it easely sene vpon how good grownde this doctrine standeth whereby it is affirmed that the bishop of Rome his Primacie hath his force by gods lawe and not onely by mannes lawe much lesse by vniust vsurpation The scriptures by which as well these as all other holy and learned fathers were leadde to acknowledge and confesse the Primacie of Peter and his successours were partly such as Anacletus and Gregorie here alleageth and Cyprian meaneth as it appeareth by his third treatise De simplicitate praelatorum and sundry mo of the newe testament as to the learned is knowen of which to treate here largely and piththely as the weight of the matter requyreth at this tyme I haue no leisure neither if I had yet myght I conueniently performe it in this treatise which otherwise will amount to a sufficiēt bignes and that matter throughly handeled will fill a right great volume Wherfore referring the readers to the credite of these worthy fathers who so vnderstoode the scriptures as thereof thei were persuaded the Primacie to be attributed to Peters successour by God him selfe I will procede keping my prefixed order The 2. proufe coūcelles Whereas the preeminence of power and auctoritie which to the bishop of Rome by speciall and singular priuiledge God hath graunted is commended to the worlde by many and sundry councelles for auoiding of tediousnesse I will rehearse the testimonies of a fewe Amonge the canons made by the three hundred and eighten bishops at the Nicene Councell which were in number 70. and all burnt by heretikes in the East church saue xx and yet the whole number was kepte diligently in the church of Rome in the originall it selfe sent to Syluester the bishop there from the councell subscribed with the said 318. fathers handes Vide Frācisc Turrianū lib. 3. charact dogmat the 44. canon which is of the power of the patriarke ouer the Metropolitanes and bishops and of the Metropolitane ouer bishops in the ende hath this decree Vt autem cunctis ditionis suae nationibus etc. As the patriarke beareth rule ouer all nations of his iurisdiction and geueth lawes to them and as Peter Christes vicare at the beginning sette in auctoritie ouer religion ouer the churches and ouer all other thinges perteining to Christ was Maister and ruler of christen princes prouinces and of all nations So he whose principalitie or chieftie is at Rome like vnto Peter and equall in auctoritie obteineth the rule and souerainetie ouer all patriakes After a sewe wordes it foloweth there If any man repine against this statute or dare resist it by the decree of the whole councell he is accursed Iulius that worthy bishop of Rome not long after the councell of Nice in his epistle that he wrote to the 90. Ariane bishops assembled in councell at Antioche against Athanasius bishop of Alexandria reprouing them for theire vniust treating of him saith of the canons of the Nicene councell then freshe in their remembrance that thei commaunde Non debere praeter sententiā Romani pontificis vllo modo concilia celebrari nec episcopos damnari That without the auctoritie of the Bishop of Rome neither Councelles ought to be kepte nor bishops condemned Againe that nothing be decreed without the Bishop of Rome Cui haec maiora ecclesiarum negotia tam ab ipso domino quà m ab omnibus vniuersorum conciliorum fratribus speciali priuilegio contradita sunt To whom these and other the weighty matters of the churches be committed by speciall priuiledge as well by our lord him selfe as by all oure brethren of the whole vniuersall councelles Among other principalle pointes which he reciteth in that epistle out of the Nicene councelles canōs this is one Vt omnes episcopi etc. That all bishops who susteine wronge in weighty causes so often as nede shall require make their appeale freely to the See Apostolike and flie to it for succour as to their mother that frō thence they may be charitably susteined defended and deliuered To the disposition of which See the auncient auctoritie of th'Apostles and their successours and of the canons hath reserued all weighty or great ecclesiasticall causes and iudgementes of bishops Athanasius and the whole companie of bishops of Egypte Thebaida and Libya assembled together in councell at Alexandria complaining in their epistle to Felix the Pope of the great iniuries and griefes they susteined at the Arianes alleageth the determination of the Nicene councell touching the supreme auctoritie and power of that See Apostolike ouer all other bishops Similiter à supradictis patribus est definitum consonanter etc. Likewise saie they it hath ben determined by common assent of the foresaide fathers of Nice that if any of the bishops suspecte the Metropolitane or theire felowbishops of the same prouince or the iudges that then they make their appeale to your holy See of Rome to whom by our lord him selfe power to binde and louse Matt. 16. by speciall priuiledge aboue other hath ben graunted This much alleaged out os the canōs of the Nicene councell gathered partly out of Iulius epistle who wrote to them that were present at the making of them which taketh awaye all suspicion of vntruth and partly out of Athanasius and others that were a great parte of the same councell For further declaration of this matter it were easy here to alleage the councell of Sardica the councell of Chalcedon Ca. 4. ca. 9 certaine councelles of Aphrica yea some councelles also holden by heretikes and sundry other but such store of auctorities commonly knowen these may suffise The Christen princes that ratified and confirmed with their proclamations and edictes The 3. proufe Edictes of Emperours the decrees of the canons concerning the Popes Primacie and gaue not to him first that auctoritie as the aduersaries doo vntruly reporte were Iustinian and Phocas the Emperours The wordes of Iustinianes edicte be these In authēt de Eccles tit Sancimus secundum canonum definitiones sanctissimum senioris Romae Papam primum esse omnium sacerdotum We ordeine according to the determinations of the canons that the most holy Pope of the elder Rome be formest and chiefe of all priestes About three score and ten yeres after Iustinian Phocas the Emperour in the tyme of Bonifacius to represse the arrogancie of the bishop of Constantinople Lib. 4. historiae lōgobardicae cap. 36. as Paulus Diaconus writeth who vainely and as Gregorie sayeth contrary to our lordes teachinges and the decrees of the canons and for that wickedly tooke vpon him the name of the vniuersall or oecumenicall bishop and wrote him selfe chiefe of all bishops made the like decree and ordinance that the holy See of the Romaine and Apostolike church shuld be holden for the head of all churches The 4. proufe doctoures Of the doctours what shall I say verely this matter is so often and so commonly reported of them that their sainges laide together would scantly be
in auncieÌ„t stories haue forsaken the church of Rome twelue tymes and haue ben reconcilied to the same againe Thus hauing declared the supreme auctoritie and primacie of the Pope by the common practise of the churche I nede not to shewe further how in all questions doubtes and controuersies touching faith and religion the See of Rome hath alwayes ben consulted how the decision of all doubtefull cases hath ben referred to the iudgement of that See and to be shorte how all the worlde hath euer fetched light from thence For the proufe whereof because it can not be here declared briefly I remitte the learned reader to the ecclesiasticall storyes where he shal fynde this matter amply treated Now for a briefe answere to M. Iuell who denieth that within six hundred yeres after Christ the bishop of Rome was euer called an vniuersall bishop or the head of the vniuersall church and maketh him selfe very suer of it Although it be a childish thing to sticke at the name any thing is called by the thing by the name signified being sufficiently proued yet to th' intent good folke may vnderstand that all is not truth of the olde gospell which our newe gospellers either affirme or denie The Pope aboue a thousand yeres sithens called vniuersall bishop and head of the vniuersall churthe I will bring good and sufficient witnes that the B. of Rome was then called both vniuersall bisâ—op or oecumenicall patriarke which is one to witte bishop or principall father of the whole world and also head of the church Leo that worthy B. of Rome was called the vniuersall Bishop and vniuersall patriarke of syx hundred and thirty fathers assembled together from all partes of the world in generall councell at Chalcedon Which is both expressed in that councell and also clearly affirmed by S. Gregory in three sundry epistles to Mauricius the Emperour to Eulogius Patriarke of Alexandria and to Anastasius Patriarke of Antioche Thus that name was deferred vnto the Pope by the fathers of that great councell which by them had not ben done had it ben vnlawfull In very dede neither Leo him selfe nor any other his successour euer called or wrote himselfe by that name as S. Gregorie sayeth much lesse presumed they to take it vnto them But rather vsed the name of humilitie calling them selues ech one Seruum seruorum Dei the seruant of the seruantes of God Yet sundry holy martyrs bishops of Rome vsed to calle them selues bishops of the vniuersall church which in effecte is the same as the fathers of Chalcedon vnderstoode So did Sixtus in the tyme of Adrianus the Emperour in his epistle to the bishops of all the world So dyd Victor writing to Theophilus of Alexandria So dyd Pontianus writing to all that beleued in Christ before 1300. yeres past So dyd Stephanus in his epistle to all bishops of all prouinces in the tyme of S. Cyprian And all these were before Constantine the great and before the councell of Nice which times our aduersaries acknowledge and confesse to haue ben without corruption The same title was vsed likewise after the Nicene councell by Felix by Leo and by diuerse others before the first six hundred yeres after Christ were expired Neither did the bishops of Rome vse this title and name onely theÌ„ selues to theire owne aduauncemeÌ„t as the aduersaries of the churche charge theÌ„ but they were honoured therewith also by others as namely InnoceÌ„tius by the fathers assembled in councell at Carthago and Marcus by Athanasius and the bishops of Egypte Head of the churche Concerning the other name Head of the church I meruell not a litle that M. Iuell denyeth that the bishop of Rome was then so called Either he doth contrary to his owne knowledge wherin he must nedes be condemned in his owne iudgement and of his owne coÌ„scieÌ„ce Peter and consequeÌ„tly the Pope Peters successour called head of the church both in termes equiualeÌ„t and also expresly Matth. 10. or he is not so well learned as of that syde he is thoughte to bee For who so euer traueileth in the reading of the auncient fathers findeth that name almost euery where attributed to Peter the first B. of Rome and coÌ„sequeÌ„tly to the successour of Peter that name I saie either in termes equiualeÌ„t or expressely First the scripture calleth Peter primuÌ„ the first among the Apostles The names of the twelue Apostles sayeth Matthew are these Primus Simon qui dicitur Petrus First Simon who is called Peter And yet was not Peter first called of Christ but his brother Androwe before him as is before saide Dionysius that auncient writer calleth Peter sometyme De diuinis nominibus c. 3. supremuÌ„ decus the highest honour for that he was most honorable of all the Apostles sometime summum sometime verticalem the chiefest and the highest Apostle Origen vpon the beginning of Iohn sayeth Let no man thinke that we set Iohn before Peter Who may fo doo for who shuld be higher of the Apostles then he Lib 1. epistola 3. who is and is called the toppe of them Cyprian calleth the church of Rome in consideration of that bishops supreme auctoritie Ecclesiam principaleÌ„ vnde vnitas sacerdotalis exorta est The principall or chiefe church froÌ„ whence the vnitie of priestes is spronge Eusebius Caesariensis speaking of Peter sent to Rome by gods prouidence to vanquish Simon Magus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calleth him potentissimum maximum Apostolorum reliquorum omnium principem the mightìest of power and greatest of the Apostles and prince of all the reste Augustine commonly calleth Peter primum apostolorum first or chiefe of the Apostles Hierome Ambrose Leo and other doctours Prince of the Apostles Chrysostome vpon the place of Iohn cap. 21. sequere me folowe me among other thinges sayeth thus Homil. 87 If any would demaunde of me how Iames tooke the see of Ierusalem that is to saie how he became bisshop there I would answere that this he meaneth Peter Maister of the whole worlde made him gouernour there In Matth. homil 55. Ierem. 1. And in an other place bringing in that God saide to Ieremie I haue set thee like an yron pillour and like a brasen walle But the father sayeth he made him ouer one natioÌ„ but Christ made this man meaning Peter ruler ouer the whole worlde etc. And least these places shuld seme to attribute this supreme auctoritie to Peter onely and not also to his successours it is to be remembred that Irenaeus and Cyprian acknowledge and call the churche of Rome chiefe and principall And Theodoritus in an epistle to Leo calleth the same in coÌ„sideration of the bishop of that See his primacie orbi terrarum praesideÌ„tem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 president or bearing rule ouer the worlde Ambrose vpon that place of Paul 1. Timoth. 3. where the church is called the pillour and staie of the truth saieth thus Cum totus mundus Dei sit ecclesia
councel Elibertine in the tyme of saint Syluester anno Domini 314. was renewed that all secular christē folke shuld be houseled three tymes euery yere at Easter Witsontide and Christmasse It was there also decreed that they shuld heare the whole Masse euery Sunnedaye and not departe before the priest had geuen blessing So they were bownde to heare Masse euery Sunnedaye and to receiue the cōmunion but thrise in the yere The selfe same order was decreed in the b De cōse dist 1. cū ad celebrā das Missas Councell of Orleance Then of like specially in small townes and villages they had Masse without the communion of many together some tymes In that Councell of Agatha we fynde a decree made by the fathers assembled there whereof it appeareth that priestes oftetymes sayd Masse with out others receiuing with them And this much it is in English Cap. 21. If any man will haue and oratorie or chappell abroade in the countrie beside the parrish churches in which laufull and ordinarie assemble is for the rest of the holydayes that he haue Masses there in consideration of weerynesse of the household with iust ordinance we permitte But at Easter Christes Birth Epiphanie the Ascension of our lord Witsunnedaye and Natiuitie of Saint Iohn Baptist and if therebe any other speciall feastes let them not kepe their Masses but in the cities and parishes And as for the clerkes if any will doo or haue their Masses at the a fore sayde feastes in chappelles onlesse the bishop so cōmaunde or permitte let them be thrust out from commnion By this decree we learne that then Masses were commonly sayd in priuat chappelles at home at such tymes as the people were not accustomed to be howseled For when by commaundemēt and cōmon order they receiued their rightes as in the afore named feastes then were the priestes prohibited to saye Masses in priuate oratories or chappelles with out the parish churches And hereof we may plainely vnderstand that in such places priestes customeably sayde Masses of their owne and of the householders deuotion when none of the household were disposed to receiue with them The like decree is to be fownde Cōcilij Aruernensis cap. 14. Concil Constantinop generalis in Trullo cap. 31. Now let vs see what examples of the olde fathers we haue for the priuate Masse Leontius a Greke bishop of a Cirie in the East Churche called Neapolis writing the lyfe of Saint Iohn the holy Patriarke of Alexandria who for his great charitie was cōmonly called eleemosynarius that is th'almose geuer telleth this story whereby it appeareth that at that tyme priuate Masse was vsed Though the translatour through ignorance of the tyme he lyued in tourned this lyfe in to latine of meane eloquēce yet for truthes sake I will not let to recite that which I take for my purpose as I fynde it Malitiam reseruantem quendam industrium contra alium principem audiens hic Magnus Ioannes monuit eum saepè suasit ad concordiam non potuit eum conuertere ad pacem Semel ergo ad eum mittit adducit eum sanctus quasi pro republica facit missas in oratorio suo nullum habens secum nisi ministrum suum Cum ergo sancta benedixisset Patriarcha orationem Dominicam inchoasset coeperūt dicere tantum tres illi Pater noster Et cum peruenissent ad sermonem quo dicitur Dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris Innuit domestico Patriarcha vt taceret Siluit ergo Patriarcha remansit Princeps solus dicens versum dimitte nobis sicut nos dimittimus Et statim conuersus sanctus dicit ei mansueta voce Vide in quà m terribili voce dicas Deo quoniam sicut ego dimitto ita tu dimitte mihi Et tanquā ab igne statim cruciatū ferens praedictus princeps cecidit in faciem ad pedes sancti dicens Quaecunque iusseris domine fafaciet seruus tuus Et reconciliatus est inimico suo cum omni veritate This story soundeth thus in English This great patriarke Iohn hearing that a noble man bare malice to an other noble man warned him oftentymes of it and treated with him to be at accorde but he could not bring him to be at peace Wherefore on a daye this holy father sent for the noble man and causeth him to come to him as though it were about some matter of the common weale At that tyme he sayeth Masse in his chappell hauing none other body with him but his seruant When the Patriarke had consecrated the sacrament and had begonne to saye our lordes prayer they three onely begonne to saye Our father and so foorth When they were come to those wordes Forgeue vs our trespasses as we forgeue them that trespasse against vs the Patriarke made a becke to his seruant to holde his peace then the Patriarke held his peace also and the noble man remained alone saying foorth the verse Forgeue vs as we forgeue Then the holy father tourning him selfe toward him by and by sayeth with a milde voice Cōsider with how terrible wordes thou sayest to God that as I forgeue so sorgeue thou me also Whereat the sayde noble man as though he had felt the torment of fyer foorth with fell downe on his face at the holy fathers feete saying My lord what so euer thou byddest me thy seruant to doo I will doo it And so he was reconciled vnto his enemie with out all dissembling Here M. Iuell I trowe will grawnt that this was a priuate Masse The place was priuate the audiēce not publike nor cōmon the purpose touching the noble man was priuate The cōmunion also priuate I meane for the patriarkes parte alone for besyde that the story maketh no mention of any other communicantes he could not be assured of that noble man to cōmunicate with him For whereas he could by no meanes before bring him to forgeue his enemie he had but a small coniecture he shuld bring it to passe now And agayne though he had conceiued no distrust of his reconciliation vpon this holy policie yet we may doubte whether the patriarke foorth with with out further and more mature probation and examination which Saint Paul in this case requireth 1. Cor. 11. would haue admitted him to receiue our lordes body so vpon the suddeine Now for the seruant it is a streight case that so holy and so great a Patriake and bishop of so populouse a citie as Alexandria was vnderstanding that Masse can not be celebrated with out breach of Christes Institution as M. Iuell holdeth opinion excepte he haue a number to communicate with him in the same place shuld haue none of his spiritual flocke with him at so weightie a matter of conscience but one onely and him his owne houshold seruant He was not so simple as not to thinke that the seruant might be letted from receiuing by some
bread which Christ there tooke blessed brake and gaue to them was not simple and common bread but the Sacrament of the bodye and bloude of Christ For so a In MatthaeuÌ„ homil 17. Chrysostome b De consensu EuaÌ„gelist li. 3. cap. 25. Augustine c In Luc. Bede and d In LucaÌ„ Act. 2. Theophylacte with one accorde doo witnesse It appeareth also that the communion vnder one kynde was vsed at Ierusalem among christes disciples by that S. Luke writeth in the Actes of the Apostles of the breaking of the bread If M. Iuell here thinke to auoyde these places by their accustomed figure synecdoche among his owne secte happely it may be accepted but among men of right and learded iudgement that shifte will seme ouer weake and vaine Now to conclude touching the sixth chapter of S. Ihon as thereof they can bring no one worde mentioning the cuppe or wyne for proufe of their bothe kyndes so it sheweth and not in very obscure wise that the forme of breade alone is sufficient where as Christ sayeth Qui manducat panem hunc viuet in aeternum He that eateth this bread shall lyue for euer Thus oure aduersaries haue nothing to bring out of the scriptures against the vse of the catholike churche in ministring the communion vnder one kynde And yet they cease not crying out vpon the breache of christes expresse commaundement and M. Iuell for his parte in his first answere to D. Cole sayeth that the councell of Constance pronounced openly against Christ him selfe But for as much as they are so hote in this pointe I will send them to Martin Luther him selfe their patriarke that either by his sobrietie in this matter they may be some what colded or by his and his scolers incoÌ„stancie herein be brought to be a shamed of them selues Though the places be well knowen as oftentymes cited of the catholike writers of oure tyme against the gospellers yet here I thinke good to rehearse them that the vnlearned may see how them selues make not so greate a matter of this Article as some seme to beare the people in hand it is Luther wryteth to them of Bohemia these very wordes Quoniam pulchrum quidem esset Luther and his ofspryng doth not necessitate Communion vnder both kyndes vtraque specie eucharistiae vti Christus hac in re nihil tanquam necessarium praecepit praestaret pacem vnitatem quam Christus vbique praecepit sectari quam de speciebus SacrameÌ„ti coÌ„tendere Whereas it were a fayre thinge sayeth he to vse bothe kyndes of the sacrament yet for that Christ herein hath commaunded nothing as necessary it were better to kepe peace and vnitie which Christ hath euery where charged vs withall then to striue for the outward kyndes of the sacrament Agayne his wordes be these in a declaration that he wrote of the sacrament Non dixi neque consului neque est intentio mea vt vnus aut aliquot Episcopi propria authoritate alicui incipiant vtramque speciem porrigere nisi ita constitueretur mandaretur in concilio generali Neither haue I sayde nor counsailed nor my minde is that any one or moe bishops begynne by their owne auctoritie to geue bothe kyndes of the sacrameÌ„t to any person onlesse it were so ordeined and coÌ„maunded in generall councell Thus he wrote before that he had conceiued perfite hatred against the church Of his coÌ„ference vvith the deuill he vvriteth libello de Missa angulari But after that he had ben better acquainted with the deuill and of him appearing vnto him sensibly had ben instructed with argumentes against the sacrifice of the Masse that the memorie of oure redemption by Christ wrought on the crosse might vtterly be abolyshed he wrote hereof farre otherwise Si quo casu concilium statueret minimè omnium nos vellemus vtraque specie potiri imò tunc primuÌ„ in despectum concilij vellemus aut vna aut neutra nequaquaÌ„ vtraque potiri eos planè anathema habere quicuÌ„que talis coÌ„cilij auctoritate potirentur vtraque If in any case the councell would so ordeyne we would in no wise haue bothe the kyndes but euen then in dispite of the councell we would haue one kynde or neither of them and in no wise bothe and holde them for accurfed who so euer by auctoritie of such a councell would haue bothe These wordes declare what sprite Luther was of They shewe him lyke him selfe Who so euer readeth his bookes with indifferent iudgement shall fynde that sythens the Apostles tyme neuer wrote man so arrogaÌ„tly ne so dispitefully against the churche nor so contraryly to him selfe Which markes be so euident that who so euer will not see them but suffreth him selfe to be caried a waye in to errour hatred of the church and contempte of all godlynes either by him or by his scolers except he repent and retourne he is gyltie of his owne damnation vtterly ouerthrowen Tit. 3. and synneth inexcusably as one condemned by his owne iudgement But for excuse hereof in his booke of the captiuitie of Babylon he confesseth that he wrote thus not for that he thought so nor for that he iudged the vse of one kynde vnlawfull but because he was stirred by hatred and anger so to doo His wordes doo sounde so much plainely Prouocatus imò per vim raptus I wrote this sayeth he otherwise then I thought in my harte prouoked and by violence pulled to it whether I would or no. Here I doubte not but wise men will regarde more that Luther wrote when his minde was quiet and calme then when it was enraged with blustering stormes of naughty affections Now to put this matter that Luther iudged it a thing indifferent whether one receiue the sacrament vnder one kynde or bothe more out of doubte Philip MelaÌ„chthon his scoler and nearest of his counsell wryteth Sicut edere suillam aut abstinere a suilla In locis coÌ„munibus sic alterutra signi parte vti mediuÌ„ esse That as it is a thing indiffereÌ„t to eate swines fleshe or to forbeare swines fleshe so it is also to vse which parte of the signe a man lysteth By the word signe he meaneth the Sacrament lyking better that straunge word then the accustomed word of the churche leaste he might perhaps be thought of the brethren of his secte in some what to ioyne with the catholikes Bucer also is of the same opinion who in the conference that was had betwene the catholikes and protestantes for agreement in controuersies of Religion at Ratisbone confirmed and allowed this article by his full consent with these wordes Ad controuersiam quae est de vna aut vtraque specie tollendam cum primis conducturum vt sancta Ecclesia liberam faceret potestatem sacramentum hoc in vna vel in vtraque specie sumendi Ea tamen lege â—r nulli per hoc detur occasio quem vsum tantopere retinuit Ecclesia
