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
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
not any inconuenience at all to holde that the substaunce of bread and wine doth still remayne in the Sacrament Yet one other thing I must néedes note that in all this adoe that you make about this effect of the sacrament you speake not one worde of the fleshe of Christ but altogither of his bloud These wordes This is my bloud must be the forme of our sacrament c. But in the next effect I trust you will speake as much of the fleshe as you haue done nowe of the bloud and so make vs a mendes for all WATSON Diuision 21. Lucae 24. Another effect of this sacrament is taught vs in S. Luke the 24. Chapter of his Gospell Where our Sauiour Christ sate downe with his two Disciples that went to Emaus and taking bread blessed it and brake it and gaue it to them And then their eyes were opened August de consensu Euangelestarum libr. 3. ca. 25. Theophiloct in Lucam cap. 24. and they knew him Saint Austen in his booke De consensu Euangelistarum teacheth vs to vnderstande this place of the blessed bread which is the sacrament of the aultar and sayth the effect of it is to open our eies that we may knowe God And Theophiloctus vpon this place of saint Luke wryteth this Insinuatur aliud quiddam nempe quod oculi eorum qui benedictum panem assumunt aperiuntur vt agnoscant illum Magnam enim indicibilem vim habet caro Domini By this scripture another thing is giuen vs to vnderstande that the eyes of them which receyue this blessed bread be opened that they might knowe him for the fleshe of our Lorde hath a great and vnspeakable vertue Here we maye perceyue both by the scripture and also by the holy Doctors and fathers that the effect of this sacrament is the opening of our eyes to knowe God And that the cause of that is the fleshe of Christ which is our sacrament and in no wise can be eyther bread or wine CROWLEY Watsō seketh vauntage by translating First you Englishe the wordes of saint Luke after your owne maner to make a shewe of the crossing that is vsed in the Popishe Masse Taking bread he blessed it c. As though the blessing had bene the making of the signe of the crosse vpon or ouer the bread for so the Popishe Priestes vse to blesse their bread and Cup in their Masse but if it would haue serued for your purpose to haue translated otherwise you coulde haue founde occasion enough in the circumstaunce of the text to haue sayde thus Taking bread he gaue thankes brake it and gaue it to them For it was his common maner to giue thankes to God his heauenly father at the beginning of euery refection And none did then vse to blesse by making the signe of the crosse as your Papistes doe nowe wherefore it is manifest that our Sauiour Christ did not vse it eyther at that time or any other Howe rightly you gather the meaning of saint Austen in the place that you cite shall appéere by his owne wordes in the same place which are these Pro merito quippe mentis corum ad huc ignorantis quod oportebat Christum mori resurgere simele quiddam eorum oculi passi sunt non veritate fallente sed ipsis veritatem percipere non valentibus aliud quam res est opinantibus ne quisquam se Christum agnouisse arbitretur si eius corporis particeps non est id est Ecclesiae Cuius vnitatem in sacramento panis commendat Apostolus dicens Vnus panis vnum corpus multi sumus vt cum eis benedictum panem porrigeret aperirentur oculi corum agnoscerent eum Aperientur vtique ad eius cognitionem remoto silicet impedimento quo tenebantur ne eum agnoscerent Neque enim clausis oculis ambulabant sed incrat aliquid quo non sinebantur agnoscere quod videbant quod silicet caligo vel aliquis humor efficere solet For according to the deseruing of their minde which was as yet ignoraunt that it behoued Christ to die and rise againe their eyes did suffer some such thing not being deceyued by the truth but they themselues not being able to perceyue the truth supposing the thing to be otherwise then it was least any man should thinke that he knoweth Christ not being partaker of his body that is of his Church The vnitie whereof the Apostle doth set forth in the sacrament of bread saying we being manye are but one bread and one bodye that when he should giue vnto them the blessed bread their eyes might be opened and they know him That they might be opened to know him the let whereby they were holden that they should not know him being taken away For they walked not with their eyes shut vp but there was something in them whereby they were kept from knowing that which they sawe Which thing is accustomed to come to passe by the meanes of some daseing or humor Now let all indifferent readers iudge whether S. Austens purpose in this place None can knowe God but such as be members of Christ be to teach vs that the opening of our eyes that we maye know God be the effect of the sacrament of the altar Or whether his purpose be rather to teache