of prophecie obserue the calling or name of the Sabboth The same Gentils which had sayde that the christians did worship Ceres and Bacchus bicause they vsed bread and wine in their communion had sayde also that the people of the Iewes were appointed to be the people of Saturne bicause they obserued the seuenth day of their wéeke for their Sabboth or rest which day the heathen did dedicate vnto Saturne Saint Austen therefore
abhorre as detestable and damnable wyshing you and all other to doe the same Embraceing now at the last the knowne truth which hath bene long time hid by ignoraunce from the greatest number that bare the name of Christians and is nowe by the knowledge of the holye worde of God made knowne to as many as will knowe it and be not wilfull blinde Such truth as you haue taught I doe wyllingly embrace and doe not any thing at all mislike with any thing for the Authors sake But my misliking is with the matter that is not to be lyked And when I doe at any time seme to mislike with the Author it is for that his words haue no grounde in the holy worde of God which is as the touchstone to trie all mens writings by Let vs both pray for the spirite of Humilitie that we may thereby be made meete to receyue and retaine the knowledge of the truth which God will neuer giue to the prowde and such as thinke themselues peerelesse and therefore disdaine the brotherly admonitions of such as in their sight are to simple to be teachers of such as they be The Lorde Iesus graunt that spirite to as many as professe his name that we may once be of one minde in the house of the Lorde to his glorie and the confusion of Satan Amen FINIS To the Christian Readers HAuing occasion oftentymes to be in place where suche as are not yet perswaded that the Popes Church can erre haue bene bolde to vtter their minds fréely affirming that the doctrine which the Protestants teache is erronious and false especially concerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of his body and bloud and the sacrifice of the Masse I haue perceyued that the same haue bene chiefely perswaded stayed by these two Sermons made by Doctor Watson in the first yere of Quéene Maries reigne I haue therefore wyshed that some man of lyke learning would haue published in print an answere to those Sermons that thereby such as haue bene disceyued by the subtiltie thereof might by the plaine and simple aunswere be brought to the knowledge of the truth which no doubt the greatest number of them would embrace if they might once be brought to sée it Yea I know some of them doe hunger and thirst to sée what may be sayde to the contrarie of that which they are yet perswaded in by that which séemeth to them vnaunswerable But whiles I thus wyshed with my selfe many yeares are passed by and I feare me manye soules haue perished being blinded by the subtilty of these Sermons And hitherto I can not vnderstand that any man hath once purposed to aunswere them Although therefore I be of many the most vnméete and of some most dispised accounted and reported to be none of the learned yet rather then the prowde Philistine should still blaspheme the God of Israell and defie his whole armie no man being so hardie as to buckle with him I haue in the courage and confidence of dispised Dauid taken in hande to fight the combat with him and doe not doubt by the helpe of Dauids God eyther to cause him to yéelde or to lye headlesse dispised and forsaken euen of his owne sort and folowers Some man will say peraduenture that it is but a vayne bragge to make such a chalenge knowing that the aduerse party may not without lycence encounter with mée and if he shall obtayne lycence yet shall not his doings be suffered to come to light vnlesse the same shall be lyked by such as fauour my cause For my part I wishe that it were as frée for him to replye to thys mine aunswere and to publishe the same as it is for mée to aunswere his Sermons and I know that if he be able and wylling to replie he can neyther lack libertie so to doe nor meanes to publish it when it is done This obiection therfore is but vaine But that you may haue some vnderstanding of that which I haue done in this aunswere deare Christians and with better will read it thorowe and weigh it I will in fewe wordes declare the effect of my doing therein First I haue faythfully reported the Sermons as they are to be séene in his printed Copie altering or chaunging no one sillable or letter but such onely as doe manifestly appéere to be faultes escaped by the ignoraunce or negligence of the Printer Secondly I haue weighed and considered the Authorities that he hath alledged with their circumstances setting downe the same in wryting to be séene that you may in the feare of God weigh the same also and iudge whether he haue applied them aright or not And thirdly I haue aunswered by the lyke or greater Authoritie all that he hath laboured to confirme by Authoritie eyther of the scriptures or auncient fathers The Lorde Iesus direct you all in the reading of these Sermons and aunswere that you may vnderstande and embrace the truth of the matters in controuersie in life and conuersation glorifie him that hath with his spirite of comfort caused mée to go thorow wyth this aunswere notwithstanding the manifold waies that Sathan hath sought to cause me to cast it aside Fare you well Yours in Christ Robert Crowley ¶ The Table for the notes of the first Sermon in order of letter A. B. C. c. A AMbrose ouerthroweth watsons foundation Folio 18. A rule to bee folowed in reading of fathers Fol. 27. Against priuate Masse Fol. 29. Austen expounded by hymselfe 33. Against whom Ireneus wrote 54 A straunge signification of Symbolum 99. Auncient writers must bee reade with fauour 101. A note for vniuersall signes 118. An oration without a Nominatiue case 141. An argument lyke watsons argument 160. A worthy promotion 174. A homely shift 177. Another is not the same 182. A foule ouersight in one that would be a Catholike Bishop Ibidem All thinges reconed more is loste then wonne 207. B BErnarde was the floure of his tyme. 9. Bernard was deceiued in some things 12. By Watsons doctrine no Infants can be saued 72. C CYprians wordes in the same Epistle 25. Chrysostomes and Basilles iudgement 28. Chrysostomes meaning 31. Cyprians meaning 41. Cluniacensis a corrupter of scriptures 42. Christes purpose in speaking 54. Contradiction in watsons words Folio 70. Christs incarnation is the cause of our resurrection 88. Chrysostome is no man for Watson 115. Christes manhood can bee but in one place 116. Cyprians meaning was farre other then Watsons 119. Christ must be in the minde before the sacrament c. 138. Craftie handling of the fathers sayings 139. Christ is no charmer 176. Chrysostome vseth the figure Hyperbole 189. D DEgrees of holynesse 177. Descant without good playne song 187. E EQualitie of Byshops by Cyprians iudgement 26. Erasmus his iudgement vpon the thirde Tome 29. Election in Christ maketh men worthy c. 69. Effects doe spring out of efficient causes 97. G GErson against Mayster watson 47. God is the efficient cause
reconciled that the body of sinne might be destroyed that it reigne not in our bodies And here the prayer was made In many wordes immediatlye before these that you cite CROWLEY S. Bernarde prooueth that our saluation commeth of the mercifull goodnesse of God onely and not of any thing that is in vs. For to that ende he citeth the name Sauiour both out of the wordes spoken by the Angell Gabriel to the Virgine Marie and also out of the Aungels wordes to Ioseph and to the Shepheardes declaring also the cause thereof to be for that he should saue his people from their sinnes To what vse Watsō would haue Christ to serue But you M. Watson would haue Bernarde to teache that Christ serueth for none other purpose but to be offered in the Masse to helpe out with that that lacketh in our merits For you say sée how saint Bernarde ioyneth the offering of our bodies and of Christes body togither That if the oblation of our bodies be imperfect and suffice not the oblation of Christes body may fulfill and supplie that lacketh in vs. If Bernarde had béene of that minde then might it not onely haue bene truely said of him Bernard saw not al things but rather thus Bernard was blind in euery thing For what is more manifest both by the scriptures iudgement of auncient fathers then that Christ alone is our Mediator and reconcilor to God his father Did not the Aungell say to Ioseph he shall saue his people from their sinnes In the Latine it is saluum faciet Math. 1. He shall make them safe And what is required to be done by his people towardes their saluation if he alone shall make them safe Againe Esay sayth Esay 53. Liuore eius sanati sumus By his stripes are we made whole Et disciplina pacis nostrae cecidit super illum The correction that might purchase our peace Oseas 13. fell vpon him And Oseas sayth O Israel perditio tua tantum ex me auxillium tuum O Israell destruction is thine owne but thine helpe commeth of me alone What can be more playnely spoken then this And agayne Iohn Baptist sayth Iohn 1. Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Beholde him that taketh away the sinnes of the world And shall we now set him to serue but for a shift that when we are not able to go thorow with oure matters then he must helpe out withall Oh blinde Bernarde if he were suche a one as Watson would haue him to bée But Bernarde was none suche Bernard was deceiued in some things was none suche although he were deceyued in somethings according to the déepe ignoraunce of the time he liued in But in these wordes that you take holde of he meaneth to teache that for as much as there is not in vs any abilitie at all to satisfie for sinne we must flie to that meane that God hath appointed euen Iesus Christ and offer him vp a sacrifice propitiatorie for our sinnes not by massing but by beléeuing the promise of God his father made in him and so shall we supplie that that in vs lacketh altogither and not in part For when we shall haue done all that is giuen vs in commaundement to doe we must saye that we are bondmen that can deserue nothing Luc. 17. How should we then by offering vp our bodies satisfie for anye part of oure sinnes When we offer our bodies therefore to God in obeying his holy will How that which lacketh in vs is supplyed we doe declare thereby that we beleue the promise of God made in his sonne Christ which is all that he requireth of vs and in so doing we supply by Christ the thing that was vtterly lacking in vs. That is the satisfaction for our sinnes WATSON Diuision 8. Now entring to speake of the Sacrifice of the Church I presuppose one thing which is the foundation of the same to be most certainly and constauntly beloued of all vs that be here present Here the praier was made which is that in the most blessed sacrament of the Aultare is present the true bodye and bloud of our Sauiour Christ the price of oure redemption not in figure onely but in truth and very deede Which the learned men call really and essentially that is to saye that thing that substance that was vpon the Crosse is now verily present in the blessed Sacramēt before we receiue it the cause of which reall presence is the omnipotent power will of God assisting the due administration of the priest the which body bloud we christen men receyue by the seruice of our bodies senses though not by the iudgemēt of our senses but only by the iudgement of faith bicause it is giuen not in the outwarde forme of the selfe same body and bloud as it was slaine shed vpō the crosse but in the formes of our daily and special nutriments of bread wine and that for sundry weighty necessary causes foresene by our sauiour Christ Now you begin to builde CROWLEY and you presuppose the foundation to be already layd in the minds of all your hearers which is as you say that in the most blessed sacrament of the Aultar the true body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ is present not in figure only c. Surely this foundation is not that wheron S. Paule that wise and good builder did build Watson and Paule builde not both vpon one foundation then the which as he sayth none can be laide for christians to build vpon For Christ hath not taught that his Church should offer such a sacrifice as you doe teach that your Sacrament is Wherefore although this foundation were layde in the harts of all your hearers yet were it not sure grounde to builde vpon bicause it is beside the Rock Christ But I suppose that your hearers were of thrée sortes One sort I thinke had your foundation hard rammed in their hartes another sort could not receyue any such rubbishe into their harts Watsons hearers were of three sorts as you doe vse to ramme into your false foundation but hauing alreadie receyued the Rock Christ they cannot admit any other But the thirde sort are lyke bottomlesse quakemires whereon no building can stande And manye of your hearers haue since that time when you made your Sermons shewed themselues to be such Wherefore your supposition séemeth to me to be deceyued But to your purpose The reall and essentiall presence of Christes bodye and bloud in the Sacrament is the foundation of that you minde to teache in this Sermon The foundation of Watsons sermon If I can proue then that they be not so present therin then must you séeke a new foundation to builde vppon Which thing by the helpe of God I doubt not to doe First by reall and essentiall presence you meane suche a presence that who so receyueth into his body the visible Sacrament must of necessitie