Gelasius went about to spredde their heresie in Rome and in the parties of Italie Their hereticall opinion was that Christ tooke not oure fleshe and bloude but that he had a phaÌ„tasticall bodye and dyed not ne rose agayne trulye and in dede but by waye of phantasie And therefore at the communion they absteined from the cuppe and the better to cloke their heresie came to receiue the Sacrament in the forme of breade with other catholike people Against whom Leo sayeth thus Serm. 4. de quadra gesima Abdicant enim se sacramento salutis nostrae etc. They dryue theÌ„ selues awaye from the Sacrament of oure saluation And as they denye that Christ oure lorde was borne in truth of oure fleshe so they beleue not that he dyed and rose agayne truly And for this cause they condemne the daye of oure saluation and gladnes that is the sunnedaye to be their sadde fastinge daye And where as to cloke theire infidelitie they dare to be at oure mysteries they temper them selues so in the communion of the Sacramentes as in the meane tyme they may the more safely kepe them priuye With vnworthy mowth they receiue Christes bodye but to drinke the bloude of oure redemption vtterly they will none of it Which thing we would aduertise your holynes of that bothe such men maye be manifested by these tokens vnto you and also that they whose deuilish simulatioÌ„ and fayning is fownde being brought to light and bewrayed of the felowship of saintes maye be thrust out of the churche by priestly auctoritie Thus farre be Leo his wordes Gelasius that succeded fourty yeres after Leo imployed no lesse diligence then he dyd vtterly to vanquish and abolish that horrible heresie of whom Platina wryteth that he banished so many maniches as were fownde at Rome and there openlye burned their bookes And because this heresie shuld none elles where take roote and springe he wrote an epistle to Maiâ—ricus and Ioannes two bisshops amongest other thinges warning them of the same Out of which epistle this fragment onely is taken whereby he doth bothe briefly shewe what the Maniches dyd for cloking of their infidelitie as Leo sayeth and also in as muche as their opinion was that Christes bodye had not verye bloude as being phantasticall onely and therefore superstitiously absteined froÌ„ the cuppe of that holy bloude geueth charge and commaundement that either forsaking their heresie they receiue the whole Sacramentes to witte vnder bothe kyndes or that they be kepte from them wholy Here the wordes of Leo afore mentioned and this canon of Gelasius conferred together specially the storye of that tyme knowen it may sone appeare to any Iuell Or that the people had their commen prayers then in a straunge tonge that they vnderstoode not Of the Church Seruice in learned tonges vvhich the vnlearned people in olde tyme in sundry places vnderstoode not ARTICLE III. IF you meane Maister Iuell by the peoples common prayers such as at that tyme they commonly made to God in priuate deuotion I thinke they vttered them in that tonge which they vnderstoode and so doo Christen people now for the most parte and it hath neuer ben reproued by any catholike doctour But if by the common prayers you meane the publike Seruice of the churche whereof the most parte hath ben pronounced by the bishops priestes deacoÌ„s and other ecclesiasticall ministres the people to sundry partes of it saying Amen or otherwise geuing their assent I graunt some vnderstoode the language thereof and some vnderstoode it not I meane for the tyme you referre vs vnto euen of syx hundred yeres after Christes conuersation here in earth For about nyne hundred yeres past it is certaine the people in some countries had their Seruice in an vnknowen tonge as it shall be proued of our owne countrie of England But to speake first of antiquitie and of the compasse of your first syx hundred yeres it is euident by sundry auncient recordes bothe of doctours and of councelles specially of the councell Laodicene in Phrygia Pacatiana holden by the bishops of the lesser Asia about the yere of our lord 364. that the Greke churches had solemne Seruice in due order and forme set forth with exacte distinction of psalmes and lessons of houres dayes feastes and tymes of the yere of silence and open pronouncing of geuing the kisse of peace to the bishop first by the priestes then by the laye people of offering the Sacrifice of the only ministers coÌ„ming to the aulter to receiue the communion with diuerse other semely obseruations As for the Latine churches they had their prayers and Seruice also but in such fixed order long after the Grekes For Damasus the Pope first ordeyned that psalmes shuld be longe in the churche of Rome alternatim enterchaungeably or by course so as now we sing them in the quyere and that in the ende of euery psalme shuld be sayde Gloria Patri Filio Spiritui sancto sicut erat etc. Which he caused to be done by counsell of S. Hierome In rescripto Hieronymi ad 2. epist Damasi Papae ad HieronymuÌ„ presbyterum that the faith of the 318. bishops of the Nicene councell might with like felowship be declared in the mowthes of the Latines To whom Damasus wrote by Bonifacius the priest to Ierusalem that Hierom would send vnto him psallentiam Graecorum the maner of synging of the Grekes so as he had learned the same of Alexander the bishop in the East In that epistle complayning of the simplicitie of the Romaine churche he sayeth that there was in the Sunnedaye but one epistle of the Apostle and one chapter of the Gospell rehearsed and that there was no synging with the voice hearde nor the comelynes of hymnes knowen among them About the same tyme S. Ambrose also tooke order for the Seruice of his churche of Millane and made holy hymnes him selfe Lib. ConfessionuÌ„ In whose tyme as S. Augustine writeth when Iustina the young Emperour Valentinians mother for cause of her heresie wherewith she was seduced by the Arianes persecuted the catholike faith and the people thereof occupied them selues in deuoute watches more then before tyme ready to dye with their bishop in that quarell it was ordeyned that hymnes and psalmes shuld be song in the churche of Millane after the maner of the east parties that the good folke thereby might haue some comfort and spirituall reliefe in that lamentable state and continuall sorowes Thereof the churches of the West forthwith tooke example and in euery countrie they folowed the same In his seconde booke of Retractations Cap. 11. he sheweth that in his tyme such maner of synging began to be receiued in Aphrica Before this tyme had Hilarius also the bishop of Poiters in Fraunce made hymnes for that purpose of which S. Hierom maketh mention In 2. prooemio coÌ„mentariorum epist ad Galat. Much might be alleaged for proufe of hauing Seruice in the Greke and in the
comprised within a great volume The recitall of a fewe shall here geue a taste as it were of the whole and so suffise Lib. 3. c. 3. Irenaeus hauing much praised the church of Rome at length vttereth these wordes by which the souerainetie therof is confessed Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem conuenire ecclesiam hoc est eos qui vndique sunt fideles To this church of Rome it is necessary all the church that is to say all that be faithfull any where to repaire and come together for the mightier principalitie of the same that is to witte for that it is of greater power and auctoritie then other churches and the principallest of all Androw folowed our Sauiour before that Peter dyd tamen primatum non accepit Andreas sed Petrus and yet Androw receiued not the Primacie but Peter In 2. Corinth 12. sayeth Ambrose In the epistle of Athanasius and the bishops of Egipte to Liberius the Pope in which they sue for helpe against the oppressions of the Arianes we fynde these wordes Huius rei gratia vniuersalis vobis à Christo Iesu commissa est ecclesia etc. Euen for this cause the vniuersall church hath ben committed to you of Christ Iesus that you shuld trauaile for all and not be negligent to helpe euery one Luc. 11. for whyles the stronge man being armed kepeth his house all thinges that he possesseth are in peace Hilarius speaking much to th'extolling of Peter and his successour in that See sayeth De Trinita lib. 6. Supereminentem beatae fidei suae confessione locum promeruit Matt. 16. that for the confession of his blessed faith he deserued a place of preeminence aboue all other S. Ambros confessing him selfe to beleue that the largenesse of the Romaine Empire was by gods prouidence prepared that the gospell might haue his course and be spredde abrode the better sayeth thus of Rome De vocatione gētium li. 2. cap. 6. Quae tamen per Apostolici sacerdotij principatum amplior facta est arce religionis quà m solio potestatis Which for all that hath ben aduaunced more by the chieftie of the Apostolike priesthod in the tower of Religion then in the throne of temporall power Saint Augustine in his 162. epistle sayeth In Ecclesia Romana semper apostolicae cathedrae viguit principatus The primacie or principalitie of the Apostolike chaier Lib. 1. cōtra 2. epistolas Pelagianorum ad Bonifaciū cap. 1. Quamuis ipse in eo preemi◠celsiore fastigio speculae pastoralis Lib. 2. de baptismo cōtrà Donatistas hath euermore ben in force in the Romaine church The same saint Augustine speaking to Bonifacius Bishop of Rome this care sayeth he complaining of the Pelagians is common to vs all that haue the office of a bishop albe it therein thou thy selfe hast the preeminence ouer all being on the toppe of the pastorall watchetower In an other place he hath these wordes Caeterum magis vereri debeo ne in Petrum contumeliosus existam Quis enim nescit illum apostolatus principatum cuilibet episcopatui praeferendum But I ought rather to be afraied least I be reprochefull towarde Peter For who is he that knoweth not that that principalitie of Apostleship is to be preferred before any bishoprike that is An other most euidēt place he hath in his booke De vtilitate credendi Cap. 17. ad Honoratum Cum tantum auxilium Dei etc. Whereas sayeth he we see so great helpe of God so great profite and fruite shall we stande in doubte whether we may hide our selues in the lappe of that church which though heretikes barke at it in vaine rownde about condemned partly by the iudgement of the people them selues Culmen auctoritatis obtinuit Cui primas dare nolle vel summae profecto impietatis est vel praecipitis arrogantiae Cōtrà Luciferianos partly by the sadnes of Councelles and partly by the maiestie of miracles euen to the confession of mankynde from the Apostolike See by successions of bishops hath obteined the toppe or highest degree of auctoritie to which church if we will not geue and graunt the Primacie soothly it is a point either of most high wickednes or of hedlong arrogancie The notable saying of S. Hierome may not be let passe Ecclesiae salus à summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes The saftie of the church hangeth of the worship of the high Priest he meaneth the Pope Peters successour to whom if there be not geuen a power peerelesse and surmonting all others in the churches we shall haue so many schismes as there be priestes There is an epistle of Theodoritus bishop of Cyrus extāt in greke written to Leo bishop of Rome Wherein we finde a worthy witnes of the Primacie of the See Apostolike His wordes may thus be englished If Paul sayeth he the preacher of truth and trumpet of the holy ghoste ranne to Peter to bring from him a determination and declaration for them who at Antioche were in argument and contention concerning lyuing after Moyses lawe much more wee who are but small and vile shall runne vnto your throne Apostolike that of you we may haue salue for the sores of the churches there folowe these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est per omnia enim vobis conuenit primas tenere that is to saye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 5 proufe Reason For in all thinges perteining to faith or religion so he meaneth it is meete that you haue the chiefe dooinges or that you haue the Primacie For your high seate or throne is endewed with many prerogatiues and priuileges Now let vs see whether this chiefe auctoritie may be fownde necessary by reason That a multitude which is in it selfe one can not continewe one onlesse it be conteined and holden in by one bothe learned philosophers haue declared and the common nature of thinges teacheth For euery multitude of their owne nature goeth a sunder in to many and from an other it cometh that it is one and that it contineweth one And that whereof it is one and is kepte in vnion or onenesse it is necessary that it be one elles that selfe also shall nede the helpe of an other that it bee one For which cause that saying of Homere was alleaged by Aristotle as most notable It is not good to haue many rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let one be ruler Whereby is meant that pluralitie of soueraine rulers is not fitte to conteine and kepe vnitie of a multitude of subiectes Therefore sith that the churche of Christ is one for as there is one faith one baptisme one calling so there is one churche yea all we are one body and membres one of an other as S. Paul sayeth and in our Crede we all professe to
whole state and condition of the church in all ages In which stories the practise of the church is plainely reported to haue ben such as thereby the Primacie of Peters successour may seeme to all men sufficiētly declared For perusing the ecclesiasticall stories with writinges of the fathers besyde many other thinges perteining hereto we finde these practises for declaration of this speciall auctoritie and power First that bishops of euery nation haue made their appeale in their weighty affaires to the Pope and allwayes haue sued to the See Apostolike as well for succour and helpe against violence iniuries oppressions as for redresse of other disorders Also that the malice of wicked persons hath ben repressed and chastised of that auctoritie by excommunication eiection and expulsion out of their dignities and romes and by other censures of the church Furthermore that the ordinations and elections of bishops of all prouinces haue ben confirmed by the Pope Beside this that the approuing and disalowing of councelles haue perteined to him Item that bishops wrongfully cōdemned and depriued by councelles by him haue ben assoiled and restored to their churches againe Lastly that bishops and patriarkes after longe strifes and contentions haue at length vpon better aduise ben reconcilied vnto him againe First Appellations the Pope for the appellation of bishops to the See Apostolike beside many oher we haue the knowen examples of Athanasius that worthy bishop of Alexandria and lighte of the worlde who hauing susteined great and fundry wronges at the Arianes appealed first to Iulius the Pope and after his death to Felix of Chrisostome who appealed to Innocentius against the violence of Theophilus of Theodoritus who appealed to Leo. Neither made bishops onely their appeale to the Pope by their delegates but also in certaine cases being cited appeared before him in their owne persons Which is plainely gathered of Theodoritus his ecclesiasticall storye who writeth thus Eusebius bishop of Nicomedia who was the chiefe pillour of the Arianes and they that ioyned with him in that factiō falsly accused Athanasius to Iulius the B. of Rome Iulius folowing the ecclesiasticall rule commaunded them to come to Rome and caused the reuerent Athanasius to be cited to iudgement regulariter after the order of the canōs He came The false accusers went not to Rome knowing righte well that theire forged lye might easely be deprehended In the cause and defence of Ihon Chrysostome these bishops came from Constantinople to Innocentius the Pope Pansophus B. of Pisidia Pappus of Syria Demetrius of the seconde Galatia and Eugenius of Phrygia These were suters for Chrysostome He him selfe treated his matter with Innocentius by writing In his epistle among other thinges he writeth thus Least this outragious confusion runne ouer all and beare rule euery where write I pray you and determine by your auctoritie such wicked actes done in our absence and when we withdrewe not our selues from iudgement to be of no force as by theire owne nature truly they be voied and vtterly none Furthermore who haue committed these euilles put you them vnder the censure of the church And as for vs sith that we are innocent neither conuicte neither fownde in any defaulte nor proued gyltie of any crime geue commaundement that we be restored to our churches agayne that we may enioye the accustomed charitie and peace with our brethren Innocentius after that he vnderstoode the whole matter pronounced and decreed the iudgement of Theophilus that was against Chrysostome to be voyed and of no force This whole tragedie is at large set forth by Palladius B. of Helenopolis in vita Ioannis Chrysostomi who lyued at that tyme. By this appeale of Chrysostome and by the whole handeling of the matter and specially by the purporte of his epistle to Innocētius the superioritie of the Pope is euidently acknowleged And so is it plainely confessed by Athanasius and the bishops of Egipte Thebais and Libya assembled in councell at Alexandria by these wordes of their epistle to Felix Vestrū est enim nobis manum porrigere etc. It is your parte saie they to stretche forth your helping hāde vnto vs because we are committed vnto you It is your parte to defende vs and deliuer vs it is our parte to seeke helpe of you and to obey your commaundementes And a litle after For we knowe that you beare the cure and charge of the vniuersall church and specially of bishops who in respecte of their cōtemplation and speculation are called the eyes of our lord as alwaies the prelates of your See first the Apostles then theire successours haue done Theodoritus that learned B. of Cyrus besyde the epistle he wrote to Leo for succour and helpe in his troubles in an other that he wrote to Renatus a priest neare about Leo sayeth thus Spoliarunt me sacerdotio etc. They haue violently robbed me of my bishoprike they haue caste me foorth of the cities neither hauing reuerenced myne age spente in religiō nor my hoare heares Wherefore I beseche thee that thou persuade the most holy Archebishop he meaneth Leo to vse his apostolike auctoritie and to commaunde vs to come vnto your councell or consistorie For this holy See holdeth the rudther and hath the gouernement of the churches of the whole worlde partly for other respectes but specially for that it hath euermore cōtinewed cleare frō stintche of heresie and that none euer sate in it who was of contrary opiniō but rather hath euer kepte the apostolike grace vndefyled In which wordes of Theodoritus this is chiefly to be marked that the holy See of Rome as he sayeth hath the gouernement of the churches of all the worlde most for this cause that it was neuer infected with heresie as all other churches fownded by the Apostles were For which cause that See hath euer hitherto of all christen nations and now also ought to be hearde and obeyed in all pointes of faith For that See though it hath failed sometymes in charitie and hath ben in case as it might truly saye the wordes of the gospell spoken by the foolishe virgins Matth. 25. our lampes be without lighte yet it neuer failed in faith as Theodoritus witnesseth and S. Augustine affirmeth the same Which speciall grace and singulare priuiledge is to be imputed vnto the prayer of Christ by which he obteined of God for Peter and his successours Euill lyfe of the B. of Rome ought not to seuer vs frō the faith of the churche of Rome that their faith shuld not fayle Therfore the euill lyfe of the bishops of Rome ought not to withdrawe vs from beleuing and folowing the doctrine preached and taughte in the holy churche of Rome For better credite hereof that is earnestly to be considered which S. Augustine writeth epistola 165. where after that he hath rehearsed in order all the Popes that succeded Peter euen to him that was Pope in his tyme he sayeth thus In illum ordinem episcoporum etc. In to that rewe of
perhappes that had ben done by cōmaundement of Mauritius the Emperour who did many other thinges wickedly thereof writeth to Constantina the Emperesse thus Salonitanae ciuitatis episcopus me ac responsali meo nesciente ordinatus est Et facta est res quae sub nullis anterioribus principibus euenit The bishop of the citie of Salonae sayeth he is ordered neither I nor my depute made priuye to it And herein that thing hath ben done which neuer happened in the tyme of any princes before our daies Thus it appeareth that before a thousand yeres past bishops had their ordination and election confirmed by the See Apostolike The Popes approuing of coūcelles That the bishops of Rome by accustomed practise of the church had auctoritie to approue or disproue councelles I nede to saye nothing for prouse of it Li. 4. c. 19. seing that the ecclesiasticall rule as we reade in the Tripartite storie commaundeth that no councell be celebrate and kepte without the aduise and auctoritie of the Pope Verely the councelles holden at Ariminum at Seleucia at Sirmium at Antiochia and at the seconde tyme at Ephesus for that they were not summoned nor approued by the auctoritie of the B. of Rome haue not ben accompted for laufull councelles but as well for that reiected as also for their hereticall determinatiōs The fathers assembled in the councell of Nice sent their epistle to Siluester the Pope beseching him with his consent to ratifie and confirme Quas Romana suscipiēs cōfirmauit Ecclesia In praefatione Niceni concilij what so euer they had ordeined Isidorus witnesseth that the Nicene councell had set forth rules the which sayeth he the church of Rome receiued and confirmed The second generall councell holden at Constantinople was likewise allowed and approued by Damasus specially requested by the fathers of the same thereto So was the third councell holden at Ephesus ratified and confirmed by Celestinus who had there for his vicares or deputes Cyrillus the famouse B. of Alexandria and one Arcadius a bishop out of Italie As for the fouerth councell kepte at Chalcedon the fathers thereof also in their epistle to Leo the Pope subscribed with the handes of 44. bishops made humble requeste vnto him to establish fortifie and allowe the decrees and ordinances of the same This being fownde true for the fower first chiefe councelles we nede not to say any thinge of the rest that folowed But for the suer proufe of all this that chiefly is to be alleaged that Constantius the Arian Emperour made so importune and so earnest sute to Liberius the Pope to confirme the actes of the councell holden at Antioche by the 90. Ariane bishops wherein Athanasius was depriued and put out of his bishoprike For he beleved as Ammianus Marcellinus writeth Lib. 15. that what had ben done in that councell shuld not stande and take effecte onlesse it had ben approued and confirmed by the auctoritie of the B. of Rome which he termeth the eternall citie Now what auctoritie the bishops of Rome haue euer had and exercised in the assoiling of bishops vniustly condemned Absolutiōs from the Pope and in restoring of them againe to their churches of which they were wrongfully thruste out by heretikes or other disorder it is a thing so well knowen of all that reade the stories in which the auncient state of the church is described that I nede not but rehearse the names onely Athanasius of Alexandria and Paulus of Constantinople depriued and thrust out of their bishoprikes by the violence of the Arianes assisted with the Emperour Constantius appealed to Rome to Iulius the Pope and bishop there and by his auctoritie were restored to their romes againe So Leo assoiled Flauianus the B. of Constantinople excommunicated by Dioscorus So Nicolaus the first restored Ignatius to the see of Constantinople though Michael the Emperour wroughte all that he could against it Many other bishops haue ben in all ages assoiled and restored to their churches by the auctoritie of the See Apostolike who haue ben without deserte excommunicated depriued and put from all their dignities But to haue rehearsed these fewe it may suffise Concerning the reconciliation of the prelates of the church both bishops and patriarkes to the B. of Rome Reconciliatiōs to the Pope wherby his primacie is acknowleged and cōfessed I nede not say much the matter being so euident After that the whole churches of Aphrica had continewed in schisme and withdrawen them selues from the obedience of the See Apostolike through the entisement of Aurelius archebishop of Carthago for the space of one hundred yeres during which tyme by gods punishment they came in to captiuitie of the barbarous and cruell Vandales who were Arians at the length when it pleased God of his goodnes to haue pitie on his people of that prouince sending them Bellisarius the valiant capitaine that vanquished and destroyed the Vandales and likewyse Eulalius that godly archebishop of Carthago that brought the churches home againe and ioyned the diuided members vnto the whole body the catholike church A publike instrument conteining the forme of their repentance and of their humble submission was offered and exhibited solemly to Bonifacius the second then Pope by Eulalius in the name of that whole prouince which was ioyfully receiued and he thereupon forthwith reconciled Of this reconciliation and restoring of the Affricane churches to the catholike church the mysticall body of Christ Bonifacius writeth his letters to Eulalius bisshop of Thessalonica requiring him with the churches there about to geue almighty God thankes for it But here if I would shewe what bishops diuiding them selues through heresie schisme or other enormitie from the obedience of the See of Rome haue vpon better aduise submitted them selues to the same againe and thereupon haue ben reconciled I had a large field to walke in As inferiour bishops of sundry prouinces haue done it so haue the great patriarkes done likewise Among them that to satisfie the maliciouse mynde of Eudoxia the Emperesse practised their wicked conspiracie against Chrysostome through which he was deposed and caried awaye in to banishment Alexander B. of Antioche and primate of the orient was one who at length strooken with repentance for that he had ben both a cōsenter and a promotour of that wicked acte submitted him selfe humby to Innocētius the Pope and by all meanes sought to be assoiled and reconciled And therfore sent his legates to Rome to exhibite to Innocentius a solemne instrumēt of his repentāce and lowly submission and to accepte what shuld be enioyned By which his hūblenes Innocētius moued graunted to his petitions receiued him in to the lappe of the catholike church againe and thus was he reconciled Sundry the like reconciliations of the patriarkes of Alexandria and Ierusalem to the See of Rome in like cases might easely be recited which for auoiding of tediousnesse I passe ouer as likewise of the patriarkes of Constantinople which as we reade