that none can knowe God but such as be members of his body that is of the number of his Church the vnitie whereof is set forth in the sacramentall bread And therefore the two Disciples being members of that Church that is Christes body had the blindnesse of their vnderstanding taken away at the breaking of bread And so they knewe Christ whome before they knewe not As for the wordes that you cite out of Theophilacte doe rather make against you then with you For where your purpose is to proue as you conclude that the sacrament is neyther bread nor wine Theophilacte doth euen in the same wordes that you cite call it the blessed bread But this is to be noted how craftily you can make one sentence of two leauing out the Periodus or full point One of Watsons shiftes that in Theophilacts owne workes standeth betwene illum and Magnam And bicause you would not haue your reader to looke for any Periodus there you make no point at all in your printed Copie nor any signe of pawse But the translator of the Author hath set it thus Vt agnoscant illum Magnam enim indicibilem vim habet caro Domini Euanuit autem ab eis neque enim ad huc habebat corpus quod multum corporali modo cum eis conuersaretur vt ex hoc illorum cresceret desyderium c. So that the whole might be englished thus Another thing also is giuen vs to vnderstande that is that the eyes of them that doe receyue the blessed bread are opened that they might know him For the fleshe of the Lord hath an vnspeakable power For it vanished
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
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
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
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
Christ is no charmer Not to charme out the substaunce of bread and to charme in the substaunce of Christ vnder the accidents of bread as you teache but that as by naturall order the generation of mankinde is continued according to the first voyce so the inuisible graces that were promised by the death and bloud shedding of our sauiour Christ are by the sacramentall vse of those creatures according to his commaundement continually preached to our senses and by fayth receyued into our soules And where as you say that some of vs haue sayde that euery man and woman may consecrate you must name them that haue so said or cite the words that such haue written else wil men say that you doe belye vs that you might well haue spared the wordes of Arnobius which you do cite affirming that we did neuer read them But whether we haue read the wordes of Arnobius or not it may séeme that you did neuer vnderstand them For if you had you would not haue translated so and then for so and as nor consecrate for conficere But you would haue sayde What is so excellent as to go thorowe with the ministration of Gods sacraments And what is so pernicious as if the same be done by that man that hath taken no degrée of priesthood The purpose of Arnobius in this place is to proue that the presumption to doe contrarie to Gods commaundement The fruites of presumption is it that maketh the actions of men which otherwise are good to be excéeding euill For what sayth he is so holy a thing as to receiue the communion of Christ And what is so wicked as if one that is not baptised receiue the same And what can be more pernicious then that a man that is not called to the office of ministration should take vpon him to minister the sacraments of Christ I thinke you be not able to proue that any of vs hath eyther spoken or written to the contrarie of that which Arnobius teacheth in this place You can not therefore iustly say that we doe erre eyther in the time or person For we holde that when the congregation of Christ assembled togither doe by the mouth of their leafully called minister giue thankes to God for the death and passion of his sonne Christ and according to Christs holye institution take bread and wine to deuide it amongst them in remembraunce of his death and passion then is that consecration that Chrysostome speaketh of wrought by Christ himselfe that first did institute this holy mysterie and willed his Church to vse the same in his remembraunce till his comming againe As touching the holynesse of creatures De Peccatorum merit remis libro 2. Capit. 