consisteth of two things of the visible forme of the elementes and of the inuisible bodye and bloud of oure Lorde Iesus Christ both that outward Sacrament and the thing or substaunce of the Sacrament that is the body of Christ These words neede no declaring but poynting and for that cause why should I tarie in this poynt any longer seing that our Bookes be full of such like authorities Therefore as I began seing the substaunce of our Sacrifice of the new Testament is the very reall and naturall body of Christ if this body be not present in the Sacrament as the enemies of Christes Crosse and the destroyers of oure faith falsly pretende then be wee christen men left altogither desolate without anye Sacrifice priuate vnto vs for both the Sacrifice of Christ vpon the crosse and also the inwarde Sacrifice of mans heart be not priuate but common to vs and to all faythfull men from the beginning of the worlde to the last ende All these wordes are to proue CROWLEY that we whome you call the enimies of Christs Crosse and destroyers of your fayth doe take awaye from the Church of Christ that sacrifice that they maye and ought continually to offer to God and leaue them in worse case then were the Iewes or any other sect except the Mahumetans for they only are without a peculier sacrifice to offer to their God Your Argument when the flowers of Rhetorick be taken from it is in this forme Seing that the substaunce of our sacrifice is the verie reall and naturall body of Christ they that denie it to be in such sort present doe denie the Church to haue any Sacrifice to offer to God But the Protestantes doe denie it to be in such sortes present Ergo they denie the Church to haue any sacrifice to offer to God To proue the Maior proposition of this Argument Cyprian lib. 2. Ep 3. you make a long parenthesis And first you begin with the wordes of Cyprian In sacrificio quod Christus est non nisi Christus sequendus est In that Sacrifice that is Christ no man is to be folowed but Christ True it is that in the thirde Epistle of his seconde Booke Saint Cyprian hath those wordes that you cite But that he ment by those wordes to affirme that Christes reall and naturall body is present in the sacrament I deny and doubt not to be able to stand to that deniall agaynst all that can be iustly proued by the words of Cyprian in that place or any other of his workes And least you should think that of an obstinacie I doe without good ground denie that I am not able to aunswere I will shewe you what moueth me to denie that which you affirme First the same Cyprian in the same Epistle sayth thus Admonitos autem nos scias vt in Calice offerendo dominica traditio seruetur neque aliud fiat a nobis quam quod pro nobis Dominus prior fecit Vt Calix qui in commemorationem eius offertur mixtus vino offeratur Nam cum dicat Christus Ego sum vitis vera sanguis Christi non aqua est vtique sed vinum Nec potest videri sanguis cius quo redempti viuificati sumus esse in Calice quando vinum desit calici quo Christi sanguis ostenditur qui scripturarum omnium sacramento ac testimonio praedicatur Ye maye vnderstande sayth Cyprian to Coecilius that we are warned that in the offering of the Cup we obserue the Lordes tradition and that we doe nothing therein other then that which the Lorde did for vs before That the Cup which is offered in remembrance of him be offered being mixed with Wine For when Christ sayth I am a verie Vine doubtlesse then the bloud of Christ is not water but Wine Neyther can it séeme that his bloud wherwith we were redéemed and quickened is in the Cup when it wanteth Wine whereby Christs bloud is set forth and shewed which is by the Sacrament and testimonie of all the Scriptures preached abroade Agayne the fame Cyprian sayth in the same Epistle Lauabit in vino stolam suam in sanguine vnae amictum suum Quando autem sanguis vuae dicitur quid aliud quam vinum dominici sanguinis ostenditur He shall washe his robe in Wine and his apparell in the bloud of the Grape And when mention is made of the bloud of the Grape what other things is shewed then the Wine of the Cup of the Lordes bloud And after a few words the same Cyprian sayth thus Vini vtique mentio est ideo ponitur vt Domini sanguis vino intelligatur Et quod in Calice dominico postea manifestatum est prophetis annumiantibus praedicatur Mention is made of the Wine sayth Cyprian and for this cause is it done that the Lordes bloud might be vnderstanded by the Wine And that thing that was afterwarde manifestly shewed in the Lords Cup was before preached when the Prophets shewed forth the same And in the same Epistle after he hath spoken of the wordes of our Sauiour Christ written in the .26 chapter of Saint Math. Gospell he sayth Qua in parte inuenimus Calicem mixtum fuisse quem Dominus obtulit vinum fu sse quod sanguinem suum dixit In which part sayth Cyprian speaking of the Cup we finde that the cup which the Lorde offered was mixed and that the thing which he called his bloud was Wyne And againe after he hath spoken of the words of the Apostle he sayth Miror satis vnde hoc vsurpatum sit vt contra euangelicam apostolicam disciplinam quibusdam in locis aqua offeratur in dominico calice quae sola Christi sanguinem non possit exprimere I maruayle much sayth Cyprian howe it commeth to passe that contrarie to the doctrine both of the gospell of the Apostle water is in certayne places offered in the Lordes cup which being but water alone can not expresse the bloud of Christ These sayings of Cyprian being written in the same Epistle that you cite Cyprians words in the same Epistle that watson citeth make against him doe cause me to deny that which you affirme For he saith The Wine of the cup of the lords bloud is shewed forth The lords bloud is vnderstand by the Wine And that it was Wine that he called his bloud And last of all that water alone could not expresse the bloud of Christ No man that is not blinded by affection will saye that Cyprian ment in that Epistle to teache that Christes reall and naturall body is present in the Sacrament otherwise then spirituallye and sacramentally But I maruell much that you were so blinde when you reade that Epistle that you could not sée these playne wordes of Cyprian euen in the last sentence of the Epistle Religioni igitur nostrae congruit timori ipsi loco atque officio sacerdotij nostri frater charisme in Dominico Calice miscendo offerendo
enforce vs to graunt mayster Watsons conclusion But this one thing I doe much maruaile at that this Masse could neuer be founde in Chrysostomes woorkes as they be set forth in tomes till nowe of late But graunt this to be the iudgement of Chrysostome and Basill both shall we therefore be enforced to graunt that which you doe thereof infer I trowe not May not Chrysostome offer the sacraments to Christ but he must offer Christ himselfe to himselfe I thinke it is no straunge maner of spéeche to saye that those which preache the worde and minister the sacraments doe offer the worde and sacramentes to God As may playnely appéere to as many as will with indifferent iudgement reade that which is written Malachiae 1. and Actes 13. And who doubteth that Christ did once offer himselfe for oure sinnes and doth still offer himselfe to hys Father for with God nothing is past a Mediator and Aduocate for vs 1. Epist 2. as Saint Iohn wryteth And why shoulde not he therefore be called both the offerer and the thing offered although he be not offered by the Priest in his Masse Yea and he receyueth at our hands our thankes giuing when we make our bodies a lyuing holy and acceptable sacrifice to God and why maye it not be sayde that it is he that receiueth And in taking our nature vpon him he gaue hymselfe to vs and we by fayth are made partakers of him and why should it not be sayde that it is he that is distributed But what néedeth all this a doe in séeking a good meaning in those wordes that be of none aucthoritie at all The three formes of Masses fayned If Chrysostome or Basil had written any such forme of Masse the same would haue bene founde in their workes or folowed of some Churches But neyther of both is Ergo it is playne that they neuer did wryte any suche And as for the fable of Saint Iameses Masse all men may deride both the folly of the inuention of it and of all such as estéeme it as his And yet I must by the waye Against priuate Masse note the blindnesse of our Papistes which make so much of that which ouerthroweth one of the chiefe poyntes that they maintayne so stoutly that is their priuate Masse For all these thrée formes of Masses doe appoynt the distribution to be made to all that be present Let vs nowe sée what you haue founde in Saint Ambrose Ambr. li. 10. Epist 85. He sayth Let the triumphant sacrifices which were redéemed c. And of this doe you note your purpose that is that the substaunce of the Sacrifice of the Church is the verie reall bodye and bloud of our sauiour Christ I will not trouble the reader with séeking any good meaning in these wordes which you father vpon Ambrose For as Erasmus doth well note in the beginning of the thirde tome of the workes of Ambrose wherin this Epistle is written there is no cause why a man should thinke that Ambrose was the Author of anye of the Sermons Orations or Epistles conteyned in that tome The wordes of Erasmus be these Tertius hic Tomus Erasmus his iudgement vppon the thirde tome of Ambrose exhibebit orationes Epistolas conciones ad Populum breues quas supposititias esse nihil addubito Nihil enim in his Ambrosianae venae c. Thus saith Erasmus to the Reader This thirde tome shall exhibit vnto thée Orations Epistles and short Sermons made to the people which I doubt not but they are falsely fathered vpon Ambrose for in them there is no whit of Ambroses veyne Doe you therefore conclude vpon them what you will for your purpose it will haue no credite with wise men But nowe let vs sée what you haue founde in Chrysostome in his Homily De Laude Dei Watson leaueth out that should make against himselfe Vereamini inquam vereamini c. Here you leaue out these wordes Cuius omnes sumus participes Whereof we all are partakers What you meane by this maye easily be coniectured for these wordes that you haue left out doe make manifestly for the distribution of the Sacrament to as many as shall be present at the ministration therof But you might not suffer your hearers to vnderstand somuch of the vsage of the Church in Chrysostomes time least they should thinke the Popes Church did wrong in maintayning the priuate Masse In Epist ad hehr homil 17. But what should you winne by these wordes if they were euen so as you doe cite them doth not the same Chrysostome as I haue cyted his wordes before playnly affirme that they doe in that Sacrifice rather make a remembraunce of a Sacrifice August ad Bonifacium Epist 23. then a Sacrifice it selfe And is it not a common thing among the fathers to call the Sacraments by the names of those things wherof they be Sacraments Your conclusion therefore cannot folow vpon these premisses Chrysost homili De Encenijs Agayne Chrysostome hath sayde saye you that the table is furnished with misteries c. And here also you leaue out those wordes that should giue light to the vnderstanding of Chrysostomes his meaning These words I speake saith Chrysostome to those persons which doe leaue the communion and congregation of Saintes and are occupied in the conuenticles of vayne talke euen at the verye houre of the terrible and misticall table O thou man what doest thou didst thou not make a promise to the Priest which sayde lift vp your mindes and hartes and thou saydest we haue them lifted vp to the Lorde Art thou not ashamed and abashed And euen the same houre thou art founde a lyar O good God The table is furnished with misteries and the Lambe of God is offered for thée the Priest sorroweth for thée the bloud floweth from the table The Seraphins are present couering their faces with sixe winges all the spirituall powers doe with the Priest praye for thée the spirituall fyre commeth downe from heauen the bloud in the cup is for thy purification drawne out of the vndefiled side and art thou not ashamed abashed and confounded neyther doest thou make God mercifull vnto thée Nowe M. Watson let vs sée howe these wordes of Chrysostome maye séeme to serue your purpose Chrysostome hath to doe with those men that leauing the communion and congregation of holye men doe in the time of the ministration of the misteries of our saluation giue themselues to vayne iangeling and maye he not vse such figuratiue spéeches but his wordes must by and by be snatched Watson doth snatch a worde for his purpose to maintaine the reall presence of Christ in the Sacrament If you will néedes haue Chrysostome to vse no figure in these wordes the Lambe of God is offered for thée then let him vse no figure in the wordes that follow after immediately The Priest sorroweth for thée the spirituall bloud floweth from the holy table And the
