Melchisedech brought forth bread and wine to refreshe Abraham and his seruauntes in their returne from the slaughter of the kinges Yea and for this matter that you make so light of he citeth the Hebrue text translating the Hebrue verbe Hotzi Protulit not obtulit thereby making his iudgement of that place manifest If you can proue that Hierome or any other wryter haue in this place vsed obtulit in any other sense then protulit is here vsed in the plaine text I must be bolde to vse Hieroms owne wordes against himselfe and the rest In his Commentarie vpon Math he sayth Hoc quia de scripturis non habet authoritatem In Math. 23. eadem facilitate contemnitur qua probatur Because this thing hath none authoritie of the scripture it is as easily contemned as alowed And in his Apologie of his bookes against Iouinian he sayeth Apolog. lib. aduers Ioui Commentatoris officium est non quid ipse velit sed quid sentiat ille quem interpretatur exponere Alioqui si contraria dixerit non tam interpres erit quam aduersarius eius quem nititur explanare Certe vbicunque scripturas non interpretor libere de meo sensu loquor The dutie of a good interpreter arguat me cui libet durum quid dixisse contra nuptias It is the duetie of one that doth comment vpon the wrytings of other to expound not what he himselfe lusteth but what the meaning of him is whome he doth enterpret Otherwise if he shall say contrarie he shall rather be an aduersarie then an interpretour of him whome he would explane Truely whensoeuer I doe not interpret the scriptures but doe fréely vtter mine owne meaning let him that lusteth reprehend me as one that hath vttred some hard saying against mariage Yet one other place you cite out of Hierome Hiero. quest in Genesim to vnderprop your Popishe priesthood withall Mysterium nostrum c. By thys worde order he did signifie c. If you had bene disposed to deale plainely you would haue ioyned the former part of the Oration with the latter and not haue picked out the latter to serue your purpose leauing out the first Melchisedechs blessing declared Saint Hierome sayth that the Apostle saint Paule in his Epistle to the Hebrues making mention of Melchisedechs being without father and mother doth referre it vnto Christ and by Christ to the Church of the Gentiles For sayth he the glorie of euery head is referred to the members bicause one that was not circumcised did blesse Abraham that was circumcised and in Abraham he blessed Leui and by Leui he blessed Aaron of whome the priesthood did afterwarde come Whereof he would haue vs gather that the priesthood of that Church that was not circumcised did blesse the circumcised priesthood of the Synagoge And then folow the wordes that you should haue cyted Quod autem ait Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech Mysterium nostrum in verbo ordinis significatur c as you haue cyted Our mysterie is signified sayth saint Hierome but you tell not vpon what occasion he sayde so Where as the Apostle sayth sayde saint Hierome thou art a priest after the order of Melchisedech our mysterie is signified in the worde order Not by Aaron in offering vp sacrifices of vnreasonable beastes but by bread and wine that was offered that is the bodye and bloud of the Lorde Iesus Thus farre saint Hierome You must néedes graunt that our mysterie is our coupling togither into members of one body in Christ wherof saint Paule speaketh to the Ephesians When he sayth Mysterium hoc magnum est Ephes 5. ego autem dico in Christo Ecclesia This mysterie is great sayth Saint Paule but I speake it of Christ and the congregation Of the same speaketh saint Austen in his Sermon Ad Infantes Where he sayth thus Vos estis corpus Christi membra Si ergo vos estis corpus Christi membra mysterium vestrum in mensa Domini positum est Citatur à Beda in collect mysterium Domini accipitis Ad id quod estis amen respondetis c. You are the body and members of Christ If you therefore be the body and members of Christ your mysterie is set vpon the Lordes table you receyue the Lordes mysterie To the thing that you your selues are you aunswere Amen And in aunswering you doe subscribe This mysterie was not signified by Aarons sacrifices sayth saint Hierome but by the bread and wine that Melchisedech brought forth to refreshe Abraham and his Souldiours withall 1. Cor. 10. August in Ioh. Tract 26. Which bread and wine was the body and bloud of the Lord Iesus euen as the Manna that fell from heauen and the water that issued out of the rock were the same Your application of this place of Hierome might well haue bene spared therfore if you had dealt plainly with your auditory For it is now manifest to the reader that saint Hierome ment nothing lesse then to teache that Christ offered himselfe once at two times and after two orders The order of Melchisedech declared but he buyldeth vpon saint Paules wordes who sayth that Christ was not a priest to offer after Aarons order but after the order of Melchisedech an eternall and euerlasting sacrifice Now must Austen help you to patch out this matter August in Psal 33. De Ciuit. Dei li. 17. cap. 20. Vpon the tytle of .33 Psalme he sayth thus Coram Regno Patris sui c. And vpon this sentence of Ecclesiastes Non est bonum homini c he sayth thus Quid credibilius dicere c. If saint Austen should in these two places teach as in your application you doe beare your Auditorie in hande that he doth teache Watson would haue Austen teach false doctrine then were his doctrine most false and contrarie to the Euangelicall hystorie For where as the Gospell sayth that Christ did institute the sacrament of his body and bloud the night before he suffered saint Austen must say if you apply his words aright that he did first suffer and then institute the sacrament of his body and bloud afterward But I will not for your pleasure conceyue such an opinion of Austen for I know he was farre from that shamefull errour and open falshood He taught truely that in the time of the olde lawe among the people of the Iewes Christ was a sacrifice after the order of Aaron for by euery bloudy sacrifice was the death of Christ plainely set forth to as many as had eyes to looke and se thorow the shadow of the law But after al those sacrifices that were offered in the shadow of a thing to come he prepared a sacrifice after the order of Melchisedech that is euerlasting and that of his owne body and bloud which is the foode that féedeth into euerlasting lyfe And that this is saint Austens meaning is
come did giue vs a great tokē of a sacrament or hid secret Yea rather God did giue it vs in him For in his sléepe he obtayned a wyfe and of his owne ribbe there was made a wyfe for him Bicause that of Christ sléeping vpon the crosse the Church should be made of his side that is to saye of his side whilst he was sléeping For the sacraments of the Church did flowe out of his side which was pearsed with a speare whilst he hanged on the crosse These wordes of saint Austen haue some shewe of that which you cite but they are not the same wordes neyther can haue the same sense that you would those wordes should haue As may well appéere by the wordes that saint Austen addeth immediatly after saying Sed quare hoc dicere volui fratres Quid infirmitas Christi nos facit fortes c. But wherefore would I speake this sayth saint Austen Bicause the weakenesse of Christ doth make vs strong A great ymage was it that did there proceede or go before For God might haue taken from the man fleshe whereof he might haue made the womā And it séemeth that it might haue as it were agréed better For the sex that was made was the weaker and the weakenesse should rather haue bene made of the fleshe then of the bone For in the fleshe the bones are the strong part He did not take from man fleshe to make a woman of but he did take a bone And when a bone was taken out a woman was made therof and flesh was filled vp in the place where the bone was God was able to haue restored a bone for the bone that he tooke out he was able to haue taken out flesh to haue made the woman and not a ribbe what did it therefore signifie The woman was made of a ribbe as being strong and Adam is become fleshe as being weake Christ and the Church His infirmitie is our strength Thus farre saint Austen As many as wyll may by these wordes vnderstande what Saint Austen ment by those wordes that go before wherevpon you would conclude that the sacrament which you terme the sacrament of the aultar is not Wine but bloud For in these wordes saint Austen sheweth his meaning to be farre otherwise He doth in diuers places of his wrytings vse this maner of speaking but in euerye of those places hée doth by playne wordes shewe himselfe to minde nothing lesse then to teache that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ The scope of saint Austens doctrine is not bread and wine but bloud onely His meaning was as it maye be iustly gathered of his wordes to teach that our sacramentes take their worthynesse of none other thing then the worthynesse of the death and bloudsheding of our Sauiour Christ and that the infirmitie of oure nature in Christ is become our strength in him It séemeth to me a straunge maner of reasoning that you vse when you saye that for as much as there came no wine out of Christs side therefore our sacrament is not wine but Christes bloud If you will giue me leaue to reason after that sort I will proue yet once againe that the Church hath but two sacraments For saint Austen sayth that the sacraments of the Church did flowe out of Christes side and you say two sacraments did flowe out of his side that is to saye water and bloud Therefore I conclude that the other fiue be no sacramentes for they flowed not out of Christes side Yea I will by this maner of reasoning proue that these two sacraments are not whole sacraments neyther For the word and fleshe flowed not out of Christes side but without the worde and fleshe these two sacraments be not whole sacraments Ergo they be but maymed sacraments Saint Austen sayth In Iohannem tract 80. Detrahe verbum quid aqua nisi aqua Accedit verbum ad clementum fit sacramentum Take away the worde from the water and what is the water other then water The word commeth to the element and so is it made a sacrament And in the other sacrament except you haue two creatures bread and wine or as you terme them flesh and bloud it can be no perfite sacrament Yea and the word of fayth is necessarie here also For as saint Austen sayth in the same place Hoc verbum fidei tantum valet in Ecclesia Dei◠vt ipsum credentem offerentem benedicentem tingentem etiam tantillum mundet infantem c. This worde of fayth is of such force in the Church of God that by it he doth make cleane the beléeuer the offerer the blesser yea and him that baptiseth the little infant although it be not yet able to beléeue with the hart vnto righteousnesse and confesse with the mouth to saluation Watson concludeth fondly A fond maner of conclusion is it that you gather therfore M. Watson of the flowing of water and bloud out of Christes side For you doe not onely denie your holy fathers fiue sacraments but also mayme the other two Yea you make the baptisme that was ministred before the death of Christ and the sacrament of Christs body and bloud that was ministred at his last supper to be of none effect And last of all you affirme that part of the sacrament to be the whole sacrament which you and your sort doe withholde from all Christians that be not massing priestes WATSON Diuision 20 Beside these circumstaunces and arguments deduced vppon the scripture there be also other of no lesse strength then these able to confirme anye true christen man in the faith of the reall presence of Christes body and bloud in the blessed sacrament And these be the effectes of the sacrament expressed in the scripture which be so great so glorious so excellent and heauenly that it were great blasphemie to ascribe the same to bread and wine which be onely the workes and effectes of almightie God and of such creatures onely as Gods son hath taken and vnited to himself in vnitie of person which be the body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ The first effect is that our Sacrament is the confirmation of the newe testament as saint Mathew and saint Marke also doe write Math. 26. Mar. 14. Hic est sanguis meus noni Testamenti this is my bloud of the newe Testament that is to say which confirmeth the new Testament as all holy wryters doe expound Lyke as the bloud of Calues did confirme the olde Testament Exod. 24. as the booke of Exodus doth declare so the bloud of Christ our priest and sacrifice doth confirme the newe Testament which Testament bicause it is eternall and shall neuer haue ende is confirmed by the eternall bloud of the Lambe of God that euer is receyued and neuer consumed and not by any corruptible bloud or any other creature of lesse value and efficacie In the olde lawe and also in saint Paule it is sayde
are reuiued from death c. For it is plaine by that which I haue cyted out of the same Chapter of Cyrillus that he meaneth to teache that the receyuing of the outwarde sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is all one with the eating of the Passouer Lambe in Egypt Lib. 11. Capit. 