26. we say as Austen doth in the place that you doe cite Non vnius modi est sāctificatio c. Sanctification is after moe sortes then one For I suppose that such as be yet but learners of christen religion are after a certain peculiar maner sanctified by the signe of Christ the prayer of the laying on of handes And that thing which they doe receyue although it be not the body of Christ yet it is holy more holy then is the meat that we are fed withall bicause it is a sacrament The same Apostle also hath sayde that the verie meates wherewith we are fed for the necessitie of the sustayning of thys lyfe are sanctified by the worde of God and prayer which we vse when we are about to refreshe our bodies Here let the indifferent reader iudge howe faythfully you haue handled this place of Austen First you leaue out the first part of the sentence that might giue light to the vnderstanding of Austens meaning And where Austen sheweth that the thing that the learners of christian religion doe receyue is holy bicause it is a sacrament you passe ouer that A homely shift with other wordes that might sounde somewhat against your purpose and knit vp the matter with these wordes which also is sanctified by the worde and prayer And make your hearers thinke that your maner of dealing holy bread was vsed in saint Austens time you translate this worde Quod. Holy bread Saint Austens meaning is to declare that as there is holynesse in creatures by such meanes as God hath appointed for the sanctifying of his creatures so is not their holynesse alyke but one is more holy then another The learners of Christen religion were holy Degrees of holynesses yet not so holy as were those that being fully instructed were baptised So the bread which they receyued in token of the loue that those which were alreadie baptised did beare towardes them was holy for as saint Austen sayth it was a sacrament that is an holy signe yet was it not so holy as that sacramentall bread which christians did according to Christes institution deuide amongst them And yet it was more holy then the common bread that is made holy when we praye before we take it for the sustinaunce of our bodies The other holynesses also that you speake of we denie not Neyther doe we denie that the sacraments of God be holy Watson ouerthroweth that before he did builde bicause they be instruments c. But here I must note that you doe in this place ouerthrow that which you haue so greatly laboured to builde For you doe here make the sacraments but as instrumentall causes of holynesse where as you haue before stoutly affirmed that they be in déede the efficient causes of wonderfull holy effectes But as one that had ouerslipt himselfe you correct your selfe somewhat subtilly affirming that aboue all the sacrament of the aultar is holy c. Where fearing least you should not commend it ynough August ad Dardanum you fall into that inconuenience that S. Austen did warne Dardanus to shunne Cauendum est enim c. We must take héede that we doe not so affirme the Deuinitie of the manhoode that we take away the truth of the body You saye that the sacrament of the aultar must néedes be holynesse it selfe bicause the Godhead is by vnitie of person annexed to it For say you whatsoeuer thing is in God is God also So that by this doctrine the manhoode of Christ is so confounded with the Godhead that it is cleane consumed and become God contrarie to that which the true Catholike Church doth confesse with Athanasius 1. Timoth. 2. And we haue no man Christ to be our Mediator as saint Paule writeth and so consequently no saluation by Christ This consequent must néedes folow vpon that which you teach in your sermon and can not be auoyded by any figuratiue spéeche or such like cauillations WATSON Diuision 31. The same Chrysostome in his Epistle to Innocentius Byshop of Rome wryteth of the maner of the persecution in his time not vnlyke to this of ours Chrysost Epist ad Innocentium Nam sanctuarium ingressi sunt milites quorum aliquos
and your Popishe fathers haue laboured by the bragge of fiftene hundred yeres to disceyue all the whole christen worlde For which you shall one day drinke of the cup of Gods wrath except ye repent before ye depart hense Your if and your but will not serue you then But as you say the errour is in your selfe which woulde harken to the witlesse sophisticall reasoning of a fewe Popishe men and so runne headlong to destroy your owne soules Forsaking and not contynuing in that fayth that was taught by the mouth of Christ sealed with his bloud and testified by the bloud of Martyrs and hath preuailed from the beginning and shall continue to the ende in the dispite of Antichrist and all his members and the whole power of hell As for that which remayneth concerning the thirde point that causeth you to contynue in your Popishe fayth that is the consent of the Catholike Church as you say which to your great griefe you could not now for shortnesse of time go thorow with shall be answered in the aunswere to your other Sermon if God wyll I hope in such sort that as many as be not wilfull blinde shall sée the subtiltie of your sophistrie and for euer after defie it and your Popishe Masse also which you boast to be so profitable to be frequented in the Church of Antichrist to maintaine your multituds of ydle belyes in cloysters and else where And I doubt not but whatsoeuer you or any other hath or shall shoote against the right vse of the Lordes supper which is nowe in reformed Churches frequented shall to the glorie of almightie God rebounde into your owne bosomes to the staye of all such as God in prouidence