verie things themselues For he did not shape a sharpe aunswere to their cruelty neyther doth he by any meanes contende but he doth indeuor more then once to print in their mindes the quickning knowledge of this mysterie But after what maner he will giue his owne fleshe to be eaten he doth not declare bicause they could not vnderstande it But howe great good things they shall obtayne if they shall with faith eate it he doth oftentimes declare that by the desire of eternall lyfe they might be compelled to imbrace fayth by the meane wherof they might the more easily be taught For thus hath Esay sayde If ye will not beléeue ye shall not vnderstande It behoued therefore first to cast the rootes of fayth in the minde and afterwarde to séeke those things that man should séeke But those men did before they beléeued out of season seeke for those things For this cause therfore the Lorde did not declare how that thing might be done but he doth encourage them to séeke it by fayth In lyke maner vnto his Disciples which beléeued he gaue the péeces of bread saying take and eate this is my bodye The cup also he did in like maner beare about saying drinke ye all of this this is the Cup of my bloud which shall be shed for many for the remission of sinnes Thou séest that he opened not the maner of the mysterie to them that sought it without fayth but to such as beléeued he did expound it before they asked any question Nowe let the indifferent Reader iudge howe faythfully you haue handled the wordes of Cyrill and so he may haue the lesse cause to credite you in your large affirmation wherein you saye Watsons store is but small that all the good auncient Writers doe with one consent expound this place of Iohn as you doe Whereas when your store shall be sought there shall not one that lyued within .600 yeres after Christ be founde of your minde in thys point Wherfore we may well conclude that Christes fleshe is not in the sacrament in such sort as ye teach and that Christ ment not by those wordes that you cite out of Iohn to promise that he would giue his bodye in such sort to be eaten as ye haue affirmed that he did But that he ment to teache that he himselfe is that heauenly foode that the father giueth for the lyfe of the world The meaning of Christ in the 6. of Iohn and that he would giue them none other foode from heauen but onely that which at the time appointed he would yéelde vp for the lyfe of the worlde And that not to be eaten after a fleshly sort but after such a spirituall sort as the fathers that lyued afore he was incarnated had and did eate it Your exposition of saint Iohns wordes therefore is but a vayne and fayned glosse for that text WATSON Diuision 17 The time also is to be considered that he spake these wordes the night before hee suffered death at which time and the next day after he ended and fulfilled al figures saying on the crosse Consummatum est All figures and shadowes be ended and expired which was no time then to institute and begin new figures Is it lykely or probable that our sauiour Christ then entring into his Agony and beginning his passion accustoming commonly before to teach his Disciples in playne wordes without Parables or figuratiue speeches would then so lightly behaue himselfe as to delude his chosen and entirely beloued Disciples in calling those things his bodye that is giuen for them and his bloud that is shed for them which were neither his body nor his bloud but bare bread and wyne Or is there any religion in oure christen fayth in nicknaming thinges or calling them otherwise then they be If any man thinke himselfe able to aunswere that bycause Christ sayde he was a Vine he was a dore being neyther Vine nor dore that man seemeth to mee not substantially to way the wordes and speeches of scripture For let him consider thorowout all the scripture whersoeuer he shall finde that Christ spake any thing of himselfe by wordes of our common speeche for the God head and the properties of the Godhead be ineffable and cannot be expressed to our capacitie but by wordes and names of wordly and naturall things here among vs. He shall alwaies finde that Christ was a better and more singular thing then the worde did properly signifie that was attribute vnto him and to make this matter more playne by examples Where Christ sayde I am the waye he ment not that he was the way that leadeth to the Citie or to some other place but that he was a more excellent waye A way that leadeth to the father to heauen to euerlasting lyfe When he sayde he was the dore he ment not Iohn 10. that he was the dore of the sheepefold here in earth but a farre better dore the dore of the Church the spirituall sheepefold by the which dore whosoeuer entereth shall be saued Also calling himselfe a Vine Iohn 15. hee ment that he was the spirituall Vine whereof all christen men be braunches and better then such a Vine as groweth in the fieldes And lykewise by that he calleth himselfe the light we vnderstand that he was not the sensible light of this world but the heauenly light that neither by course is chaunged nor by shadowe is darkened So that it maye be obserued for a rule when Christ doth attribute the name of any sensible creature to himselfe euer the vnderstanding exceedeth and excelleth the worde in dignitie And if this be true in all kinde of teaching and doctrine shall we nowe in the highe mysteries and sacraments of God come from the Hall to the Kitchin from the better to the worst that where Christ sayth This is my bodye we shall vnderstande it is bread a worse thing then his body This is my bloud that is to say wine a worse thing then his bloud This be fond and false gloses neyther true nor lykely nor yet tolerable Wherfore leauing out a great many other circumstaunces that would serue verye well Math. 26. to set foorth the truth of this doctrine I shall conclude thus seing saint Mathewe sayth in plaine termes it is my body it is my bloud Saint Marke sayth it is my body Mar. 14. Luc. 22. 1. Cor. 11. Iohn 9. Saint Luke sayth it is my body Saint Paule sayth it is my bodye Saint Iohn sayth it is my fleshe shall we nowe fiftene hundreth yeare after them handle the matter so finely and waye the scripture so substantially that we shall affirme the contradictory to be the true sense saying this is not my body this is not my bloud but a figure and a signe of my bodye and bloud These euident scriptures moue me to continue still stedfast in that fayth I was borne in and not to be moued with vaine words and reasons without probabilitie
power in gyuing the resurrection of body euerlasting life to as many as we wil hold from the receyuing of the sacrameÌ„t It appéereth that in Aunstens time such as were of your minde durst not be so bolde The vse in saint Austens time as to presume vpon the absolute power of God in this point and therefore they ministred the sacrament of Christes body to the Infants so sone as they were baptised but we kéepe them from the receyuing of it till they bée growne to discretion and be sufficiently instructed in Christ and doe know how to examine themselues before they come to the lords table And if they die in this meane while shal we think that God must vse his absolute power in raising their bodies giuing them euerlasting lyfe We might as well kéepe all our children from baptisme and saye that God shall giue them the proper grace of baptisme by his absolute power without the sacrament And so should we be all one with the Anabaptistes But vayne is all that you haue affirmed of this effect of your sacrament Cyrill li. 4. Cap. 15. and therfore the obiection and the aunswere that you make can not be other then vayne We holde with Cyrillus whose wordes you haue cyted that bicause the sonne of God is become man all mankinde shall in the last daye arise out of the earth All the ofspring of the first Adam that sinned shall be raised agayne by the second Adam that neuer sinned himselfe neyther was partaker of the sinne of the first The cause of the resurrection and immortalitie The Infants therefore whome you call Innocents being of the ofspring of the first Adam shall be raysed agayne by the second whether they be partakers of any sacraments or not For the resurrection and immortalitie commeth not by the receyuing of sacraments Rom. 6. but by the incarnation of the sonne of God And euerlasting lyfe in ioye and felicitie is the frée gift of God thorow Iesus Christ our Lorde And this frée gift was giuen to all the elect and chosen children of God euen before the foundations of the world were layd But the reprobates which be not chosen in Christ shall haue by Christ that hath taken mans nature vpon him the resurrection and immortalitie of their bodies but bicause that they beléeue not in Christ they shall haue this immortalitie in those torments that their first fathers sinne did deserue The receyuing of sacraments can not make the reprobates partakers of endlesse felicitie neyther can the lack of them be a cause August De catechiz rudib Quest in Leu. 9.84 why Gods elect should not be partakers thereof But they be the visible seales of heauenlye things and being receiued without those heauenly things wherof they be feales they profite the receyuers nothing at all more then circumcision did Esau and baptisme Simon Magus But when they doe both concurre then doe the outwarde and visible sacraments confirme the fayth and comfort the weake and wauering conscience These therefore be the effectes of Christes sacraments and not such as you imagine But let vs sée what you haue more to say of this effect that you last spake of This effect is commonly taught of many auncient authors with one consent For Ignatius one of the oldest calleth this sacrament Mâ—dicamentum immortalitatis Ignatius ad Ephesos antidotum non moriendi a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death And the great generall counsayle at Nice Concilium Nicenum de Eucharistia wryteth that they beleeued these sacramentes of the body and bloud of Christ to be Simbola resurrectionis nostrae the pledges or causes of our resurrection And Athanasius who was one of the chiefe men in that counsaile calleth it Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem vitae aeternae Athanasius de peccato in spiritum sanctum A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodyes to the immortalitie of eternall lyfe Ireneus that was a great deale older wryting against the heretikes that denied the resurrection of the fleshe Ireneus lib. 4. Cap. 34. proueth it and confuteth them by the effect of this sacrament saying thus Quomodò dicunt carnem in corruptionem deuenare quae á corpore sanguine Domini alitur By what reason doe they say that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lord and in his fift booke he sayth Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse donationis Dei Ireneus lib. 5. quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur How doe they denie our fleshe to be able to receyue the gift of God which is eternall life which is nourished with the body and bloud of Christ The greatest argument that Ireneus could bring to proue the resurrection of our fleshe to lyfe eternall was to alledge the cause of that resurrection which was the nourishing of our fleshe with the lyuely fleshe of Christ in the sacrament not to this temporall lyfe as other earthly meates doe but to eternall lyfe as onely Christes fleshe doth and this cause was beleued and confessed of all men at that time both Catholikes and heretikes In so much that these heretikes of our time that denie this cause that is to say Christes fleshe to be really giuen in the sacrament and eaten of our fleshe doe giue occasion yea I am afrayde doe giue more then occasion for vs to thinke of them that they denie also the resurrection of our fleshe which is the proper effect of it although as yet they dare not impudently burst out in plaine words though they expresse the same euidently to all mens eyes in their carnall and beastly lyues To proue this effect further I could bring in many moe authorities Hilarius De Trinit li. 8. as the saying of Hilarius Haec vero vitae nostra causa est quod in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christum habemus This is the verie cause of our life that we haue Christ by his fleshe dwelling in our fleshe But I will not in so playne a matter through my curiositie seeme to mistrust the credire of you that be faythfull men Therefore to conclude knowing the greatnesse and excellencie of this effect shall we ascribe it to so base creatures as be bread and wine which be not able to worke such an effect God forbid CROWLEY Many auncient authors you saye doe with one consent teach this effect As Ignatius the fathers of the Nicene counsaile Athanasius Ireneus and Hilarius and many moe you could bring in but you will not by curiositie séeme to mistrust the credite of your auditorie Well let vs sée what your auncient authors haue sayde First Ignatius speaking of your Sacrament hath sayde Medicamentum immortalitatis c. A Medicine of immortalitie c. In hys Epistle to the Ephesians he sayth thus State fratres firmi in fide Iesu Christi in eius