27. One other place you haue founde in Cyrillus But by lyke your conscience tolde you that it serueth not so well for your purpose as you would wishe and therefore you doe but teach Cyrill to speake after you in English a tongue that he neuer vnderstood but if he were nowe lyuing Watson teacheth Cyrill to speake Englishe and should vnderstande howe you haue handled him therein he would I doubt not giue you worthy thankes And that other men of iudgement and knowledge may iudge betwéene Cyrill and you I will cite his wordes in latine as Trapezontius hath translated him out of Gréeke Nexus igitur vnionis nostrae ad Deum Patrem Christus est nobis quidem vt homo Deo autem Patri vt Deus naturaliter vnitus Non erat enim possibile corruptioni subiectam hominis naturam ad immortalitatem conscendere nisi natura immortalis atque incommutabilis ad eam descendisset ac communione participationeque sui a mortalitatis nostrae terminis ad suum bonum reformatos eleuaret Christ therefore sayth Cyrill is the bonde of our vnitie with God the father Who is naturally vnited vnto vs as a man and vnto God the father as God For it was not possible for mans nature being subiect to corruption to clyme vp to immortalitie except the immortall and vnchaungable nature had descended vnto it and by the communion and participation of it selfe lifted vp from the bondes of our mortalitie such as be reformed or fashioned a newe according to the goodnesse of that nature Nowe let all men that haue eyther learning or wyt iudge how faithfully you deale with Cyrill when you say in his name Except the immortall nature of Christ doe reforme and promote it from mortalitie to lyfe eternall by participation of his mortall fleshe For who séeth not that Cyrill doth there speake of that immortall and vnchaungable nature in Christ which came downe from the throne of maiestie in heauen to take our mortall nature vpon him that he might frame and fashion vs lyke vnto himself And so exalt vs aboue the boundes of our mortall nature Which thing he did by receyuing our nature vnto himselfe and gyuing his nature vnto vs. And so is he the bond whereby we are fastened to God But this is the maner of all your sort in cyting the sayings of the auncient fathers Here perchaunce some men will stumble WATSON Diuision 23 considering that we beleeue the bodyes of yong innocentes shall rise to euerlasting lyfe which we knowe neuer receyued Christes fleshe in the sacrament But their doubt in this point may sone be resolued if they consider that scripture and the olde fathers speake after the ordinarie working of God making no preiudice to the absolute power of God who oftentimes giueth the proper grace of the sacraments before the outwarde receyuing of the same As for example Without baptisme in water and the holy Ghost no man can enter into the kingdome of heauen Iohn 3. as S. Iohn wryteth Yet we read that the theefe on the right hande of Christ was saued and neuer baptised and many conuerted sodainely to our faith were made martyrs before they could come to baptisme in water And saint Ambrose thinketh Valentinian the Emperour to be saued which dyed in his iourney before saint Ambrose which he sent for could come vnto him And therefore though baptisme be necessarie and the ordinarie dore to saluation yet the proper grace of baptisme is sometimes giuen by Gods extraordinarie and absolute power to such as without contempt of the sacrament by their wyll and earnest desire receyue the sacrament of baptisme though not in deede euen so they that be baptised and haue an earnest desire and longing to receyue Christs body and bloud in the sacrament and by some violence or impediment are letted to receyue it in deede or such children as by baptisme haue faith infused into their hartes and are preuented by death before they can prooue and trie themselues which probation saint Paule seemeth to require before the receypt of Christes body hauing no contempt nor refusal of the same 1. Cor. 11. but depart in the faith of Christ These I saye receyue the grace of the sacrament which is the immortalitie of their bodies and lyfe eternall by Gods extraordinary working without the receypt of the sacrament in deede By this little yee maye perceyue what may be further sayde to this obiection if the time and my principall matter would suffer me CROWLEY Watson is not able to aunswere his owne obiection By making and aunswering of this obiection you would haue it séeme to all men that this is all that any man can stumble at And that this one stumbling stock being remoued the way is so playne and cleare that none can stumble vnlesse it be such as wilfully will stumble in euery playne way But as you are not able to aunswere this obiection to the satisfiyng of any that knoweth and will consider what the vse of a sacrament is so may there much more be obiected whervnto you and the rest of your mind shall neuer be able to make such aunswere as may be allowed among those that haue knowledge It might be obiected that Adam and Eue with all the holy men and women that were before this sacrament was instituted and looked for the promise of God made in his sonne shall rise agayne in the last day and haue euerlasting lyfe It might also be obiected that all both good and bad shall in that day rise againe and lyue for euer eyther in euerlasting ioy or in euerlasting torments and wishing to die death shall flie from them I am sure you being a Doctor of diuinitie doe knowe this to be true wherfore I shall not néede to prooue it The wordes of Christ Iohn 5. Marc. 9. in the fift of Iohn and the ninth of Marke may suffise for the proufe of both All that be in the graues c. And their worme dyeth not neyther doth the fyre go out c. But let vs sée howe you haue aunswered this obiection You say that this doubt may sone be resolued if men will consider that the scripture and the olde fathers doe speake after the ordinarie working of God making no preiudice to the absolute power of God But how haue you proued that I graunt that the scripture and the fathers doe so speake doe make no preiudice to the absolute power of God Shall we thinke therefore that if the resurrection of our bodies and euerlasting lyfe be one of the effectes of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud he must néedes vse his absolute
power in gyuing the resurrection of body euerlasting life to as many as we wil hold from the receyuing of the sacrameÌ„t It appéereth that in Aunstens time such as were of your minde durst not be so bolde The vse in saint Austens time as to presume vpon the absolute power of God in this point and therefore they ministred the sacrament of Christes body to the Infants so sone as they were baptised but we kéepe them from the receyuing of it till they bée growne to discretion and be sufficiently instructed in Christ and doe know how to examine themselues before they come to the lords table And if they die in this meane while shal we think that God must vse his absolute power in raising their bodies giuing them euerlasting lyfe We might as well kéepe all our children from baptisme and saye that God shall giue them the proper grace of baptisme by his absolute power without the sacrament And so should we be all one with the Anabaptistes But vayne is all that you haue affirmed of this effect of your sacrament Cyrill li. 4. Cap. 15. and therfore the obiection and the aunswere that you make can not be other then vayne We holde with Cyrillus whose wordes you haue cyted that bicause the sonne of God is become man all mankinde shall in the last daye arise out of the earth All the ofspring of the first Adam that sinned shall be raised agayne by the second Adam that neuer sinned himselfe neyther was partaker of the sinne of the first The cause of the resurrection and immortalitie The Infants therefore whome you call Innocents being of the ofspring of the first Adam shall be raysed agayne by the second whether they be partakers of any sacraments or not For the resurrection and immortalitie commeth not by the receyuing of sacraments Rom. 6. but by the incarnation of the sonne of God And euerlasting lyfe in ioye and felicitie is the frée gift of God thorow Iesus Christ our Lorde And this frée gift was giuen to all the elect and chosen children of God euen before the foundations of the world were layd But the reprobates which be not chosen in Christ shall haue by Christ that hath taken mans nature vpon him the resurrection and immortalitie of their bodies but bicause that they beléeue not in Christ they shall haue this immortalitie in those torments that their first fathers sinne did deserue The receyuing of sacraments can not make the reprobates partakers of endlesse felicitie neyther can the lack of them be a cause August De catechiz rudib Quest in Leu. 9.84 why Gods elect should not be partakers thereof But they be the visible seales of heauenlye things and being receiued without those heauenly things wherof they be feales they profite the receyuers nothing at all more then circumcision did Esau and baptisme Simon Magus But when they doe both concurre then doe the outwarde and visible sacraments confirme the fayth and comfort the weake and wauering conscience These therefore be the effectes of Christes sacraments and not such as you imagine But let vs sée what you haue more to say of this effect that you last spake of This effect is commonly taught of many auncient authors with one consent For Ignatius one of the oldest calleth this sacrament Mâ—dicamentum immortalitatis Ignatius ad Ephesos antidotum non moriendi a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death And the great generall counsayle at Nice Concilium Nicenum de Eucharistia wryteth that they beleeued these sacramentes of the body and bloud of Christ to be Simbola resurrectionis nostrae the pledges or causes of our resurrection And Athanasius who was one of the chiefe men in that counsaile calleth it Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem vitae aeternae Athanasius de peccato in spiritum sanctum A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodyes to the immortalitie of eternall lyfe Ireneus that was a great deale older wryting against the heretikes that denied the resurrection of the fleshe Ireneus lib. 4. Cap. 34. proueth it and confuteth them by the effect of this sacrament saying thus Quomodò dicunt carnem in corruptionem deuenare quae á corpore sanguine Domini alitur By what reason doe they say that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lord and in his fift booke he sayth Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse donationis Dei Ireneus lib. 5. quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur How doe they denie our fleshe to be able to receyue the gift of God which is eternall life which is nourished with the body and bloud of Christ The greatest argument that Ireneus could bring to proue the resurrection of our fleshe to lyfe eternall was to alledge the cause of that resurrection which was the nourishing of our fleshe with the lyuely fleshe of Christ in the sacrament not to this temporall lyfe as other earthly meates doe but to eternall lyfe as onely Christes fleshe doth and this cause was beleued and confessed of all men at that time both Catholikes and heretikes In so much that these heretikes of our time that denie this cause that is to say Christes fleshe to be really giuen in the sacrament and eaten of our fleshe doe giue occasion yea I am afrayde doe giue more then occasion for vs to thinke of them that they denie also the resurrection of our fleshe which is the proper effect of it although as yet they dare not impudently burst out in plaine words though they expresse the same euidently to all mens eyes in their carnall and beastly lyues To proue this effect further I could bring in many moe authorities Hilarius De Trinit li. 8. as the saying of Hilarius Haec vero vitae nostra causa est quod in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christum habemus This is the verie cause of our life that we haue Christ by his fleshe dwelling in our fleshe But I will not in so playne a matter through my curiositie seeme to mistrust the credire of you that be faythfull men Therefore to conclude knowing the greatnesse and excellencie of this effect shall we ascribe it to so base creatures as be bread and wine which be not able to worke such an effect God forbid CROWLEY Many auncient authors you saye doe with one consent teach this effect As Ignatius the fathers of the Nicene counsaile Athanasius Ireneus and Hilarius and many moe you could bring in but you will not by curiositie séeme to mistrust the credite of your auditorie Well let vs sée what your auncient authors haue sayde First Ignatius speaking of your Sacrament hath sayde Medicamentum immortalitatis c. A Medicine of immortalitie c. In hys Epistle to the Ephesians he sayth thus State fratres firmi in fide Iesu Christi in eius
charitate in passione Resurrectione omnes in gratia nominatim congregemini in commune in vna fide Dei Patris Iesu Christi vnigeniti eius filij primogeniti totius creaturae secundum carnem ex genere Dauid praeunte deducente vos paracleto obedientes Episcopo atque presbyterorum caetui indiuulso animo vnum panem frangentes quod est medicamentum immortalitatis antidotus ne moriamini sed vinatis in Deo per Iesum Christum purgatio malorum expultrix Brethren stand fast in the fayth of Iesus Christ and in his loue his passion and resurrection Congregate your selues togither all into one place in louing fauour one towardes another in one fayth of God the father and of Iesus Christ his onely begotten sonne the first begotten of all creatures of the lynage of Dauid after the fleshe the holy ghost being your guide and leading you thether Obeying your Byshop and the whole company of elders with one consent of mind breaking one loafe of bread which is a medicine of immortalitie and a thing to preserue you that you should not dye but lyue in God thorow Iesus Christ and a purgation that doth expel euils This much hath Ignatius written in the place that you cite And can any indifferent man gather of these words that he ment here to teach that our resurrection is the effect of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud I thinke not Yea I suppose Effectes doe spring out of efficient causes that none can gather that meaning of his wordes but you and such as you are whome affection hath blinded Doe ye not know that effects must spring out of efficient causes And dare you say that the sacrament of Christes body and bloud is the efficient cause of our immortalitie If you haue any shame left you will not affirme it For Saint Paule sayth 1. Thess 4. 2. Cor. 4. that the efficient cause of our resurrection is the same that raysed vp Christ from death to lyfe How can the sacrament of his body and bloud be the efficient cause of our resurrection and immortalitie then as you thinke you haue proued it to be If Ignatius were nowe lyuing he would not I am sure commend you as he doth commend those Ephesians that he wrot vnto For he should finde in you the contrarie of that he found in them by the testimonie of Onesimus their Bishop Wherevpon he wryteth thus Onesimus autem ipse valde laudat vestram in Deo moderationem dispensationem quod omnes secundum veritatem viuatis quodque in vobis nulla haeresis inhabitet sed neque auditis quenquam nisi solum lesum Christum verum pastorem magistrum ac estis sicut Paulus ad vos scribebat vnum corpus vnus spiritus c. And Onesimus himselfe sayth Ignatius doth greatly commend your moderation and disposition of things in God for that you doe all lyue according to the truth and for that there is in you no heresie abyding but you refuse euen to heare any other then Iesus Christ alone which is the true Shepheard and teacher and you are euen as Paule wrote vnto you one body and one spirite c. How farre you and your sort be from the harkening to Christ alone may easily be séene of all that will consider the multitude of traditions that you haue brought into the Church of Christ and doe estéeme them aboue the ordinaunce of God Wherefore Ignatius might say vnto you as he wryteth in the same Epistle Similiter autem omnis homo quisquis indicium a Deo accepit punietur si imperitum pastorem secutus fuerit falsam opinionem vt veram exceperit And in lyke maner euery man that hath receyued at Gods hand habilitie to iudge shall be punished if he shall follow an vnskilfull shepheard and receyue a false opinion as true Thus you sée that when Ignatius is well considered he will be found none of those auncient Authors that doe commonlye teache this affect of the sacrament of Christs body but contrarywise he will tell you that you shall be punished for that you follow an vnskilfull shepheard and accept a false opinion as though the same were true And euen in that place which you cite hys wordes are flat against your doings and therefore you dissemble those wordes and begin with the next He hath written thus Vnum panem frangentes quod est c. Breaking one loafe of bread which is a medicine of immortalitie and a preseruatiue against death Now tell me how this breaking of one loafe of bread doth or can agrée with your priuate Masse that you call the sacrifice of the Church and with your Popishe Easter housell when euery one hath a mock loafe by himself Ignatius would haue the Ephesians to breake that is to be partakers of one leafe of bread and he sayth that is a medicine of immortalitie and a preseruatiue against death Watson was foule ouersene Why then It is neyther your priuate Masse nor your Easter housell that he speaketh of but our communion If I had bene of your counsell before you made this Sermon you should neuer haue cited this place for shame Well it is out now and can not be called in againe But nowe let vs sée what the fathers that were gathered togither in the generall counsell of Nice Concilium Nicenum haue sayde to this matter They haue called this sacrament Symbola Resurrectionis nostrae The pledges or causes of our resurrection say you But I would faine knowe where you haue read Symbolum in that signification I beléeue you neuer read it in any of the eloquent Gréekes or Latinistes You were sure that you had Auditorium beneuolum A straunge signification of Symbolum and therefore you might be bolde to saye that Symbolum signifieth a cause and so translate Symbolum Resurrectionis the cause of resurrection But perhaps you haue some secret Authors wherin you read Simbolum written with ī and not with y. And that Simbolum it is that you translate so for your printer hath so printed it Well I leaue this translation of yours to the iudgement of such as be skilfull in the Gréeke and Latine tongues But to our purpose You shall neuer be able to proue that Symbolum signifieth a cause but a pledge it may signifie And what haue the fathers of the Nicene counsell done for you then Euen as much as Ignatius hath done before I will not stick to graunt you both the sayings to be true The sacrament of Christes body and bloud Medicines be not the efficient causes of health is a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death a purgation to expell euils a pledge of our resurrection Are medicines preseruatiues and purgations the efficient causes of health And how can this medicine preseruatiue and purgation be the efficient cause of our resurrection immortalitie And is a pledge the efficient cause of the thing or déede that is promised when the