hath appointed to be saued by the preaching of his worde That they neuer encline to your Poperie but walke warily in the truth of the christian religion leading a christian lyfe that in the ende thereof they may with Christ triumph ouer Antichrist and all his Souldiours in endlesse felicitie Which he graunt to his elect and chosen children that in hys sonne Christ knewe them before they were Amen ¶ The second Sermon Obsecro vos fratres per misericordiam Dei vt exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam sanctam c. Rom. 12. AMONGES OTHER THINGES the last time I was admitted to speake in this place WATSON Diuision 1. I brought forth this sentence of saint Bernard written in a Sermon De epithania Pauperes sumus parum dare possumus c. Bernardus Ser. de Epiphania The English is this We be poore little may we giue yet for that little we may be reconciled if we will All that euer I am able to giue is this wretched bodye of mine if I giue that it is sufficient if not then I adde his body for that is mine and of mine owne for a little one is borne vnto vs and the sonne is giuen to vs O Lorde that lacketh in mee I supply in thee O most sweetest reconciliation Here I noted a great benefite of the oblation of Christes body to consiste in supplying that lacketh in the oblation of our bodyes that where as wee beyng exhorted of saint Paule to offer vp our bodies a sacrifice to almightie God and also doe vnderstande by other scriptures that it is oure dueties so to doe which maye bee done three wayes By voluntarie suffering the death for Christes fayth if case so require by painefull and penall workes as by abstinence and other corporall exercises for the castigation and mortifying of the outwarde man or else by the seruice of righteousnesse in that we vse the members and parts of our bodye as instruments of all vertue and godlynesse considering agayne howe there is great imperfection in all our workes and that the best of vs all commeth short of that marke which is prefixed of God to serue him with all oure heart wyth all our strength and that eyther in the worke it selfe or in the intent or in the cause or tyme or in some other degree and circumstaunce for this cause and consideration saint Bernard doth himselfe and moueth vs to ioyne the oblation of Christes body with oures wherewithall we are sure God is well pleased saying This is my sonne in whom I am well pleased Marke 7. by whose merites our oblation and other workes doe please God and not otherwise CROWLEY This place of Bernard is aunswered in the seuenth diuision of the former Sermon wherevnto I referre the indifferent reader And therefore I purposed to make one sermon of the sacrifice of Christ WATSON Diuision 2. not of that which he himselfe made vpon the crosse for oure redemption but of that which the Church his spouse maketh vpon the aultar which purpose being also before promised remaineth now to be fulfilled And entring the last time to speake of it I laid this foundation that is to say the veritie of the blessed Sacrament the bodye and bloud of our sauiour Christ to be verily and really present in it by the omnipotent power of almightie God the operation of his holy spirit assisting the due administration of the Priest and so to bee there not onely as our meat which God giueth vnto vs to nourish vs in spirituall lyfe but also as our sacrifice which we giue and offer vnto God to please him and purge vs from such thinges as may destroy or hinder that spirituall lyfe seing that Christ himselfe is the substaunce of the sacrifice of the new Testament as I haue partly shewed before and beside him wee haue none that is onely proper to vs Christen men This foundation of the reall presence I presupposed to haue bene beleued of vs all and yet I did not so rawly leaue it but declared vnto you such reasons as moued me to continue still in that fayth I was borne in which were the euident playne scriptures of God opened with the circumstances of the places in suche wise as the vaine cauillations of the sacramentaries can not delude them and also the effectes of this sacrament which be so great and so wonderfull that they can be ascribed to no other cause but onely to almightie God to such creatures as Gods sonne hath ioyned vnto him in vnitie of person as be the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ I alledged also the sayings of the holy fathers not in such number as I would haue done but choosed out a fewe which not onely declared the Authors fayth but conteyned a necessarie argument to proue our common fayth in this matter For aunswere to your handling of those matters that you speake of here CROWLEY I referre the reader to the aunswere that I haue made to that Sermon Concerning the third point WATSON Diuision 3. which is the consent of the catholike Church neyther the time then suffred to speake as behoued nor yet suffereth nowe if I should performe my promise as I intende God wylllng And for that cause I shall but