charitate in passione Resurrectione omnes in gratia nominatim congregemini in commune in vna fide Dei Patris Iesu Christi vnigeniti eius filij primogeniti totius creaturae secundum carnem ex genere Dauid praeunte deducente vos paracleto obedientes Episcopo atque presbyterorum caetui indiuulso animo vnum panem frangentes quod est medicamentum immortalitatis antidotus ne moriamini sed vinatis in Deo per Iesum Christum purgatio malorum expultrix Brethren stand fast in the fayth of Iesus Christ and in his loue his passion and resurrection Congregate your selues togither all into one place in louing fauour one towardes another in one fayth of God the father and of Iesus Christ his onely begotten sonne the first begotten of all creatures of the lynage of Dauid after the fleshe the holy ghost being your guide and leading you thether Obeying your Byshop and the whole company of elders with one consent of mind breaking one loafe of bread which is a medicine of immortalitie and a thing to preserue you that you should not dye but lyue in God thorow Iesus Christ and a purgation that doth expel euils This much hath Ignatius written in the place that you cite And can any indifferent man gather of these words that he ment here to teach that our resurrection is the effect of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud I thinke not Yea I suppose Effectes doe spring out of efficient causes that none can gather that meaning of his wordes but you and such as you are whome affection hath blinded Doe ye not know that effects must spring out of efficient causes And dare you say that the sacrament of Christes body and bloud is the efficient cause of our immortalitie If you haue any shame left you will not affirme it For Saint Paule sayth 1. Thess 4. 2. Cor. 4. that the efficient cause of our resurrection is the same that raysed vp Christ from death to lyfe How can the sacrament of his body and bloud be the efficient cause of our resurrection and immortalitie then as you thinke you haue proued it to be If Ignatius were nowe lyuing he would not I am sure commend you as he doth commend those Ephesians that he wrot vnto For he should finde in you the contrarie of that he found in them by the testimonie of Onesimus their Bishop Wherevpon he wryteth thus Onesimus autem ipse valde laudat vestram in Deo moderationem dispensationem quod omnes secundum veritatem viuatis quodque in vobis nulla haeresis inhabitet sed neque auditis quenquam nisi solum lesum Christum verum pastorem magistrum ac estis sicut Paulus ad vos scribebat vnum corpus vnus spiritus c. And Onesimus himselfe sayth Ignatius doth greatly commend your moderation and disposition of things in God for that you doe all lyue according to the truth and for that there is in you no heresie abyding but you refuse euen to heare any other then Iesus Christ alone which is the true Shepheard and teacher and you are euen as Paule wrote vnto you one body and one spirite c. How farre you and your sort be from the harkening to Christ alone may easily be séene of all that will consider the multitude of traditions that you haue brought into the Church of Christ and doe estéeme them aboue the ordinaunce of God Wherefore Ignatius might say vnto you as he wryteth in the same Epistle Similiter autem omnis homo quisquis indicium a Deo accepit punietur si imperitum pastorem secutus fuerit falsam opinionem vt veram exceperit And in lyke maner euery man that hath receyued at Gods hand habilitie to iudge shall be punished if he shall follow an vnskilfull shepheard and receyue a false opinion as true Thus you sée that when Ignatius is well considered he will be found none of those auncient Authors that doe commonlye teache this affect of the sacrament of Christs body but contrarywise he will tell you that you shall be punished for that you follow an vnskilfull shepheard and accept a false opinion as though the same were true And euen in that place which you cite hys wordes are flat against your doings and therefore you dissemble those wordes and begin with the next He hath written thus Vnum panem frangentes quod est c. Breaking one loafe of bread which is a medicine of immortalitie and a preseruatiue against death Now tell me how this breaking of one loafe of bread doth or can agrée with your priuate Masse that you call the sacrifice of the Church and with your Popishe Easter housell when euery one hath a mock loafe by himself Ignatius would haue the Ephesians to breake that is to be partakers of one leafe of bread and he sayth that is a medicine of immortalitie and a preseruatiue against death Watson was foule ouersene Why then It is neyther your priuate Masse nor your Easter housell that he speaketh of but our communion If I had bene of your counsell before you made this Sermon you should neuer haue cited this place for shame Well it is out now and can not be called in againe But nowe let vs sée what the fathers that were gathered togither in the generall counsell of Nice Concilium Nicenum haue sayde to this matter They haue called this sacrament Symbola Resurrectionis nostrae The pledges or causes of our resurrection say you But I would faine knowe where you haue read Symbolum in that signification I beléeue you neuer read it in any of the eloquent Gréekes or Latinistes You were sure that you had Auditorium beneuolum A straunge signification of Symbolum and therefore you might be bolde to saye that Symbolum signifieth a cause and so translate Symbolum Resurrectionis the cause of resurrection But perhaps you haue some secret Authors wherin you read Simbolum written with ī and not with y. And that Simbolum it is that you translate so for your printer hath so printed it Well I leaue this translation of yours to the iudgement of such as be skilfull in the Gréeke and Latine tongues But to our purpose You shall neuer be able to proue that Symbolum signifieth a cause but a pledge it may signifie And what haue the fathers of the Nicene counsell done for you then Euen as much as Ignatius hath done before I will not stick to graunt you both the sayings to be true The sacrament of Christes body and bloud Medicines be not the efficient causes of health is a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death a purgation to expell euils a pledge of our resurrection Are medicines preseruatiues and purgations the efficient causes of health And how can this medicine preseruatiue and purgation be the efficient cause of our resurrection immortalitie And is a pledge the efficient cause of the thing or déede that is promised when the
of the name of Israell doth not commend By these wordes it is most euident that Cyprian ment to teache that such as shall be partakers of Christ must by election in Christ be made méete thervnto being commended by the nobilitie of the name of spirituall Israell whereof the carnall Israell was a figure And their Lambe Manna and shew bread Cyprians meaning was farre other then was Watsons a figure of that euerlasting bread which he speaketh of here So farre of is he from confirming of that which you would prooue that is that our knitting togither in Christ is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar as you call it Yet one thing more I must néedes note in the words of Cyprian He sayth that all the whole Church is called to this bancquet and that equall portion is giuen to euery one How agréeth this with your priuate Masses and your withholding of the one halfe of the sacrament from the laye sort But nowe to Cyrill once agayne Cyrillus de Trini lib. 1. He must helpe you once more to beare vs downe by strong hande that our cowpling togither in Christ is the effect of your sacrament of the aultar His Latine is long you say and therefore you passe it ouer But the Englishe is thus We men being all diuers in our owne proper substaunce c. Well though the Latine were longer then it is yet would I be bolde to trouble the reader with it bicause it shall make manifest to all men that will read it that it was not the desire to auoyde tediousnesse that moued you to leaue out the Latine but a purpose to blinde the simple hearer or reader of your subtile Sermon The words of Cyrill in Latine are thus Dissecti enim quodammodo in subsistentiā propriam hoc est singularem iuxta quam hic quidem est Petrus ille Thomas vel Matheus eiusdem corporis facti sumus in Christo vna carne pasti vno spiritu sancto ad vnitatem obsignati Et quandoquidem est indiuisibilis Christus nullo enim modo diuisus est vnum omnes sumus in ipso We being after a certaine sort deuided euery man into his owne proper that is to say his singuler substaunce whereby this man is Peter and that man is Thomas or Mathewe are made one body in Christ being fed with one fleshe and sealed vnto vnitie by one holy spirite And bicause Christ can not be deuided for he is by no meanes deuided we are all one thing in him Nowe let the indifferent reader iudge howe faythfully you haue handled this place of Cyrill And as he shall finde you faithful herein so let him giue credit to the rest of your doings Cyrill hath sayde that we be all one thing in Christ bicause Christ can not be deuided you say that we be made all one body in Christ bicause we bée fed with one fleshe c. And bicause Christes body is not able to be deuided And you adde a conclusion as though Cyrill had so concluded The cause why Watson would not cite Cyrill in Latine and you say Therefore being of infinite power and receyued of all our diuers bodies maketh all vs one body with himselfe No maruell though you would not cite the Latine seing you were minded to swarue so farre from it in your Englishe But vna carne pasti Being fed with one fleshe is the grounde that you builde vpon As though Cyrill might not meane here of that spirituall eating of Christs fleshe that Christ himselfe spake of in the sixt of Iohn Iohn 6. where he sayth that the flesh that is the fleshly meaning doth profit nothing at all Yet once more must Chrysostome helpe to proue this effect You say that he doth expresse this vnitie by a similitude of Dough or Leuen c. His words be these you say veniat tibi in mentem c. Chrysost in Math. ho. 83. You are so accustomed to belye the auncient wryters that you can not both cite their wordes aright and Englishe them truely in any one place that I can yet méete withall Chrysostome hath not spoken any one worde of Leuen in that place which you cite Et nos in vnam cum illo massam reducimur And we are brought into one lumpe of Dough with him being one body of Christ and one fleshe Here is no mention of Leuen neyther of meale of many graines and water Which you say Chrysostome maketh a similitude of to proue our vnitie in one body And this is also to be noted That when you are come to Christi corpus vnum vnae caro one bodye of Christ and one fleshe you passe ouer twice so much matter as you haue cited and then in Englishe you go on with these wordes For by this misterie c. as though there had bene no word at al betwixt And to enure your selfe with your accustomed feates you translate the wordes of the later sentence farre otherwise then they signifie in Latine For where Chrysostome doth in Latine say thus Sed ipse studiosissime alit But he himselfe doth most diligently and carefully nourishe them you haue sayde thus But he himselfe most diligently and louingly doth féede them with himselfe Thus you doe as one eyther past shame or assured that no man should at any time examine your wordes and charge you with your subtile dealing But nowe you haue wonne the victorie let my maysters of the newe learning say you tell me c. Your maysters of the new learning as it pleaseth you to terme vs néede not to vse eyther figuratyue spéeches or hyperbolies to proue that these wordes of Chrysostome may be verified of bread and wine For I am sure there is not one amongst vs that is learned but he will readily graunt that Chrysostomes purpose in this place was to set forth and commende vnto vs the excéeding greatnesse of the loue of Christ towards his elected and chosen Church and congregation Who as saint Paule sayth being in the maiestie of God spared not to abase himselfe and to take on him Philip. 2. our base and miserable estate And to this purpose hath Chrysostome sayde Et nos in vnam cum illo massam reducimur And we are brought into one lumpe of Dough with him And agayne Singulis enim fidelibus per hoc mysterium se coniungit He doth by this mysterie ioyne himselfe to euery faythfull man and woman And in conclusion he sayth thus Hac etiam re tibi persuadens carnem illam tuam assumpsisse tanta igitur charitate atque honore affecti non torpeamus Perswading thée also by this thing that he hath taken vpon him that verie flesh of thine Beyng therefore so greatly beloued and honored let vs not be sluggardes Nowe let my maysters that would be called of the olde learning tell me howe this place of Chrysostome can be rightly applyed to proue that our cowpling togither in Christ in the felowship of
members of one body is the effect of their sacrament of the aultar Let them take the spéeche to be in what kinde they wyll eyther playne figuratiue or hyperbolicall But you haue not yet done with Cyrill in this matter He must nowe expresse by a similitude of two waxes melted mingled togither Cyrill li. 10. Capit. 13. li. 4. capit 17. this coniunction of vs with Christ A man might aske you what this maketh to the purpose You must proue that our knitting togither into members of one body is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But let vs weigh his wordes He sayth thus Quemadmodum si quis c. Lyke as if a man mingle c. You haue cyted the wordes of Cyrill verie truely but you haue not coated the place aright For in the .17 Chapter of the tenth Booke are no such wordes to be founde neyther is there any such matter handled there But in the .13 Chapter of the same Booke the wordes that you cite are founde And in the .17 of the fourth are founde wordes to the same effect Watsons olde tricke will not be left But in the translating of these wordes Communicationis corporis sanguinis Christi You vse one little péece of your common trick For you say thus By the communion and receyuing of the body and bloud of Christ where as the true Englishe of the wordes is thus By the communicating of the body bloud of Christ which communicating is in the faithful beléeuers of the promise of God made in Christ though the same doe neuer receiue the sacrament of the body bloud of christ If you would haue looked in the last Chapter of the ninth booke Cyrill li. 9. Capit. 