est corpore Christi etc. This is that we saye sayeth he which by all meanes we go about to proue that the Sacrifice of the church is made of two thinges and cōsisteth of two thinges of the visible shape of the elemētes which are breade and wine and the inuisible fleshe and bloude of our lord Iesus Christ of the Sacrament that is the outward signe and the thinge of the sacrament to witte of the body of Christ etc. By this we vnderstand that this word Sacrament is of the fathers two waies taken First for the whole substance of the Sacrament as it consisteth of the outward formes and also with all of the very body of Christ verely present as saint Augustine sayeth the Sacrifice of the Church to cōsist of these two Secondly it is taken so as it is distincte from that hydden and diuine thing of the Sacrament that is to saye for the outward formes onely which are the holy signe of Christes very body present vnder them conteined Hovv the fathers are to be vnderstāded callīg the Sacrament a figure signe token etc. Whereof we must gather that when so euer the fathers doo call this most excellent Sacrament a figure or a signe they would be vnderstanded to meane none otherwise then of those outward formes and not of Christes body it selfe which is there present not typically or figuratiuely but really and substātially onlesse perhaps respecte be had not to the body it selfe present but to the maner of presence as sometymes it happeneth So is Saint Basile to be vnderstanded in Liturgia calling the sacrament antitypon that is a sampler or à figure and that after cōsecration as the copies that be now abroade bee founde to haue So is Eustathius to be taken that great learned father of the Greke churche who so constantly defended the catholike faith against the Arians cited of Epiphanius in 7. Synodo Albe it concerning S. Basile E◠4. c. 14. in caput Matth. 26 Damascen and Euthymius likewise Epiphanius in the second Nicene councell actione 6. and Marcus Ephesius who was present at the councell of Florence would haue that place so to be taken before consecration As S. Ambrose also calling it a figure of our lordes body and bloud lib. 4. de sacram cap. 5. And if it appeare straunge to any man that S. Basile shuld call those holy mysteries antitypa after consecration let him vnderstand that this learned father thought good by that word to note the great secrete of that mysterie and to shewe a distincte condition of present thinges from thinges to come And this consideration the church semeth to haue had which in publike prayer after holy mysteries receiued maketh this humble petitiō vt quae nunc specie gerimus Sabbato 4. tēporū mēsis Septemb certae rerū veritate capiamus that in the lyfe to come we may take that in certaine truth of thinges which now we beare in shape or shewe Neither doo these wordes importe any preiudice against the truth of the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament but they signifie and vtter the most principall truth of the same when as all outward forme shape shewe figure sampler and coouer taken awaie we shall haue the fruitiō of God him selfe in sight face to face not as it were through a glasse but so as he is in truth of his Maiestie So this word antitypon thus taken in S. Basile furthereth nothing at all the Sacramentaries false doctrine against the truth of the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament And because our aduersaries doo much abuse the simplicitie of the vnlearned bearing thē in hand that after the iudgement and doctrine of th' auncient fathers the Sacrament is but a figure a signe a token or a badge and conteineth not the very body it selfe of Christ for proufe of the same alleaging certaine their sayinges vttered with the same termes I thinke good by the recitall of some the chiefe such places to shewe that they be vntruly reported and that touching the veritie of the presence in the Sacrament they taught in their dayes the same faith that is taught now in the catholike churche Holy Ephrem in a booke he wrote to those that will serch the nature of the sonne of God by mannes reason Cap. 4. sayeth thus Inspice diligenter quomodo sumēs in manibus panem benedicit ac frangit in figura immaculati corporis sui calicemque in figura pretiosi sanguinis sui benedicit tribuit discipulis suis Beholde sayeth he diligently how taking bread in his handes he blesseth it and breaketh it in the figure of his vnspotted body and blesseth the cuppe in the figure of his pretiouse bloude and geueth it to his disciples By these wordes he sheweth the partition deuision or breaking of the Sacramēt to be done no otherwise but in the outward formes which be the figure of Christes body present and vnder them conteined Which body now being gloriouse is no more broken nor parted but is indiuisible and subiect no more to any passion and after the Sacrament is broken it remaineth whole and perfite vnder eche portion Agayne by the same wordes he signifieth that outward breaking to be a certaine holy figure and representation of the crucifying of Christ and of his bloude shedding Which thing is with a more clearnes of wordes set forth by saint Augustine in Sententijs Prosperi Dum frangitur hostia De consecrat dist 2 can dum frangitur dum sanguis de calice in ora fidelium funditur quid aliud quám Dominici corporis in cruce immolatio eiusue sanguinis de latere effusio designatur Whiles the hoste is broken whiles the bloud is powred in to the mowthes of the faithfulles what other thing is thereby shewed and set forth then the sacrificing of Christes body on the crosse and the shedding of his bloud out of his syde And by so dooing the commaundement of Christ is fulfylled Doo this in my remembraunce That it may further appeare that these wordes figure signe image token and such other the like sometymes vsed in auncient writers doo not exclude the truth of thinges exhibited in the Sacrament but rather signifie the secrete maner of th'exhibiting amōgest all other the place of Tertullian in his fouerth booke contrâ Marcionem is not to be omitted specially being one of the chiefe and of most appearaunce that the Sacramentaries bring for proufe of their doctrine Tertullianes wordes be these Acceptum panem distributum discipulis suis corpus suum illum fecit hoc esse corpus meum dicēdo id est figura corporis mei The breade that he tooke and gaue to his disciples he made it his body in saying this is my body that is the figure of my body The double taking of the worde Sacrament afore mentioned remembred and consideration had how the sacramentes of the Newe testament comprehend two thinges the outward visible formes that be figures signes and tokens and
serche of the truth By these places it is made cleare and euident that these names figure image signe token sacrament and such other the like of force of their significatioÌ„ doo not allwaies exclude the truth of thinges but doo onely shewe and note the maner of presence Wherefore to conclude this matter that is somewhat obscure to senses litle exercised the figure of the body or the signe of the body the Image of the body doth note the coouertnesse and secretnes in the maner of the exhibiting and doth not diminishe any whitte the truth of the presence So we doo accorde with M. Iuell in this article touching the forme of wordes but withall we haue thought it necessary to declare the true meaning of the same wich is contrary to the doctrine of the Sacramentaries Iuell Or that it was lawfull then to haue xxx xx.xv.x or .v. Masses said in one church in one daie Of pluralitie of Masses in one church in one daye ARTICLE XIII AS M. Iuell here desceÌ„deth by diuerse proportions and degrees from .xxx. to .v. first by taking awaie .x. the third parte of the whole and then .v. from the reste three tymes So it might haue pleased him also to haue taken awaie three from lyue the last remanent and so to haue lefte but two in all Which if he had done then shuld we so haue made vp that number as in this audiâ—e he might not other wise doo in regarde of his owne free promisse but allowe our accompte for good and sufficieÌ„t For that number we are well able to make good And what reason hath moued the auncient fathers gouernours of the churche to thinke it a godly and a necessarie thing to haue two Masses in one churche in one daie the same reason in cases either hath or might haue moued them and their successours after them likewise to allowe three or fouer Masses and in some cases fyue or mo Now if that rekening could duely be made of our parte M. Iuell perhappes would then saye as coÌ„monly they saye that confesse their errour in numbring that he had mistolde him selfe Albe it here it is to be marueiled that he appointeth vs to proue a number of Masses in one churche in one daie that vtterly denyeth the Masse and would haue no Masse in any church any daie at all And standing in the denyall of the whole so peremptorely as he doth it may seme straunge that he shuld thus frame this Article For what reason is it to chalenge vs for proufe of so great a nuÌ„ber sith he taketh awaie all together It appeareth that being not vnwitting how good proufes we haue for the Masse it selfe he thinketh to blanke vs by putting vs to the proufe of his number of xxx xx.xv.x or .v. Verely this kinde of meÌ„ fareth with the church much like vnto stroÌ„g theeues who hauing robbed an honest welthy man of all his moÌ„ney saie afterwardes vnto him vncourteously ah carle how camest thou by so much olde golde Lydford lavve vsed by the gospellers Or if it like not them to be compared with theeues in regard of the Rome they haue shuffled them selues into they may not vnfittely be likened to a Iudge of the Stemerie at Lidford in Deuonshire who as I haue heard it commonly reported hanged a felone among the Tynners in the forenoone and sate vppoÌ„ him in iudgemeÌ„t at afternoone And thereof to this daye such wrongfull dealing in a coÌ„mon prouerbe is in that countrie called Lidford lawe Sith that you M. Iuell and your felowes that now sitte on the benche require of vs the proufe of mo Masses in one church in one daie as it were a verdite of twelue men of equitie and right ye shuld haue heard our verdite er ye had geuen sentence and condemned the Masse Pluralitie of Masses in one church in one daye Now touching the number and iteration of the Masse first we haue good and auncient auctoritie for two Masses in one church in one daie That eloquent and holy father Leo the first writeth thus to Dioscorus bishop of AlexaÌ„dria Volumus illud quoque custodiri vt cuÌ„ solennior festiuitas conuentuÌ„ populi numerosioris indixerit ad eam tanta multitudo conuenit quae recipi basilica simul vna noÌ„ possit Sacrificij oblatio indubitanter iteretur ne ijs tantuÌ„ admissis ad hanc deuotionem qui primi aduenerint videatur ij qui postmoduÌ„ confluxerint non recepti CuÌ„ plenum pietatis atque rationis sit vt quoties basilicaÌ„ in quae agitur praesentia nouae plebis impleuerit toties sacrificiuÌ„ subsequeÌ„s offeratur This order we will to be kepte that when a number of people coÌ„meth to church together at a solemne feaste if the multitude be so great as maye not well be receiued in one churche at once that the oblatioÌ„ of the Sacrifice hardely be done againe least if they onely shuld be admitted to this deuotion who came first they that come afterward maye seme not to be receiued for as much as it is a thing full of godlynesse and reason that how oftetymes the church where the seruice is done is filled with a newe coÌ„panie of people so ofteÌ„tymes the Sacrifice there eftesones be offered By this father whoÌ„ the great General Councell of Chalcedon agnised for supreme gouernour of the churche of Christ and honoured with the singular title of the Vniuersall Bishop it is ordeined that if anywhere one churche could not conuenieÌ„tly holde all the people together at one time they that came after the first coÌ„panie shuld haue their deuotioÌ„ serued by hauing an other Masse celebrated againe And least perhappes some might doubte wether that were laufull so to be done or no or be cause theÌ„ some doubted thereof as now likewise some seme to doubte of it to put the matter out of doubte he sayeth assuredly Sacrificij oblatio indubitanter iteretur Let them not sticke to iterate or doo againe the oblatioÌ„ of the Sacrifice that is to saie let the Masse be celebrated againe indubitaÌ„ter without casting perill without sticking staggaring or doubting In that epistle he sheweth two great causes why mo Masses then one maye be done in one churche in one daie The one is least the aftercoÌ„mers shuld seme reiected noÌ„ recepti not receiued the other is that the one parte of the people be not defrauded of the benefite of their deuotioÌ„ â–ª As him selfe sayeth Necesse est auteÌ„ vt quaedaÌ„ pars populi sua deuotioÌ„e priuetur si vnius tantuÌ„ Missae more seruato sacrificiuÌ„ offerre non possint nisi qui prima diei parte conuenerint It must nedes be that a parte of the people be berefte of their deuotioÌ„ if the custoÌ„ of hauing one Masse onely kepte none maye offer the sacrifice but such as came to church together in the morning or first parte of the daye Now the people may neither be reiected whoÌ„ God hath chosen nor sparkled abroade whom our lord
hath gathered together neither ought they to be defrauded of their deuotion by withdrawing the Masse from them but rather to be styrred therevnto by their deuout presence at the celebration of the same where the death and passiō of our lord is liuely represented before their eyes the very same body that suffered on the crosse of them by the ministerie of the priest offered to the father in a mysterie but truly not to be a newe Redēption but in cōmemoration of the redemptiō allready performed By this testimonie we fynde that it was laufull within syx hundred yeres after Christ for Leo lyued about the yere of our lord 450. to haue two Masses in one churche in one daie for so much the word iteretur doth importe at least and if there where mo the case so requyring the word will beare it well ynough Now by this holy bishoppes godly will the custome of hauing one Masse onely in one daie was abrogated and this decreed that in tyme of two sundry resortes of people to church two sundry Masses shuld be celebrated for the auoiding of these two inconueniences least the aftercommers shuld seme not receiued but reiected like excōmunicate persones and that a parte of the faithfull people shuld not be put besyde their deuotion Whereuppon I make this reason The causes standing the effectes folowe But the danger of the peoples seeming to be reiected and the defrauding of their deuotiō which are causes of iterating the Masse in one daie did in that age in some holy daies of likelyhod thrise yea iiij or v. tymes happē and in our tyme most certainely doth commonly so often or oftener happen wherefore the Masse may so many tymes be sayd in a daye in one churche Where great multitude of Christen people is as in townes we see some resorte to churche early in the morning making their spirituall oblations to th' intent to serue God or they serue man in their worldly affaires All can not come so early others come at their conuenient oportunitie some at syx some at seuen some at eight some at nyne or ten of the clocke If they which through laufull lettes can not come at the first houres comming afterward be rowndly tolde by the priest come ye at such or such houres or elles ye gete no Masse here shall not they according to Leo his saying seme to be reiected and defrauded of their deuotion All well disposed people about Powles can not come to postelles Masse at fouer or fyue of the clocke in the morning neither at high Masse there Shall all such in a Terme or Parlament tyme when great resorte is be denyed that spirituall conforte And if they bee shall not they seme reiected and put from their deuotion Which incōuenience that it might not happen Leo willeth not onely twoo but three fouer or mo Masses to be done on a daye for his wordes reporte no lesse Cum plenum pietatis atque rationis sit vt quoties basilicam in qua agitur praesentia nouae plebis impleuerit toties sacrificium subsequens offeratur Let there be no sticking at the iterating of the Masse For as much as sayeth he it is a thing full of godlynesse and reason that how often the churche where the seruice is done is filled with a newe companie of people so often the Sacrifice there eftesones be offered Here he willeth plainely that Masse be done toties quoties at euery newe resorte of the well disposed people and that for these weighty causes least parte of the people shuld seme not receiued and that they be not defrauded of their deuotion Wherefore they that reproue the pluralitie of Masses in one churche in one daie after the iudgement of this worthy father be reiectours of the faithfull people and robbers of their deuotion But they that haue vtterly abrogated the Masse which is the outward and the euer enduring Sacrifice of the newe testament by verdite of Scripture be no lesse then the forerūners of Antichrist Non licet super vno altario in vna die duas Missas celebrare nec in altario vbi Episcopus Missas dixerit presbyter illa die Missas dicat Cōcil Antisioren ca. 10. an domini 613. Here that I maye adde somewhat more for proufe of this article If the pluralitie of Masses in one churche in one daye had bē vtterly vnlawfull the fathers of the councell of Antisiodorū would not haue decreed that it shuld not be lawfull to celebrate two Masses vpon one aulter in one daye neither where the Byshop had sayde Masse that a priest might not saye the same daye at the same aulter For besyde that the prohibition presupposeth the thing prohibited to haue ben before vsed elles prohibitiō had ben superfluouse and so farre forth it appeareth that before the making of that decree mo Masses were sayde at one aulter in one daye the argumēt of this decree serueth very well for proufe that by force of this councell it was then lawfull to saye mo Masses in one churche in one daye For this prohibition of the councell is not generall but speciall restricted to a particular place of the churche in vno altario at one aulter which includeth not of any reason a more generall and larger matter then it selfe as neither at any other aulter in the same church the same daye it shal be lawfull to saye Masse But of cōsequent this being but one speciall case forbydden inferreth a permission and good leaue in the reste eiusdem generis subiecti that be of the same kynde and about the same matter and not included by wordes of reason in that prohibitiō So that we may not argue by reason in this sorte it is forbidden to saye mo Masses at one aulter in one daye ergo it is forbydden to saye many Masses at all in one churche in one daye vppon diuerse aulters but the cōtrary reason foloweth ergo ye may saye many Masses vppon diuerse aulters in one daye And likewise ye may not saye Masse that daye on th'aulter where the bishop hath sayde ergo ye may lawfully saye that daye at an other aulter For other wise the lawe would haue forbydden generally ye shall not saye Masse in the church where the bishop hath sayde that daye and then ye had ben forbyddē that aulter and all aulters there at one worde but in forbidding the one aulter the lawe grawnteth you the vse of the reste there And this kynde of reasoning and arguing of the lawe that forbyddeth one case specially to affirme the reste that is not mentioned in the prohibition the lawyers will defende by their prīciples against M. Iuell who I thinke will not wade farre to stande against them in this matche For they saye In genere permissorum omnia intelligūtur permissa quae specialiter non reperiuntur prohibita◠an edicte prohibitorie in such thinges which are not wholy in their kynde vnlawfull forbydding speciall cases graunteth the reste and doth permitte all that which
after the sense of the Gospellers nevve and vsed by Sathan 9. b. In vvhat sense and consideration the Masse called Priuate of some Doctours 9. b. VVhat the Lutherans call Priuate Masse 9. b. Priuate Masse in vvorde but in dede the sacrifice of the churche impugned by M. Iuell 10. a. Proufes for the Masse briefly touched 10. a. The chiefe cause vvhy the Gospellers storme against priuate Masse 11. b. Three essentials of the Masse 12. b. Number of communicantes place tyme vvith other rites bee not of Christes Institution 12. b. VVhy the Sacrament is called a communion 14. a. There is a communion betvven the faithfull though they be not together 14. b. Necessitie of many communicantes together contrary to the libertie of the gospell 15. a. For mengling vvater vvith the vvyne in the Sacrament a place alleaged out of Clement 15. b. Many maye cōmunicate together not being in one place together 16. a. etc. Proufes for priuate communion and consequently for priuate Masse 17. b. etc. Reseruation of the Sacrament 19. b. Vncleane doinges bevvrayed at Martyrs toumbes 20. b. Light of the vvest churches taken from Rome 21. b. The fathers oftentymes complaine of the peoples forebearing the cōmunion but no vvhere of the priestes ceasing from offering the Sacrifice 23. a. The peoples forebearing the cōmunion is no cause vvhy the priest shuld not saye Masse 24. a. Masse done vvithout a number of communicantes in the same place 24. b. 25. 26. etc. A true declaration of Chysostomes place nullus qui cōmunicetur 30. b. 2. Christes vvordes drynke ye all of this bynde not the laitie to the vse of the cuppe 33. a. Luther and his ofspring doth not necessitate communiō vnder both kyndes 34. a. etc. Lutheres cōferēce vvith the Deuill agaīst the Masse 34. b Causes mouing the church to communicate vnder one kinde 36. b. The exacte streightnes of certaine Gods ordinances may vvhithout offence in cases be omitted 37. a. b. etc. Proufes for Cōmunion vnder one kinde 40. b. 41. etc. Our lordes cuppe onely in certaine cases ministred 46. a. b The administration of the bread styped or dipte in the cuppe vnlavvfull 46. b. The Canon of Gelasius guilefully by M. Iuell alleaged truly examined 47. b. 48. etc. 3. Churche Seruice in due order disposed in the Greke churches before the latine churches 51. a. Vsage of church Seruice in any vulgare barbarouse tonge vvith in 600. yeres after Christ can not be proued 52. a All people of the Greke church vnderstoode not the greke Seruice 53. b. 54. etc. M. Iuelles allegations soluted 57. a. etc. Iustinianes ordinance truly declared 58. b. M. Iuell noted of insinseritie and halting 58. b. 59. a. The nūber of lāguages by accōpte of the antiquitie 59. a. b All people of the Latine churche vnderstoode not the Latine Seruice 60. a. 61. 62. etc. The antiquitie of the Latine Seruice in the church of England 63. a. Cednom the diuine poete of England 65. b. The first entree of the English Seruice 66. a. The place of S. Paule to the Corinthians maketh not for the Seruice in the Englishe tonge 66. b. 67. etc. The vvorde Spirite in s Paul diuersely takē of diuerse 68. a The benefite of prayer vttered in a tonge not vnderstanded 71. a. Such nations as vse church Seruice in their ovvne tonge continevve in schismes 73. b. 4. Of syx grovvndes that the Popes Supreme auctoritie standeth vpon the first and chiefe Gods ordināce according to the scripture expounded 75. b. etc. The 2. Councelles 77. b. The 3. Edictes of Emperoures 79. a. The 4. Doctours 79. b. etc. The 5. Reason 81. a. The 6. practise of the church syxfolde 83. a. etc. 1. Appellations to the Pope 84. a. Euill lyse of the b. of Rome ought not to seuer vs from the faith of the churche of Rome 85. b. The 2. practise corrections from the Pope 87. a. 3. Confirmations by the Pope 78. b. 4. The Popes approuing of Councelles 88. a. 5. Absolutions from the Pope 89. a 6. Reconciliations to the Pope 89. b The Pope aboue a thousand yeres sithens called Vniuersall bishop and head of the vniuersall churche 90. b. Peter and consequētly the Pope Peters successour called head of the church both in termes equiualent and also expressely 91. b. etc. Peter and his successour called head of the churche expressely 93. a. etc. The Popes Primacie acknovvleged and cōfessed by Martin Luther 94. b. 5. VVhat occasioned the fathers to vse these termes really substantially corporally etc. 97. b. Berengatius the first Sacramentarie 98. a. The fleshe and bloud of Christ of double cōsideratiō 98. b. Bucer cōfesseth the body of Christ to be in the Sacramēt in dede and substantially 100. b. 6. Christes being in heauen and in the Sacrament at one tyme implyeth no contradiction 105. a. Christes body in many places at once 105. b. 106. etc. Truth confessed by the enemie of truth 107. b. God vvorking aboue nature distroyeth not nature 108. b Being in a mysterie vvhat it is 109. a. 7. Eleuation of the Sacrament proued 109. b. 110. etc. 8. VVhat Christē people adore in the Sacramēt 112. b. 113. etc. Contrarietie in the first deuysers of the Nevve Gospell 115. a. Adoration proued by the scripture and that according to the Zuinglians against luther 115. a. etc. The terme concomitantia by the Diuines profitably deuysed 115. b. Adoration of Christ in the Sacrament auouched by the fathers 116. b. etc. 9. Sundry maners of keping the blessed Sacrament 121. b. Hanging vp of the Sacrament in a pyxe ouer the aulter is auncient 122. b. 10. The remayning of the onely Accidentes vvithout substāce in the Sacramēt depēdeth of the Article of transubstantiation 124. a. Transubstantiation and the truth of our lordes body and bloud auouched 124. 125. etc. Transubstantiation taught by the olde fathers and by the Doctours of the Greke church of late age 126. 127. Accidentes beleued of some learned fathers to remaine vvithout substance at the begynning 127. b. 11. VVhat the diuiding of the Sacrament in three partes signifieth 128. a. The diuiding of the Sacrament in three partes probably thought to be a Tradition of the Apostles 128. b. 129. a. 12. Hovv the fathers are to be vnderstanded calling the Sacrament a figure signe token etc. 130. a. etc. The vvordes figure signe token remembrance etc. exclude not the truth of being 134. a. 135. etc. 13. Lydford lavve vsed by the Gospellers 139. a. Pluralitie of Masses in one churche in one daye 139. a. etc. This vvord Sacrifice taken for the Masse 143. b. 14. Antiquitie of Images 145. a. The signe of the Crosse commended to men by Gods prouidence 145. b. Literae Hieroglyphicae 146. b. Images from the Apostles tyme. 147. b. Three causes vvhy Images haue ben vsed in the churche 150. a. Pictura loquens poëma tacens 150. b. Hovv Images maye be vvorshipped vvithout offēce 152. a 15. Three sundry opiniōs concerning the scriptures to be had in a vulgare