alledged the wordes of the Ephesian Councell contrarie to the true meaning of the Fathers that were gathered togither in that Counsell And that it helpeth you nothing at all that that Counsell was holden so long agoe This doctrine also was determined in the generall counsell holden at Constantinople in the time of Iustinian the Emperour the yeare of oure Lorde .552 WATSON Diuision 8. Concilium Constanti in Trul. cap. 102. where be written these wordes Omni sensibili creaturae supereminet is qui salutari passione coelestem nactus dignitatem edens bibens Christum ad vitam aeternam perpetuo coniungitur anima corpore diuinae participatione gratia sanctificatur and so forth He farre excelleth euerye sensible creature that by the passion of our sauiour obteyning heauenly dignitie eating and drinking Christ is continually ioyned to eternall lyfe and is sanctified both in soule and body by participacion of the heauenly grace This place is notable declaring the dignitie of him that eateth Christ and the effect of that eating to be euerlasting lyfe and sanctification both of bodie and soule You haue a great grace in setting the visoure of antiquitie CROWLEY vpon matter nothing auncient Watsons grace in the bragge of antiquitie This matter must nedes be bolstred oute with the bigge title of the counsell of Constantinople holden in the time of Iustinian the Emperour c. And yet in that whole counsel as the same hath bene of any antiquitie set forth in writing there is not any one worde that may be wrested to such meaning as you alledge this place for But in the mergine you note that you find it in the counsell holdē in Trullo Capi. 102. I suppose that is as much as if you had sayde that Ecchius Pighius Hosius or some of the auncient Catholiks that liued about the yeare of our Lorde .1550 Wordes cited not found in the place noted haue reported that this doctrine was agréed vpon in the fift general Counsel for the sentence that you cite is not to be found either there or in the counsell holden in Trullo But graunt that the fathers of the counsel had concluded in such words as you cite what should it help your cause you haue taken vpon you to proue that Christ is really and substancially present in the sacrament And to proue this you say that the fathers of the Counsell haue determined that who so hath by the suffering of Christ obtayned the heauenly dignitie and doth eate and drinke Christ the same being more excellent then all sensible creatures is continually ioyned to eternall lyfe and is sanctified both in soule and bodie Watson cyteth wordes that proue the contrarie of his assertion by the participation of the grace of God Doe these wordes prooue your purpose Or doe they not rather proue that no wicked man doeth eate and drinke Christ for none can truely be sayde to excell all sensible creatures and to be continually ioyned to life eternall and to be made holy both in soule and body but such onely as be by Christ aduaunced to the heauenly dignitie that is to say be made members of Christ children of God and inheritours of the kingdome of heauen But no wicked reprobate is such one wherefore none such doth eate or drinke Christ in the sacrament So well do your friendes in the councell holden in Trullo helpe you to proue your purpose WATSON Diuision 9. Concilium Lateranense Lykewise the generall counsell called Lateranense holden at Rome the yeare of our Lord. 1215. determined this matter in the same termes that we expresse it now Vna est fidelium vniuersalis Ecclesia extra quam nullus omnino saluatur in qua idem ipse sacerdos sacrificium Iesus Christus cuius corpus sanguis in Sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis vini veraciter continentur transubstantiatis pane in corpus vino in sanguinem potestate diuina There is one vniuersall church of all faithfull people without the which no man is saued at anye time in the which Iesus Christ him selfe is both the priest and the sacrifice whose bodye and bloude be truely conteyned in the sacrament of the aultar vnder the fourme of bread and wine the breade being transubstanciate into his body and the wine into his bloude by the power of God This forme of doctrine after this sort in these termes hath bene taught professed and beleued throughout the whole catholike churche euer since that time howsoeuer some Heretiks forsaking their faith proceding from Gods omnipotent worde and the vnitie of his Church and leaning to their sensuallitie and blinde reason against fayth haue repined and barked against the same But I put no doubtes but by gods grace if the time would suffer me to make this matter of transubstantiation as plaine as the other of the reall presence It semeth to me a straunge thing CROWLEY that you which bragge of vniforme consent of the Church fiftene hundred yeres before this daye doe now produce witnesse that is not yet .400 yeres olde Decrees made by Pope Innocent doe not