45. you should haue séene what Cyrill meaneth by this worde Communicatio His wordes be these Non erat possibile aliter corruptibilem secundum naturam hominem mortem effugere nisi primum adeptus gratiam rursus particeps Dei fieret qui omnia per filium in spiritu viuificat Carne ergo sanguini communicauit id est qui secundum naturam vita est vnigenitus Dei Patris filius homo factus est mediator Dei atque hominum vt scribitur Natura Deo coniunctus ex quo est hominibus rursus vt homo c. It was not possible that man which by nature is corruptible should otherwise escape death except obtayning the first grace he might agayne be made partaker of God that doth in the spirite quicken all things by his sonne He hath therefore communicated himselfe to fleshe and bloud that is to say the onely begotten sonne of God the father which is by nature lyfe is become man the mediator of God and men as it is written being by nature ioyned to God of whome he hath his being and agayne vnto man as he is man Thus it is manifest howe euill fauouredly The accorde of Cyrill and Watson the meaning of the auncient wryters doth agrée with your purpose in cyting them in your Sermons Cyrill speaketh of the communion or felowship that man hath with Christ by his incarnation you cite him to proue the ioyning of al christians into the felowship of one body by receyuing the sacrament of the aultar as you call it Nowe let vs sée what Hilarius hath sayde in this matter Hilarius in Psalm 6. His words you say are these Per communionem sancti corporis c. By the communion of his holy body You note in the margent of your printed booke that this sentence of Hilarie is written in his Commentarie vpon the sixt Psalme When you can shewe vs that Commentarie you shall haue the wordes that you cite aunswered Saint Hierome saith that Hilarie wrote onely vpon the first and second Psalmes the. .51 and so forth to the .62 and from the .118 to the last And in his printed workes we finde but eyght mo whereof the sixt is none Wherefore I must thinke that the great learned and godly Byshop that you speake of is your selfe or some other such as you are But if it may be found in some other part of Hilarius works what shal it make for your purpose sith these wordes may haue a good sense if we vnderstand by the first Communion that which we haue by the incarnation of our Sauiour Christ and by the later that which we haue one with another For by the communion that we haue with Christ we be placed in that communion that we haue one with another And so doe these wordes make nothing to proue that our cowpling into one body in Christ is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But nowe that your store is well spent you vse your figure of Rhetoricke to blere the readers eye withall In such playne matter as this what néede I heape places one aboue another All the fathers are full of it How full the fathers that you speake of be of this so playne matter doth I trust sufficiently appéere in that which I haue alreadie written in the aunswere to that which you haue as yet alledged in the proufe of this matter Wherefore seing you haue not as yet proued neyther shall hereafter be able to proue eyther by the wordes of the scripture or of the auncient fathers that our knitting togither into one body in Christ is the effect of your sacrament of the aultar it is no wickednesse nor blasphemie at all to ascribe that effect to the efficient cause thereof which is God the father through his sonne Iesus Christ and the holy ghost But nowe let vs sée what other effectes you haue WATSON Diuision 26. Beside these effectes gathered out of the new Testament there be also other mentioned in the Psalmes Whereof one is that this sacrament is an armour and defence against the temptations of our ghostly enimie the Deuill as it is written in the .22 Psal 22. Chrysost in Psal 22. Euthymi in Psal 22. Psalme Parasti in conspectu meo mensam aduersus eos qui tribulant me Thou hast prepared in my sight a Table against them that trouble me By this Table sayth Chrysostome vpon this place is vnderstanded that thing that is consecrated vpon the aultar of our Lorde and Euthymius a Greeke Author sayth so also Par hanc mensam intelligit altaris mensam in qua caena mystica illa iacet by this table he vnderstandeth the table of the aultar vpon which lyeth the misticall supper of Christ which doth arme and defend vs against the Deuill which sometimes craftily layeth in wayte for vs sometimes fiercely and cruelly assaulteth vs that be fed at Christes table Saint Cyprian teacheth vs the same lesson saying Quos excitamus exhortamur ad praelium non inermes nudos relinquamus sed protectione sanguinis corporis Christi muniamus Cyprianus li. 1 Epist 2. Those persons whom we prouoke and exhort to fight against their enimies be it eyther the Deuils our ghostly
enimies or the Deuils limmes the persecutours of Christes church let vs not leaue them naked and vnarmed but let vs harnesse and defend them with the protection of Christes bodye and bloud And a little after he sayth Cùm ad hoc fiat Eucharistia vt possit accipientibus esse tutela quos tutos esse contra aduersarium volumus munimento dominicae saturitatis armemus Seing this sacrament is ordeyned for this purpose that it should bee a defence to the receyuers let vs arme them with the shield and harnesse of our Lordes meat whome we would should be safe against their aduersarie This is that foode that maketh a man meete Cyprian li. 4. Epist 6. Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. and prepareth him to martirdome This bloud of Christ is dronken daylie of vs that we might in his quarel shed our bloud agayne and as he wryteth in an other place howe can we shed oure bloud for Christ that bee ashamed to drinke Christes bloud This bloud being receyued of vs as Chrysostome saith driueth the Deuils away Chrysost in Ioan hom 45. and doth allure the Aungels and the Lorde of Aungels vnto vs for after the meat of oure Lorde receyued he forsaketh vs Chrysost ad Neophytos and flyeth awaye swifter then any winde and dare not approch neare bicause all entraunce for his temptations is shut vp As saint Ambrose wryteth Ambrose in Psalm 118. Ser. 8. Cùm hospitium tuum aduersarius viderit occupatum coelestis fulgore praesentiae intelligis locum tentamentis suis interclusum esse per Christum fugiet ac recedet c. When thy aduersary shall see thy house and lodging of body and soule occupied with the brightnesse of Christs heauenly presence perceyuing euery place to be shut vp from his temptations he will flye and runne away Nazian in Iulianum orat 2. Wherefore as Gregorie Nazianzene wryteth Mensa hac praeparatur contra tribulantes me qua omnem passionum rebellionem scà ◠This table is prepared of God against them that vexe and trouble me by the which I quench and pacifie all rebellion of my naughtie affections Cyrillus li. 4. cap. 17. And as Cyrill sayth Non mortem solum sed etiam morbos omnes depellit sed at saeuientem membrorum legem pietatem coroboat perturbationes animi extinguit nec in quibus sumus peccatis considerat aegrotos curat collisos redintegrat at omninos casu erigit It dryueth away not onely death but also all sicknesse it stilleth and pacifieth the raging lawe of our members it strengthneth deuotion it quencheth the froward affections of the minde and those small sinnes we be in it regardeth not it healeth the sicke it restoreth the brused and from all falling it lyfteth vs vp O what wonderfull effectes be these which by this blessed Sacrament be wrought in the worthy receyuer against the Deuill and his temptations against the fleshe and hir illusions against the vicious affections of oure corrupt minde What conscience had these men our late teachers and pastors destroyers of Christes flocke to rob vs of this treasure which is the cause of so great benefits and in the place of that to plant amongs vs a bare ceremony of bread and wine to put vs in remembraunce of Christ in heauen as they sayde which neyther by their owne nature nor yet by any institution eyther of God or man be able to bring to passe in vs these effectes I haue spoken of What ment they that tooke awaye this armour of Christes fleshe and bloud from vs but to leaue vs naked and vnarmed against the Deuill that he should preuayle against vs in all temptations and that the kingdome of sinne should be erected and the kingdome of grace destroyed and to teach that this blessed Sacrament is nothing else but bread and wine what is it else but to take awaye this armour and harnesse of Christes fleshe and bloud from vs. For bread be it neuer so much appointed to signifie things absent is not able to defend vs from the Deuill After you haue bustled about the effectes of your sacrament CROWLEY gathered out of the newe testament you make no small adoe about one other effect mentioned in the Psalme .22 Parasti in conspectu meo c. Thou hast prepared in my sight c. This effect you say is that this armour and defence c. And when this assertion of yours shall be well weighed you shall be founde to holde that this sacrament is the efficient cause and the effect both And so must it be both before and after it selfe For euery efficient cause must néedes be before the effect that procéedeth from it and euery effect must néedes folow the efficient cause that is the worker of it But let vs sée howe handsomely you applie this péece of this Psalme Saint Hierome sayth that the Prophet meaneth by the table that he speaketh of here the scripture wherein is found meate méete for such as are past their infansie in Christ and néede not any longer to be fed with milke His wordes be these Parasti in conspectu meo mensam c. Vt iam non lacte quasi paruulus alar sed solido cibo id est vt spirituali dente ruminans scripturas sanctas possim peruersis resistere Thou hast prepared a table c. Hieronymus in Psalm 22. That I should not nowe be nourished with milke like a little childe but with sounde meate that is that cudding the holy scriptures with a spirituall tooth I might be able to resist the froward And agayne he sayth Parasti in conspectu meo mensam aduersus eos qui tribulant me Mensa id est scriptura diuina Sicut post laborem in mensa inuenitur consolatio refectio sic sancti per mensam id est per scripturam diuinam habent consolationem refectionem id est spem fidem charitatem Aduersus eos qui tribulant me Persecutores Ecclesiae qui sunt Demones Iudaei haeretici Contra istos omnes in scripturis sacris inuenimus consolationem Thou hast prepared a table in my presence against those that trouble me A table that is the holy scripture Euen as after labour there is found on the table comfort and refection so also the holy men haue by the meanes of the table that is the holy scripture consolation and refection that is to say hope fayth and charitie against those that trouble me The persecutors of the Church which are Deuils Iewes and Heretickes We doe in the holy scriptures finde consolation and comfort against al these Saint Austen sayth thus Parasti in conspectu meo mensam vt iam non lacte alar paruulus August in Psalm 22. sed maiorem cibum sumam firmatus aduersus eos qui tribulant me Thou hast in my presence prepared a table that I should not nowe be nourished with milke as a little childe but that being made strong against them that trouble
endued me with benefites but thou hast also rewarded me with spirituall pleasures which are here signified by the table And thys table sayth he hast thou prepared in the presence of mine enimies that when they sée it they may be sorrowfull and euen waste away with sorrowe Or else agaynst them that is contrarie to that which they doe desire or would wishe For they doe alwayes endeuour rather to make me sorrowfull and heauie Or else he doth vnderstand by the table the fruition of those good things to come which God hath prepared for them that loue him or the table of the aultar whereon that mysticall supper doth lye or else he doth vnderstande by it morall vertue If it had pleased you to haue cyted all these wordes your witnesse should haue appéered a farre more honest man then you And some of your faithfull hearers whose credite you would not by your curiositie séeme to mistrust would surely haue sayde that you had produced a wytnesse against your selfe Watson hath produced a wytnesse against himselfe For what one worde is there in all this beside that little péece that you haue picked out that can be wrested to haue any shewe to serue your purpose And these words also as they stand in the Authors writing can no more serue your purpose then the rest For how doth he vse them otherwise then to shewe that sense among the rest to be an Anagogicall sense And if we may be alowed to alledge scriptures for our purposes in that sense and let passe both the litterall and morall senses as you doe here then let vs as the common saying is facere quidlibet ex quolibet make what we lust of euerye thing as commonly men of your sort vse to doe But nowe what doth Cyprian say to this matter He doth teach vs the same lesson say you Quos excitamus c. Those persons c. You haue so disordred the wordes of Cyprian to frame them for your purpose that they can not otherwise be brought into order agayne then by cyting wholy togither all that which you haue disordred with the rest that you leaue out as not appertayning to your purpose Cyprian hath sayde thus Merito enim trahebatur dolentium paenitentia tempore longiore vt infirmis si qui essent in exitu subueniretur c. The repentaunce of such as sorowed for their fall was for good cause continued for longer time that if any of them should fall sicke we might succour them in their departing out of this lyfe so long as we had tranquilitie and quiet which would suffer vs to deferre the teares of the sorrowful long time and at the last succour them in their infirmitie when they should lye in dying But nowe peace is néedefull not for them that be sick but for such as be strong And we must giue the communion not to them that be at the point of death but to them that lyue that we doe not leaue those vnarmed and naked whom we sturre vp exhort to battle but that we arme them with the protection of the bloud body of Christ And seing the Eucharist or thankesgyuing is made for this purpose that it may be a defence to such as receyue it let vs arme with the defence of the Lords full féeding such as we would wish should be safe against the enimie For how doe we teach and prouoke them to shed their owne bloud in the confession of the name of Christ if we doe denie to giue his bloud in them that must fight Or howe doe we make them méete for the cup of martyrdome if we doe not first admit them in the Church to drinke the cup of the Lorde in the right of communion Here are Cyprians wordes in such sort as he wrote them And the occasion that he had to write thus was the euill opinion that Cornelius then Bishop of Rome had conceyued of Cyprian and other Bishops for that they had receyued to communion such as had before fallen in yéelding to the persecutours by reason of the crueltie of torments vsed vpon them To this doth Cyprian and the other Byshops to the number of .39 answere in this Epistle Shewing as is afore written that it were not méete that such as through frailtie haue fallen and doe with bitter teares lament their fall