endued me with benefites but thou hast also rewarded me with spirituall pleasures which are here signified by the table And thys table sayth he hast thou prepared in the presence of mine enimies that when they sée it they may be sorrowfull and euen waste away with sorrowe Or else agaynst them that is contrarie to that which they doe desire or would wishe For they doe alwayes endeuour rather to make me sorrowfull and heauie Or else he doth vnderstand by the table the fruition of those good things to come which God hath prepared for them that loue him or the table of the aultar whereon that mysticall supper doth lye or else he doth vnderstande by it morall vertue If it had pleased you to haue cyted all these wordes your witnesse should haue appéered a farre more honest man then you And some of your faithfull hearers whose credite you would not by your curiositie séeme to mistrust would surely haue sayde that you had produced a wytnesse against your selfe Watson hath produced a wytnesse against himselfe For what one worde is there in all this beside that little péece that you haue picked out that can be wrested to haue any shewe to serue your purpose And these words also as they stand in the Authors writing can no more serue your purpose then the rest For how doth he vse them otherwise then to shewe that sense among the rest to be an Anagogicall sense And if we may be alowed to alledge scriptures for our purposes in that sense and let passe both the litterall and morall senses as you doe here then let vs as the common saying is facere quidlibet ex quolibet make what we lust of euerye thing as commonly men of your sort vse to doe But nowe what doth Cyprian say to this matter He doth teach vs the same lesson say you Quos excitamus c. Those persons c. You haue so disordred the wordes of Cyprian to frame them for your purpose that they can not otherwise be brought into order agayne then by cyting wholy togither all that which you haue disordred with the rest that you leaue out as not appertayning to your purpose Cyprian hath sayde thus Merito enim trahebatur dolentium paenitentia tempore longiore vt infirmis si qui essent in exitu subueniretur c. The repentaunce of such as sorowed for their fall was for good cause continued for longer time that if any of them should fall sicke we might succour them in their departing out of this lyfe so long as we had tranquilitie and quiet which would suffer vs to deferre the teares of the sorrowful long time and at the last succour them in their infirmitie when they should lye in dying But nowe peace is néedefull not for them that be sick but for such as be strong And we must giue the communion not to them that be at the point of death but to them that lyue that we doe not leaue those vnarmed and naked whom we sturre vp exhort to battle but that we arme them with the protection of the bloud body of Christ And seing the Eucharist or thankesgyuing is made for this purpose that it may be a defence to such as receyue it let vs arme with the defence of the Lords full féeding such as we would wish should be safe against the enimie For how doe we teach and prouoke them to shed their owne bloud in the confession of the name of Christ if we doe denie to giue his bloud in them that must fight Or howe doe we make them méete for the cup of martyrdome if we doe not first admit them in the Church to drinke the cup of the Lorde in the right of communion Here are Cyprians wordes in such sort as he wrote them And the occasion that he had to write thus was the euill opinion that Cornelius then Bishop of Rome had conceyued of Cyprian and other Bishops for that they had receyued to communion such as had before fallen in yéelding to the persecutours by reason of the crueltie of torments vsed vpon them To this doth Cyprian and the other Byshops to the number of .39 answere in this Epistle Shewing as is afore written that it were not méete that such as through frailtie haue fallen and doe with bitter teares lament their fall should when persecution is threatned and lyke to come be driuen from the Lordes table and not suffred to be partakers of that sacrament that our Lorde Iesus hath instituted to be an outwarde assuraunce of that which he hath promised in his worde For what reason were it to perswade men to stande manfully to the profession of Christ and warant them euerlasting lyfe if they suffer losse of this lyfe for his sake and yet denie to giue them the holye communion which Christ hath instituted to be a seale of that promise The best armour for Christians No armour can be so sure and make a man so bolde and couragious against his enimie as to be assured that his quarell is such that if he die therein he shall not fayle to lyue and raigne in glorious tryumph for euer Cyprian therefore doth verie well in vsing these Metaphers calling that sacrament that was ordeyned to be an assuraunce of this euerlasting triumph by the names of protection defence and saufegarde But to make Cyprian to séeme whole vpon your side Watsons common practise you help the matter somewhat in translating his wordes and thrusting in a fewe wordes of your owne as you are wont to doe to cause your hearers and readers to thinke that no man is able to gaine say that which you haue sayde Well you haue yet one other place of Cyprian but you spare the Latine thinking it sufficient to tell your hearers and readers that Cyprian sayth so For no man may thinke that you dare belie so holy a man as he was Lyers haue no credit But bicause I haue taken you with lyes more then once I dare not trust your report of Cyprian neyther will I suffer my readers to be deceyued by it First you say This bloud of Christ is dronken daylie c. His wordes in Latine are these Grauior nunc ferocior pugna imminet Cyprian li. 4. Epist 6. ad quam fide incorrupta virtute robusta parare se debent milites Christi consyderantes idcirco se quotidiè Calicem sanguinis Christi bibere vt possint ipsi propter Christum sanguinem fundere A more gréeuous and cruell battle is nowe at hande vnto which the Souldiours of Christ ought with vncorrupt faith and sloute courage to prepare themselues considering that they doe daylie drinke the cup of Christs bloud to the ende that they themselues might be able to shed their owne bloud for Christes cause In the other place that you cite Cyprian sayth thus Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. Quomodo autem possumus propter Christum sanguinem fundere qui sanguinem Christi
moue you to consider certaine things whereby the consent may appeare First the possession of the Church in this doctrine so many yeares in such quietnesse without contradiction that no reason or yet iniunction nor no new deuise that the Deuill or his dearlings can inuent to the contrary eyther can or ought to remoue vs out of possession except wee will wilfully loose our owne right and claime seing that we that liue nowe vniuersally throughout all Christendome haue receaued this fayth of our fathers and they of theirs Cyprian Ser. De Caena and so foorth euen to the Apostles and our sauiour Christ himselfe by whose mouth this doctrine as saint Cyprian sayth was first taught to the world that Christen men in the new lawe be commaunded to drinke bloud which the Iewes in the olde law were forbid to doe And so from him and his Apostles it hath bene by succession deduced and brought throughout all ages euen to this our time and beleued as Gods worde which can not be chaunged and not as mans worde subiect to alteration as probabilitie can perswade CROWLEY The first of those certayne things that you moue your Auditorie to consider whereby the consent of the Catholike Church may appeare is prescription of tyme. To this I haue partly aunswered in the aunswere to your former Sermon And the Byshop of Sarisburie hath fully aunswered in his aunswere to Doctor Harding And here I aunswere in fewe wordes That your possessiō hath bene forcible your fathers fayth in this point a false perswasion beside the worde of God and your clayme altogither vniust and therefore iustly withstanded by vs to whom the right belongeth as by good euidence of Gods holy worde and iudgement of sounde wryters we both haue and shall proue by Gods helpe WATSON Diuision 4 Secondly this consent in this matter may appeare by that the holy fathers and pastors of Christes Church haue written of it whome god hath placed and planted in hys Church for the buylding and vpholding of it in truth that his flock be not seduced and caried about with euery blast of newe doctrine by the craftines of men to the destruction of their soules Of this I haue spoken something already CROWLEY The indifferent reader may easily perceyue in the aunswere that I haue made to your former Sermon howe well those fathers and pastours that you speake of doe maintaine that which you doe teache Euen as those that fight against you with all the knowledge they haue And whatsoeuer you haue alreadie spoken therein is in the place where you haue spoken it alreadie fully aunswered WATSON Diuision 5. Thirdly we may knowe the consent of the Church by the determination of the generall counsels where the presidents of Gods Churches the rulers and learned priestes of Christendome assembled in the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ representing the holy Church of God Militaunt being led not with priuate affectiō but by Gods holy spirit to his glory instaunt in prayer feruent in deuotion purely diligently and freely haue intreated and determined those things that perteine to the faith of Christ and the purging of his Church to whose determination as to Gods ordinaunces we are bound to obey Wherein appeareth manifestly the consent of the Church How the determination of the general counsels CROWLEY doth declare the consent of the Church and how purely diligently and fréely they intreated and determined those things that you speak of in these generall counsels shall playnely appéere to the indifferent reader in the aunswere that shall be made to all such sentences as you shall cite out of any generall counsell in order as the same shall be cited The first generall counsell both for the calling WATSON Diuision 6. Concilium Nicenum and also for the cause was holden at Nice in Bithinia by .318 Byshops in the time of Constantinus Magnus twelue hundred and thirtie yeares ago where it was determined and published to the worlde in these wordes Exaltata mente fide consideremus situm esse in sancta illa mensa agnum dei qui tollit peccatum mundi quià sacerdotibus sacrificatur sine cruoris effusione nos verè preciosum illius corpus sanguinem sumentis credere haec esse resurectionis nostrae symbola c. Let vs lift vp our mindes vnderstanding and considering by fayth that the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world is situate and lyeth vpon that holy table which is offered of the pristes wythout the shedding of bloud and that wee receauing verily his precious body and bloud doe beleue them to be the pledges or causes of our resurrection This authority serueth me very well to declare the consent of the Church both in the matter of the reall presence also of the sacrifice which we haue in hand For the words be touched maruellously euery one seruing to expresse the truth and to auoyde all doubtes For first he biddeth vs lyft vp our mindes and consider by fayth wylling vs not to sticke onely to our senses thinking nothing else to be there but what we see outwardly teaching vs that the iudgement of this matter perteyneth not to our senses but to our fayth onely and as Eusebius Emesenus sayth Verè vnica perfecta hostia fide aestimanda non specie nec exterioris censenda est visu hominis Emesenus orat de corpore Christi sed interioris affectu This hoost and sacrifice is verily one and perfite to be esteemed by faith and not by forme and appearaunce to bee iudged not by the sight of the outward man but with the affection and perswasion of the inwarde man for to faith onely and not to senses apperteyneth the knowledge and iudgement of Gods mysteries and sacraments Then the counsell declareth what faith teacheth that is to say that the Lambe of God not material bread and wine nor the figure of the Lambe but the Lambe that taketh away the sinne of the worlde is placed lying vpon the holye table of the aultar which externall situation proueth a real presence of Christ to be there before we receaue it and not a phantasticall or an intellectuall receyuing of Christ by fayth in the tyme of the receauing onely as these men contende Further it teacheth that this Lambe of God is offred to almightie God by the Priestes which is a distinte offering from that Christ made vpon the crosse for there he offered himselfe by shedding his bloud which hee did but once and neuer shall doe it agayne any more Here is he offred of the priests not by shedding of bloud but as the counsaile saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after a bloudy maner which is not a newe kylling of Christ but a solempne representation of his death as himselfe hath ordeyned After this it declareth the receauing of it saying that we verily receaue hys precious body bloud which worde verily is as much as that we call really and