proue things done 1200. yeres before his daies and woulde haue the world to think that bicause Pope Innocent the third hath decreed the transubstantiation of bread and wine and the reall presence of Christes bodie and bloud in the sacrament therefore it must néedes be beleued to be so nowe and to haue bene so euer since the first institution of the sacrament But in the aunsweres that I haue made to the matter of greater antiquitie produced by you in your first sermon and in the former part of this your second sermon it doth sufficiently appeare to the indifferent reader that you neyther haue made playne the matter of the reall presence nor are like to make plaine the matter of transubstantiation though you take as much time therto as you haue now to liue I wil not stick to graunt you that this counsell of Lateranense did determine this matter according as you haue saide but what is that to the purpose you haue in hande for in the dayes of the thirde Innocent the Church of Rome was as farre from the sinceritie of christen religion as it is now And what doth that determination that they made of this matter proue against vs that stande in the defence of the sinceritie that was in the primatiue Church I put no doubts therfore but I shall be able to aunswere all that you shall be able to saye for your transubstantiation As I haue bene able to aunswere all that you haue produced for the matter of the reall presence The general counsel also of Constance holdē of later daies WATSON Diuision 10. the yeare of our Lorde 1451. doth agree and testifie the same Concilium constantiense in that they condemned Iohn Wyclefe the heretike and all his errours against this blessed sacrament Thus haue I shewed you the consent of the Church by the determinations
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
Yet say they Christ did not receyue it alone but did communicate with his twelue Apostles whose example we ought to folow To this I say that we be not bounden to folow this example for the number but for the substance That it should bee receaued of vs is Christes example necessarie but of howe many of twelue onely of moe of fewer or of one is not by Christes example fixed and determyned Christ ministring the mistical supper of necessitie that neuer but once for this ende by his deede to institute the thing and to teach his disciples what they should do continually afterward in cōmemoration of his death must needs haue ministred it to mo then himself because in that doing he gaue them authoritie to doe the same and so made them priestes But we ministring it not for that intent to institute the sacrament and to make priestes but to receyue the spirituall fruite that commeth to vs thereby are not bounden to obserue that number but shall doe well if we receaue it eyther with other or alone You haue falsely charged vs with taking awaye the due matter c. CROWLEY And as for the leauing out of the principall verbe Est Let him be charged withall that did it Narow secking for matters to charge vs with It is like that you haue little to charge vs with when you seeke out the printers faultes and lay them to our charge and yet confesse in plaine wordes that the fault is corrected If I would haue delt to with you I might haue done it many tymes in these your sermons as may well appeare to the learned that will reade them as you set them out in print Our ministers be ordered and admitted with imposition or laying on of handes and prayer and as many ceremonies beside as may tende to edification And that which we do in the ministration of the worde and sacraments shall neuer bée iustly disproued by any of your sort to be other then the institution of Christ Our intent in doing that we doe is to imitate the Church of Christ and not the Church of Antichrist which is the Church of Rome Wee offer that oblation which both by the scriptures and fathers is accepted for the sacrifice of the newe testament And our Communion which it pleaseth you to terme bare shall on the mariage day be interteyned of the Bridegromes father The Masse hath not the marige garment when your Masse shall be turned out for lacke of a mariage garment We haue no cause therfore to be abashed still to crie vpon Christes institution which you haue and doe still in so many poynts violate and breake as appereth by that which I haue answered to that which you haue shewed proouing that which we haue to be the institution of Christ And where as you go about to render a reason and make a proufe that the Communion that we haue is not the institution of Christ saying that the vse of the sacrament is that it shoulde be receyued c. I marueil if you did not blushe when you spake it For if that be the vse of the sacrament as it is in déede howe dare you reserue it and hange it ouer your altar sometime till it be so vinewed and mowled that you must nedes burne it how dare you carie it about your stréetes in procession And how dare you