should when persecution is threatned and lyke to come be driuen from the Lordes table and not suffred to be partakers of that sacrament that our Lorde Iesus hath instituted to be an outwarde assuraunce of that which he hath promised in his worde For what reason were it to perswade men to stande manfully to the profession of Christ and warant them euerlasting lyfe if they suffer losse of this lyfe for his sake and yet denie to giue them the holye communion which Christ hath instituted to be a seale of that promise The best armour for Christians No armour can be so sure and make a man so bolde and couragious against his enimie as to be assured that his quarell is such that if he die therein he shall not fayle to lyue and raigne in glorious tryumph for euer Cyprian therefore doth verie well in vsing these Metaphers calling that sacrament that was ordeyned to be an assuraunce of this euerlasting triumph by the names of protection defence and saufegarde But to make Cyprian to séeme whole vpon your side Watsons common practise you help the matter somewhat in translating his wordes and thrusting in a fewe wordes of your owne as you are wont to doe to cause your hearers and readers to thinke that no man is able to gaine say that which you haue sayde Well you haue yet one other place of Cyprian but you spare the Latine thinking it sufficient to tell your hearers and readers that Cyprian sayth so For no man may thinke that you dare belie so holy a man as he was Lyers haue no credit But bicause I haue taken you with lyes more then once I dare not trust your report of Cyprian neyther will I suffer my readers to be deceyued by it First you say This bloud of Christ is dronken daylie c. His wordes in Latine are these Grauior nunc ferocior pugna imminet Cyprian li. 4. Epist 6. ad quam fide incorrupta virtute robusta parare se debent milites Christi consyderantes idcirco se quotidiè Calicem sanguinis Christi bibere vt possint ipsi propter Christum sanguinem fundere A more gréeuous and cruell battle is nowe at hande vnto which the Souldiours of Christ ought with vncorrupt faith and sloute courage to prepare themselues considering that they doe daylie drinke the cup of Christs bloud to the ende that they themselues might be able to shed their owne bloud for Christes cause In the other place that you cite Cyprian sayth thus Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. Quomodo autem possumus propter Christum sanguinem fundere qui sanguinem Christi
erubescimus bibere How can we that be ashamed to drinke the bloud of Christ be able to shed our bloud for Christes cause In the first of these two places saint Cyprians wordes are playne ynough For he sayth that the daylie receyuing of the cup of Christes bloud was to make them able to shedde their owne bloud for Christes cause That is that being daylie put in remembraunce of the shedding of Christes bloud for their sinnes and assured of the crowne of martyrdome if theirs should be shed for his sake they might be encouraged strengthned and made able to stand to their professioÌ„ euen to the shedding of their owne bloud for his sake that spared not to giue his owne hart bloud for the redemption of their sinnes Ephes 6. As for the armour that christian souldiours should buckle about them Cyprian appointeth none but the same that saint Paule appointeth And after he hath spoken therof he sayth thus Haec arma sumamus his nos tutamentis spiritualibus caelestibus muniamus vt in die nequissimo resistere Diaboli minis repugnare possimus Induamur loricam iustitiae c. Let vs take vnto vs this armour let vs defend our selues with these spiritual and heauenly safegards that in the most euill day we may be able to resist the threatnings of the Deuill and fight against him Let vs put vpon vs the breast plate of righteousnesse c. This place of Cyprian therfore can not be wrested to proue that the sacrament of the aultar is any part of that armour that a christian must haue to be able to stande against his enimies eyther bodily or ghostly But by the often receyuing of the sacrament worthily the Christian hart is stirred vp more carefully to couer himself with that armour that saint Paule hath prescribed and to stande more manfully against all his mortall enimies Watson will not see But I maruell that you could not sée that in this place saint Cyprian is playne against your priuate Masse and communion in one kinde onely But you lusted not to looke on that side In the other place he inueigheth against such as would haue no wine in the ministration but water onely To those he sayth Quomodo autem possumus c. Howe can we shed oure bloud for Christes cause seing we be ashamed to drinke Christes bloud He had sayde before in the same Epistle Nam cùm dicat Christus Ego sum vitis vera sanguis Christi non aqua est vtique sed vinum Nec poâ—est videri sanguis eius c. For seing that Christ sayth I am a Vine in déede the bloud of Christ is not water but wine Neyther can it séeme that his bloud wherewith we were redéemed and made â—lyue is in the cup when there is no wine in the cup wherby the bloud of Christ is resembled c. Conferring the places togither we can not but sée that Cyprian ment nothing lesse then to proue your assertion that his words cannot be wrested to proue that the sacrament of the aultar is an armour and defence against the temptations of our ghostly enimie the Deuill Yet once agayne Chrysostome must helpe in this matter Chrysost in Ioh. hom 45. He hath sayde say you This bloud being receyued of vs. c. In the place that you note in the margent he sayth thus Hic mysticus Languis Demones procul pellit Angelos angelorum Dominum ad nos â—llicit This mysticall bloud doth driue Deuils farre away and it doth allure vnto vs the Aungels and the Lorde of Aungels Yea he addeth thus much more Daemones enim cùm dominicum sanguinem in nobis vident in fugam vertuntur Angeli autem procurrunt When the Deuils doe sée the Lordes bloud in vs they runne away And the Aungels doe with spéede runne to vs from farre Here I must tell you of your olde trick Where Chrysostome sayth This misticall bloud driueth away Deuils c. you saye This bloud being receyued of vs. c. Chrysostome calleth it mysticall bloud and he sayth that when the Deuils doe sée it in vs that is to say when they sée our whole man besprinckled and washed with it they flie away He sayth also that when this bloud is poured out it doth washe and make cleane the whole circle of the earth Yea he sayth yet furder That from the Lordes table there issueth a Fountayne that spreadeth out abroad spirituall riuers and that there be no barraine Willowes growning néere vnto that Fountayne but Okes that reach vp to heauen and doe alwayes bring forth seasonable and sound fruites A man would thinke that a Doctour of Diuinitie that had read this homilie The title of Doctor disceyueth many were acquainted with such figures as Chrysostome doth commonly vse when he taketh in hande to set forth the excellencie of any thing and to shew the excéeding greatnesse of the vertue that is in the thing that he taketh in hande could not for shame pick out such a péece as you haue to proue your purpose withall Yea a man might maruayle at your beastly blindnesse that wil not let you sée that this place of Chrysostome maketh manifestly both against your priuate Masse and against your Easter Housell as you call it vnder one kinde onely which is not the bloud whereof Chrysostome speaketh here but the bread whereof he doth in this place make no mention The excéeding great vertue that this bloud that Chrysostome speaketh of hath is such that no man can be able eyther with tongue or pen to declare it at the full And therefore doth he vse so many Hyperbolicall spéeches and calleth it mysticall bloud And so many as be sprinckled with this bloud that is as many as being elected in Christ be called by the preaching of the Gospell and doe obey the caller may when they fall into temptation assure themselues that the tempter will when he séeth them be sprinckled and washed with this bloud flie from them as Chrysostome sayth here Chrysost ad Neophytos And as in the other place that you cite out of the same Chrysostome he sayth when such one commeth out from the Lords feast the enimie flyeth from him more swiftly then any winde And when that cruell enimie shall sée the tongue of such one embrued with this bloud That is that no worde foundeth out of his mouth but such as are to the setting forth of the glorie of him that shed this bloud beleue me sayth Chrysostome he will not tarie c. And this place also maketh manifestly against your priuate Masse and halfe housell and nothing at all for your purpose But here I must by the way tell you of your subtiltie in tying certaine wordes of your owne to the ende of that which you cite out of Chrysostome in such sort that they may séeme to bée Chrysostomes wordes And then you labour to confirme them by the wordes of Ambrose who sayth thus Cùm hospitium
excesse Ephes 5. but be yée filled with the holy ghost c. To helpe you to proue this effect you cite Ambrose vpon the first Psalme And to auoyde tediousnesse you will faithfully reherse his words in Englishe c. It had bene well if to auoyde tediousnesse you would haue left out all that you doe here cite out of Ambrose Or else that you had borowed a little more time with your Auditory to make his meaning better knowne to them In the beginning of the matter that saint Ambrose doth handle in the place that you cite Ambros in Psal 1. he sayth thus Hoc primum bibe Drinke this cup first And shortly after he sayth thus Prodest tibi cor habere contritum Hoc primum bibe vt sacrificium tuum accipiatur a Domino Doceat te Apostolus quid sit hoc primum bibe hoc est tribulationis poculum It is profitable for thée to haue a contrite hart Drinke this cup first that the Lorde may accept thy sacrifice Let the Apostle teach thée what this saying drinke this cup first doth meane It signifieth the cup of tribulation And after a fewe wordes he sayth Bibe primum vt sitim mitiges Bibe secundùm vt saturitatem haureas In veteri testamento compunctio in nouo laeticia est Drinke the first Testament that thou mayst mitigate thy thirst drinke the second that thou mayst drinke to the full In the olde Testament there is hartie sorowe for sinne in the newe Testament ioy and gladnesse And to auoyde tediousnesse let me faithfully rehearse in Englishe the wordes that go immediatly before those wordes that you cite Sée sayth saint Ambrose howe the Lorde hath on the hehalfe of his seruants matched the disceites of the Deuill He did with one morsell of meat disceyue one man that he might in one circumuent all But Iesus hath redéemed all with the meate of saluation that in all he might reforme him that had bene disceyued The Deuill did inuent the golden Cup of Babilon that such as should drinke thereof might be more thirstie and that bicause the drinke coulde not be pleasaunt he might allure them with the price of the Golde He began vnto them of his owne wine wherevnto he sought to haue the helpe of the metall But the Lorde Iesus did poure water out of the rock and so forth as you haue cited And to the ende of those wordes that you cite he addeth these Neyther let it moue thée that the Babilonion Cup is of Golde for thou doest drinke the Cup of wisedome which is more precious then is Gold or Siluer Drink both the Cups therefore both the olde and the new Teastament For in eche of them thou doest drinke Christ Drinke Christ bicause he is the wine Drinke Christ bicause he is the rock that vometted out the water Drinke Christ bicause he is the Fountaine of lyfe Drinke Christ bicause he is the riuer the rushing wherof doth make glad the Citie of God Drinke Christ bicause he is peace Drinke Christ bicause riuers of lyuing water doe flowe out of his belly Drinke Christ that thou mayst drinke the bloud wherewith thou wast redéemed Drinke Christ that thou mayst drinke his worde c. Nowe M. Watson if you haue not dronke so déepe of the Babilonicall cup that you be thereby fallen into the deadly slumber of Romishe obstinacie you must néedes sée that Ambrose doth not in this place meane to maintaine your assertion That is that the spirituall dronkennesse is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But here by the way I must put you in remembraunce of citing such places as fight against your priuate Masses and halfe Housels But you haue yet another place Ambros in Psal 118. Ser. 15. where Amborse speaketh more playnly and sayth Eate the meate of the Apostles preaching c. Ambrose wrote them thus in Latine Dicit ad Discipulos date illis vos manducare ne deficiant in via Habes apostolicum cibum manduca illum non deficies Illum ante manduca vt postea venias ad cibum Christi ad cibum corporis dominici ad epulas sacramenti ad illud poculum quo fidelium inebriatur affectus vt laetitiam induat de remissione peccati curas seculi huius metum mortis solicitudinesque deponat Hac ergo ebrietate corpus non titubat sed resurgit animus non confunditur sed consecratur He sayth to his disciples Doe ye giue them to eate least they faint by the waye Thou hast the meate that the Apostles gaue eate that and thou shalt not faint Eate that meate first that thou mayst afterward come to the meate of Christ to the meate of the Lordes body to the delicacies of the sacrament to that cup wherby the affection of the faithfull is made dronken that it may put on ioy for the remission of sinne and laye off the cares of this worlde the feare of death and troubles of minde The body doth not stumble with this dronkennesse but it ryseth againe the minde is not confounded but consecrated The meat that the Apostles did minister Math. 28. Marc. 16. was the word and the sacraments For this was their commissiō Ite in mundum c. Go into all the worlde and preach the Gospell to all creatures c. And saint Paule saith Sic nos aestimet homo c. 1. Cor. 4. Let a man so estéeme vs as the ministers of Christ and Stewards of Gods mysteries Wherefore Ambrose teaching vs to eate the Apostolicall meate first that we may afterward come to the meate of Christ can not meane of that meat that is receyued either by the eares or by the mouth but by faith into the hart and soule Which is as Ambrose sayth here the delicacie of the sacrament and the cup that maketh the affection of the faythfull dronken c. But sée you not how this place also fighteth against your priuate Masses halfe communions yea and against your maner of ministring sacraments without the preaching of the worde before But go forwarde with your matter WATSON Diuision 28 These scriptures and these effectes brought out of the scriptures and confirmed by many manifest authorities of the holy fathers doe proue euidently to any man that hath but common wit and any sparkle of grace and is not forsaken of almighty God that the substaunce of this sacrament is neyther bread nor wine but onely the body and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ vnited to Gods sonne in vnitie of person which is a sufficient cause able to worke in the worthy receauer these heauenly and glorious effectes which I haue spoken of already Whereby appeareth what moueth me to continue still in that faith which is so expresly taught in holy scripture which scripture also draweth and pulleth me from the contrarie false opinion Math. 7. In dyuers places it moueth me and all christen men to beware and take heede of false Prophets that come in the