declareth the vse of the sacrament in the receypt of it with the seruice of our mouth Math. 19. as Christ commaunded saying Take eate which is a corporall eating not a spirituall beleeuing And last of all it sheweth the effect of the sacrament which is the resurrection of our bodies to eternall life for because Christes body being the body of very lyfe is ioyned to our bodies as our foode it bringeth our bodies that be dead by sentence of death to his propertie which is life whereof in my last sermon I spake more at large O Lorde what harde hearts haue these men to doubt themselues or to denie or to bring in question that manifest open truth in so highe and necessary a matter which in most playne wordes hath bene taught of our sauiour Christ his Apostles and Euangelistes and declared so to be vnderstand by the holy ghost out of the mouthes of all these holye fathers whome the holy ghost did assemble and inspire with the spirit of truth to the confusion of the great heretike Arius that troubled the worlde then and also did inspire their hartes to declare so plainely the misterie of thys blessed sacrament which then was without all contention beleued of al christen men onely to preuent these heretikes that arise and spring vp nowe in these latter dayes that the worlde may see how they striue agaynst the knowne truth their owne coÌ„science the determination of the hole church being enimies of God breaking his peace and deuiding themselues from the church whose end is eternal confusioÌ„ Nowe are you come to the first generall counsell CROWLEY holden at Nice in the Citie of Bithinia vnder Constantinus Magnus In the .24 deuision of your former Sermon I haue sayde some thing to the later wordes of this sentence that you cite out of the great general counsell of Nice And in the .33 deuision of the same sermon I haue graunted as much as the words that you cite there doe teach when they be vnderstanded so as the auncient fathers do vse that like maner of spéeches But here I must tell you that in the olde allowed counsell of Nice there is no part of that which you rite here found written Wherfore the authority therof must néeds be so much the lesse But graunt that the .318 Byshops had in that counsell agréed and written euen as you haue cited must we therfore beleue that Christ is in the sacrament in such sort as you teach really and substantially c. Saint Austen in his Sermon Ad Infantes which is cyted by Beda Beda in 1. Cor. ca. 10. sayth thus Vos estis in mensa vos estis in Calice You are vpon the table you are in the Cup shall we therefore saye that saint Austen ment that those persons that he spake vnto were really substantially and bodily in the cup and on the table I thinke you will not graunt it And why will you by the wordes cyted out of the Nicene counsell bind vs to beleue that Christ is after such sort present in the sacrament As touching the maruellous touching or couching of the wordes for so I suppose you spake I can not but maruell that you could not sée howe euerye one of them serueth to expresse the truth against that which you teach First they will vs to lift vp our mindes and to consider by fayth not things that are here conuersaunt amongst vs and may be conceyued by bodily senses but that are aboue and can not be conceyued otherwise then by fayth Then they tell vs that the Lambe of God is set vpon the holy table euen as saint Austen telleth his Auditorie that they are set vpon the table to teach vs that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is not a bare and naked signe but effectuall to the worthye receyuer that is to such as beyng members of Christ are placed on the table and in the cup with Christ in such sort as the Lambe of God is placed there that is spiritually and in a mysterie And after the same sort the same Lambe is sacrificed by the priestes when by their ministerie the members of Christ be made partakers of that holy mysterie and doe euen sensibly féele the effect of that sacrifice Hebr. 9.10 which that Lambe made of himselfe once for all as saint Paule wryteth Thirdly they declare that we receyuing the precious body and bloud of Christ in déede doe beléeue that it is the pledge of our resurrection Which maner of receyuing it pleaseth you to terme a reall receyuing As though the body of Christ coulde not be receyued by fayth verilye and in déede vnlesse the same be after your reall maner But I must put you in mind that you haue fowly forgotten your selfe when you say that the offering that the priest maketh in his Masse is a distinct offering from that which Christ made vpon the crosse for you shall finde manye of your friendes of a contrarie minde if ye search their bookes well But you would séeme to make bloudy and vnbloudy the difference betwéene those two sacrifices Here say you that is in your Masse he is offered of the priests not by shedding of his bloud but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is insacrificabÃliter after an vnsacrificable maner which is not a newe kylling of Christ but a solemne representation of his death as himselfe hath ordeyned Here the latter wordes doe confute the first For if the maner of offring in the Masse be such as can not be a sacrifice howe can the Masse be a sacrifice And if the Masse be but a solemne representatioÌ„ of the death of Christ how can it be a sacrifice offered to almightie God Not the Popishe Masse but the blessed supper of the Lorde the holy communion of his body and bloud is a lyuely representation of his death and passion And as your Emesenus sayth in the wordes that you cite for you haue taught him to speake congrue latine nowe vere vna perfecta hostia c. That sacrifice which is but one and is perfite in déede must not be estéemed by outwarde shewe nor iudged by the sight of the outwarde man but by fayth and the affection of the inwarde man But eyther not vnderstanding your Emesenus his wordes or else after your olde custome of purpose you corrupt him in the translation For you say This hoste and sacrifice is verily one and perfite as though Emesenus had poynted to your Masse sacrifice Where as it is playne that he meaneth of that sacrifice that is represented by the holy communion of the body bloud of Christ I may therefore vse the wordes of your owne exclamation against your selfe and such as be of your minde For whose harts can be imagined to be more hard then youres which in so manifest a matter as this doe not onely bring in question the open and manifest truth but also in alledging the words of fathers and counselles applie them
for your purpose contrarye to their meaning seing Christ hymselfe hys Apostles and Euangelistes the auncient fathers and counsels haue in most playne wordes taught the contrarie of that which you defende It is manifest therefore that you stryuing against the knowne truth your owne consciences the determination of the whole Church are enimies to God breakers of his peace And deuyding your selues from the Church must néedes in the ende come to confusion euerlasting vnlesse yée repent in tyme. WATSON Diuision 7. Concilium Ephes Epist ad Nestor Likewise the next generall counsell holden at Ephesus in the tyme of Theodosius the Emperour eleuenth hundred and twenty yeres ago doth determine this truth lykewise in these wordes Necessario igitur hoc adijcimus Annunciantes enim sicut secundum carnem mortem vnigeniti filij Dei id est Iesu Christi resurrectionem eius in caelis ascensionem pariter confitentes incruentum celebramus in Ecclesijs sacrificij cultum sic etiam ad misticas benedictiones accedimus sanctificamur participes sancti corporis preciosi sanguinis Christi omnium nostrum redemptoris effecti non vt communem carnem percipientes quod absit nec vt viri sanctificati verbo coniuncti secundum dignitatis vnitatem aut sicut diuinam possidentis habitationem sed vere vinificatricem ipsius verbi propriam factam We adde this also necessarily We shewing and declaring the corporall death of Gods onely begotten sonne Iesus Christ and likewise confessing his resurrection and ascention vnto heauen doe celebrate the vnbloudy oblation and sacrifice in our Churches for so we come to the misticall benedictions and are sanctified being made partakers of the holy body and precious bloud of Christ all our redeemer not receauing it as common fleshe God forbid nor as the fleshe of an holy man and ioyned to the worde of God by vnitie of dignitie nor as the fleshe of him in whome God dwelleth but as the fleshe onely proper to Gods sonne and verily giuing lyfe to the receauer By this determination of this generall counsell wee learne that in the mysticall benediction by which worde is meant this blessed Sacrament wee receaue Christes owne proper fleshe and of it we receaue sanctification and lyfe before the receypt whereof we celebrate the vnbloudy sacrifice of the same in our Churches declaring our Lordes death resurrection and ascention and by this place wee plainely perceiue that the doings and wordes which be vsed daylie in our Masse were also vsed in the tyme of thys counsell much aboue a thousande yeares ago By the wordes of the Ephesian counsell CROWLEY you would not onely proue the reall presence in the sacrament but also that the same Apishe toyes that be nowe vsed in the Popishe Masse were then vsed which was within .468 yeres after Christ But the Popes owne hystories doe playnely declare that the greatest number of those things were not as then inuented But to frame the matter somewhat better to your purpose you helpe it a little in wryting out the wordes For in the place of Sacrificij seruitutem you write Sacrificij cultum Supposing belyke that the base Epitheton of seruitude would abate somewhat the high estimation that you would your Masse shoulde haue Well let that passe It is no fault in men of your sort But let vs sée howe this place maye proue the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament The Authors of this Epistle would bring Nestorius then Byshop of Constantinople backe agayne from his errour which was that of the Virgin Marie was borne onely the manhood of Christ and not Christ God and man So that he deuided Christ into two persons one diuine and another humane And to proue that the manhoode in Christ is ioyned with the Godhead in vnitie of person these Byshops doe in this part of their Epistle ioyne to the confession of their beliefe concerning the corporall death resurrection and ascention of our sauiour into heauen the celebration of the remembraunce of his death which they call Incruentam sacrificij seruitutem the vnbloudy seruice of the sacrifice And to make their meaning more playne they say that they come to the misticall benediction and be made holye when they be made partakers of the holy body and precious bloud of Christ the redéemer of all Not receyuing the same as common fleshe or as the fleshe of an holy man or of a man that is ioyned to the sonne of God by the vnitie of dignitie or that possesseth the heauenly habitation but as fleshe that hath power to giue lyfe in déede and is become the peculiar and proper fleshe of the sonne of God himselfe For say they he that is lyfe as beyng God bycause he is vnited to his owne fleshe hath declared the same to be of force to giue lyfe c. These wordes indifferently weighed doe proue that the manhood in Christ is ioyned to hys diuine nature in vnitie of person but that the same manhood is really present in the sacrament and therein offered vp in sacrifice can not be proued by these wordes August ser De sacramentis fidelium Yea these wordes doe verie well agrée with the doctrine of Saint Austen when he sayth thus Qui non manet in Christo in quo Christus non manet proculdubio nec manducat eius carnem neque bibit eius sanguinem etiamsi tantae rei sacramentum iudicium sibi manducet bibat Who so abideth not in Christ and in whome Christ abideth not without doubt he doth neyther eate his fleshe nor drinke his bloud although he doe to his owne condemnation eate and drinke the sacrament of so worthy a thing And agayne he sayth Huius rei sacramentum id est vnitatis corporis sanguinis Christi alicubi quotidiè alicubi certis interuallis dierum in Dominico praeparatur de mensa Domini sumitur quibusdam ad vitam quibusdam ad exitium Res vero ipsa cuius est sacramentum est omni homini ad vitam nulli ad exitium quicunque eius particeps fuerit The sacrament of this thing that is of the vnitie of the body and bloud of Christ is in some places prepared euery day in some place in certaine distance of dayes in the Lordes daye and is receyued at the Lordes table to lyfe in some and to destruction in some other But the thing it selfe whereof it is a sacrament is lyfe to euery man that is partaker thereof and destruction to none So the Fathers of the Ephesian councell haue verie well confessed that comming to the mysticall benediction and being made partakers of the holy body and blessed bloud of Christ they are sanctified and made holy by that quickening fleshe of Christ which being ioyned to his Godhead in vnitie of person is of power to giue euerlasting life to as manye as shall be partakers thereof by dwelling in Christ as saint Austen hath taught I conclude therefore that you haue
by these his wordes This is my body which is giuen for you And although this oblation may be proued sufficiently otherwise yet to my simple iudgement there seemeth to be no light argument in this worde Datur is giuen for seing the scripture sayth it is giuen for vs and not to vs as Zwinglius and our great Archebishop his Disciple would haue it we must needes vnderstande by giuen for vs offred for vs so that in this place and many other to giue is to offer And although it be true that Christ was giuen and offered for vs to the father vpon the crosse the next day folowing yet because the worde Datur is in Greeke in all the Euangelistes where it is expressed in the present tense and also euery sentence is true for the time it is pronounced therefore me thinke I may certainely conclude because Christ sayth datur pro vobis is giuen for you that euen then in the supper time he offered his body for vs to his father Thirdly Christ did deliuer to his disciples to be eaten and dronken that he had before consecrated and offered Math. 29. and this appeareth by his words Take eate and drinke ye all of this The first and the thirde which be the consecration and receauing be out of all controuersie confessed of all men The second which is the oblation is of late brought in question which I haue partly proued by the plaine words of scripture as it seemeth to me so that I may well reason thus Christs action is our instruction I except his wonderfull workes and miracles specially when his commaundement is ioyned vnto it But Christ in his supper offred himselfe verily and really vnder the formes of bread and wine after an impossible maner and commaunded vs to doe the same till his second comming me thinke therefore that the Masse we doe and ought to doe sacrifice offer Christ vnto his father which oblation is the externall sacrifice of the Church and proper to the new testament CROWLEY The best arguments of the Popes diuinitie schoole Nowe to your purpose c. you will proue by the best arguments in your diuinitie schole that Christs body and bloud offered in the Masse is the sacrifice of the Church c. And as it appéereth the best arguments of your schoole are these thrée The institution of Christ the prophecie of Malachie and the figure of Melchisedech Well I trust the reader shall in that which foloweth sée howe well you doe performe your promise Doe this in my remembraunce sayth Christ that is offer vp this in my remembraunce say you and except you be deceyued Christ hath in these words instituted the sacrifice of the Masse Your newe men you say doe laugh at you c. And you doe pittie them c. Bilyke you haue a delight to be laughed at for you haue in the wordes folowing giuen more occasion to be laughed at as shall appéere in this aunswere Watsons