fetch it out in tempests to scare the deuill withall Yea how dare you put it in a purse and hange it about your necke to preserue you from perilles And I pray you what mooued you to vse this reason against vs Nothing more against Watson then this is seing that you know that we do neuer minister it but when we haue occasion presently to distribute it so that we neuer reserue it for any maner of purpose There is nothing that maketh more against your doynges then that which in this place you alledge against vs. Take eate drinke c. And where you say that the ceremonies and rites that be vsed about the ministration of the sacrament doe not appertaine to the institution of Christ we say so to and that therefore the Church ought not to make a matter of necessitie of them but leaue them to the discretion of euery particuler congregation to vse or leaue them as they shall sée that they doe tend to theyr edification or not Watsons purpose in speaking of circūstances Much a doe you make about circumstaunces of the eating and the number of them that shall eate the tyme place c but all is to make some shewe of a libertie left to the Church to ordaine that one alone may in the presence of a multitude celebrate that sacrament and receyue it alone as commonly your Massing priestes do But it will not be For not onely the example of Christ in his last supper is to the contrary but his words in the institution also which wordes we must hearken vnto and not those circumstaunces which are not within the compasse of doe this in remembraunce of me He tooke breade gaue thankes brake it that is he deuided it amongst them and sayd take eate this is my bodie and in like maner the cup saying drinke ye all of this do this in remembraunce of me If any of them had béene so dull of vnderstanding as you shewe your selfe to be and woulde haue mooued this néedelesse question what shall we doe in remembraunce of thée Woulde he not haue sayd take breade giue thankes deuide it amongest you and eate it for it is my bodie And in like maner take a cup of wine giue thankes and drinke all of it for it is my bloud And what libertie is here left to the Church to ordaine that the priest alone may do this to himselfe in the presence of a multitude that should be partakers with him as the Apostles were wyth Christ The place that you cite out of Austen is wrested too farre out of tune For in that place he speaketh onely of the time of ministration and receyuing Whether before meats or after as appeareth by the wordes that folow immediatly after Nam si hoc ille c. For if he had tolde his disciples this that this sacrament should alwayes be receyued after meates I beleue that no man would haue altered that custome So farre of is saint Austen from confirming the priuate receyuing of your priest Wherfore you gather more of his wordes then he ment But this vauntage you haue giuen vs by the wordes of your collection that we may be bolde to saye that in your Masse there is nothing of Christes institution more then the receyuing of the sacrament The rest is ordered by the Church But you woulde faine restraine your saying to the number of receyuers and therefore you say and other rites of the receyuing You imagine We depende vpon christes commaundement that we depende altogither vpon the example of Christ in communicating with the twelue but
I haue tolde you before that we depende not onely vpon his example in doing but also and chiefely vpon his wordes in commaunding Which wordes are that not only twelue and no mo but as many as be christians and will be present at the action should be partakers of the mysteries And that the action should be celebrated by the Congregation that desire to be partakers thereof in the remembraunce of Christes death and passion and not otherwise The necessitie that you say draue Christ to minister to mee then to himselfe either fighteth holye agaynst your purpose or else one part of it agaynst another It was necessarie say you that by his déede he should institute the thing and teach his disciples what they should do afterwarde in the commemoration of his death How this can agrée with your purpose and with the rest that you write there let the discrete reader iudge And how well you doe when you receyue and minister this sacrament to your selfe alone Saint Hierome sayth Dominicae coena omnibus debet esse communis quia ille omnibus discipulis suis qui aderant aequaliter tradidit sacramenta Hierom. in 1. Corin. ca. 11. The Lordes supper ought to be common to all because he did equally deliuer the sacramentes to all his disciples that were present I thinke that all wise men will iudge that saint Hierome was not of your mind in this poynt for he sayth the Lordes supper ought to be common c. not after your fantasticall imagination but by actuall distribution of the sacrament Wee reade euen from the beginning of the Church that lay men and women did receiue it alone WATSON Diuision 40 And is there