moue you to consider certaine things whereby the consent may appeare First the possession of the Church in this doctrine so many yeares in such quietnesse without contradiction that no reason or yet iniunction nor no new deuise that the Deuill or his dearlings can inuent to the contrary eyther can or ought to remoue vs out of possession except wee will wilfully loose our owne right and claime seing that we that liue nowe vniuersally throughout all Christendome haue receaued this fayth of our fathers and they of theirs Cyprian Ser. De Caena and so foorth euen to the Apostles and our sauiour Christ himselfe by whose mouth this doctrine as saint Cyprian sayth was first taught to the world that Christen men in the new lawe be commaunded to drinke bloud which the Iewes in the olde law were forbid to doe And so from him and his Apostles it hath bene by succession deduced and brought throughout all ages euen to this our time and beleued as Gods worde which can not be chaunged and not as mans worde subiect to alteration as probabilitie can perswade CROWLEY The first of those certayne things that you moue your Auditorie to consider whereby the consent of the Catholike Church may appeare is prescription of tyme. To this I haue partly aunswered in the aunswere to your former Sermon And the Byshop of Sarisburie hath fully aunswered in his aunswere to Doctor Harding And here I aunswere in fewe wordes That your possessiō hath bene forcible your fathers fayth in this point a false perswasion beside the worde of God and your clayme altogither vniust and therefore iustly withstanded by vs to whom the right belongeth as by good euidence of Gods holy worde and iudgement of sounde wryters we both haue and shall proue by Gods helpe WATSON Diuision 4 Secondly this consent in this matter may appeare by that the holy fathers and pastors of Christes Church haue written of it whome god hath placed and planted in hys Church for the buylding and vpholding of it in truth that his flock be not seduced and caried about with euery blast of newe doctrine by the craftines of men to the destruction of their soules Of this I haue spoken something already CROWLEY The indifferent reader may easily perceyue in the aunswere that I haue made to your former Sermon howe well those fathers and pastours that you speake of doe maintaine that which you doe teache Euen as those that fight against you with all the knowledge they haue And whatsoeuer you haue alreadie spoken therein is in the place where you haue spoken it alreadie fully aunswered WATSON Diuision 5. Thirdly we may knowe the consent of the Church by the determination of the generall counsels where the presidents of Gods Churches the rulers and learned priestes of Christendome assembled in the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ representing the holy Church of God Militaunt being led not with priuate affectiō but by Gods holy spirit to his glory instaunt in prayer feruent in deuotion purely diligently and freely haue intreated and determined those things that perteine to the faith of Christ and the purging of his Church to whose determination as to Gods ordinaunces we are bound to obey Wherein appeareth manifestly the consent of the Church How the determination of the general counsels CROWLEY doth declare the consent of the Church and how purely diligently and fréely they intreated and determined those things that you speak of in these generall counsels shall playnely appéere to the indifferent reader in the aunswere that shall be made to all such sentences as you shall cite out of any generall counsell in order as the same shall be cited The first generall counsell both for the calling WATSON Diuision 6. Concilium Nicenum and also for the cause was holden at Nice in Bithinia by .318 Byshops in the time of Constantinus Magnus twelue hundred and thirtie yeares ago where it was determined and published to the worlde in these wordes Exaltata mente fide consideremus situm esse in sancta illa mensa agnum dei qui tollit peccatum mundi quià sacerdotibus sacrificatur sine cruoris effusione nos verè preciosum illius corpus sanguinem sumentis credere haec esse resurectionis nostrae symbola c. Let vs lift vp our mindes vnderstanding and considering by fayth that the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world is situate and lyeth vpon that holy table which is offered of the pristes wythout the shedding of bloud and that wee receauing verily his precious body and bloud doe beleue them to be the pledges or causes of our resurrection This authority serueth me very well to declare the consent of the Church both in the matter of the reall presence also of the sacrifice which we haue in hand For the words be touched maruellously euery one seruing to expresse the truth and to auoyde all doubtes For first he biddeth vs lyft vp our mindes and consider by fayth wylling vs not to sticke onely to our senses thinking nothing else to be there but what we see outwardly teaching vs that the iudgement of this matter perteyneth not to our senses but to our fayth onely and as Eusebius Emesenus sayth Verè vnica perfecta hostia fide aestimanda non specie nec exterioris censenda est visu hominis Emesenus orat de corpore Christi sed interioris affectu This hoost and sacrifice is verily one and perfite to be esteemed by faith and not by forme and appearaunce to bee iudged not by the sight of the outward man but with the affection and perswasion of the inwarde man for to faith onely and not to senses apperteyneth the knowledge and iudgement of Gods mysteries and sacraments Then the counsell declareth what faith teacheth that is to say that the Lambe of God not material bread and wine nor the figure of the Lambe but the Lambe that taketh away the sinne of the worlde is placed lying vpon the holye table of the aultar which externall situation proueth a real presence of Christ to be there before we receaue it and not a phantasticall or an intellectuall receyuing of Christ by fayth in the tyme of the receauing onely as these men contende Further it teacheth that this Lambe of God is offred to almightie God by the Priestes which is a distinte offering from that Christ made vpon the crosse for there he offered himselfe by shedding his bloud which hee did but once and neuer shall doe it agayne any more Here is he offred of the priests not by shedding of bloud but as the counsaile saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after a bloudy maner which is not a newe kylling of Christ but a solempne representation of his death as himselfe hath ordeyned After this it declareth the receauing of it saying that we verily receaue hys precious body bloud which worde verily is as much as that we call really and
in veteri populo sicut nostis occisione Agni cum Azymis vbi occisio ouis Christum significat Azyma autem nouam vitam Hoc est sine vetustate fermenti The Pasouer was in the olde people celebrated as you know in the killing of a Lambe with vnleauened breade where the killing of the shéepe doth signifie Christ and the vnleauened bread a newe lyfe that is without the oldnesse of leauen And a little after he saith Venit verum Pascha immolatur Christus transitum facit à morte ad vitam TraÌ„situs enim interpretatur hebraice Pascha The true Passouer is come Christ is offered vp he passeth from death to life For Paschal in the Hebrue is interpreted passing by or passing ouer Here is no worde of the offering of Christ figuratiuely in the olde Paschall but when Christ passed from death to life then he was offered sayth saint Austen Wherfore I conclude That Christ did not offer himselfe figuratiuely in the olde Paschall neyther did the fathers of the olde lawe offer him in their sacrifices But as all the faythfull fathers that beléeued the promise did offer passouer and other sacrifices thereby to shewe their due obedience to the lawe of God Why Christ would eate Passouer by which those things were commaunded to be done trusting that when the time should be fulfilled God would performe his promise so did Christ obserue al the points of the law absolutely that being frée from the cursse of the lawe he might delyuer from that cursse those that were vnder it Thirdly Christ offereth himselfe in heauen really and so continually as the same Chapiter that we bring against the Masse doth testifie say you Non in manufacta c. Iesus entred not into a temple made with handes c. It séemeth that you haue learned some painters diuinitie Painters diuinitie where you haue séene Christ representing his woundes to God his father to mooue him to haue compassion vpoÌ„ vs for whose cause he hath suffred those wounds That which you gather of this place of saint Paule doth shewe you to be very nigh a daungerous errour if you be not already fallen into it That is the errour of the Anthropomorphits which supposed God to be as a man Watson vâ— nigh a daâ—gerous eâ— not onely in bodily shape but also in humane affections As though a thing once done coulde not be present with him both before and after it is done for euer but must be stil presented before him to mooue his affections by the sight therof which otherwise would forget it as a man doth How you can auoid this I can not sée affirming as you do that Christ is entered into heauen to offer himselfe for vs. c. We haue learned both by the scriptures and also by the auncient wryters that there is with God neyther time to come nor time past but all present The woundes of Christ were present in his sight before Adam was made and so are they nowe and shall be for euer Christ néedeth not therefore perpetually to stande representing hys woundes Ephesi 1. that we might be reconciled by him for as many as shal be reconciled to God by Christ were before the foundations of the worlde were layd reconciled to him in Christ and doe and shall remaine reconciled for euer God had appointed a time wherein Christ should worke the worke of our reconciliation which time is now past with vs but still present with him and he hath also appointed a time wherein we that be by him reconcyled shall enioy the fruit of that reconciliation that is euerlasting glorie in his kingdome which with vs is yet to come but with him it is already present In the meane season Hebr. 10. Christ hauing offered one oblation for sinne as Saint Paule sayth doth for euer sit at the right hande of God from thenceforth tarying tyll his enimies be made his footestoole For by one oblation he hath made persite for euer those that be sanctified That is those which be made holy by the spirit of adoption Rom. 8. whereby they cry vnto God Abba father But you haue founde saint Ambrose Ambro. li. 1. Officio Ca. 48 in Psal 38. in two places of hys workes to be of your minde and to accompt the sacrifice that Christ made vpon the crosse to be but an ymage of a sacrifice in comparison of that which he maketh perpetually in heauen If Ambrose were nowe lyuing and did knowe of your doing he could not thinke well of you that would make him a maintayner of your fond opinion of Christes perpetuall offering of himselfe drawing his wordes so farre from his meaning By occasion of the wordes of the Prophet Dauid where he sayth Psalm 38. Notum fac mihi Domine c. Lorde let me know mine ende and what the number of my dayes is that I may know what it is that I lack saint Ambrose doth note that the ende which the Prophet doth desire to know is that day wherein euery one shall rise out of the earth in his order wherein our perfection doth begin Here therefore sayth Ambrose that is in this mortall state there is a let or impediment there is infirmitie euen in such as be perfite but there that is in the lyfe to come there is full perfection Therefore he desireth to knowe what dayes of eternall lyfe are yet remayning not what dayes be past That he may know what he himselfe lacketh what the lande of promise is which bringeth forth contynuall fruites what maner dwellings the first second and thirde dwelling are wyth the father wherein euery man doth rest according to his worthynesse We therefore sayth he must desire those things wherein perfection is wherein the truth is Hic vmbra hic Imago illic veritas c. Here is the shadow here is the ymage there is the truth And so forth as you haue cyted But to the ende of those wordes that you rehearse Ambrose openeth his owne meaning he addeth a sentence that doth make his meaning more playne Hic ergo in imagine ambulamus in imagine videmus illic facie ad faciem vbi plena perfectio quia perfectio omnis in veritate Here therefore sayth Ambrose we walke in an ymage we sée in an Image then we shall sée face to face where there is full perfection bicause all perfection is in truth Who would thinke that any man of learning coulde be so blynded as to vnderstand these wordes of Ambrose as you doe His whole purpose is to declare that in this mortall state there can be no perfection in any thing But the most perfite things that be here are but as ymages are in comparison of those things whereof they be ymages Yea the mediation of Christ betwixt God and man was not without imperfection in the ymage and outwarde shewe thereof For he suffered sayth Ambrose as a man and as one worthyly condemned to die And he offered