affirmeth the Catholikes to haue nothing for their parte ouer peartly as to sober wittes it semeth egging and prouoking them to bring somewhat in their defence O Mercifull God Iuell In the sermon folio 43. vvho vvould thinke there could be so muche vvilfulnes in the heart of man O Gregorie O Augustine O Hierome O Chrysostome O Leo O Dionise O Anacletus O Sistus O Paule O Christ If vve be deceiued herein ye are they that haue deceiued vs. You haue taught vs those schismes and diuisions ye haue taught vs these heresies Thus ye ordred the holy communion in your tyme the same vve receiued at your hand and haue faithfully delyuered it vnto the people And that ye maye the more meruel at the vvilfulnes of such men they stand this daye against so many old fathers so many Doctoures so many examples of the primitiue churche so manifest and so plaine vvordes of the holy scriptures and yet haue they here in not one father not one Doctour not one allovved example of the primitiue churche to make for them And vvhen I saye not one I speake not this in vehemencie of spirite or heate of talke but euen as before God by the vvaye of simplicitie and truth least any of you should happely be deceiued and thinke there is more vveight in the other syde then in conclusion there shall be fovvnde And therefore once againe I saye of all the vvordes of the holy scriptures of all the examples of the primitiue churche of all the old fathers of all the auncient Doctoures in these causes they haue not one Here the matter it self that I haue novv in hand putteth me in remembraunce of certaine thinges that I vttered vnto you to the same purpose at my last being in this place I remember I layed oâ—â— then here before you a number of things that are nâ—vv in controuerâ—â—e vvhere vnto our aduersaries vvil not yelde And I sayd perhaps boldly as it might then seeme to summe man but as I my self and the learned of our aduersaries theÌ„ selues do vvel knovve syncerely and truly that none of all them that this daye stand against vs are hable or shal euer be hable to proue against vs any one of all these points eyther by the scriptures or by example of the primitiue churche or by the old â—oâ—â—â—â—res or by the auncient generall councelâ—â— Synâ—â— that tyme it hath ben reported in places that I spake then more then I vvas hable to iustifie and make good Hovv be it these reportes vvere onely made in corners and therfore ought the lesse to trouble me Bâ—â— if my sayinges had ben so vveake and might so easely haue than reproued I maruaile that the paâ—ieâ— neuer come to the light to take the aduauntage For my promise vvas and that openly here before you all that if any man vvere able to proue the contrarye I vvould yelde and subscribe to him and he shuld depart vvith the victorieâ— Loth I am to trouble you vvith rehersall of such thinges as I haue spoken afore and yet because the case so requyreth I shall desyre you that haue all ready heard me to beare the more vvith me in this behalf Better it vvere to trouble your eares vvith tvvise hearing of one thing then to betray the truth of God The vvordes that I then spake as neare as I can call them to mynde vvere these If any learned man of all our aduersaries or if all the learned men that be alyue be hable to bring any one sufficient senteÌ„ce out of any olde catholike Doctour or father out of any olde generall councell out of the holy scriptures of God or any one example of the primitiue church vvhereby it may be clearely and plainely proued â–ª Article 1 That there vvas any priuate Masse in the vvorld at that tyme for the space of syxe hundred yeares after Christ Article 2 Or that there vvas then any CoÌ„munion ministred vnto the people vnder one kinde Article 3 Or that the people had theire common prayers then in a straunge tonge that they vnderstoode not Article 4 Or that the Bisshop of Rome vvas then called an vniuersall Bisshop or the head of the vniuersall churche Article 5 Or that the people vvas then taught to beleue that Christes body is really substantially corporalli carnally or-naturally in the Sacrament Article 6 Or that his body is or may be in a thousand places or mo at one tyme Article 7 Or that the priest dyd then hold vp the Sacrament ouer his head Article 8 Or that the people dyd then fall dovvne and vvorship it vvith godly honour Article 9 Or that the Sacrament vvas then or novv ought to be hanged vp vnder a canopie Article 10 Or that in the Sacrament after the vvordes of CoÌ„secration there remayneth onely the accidentes and shevves vvith out the substaunce of bread and vvine Article 11 Or that the priest then diuyded the Sacrament in three partes and aftervvarde receiued him self all alone Article 12 Or that vvho so euer had sayde the Sacrament is a figure a pledge a token or a remembraunce of Christes bodye had therefore been iudged for an heretike Article 13 Or that it vvas lavvfull then to haue xxx xx.xv.x or v. Masses sayd in one churche in one daye Article 14 Or that Images vvere then set vp in the churches to the entent the people might vvorship them Article 15 Or that the laye people vvas then forbydden to reade the vvorde of God in their ovvne tonge If any man a lyue vvere hable to proue any of these Articles by any one cleare or plaine clause or sentence eyther of the scriptures or of the old doctoures or of any old generall councell or by any example of the primitiue churche I promysed then that I vvould geue ouer and subscribe vnto him These vvordes or the very like I remember I spake here openly before you all And these be the thinges that summe men saye I haue spoken and can not iustifie But I for my part vvill not onely not call in any thing that I then sayde being vvell assuted of the truth there in but also vvill laye more matter to the same That if they that seeke occasion haue any thing to the contrary they may haue the larger scope to replye against me VVherefor besyde all that I haue sayde allready I vvil saye farther and yet nothing so much as might be sayde If any one of all our aduersaries be hable clearely and plainely to proue by such authoritie of the scriptures the olde Doctoures and councelles as I sayde before Article 16 That it vvas then lavvfull for the priest to pronounce the vvordes of consecration closely and in silence to him self Article 17 Or that the priest had auctoritie to offer vp Christ vnto his father Article 18 Or to communicat and receiue the Sacrament for an other as they doo Article 19 Or to applye the vertue of Christes death and passion to any man by the meane of the Masse Article 20
churche Or the priest rather for companies sake then of deuotion shuld receiue that holy meate after that he had serued his stomake with coÌ„mon meates which likewise is against the auncieÌ„t decrees of the churche Euen so the priest that receiueth alone at Masse doth communicate with all them that doo the like in other places and countries Now if either the priest Necessitie of many coÌ„municants together contrarie to the libertie of the gospell or euery other christen man or woman might at no tyme receiue this blessed Sacrament but with mo together in one place then for the enioying of this great and necessary benefite we were bounde to condition of a place And so the churche delyuered from all bondage by christ and set at libertie shuld yet for all that be in seruitute and subiection vnder those outward thinges which S. Paul calleth infirma egena elementa Galat. 4. weake and beggarly ceremonies after the English Bibles translation Then where S. Paul blamyng the Galathians sayeth Ye obserue dayes and monethes and tymes For this bondage he might likewise blame vs and saye ye obserue places But S. Paul would not we shuld retourne againe to these which he calleth elemeÌ„tes for that were Iewishe And to the Colossians he sayeth we be dead with Christ from the elementes of this worlde Colos 2. Now if we excepte those thinges which be necessaryly requyred to this Sacrament by Christes institution either declared by writteÌ„ scriptures or taught by the holy ghost Similiter calicem misceÌ„s ex vino aqua sanctificaÌ„s tradidit eis diceÌ„s bibite etc. ClemeÌ„s in Canone Liturgiae lib. 8. apostol coÌ„sti c. 17 1. Cor. 3. as bread and wyne mingled with water for the matter the due wordes of Consecration for the forme and the priest rightely ordered hauing intention to doo as the churche doth for the ministerie all these elementes and all outward thinges be subiecte to vs and serue vs being members of Christes churche In consideration whereof S. Paul saveth to the Corinthians Omnia enim vestra sunt etc. All thinges are yours whether it be Paul either Apollo either Cephas whether it be the worlde either lyfe either death whether they be present thinges or thinges to come all are yours and ye Christes and Christ is Gods Againe where as the auncient and great learned Bishop Cyrillus teacheth plainely and at large the meruelouse vniting and ioyning together of vs with Christ and of our selues in to one bodie by this sacrament seing that all so vnited and made one body be not for all that brought together in to one place for they be dispersed abroade in all the worlde thereof we may well conclude that to this effecte the being together of communicantes in one place is not of necessitie His wordes be these much agreable to Dionysius Areopagita a fore mentioned In Ioan. lib. 11. c. 16 Vt igitur inter nos Deum singulos vniret quanuis corpore simul anima distemus modum tamen adinuenit consilio patris sapientiae suae conuenieÌ„tem Suo enim corpore credentes per communionem mysticam benedicens secum inter nos vnum nos corpus efficit Quis enim eos qui vnius sancti corporis vnione in vno Christo vniti sunt ab hac naturali vnione alienos putabit Nam si omnes vnum panem manducamus vnum omnes corpus efficimur diuidi enim atque seiungi Christus non patitur That Christ might vnite euery one of vs within our selues and with God although we be distant both in body and also in soule yet he hath deuised a meane conuenable to the counsell of the father and to his own wisedom For in that he blesseth them that beleue with his own body through the mysticall Communion he maketh vs one body both with him selfe and also betwen our selues For who will thinke them not to be of this natural vnion which with the vnion of that one holy body be vnited in one Christ For if we eate all of one bread then are we made all one body for Christ may not be diuided nor done asunder Thus we see after this auncient fathers learning grounded vpon the scriptures that all the faithfulles blessed with the body of Christ through the mysticall communion bee made one body with Christ and one body betwen them selues Which good blessing of Christ is of more vertue and also of more necessitie then that it may be made frustrate by condition of place specially where as is no wylfull breache nor contempte of most semely and conuenable order Many maye coÌ„municate together not being in one place together Sermon fol. 51. And therefore that one may communicate with an other though they be not together in one place which M. Iuell denyeth with as peeuish an argument of the vse of excommunication as any of all those ys that he scoffeth at some catholike writers for and that it was thought lawfull and godly by the fathers of the auncient churche neare to the Apostles tyme it may be well proued by diuerse good auctorities Irenaeus writing to Victor Bishop of Rome concerning the keping of Easter Ecclesias hist lib. 5. cap. 24. As Eusebius Caesariensis reciteth to the intent Victor shuld not refrayne from their coÌ„munioÌ„ which kepte Easter after the custome of the churches in Asia fownded by S. Iohn th'Euangeliste sheweth that when bishoppes came from forreine parties to Rome the bishoppes of that see vsed to send to them if they had ben of the catholike faith the Sacrament to receiue whereby mutuall communion betwen them was declared Irenaeus his wordes be these Graeca sic habeÌ„t aliter quà m Rufini versio vulgata Qui fuerunt ante te presbyteri etiam cum non ita obseruarent presbyteris ecclesiarum cum Romam accâ—derent Eucharistiam mittebant The priestes by which name in this place bishoppes are vnderstanded that were a fore thy tyme though they kepte not Easter as they of Asia dyd yet when the bishoppes of the churches there came to Rome dyd sende them the sacrament Thus those bishoppes dyd communicate together before their meeting in one place Iustinus the Martyr likewise describing the maner and â—â—der of christen Religion of his tyme touching the vse of the Sacrament sayeth thus Finitis ab eo Apolog. 2. qui praefâ—ctus est gratijs orationibus ab vniuerso populo facta â—cclâ—matione Diaconi quoâ— ita vocamus vnicuique tum temporis prasenti paâ—is et aquae vini coÌ„secrati daÌ„t participationem adeos qui non adsunt deferunt When the priest hath made an lende of thankes and prayers and all the people therto haue sayde amen They which we call deacons geue to euery one then present bread and water and wyne consecrated to take parte of it for their housell and for those that be not present they beare it home to them Thus in that tyme they
that the Sacrament in sundry portions consecrated by a bishop shuld be sent a broade among the churches for cause of heretikes that the catholike people of the churches which word here signifieth as the greke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth so as it is not necessarie to vndestand that the sacrament was directed only to the materiall churches but to the people of the parrishes might receiue the catholike communion and not communicate with heretikes Which doubteles must be vndestanded of this priuate and single communion in eche catholike mans house and that where heretikes bare the swea and priestes might not be suffred to consecrate after the catholike vsage Elles if the priestes might with out let or disturbance haue so done then what nede had it ben for Milciades to haue made such a prouision for sending abroade hostes sanctified for that purpose by the cōsecration of a Bishop The place of Damasus hath thus Milciades fecit vt oblationes consecratae per Ecclesias ex consecratu Episcopi propter haereticos dirigerentur Milciades ordeined that consecrated hostes shuld be sent abroade amongest the churches prepared by the consecration of a bishop The two wordes propter haereticos for heretikes added by Ado the writer of Martyrs lyues openeth the meaning and purporte of that decree Here haue I brought much for proufe of priuate and single communion and that it hath not onely ben suffered in tyme of persecution but also allowed in quiet and peaceable tymes euen in the Churche of Rome it selfe where true Religion hath euer ben most exactly obserued aboue all other places of the worlde and from whence all the churches of the West hath taken their light As the Bishops of all Gallia that now is called Fraunce doo acknowledge in an epistle sent to Leo the Pope with these wordes Vnde religionis nostrae propicio Christo Epistola proxima post 51. inter epistolas Leonis fons origo manauit From that Apostolike see by the mercie of Christ the fontaine and spring of our Religion hath come More could I yet bryng for confirmation of the same as th' example of S. Hilaria the virgine in the tyme of Numerianus of S. Lucia in Diocletians tyme done to martyrdom of S. Maria Aegyptiaca and of S. Ambros of which euery one as auncient testimonies of ecclesiasticall histories and of Paulinus doo declare at the houre of their departure hence to God receiued the holy Sacrament of th'aulter for their viage prouision alone But I iudge this is ynough and if any man will not be persuaded with this I doubte whether with such a one a more number of autorities shall any thing priuaile Now that I haue thus proued the single communion I vse their own terme I desire M. Iuell to reason with me soberly a word or two How saye you Syr doo you reproue the Masse or doo you reproue the priuate Masse I thinke what so euer your opinion is herein your answer shall be you allow not the priuate Masse For as touching that the Oblation of the body and bloude of Christ done in the Masse is the sacrifice of the churche and proper to the new testament commaunded by Christ to be frequented according to his institution if you denye this make it so light as you liste all those authorities which you denye vs to haue for proufe of your great number of articles will be fownde against you I meane doctoures general councelles the most aunciēt th' example of the primitiue churche the scriptures I adde further reason consent vniuersall and vncontrolled and tradition If you denye this you must denye all our Religion from the Apostles tyme to this daye and now in the ende of the world when iniquitie aboūdeth and charitie waxeth colde when the sonne of man cōming shall scarcely finde faith in the earth begynne a new And therefore you M. Iuell knowing this well ynough what so euer you doo in dede in worde as it appeareth by the litle booke you haue set foorth in printe you pretende to disallow yea most vehemētly to improue the priuate Masse Vpon this resolution that the Masse as it is taken in generall is to be allowed I enter further in reason with you and make you this argument If priuate Masse in respecte only of that it is priuate after your meaning be reproueable it is for the single communion that is to saye for that the priest receiueth the Sacrament alone But the single communion is laufull yea good and godly ergo the priuate Masse in this respecte that it is priuate is not reproueable but to be allowed holden for good and holy and to be frequēted If you denye the first proposition or maior then must youe shew for what elles you doo reproue priuate Masse in respecte only that it is priuate then for single communion If you shew any thing elles then doo you digresse from our purpose and declare that you reproue the Masse The minor you can not denye seing that you see how sufficiently I haue proued it And so the priuate Masse in that respecte only it is priuate is to be allowed for good as the Masse is Mary I denye not but that it were more commēdable and more godly on the churches parte if many wel disposed and examined would be partakers of the blessed Sacrament with the priest But though the Clergie be worthely blamed for negligence herein through which the people may be thought to haue growen to this slaknes and indeuocion yet that notwithstanding this parte of the catholike Religion remaineth sownde and faultles For as touching the substance of the Masse it selfe by the single communion of the priest in case of the peoples coldenes and negligence it is nothing impaired Elles if the publike sacrifice of the churche might not be offered with out a number of communicantes receiuing with the priest in one place then would the auncient fathers in all their writinges some where haue complained of the ceasing of that which euery where they call quotidianum iuge sacrificium the dayly and cōtinuall sacrifice of which their opinion is that it ought dayly to be sacrificed that the death of our lord and the worke of our Redēption might alwayes be celebrated and had in memorie and we thereby shewe our selues according to our bounden duetie myndefull and thankefull But verely the fathers no where complaine of intermitting the daily sacrifice but very much of the slaknes of the people for that they came not more often vnto this holy and holesome banket and yet they neuer compelled them thereto but exhorting them to frequēt it worthely lefte them to their owne conscience S. Ambros witnesseth that the people of the East had a custome in his tyme to be houseled but once in the yere And he rebuketh sharply such as folowe them after this sorte Si quotidianus est cibus Lib. 6. de sacra ca. 4 cur post annum illum sumis quemadmodum Graeci in Oriente facere