pittie Luc. 23. Your pittie is much like that which was in the women of Ierusalem when they wept to sée the miserable estate of Christ which was condemned to die being an Innocent Watson will make his newe maysters laugh When Christ sayde doe this c. All that Christ did must néedes be vnderstanded by this worde this and therefore you will sée what Christ did First he consecrated his precious bodye and bloud c. Might not your new men thinke you iustly laugh at you when you alledge that for your purpose that maketh most against you doe this sayth Christ What shall we doe say you Take bread saith Christ And when you haue giuen thanks breake it and distribute it and eate it for it is my bodye Then take the cup and when ye haue giuen thankes drinke ye all of it for it is my bloud of the new testament which is shed for manye for the remission of sinnes Thus farre according as Mathewe wryteth What ground haue you in these wordes for the institution of the Masse He doth not say prepare you ministring garments of a straunge fashion Neyther doth he bid you make those garments holye He speaketh no word of your halowed aultare Superaltare Cup or Corporasse cloth He maketh no mention of your thinne stertch cake nor of myxing water with your wine He hath no worde of your manifolde crossings turnings and halfe turnings with the rest of the Apishe toyes whereof your Masse doth consist But he tooke bread and wine What Christ did at his last supper such as the present occasion did offer And he gaue thankes to his heauenly father and did presently distribute the same to those Disciples of his that were then present commaunding them all to eate and drinke thereof in the remembraunce of his death and passion as often as they should thinke it méete by a sacrament to celebrate the remembrance thereof Assuring them that in so doing they should be partakers of his body and bloud to the nourishing of their soules and bodies to euerlasting lyfe Here is a playne institution of the holye communion of the body and bloud of our sauiour Iesus Christ but for your transubstantiating consecration that you vse in your Masse here is no warrant at all By your owne iudgement therefore your Antichristian Clarkes are but vsurpers hauing no warrant in the worde of God to shewe for your doings in this point The matter therfore is not so playne on your side as you would haue men thinke it to be The lyke foundation you haue founde to builde your oblation vpon Christ hath sayd Which is giuen for you And to your simple iudgement there séemeth no little argument in this word Datur is giuen c. And therfore you conclude that Christ did at his last supper euen in the supper time offer his body for vs to his father Mathew and Marke make no mention of this Datur Mat. 26. Mar. 14. that you builde vpon Bilyke therefore it is not so great a matter as you would make of it For if the church can haue no sacrifice but that which is builded vpon Datur it is to be thought that Mathew and Marke knewe nothing of the Church sacrifice But in Luke you finde Quod pro vobis datur which is giuen for you not to you as Zwynglius and Cranmer his Scholer would haue it You conclude therefore that giuen for vs must néedes signifie offred for vs. So that in this place and many other but you name not one to giue is to offer Many places but none named And because all the Euangelistes haue it in the Gréeke expressed in the present tense c. you thinke you may certainely conclude because Christ sayth Datur pro vobis is giuen for you that euen then in the supper time he offered his body for vs to his father First I must say vnto you that when you shall shewe vs those places wherein to giue is to offer then we will weigh them
worthinesse but for the merites of Christes passion Consider all this good people and see whether in this doing we make our workes a newe sauiour beside Christ or no Wee beleue also that our prayer is of more efficacye and strength in the presence of Christ in the time of the sacrifice then at any other tyme. For so sayth saint Cyprian Cyprian de coena In huius corporis presentia non superuacue mendicant lachrimae veniam nec vnquam patitur contriti cordis holocaustum repulsam In the presence of this bodie the teares of a man doth not begge forgiuenesse in vaine nor the sacrifice of a contrite heart doth neuer suffer repulse And as Chrisostome sayth In illa hora dum mors illa perficitur Chrysost in Act. hom 3. horrendū sacrificium quasi sodente rege quaecūque volueris perficies In that houre whiles that christs death is celebrate and his fearefull sacrifice euen as the king were sitting vpon his mercy seat whatsoeuer thou wilt thou shalt bring to passe Chrysost ad Philip. hom 3. Stante siquidem vniuerso populo manus in coelum extendente caetu item sacerdotali verendoque posito sacrifitio quomodo deum non placaremus pro istis orantes For when all the people standeth holding vp their handes to heauen and the companie of the priestes likewise and the fearefull and honourable sacrifice is vpon the aultare how shall not we mittigate God praying for them And therfore specially then in the Masse time we pray for the whole Church for al princes and high powers for all Bishops and pastors for our selues our friendes and all that be present for peace for plenty for al that we haue nede vpon as Chrysostome wryteth Chrysost in Act. Hom. 21 In manibus est hostia adsunt Angelij adsunt Arcangeli adest filius dei cum tanta horrore astent omnes astent illi clamentes omnibus silentibus putas temere haec fieri ergo alia temer quae pro ecclesia pro sacerdotibus offeruntur quae pro plenitudine acubertate absit The host of our sacrifice is in the priestes handes the aungels be present the archangels be present the sonne of God is present When all men stand with such trembling when the aungels stand crying the other holding their peace doest thou thinke these things are done in vaine Then the other also be done in vaine both that be offered for the Church for the priestes and also for plentie and aboundaunce God forbid One notable place of Chrysostome I thinke yet expedient to rehearse vnto you concerning this matter Chrysost de in com dei natu hom 3. Vt homines ramos olearum gerentes mouere reges consueuerent eoque arboris genere misericordiam commemorant humanitatem sic angeli tunc proramis oleaginis corpus domini ipsum protendentes rogant pro genere humano quasi dicant pro his domine rogamus quos tu adeo dilexisti vt pro corum salute mortem obires animam cruce efflares pro his supplicamus pro quibus ipse tuum largitus es sanguinem pro his oramus pro quibus corpus hoc immolasti Like as men bearing braunches of Oliue trees are wont to moue kinges to compassion and with that kinde of tree do put them in remembraunce of mercy and pittie euen so the aungels then in the sacrifice time in steade of Oliue braunches holding foorth the bodie of Christ pray for mankinde as saying thus Lorde we praye for them whom thou hast so loued that for their saluation thou hast suffered death and spent thy lyfe vpon the crosse we make supplication for them for whom thou hast giuē thy bloud for them we pray for whome thou hast offered this same very bodie Now considering this felowship with aungels this humilitie of man this pacifying of God this efficacie of prayer for the sacrifice sake this knowledging of our vnworthinesse this our onely trust in the passion of Christ can any man iustly burthen vs that we make our workes a newe sauiour beside Christ Furthermore beside praying for those things we lacke we also by this sacrifice giue thākes for our redemption for the hope of our health and saluation and for all Gods gifts not onely in our wordes but also in dede the verie oblation it selfe is a reall giuing of thankes to God as Chrysostome sayth Quod erat apud eum omnibus preciosius vnigenitum pro nobis filium dedit cum essemus inimici Chrysost in Mat. ho. 26. nec dedit solum sed nostram mensam fecit illum omnia faciens ipse pro nobis donando videlicet gratiarum actores ipsa donorum suorum vbertate faciendo c. That thing that was with him most precious of all his onely sonne hee hath giuen for vs euen when wee were hys enemies and not onely hath giuen him for vs but also hath made him our table doyng himselfe all things for vs both rewarding vs and also with the plentie of his giftes making vs giuers of thankes and because man in many thinges is vnthankfull to God he in al thinges taketh vpon him our person and supplyeth that we ought to do and euen by the very nature of the sacrifice which is his bodie stirreth vs to continuall giuing of thankes for all his benefites so that our sacrifice beyng Christes bodie is both a singuler gift of God and also is a reall giuing of thankes for all his other giftes By this it euidently appeareth that nothing doth more exercise our fayth in the knowledge of our selues and god nothing doth more encrease our charitie and hope in the mercie of God then the Masse Where as Iob was wont to do for his children the Church of God our mother being careful for al hir children least any of them by negligence infirmitie or wilfulnesse haue offended dayly prayeth and maketh sacrifice for them and by that most acceptable sacrifie of hir husbandes bodie and bloud doth mittigate almightie god doth multiply distributeth vnitie Nothing more setteth forth the benefite of Christ because in thys sacrifice of the Masse wee protest to haue all thinges by Christ redemption remission sanctification and saluatiō and do aske begge of God all goodnesse by Christ knowledging that wee haue nothing to set against the wrath of God but the passion of Christ which after this maner by thys solemne representation as Christ hath instituted we dayly renue that it might bee continually celebrate by mystery that once was offered for our raunsome that because the effect of mans redemption ceaseth not but is to euery one in his time applied by continuall succession so also that the sacrifice of this redemption should neuer cease but be alwayes to all men present in grace and alwayes liue in perpetuall memorie Two vntruthes you affirme with one breath One is that in making your Masse a sacrifice for sinne CROWLEY Two vntruthes affirmed with one breath
better and more certaine foundation then the most vncertaine intent of the priest What intent we had or haue God doth knowe and shall iudge Our doings doe declare that we intend to vse the sacraments of Christ according to hys holye institution The effect of this sacrament in remembraunce of his death and passion And by them to call to memory what we are by Christ what we must continue to the end and what we shall haue in the ende And being such as by receyuing those holy mysteries together we séeme to be we are by them assured that Christ dwelleth in vs and we in him And that as the creatures bread and wine doe by the mouth enter into our bodies to be the foode thereof so doe the flesh and bloud of Christ by fayth enter into our soules to be the sustinaunce of them whereby both body and soule shall lyue for euer in ioy And in our last booke of Communion our inuocation is some thing more large then you haue reported it For we saye thus Heare vs O mercyfull father we besech thée And graunt that we receyuing these thy creatures of bread and wine according to thy sonne our sauiour Christes holye institution in remembraunce of his death and passion may be partakers of his most blessed body and bloud c. If you would haue considered this inuocation better you should not haue néeded to haue wylled your auditorie to looke throughout the scriptures to finde where Christ did institute that by eating of bread and wine men should be partakers of his bodie and bloud For the wordes of our inuocation are that we doing that which Iesus Christ did will to be done for such purpose as he did appoynt it to be do ne may bée partakers of the thing in déede that is represented by that which is done Not by the outwarde act that we do but by the inwarde fayth that mooueth vs to doe it being commaunded by him in whom we beleue The institution of this doing is declared immediately after the inuocation that you speake of 1. Cor. 11. and was written by S. Paule to the Corinthes Wherefore we do not beare men in hand that Christ did institute that which he neuer thought neither doe our déedes shewe that we be enimies to his institution And as they vsed themselues in consecration so they did in the oblation WATSON Diuision 38 which they did not corrupt as the other but vtterly tooke away denying any such thing to be as I haue proued it is in so much that in all their newe communion they could not scarcely abide the name or worde of oblation but pulled it out of the booke so much did they fauour the institution of Christ which they nowe pretende CROWLEY As in mine answere to your proufes I haue sufficiently disproued the same so shall I here in fewe wordes disproue your slaunderous report In our Communion booke we desire oure heauenly father mercifully to accept our sacrifice of prayse and thankesgiuing And we say that we doe offer and present vnto him our selues our soules and bodies to be a reasonable holy and liuely sacrifice vnto him The sacrifice of the newe testament And is this to put the name or worde of oblation out of our booke The auncient fathers say that this is the sacrifice of the newe testament as I haue briefly noted in mine aunswere to the fourth diuision of your former Sermon Nowe when they haue taken away the due matter as sweete vnleauened bread WATSON Diuision 39 the mixture of the Chalice and peruerted the forme by leauing out the principall verbe est in the words of Christ as it was in the last booke in the first printing how it came in againe I can not tell and neglected the due ordring of the minister suffring them to vsurpe the office of a priest that neuer receaued that authority neither of God nor man and in that they did which was very bad neuer intended to do as the Church doth wholy did abrogate as much as lay in them the oblation of Christs body in remembrance of his passion at length would haue nothing to remaine but a bare cōmunion what face haue they to cry vpon christs institution institution which they haue in so many pointes broken and violated as I haue shewed yet that they would haue is no part of Christs institutiō For the vse of the sacrament is that it should be receaued and eaten Concilium tolet anum prim ca. 14. Conci Cesar aug ca. 3. and therefore in dyuers councels it was decreed that whosoeuer tooke the sacrament at the priestes hande and did not eate it for the which end Christ did ordeyne it was holden accursed and excommunicate Thus farre extendeth the institution of Christ concerning this point because he sayde Accipite manducate bibite Take eate drinke and also that all should eate and drinke of it that coulde proue themselues after saint Paules admonition But such thinges as pertaine to the ceremonie of the eating as how many in one place togither what time place maner order and such like be thinges pertayning to the ordinaunce and direction of the Church and not to the institution of Christ as necessary vpon paine of damnation to be obserued of euery christen man For else if all the rites that Christ vsed at hys supper were of necessitie and pertayning to his institution then there must needes be thirtene together at the communion and neyther moe nor fewer And it must be celebrate after supper and in the night after the washing of the feete and in a Parler or Chamber and all that receaue must be priests and no women For all these things were obserued of Christ and his Apostles at his last supper But for our instruction to declare that they be not fixed by the instituted of Christ but left to the disposition of the Church the Church hath taken an other order in these things wylling that all shall communicate that be worthy and disposed So that the number whether there be many or fewe or but one in one place that receyue maketh not the ministration of the priest for that thing vnlawfull And it hath ordered that it shall be celebrate in the morning and receyued fasting before all other meates and in the Church except necessitie otherwise require And therfore saint Augustine taught Ianuarius after this sort August Epist 118. Ideo saluator non praecepit quo deinceps ordine sumeretur vt apostolis per quos dispositurus erat ecclesiam seruaret hunc locum Therefore our Sauiour did not commaund by what order it should be receyued after him but reserued that matter to the Apostles by whome he would order and dispose his Church By this wee may conceyue that the receyuing of the sacrament is Christes institution but the maner number other rytes of the receyuing be not determined by Christes institution but ordered at the Churches disposition