any religion that a lay man may do it but not a Priest Tertulian declareth the difficultie for a Christen wife to obserue hir religion without offence that hath an infidel to hir husband Tertulianus ad vxorem among other thinges sayth thus Non sciet maritus quid secreto ante omnem cibum gustes si sciuerit panem non illum credit esse qui dicitur Will not thy husband know what thou doest eate secretly before all other meates And if he doe knowe he beleueth it is breade and not him whome it is called Of this place we gather the maner of the Church in that time shortly after Christ that the people receiuing the Sacrament at the priestes hand in the Church did cary it home with them and kept it secretly and deuoutly at home with themselues and euery morning as their deuotion serued them did receyue a part of it by themselues and that secretly least the Infidels amonges whome they dwelt should get knowledge of our mysteries And thus of this place of Tertulian like as we maye learne that the Sacrament is not bread as the Infidels beleue if they chaunce to see it but Christ as it is called as the faithfull onely know to be so so we learne also that men and women were wont to receyue it alone without any other companie assembled with them which is sufficient for our purpose at this tyme. Saint Cyprian telleth of a woman in these wordes Cyprian de lapsis Cùm quaedam arcam suam in qua domini sāctum fuit manibus indignus tentasset aperire igne inde surgente deterrita est ne auderet attingere When a certaine woman went about to open hir chest wherein was the holy one of God with vnworthie handes she was afraid for the fire that rose from thence that she durst not touch it By this place appeareth the like maner of keeping it at home to receyue it alone at their pleasure And Eusebius in his storie telleth that the maner was to send the sacrament to Bishops straungers Eusebius histor eccles lib. 5. ca. 24. that chaunced to come thither for this ende to knowe whether they were Catholike and of their fayth or no which they knewe if they would receyue the sacrament which they had consecrate Lib 6. ca. 34. And also he telleth of one that lay in exstreme perill of death who had committed ydolatrie before and sent to the priest for the Sacrament whereby might bee reconciled to the Church before he dyed the priest was also sicke and could not come but sent it by the sicke mans seruaunt and so forth Here it is plaine that lay men receyued it alone without the priest And what great religion is there now newe found out that the priest may not likewise receyue it alone if the people be not worthie nor disposed at all tymes to communicate with him I leaue out a great number of places that make for the reseruation of the sacrament which all make for this purpose if I would spende any tyme herein to declare it Tertulian Cyprian and Eusebius CROWLEY must beare vs downe with strong hand that sole receyuing of the sacrament hath bene vsed of lay men and women euen from the beginning of the church and yet none of them wrote within .200 yeres of Christs assention In the time of persecution when christians looked euery houre to be apprehended and tormented for Christes cause they vsed to come togither when they might with any quietnesse A vse inforced by persecution and did pray togither and communicate And not knowing whether euer they should méete agayne in such sort they vsed to take some part of the holy misteries home with them reseruing the same in reuerend maner that they might by the receyuing therof renewe in their memorie the thing that the holye mysteries doe plainely preache vnto vs which is our lincking togither into the felowship of members of one body and our euerlasting lyfe through Christ This doing of theires as it doth declare a distrust in their owne strength so it is not to be mislyked but as it doth declare to great a trust in the outwarde mysteries of Christ so it can not be of the godly wise well lyked When the Israelites sawe their owne inhabilitie to stande before their enimies 1 Regum 4. they sent for the Arcke of God that by the presence thereof they might be encouraged and made able to ouercome them but when they had it amongst them they were ouerthrowne with a greater slaughter than before and the Arcke of God wherein they trusted caried away from them by their enimies De Lapsis Sermone 5. And as it appeareth by that which you cite out of Cyprian God was not pleased with that womans doing In token whereof fyre flashed out of hir Chest when she hauing denyed Christ before for feare of torments went about to strengthen hir fayth agayne by receyuing that which she had reserued for such purpose But what shall these two examples make for your purpose which is to proue that priests may say Masse in secret Oratories and open Churches Watsons examples proue not his purpose receyuing all themselues and yet obserue the institution of Christ which by your owne confession is