suddeine pange cōming vpon him or with some cogitation and conscience of his owne vnworthines suddeinly comming to his mynde If either this or any other let had chaunced in what case had the patriarke ben then He had ben like by M. Iuelles doctrine to haue broken Christes Institution and so Gods cōmaundement through an others defecte which were straunge But I iudge that M. Iuell who harpeth so many iarring argumētes against priuate Masse vpon the very word Communion will not allowe that for a good and lawfull communion where there is but one onely to receiue with the priest Verely it appeareth by his sermon that all the people ought to receiue or to be dryuen out of the churche Now therefore to an other example of the priuate Masse Amphilochius byshop of Iconium the head citie of Lycaonia to whom S. Basile dedicated his booke De Spiritu sancto and an other booke intituled Ascetica writing the lyfe of saint Basile or rather the miracles through Gods power by him wrought which he calleth Memorabilia vera ac magna miracula in praefatione worthy of record true and great miracles specially such as were not by the three most worthy men Gregorie Nazianzene Gregorie Nyssene and holy Ephrem in their Epitaphicall or funerall treatises before mentioned among other thinges reporteth a notable story wherein we haue a cleare testimonie of a priuate Masse And for the thing that the storie sheweth as much as for any other of the same Amphilochius he is called Coelestium virtutum collocutor angelicorum ordinum comminister a talker together with the heauenly powers and a felowe seruant with orders of Angelles The story is this This holy bishop Basile besoughte God in his prayers he would geue him grace wisedom and vnderstanding so as he might offer the sacrifice of Christes bloude sheding proprijs sermonibus with prayers and seruice of his owne making and that the better to atcheue that purpose the holy ghost might come vpon him After syx dayes he was in a traunce for cause of the holy ghostes comming When the seuenth daye was come he beganne to minister vnto God that is to witte he sayde Masse euery daye After a certaine tyme thus spent through faith and prayer he begāne to write with his owne hande mysteria ministrationis the Masse or the seruice of the Masse On a night our lord came vnto him in a vision with the Apostles and layde breade to be consecrated on the holy aulter and stirring vp Basile sayd vnto him Secundum postulationem tuam repleatur os tuum laude etc. According to thy request let thy mowth be fylled with praise that with thyne owne wordes thou mayst offer vp to me sacrifice He not able to abide the vision with his eyes rose vp with trembling and goyng to the holy aulter beganne to saye that he had written in paper thus Repleatur os meum laude hymnum dicat gloriae tuae domine Deus qui creasti nos adduxisti in vitam hanc caeteras orationes sancti ministerij Let my mowth be fylled with prayse to vtter an hymne to thy glory Lord God which hast created vs and brought vs in to this lyfe and so foorth the other prayers of the Masse It foloweth in the story Et post finem orationum exaltauit panem sine intermissione orans dicens Respice domine Iesu Christe etc. After that he had done the prayers of Consecration he lyfted vp the bread praying continually and saying Looke vpon vs lord Iesus Christ out of thy holy tabernacle and come to sanctifie vs that sittest aboue with thy father and arte here present inuisibly with vs vouchesafe with thy mighty hand to delyuer to vs and by vs to all thy people Sancta Sanctis thy holy thinges to the holy The people answered one holy one our lord Iesus Christ with the holy ghost in glorie of God the father Amen Now let vs consyder what foloweth perteining most to our purpose Et diuidens panem in tres partes vnam quidem communicauit timore multo alteram autem reseruauit consepelire secum tertiam verò imposuit columbae aureae quae pependit super altare He diuided the bread in to three partes of which be receiued one at his communion with greate feare and reuerence the other he reserued that it might be buried with him and the third parte he caused to be put in a golden pyxe that was hanged vp ouer the aulter made in forme and shape of a dooue After this a litle before the ende of this treatise it foloweth how that S. Basile at the houre that he departed out of this lyfe receiued that parte of the hoste him selfe which he had purposed to haue enterred with him in his graue and immediatly as he laye in his bedde gaue thankes to God and rendred vp the ghost That this was a priuate Masse no man can denye Basile receiued the sacrament alone for there was no earthly creature in that churche with him The people that answered him were such as Christ brought with him And that all this was no dreame but a thing by the will of god done in dede though in a vision as it pleased Christ to exhibite Amphilochius playnely witnesseth declaring how that one Eubulus and others the chiefe of that clergie standing before the gates of the churche whiles this was in dooing sawe lightes with in the churche and men clothed in white and heard a voice of people glorifying god and behelde Basile standing at the aulter and for this cause at his comming foorth fell downe prostrate at his feete Here M. Iuell and his consacramentaries doo staggar I doubte not for graunt to a priuate Masse they will not what so euer be brought for proufe of it and therefore some doubte to auoyd this autoritie must be deuysed But whereof they shuld doubte verely I see not If they doubte any thing of the brīging of the bread and other necessaries to serue for cōsecration of the hoste let thē also doubte of the bread and fleshe that Elias had in the ponde of Carith 3. Reg. 17. 3. Reg. 19. Let them doubte of the bread and potte of water he had vnder the Iuniper tree in Bersabée Let them doubte of the potte of potage brought to Daniel for his dyner Daniel 14 from Iewerie in to the caue of lyons at Babylon by Abacuk the prophete But perhappes they doubte of the auctoritie of Amphilochius that wrote this story It may well be that they would be gladde to discredite that worthy bishop For he was that vigilant pastour and good gouernour of the churche Theodorit in hist eccles lib. 4. cap. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precatores who first with Letoius bishop of Melite and with Flauianus bishop of Antioche ouerthrewe and vtterly vanquished the heretikes called Messaliani otherwise euchitae the first parentes of the Sacramentarie heresie Whose opinion was that the holy Eucharistie that is the blessed
wyne in his house then for as much as Egesippus who was not long after him witnesseth of him that he neuer dranke wyne but at our lordes supper But because perhappes oure aduersaries will caste some myste ouer these allegations to darken the truth with theire clowdy gloses which be cleare ynough to quiet and sobre wittes that geue eare to the holy ghost speaking to vs by the mowth of the churche I will bring forth such witnesses and proufes for this purpose out of auncient fathers as by no reason or Sophisticall shifte they shall be hable to auoyde Many of the places that I alleged in the article before this for priuate communion may serue to his purpose very well and therfore I will not lette to recite some of them here also Milciades that constant martyr of Christ and bishop of Rome ordeined that sundry hostes prepared by the consecrating of a bishop shuld be sent abroade among the churches and parishes that christen folke who remayned in the catholike faith might not through heretikes be defrauded of the holy SacrameÌ„t Which can none other wise be taken then for the forme of breade onlye because the wine can not conueniently be so caryed abroade froÌ„ place to place in small quantitie for such vse much lesse any long tyme be kepte with out corruption The councell of Nice decreed Can. 14. that in churches where neither bishop nor priest were present the deacons them selues bringe forth and eate the holy communion Which lykewise can not be referred to the forme of wine for cause of sowring and corruption if it be long kepte Where oftentymes we finde it recorded of the fathers that christen people in tyme of persecution receiued of the priestes at church in fyne linnen clothes the sacrament in sundry portioÌ„s to beare with them and to receiue it secretly in the morninge before other meate as their deuotion serued theÌ„ for the same cause and in respectes of other circumstances it must of necessitie be taken onely for the kynde or forme of breade The places of Tertullian and saint Cyprian be knowen Lib. 2. ad vxorem Tertullian writing to his wife exhorteth her not to marye agayne specially to an infidell if he dye before her for that if she doo she shall not be hable at all tymes for her husband to doo as a christen womaÌ„ ought to doo Will not thy husband know sayeth he what thou eatest secretly before all other meate and in case he doo know it he will beleue it to be bread not him who it is called-Saint Cyprian writeth in his sermon de lapsis that when a woman had gonne aboute with vnworthy handes to open her cofer wher the holy thing of oure lord was layde vp she was made affrayde with fyre that rose vp from thence as she durst not touch it Which doubteles must be taken for that one kynde of the Sacrament The examples of keping the holy Sacrament vnder the forme of bread onely to be in a redines for the sycke and for others in tyme of danger that they might haue their necessarie vitaile of lyfe or viage prouision with them at their departure hence be in maner infinite Here one or two may serue in stede of a number For though M. Iuell maketh his vaunt that we haue not one sentence or clause for proufe of these articles which he so defaceth with his negatiue yet I will not accumulat this treatise with tediouse allegation of auctorities S. Ambrose at the houre of death receiued the communion vnder one kynde kepte for that purpose as it appeareth by this testimonie of Paulinus who wrote his life And because it may be a good instruction to others to dye well I will here recite his wordes At the same tyme as he departed from vs to oure lorde from about the eleueÌ„th howre of the day vntill the howre that he gaue vp the ghost stretching abroade his handes in maner of a crosse he prayed We sawe his lippes moue but voice we heard none Horatus a priest of the churche of Vercelles being gonne vp to bedde heard a voice three tymes of one calling him and saying to him aryse and haste the for he will departe hence by and by Who going downe gaue to the sainte oure lordes bodye which taken and swalowed downe he gaue vp the ghost hauing with him a good voiage prouision so as the soule being the better refreshed by the vertue of that meate maye now reioyse with the companie of Angelles whose life he leade in the earth and with the felowship of Elias Ecclesias hist lib. 6. cap. 44. Dionysius Alexandrinus aboute the yere of oure lord 200. as Eusebius Caesariensis reciteth manifestly declareth how that an olde man called Serapion was houseled vnder one kinde at his ende This Serapion after that he had layen speacheles three dayes sent for the Sacrament The priest for sickenes not hable to come him selfe gaue to the ladde that came of that errant a litle of the sacrament commaunding him to weate it and so being moisted to powre it in to the oldes mannes mowth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this much is expressed by the wordes there as the greke is to be constrewed The ladde being retourned home moisted with some liquour that diuine meate to serue the olde man with all lying now panting for desyre to be dimissed hence and to haste him awaye to heauen and powred it in to his mowth For that this old mannes mowth and throte had long ben drye by force of his sikenes the priest who had experience in that case prouidently gaue warning to moyste the Sacrament with some liquoure and so together to powre it in to his mowth Which was so done by the ladde as Dionysius expresseth Now if the forme of wine had then also ben brought by the ladde to be ministred there had ben no nede of such circumstance to procure the olde man a moisture to swallowe downe that holy foode And that this was the maner of ministring the Sacrament to old men at their departing it appeareth by record of Theodoritus who wryteth in his ecclesiastical storye how one Bassus an archepriest ministred vnto an olde maÌ„ called Simeones of great fâ—me for his holynes Bassus sayeth he as he visited his churches chaunced vpoÌ„ holy Simeones that woonder of the world lying sicke who through feblenes was not hable to speake nor moue When Bassus sawe he shuld dye he geueth him his rightes before But after what sorte it is to be marked Spongia petita Simeoni os humectat atque eluit ac tum ei diuinum obtulit Sacramentum He calleth for a sponge sayeth Theodoritus and therewith moysteth and washeth Simeones mowth and then geueth him the holye Sacrament If at that tyme the receiuing of the sacred cuppe had ben in vse such procuring of moisture for the better swallowing downe of the SacrameÌ„t vnder the one kynde had ben needles Amphilochius that worthy bishop of Iconium in Lycaonia of
the same tonge as Gennadius recordeth But what shall we speake of all the East neither all the lesser Asia and the countries there adioyning spake not greke one generation before the cōming of Christ For if all had spokē greke Mithridates that renoumed king of Pontus had not neded to haue learned two and twenty languages of so many nations he was king ouer to make answere to suters to appoint them orders and lawes and in open audience to speake to them in so many languages with out an interpreter as Plinie writeth Natural hist lib. 7. cap. 24. Here if these 22. nations of 22. sundry tonges had also besyde their owne language spoken greke and vnderstanded the same Plinie would not haue vttered that word sine interprete without an interpreter And likewise that king had taken vaine labour in learning those tonges where one might haue serued his tourne Neare to this kinges dominiō in the shore of the sea Euxinus in the lāde of Colchis Li. 6. nat hist ca. 5. there stoode a citie named Dioscurias so much haunted of straungers that as Plinie writeth by recorde of Timosthenes it was resorted vnto of three hundred nations of distincte languages and that the Romaines for the better expeditiō of their affaires there had at lenghth lying in the same cxxx interpreters Now if all the Orient had spoken greke as S. Hieromes wordes seme to importe the Romaines shuld not haue neded to haue maineteyned there to theire great charges so great a number of interpreters to be their agentes there But for proufe that all the Orient spake not greke what nede we alleage prophane wryters the knowen place of the Actes maketh mencion of sundry nations there that had distincte languages the Parthians Medians and Elamites etc. Act. 2. To cōclude they that to maineteine their straunge opinion of the vniuersall vnderstanding of the Seruice vsed of olde tyme in the East Churche saye and affirme that all the Orient spake greke seme much to diminishe the maiestie vtilitie and necessitie of the miraculouse gifte of tonges which the holy ghost gaue in the primitiue churche for the better furtherance of the gospell For if all in those parties had spoken greke the gifte of tonges had ben in that respecte nedeles Hytherto of the greke and of the Seruice in that language Now concerning the Latine tonge which is the learned tonge of the West That the Latine churche or the West churche for so it is called had the Seruice in Latine I graunt The chiefe Regions and countries of the Latine churche with in the forsayd syx hundred yeres were these Italie Aphrike Illyrike bothe Pannonies now called Hungarie and Austria Gallia now Fraunce and Spaine The coūtries of Germanie Pole and Swethen and those north partes receiued the faith long sithens The countries of Britaine here had receiued the faith in most places but were dryuen from the open profession of it agayne by the cruell persecution of Diocletian the Emperour at which persecution S. Albane with many others suffered martyrdom After that these countries had ben instructed in the faith as thinges grewe to perfection they had their Seruice accordingly no doubte such as was vsed in the churches from whence their first Apostles and preachers were sent And because the first preachers of the faith came to these west parties from Rome directed some from S. Peter some from Clement some others afterward from other bishops of that See Apostolike they planted and set vp in the countries by them conuerted the Seruice of the churche of Rome or some other very like and that in the Latine tonge onely for ought that can be shewed to the contrary Wherein I referre me onely to the first syx hundred yeres Now that such Seruice was vnderstanded of those peoples that spake and vnderstoode Latine no man denyeth For to some nations that was a natiue and a mother tonge as the greke was to the Grecians M. Iuell alleaging for the hauing of the prayers and Seruice in a vulgare tonge as for England in the English for Ireland in the Irishe for doucheland in the douche tonge etc authorities and examples of the churches where in the tyme of the primitiue churche the greke and Latine tong was the vsuall and common tonge of the people bringeth nothing for proufe of that which lyeth in controuersie Arnobius sayeth he called the latine tonge M. Iuelles allegatiō◠soluted sermonem Italū S. Ambrose in Millane S. Augustine in Aphrike S. Gregorie in Rome preached in Latine and the people vnderstoode them What then no man denyeth you this Hexaeme rō hom 4 S. Basile also speaketh of a sownde which the men women and children made in their prayers to God like the sownde of a waue stryking the sea bankes What can you conclude of this necessaryly M. Iuell All this may be vnderstanded of the sownding that one worde Amen answered at the prayers ende which is done now by the quyer and may be done by the people also in the lower parte of the churche For S. Hierome leadeth vs so to thinke Who commending the deuotion of the people of Rome In 2. prooemio cōment ad Galatas sayeth in like maner Vbi sic ad similitudinem coelestis tonitrui amen reboat vacua idolorum templa quatiuntur Where elles are the churches and the sepulchres of Martyrs with so feruent deuotion and with so great companie resorted vnto which wordes go before Where doth Amen geue so lowde a sownde like the thunderclappe out of the ayer so as the temples empted of idoles shake with it as at Rome The people speaketh with the priest at the mysticall prayers sayeth Chrysostome alleaged by M. Iuell What then So was it long before euen in the Apostles tyme Cōstitut apostolicarū li. 8. cap. 16. as we reade in Clement and likewise in S. Cyprian in * In orationibus mystagogicis Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus and many others so is it now For he shall fynde in the olde fathers that to Per omnia secula seculorū which Chrysostom speaketh of to Dominus vobiscum so light as they make of it to Sursum corda and to Gratias agamus domino Deo nostro the people answered as now also they answere Amen cum Spiritu tuo hahemus ad dominum dignum iustum est As for the place he alleageth out of S. Augustine vpon the psalmes it maketh nothing for his purpose S. Augustines wordes be these other wise then he reporteth them Quid hoc sit intelligere debemus In Psal 18 in expositione secunda vt humana ratione non quasi auium voce cantemus Nam merulae psittaci corui picae huiuscemodi volucres saepè ab hominibus docentur sonare quod nesciunt Hauing prayed to God sayeth S. August that he make vs cleane of our priuie synnes etc. we ought to vnderstand what this is that we maye singe with mannes reason not with voice as
Ecce lingua Britanniae quae nil aliud nouerat quà m Barbarum frendere iam dudum in diuinis laudibus Hebraeum coepit Halleluia resonare Beholde our lord almighty hath now pearced the hartes almost of all nations Beholde he hath ioyned the borders of the East and the West in one faith together Beholde the tonge of Britaine that could nothing elles but gnashe barbarously hath begonne now of late in diuine seruice to sownde the Hebrewe Halleluia Bede in the ende of his second booke sheweth that one Iames a deacon of the churche of Yorke a very cunning man in songe sone after the faith had ben spred abroade here as the number of beleuers grewe began to be a maister or teacher of synging in the churche after the maner of the Romaines The like he writeth of one Eddi surnamed Stephanus that taught the people of Northumberland to sing the Seruice after the Romaine maner and of Putta a holy man bishop of Rochester commending him much for his great skille of synging in the churche after the vse and maner of the Romaines which he had learned of the disciples of S. Gregorie These be testimonies playne and euident ynough that at the begynning the churches of England had their diuine Seruice in Latine and not in English One place more I will recite out of Bede most manifest of all other for proufe hereof In the tyme of Agatho the Pope there was a reuerent man called Iohn Archicantor that is chiefe chaunter or synger of S. Peters churche at Rome and Abbot of the monasterie of S. Martin there Benedicte an abbot of Britaine hauīg buylded a monasterie at the mowth of the Riuer Murus Bede so calleth it sued to the Pope for cōfirmations liberties fraunchesies priuileges etc. as in such case hath ben accustomed Among other thinges he obteined this cunning Chaunter Iohn to come with him into Britaine to teache songe Because Bedes ecclesiasticall storye is not very cōmon I haue thought good here to recite his owne wordes thus englished This Abbot Benedicte tooke with him the foresayd Iohn to bring him in to Britaine that he shuld teache in his monastery the course of seruice for the whole yere so as it was done at S. Peters in Rome Iohn dyd as he had commaundement of the Pope both in teaching the synging men of the sayde monastery the order and rite of synging and reading with vtterance of their voice and also of writing and prycking those thinges that the compasse of the whole yere requyred in the celebration and keping of the holy dayes Which be kepte in the same monasterie till this daye and be copied out of many rownde about on euery coste Neither dyd that Iohn teache the brethren of that monastery onely but also many other made all the meanes they could to gete him to other places where they might haue him to teache This farre Bede I trowe no man will thinke that this Romaine taught and wrote the order and maner of synging and pronouncing the Seruice of the churches of this lande in the English tonge If it had ben demed of the learned and godly gouernours of Christen people then a necessary pointe to saluation to haue had the seruice in the english no mā had ben so apte and fitte to haue trāslated it as he who in those dayes had by speciall grace of God a singular gifte to make songes and sonets in english meter to serue religion and deuotion His name was Cednom Cednom of whom Bede writeth merueilouse thinges How he made diuerse songes conteining matter of the holy scripture with such exceding swetenes and with such a grace as many feeling their hartes compuncte and prickte with hearing and reading of thē withdrewe them selues from the loue of the world and were enkēdled with the desyer of the heauenly lyfe Many sayeth Bede of th'english nation attempted after him to make religiouse and godly poetries but none could doo comparably to him For he was not sayeth he alluding to S. Paules wordes taught of men Galat. 1. neither by man that arte of making godly songes but receiued from God that gifte freely And therfore he could make no wanton tryfling or vaine ditties but onely such as perteined to godly Religion and might seme to procede of a head guyded by the holy ghost lib. 4. cap. 24. This diuine poet Cednom though he made many and sundry holy workes hauing their whole argument out of holy scripture as Bede reporteth yet neuer made he any piece of the Seruice to be vsed in the churche Thus the faith hath continewed in this land among the English people from the 14. yere of the reigne of Mauritius the Emperour almost these thousand yeres The first entree of the English Seruice and vntill the late king Edwardes tyme the English Seruice was neuer heard of at least waye neuer in the churche of England by publike auctoritie receiued and vsed Now touching the scripture by M. Iuell and by all them of that syde alleaged for the Seruice to be had in the vulgare tonge In the 14. chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians S. Paul treateth of the vse of tonges so as it was in the primitiue churche a speciall gifte As the faithfull folke came together to pray and to heare gods worde some one man suddeinly stoode vp and spake in the congregation with tonges of many nations Spiritu insusurrante as Chrysostom sayeth that is by inspiration or prompting of the spirite so as neither others that were present neither him selfe after the opinion of Chrysostome vnderstoode what he sayd That gifte the Apostle dyd not forbyd For that euery gifte of God is good and nothing by him done in vaine but dehorted the Corinthians frō the vaine and ambitiouse vse of it and therefore dyd much extenuate the same and preferred prophecying that is the gifte to interprete and expounde scriptures farre before it It was not in the churche but in the Apostles tyme or a very shorte while after them and that all together by miracle the holy ghost being the worker of it The place of S. Paul to the Corinthians maketh not for the Seruice in the English tonge As concernig the order of the common prayers and publike Seruice in such sorte as we haue now and that age had not S. Paul mentioneth nothing neither speaheth one word in that whole chapter but of the vse of the miraculouse gifte as is sayde before And therefore his sayinges out of that chapter be not fittely alleaged of M. Iuell and the reste of our aduersaries against the maner of prayers and Seruice of the churche now receiued and of long tyme vsed which in the West is vttered in the latine tonge not by waye of miracle or peculiar gifte but according to the institution and ordināce of the churche Profectò enim coelū Ecclesia tū fuit In 1. Cor. 14. ho. 37. In very dede sayeth Chrysostome the churche then was a heauen