diuision of this sermon And for aunswere to that which you alledge out of saint Austens Confessions Libro Con. 9. Capit. 12. I referre you to that which I haue written for aunswere to the .9 diuision of your former sermon also De Cura pro mortuis cap. 1. In Iob. Tract 84. Euchirid Cap. 109. To the other thrée places that you alledge out of Austen I must aunswere thus It appeareth by these thrée and certaine other places of saint Austens workes that he supposed that praiers made and almose déedes done for such as departed this lyfe in the fayth of Christ and felowship of the members of his body might be propitiatorie for them in such sort as you haue sayde that your Masse is when it is taken for the worke of the priest And that the reason that perswaded him so to thinke was the custome of the Church in his dayes which was to make mention of the dead in their prayers when according to Christes institution they did celebrate the holye Communion of the bodie and bloud of Christ But shall this be a sufficient warrant for vs to thinke and to teache that the Masse which as it is vsed in the Popes church is but an heape of dumble ceremonies is a sacrifice propiciatorie for the sinnes both of the quicke and the dead The same Austen willeth vs not to stand vpon his warrandice but to be sure that we haue the scripture for our discharge For he knewe himselfe to be a man and that as a man he might erre In his thirde booke De trinitate In Prooemio li. 3. de Trinit he sayth thus Noli meis litteris quasi scripturis canonicis enseruire sed in illis quod non credebas cum inueneris incunctanter crede in istis autem quod certum non habebas nisi certum intellexeris noli firmiter retenere Be not bound to my wrytings as to the Canonicall scriptures but when thou shalt finde in them that which thou diddest not beleue before beleue it without any staying or staggering but when thou shalt finde that in my wrytings that thou didst not surely know before do not firmely holde it vnlesse thou mayst vnderstand it Againe in one of those bookes that you alledge he sayth Euchiridio Capit. 4. Quae autem nec corporeo sensu experti sumus nec mente assequi valuimus aut valemus eis sine vlla dubitatione credenda sunt testibus à quibus ea quae diuina vocari iam meruit scriptura confecta est But those thinges which we neither haue proued by bodily sense nor haue béene or are able to attaine vnto by reason must without any doubting be beleued for those witnesses of whom that scripture that is nowe worthily called diuine was perfectly made And in another place he sayth De Peccatorum merit li. 1. Capit. 22. Cedamus igitur consentiamus authoritati scripturae sanctae quae nescit falli nec fallere Let vs therefore giue place and consent to the authoritie of the holy scripture which neyther can be disceyued nor disceyue Ambrose also hath sayd Nos noua omnia quae Christus non docuit iure damnamus quia fidelibus via Christus est Ambros de Virginibus Si igitur Christus non docuit quod docemus etiam nos id detestabile iudicamus We doe worthily condemne al new things which christ hath not taught for to the faythfull Christ is the way If Christ therefore haue not taught that which we teach euen we our selues doe iudge it detestable These sentences and such like whereof there be many in the auncient fathers wrytings do cause me not to consent to that which Austen wryteth in those places that you alledge and certaine other of his workes Although the same be nothing to proue that which you would proue by his authoritie He maketh the oblation whereof he speaketh there of no greater worthinesse then the almose that is giuen to the poore and the prayers made for the dead wherefore he can not meane there of such a sacrifice as you make your Masse when you say it is Christ himselfe There is great oddes betwéene Christ himselfe offering himselfe to his father and a loafe of bread giuen to an hungrie man It is manifest therefore that he vnderstandeth that oblation that he speaketh of to be but a meane to mooue God to applie the merites of his sonne to such as whiles they liued here did by repentaunce and fayth make themselues méete to be partakers of mercie For so he teacheth in plaine wordes in the same place that you cite saying Sed eis haec prosunt que cum viuerent vt haec sibi postea prodessè possent meruerunt But these things are profitable to such persons as whilst they liued here deserued that these things might afterward be profitable to them Yea if all be Austens that goeth in his name there is no propiciation to be had for capitall sinnes after this life His wordes be these Sermone 41. de sanct Non capitalia sed minuta paccata purgantur Not the capitall or damnable sinnes are purged but the small sinnes Such as the Italians call Peccadulians little pretie sinnes Yea and those little sinnes sayth he if the fardell of them be great will weigh you downe and drowne you And to giue men occasion to thinke that he had no great deuotion to this doctrine of helping the soules departed he writeth thus Lucae 16. August in Psalm 48. by the occasion of the historie or parable of the rich man and Lazarus Ventri suo seruiunt homines non spiritibus suorum Ad spiritus mortuorum suorum non peruenit nisi quod secum viui fecerunt Men sayth he meaning such as offer sacrifice for the deade doe not serue the spirites of their friends but their owne bellies To the spirites of their friends departed there commeth nothing more then that which they did whilst they liued here with them Here you may sée how little help you haue by saint Austens words when they be better weighed then you would weigh them whē you did vse them And when his wordes in other partes of his workes be weighed also Yea you may sée by this place of Austen that your purgatory priests which are hyred to sing for soules doe not serue the soules that they sing for but their owne bellies And therefore the cost that is bestowed that way is but cast away The scripture that neyther is deceyued nor doth deceyue hath told vs that we shall all stand before the iudgement seate of Christ 2. Cor. 5. Eccles 14. and receyue according to those works that we haue done in our owne bodies whether the same be good or badde And the scripture hath willed vs to worke righteousnesse before we depart hence for in the graue there can no foode be founde I conclude therefore that though you could spend .22 houres in rehearsing of the places that you could bring in
stop or amend was no cause of it Yea but say they Chrysostome sayth Non es hostia dignus nec cōmunione igitur nec oratione If a man make his excuse that he is not worthy the sacrifice nor to cōmunicate then is he not worthy to be present there at the prayer He saith so in dede But what is this to that the priest should not receiue al one nothing at al. And yet it serueth vs to declare that Chrysostome intended nothing else but to reproue the negligence of them that stoode in the place of the worthy receiuers and would not come to receaue We must consider in the Greeke Church howe there was certaine degrees of the placing of the people the priests stood at the aultar the Clarkes within the Chauncell the worthye receauers in a distinct place beside the priestes the penitents in a lower place the Catechumine which were men learning oure faith and not yet christened sate lowest of all but they were put out of the Church when the sermon and teaching was done and were not suffered to be present at the mysteries Nowe the lack that men doe not vnderstand the distinction of these seuerall places maketh them to take Chrysostome wrong For in deede he that is in the higher place of the communicants and being there thinketh himselfe for his vncleane life not worthy to communicate and so deceaueth the expectation of the priest that prepareth for him is likewise not worthy to communicate in onely prayer as being in that place yet hath most neede of all to communicate in praier because praier is an humilytie of the mind and a cause and degree to make a man worthy to communicate in the sacrament And therefore by Chrysostome he is not forbid to communicate in praier but not in that place but lower among thr penitents For so Chrysostome sayth by and by after Quotquot estis in poenitentia omnes orate All you that be penitents occupie your selues in prayer And it was a decree of the whole catholike Church that certaine men which were not suffered to communicate in the sacramēt should during their penaunce communicate onely in prayer Concilium Nicenum Cap. 12. These be the wordes of the generall counsell at Nice in Englishe Concerning them that had committed ydolatry and were in penaunce not yet reconciled and nowe be departing out of their bodies let the olde Canon be obserued that he that is departing be not defrauded of the necessary vytayle of lyfe but if any such after he haue receaued the communion doe recouer and amende let them remaine among them that communicate onely in prayer Wee may see by this that the meaning of Chrysostome is as I haue declared Other make an argument of the worde Communio that the sacrament is called a communion because many receaued it But this argument is vnlearned proceeding of ignoraunce For it is so called not for that many communicate together in one place but for the effect of the sacrament because it maketh many diuers men one mistical body of Christ So doth Chrysostome expound it Dionisius Areopa Eccleshies var. Capit. 3. writing vpō the .10 Chapter to the Corinthians And also Dionisius Areopagita sayth Vndemerito sacerdotalis sacro sancto prudentia ex rerum effectu proprium illi verumque communicationis cognomen inuenit Therfore the holy wisedome the priests hath worthely inuented to this sacrament a proper and true name of communion for the effect of it because it gathereth our lyues that be diuided a sunder many wayes into the one state whereby we are ioyned to God and among our selues in one bodye and so forth And in very deede we doe not communicate alone For considering Gods Church is but one house as Cyprian sayth Vna est domus ecclesiae in qua agnus editur Cyprian de cena There is one house of the Church wherein the Lambe is eaten whosoeuer doth eate this Lambe worthely doth communicate with all christen men in euery place and Countrie that be in this house and doe the lyke If the priest receyue one part of the sacrament in the Church and afterward cary the rest two or three miles to a sick man doth he not communicate with another yet that other is not together with him in one place standing at his elbow Euen so the priest that sayth Masse alone doth communicate with all them that celebrate in other Churches or in other realmes We alledge not the place of Chrysostome CROWLEY to rebuke the diligence of the priest in comming to doe that which is his office to doe but for that his doing in priuate Massing is one of the greatest causes of the peoples negligence in not comming to be partakers of the mysteries with him Chrysostome sayth Sacrificium frustra quotidianum Chrysost ad popul Antiochenum hom 61. Incassum assistimus altari nullus qui communicetur In vayne is the sacrifice for euery day In vayne are we ready at the aultar there is none that would be made partaker He had sayde immediatly before Multam video rerum inaequalitatem In alijs quidem temporibus cum puri frequenter sitis non acceditis in Pascha verò licet sit aliquid à vobis patratum acceditis O consuetudinem ò praesumpsionem sacrificium frustra quotidianum c. I sée great inequalitie of things At other tymes though you be often pure and cleane yet you come not to communicate but at Easter you come though you haue committed some offence Oh custome Oh presumption It is in vaine to haue the sacrifice daylie In vayne are we ready at the aultar for there is none that would be made partaker If the priestes priuate Massing were of such effect as you would beare vs in hande that it is how could the lack of communicants cause it to be in vayne at any time How could the priest be in a readynesse at the aultar in vayne Thys place of Chrysostome therefore Chrysostomes wordes rightly applied of vs. is manifestly against your priuate Massing as a thing that serueth to no purpose neyther turneth the Church to any commoditie And we doe not abuse this place in that we alledge it to blame your Massing priest therby which is so vainely occupied and yet perswadeth the people that if they be present and worship and pray as he doth in an vnknowne tongue they shall haue as much spirituall benefite as if they were partakers of the sacrament with him But all is in vayne sayth Chrysostome Your priest being holy dedicated to such seruice of God as is the Masse doth not by the seruice daylie more and more ioyne himselfe to Christ but to Antichrist For his exercise is of Antichrists deuising to the defaceing and displaceing of Christs institution The very place of Chrysostome telleth not that the priests did celebrate the sacrifice daylie but that it had bene in vaine so to doe for lacke of such as would communicate But if you will