be confessed to receyue the bodye and bloud of Christ also euen into his bodye But that is not true Ergo. c. The Maior of this argument is your owne wordes and the Minor must be prooued by Scriptures and Doctours which is easie ynough to be done First our Sauiour Christ sayth Whatsoeuer entreth by the mouth Math. 15. goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught Which thing I thinke you will not confesse to be true of the body and bloud of Christ Ergo. c. Iohn 6. Agayne Christ sayth he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloude doth dwell in mée and hath mée dwelling in hym but not euerye one that receyueth the Sacrament dwelleth in Christ and hath Christ dwelling in him Ergo. c. Actes 3. Agayne Peter sayth that heauen must holde him vntill that tyme come wherein all things that the prophets haue spoken be fulfilled The Scripture ouerthroweth Watsons foundation Wherefore I conclude that by the Scriptures it is manifest that the body and bloud of Christ are not receyued into the bodyes of men by the receyuing of the Sacrament thereof And consequently that it is not really and essentially present in the Sacrament But you are not wont to credite the Scriptures vnlesse you haue the sayings of the Doctours to confirme the same vsing their wrytings as a touchstone to trie the Scriptures by where as they themselues do desire to haue their wryting tryed by the scriptures refusing to haue credit further then they shal be found consonant to the Scriptures We might therefore say that it is more then néedeth to go about to trie the touchstone by that mettall that should be tried by it Neuerthelesse to let them whose eyes ye haue bleared sée how you haue deceyued their sight I wil not stick to cite some sayings out of such among the Doctours as be most auncient and sounde in opinion wherby it may appeare that they thought not as you haue taught Basilius Magnus although not wryting of this matter Basilius De Spiritu sanct Cap. 22. yet going about to proue the holy ghost to be God sayth thus Angelus qui astitit Cornelio non erat in eodem tempore etiam apud Philippum Neque qui ab altari Zachariam alloquebatur eodem tempore etiam in coelo propriam sedem ac stationem implebat At vero Spiritus simul in Abacuc in Daniele in Babilonia operari creditus est in Cataracta cum Hieremia esse dictus est cum Ezechele in Chobar The Aungell that stood before Cornelius was not at the same time with Philip also Neyther did he that from the Altar spake vnto Zachary at the same time occupie his owne place and order in heauen But we beleue that the holy ghost did at one time worke in Abacuc and in Daniell beyng in Babilon And it is sayde that he was with Hieremie in the Dongion and with Ezechiell in Chobar Basill thinketh this to be a sufficient reason to proue the holy ghost to be God And so will all godly men confesse For no creature can occupie moe places at one time than one onely But you affirming Christs body to be really present in the sacrament doe teache that it is present in a multitude of places at once Ergo Watsons doctrine denieth the manhood of Christ you affirme it to be God and so doe yée destroy the mans nature in Christ in that ye confounde it with the deuine contrarie to that Catholike fayth that you would séeme to defende wherein we confesse with Athanasius that God man is but one Christ not by confusion of substaunce but by the vnitie of person This Basill is no newe writer as you know M. Watson for he lyued about .320 yeres after Christes ascension Origin also somewhat more auncient Origin in Math. 25. for he lyued about 200 yeres after Christ wryting vpon the .25 Chapter of Math sayth thus Quod si semper omnibus suis est presens quomodo introducunt cum Parabolae eius peregrinantem Vide vt possumus soluere hoc modo quod quaeritur Qui enim dicit Discipulis suis ecce vobiscum sum vsque ad consummationem saeculi Et item vbi fuerint duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo ibi sum in medio eorum c. Et qui in medio etiam noscientium se consistit Vnigenitus Dei est Deus verbum sapicutia iustitia veritas qui non est corporeo ambitu circumclusus Secundum hanc diuinitatis suae naturam non peregrinatur sed peregrinatur secundum dispensationem corporis quod suscepit Secundum quod turbatus est tristis factus est dicens Nunc anima mea turbatur Et iterum Tristis est anima mea vsque ad mortem Haec autem dicentes non soluimus suscepti corporis hominem cum sit scriptum apud Iohannem Omnis spiritus qui soluit Iesum non est ex Deo sed vnicuique substantiae proprietatem reseruamus If so be that he be alwayes present with all them that be his Howe doe his Parables bring him in as one that is gone into a straunge Country Marke how we may answere the questiō that is now moued Certes he that sayth to his Disciples behold I am with you to the end of the world also where two or thrée shal be gathered togither in my name there am I in the midst of them c. And he also which standeth in the midst of them that knowe him not the same is the onely begotten sonne of God God the sonne and the wisdome that iustice and that truth that is not closed in with bodily compassing According to the nature of this his diuinitie he is not gone into a straunge Country But as touching his body which he hath receyued he is gone into a straunge Country According to the which he was troubled and made heauie when he sayde Now is my soule troubled And againe My soule is sorowfull euen vnto death When we speake thus we doe not lose in sunder the manhood of the bodye which he hath receyued bicause it is written in Iohn euery spirite that dissolueth the sauiour is not of God but we doe reserue to eche substaunce the propertie thereof In these wordes of Origin it is manifest that he thought the presence of Christ with his Origin against Maister Watson to be vnderstanded of his diuine nature his absence from them of his mans nature Whervpon I conclude that Origin was not of your minde in that you say that Christs body is really essentially present in the Sacramēt August ad Dardanū Saint Austen also who lyued about .400 yeres after Christs ascension wryteth thus vnto Dardanus Noli itaque dubitare ibi nunc esse hominem Christum Iesum vnde venturus est Memoriterque recole fideliter tene Christianam confessionem quoniam resurrexit à mortuis ascendit in coelum sedet
we shall be able to fight against euen to the death Our receyuing of Christ therfore is spirituall into the soule by fayth and into the body or by the senses sacramentally that is in suche sort as by the receyuing of Sacramentes we maye receyue the things signified by the same In Baptisme therefore we doe by beléeuing the promise of God made in Christ receyue him into our soules to washe and purge the same of all sinne and the verie senses of our bodies doe vnderstand the same when we doe by them consider the nature and vse of the creature water wherin our Sauiour Christ hath instituted that holy Sacrament which is to purge and clense from all filth all those things that be washed therein In like maner in the Lords supper when we beleue the wordes of Christ written by Saint Iohn Ego sum panis ille qui de coelo descendi qui edit de hoc pane viuet in aeternum I am that bread which came downe from heauen Iohn 6. he that eateth of this bread shall liue for euer then doe we by fayth receyue Christ into our soules and the verie senses of our bodies doe perceiue and our common sense doth vnderstande that as the creatures bread and wine wherein this Sacrament is instituted doe strengthen and chéere mens hartes euen so the body and bloud of our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ doe strengthen comfort and make chéerefull the soule of man And further we doe euen sensibly perceyue in Baptisme our buriall with Christ to the worlde and worldly delightes and our resurrection with him to newnesse of lyfe And in the Lordes supper our knitting togither into one bodye whereof Christ is the head According to that which Austen teacheth in that sermon that he intitleth Of the sacraments of the faithful We teach not therfore that they be vaine emptie signes August ad Iaenuarium lib. 1. but we hold that they be most effectual in significatioÌ„ as Austen writeth to Ianuarius Nowe where as you saye that by the power of almightie God assisting the due administration of the Priest Christ is become present in the sacrament after your maner we knowe no such due administration as you meane of I am sure That is dashed full of crossings and trurnings doukyngs and starings in Maskers apparell But we know and acknowledge that order of ministration that Christ appointed the Apostles vsed to be the due order of ministration And the Gods almighty power doth assist that ministration so that the worthy receyuers that is such as be members of Christs body are spiritually sacramentally partakers of Christ and doe receyue into their soules whole Christ both God and man according as the holy scriptures and holye Fathers doe teach without any transubstantiating or chaunging of the substaunces of the creatures bread and wine WATSON Diuision 9. For seing the substaunce of our Sacrifice of the newe Testament is the very reall and naturall body of Christ as may be proued by many Authorities Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. Saint Cyprian sayth In sacrificio quod Christus est non nisi Christus sequendus est In that Sacrifice that is Christ no man is to be folowed but Christ Here he saith that Christ is the Sacrifice that we offer to almightie God Also Saint Basyl writeth in his forme of Masse Basil in Missa Tues qui offers offerris qui suscipis impartis Christe deus noster O Christ our God thou art he that both doest offer and is offered that both giuest the offering and receaueth Saint Basyll by this meaneth that the Sacrifice which the Church offered to God is Christ himselfe who in that he is the head of his body the Church is one offerer with the Chuch and so is both offerer and offered as Basyll sayth Lykewise Saint Ambrose wryting of the inuention of the bodies of two glorious Martirs Geruasius and Prothasius of the burying of them vnder the aultar sayth thus Amb. lib. 10. Epist 85. Succedant victimae triumphales in locum vbi Christus hostia est sed ille super altare qui pro omnibus passus est isti sub altari qui illius redempti sunt passione Let these triumphing Sacrifices meaning the bodies of the Martirs go into the place where Christ is a Sacrifice But Christ is a Sacrifice aboue the aultar who suffred for all men these two vnder the aulter that were redeemed by his passion Of this place I note my purpose which is that the Sacrifice of the Church and newe Testament is the very reall body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ which is also testified by Chrisostome in his Homely he wryteth of the praise of God in these wordes Chrysost hom de Laude Dei Vereamini mensam quaue desuper victima illa iacet Christus scilicet qui nostri causa occisus est Feare and reuerence that table aboue the which lyeth that Sacrifice that is to say Christ which for our cause was slayne By which wordes Chrisostome declareth his fayth that the Sacrifice of the Church is Christ and also that Christ is not onely in heauen as some men damnably beareth you in hande but is placed lying aboue the Fable of the aultare as the substaunce of our Sacrifice And in an other Homely he wryteth Idem homil De Enâ—â—â—ijs Mensa mystâ—rijs instructa est agnus dei pro te immolatur The Table is furnished with misteries the Lambe of God for thee is offered teaching vs that the holy misteries wherewith the Table of our aulter is furnished be the bodye and bloud of Christ that is to say the Lambe of God which is also then offered for vs. August lib 9 Confes Ca. 12. Saint Augustine is full of such sayinges as wryting of his mothers death how that he wept nothing for hir all the time the Masse was saide for hir Soule which he expresseth by these wordes Cum offerretur pro ea sacrificium praecij nostri When the Sacrifice of our price was offered for hir I leaue out al the rest of the sentence contented to allege onely this that proueth the sacrifice which is offered by the Priest for the dead to be our price which is and can bee nothing else but the body and bloud of Christ which he gaue vpon the crosse as the price of our redemption August lib. Senten prosp But playnest of all he wryteth in a Booke intituled Liber Sententiarum prosperi Which Booke is alledged of Gratian in the decrees in these wordes Hoc est quod dicimus quod modis omnibus approbare contendimus sacrificium Ecclesiae duobus confici duobus constare visibili elementorum specie inuisibili Domini nostri Iesu Christi corpore sanguine Sacramento re SacrameÌ„ti id est corpore Christi This is that we say that we labour to prooue by all meanes that the Sacrifice of the Church is made and