them safest of all And in an other place Ad Enodiū epist 102. Si propter eos solos Christus mortuus est qui certa intelligentia possunt ista discernere penè frustrà in Ecclesia laboramus If Christ sayeth he dyed onely for them which can with certaine or suer vnderstanding discerne these thinges concerning God then is the labour we take in the churche in maner in vayne God requyreth not so much of vs how much we vnderstād as how much we beleue and through belefe how much we loue And when we shall all appeare before Christ in that dredfull daye of iudgement whe shall not be requyred to geue an accompte of our vnderstanding but faith presupposed of our charitie Now though the people knowe not the Latine tonge and albeit it were better The benefite of prayer vttered in a tonge not vnderstāded they had the Seruice in their owne vulgare tonge for the better vnderstanding of it yet as it is for as muche as it cōsisteth in maner all together of the scriptures that great profite cometh bothe to the reader and to the hearer of it Origen sheweth at large in the twētith homilie vpon Iosue Because it were ouer long to bring all that he sayeth there to this purpose the summe of the whole may thus be abbridged First that the heauenly powers and angelles of God which be with vs haue great lyking in our vtterāce of the wordes of the scripture Though we vnderstād not the wordes we vtter with our mowth yet those powers sayeth he vnderstand them and thereby be inuited and that with delite to helpe vs. And speaking of the powers that be within vs to whom charge of our soules and bodies is committed he sayeth that if the scriptures be read of vs they haue pleasure therein and be made the stronger toward taking heede to vs yea and that if we speake with tonges and our spirite praye and our sense be with out fruite And there he alleageth to that purpose the cōmon place of S. Paul to the Corinthiās calling it merueilouse and in maner a mysterie shewing how the spirite prayeth the sense being with out fruite After this he declareth the euill powers and our ghostly ennemies the deuill by our reading and hearing of the scriptures to be dryuen from vs. As by enchauntements sayeth he snakes be stayed from doing hurte with their venyme so if there be in vs any serpent of contrary power or if any snake waite priuely to mischiefe vs by vertue of the holy scripture rehearsed so that for wearynesse thou tourne not awaye thy hearing he is put awaye S. Augustine confirmeth the same doctrine where he sayeth In prologo Psalmorum psalmus daemones fugat angelos in adiutorium inuitat The psalme read deuoutly or heard putteth deuilles to flight and prouoketh angels to helpe At lenght Origen shewing how by meate or drynke we fynde remedie for sore eyes though we feele no benefite forthwith in eating or drynking he concludeth his speciall parte of the comparison with these wordes In this wise we must beleue also of the holy scripture that it is profitable and doth good to the soule etiamsi sensus noster ad praesens intelligentiam non capit although presently our sense doo not atteine the meaning or vnderstanding because our good powers by these wordes be refreshed and fedde and the cōtrary that is our aduersarie powers are weakned and put to flight At lenght making obiection to him selfe on the behalfe of his hearers as though they shuld laye this doctrine to his charge for excuse of taking further paynes in preaching and expounding the scriptures to them therto he answereth and sayeth No no we haue not sayd these to you for that cause neither haue we vttered these thinges to you for excuse but to shewe you in Scripturis sanctis esse vim quandam quae legenti etiam sine explanatione sufficiat that in the holy scriptures there is a certaine power or strength which is sufficient for one that readeth it yea without any expounding of it This sufficiencie he referreth I thinke to the procuring of the good powers to helpe vs and to the dryuing awaye the malice of the euill powers our ghostly enemies that they hurte vs not I trust wise godly and stedfast men who be not caryed about with euery wynde of doctrine will be moued more with the auctoritie of Origen a man allwayes in the iudgemēt of all the christē worlde accōpted most excellētly learned thē with the scorning of Caluine who speaking of the auncient latine Seruice vsed in England and Fraunce sayeth In Institutionib ad Ecclesiā ex sono non intellecto nullus penitus fructus redit that of the sownde not vnderstanded no fruite at all retourneth to the churche vsing that word of dispite that might better be spoken by a mynstrell of his pype and taburrette then by a preacher of the diuine Seruice Neither hereof with any milder spirite speaketh his disciple and subminister Theodore Beza the hote minister of the deformed churches of Fraunce Confessionis ca. 4. Sectiōe 16 Quaecunque preces ab aliquo concipiuntur eo idiomate quod ipse non intelligat pro Dei ludibrio sunt habendae What prayers so euer be made sayeth he of any man in a tonge that he vnderstādeth not they be to be taken for a mockery of God Who so euer here alloweth Caluine and Beza condemned of the churche must condemne Origen for this point neuer reproued nor touched of any that haue not spared him where so euer they could charge him with any errour If all prayers made in an vnknowen tonge be a mocking of God as Beza sayeth then were the prayers vttered by miracle in the primitiue churche with tonges which the vtterers them selues vnderstoode not after the mynde of Chrysostome a mocking of god for I see nothing whereby they are excluded from his generall saying and vniuersall propositiō Verely this teaching of Beza is not sownde I wene if he were out of the protection of his deformed churches and cōuented before a catholike bishop to geue an accompte of this doctrine he would steppe backe and reuoke that rashe saying agayne For els he shuld seme to graunt that God gaue at the begynning of the church the gifte of tonges to be mokte withall which were very absurde and blasphemouse S. Paul wisheth that all the Corinthians spake with tonges but rather that they prophecied If our newe maisters condemne the Latine Seruice in the Latine churche for that the people vnderstand it not thereof must it folowe that the English seruice so much of it as consisteth of Dauides psalmes which is the most parte be also cōdemned The like may besayde of other nations For how many shall we fynde not of the people onely but also of the best learned mē that vnderstand the meaning of them in what tōge so euer they be set forth S. Hilarie cōpareth the booke of psalmes to a
heape of keyes Praesat in Psalmos that be to open the dores of euery house of a great citie layed together Amōg whō it is hard to fynde which keye serueth which locke and without the right keye no dore can be opened S. Augustine lykeneth the people of Aphrica synging the Psalmes which they vnderstoode not to owselles popiniayes rauens pyes and such other byrdes which be taught to sounde they knowe not what and yet they vnderstoode the tonge they sang them in And therefore he exhorteth them to learne the meaning of them at his preaching least they shuld syng not with humaine reason as is before recited but with voyce onely as byrdes doo The reste of the scriptures whereof the Seruice consisteth is though not all together so obscure as the psalmes yet veryly darker and harder then that the common peoples grosse and simple wittes may pearce the vndestanding of it by hearing the same pronounced of the minister in their mother tonge And by this reason we shuld haue no Seruice at all gathered out of the scriptures for defaulte of vnderstanding And whereas of the Seruice in the vulgare tōge the people will frame lewde and peruerse meanings of their owne lewde senses So of the Latine Seruice they will make no constructions either of false doctrine or of euill lyfe And as the vulgare Seruice pulleth their mindes from priuate deuotion to heare and not to praye to litle benefite of knowledge for the obscuritie of it so the latine geuing them no such motion they occupie them selues whiles the priest prayeth for all and in the person of all in their priuate prayers all for all and euery one for him selfe Such natiōs as vse church Seruice in their ovvne tōge continevve in schismes In epistola ad graecos The nations that haue euer had their Seruice in their vulgare tonge the people thereof haue continewed in schismes errours and certaine Iudaicall obseruances so as they haue not ben reckened in the number of the catholike churche As the Christians of Moschouia of Armenia of Prester Iohn his land in Ethiopia Bessarion asking by waye of a question of the Grekes his countrie men what churche that is against the which hell gates shall neuer preuaile answereth him selfe and sayeth Aut Latina aut Greca est Ecclesia tertia enim dari non potest Siquidem aliae omnes haeresibus sunt plenae quas sancti patres generales Synodi condemnarunt Either it is the Latine or the Greke churche for there is no thyrd that can be graunted For all other churches be full of heresies which the holy fathers and generall councelles haue condemned Wherefore of these churches no example ought to be taken for Seruice in the vulgare tonge as neither of the churches of Russia and Morauia and certaine other to whom aboue syx hundred yeres past it was graunted to haue the Masse in the Sclauons tonge through speciall licence thereto obteined of the See Apostolike by Cyrullus and Methodius that first conuerted them to the faith Which maner of seruice so many of them as be catholike for good causes haue lefte and vse the Latine as other Latine churches doo Concerning the reste yet keping their Sclauon tonge besyde other errours and defaultes for which they are not herein to be estemed worthy to be folowed we maye saye of them the wordes of Gregorie Nazianzene Priuilegia paucorum non faciunt legem communem The priuileges of a fewe make not a thing laufull in common Wherefore to conclude seing in syx hundred yeres after Christ the Seruice of the churche was not in any other then in the Greke and Latine tōge for that any man is able to shewe by good ptoufe and the same not vnderstanded of all people seing the auctorities by M. Iuell alleaged importe no necessary argument nor directe cōmaundement of the vulgare tonge but onely of plaine and open pronouncing and that where the tonge of the Seruice was vnderstanded seing the churche of the Englishe natiō had their Seruice in the Latine tonge to them vnknowen well near a thousand yeres past seing the place of S. Paul to the Corinthians either perteineth not to this purpose or if it be so graunted for the diuersitie of states of that and of this our tyme it permitteth a diuersitie of obseruation in this behalfe though some likenes and resemblance yet reserued seing great profite cometh to the faithfull people hauing it so as they vnderstand it not Finally seing the examples rehearsed herein to be folowed be of small auctoritie in respecte either of antiquitie or of true Religion As the bolde assertion of M. Iuell is plainely disproued so the olde order of the Latine Seruice in the Latine churche whereof England is a prouince is not rashly to be condemned specially whereas being first committed to the churches by the Apostles of our countrie and the first preachers of the faith here it hath ben auctorised by continuance almost of a thousand yeres without controll or gaynesaying to the glory of God the welth of the people and procuring of helpe from heauen alwayes to this land And to adde hereunto this much last of all though it might be graunted that it were good the Seruice were in the vulgare tonge as in Englishe for our countrie of England yet doubteles good men and zelouse kepers of the catholike faith will neuer allowe the Seruice deuysed in king Edwardes tyme now restored agayne not so much for the tonge it is in as for the order it selfe and disposition of it lacking some thinges necessary and hauing some other thinges repugnant to the faith and custome of the catholike churche Or that the bishop of Rome was then called an vniuersal bisshop or the head of the vniuersall churche Of the Popes Primacie ARTICLE 4. BY what name so euer the bishop of Rome was called within syx hundred yeres after Christes ascension this is cleare that his Primacie that is to say supreme power and auctoritie ouer and aboue all bishops and chiefe gouernement of all Christes flocke in matters perteining to faith and Christen religion was then acknowleged and confessed Which thinge beinge so whether then he were called by either of those names that you denye or no it is not of great importance And yet for the one of them somewhat and for the other an infinite number of good authorities may be alleaged But thereof hereafter Now concerninge the chiefe point of this article which is the Primacie of the Pope Peters successour First it hath ben set vp and ordeined by God so as it standeth in force Iure diuino by gods lawe and not onely by mans lawe the scriptures leadinge thereto Nexte cōmended to the worlde by decrees of councelles and confirmed by edictes of Christen emperoures for auoidinge of schismes Furthermore confessed and witnessed by the holy fathers Againe fownde to be necessary by reason Finally vsed and declared by the euente of thinges and practise of the church For proufe of
all this so much might easely be sayde as shuld serue to a whole volume But In this treatise seeking to auoide prolixitie hauing purposed to saye somewhat to this number of the other Articles and knowing this matter of the Primacie to be allready largely and learnedly handeled of others will but trippe as it were lightly ouer at this tyme and not sette my fast footing in the deepe debating and treating of it The Popes Primacie not of Man but of gods ordināce The first proufe of the Popes primacie scripture expoūded Matth. 16. First as concerning the right of the Popes primacie by gods lawe by these auncient autorities it hath ben auouched Anacletus that holy bishop and martyr S. Peters scholer and of him cōsecrated priest in his epistle to the bishops of Italie writeth thus In nouo testamento post Christum etc. In the newe testament the order of priestes beganne after our lord Christ of Peter because to him bishoprike was first geuen in the churche of Christ where as our lord saide vnto him Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I will buylde my church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it and vnto thee I will geue the keies of the kingdome of heauen Wherfore this Peter receiued of our lord first of all power to binde and to lowse and first of all he brought people to the faith by vertue of his preaching As for the other Apostles they receiued honour and power in like felowship with him and willed him to be their prince or chiefe gouernour In an other epistle to all bishoppes alleaging the same texte for the Primacie of the See of Rome speaking of the disposition of churches committed to Patriarkes and Primates saith thus most plainely This holy ad Apostolike church of Rome hath obteined the Primacie not of the Apostles but of our lord Sauiour him selfe and hath gotten the preeminence of power ouer all churches and ouer the whole flocke of Christen people euen so as he saide to blessed Peter th'Apostle Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke etc. S. Gregorie writing to Mauritius the Emperoure against Iohn the bishop of Constantinople ambitiously claiming and vsurping the name of an vniuersall bishop proueth the bishop of Rome succeding in Peters chaier to be Primate and to haue charge ouer all the church of Christ by scriptures thus Cunctis euangelium scientibus liquet etc. Epist 32. It is euident to all that knowe the gospell that the cure and charge of the whole church hath ben committed by the worde of our lord to the holy Apostle Peter prince of all the Apostles for to him it is sayde Peter Ioan. 21. Luc. 22. louest thou me feede my sheepe to him it is sayd Beholde Sathan hath desyred to syfte you as it were wheate and I haue prayed for thee Peter that thy faith faile not And thou being once conuerted strengthen thy brethren To him it is saide Thou art Peter Matth. 26 and vpon this rocke I will buylde my church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it And vnto the I will geue the keies of the kingdom of heauen And what so euer thou byndest vpon earth shal be bounde also in heauen and what so euer thou lowsest on earth shable lovvsed also in heauen Beholde he receiueth the keies of the heauenly kingdome Cura ei totius Ecclesiae principatus committitur the power of bynding and lowsing is geuen to him the charge of the whole church and principalitie is committed to him Thus farre Gregorie But because our aduersaries though without iuste cause refuse the witnes of the Bishops of Rome in this article as vnlawfull witnesses in their owne cause were thei neuer so holy martyrs or learned confessours they may vnderstand we are able to alleage sundry other authorities to the confirmation hereof that be aboue all exception S. Cyprian declaring the contempte of the high Priest Christes Vicarie in earth to be cause of schismes and heresies writeth thus to Cornelius Pope and Martyr Neque enim aliunde haereses obortae sunt etc. Neither haue heresies or schismes rysen of any other occasiō then of that the Priest of God is not obeied and that one Priest for the tyme in the church and one iudge for the tyme in stede of Christ is not thoughte vpon To whom if the whole brotherhed that is the whole number of Christē people which be brethren together and were so called in the primatiue church would be obedient according to gods teachinges Secūdum magisteria diuina then no man would make adoo against the colledge of priestes no mā woulde make him selfe iudge not of the bishop nowe but of God after gods iudgement after the fauour of the people declared by theire voices at the Election after the consent of his felowbishops no man through breach of vnitie and strife would diuide the church of Christ no man standing in his owne conceite and swelling with pride would sette vp by him selfe abroade without the church a newe heresie Of all other authorities that of Athanasius and of the bishops of Egypte and Libya gathered together in a Synode at Alexandria is to be regarded Who making humble sute to Felix then bishop of Rome for aide and succour against the Arianes through the whole epistle confessing the supreme auctoritie of that Apostolike See vtter these very wordes Vestrae apostolicae sedis imploramus auxilium etc. In primo tomo Cōciliorum We humbly besech you of the helpe of your Apostolike See Because as verely we beleue God hath not despised the praiers of his seruantes offered vp to him with teares but hath constituted and placed you your predecessours who were Apostolike Prelates in the highest tower or supreme state In summitatis arce constituit and commaunded them to haue cure and charge of all churches to th' intent you helpe and succour vs and that defending vs as to whom iudgemēt of bishops is committed you forslowe not through negligence to delyuer vs from our enemies Now if the Apostolike church of Rome hath obteined the Primacie and preeminence of power ouer all churches and ouer the whole flocke of Christen people of our lord Sauiour him selfe as Anacletus saith If it be euident to all that knowe the gospell that the cure and charge of the whole church hath ben committed to the holy Apostle Peter Prince of all the Apostles by the worde of our lord as Gregorie witnesseth If the whole brotherhed that is to say all christen folke ought to obeye the one hygh Priest or bishop of God and the one Iudge that is Christes Vicare or in the steede of Christ for the tyme according to the preceptes and teachinges of God as Cyprian writeth If it be God that hath placed and ordeined the bishop of Rome in the highest state of the church as Athanasius with all the fathers of that Alexandrine councell recordeth If this I say be true then is
beleue one holy catholike and Apostolike churche therefore I saye it hath nede of one prince and ruler to be kepte and holden in If it be other wise vnitie must nedes forthwith be sparkled and brokē a sunder And therefore it behoued that the rule and gouernement of the churche shuld be committed to one And whereas these Gospellers saye that Christ is the gouernour of the churche and that he being one kepeth the churche in vnitie we answere that although the churche be first and principally gouerned by Christ as all other thinges are yet gods high goodnes hath so ordeined as eche thing may be prouided for according to his owne condition and nature Therefore whereas mankynde dependeth most of sense and receiueth all learnīg and institutiō of sensible thinges therefor it hath nede of a man to be a gouernour and ruler whom it maye perceiue by outward sense And euen so the Sacramentes by which the grace of God is geuen vnto vs in consideration of mannes nature being so made of God as it is are ordeined in thinges sensible Therefor it was behoofull this gouernement of the churche to be committed to one man which at the first was Peter and afterward eche successour of Peter for his tyme as is afore declared Neither can this one man haue this power of any consent or companie of men but it is necessary he haue it of God For to ordeine and appointe the vicare of Christ it perteineth to none other then to Christ For where as the churche and all that is of the chuch is Christes as well for other causes as specially for that we are bought with a great price euen with his bloude as S. Paul sayeth 1. Cor. 3. how can it perteine to any other then to him to institute and appoint to him selfe a vicare that is one to doe his steede Wherefore to cōclude excepte we would wickedly graunt that gods prouidence hath lacked or doth lacke to his churche for loue of which he hath geuen his onely begotten sonne and which he hath promised neuer to forgete so as the woman can not forgete the chylde she bare in her wombe Reason may sone enduce vs to beleue that to one man one bishop the chiefe and highest of all bishops the successour of Peter the rule and gouernement of the church by God hath ben deferred For elles if God had ordeyned that in in the church shuld be sundry heades and rulers and none constituted to be ouer other but all of equall power ech one among their people then he shuld seme to haue set vp so many churches as he hath appointed gouernours And so he shall appeare to haue brought in among his faithfull people that vnruly confusion the destruction of all common weales so much abhorred of princes which the grekes call Anarchian which is a state for lacke of order in gouernours without any gouernement at all Which thing sith that the wise and politike men of this worlde doo shunne and detest in the gouernemēt of these earthly kingdomes as most perniciouse and hurtfull to attribute to the high wisdome of God and to our lord Christ who is the auctor of the most ordinate disposition of all thinges in earth and in heauen it were heynous and prophane impietie Wherefore if the state of a kingdome can not continew safe onlesse one haue power to rule how shall not the church spredde so farre abroade be in danger of great disorders corruption and vtter destruction if as occasion shal be geuen among so great strifes and debates of men among so many fyerbrandes of discord tossed to and fro by the deuils enemies of vnitie there be not one head and ruler of all to be consulted of all to be hearde of all to be folowed and obeied If strife and contentiō be stirred about matters of faith if controuersie happen to rise about the sense of the scriptures shall it not be necessary there be one supreme iudge to whose sentence the parties may stande If nede require as it hath ben often sene that generall councelles be kepte how can the bishops to whom that matter belongeth be brought together but by commaundement of one head gouernour whom they owe their obediēce vnto For elles being summoned perhappes they will not come Finally how shall the contumacie and pertinacie of mischeuous persones be repressed specially if the bishops be at discension with in them selues if there be not a supreme power who towardes some may vse the rodde towardes other some the spirite of lenitie with such discrete temperament as malice be vanquished right defended and concorde procured least if the small sparkes of strife be not quenched by auctoritie at the beginning at length a great flame of schismes and heresies flashe abrode to the great dāger of a multitude Therefore as there is one body of Christ one flocke one church euen so is there one head of that his mysticall body one shepeherd and one chiefe seruant made steward ouerseer and ruler ouer Christes householde in his absence vntill his comming againe The 6. proufe practise of the churche syxfolde But here perhappes some will saie it can not appeare by the euente of thinges and practise of the church that the Pope had this supreme power and auctoritie ouer all bishops and ouer all Christes flocke in matters touching faith and in causes ecclesiasticall Verely who so euer peruseth the ecclesiasticall stories and vieweth the state of the church of all tymes and ages cā not but cōfesse this to be most euident And here I might alleage first certaine places of the newe testament declaring that Peter practised this preeminence among the disciples at the beginning and that they yelded the same as of right apperteining vnto him Act. 1. As when he first and onely moued them to choose one in the stede of Iudas and demeaned him selfe as the chiefe autctor of all that was done therein when he made answere for all Act. 2. at what time they were gased and wondered at and of some mockte as being dronken with newe wine for that in the fistith day thei spake with tonges of so many nations when he vsed that dredfull seueritie in punishing the falshed Act. 5. and hypocrisie of Ananias and Saphira his wife Act. 15. when variāce being risen about the obseruation of certaine pointes of Moyses lawe he as chiefe and head of the rest saide his mynde before all others Among many other places lefte out for breuitie that is not of least weight that Paul being retourned to Damasco out of Arabia Galat. 1. after three yeres went to Ierusalem to see Peter and abode with him fiften dayes But because our aduersaries doo wreath and wreste the scriptures be they neuer so plaine by there priuate and straunge constructions to an vnderstanding quite contrary to the sense of the catholike church I will referre the reader for further proufe of this matter to the stories bearing faithfull witnes of the
bishops that reacheth from Peter him selfe to Anastasius which now sitteth in the same chaier if any traitour had crepte in it shuld nothing hurte the church and the innocent christen folke ouer whom our lord hauing prouidence sayeth of euill rulers what they saye vnto you Matth. 23. doo ye but what they doo doo ye not for they saye and doo not to the intent the hope of a faithfull person may be certaine and such as being set not in man but in our lord be neuer scattered abroade with tempest of wicked schisme And in his 166. epistle he sayeth our heaueÌ„ly Maister hath so farre forewarned vs to be ware of all euill of dissension that he assured the people also of euill rulers that for their sakes the Seate of holesom doctrine shuld not be forsaken in which Seate euen the very euill men be compelled to saye good thinges For the thinges which they saye be not theires but gods who in the Seate of vnitie hath put the doctrine of veritie By this we are plainely taught that albe it the successours of Peter Christes vicares in earth be fownde blameworthy for euill lyfe yet we oughte not to dissente from them in doctrine nor seuer our selues from them in faith For as much as notwithstanding they be euill by gods prouidence for the suertie of his people they be compelled to saie the thinges that be good and to teache the truth the thinges they speake not being theirs but gods who hath put the doctrine of veritie in the Seate or chaier of vnitie which singulare grace cometh specially to the See of Peter either of the force of Christes prayer as is sayde before or in respecte of place and dignitie which the bishops of that See holde for Christ as Balaam could be broughte by no meanes to curse that people whom God would to be blessed And Caiphas also prophecied because he was high bishop of that yere and prophecied truly being a maÌ„ otherwise most wicked And therfore the euill doinges of bishops of Rome make no argument of discrediting their doctrine To this purpose the example of Gregorie Nazianzene may very fittely be applied of the golden syluerne and leadden seale As touching the valewe of metalles golde and syluer are better but for the goodnes of the seale as well doth leadde imprint a figure in waxe as syluer or golde For this cause that the See of Rome hath neuer ben defyled with stinking heresies as Theodoritus sayeth and god hath alwaies kepte in that chaier of vnitie the doctrine of veritie as Augustine writeth for this cause I saye it sitteth at the sterne and gouerneth the churches of the whole worlde for this cause bishops haue made their appellations thither iudgement in doubtes of doctrine and determination in all controuersies and strifes hath ben from thence alwayes demaunded Now that the B. of Rome had alwayes cure and rule ouer all other bishops specially of them of the East for touching them of the West church it is generally coÌ„fessed besyde a hundred other euideÌ„t argumentes this is one very sufficient that he had in the East to doo his stede three delegates or vicares now commonly they be named legates And this for the commoditie of the bishops there whose churches were farre distaÌ„t froÌ„ Rome The one was the bishop of Constantinople as we finde it mencioned in epistola Simplicij ad Achatium Constantinopolitanum The seconde was the bishop of Alexandria as the epistle of Bonifacius the seconde to Eulalius recordeth The third was the bishop of Thessalonica as it is at large declared in the 82. epistle of Leo ad Anastasium Thessalonicensem By perusing these epistles euery man may see that all the bishops of Grece Asia Syria Egite and to be shorte of all the Orient rendred and exhibited their humble obedieÌ„ce to the B. of Rome and to his arbitremeÌ„t referred their doubtes coÌ„plaintes and causes and to him onely made theire appellations Of the B. of Rome his punishing of offenders by censures of the church and otherwyse CorrectioÌ„s from the Pope as by excommunications eiection deposition and enioyning penance for transgressions we haue more exaÌ„ples then I thinke good to recite here They that haue knowledge of the ecclesiasticall stories may remeÌ„ber how Timotheus B. of Alexandria was excommunicated with Peter his deacon by Simplicius the Pope Nestorius B. of Constantinople by Celestinus Theophilus B. of Alexandria with Arcadius the Emperour and Eudoxia the Empreresse by Innocentius for their wicked demeanour toward Chrysostome How Dioscorus B. of AlexaÌ„dria was deposed though the whole secoÌ„de Ephesine councell stoode in his defence how Peter B. of Antioche was not onely put out of his bishoprike but also of all priestly honour How Photius was put out of the Patriarkeship of Constantiple into which he was intruded by fauour of Michael the Emperour at the sute of his wicked vnkle by Nicolaus the first Lib 3. epist 13. For proufe of this auctoritie the epistle of Cyprian which he wrote to Stephanus Pope in his tyme against Martianus the B. of Arelate in Gallia maketh an euident argument For that this Martianus became a maineteyner of the heresie of Nouatianus and therewith seduced the faithfull people Cyprian hauing intelligence of it by Faustinus from Lions aduertised Stephanus of it and moued him earnestly to directe his letters to the people of Arle by auctoritie of which Martianus shuld be deposed and an other put in his rome to th' intent sayeth he there the flocke of Christ which hytherto by him scattered abroade and woonded is contemned may be gathered together Which S. Cyprian would not haue written had the B. of Rome had no suche auctoritie CoÌ„firmations by the Pope For the Popes auctoritie concerning confirmation of the ordinations and elections of all bishops many examples might easely be alleaged as the request made to Iulius by the 90. Ariane bishops assembled in councell as Antioche against Athanasius that he would wouchesafe to ratifie and confirme those that they had chosen in place of Athanasius Paulus Marcellus and others whom they had condemned and depriued Also the earnest sute which Theodosius the Emperour made to Leo for coÌ„firmation of Anatolius and likewise that Martianus the Emperour made to him for confirmation of Proterius bothe bishops of Alexandria as it appeareth by their letters written to Leo in theire fauour And as for Anatoliê° Leo would not in any wise order and coÌ„firme him onlesse he would first professe that he beleued and helde the doctrine Vide Leonis epis 1â— which was conteined in Leo his epistle to Flauianus and would further by writing witnesse that he agreed with Cyrillus and the other catholihe fathers against Nestorius For this if nothing elles could be alleaged the testimonie of holy Gregorie were sufficient to make good credite Who vnderstanding that Maximus was ordered bisshop of Salonae a citie in Illyrico without the auctoritie and confirmation of the See Apostolike standing in doubte least
tamen domus eius dicitur cuius hodie rector est Damasus Where as the whole world is gods yet the churche is called his howse ▪ the ruler whereof at these daies is Damasus I would not weery and trouble the reader with such a number of allegations were not that M. Iuell beareth the world in hande we haue not one sentence nor clause for vs to proue either this or any other of all his Articles But perhappes some one will replye and saye yet I heare not the B. of Rome called Head of the vniuersall churche What forceth it whether that very terme be founde in any auncient writer or no Other termes of the same vertue and power be oftentymes founde Is it not one to saie Head of the vniuersall churche and to saie ruler of gods house which Ambrose sayeth whereof this argument may be made The church yea the vniuersall church is the house of God but Damasus B. of Rome is ruler of the house of God after Ambrose ergo Damasus is ruler of the vniuersall church and by like right and title is the Pope who is B. of Rome now also ruler of the same What other is it to call the church of Rome the principall churche respecte had to the bishop there and not otherwise wherein a figure of speach is vsed as Ireneus and Cyprian doo and president or set in auctoritie ouer the whole world as Leo doth then to call the bishop of Rome In locum Ioā 21 homil 87. ex ponēs illud sequere me In Matth. homil 55. Heade of the vniuersall church what meaneth Chrysostome calling Peter totius orbis magistrum the Maister and teacher of all the worlde and saying in an other place that Christ made Peter not ruler ouer one nation as the father made Ieremie ouer the Iewes but ouer the whole worlde what other I saie meaneth he thereby then that he is head of the whole worlde and therefore of the vniuersall church But to satisfie these men and to take awaye occasion of cauille I wil alleage a fewe places where the expresse terme Head is attributed to Peter the first B. of Rome and by like right to his successours Peter and his successour called head of the churche expressely and to the See Apostolike Chrysostome speaking of the vertue and power of Peter and of the stedfastnes of the church in the 55. Homilie vpon Mathewe hath these wordes among other Cuius Pastor caput homo piscator atque ignobilis c. By which wordes he affirmeth that the pastour and head of the church being but a fisher a man and one of base parentage passeth in firmnes the nature of the diamant Againe in an homilie of the praises of Paul he sayeth thus Neither was this man onely such a one but he also which was the head of the Apostles who oftentymes sayde he was ready to bestowe his life for Christ and yet was full sore afrayed of death If he were head of the Apostles then was he head of the inferiour people and so Head of the vniuersall churche Hierome writing against Iouinian sayeth propterea inter duodecim vnus eligitur vt capite constituto schismatis tollatur occasio for that cause among the twelue on is specially chosen out that the Head being ordeined occasion of schisme may be taken awaye Whereby it appeareth that Peter was constituted head for auoiding of diuision and schisme Now the danger of the inconuenience remaining still yea more then at that tyme for the greater multitude of the churche and for sundry other imperfections the same remedy must be thought to continewe onlesse we would saye that Christ hath lesse care of his church now that it is so much encreaced then he had at the beginning when his flocke was smal For this cause excepte we denye Gods prouidēce toward his church there is one Head for auoiding of schisme also now as well as in the Apostles tyme. Which head is the successour of him that was head by Christes appointment then the B. of Rome sitting in the seate that Peter sate in Cyrillus sayeth Petrus vt princeps caputque caeterorū primus exclamauit tu es Christus filius Dei viui Peter as prince and Head of the reste first cryed out thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God Serm. 124. de tēpore Augustine also in a sermon to the people calleth him head of the church saying Totius corporis membrum in ipso capite curat ecclesiae in ipso vertice componit omnium membrorum sanitatem He healeth the member of the whole body in the Head it selfe of the church and in the toppe it selfe he ordereth the helth of all the members And in an other place Li. quaest vet no. testam q. 75. Saluator quando pro se Petro exolui iubet pro omnibus exoluisse videtur Quia sicut in saluatore erant omnes causa magisterij ita post saluatorem in Petro omnes continentur ipsum enim constituit Caput omnium Our sauiour sayeth Augustine when as he cōmaundeth paimēt for the Emperoure to be made for him selfe and for Peter he semeth to haue payde for all Because as all were in our sauiour for cause of teaching so after our sauiour all are conteined in Peter for he ordeined him Head of all Here haue these men the plaine and expresse terme Head of the rest Head of the church Head of all and therefore of the vniuersall church What will they haue more Neither here can they saie that although this auctoritie and title of the Head be geuen to Peter yet it is not deriued and transferred from him to his successours For this is manifest that Christ instituted his churche so as it shuld continewe to the worldes ende Cap. 9. according to the saying of Esaie the prophete Super solium Dauid c. Vpon the seat of Dauid and vpon his kingdome shall Messias sitte to strengthen it and to establish it in iudgement and righteousnes from this daye for euermore And thereof it is euidēt that he ordeined those who then were in ministerie so as their auctoritie and power shuld be deriued vnto their aftercommers for the vtilitie of the church for euer specially where as he sayde Matt vlt. beholde I am with you vntill the ende of the worlde And therefore as Victor writeth in his storie of the persecutiō of the Vandales Eugenius B. of Carthago Lib. 2. conuented of Obadus a great capitaine of Hunerike king of the Vandales about a councell to be kepte in Aphrica for matters of the faith betwixte the Arians supported by the king and the catholikes sayde in this wise Si nostram fidem c. If the kinges power desyre to knowe our faith which is one and the true let him sende to his frendes I will write also to my brethren that my fellowebishops come who may declare the faith that is cōmon to you and vs there he hath these wordes
praecipuè ecclesia Romana quae Caput est omnium ecclesiarum and specially the church of Rome which is the Head of all the churches Naming the church of Rome he meaneth the bishop there or his legates to be sent in his stede Thus it is proued by good and auncient auctorities that the name and title of the Head ruler president chiefe and principall gouernour of the church is of the fathers attributed not onely to Peter but also to his successours bishops of the See Apostolike And therefore M. Iuell may thinke him selfe by this charitably admonished to remember his promise of yelding and subscribing I will adde to all that hath ben hytherto sayde of this matter a saying of Martin Luther that such as doo litle regarde the grauitie of auncient fathers of the olde church may yet somewhat be moued with the lightnes of the young father Luther Patriarke and fownder of their newe churche Lightnes I may well call it for in this saying which I shall here rehearse he doth not so soberly allowe the Popes Primacie The popes primacie acknovvleged by Martin Luther as in sundry other treatises he doth rashly and furiousely inueigh against the same In a litle treatise intituled Resolutio Lutheriana super propositione sua 13. de potestate papae his wordes be these Primum quod me mouet Romanum pontificem esse alijs omnibus quos saltem nouerimus se pontifices gerere superiorem est ipsa voluntas Dei quam in ipso facto videmus Neque enim sine voluntate Dei in hanc monarchiam vnquam venire potuisset Rom. Pontifex At voluntas Dei quoquo modo nota fuerit cum reuerentia suscipienda est ideoque non licet temerè Romano pontifici in suo primatu resistere Haec autem ratio tanta est vt si etiam nulla scriptura nulla alia causa esset haec tamen satis esset ad compescendam temeritatem resistentium Et hac sola ratione gloriosissimus martyr Cyprianus per multas epistolas confidentissimè gloriatur contrà omnes episcoporum quorumcunque aduersarios sicut 3. Regum legimus quòd decē tribus Israel discesserunt à Roboam filio Salomonis tamen quia voluntate Dei siue auctoritate factum est ratum apud Deum fuit Nam apud theologos omnes voluntas signi quam vocant operationem Dei non minus quà m alia signa voluntatis Dei vt praecepta prohibitiua etc. metuenda est Ideo non video quomodo sint excusati à schismatis reatu qui huic voluntati contraueniētes sese à Romani pontificis auctoritate subtrahunt Ecce haec est vna prima mihi insuperabilis ratio quae me subijcit Romano pontifici Primatū eius confiteri cogit The first thing that moueth me to thinke the B. of Rome to be ouer all other that we knowe to be bisshops is the very will of God which we see in the facte or dede it selfe for without the will of God the B. of Rome could neuer haue commen vnto this monarchie But the will of God by what meane so euer it be knowen is to be receiued reuerently And therefore it is not lawfull rashly to resiste the B. of Rome in his primacie And this is so great a reason for the same that if there were no scripture at all nor other reason yet this were ynough to stay the rashnes of them that resiste And through this onely reason the most gloriouse martyr Cyprian in many of his epistles vaunteth him selfe very boldly against all the aduersaries of Bishops what soeuer they were As in the thirde booke of the kinges we read that the ten tribes of Israel departed from Roboam Salomons sōne Yeat because it was done by the will or auctoritie of God it stoode in effecte with God For among all the diuines the will of the signe which they call the working of God is to be feared no lesse then other signes of Gods will as commaundemētes prohibitiue etc. Therefore I see not how they may be excused of the gilte of schisme which going against this will withdrawe them selues from the auctoritie of the B. of Rome Lo this is one chiefe inuincible reason that maketh me to be vnder the bisshop of Rome and compelleth me to confesse his Primacie This farre Luther Thus I haue briefly touched some deale of the scriptures of the canons and councells of the edictes of Emperours of the fathers sayinges of the reasons and of the manifolde practises of the church which are wonte to be alleaged for the Popes Primacie and supreme auctoritie With all I haue proued that which M. Iuell denyeth that the B. of Rome within sixe hundred yeres after Christ hath ben called the vniuersall bishop of no small number of men of great credite and very oftentymes Head of the vniuersall church both in termes equiualent and also expressely Now to the nexte article Or that the people was then taught to beleue Iuell that Christes body is really substantially corporally carnally or naturally in the Sacrament Of the termes really substantially corporally carnally naturally fovvnde in the Doctours treating of the true being of Christes body in the blessed Sacrament ARTICLE V. CHristen people hath euer ben taught that the body and bloud of Iesus Christ by the vnspeakeable working of the grace of God and vertue of the holy Ghoste is present in this most holy Sacrament and that verely and in dede This doctrine is fownded vppon the plaine wordes of Christ which he vttered in the institution of this sacrament expressed by the Euangelistes and by S. Paul As they were at supper sayeth Matthewe Iesus tooke breade and blessed it and brake it Matth. 26 and gaue it to his disciples and sayeth Take ye eate ye this is my body And takyng the cuppe he gaue thankes and gaue it to them saying Drynke ye all of this For this is my bloude of the newe testament which shall be shedde for many in remission of synnes With like wordes almost Marke Luke and Paul Marc. 14. Luc. 22. 1. Cor. 11. doo describe this diuine institution Neither sayde our lord onely This is my body but least some shuld doubte how his wordes are to be vnderstanded for a playne declaration of them he addeth this further Wich ys geuen for you Luc. 22. Likewise of the cuppe he sayeth not onely This is my bloude But also as it were to putte it out of all doubte Which shall be shed for many Now as faithful people doo beleue that Christ gaue not a figure of his body but his owne true and very body in substance and like wise not a figure of his bloude but his very pretiouse bloude it selfe at his passion and death on the crosse for our Redemption so they beleue also that the wordes of the institution of this Sacrament admitte no other vnderstāding but that he geueth vnto vs in these holy mysteries his selfe same body and his selfe same bloude in truth of
and secrete rome of the churche In epistola ad Innocentiū as it was in the tyme of Chrysostom at Constantinople In some other places we reade that it was kepte in the bishoppes palais neare to the churche and in the holy dayes brought reuerently to the churche and sette vppon th'aulter which for abuses committed was by order of councelles abrogated In Cōcil Braccarē 3. Can. 5. Thus in diuerse places diuersely it hath ben kepte euery where reuerently and surely so as it might be safe from iniurie and villainie of miscreātes and dispysers of it The hanging vp of it on high hath ben the maner of England as Lindewode noteth vpon the constitutions prouinciall on high that wicked dispite might not reache to it vnder a Canopie for shewe of reuerence and honour If princes be honored with cloth of estate bishops with solemne thrones in their churches and deanes with canopies of tapistrie sylke and arras as we see in sundry cathedrall churches and no man finde faulte with it why shuld M. Iuell mislike the Canopie that is vsed for honour of that blessed Sacramēt wherein is conteined the very body of Christ and through the inseparable ioyning together of bothe natures in vnitie of person Christ him selfe very God and man With what face speaketh he against the Canopie vsed to the honour of Christ in the Sacrament that sytting in the bishoppes seate at Salesburie can abyde the syght of a solene canopie made of paineted bourdes spredde ouer his head If he had ben of counsell with Moses Dauid and Salomon it is lyke he would haue reproued their iudgementes for the great honour they vsed and caused so to be continewed towardes the Arke wherein was conteined nothing but the tables of the lawe Aarons rodde and a pottefull of Manna King Dauid thought it very vnsitting 2. Reg. 7. and felte great remorse in heart that he dwelte in a house of Cedres and the Arke of God was putte in the myddes of skynnes that is of the tabernacle whose outward partes were couered with beastes skynnes And now there is one fownde among other monstrouse and straunge formes of creatures maners and doctrines who being but duste and ashes as Abrahā sayde of him selfe promoted to the name of a bishop and not chosen I wene to doo high seruice of a man according to Gods owne hearte as Dauid was thinketh not him selfe vnworthy to sytte in a bishopes chayer vnder a gorgeouse testure or Canopie of gilted bourdes and can not suffer the pretiouse body of Christ whereby we are redemed to haue for remembraunce of honour done of our parte so much as a litle Canopie a thing of small price Yet was the Arke but a shadowe and this the body that the figure this the truthe that the type or signe this the very thing it selfe As I doo not enuie M. Iuell that honour by what right so euer he enioyeth it So I can not but blame him for bereuing Christ of his honour in this blessed Sacrament Now concerning this article it selfe if it may be called an article wherein M. Iuell thinketh to haue great aduantage against vs as though nothing could be brought for it though it be not one of the greatest keyes nor of the highest mysteries of our Religion as he reporteth it to bee the more to deface it of the Canopie what may be fownde I leaue to others neither it forceth greatly Hanging vp of the Sacramēt in a pixe ouer the aulter is auncient But of the hanging vp of the Sacrament ouer the aulter we fynde plaine mention in S. Basiles lyfe written by Amphilochius that worthy bishop of Iconium Who telleth that S. Basile at his Masse hauing diuided the Sacramēt in three partes dyd put the one in to the golden dooue after which forme the Pyxe was then cōmonly made hanging ouer the aulter His wordes be these Imposuerit columbae aureae pendenti super altare And for further euidence that such pyxes made in forme of a dooue in remembraunce of the holy ghost that appeared like a dooue were hāged vp ouer th'aulter we fynde in the actes of the Generall councell holdē at Constantinople that the clergie of Antioche accused one Seuerus an heretike before Iohn the patriarke and the councell there that he had ryfled and spoyled the holy aulters and molted the cōsecrated vesselles and had made awaye with some of them to his cōpanions praesumpsisset etiam columbas aureas argenteas in formam Spiritus sancti super diuina lauacra et altaria appensas vna cum alijs sibi appropriare dicens non oportere in specie columbae Spiritum sanctum nominare Which is to saye that he had presumed also to conuerte to his owne vse besyde other thinges the golden and syluerne dooues made to represent the holy ghoste that were hanged vp ouer the holy fontes and aulters saying that no mā ought to speake of the holy ghoste in the shape of a dooue Neither hath the Sacrament ben kepte in all places and in all tymes in one maner of vessels So it be reuerently kepte for the viage prouision for the sicke no catholike man will maineteine strife for the maner and order of keping Symmachus a very worthy bishop of Rome in the tyme of Anastasius the Emperour as it is written in his lyfe made two vesselles of syluer to reserue the Sacrament in and set them on the aulters of two churches in Rome of S. Syluester and of S. Androw These vesselles they call commonly ciboria We fynde likewise in the lyfe of S. Gregorie that he also like Symmachus made such a vessell which they call ciborium for the Sacrament with fouer pillours of pure syluer and set it on the aulter at S. Petres in Rome In a worke of Gregorius Turonensis this vessell is called turris in qua mysterium dominici corporis habebatur a tower wherein our lordes body was kepte In an olde booke de poenitentia of Theodorus the greke of Tarsus in Cilicia sometyme archbishop of Cantorbury before Beda his tyme it is called pixis cum corpore Domini ad viaticum pro infirmis The pyxe with our lordes body for the viage prouision for the sicke In that booke in an admonition of a bishop to his clergie in a synode warning is geuen that nothing be put vppon th'aulter in tyme of the Sacrifice but the cofer of Relikes the booke of the fouer Euāgelistes and the pyxe with our lordes body Thus we fynde that the blessed Sacrament hath alwaies ben kepte in some places in a pyxe hanged vp ouer the aulter in some other places otherwise euery where and in all tymes safely and reuerently as is declared to be alwaile in readynes for the viage prouision of the sicke Which keping of it for that godly purpose and with like due reuerēce if M. Iuell and the Sacramentaries would admitte no man will be either so scrupulouse or so contentiouse as to stryue with them either for the
to S. Paul the Apostle as he vnderstoode his face by viewe of his picture Gregorie Nyssene S. Basiles brother writing the lyfe of Theodorus the martyr bestoweth much eloquence in the praise of the church where his holy relikes were kepte commending the shape of lyuing thinges wrought by the keruer the smoothenes of marble poolished like syluer by the mason the liuely resemblaunce of the martyr him selfe and of all his worthy actes expressed and excellently set forth to the eye in imagerie with the image of Christ by the paynter In which images he acknowlegeth the fightes of the martyr to be declared no lesse then if they were described and written in a booke Paulinus the bishop of Nola in his booke that he made in verses of the lyfe of Felix the martyr prayseth the church which the martyrs bodye was layed in In decimo Natali for the garnishing of it with painted images in bothe sydes of bothe kindes men and women the one kinde on the one syde and the other kinde on the other syde Where he speaketh expressely by name of the Images of scabbed Iob and blynde Tobye of fayer Iudith and great quene Hesther for so he nameth them Athanasius hath one notable place for hauing the Image of our Sauiour Christ which is not cōmon where he maketh Christ and the church to talke together as it were in a dialoge in sermone de sanctis patribus prophetis The greke may thus be translated Age inquit dic mihi cur oppugnaris Oppugnor inquit Ecclesia propter doctrinam Euangelij quam diligēter accuratè teneo propter verum firmum Pascha quod agito propter religiosam puram imaginem tuam quam mihi Apostoli reliquerunt vt haberem depictam arram humanitatis tuae in qua mysterium redemptionis operatus es Hic Christus Si propter hoc inquit te oppugnant ne grauiter feras nève animum despōdeds cum scias si quis Pascha neget aut imaginem me eum negaturum coram patre meo electis angelis Rursus verò qui compatitur mecum propter Pascha conglorificaturum an non audisti quid Moysi praeceperim Facies inquam mihi duos Cherubinos in tabernaculo testimonij scilicet ad praefigurandam meam imaginem etc. The English of this Latine or rather of the Greke is this Come on quoth Christ to the church tell me wherefore art thou thus inuaded and vexed declare me the matter Forsooth lord quoth the church I am inuaded and vexed for th'exacte obseruing of the gospell and for the keping of the feast of the true and firme Easter and for thy reuerent and pure Image which thy holy Apostles haue lefte to me by tradition to haue and kepe for a representation of thine incarnation Then quoth our lord if this be the matter for which thou art inuaded and set against be not dismayed be of good confort in hart and mynde being assured hereof that who so denyeth Easter or my * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cleane image I shall denye him before my heauenly father and his chosen Angels And he that suffereth persecution with me for keping of Easter the same shall also be glorified with me Hast not thou heard what I commaunded Moyses the lawegeuer to doo Make me sayd I two Cherubins in the tabernacle of the testimony to be a prefiguration or foretokening of my image etc. Of all the fathers none hath a playner testimonie bothe for the vse and also for the worshipping of Images then S. Basile whose auctoritie for learning wisedom and holynes of lyfe besyde antiquitie is so weighty in the iudgement of all men that all our newe maisters layed in balance against him shall be fownde lighter then any fether Citatur ab Adriano Papa in epistola Synodica ad Constātinū Irenen Touching this matter making a confession of his faith in an epistle inueghing against Iulian the renegate he sayeth thus Euen as we haue receyued our Christian and pure faith of God as it were by right of heretage right so I make my confession thereof to hym and therein I abyde I beleeue in one God father almighty God the father God the sonne God the holy ghoste One God in substance and these three in persones I adore and glorifie I confesse also the sonnes incarnation Then afterward sainct Mary who according to the fleshe brought hym foorth callyng her Deiparam I reuerence also the holy Apostles Prophetes and Martyrs which make supplication to god for me that by their mediation our most benigne god be mercifull vnto me and graunt me freely remission of my synnes Then this foloweth Quam ob causam historias imaginū illorum honoro palà m adoro hoc enim nobis traditum à sanctis Apostolis non est prohibendum sed in omnibus ecclesijs nostris eorum historias erigimus For the which cause I doo both honour the stories of their images and openly adore them For this being delyuered vnto vs of the holy Apostles by tradition is not to be forbidden And therefore we set vp in all our churches their stories Lo M. Iuell here you see a sufficient testimonie that Images were set vp in the churches long before the ende of your syx hundred yeres and that they were honoured and worshipped not onely of the simple christē people but of bishop Basile who for his excellent learning and wisedom was renoumed with the name of Great Now that there hath ben ynough alleaged for the Antiquitie orginall and approbation of Images Three causes vvhy images hauen ben vsed in the church it remayeth it be declared for what causes they haue ben vsed in the church We fynde that the vse of images hath ben brought into the church for three causes The first is the benefite of knowledge For the simple and vnlearned people which be vtterly ignorant of letters in pictures doo as it were reade and see nolesse then others doo in bookes the mysteries of christen Religion the actes and worthy dedes of Christ and of his sainctes What writing performeth to them that reade the same doth a picture to the simple beholding it Ad Serenū episcopū Massilien li. 9. epistol 9. sayeth S. Gregory For in the same the ignorant see what they ought to folowe in the same they reade which can no letters therefor Imagerie serueth specially the rude nations in stede of writing sayeth he To this S. Basile agreeth in his homilie vpon the forty martyrs Bothe the writers of stories sayeth he and also paineters do shewe and set forth noble dedes of armes and victories the one garnishing the matter with eloquence the other drawing it lyuely in tables and bothe haue styrred many to valiant courage For what thynges the vtterāce of the storie expresseth through hearing the same doth the stille picture set forth through imitatiō In the like respecte in olde tyme the worke of excellēt poetes was called a speaking picture
To conclude the being of Christes body in the Sacrament is to vs certaine the maner of his being there to vs vncertaine and to God onely certaine Iuell Or that Ignoraunce is the mother and cause of true deuotion and obedience MAister Iuell had great nede of Articles for some shewe to be made against the catholike churche when he aduised him selfe to put this in for an Article Verely this is none of the highest mysteries nor none of the greatest keyes of our Religion as he sayeth it is but vntruly and knoweth that for an vntruth For him selfe imputeth it to D. Cole Fol. 77. in his replyes to him as a straunge saying by him vttered in the disputation at Westminster to the wondering of the most parte of the honorable and worshipfull of this realme If it were one of the highest mysteries and greatest keyes of the catholike religion I trust the most parte of the honorable and worshipfull of the realme would not wonder at it Concerning the matter it selfe I leaue it to D. Cole He is of age to answere for him selfe Whether he sayde it or no I knowe not As he is learned wise and godly so I doubte not but if he sayde it therein he had a good meaning and can shewe good reason for the same if he may be admitted to declare his saying as wise men would the lawes to be declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as the mynde be taken and the word spoken not alwayes rigorously exacted August de Trinit lib. 1. cap. 4. Haec mea fides est quoniam haec est catholica fides This is my faith for as much as this is the catholike faith THE CONCLVSION EXHORting M. Iuell to stande to his promise THus your Chalenge M. Iuell is answered Thus your negatiues be auouched Thus the pointes you went about to improue by good auctoritie be proued and many others by you ouer rashely affirmed clearly improued Thus the catholike Religion with all your forces layd at and impugned is sufficiently defended The places of prouses which we haue here vsed are such as your selfe allowe for good and lawfull The scriptures examples of the Primitiue church aunciēt Councelles and the fathers of syx hundred yeres after Christ You might and ought likewise to haue allowed Reason Traditiō Custome and auctoritie of the Church without limitation of tyme. The maner of this dealing with you is gentle sober and charitable Put awaye all mystes of blynde selfe loue you shall perceiue the same to be so The purpose and intent towardes you right good and louing in regard of the truth no lesse then due for behoofe of Christen people no lesse then necessary That you hereby might be enduced to bethinke your selfe of that wherein you haue done vnaduisedly and stayde from hasty running forth prickte with vaine fauour and praise of the world to euerlasting damnation appointed to be the reward at the ende of your game that truth might thus be tryed set forth and defended and that our brethren be leadde as it were by the hāde from perilous erroures and dāger of their soules to a right sense and to suertie Now it remaineth that you performe your promise Which is that if any one cleare sentēce or clause be brought for proufe of any one of all your negatiue Articles you would yelde and subscribe What hath ben brought euery one that wilfully will not blindefold him selfe may plainely see If some happely who will seme to haue both eyes and eares and to be right learned will saye hereof they seene heare nothing no marueill The fauour of the parte whereto they cleaue hauing cutte of them selues from the body the dispite of the catholike religion and hatred of the church hath so blinded their hartes as places alleaged to the disproufe of their false doctrine being neuer so euident they see not ne heare not or rather they seing see not Matt. 13. ne hearing heare not Verely you must either refuse the balance which your selfe haue offred and required for triall of these Articles which be the scriptures examples councelles and doctours of antiquitie or the better weight of auctoritie sweaing to our syde that is the truth founde in the auncient doctrine of the catholike church and not in the mangled dissensions of the Gospellers aduisedly retourne frō whence vnaduisedly you haue departed humbly yelde to that you haue stubbernly kickte against and imbrace holesomly that which you haue hated damnably Touching the daily Sacrifice of the Church commaunded by Christ to be done in remembrance of his death that it hath ben and may be well and godly celebrated without a number of communicantes with the priest together in one place which you call priuate Masse within the compasse of your syx hundred yeres after Christ That the communion was then sometymes as now also it is and may be ministred vnder one kynde Of the publike Seruice of the church or commō prayers in a tonge not knowen to all the people That the Bishop of Rome was sometyme called vniuersall bishop and both called and holden for head of the vniuersall church That by auncient doctoures it hath ben taught Christes body to be really substantially corporally carnally or naturally in the blessed Sacramēt of the aulter Of the wonderous but true being of Christes body in mo places at one tyme and of the Adoration of the Sacrament or rather of the body of Christ in the Sacrament we haue brought good and sufficient proufes alleaging for the more parte of these Articles the scriptures and for all right good euidence out of auncient examples councelles or fathers Concerning Eleuation Reseruatiō Remayning of the Accidentes without substance Diuiding the hoste in three partes the termes of figure signe token etc. applyed to the Sacrament many Masses in one church in one daye the reuerent vse of Images the scriptures to be had in vulgar tonges for the common people to reade which are matters not specially treated of in the scriptures by expresse termes all these haue ben sufficiently auouched and proued either by proufes by your selfe allowed or by the doctrine and common sense of the churche As for your twelue last Articles which you put in by addition to the former for shewe of your courage and confidence of the cause and to seme to the ignorāt to haue much matter to charge vs withall as it appeareth they reporte matter certaine excepted of lesse importance Some of them conteine doctrine true I graunt but ouer curiouse and not most necessary for the simple people Some others be through the maner of your vtterance peruerted and in termes drawen from the sense they haue ben vttered in by the church Which by you being denyed might of vs also be denyed in regard of the termes they be expressed in were not a sleight of falsehed which might redounde to the preiudice of the truth therein worthely suspected Verely to them all we haue sayde so much as to sober quiet and godly
manu Idem igitur est virtute siue vnam pertem accipiat quisquam à socerdote siue plures partes simul As concerning this that it is no greuouse offence for one to be driuē by necessitie in the tymes of persecution to receiue the cōmuniō with his owne hand no priest nor deacon being present it is a thing superfluouse to declare for that by long custome and practise it hath ben confirmed and taken place For all they which lyue a solitary lyfe in wildernes where no priest is to be had keping the cōmunion at home doo communicate with them selues alone And in Alexandria and in Egypte euery one of the people for the most parte hath the communion at home in his house For when as the priest doth once consecrate and distribute the hoste it is reason we beleue that we ought to be partakers of it and he that taketh it receiueth it with out all scruple of cōscience and putteth it to his mowth with his owne hande And so it is of one vertue whether any body take one parte of the priest or mo partes together This-farre S. Basile In this saying of Basile it is to be noted first that necessitie here hath respecte to the lacke of priest and deacon So as in that case the Sacrament might be receiued of a faithfull person with his owne hande And that for the satifying of so doing he alleageth continuance of custome which for vs in this point of the sole receiuing maye in more ample wise be alleaged Agayne that holy Eremites lyuing in wildernes a parte from companie and also the deuour people of Alexandria and Egypte receiued the communion alone in their celles and howses Furthermore that the hoste once consecrated of the priest is algates to be receiued whether of many together or of one alone by him it semeth not to force Finally that whether a man take at the priestes hande the blessed Sacrament in one piece or mo pieces and receiue them at conuenient tymes when deuotion best serueth the vertue effecte and power thereof is one Reseruation of the Sacrament By which auctoritie reseruation is auouched Doubteles where he speaketh so precisely and particularly of sundry cases touching the order of receiuing if he had ben of M. Iuelles opinion that the Sacrament may not be receiued of one with out a certaine number of communicantes together he would not so haue passed ouer that matter in silēce much lesse written so plainely of the contrary Now that the communion thus kepte in wildernes and in Egypte places of extreme heate where wyne in small quantie as is for that purpose conuenient can not be long kepte from sowring and chaunging his nature was in the forme of bread only and not also of wyne I differre to note it here because it pertineth to the treatise of the nexte Article It appeareth euidently by witnes of saint Hierome also that this custome of receiuing the communion priuately at home cōtynewed among Christen men at Rome not only in tyme of persecution but also afterward when the churche was at rest and peace so as the case of necessitie can not here serue them for mainetenaunce of their straunge negatiue in this point These be his wordes In Apologia aduersus Iouinianum Rom. 1◠Scio Romae hanc esse consuetudinem vt fideles semper Christi corpus accipiant quod nec reprehendo nec probo Vnusquisque enim in suo sensu abundat Sed ipsorum conscientiam conuenio qui eodem die post coitum communicant iuxtà Persium noctem flumine purgant quare ad Martyres ire non audent Quare non ingrediuntur Ecclesias An alius in publico alius in domo Christus est Quod in Ecclesia non licet nec domi licet Nihil Deo clausum est tenebrae quoque lucent apud Deum Probet se vnusquisque sic ad corpus Christi accedat I know this custome is at Rome that Christen folke receiue the body of Christ dayly which I doo neither reproue nor allowe For euery mā hath ynough in his owne sense But I appose their cōscience which doo communicate that same daye as they haue done wedlocke worke and as Persius sayth doo rynce night filth with running water why dare not they goe to Martyrs Shrynes Why goe not they in to churches what is there one Christ abroade and an other Christ with in the house what so euer is not laufull in the churche neither at home is it laufull To God nothing is hyddē yea darknes also shyneth before God Let euery one examine him selfe and so come to the body of Christ S. Hierome reproueth this in the Romaines that where as S. Paul ordeined that for cause of prayer maried folke shuld at tymes forbeare their carnall imbracinges they not withstanding that though they had had doing with their wyues yet receiued their rightes neuertelesse dayly And yet what daye they had so done they durft not goe to churches where martyrs toūbes were there to receiue our lordes body For it is to be vnderstāded for better knowledge hereof that such as knewe thē selues to haue done any vncleannes were afrayd in th' old tyme to comme to the Martyrs Sepulchres For there commonly by miracle such thinges were bewrayed Hereof speaketh S Hierom ad Vigilātiū and S. Aug. epistola 137. and Seuerus Sulpitius in vita S. Martini dial 3. cap. 7. and many tymes by open confession of the parties whether they would or no. Erasmus in his Scholles vpon this place of S. Hierome sayeth thus Of this place we gather that in th' olde tyme euery one was wonte to receiue the body of Christ at home in his house that would He sayeth further Idem videtur innuere Paulus cum ait an domos non habetis ad manducandū S. Paul sayeth he semeth to meane the same thing where he sayeth haue you not houses to eate in Thus Erasmus gathereth proufe of priuate or as M. Iuell gesteth Single Communion out of the scriptures and he was as wel learned in them as M. Iuell is Yet here in I leaue Erasmus to his owne defence By this we may vndestand that in the auncient tymes of the Churche the receiuing of the Communion of one by selfe alone was well allowed And though it was done but by one faithfull person at once in one place yet was it called a communion both of S. Basile and also of S. Hierom cleane contrary to M. Iuelles sense It is to be iudged that they knew the Institution of Christ so well as he or any other of these newe Maisters and that their conscience was such as if Christes ordinance therein had ben broken they would not haue winckte at it ne with their vngodly silence confirmed such an vngodly custome Verely for excuse of this sole receiuing necessitie can not iustly be alleaged Damasus Bishop of Rome in S. Hieromes tyme writeth in libro Pontificali that Milciades Pope and Martyr ordeined
Latine churches long before the first syx hundred yeres were expired which is not denyed The thing that is denyed by M. Iuell is this That for the space of syx hundred yeres after Christ any Christen people had their Seruice or common prayers in a tonge they vnderstoode not Which they of his syde beare the world in hande to be a haynouse erroure of the churche and a wicked deceite of the papistes And I saye as I sayde before that the Seruice was then in a tonge which some people vnderstoode and some vnderstoode not I meane Vsage of churche seruice in any vulgare tōge vvith in 600. yeres after Christ cā not be proued the Greke tonge and the Latine tonge For that it was with in the syx hundred yeres in any other barbarous or vulgare tonge I neuer reade neither I thinke M. Iuell nor any the best learned of his syde is able to prooue To be the better vnderstanded I call all tonges barbarous and vulgare besyde the Hebrewe Greke and Latine The gospell and the faith of Christ was preached and set forth in Syria and Arabia by Paul in Egypte by Marke in Ethiopia by Matthew in Mesopotamia Persia Media Bactra Hyrcania Parthia and Carmania by Thomas In Armenia the greater by Barthelemew in Scythia by Androw and likewise in other countries by Apostolike men who were sent by the Apostles and theire nexte successours as in Fraunce by Martialis sent by Peter by Dionysius sent by Clement by Crescens as a Cōstitutionū apostolicarū li. 7. c. 46. Clement and b Lib. de scriptori ecclesiast Hierome writeth and by Trophimus S. Paules scholer and by Nathanael Christes disciple of whom he at A relate and this at Bourges and Treueres preached the gospell as some recorde In our countries here of Britaine by Fugatius Damianus and others sent by Eleutherius the Pope and Martyr at the request of king Lucius as Damasus writeth in Pontificali Temporibus Antonini Comodi anno do 182 Other countries where the Greke and Latine tonge was commonly knowen I passe ouer of purpose Now if M. Iuell or any of our learned aduersaries or any man lyuing could shewe good euidence and proufe that the publike Seruice of the churche was then in the Syriacall or Arabike in the Egyptian Ethiopian Persiā Armeniā Scythian Frenche or Britaine tonge then might they iustly clayme prescription against vs in this Article then might they charge vs with the example of antiquitie then might they requyre vs to yelde to the maner and auctoritie of the primitiue churche But that doubteles can not appeare Which if any could shewe it would make much for the Seruice to be had in the vulgare tonge Wherefore M. Iuell in his sermon which he vttered in so solemne an audience and hath set forth in print to the world sayeth more thē he is able to iustifie Folio 16. where he speaketh generally thus Before the people grewe to corruption whereby he meaneth the first syx hundred yeres after Christ all christen men through out the world made their common prayers and had the holy communion in their owne common and knowen tonge This is sone spoken Syr but it will not by you be so sone prooued In dede we fynde that where as holy Ephrem deacon of the churche of Edessa wrote many thinges in the Syriacall tonge he was of so worthy same and renome Lib. de scriptori ecclesiast that as S. Hierome witnesseth his writinges were rehearsed in certaine churches openly post lectionem scripturarū after the scriptures had ben reade Whereof it appeareth to Erasmus that nothing was wont then to be reade in the churches besyde the writinges of the Apostles or at least of such men as were of Apostolike auctoritie But by this place of S. Hierome it semeth not that Ephrems workes were vsed as a parte of the common Seruice but rather as homelies or exhortations to be reade after the Seruice which consisted in maner wholly of the scriptures And whether they were tourned in to greke or no so sone it is vncertaine Neither S. Hieromes translation of the scriptures in to the Dalmaticall tonge if any such was by him made at all proueth that the Seruice was then in that vulgare tonge That labour may be thought to haue serued to an other purpose But of the translation of the scriptures into vulgare tonges I shall speake hereafter when I shall come to that peculiar Article Verely the handeling of this present and of that hath most thinges common to bothe Thus that the people of any countrie had the churche Seruice in their vulgare and common tonge besyde the Greke and the Latine tonge we leaue as a matter stowtly affirmed by M. Iuell but faintly proued yea nothing at all proued Now concerning the two learned tonges Greke and Latine and first the Greke That the Seruice was in the greke tonge and vsed in the greke churche I graunt And to shewe what is meant by the Greke churche the learned doo vnderstand all the christen people of that countrie which properly is called Graecia of Macedonia Thracia and of Asia the lesser and the countries adioyning The prouinces that were allotted to the Patriarke of Alexandria in Egypte and to the patriarke of Antiochia in Syria are of the olde writers called sometyme by the name of the Orientall or East churche sometyme of the Greke churche This much by vs bothe confessed M. Iuell and agreed vpon I saye that if I can shewe that the people of some countries of the Greke churche which all had their common prayers and Seruice in the Greke tonge for the more parte vnderstoode not the greke tonge more then Englishe men now vnderstand the Latine tonge then I haue proued that I promysed to proue that some peoples I meane whole nations vnderstoode not their Seruice for that they had it in an vnknowen tonge Now how well I am able to proue this I referre it to your owne cōsideration The lesser Asia being a principall parte of the greke churche All people of the Greke churche vnderstoode not the greke seruice had then the Seruice in the greke tonge But the people of sundry regions and countries of the lesser Asia then vnderstoode not the greke tonge Ergo the people of sundry regions and countries had then their Seruice in an vnknowen tonge The first proposition or maior is confessed as manifest no learned man will denye it and if any would it may easely be proued The second proposition or minor maye thus be proued Strabo who trauailed ouer all the countries of Asia for perfite knowledge of the same neare about the tyme of S. Paules peregrination there who also was borne in the same in his 14. booke of Geographie writeth that where as with in that Cherronesus that is the streight betwen sea and sea there were syxten nations by reporte of Ephorus of them all onely three were grekes all the rest barbarous Likewise Plinius