out of their sight neither had he stil such a body as might be much conuersant with them after a bodily maner that thereby their desire might encrease When these wordes be well weighed and considered togither they doe rather teache vs that the power of Christs fleshe is vnspeakable in vanishing out of the Disciples sight then in opening their eyes For he sayth not that the eyes of them that did receyue his fleshe were opened that they might knowe him but the eyes of them that did receyue that bread where ouer he gaue thankes which he calleth blessed bread were opened to knowe him Howe can you then prooue by this place that in the sacrament of Christes bodye and bloud there is neyther bread nor wine Your conclusion therefore is to large when you saye To large a conclusion that thereby men may sée that the opening of our eyes to sée God is one of the effectes of the sacrament that you talke of And that in no wise the same may be eyther bread or wine Christ sayth Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt Blessed are the cleane in hart for they shal sée God It is therfore the cleanesse of the hart that worketh the effect that you speake of And without that it can not be wrought And many thousandes there be that receyue the sacrament of Christes bodye without cleane hartes and therefore doe not by the receyuing of the sacrament sée or know God But let vs sée your other effects Another effect is WATSON Diuision 22 the immortalitie of our bodies and soules the resurrection of our fleshe to euerlasting lyfe to haue lyfe eternall dwelling in vs. This effect is declared in the sixt of saint Iohn He that eateth me shall liue for me Ioan. 6. he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe and I shall rayse him vp in the last day Vpon this place Cyrillus sayth Ego enim dixit id est corpus meum quod comedetur resuscitabo eum Cyrillus li. 4. Capit. 15. ego igitur inquit qui homo factus sum per meam carnem in nouissimo die comedentes resuscitabo Christ sayth I that is to say my body which shall be eaten shall raise him vp I that am made man by my fleshe shall raise vp them that eate it in the laste daye Cyrillus in Ioan lib. 10. Capit 13. And in hys tenth booke he sayth more playnely Non potest aliter corruptibilis haec natura corporis ad incorruptibilitatem vitam traduci nisi naturalis vitae corpus ei coniungeretur This corruptible nature of our bodies can not otherwise be brought to immortalitie and life except the body of naturall lyfe be ioyned to it By these Authorities we learne that the effect of Christs body in the sacrament is the raysing vp of oure bodyes to eternall lyfe And also we learne that the eating of Christs body is not onely spiritually by fayth as the sacramentaries saye but also corporally by the seruice of our bodyes when Christes body in the sacrament is eaten and receyued of our bodyes as our spirituall foode and bicause it is of infinite power it is not conuerted into the substaunce of oure fleshe as other corruptible meates bee but it doth chaunge and conuert our fleshe into his propertie making it of mortall and dead immortall and liuely As the same Cyrillus writeth in his fourth booke Recordare quamuis naturaliter aqua frigidior sit Cyrill lib. 4. Capit. 14. aduentu tamen ignis frigiditatis suae oblita aestuat Hoc sanè modo etiam nos quamuis propter naturam carnis corruptibiles sumus participatione tamen vitae ab imbecillitate nostra reuocati ad proprietatem illius ad vitam reformamur Oportuit enim certè vt non solum anima per spiritū sanctum in beatam vitam ascenderet verum etiam vt rude atque terrestre hoc corpus cognato sibi gustu tactu cibo ad immortalitatem reduceretur The Englishe is this Remember howe water although it be colde by nature yet by reason of fyre put to it it forgetteth the colde and waxeth whot euen so doe wee although we be corruptible by reason of the nature of our fleshe yet by participation of Christs flesh which is lyfe we are brought from our weaknesse and reformed to his proprietie that is to say to lyfe for it is necessary that not onely our soule should ascend to an happy and spirituall lyfe by receyuing the holy ghost but also that this rude and earthly body should be reduced to immortalitie by tasting touching and corporall meat lyke to it selfe This place is verie playne declaring vnto vs that lyke as our selues are reuiued from the death of sinne to the lyfe of grace and glory by the receiuing of Gods spirite the holy Ghost in baptisme euen so our bodyes being corruptible by nature and dead by reason of the generall sentence of death are restored againe to lyfe eternall and celestiall by the receyuing of Christes lyuely fleshe into them after the maner of meat in this sacrament of the aultar And in his eleuenth booke he sayth Cyrill li. 11. Capit. 27. that it is not possible for the corruptible nature of man to ascende to immortality except the immortall nature of Christ doe reforme and promote it from mortalitie to lyfe eternall by participation of his mortall fleshe In the proouing of this effect of your sacrament CROWLEY you deale as faythfully as you haue done in the rest First how faythfully doe you deale in cyting the words of our sauiour Christ Watson will not leaue his olde wont in the sixt of Iohn as ment of the sacramentall eating of his fleshe whereas the circumstaunce of the text will not suffer any such sense For if he should meane there of the sacramentall eating of his fleshe and drinking of his bloud then could none be saued but such only as doe so eate and drinke the same And contrariewise none that doe so eate and drinke them could perishe For he sayth he that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud hath euerlasting lyfe It is manifest therefore that these wordes of Christ be spoken of the spirituall eating and drinking of his flesh and bloud and not of a sacramental eating or drinking For the sacrament was not then instituted neyther did our Sauiour Christ go about to institute a sacrament of his body and bloud at that time But in cyting the wordes of Cyrill in the fiftene chapter of his fourth booke your faithfull dealing is most manifest If you had cyted Cyrillus his wordes wholy as they stande in his booke they would haue made to much against you And therfore when you had sayde Ego enim dixit id est corpus meum quod comedetur resuscitabo eum Christ sayde I that is to saye my body that shall be eaten will raise him vp then you passe ouer the wordes that folowe which are
these Non enim alius ipse est quam caro sua Non id dico quia natura non sit alius sed quia post incarnationem in duos diuidi filios minime patitur For he is not any other then the same which his flesh is I speake not this bicause he is not another in nature but bicause after his incarnation he doth not suffer himselfe to be deuided into two sonnes All these words you doe slylie passe ouer bicause the meaning of Cyrillus in the other wordes which you cite is made playne by these And then you cite the wordes that folowe Ego igitur c. But you go not so farre as you should For Cyrillus sayth this much more in the wordes immediatly folowing Nempe impossibile omninò est ne in territus mors ab eo qui naturaliter vita est superetur propterea quamuis mors quae propter peccatum nostrum in naturam nostram insilijt corpus humanum ad corruptionem impellat tamen quia filius Dei homo factus est omnes profectò resurgemus Non enim potest natura nostra vitae coniuncta non viuisicari For it is vtterly impossible that destruction and death should not be ouercome of him which naturally is lyfe wherefore although death which for our sinnes hath skipt into our nature doe driue mans body to corruption yet bicause the sonne of God is made man we shall all surely rise agayne For it is not possible that our nature which is ioyned to lyfe Christes incarnation is the cause of our resurrection should not be quickned Here it is manifest that not the eating and drinking of Christes body and bloud sacramentally but the incarnation of Christ is the cause of our resurrection as Cyrillus thinketh But you haue yet another place of Cyrillus where he sayth Recordare c. You haue a maruellous grace in leauing out that which should make against your purpose But this foly I doe note in you that you can not beware of cyting matter for your purpose which in the places that you cite is beset with matter against you as though you were assured that no man had those bookes but you or that no man would take paynes to waigh those places or were able to espie your slights Immediatly before those wordes that you cite Lucae 7. Cyrillus hath sayde vpon these wordes Adolescens tihi dico surge Yong man I say vnto thée arise Non ergo verbo solum semper vt diximus verum etiam tactu mortuos exitahat vt ostenderet corpus quoque suum viuificare posse Quod si solo tactu suo corrupta redintegrantur quomodo non viuemus qui carnem illam gustamus manducamus Reformabit enim omninò ad immortalitatem suam participes sui Nec velis Iudaice quomodo quaerere sed recordare c. He did not therefore alwayes as we haue sayde rayse vp the dead with a worde onely but with a touche also to declare that his body also was able to giue lyfe And if thinges corrupted be made sounde againe by touching alone how should we which doe both taste and eate that flesh be without lyfe For it will reforme vnto the immortalitie that is in it selfe those that be partakers therof Neyther be thou wylling after the maner of the Iewes to enquire how but remember c. as you haue cited afore Cyrillus doth here go about to proue that there was power in the body of Christ to make sounde those corrupted things that he did but touch And that therefore such as doe tast and eate the fleshe of that body must néedes be quickned therby But how doth this proue that the sacrament of Christes body and bloud being eaten is the cause of resurrection and euerlasting lyfe to the eater By your vnderstanding of Cyrillus The sequele of Watsons doctrine his doctrine must teache vs that if the Capernaits had layde handes on Christ and eaten him vp euerye morsell they had done verie well and wisely for so they should haue bene sure of euerlasting lyfe But farre was that learned father from so vnlearned a meaning as may well appéere euen in the wordes that you cite For in vsing the similitude of water made whot by fyre he sheweth what life it is that doth quicken vs into euerlasting lyfe Euen that lyfe which is Christ God and man which commeth vnto vs by faith and maketh vs forget our coldnesse of infidelitie and lack of loue and doth heat vs with most constaunt faith made fruitful by loue And so we doe profitably eate the fleshe and drinke the bloud of Christ for we dwell in Christ and haue him dwelling in vs. And yet more plainely doth Cyrillus open his owne meaning in the wordes that follow immediatly after the wordes that you cite For he sayth thus Nec putet ex tarditate ment is suae Iudaeus inaudita nobis excogitata esse mysteria videbit enim si attentius quaerit hoc ipsum a Mosis temporibus per figuram semper factitatum fuisse Quid enim maiores eorum ab ira Aegyptiorum liberauit quando mors in primogenita Aegypti seuicbat Nonne omnibus palam est quia diuina institutione per docti agni carnes manducauerūt postes superliminaria sanguine perunxerunt propterea mortem ab eis diuertisse c. Neyther let the Iewe through the dulnesse of his minde thinke that we haue sacraments deuised for vs which haue not bene hard of before for if he will looke well he shall sée that by a figure the verie same thing hath bene done euer since the dayes of Moses For what was it that did delyuer their fathers from the wrath when death did rage against the first borne of Egypt Doe not all men knowe that they being thorowly enstructed of God did eate the fleshe of a Lambe and did annoynt the two side postes and the vpper postes of their dores with the bloud of the same and that therfore death turned away from them And a little after he saith Et cuinis carnibus atque sanguine sanctificati Deo ita volente perniciem effugiebant They being made holye by the fleshe and bloud of a Lambe did by the will of God escape the destruction I suppose that there is no man so mad as to thinke that these words of Cyrill should be taken in such sort and meaning as you take those wordes that you cite For then shoulde Cyrillus bée thought to ascribe the deliuerance of the people from destruction to the eating of the fleshe of a Lambe and the annoynting of the dore postes with the bloud thereof Which were to farre from such christian knowledge as appeared to be in the christian Bishop Watsons cōclusion differeth much from Cyrillus minde Wherefore I maye conclude that you conclusion is verye farre from Cyrillus minde when you say that this place is verie playne declaring vnto vs that lyke as our selues you should haue sayde our soules
perteyneth to his owne nature Of this wryteth S. Cyprian Sed quia ebrietas dominici calicis sanguinis non est talis qualis est ebrietas vini secularis Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. cùm diceret spiritus sanctus in Psalmo Calix tuus inebrians addidit perquám optimus quòd scilicet calix dominicus sic bibentes inebriat vt sobrios faciat vt mentes ad spiritalem sapientiam redigat vt à sapore isto seculari ad imtellectum Dei vnusquisque resipiscat But bicause the dronkennesse of our Lords cup and bloud is not such as the dronkennesse of worldly wine when the holy ghost in the Psalme sayde Thy cup that maketh men dronke he added is very godly and excellent bicause the cup of our Lorde doth so make the drinkers dronke that it maketh them sober that it bringeth their mindes to spirituall wisedome that euerye man may bring himselfe from this drowsinesse of the world to the vnderstanding and knowledge of God To this intent saint Ambrose wryteth in dyuers places Ambros in Psalm 1. as vpon the first Psalme At vero Dominus Iesus aquam de petra effudit omnes biberunt and so forth The place is long and for auoyding of tediousnesse I shall faythfully rehearse it in Englishe But our Lorde Iesus brought water out of the stone and all dranke of it They that dranke in figure were satiate they that dronke in truth were made dronke the dronkennesse is good which bringeth in mirth and not cōfusion that dronkennesse is good that stayeth in sobernesse the motions of the minde And he speaketh more playner in these words Ambros in Psal 118. sermone 15. Eate the meat of the Apostles preaching before that thou mayst afterward come to the meate of Christ to the meate of oure Lordes body to the deynties of the sacrament to that cup wherewithall the affection of the faythfull is made dronke that it might conceyue gladnesse for remission of sinne and put away the thoughts of this worlde the feare of death and all troublesome carefulnesse for by this dronkennesse that body doth not stumble and fall but riseth to grace and glorie the soule is not confounded but is consecrate and made holy Yet one effect more and then an ende of this matter CROWLEY The dronkennesse that the Prophet Dauid speaketh of in the .22 Psalme c. Here you séeme to haue forgotten your selfe Watson forgetteth what he hath in hande Your whole labour hitherto hath bene to prooue that the sacrament of the aultar worketh many excellent effects and so you haue made it the efficient cause of those effects But now as one that remembreth not what you haue in hande you say that it is the instrument of grace If you will abide by that then I will not striue with you for I am of the same minde that you are in that point if you haue written as you thinck when you say that it is the instrument of grace For euen as the worde of God is an instrument of grace so are the sacraments also But God whose word and sacramentes they be is the efficient cause that worketh by them as by instruments But it séemeth by that which you cite out of Cyprian and Ambrose to proue this effect that ye speake of that it was but a slip of memorie when you called it an instrument I will therfore suppose that you be the same man that you were before till I sée better lykelyhood of your sounde iudgement in this matter Cyprian hath sayde say you Sed quia ebrietas c. Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. According to your custome you leaue out those wordes that might make the writers meaning playne Cyprian had sayd before that for as much as neyther the Apostle Paule nor an Angell from heauen might declare or teache any otherwise then Christ himselfe had once taught and his Apostles had declared he maruelled that contrarie to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine there was in some places water offered in the Lordes cup which coulde not of it selfe alone expresse the bloud of the Lorde The sacrament wherof the holy ghost doth not passe ouer in the Psalmes making mention of the Lordes cup and saying Thy cup which doth make dronke is excéeding good And the cup that maketh men dronke is surely mixed with wine for water can not make any man dronken And the Lordes cup doth make a man dronke euen as Noe was made droken when he dranke wine as it is written in Genesis And then doe those wordes that you haue cyted solow All indifferent readers maye perceyue by these wordes of Cyprian what his meaning was Not to teach that the spiritual dronkennesse is the effect of the sacrament but that the sacrament might not be ministred with water alone without wine For vnlesse it haue in it a naturall strength to make the drinkers dronken it can not expresse that is to say it can not lyuely represent the bloud of Christ which being dronken of such as bée members of his body in spirite by fayth and sacramentally in the sacrament according to his institution doth make them dronken with that dronkennesse that saint Cyprian speaketh of here And to make his meaning more playne he addeth to the ende of those words that you haue cyted these playne and manifest wordes Et quemadmodum vino isto communi mens soluitur anima relaxatur tristitia omnis exponitur ita potato sanguine Domini poculo salutari exponatur memoria veteris hominis fiat obliuio conuersationis pristinae secularis moestum pectus triste quod prius peccatis angentibus praemebatur diuinae indulgentiae laetitia resoluatur Quod tunc demum potest laetificare in Ecclesia Domini bibentem si quod bibitur dominicam teneat veritatem And as by the drinking of this common wine a mans minde is loosed and his soule set at lardge from all cares and all sorowfulnesse is sent out from the same euen so when the Lords bloud and the cup of saluation is dronken the remembraunce of the olde man may be expelled and the olde worldly conuersation forgotten and the sorowful and pensiue hart which was before oppressed with sorowe for sinne may be resolued by the ioyfull gladnesse of forgiuenesse at Gods hande Which cup may chéere him that drinketh it in the Church of the Lord when the thing that is dronken doth hold the truth of the Lorde By these wordes of Cyprian it is manifest that he meaneth of such a dronkennesse as saint Austen doth August in Psalm 22. wryting vpon the same verse of the .22 Psalme Where he sayth thus Et poculum tuum obliuionem praestans priorum vanarum delectationum quam praeclarum est And thy cup which doth make men forget their former vayne pleasures is very notable and excellent And this is according to that which saint Paule wryteth to the Ephesians saying Be ye not dronken with wine wherein is
excesse Ephes 5. but be yée filled with the holy ghost c. To helpe you to proue this effect you cite Ambrose vpon the first Psalme And to auoyde tediousnesse you will faithfully reherse his words in Englishe c. It had bene well if to auoyde tediousnesse you would haue left out all that you doe here cite out of Ambrose Or else that you had borowed a little more time with your Auditory to make his meaning better knowne to them In the beginning of the matter that saint Ambrose doth handle in the place that you cite Ambros in Psal 1. he sayth thus Hoc primum bibe Drinke this cup first And shortly after he sayth thus Prodest tibi cor habere contritum Hoc primum bibe vt sacrificium tuum accipiatur a Domino Doceat te Apostolus quid sit hoc primum bibe hoc est tribulationis poculum It is profitable for thée to haue a contrite hart Drinke this cup first that the Lorde may accept thy sacrifice Let the Apostle teach thée what this saying drinke this cup first doth meane It signifieth the cup of tribulation And after a fewe wordes he sayth Bibe primum vt sitim mitiges Bibe secundùm vt saturitatem haureas In veteri testamento compunctio in nouo laeticia est Drinke the first Testament that thou mayst mitigate thy thirst drinke the second that thou mayst drinke to the full In the olde Testament there is hartie sorowe for sinne in the newe Testament ioy and gladnesse And to auoyde tediousnesse let me faithfully rehearse in Englishe the wordes that go immediatly before those wordes that you cite Sée sayth saint Ambrose howe the Lorde hath on the hehalfe of his seruants matched the disceites of the Deuill He did with one morsell of meat disceyue one man that he might in one circumuent all But Iesus hath redéemed all with the meate of saluation that in all he might reforme him that had bene disceyued The Deuill did inuent the golden Cup of Babilon that such as should drinke thereof might be more thirstie and that bicause the drinke coulde not be pleasaunt he might allure them with the price of the Golde He began vnto them of his owne wine wherevnto he sought to haue the helpe of the metall But the Lorde Iesus did poure water out of the rock and so forth as you haue cited And to the ende of those wordes that you cite he addeth these Neyther let it moue thée that the Babilonion Cup is of Golde for thou doest drinke the Cup of wisedome which is more precious then is Gold or Siluer Drink both the Cups therefore both the olde and the new Teastament For in eche of them thou doest drinke Christ Drinke Christ bicause he is the wine Drinke Christ bicause he is the rock that vometted out the water Drinke Christ bicause he is the Fountaine of lyfe Drinke Christ bicause he is the riuer the rushing wherof doth make glad the Citie of God Drinke Christ bicause he is peace Drinke Christ bicause riuers of lyuing water doe flowe out of his belly Drinke Christ that thou mayst drinke the bloud wherewith thou wast redéemed Drinke Christ that thou mayst drinke his worde c. Nowe M. Watson if you haue not dronke so déepe of the Babilonicall cup that you be thereby fallen into the deadly slumber of Romishe obstinacie you must néedes sée that Ambrose doth not in this place meane to maintaine your assertion That is that the spirituall dronkennesse is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But here by the way I must put you in remembraunce of citing such places as fight against your priuate Masses and halfe Housels But you haue yet another place Ambros in Psal 118. Ser. 15. where Amborse speaketh more playnly and sayth Eate the meate of the Apostles preaching c. Ambrose wrote them thus in Latine Dicit ad Discipulos date illis vos manducare ne deficiant in via Habes apostolicum cibum manduca illum non deficies Illum ante manduca vt postea venias ad cibum Christi ad cibum corporis dominici ad epulas sacramenti ad illud poculum quo fidelium inebriatur affectus vt laetitiam induat de remissione peccati curas seculi huius metum mortis solicitudinesque deponat Hac ergo ebrietate corpus non titubat sed resurgit animus non confunditur sed consecratur He sayth to his disciples Doe ye giue them to eate least they faint by the waye Thou hast the meate that the Apostles gaue eate that and thou shalt not faint Eate that meate first that thou mayst afterward come to the meate of Christ to the meate of the Lordes body to the delicacies of the sacrament to that cup wherby the affection of the faithfull is made dronken that it may put on ioy for the remission of sinne and laye off the cares of this worlde the feare of death and troubles of minde The body doth not stumble with this dronkennesse but it ryseth againe the minde is not confounded but consecrated The meat that the Apostles did minister Math. 28. Marc. 16. was the word and the sacraments For this was their commissiō Ite in mundum c. Go into all the worlde and preach the Gospell to all creatures c. And saint Paule saith Sic nos aestimet homo c. 1. Cor. 4. Let a man so estéeme vs as the ministers of Christ and Stewards of Gods mysteries Wherefore Ambrose teaching vs to eate the Apostolicall meate first that we may afterward come to the meate of Christ can not meane of that meat that is receyued either by the eares or by the mouth but by faith into the hart and soule Which is as Ambrose sayth here the delicacie of the sacrament and the cup that maketh the affection of the faythfull dronken c. But sée you not how this place also fighteth against your priuate Masses halfe communions yea and against your maner of ministring sacraments without the preaching of the worde before But go forwarde with your matter WATSON Diuision 28 These scriptures and these effectes brought out of the scriptures and confirmed by many manifest authorities of the holy fathers doe proue euidently to any man that hath but common wit and any sparkle of grace and is not forsaken of almighty God that the substaunce of this sacrament is neyther bread nor wine but onely the body and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ vnited to Gods sonne in vnitie of person which is a sufficient cause able to worke in the worthy receauer these heauenly and glorious effectes which I haue spoken of already Whereby appeareth what moueth me to continue still in that faith which is so expresly taught in holy scripture which scripture also draweth and pulleth me from the contrarie false opinion Math. 7. In dyuers places it moueth me and all christen men to beware and take heede of false Prophets that come in the
and your Popishe fathers haue laboured by the bragge of fiftene hundred yeres to disceyue all the whole christen worlde For which you shall one day drinke of the cup of Gods wrath except ye repent before ye depart hense Your if and your but will not serue you then But as you say the errour is in your selfe which woulde harken to the witlesse sophisticall reasoning of a fewe Popishe men and so runne headlong to destroy your owne soules Forsaking and not contynuing in that fayth that was taught by the mouth of Christ sealed with his bloud and testified by the bloud of Martyrs and hath preuailed from the beginning and shall continue to the ende in the dispite of Antichrist and all his members and the whole power of hell As for that which remayneth concerning the thirde point that causeth you to contynue in your Popishe fayth that is the consent of the Catholike Church as you say which to your great griefe you could not now for shortnesse of time go thorow with shall be answered in the aunswere to your other Sermon if God wyll I hope in such sort that as many as be not wilfull blinde shall sée the subtiltie of your sophistrie and for euer after defie it and your Popishe Masse also which you boast to be so profitable to be frequented in the Church of Antichrist to maintaine your multituds of ydle belyes in cloysters and else where And I doubt not but whatsoeuer you or any other hath or shall shoote against the right vse of the Lordes supper which is nowe in reformed Churches frequented shall to the glorie of almightie God rebounde into your owne bosomes to the staye of all such as God in prouidence hath appointed to be saued by the preaching of his worde That they neuer encline to your Poperie but walke warily in the truth of the christian religion leading a christian lyfe that in the ende thereof they may with Christ triumph ouer Antichrist and all his Souldiours in endlesse felicitie Which he graunt to his elect and chosen children that in hys sonne Christ knewe them before they were Amen ¶ The second Sermon Obsecro vos fratres per misericordiam Dei vt exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam sanctam c. Rom. 12. AMONGES OTHER THINGES the last time I was admitted to speake in this place WATSON Diuision 1. I brought forth this sentence of saint Bernard written in a Sermon De epithania Pauperes sumus parum dare possumus c. Bernardus Ser. de Epiphania The English is this We be poore little may we giue yet for that little we may be reconciled if we will All that euer I am able to giue is this wretched bodye of mine if I giue that it is sufficient if not then I adde his body for that is mine and of mine owne for a little one is borne vnto vs and the sonne is giuen to vs O Lorde that lacketh in mee I supply in thee O most sweetest reconciliation Here I noted a great benefite of the oblation of Christes body to consiste in supplying that lacketh in the oblation of our bodyes that where as wee beyng exhorted of saint Paule to offer vp our bodies a sacrifice to almightie God and also doe vnderstande by other scriptures that it is oure dueties so to doe which maye bee done three wayes By voluntarie suffering the death for Christes fayth if case so require by painefull and penall workes as by abstinence and other corporall exercises for the castigation and mortifying of the outwarde man or else by the seruice of righteousnesse in that we vse the members and parts of our bodye as instruments of all vertue and godlynesse considering agayne howe there is great imperfection in all our workes and that the best of vs all commeth short of that marke which is prefixed of God to serue him with all oure heart wyth all our strength and that eyther in the worke it selfe or in the intent or in the cause or tyme or in some other degree and circumstaunce for this cause and consideration saint Bernard doth himselfe and moueth vs to ioyne the oblation of Christes body with oures wherewithall we are sure God is well pleased saying This is my sonne in whom I am well pleased Marke 7. by whose merites our oblation and other workes doe please God and not otherwise CROWLEY This place of Bernard is aunswered in the seuenth diuision of the former Sermon wherevnto I referre the indifferent reader And therefore I purposed to make one sermon of the sacrifice of Christ WATSON Diuision 2. not of that which he himselfe made vpon the crosse for oure redemption but of that which the Church his spouse maketh vpon the aultar which purpose being also before promised remaineth now to be fulfilled And entring the last time to speake of it I laid this foundation that is to say the veritie of the blessed Sacrament the bodye and bloud of our sauiour Christ to be verily and really present in it by the omnipotent power of almightie God the operation of his holy spirit assisting the due administration of the Priest and so to bee there not onely as our meat which God giueth vnto vs to nourish vs in spirituall lyfe but also as our sacrifice which we giue and offer vnto God to please him and purge vs from such thinges as may destroy or hinder that spirituall lyfe seing that Christ himselfe is the substaunce of the sacrifice of the new Testament as I haue partly shewed before and beside him wee haue none that is onely proper to vs Christen men This foundation of the reall presence I presupposed to haue bene beleued of vs all and yet I did not so rawly leaue it but declared vnto you such reasons as moued me to continue still in that fayth I was borne in which were the euident playne scriptures of God opened with the circumstances of the places in suche wise as the vaine cauillations of the sacramentaries can not delude them and also the effectes of this sacrament which be so great and so wonderfull that they can be ascribed to no other cause but onely to almightie God to such creatures as Gods sonne hath ioyned vnto him in vnitie of person as be the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ I alledged also the sayings of the holy fathers not in such number as I would haue done but choosed out a fewe which not onely declared the Authors fayth but conteyned a necessarie argument to proue our common fayth in this matter For aunswere to your handling of those matters that you speake of here CROWLEY I referre the reader to the aunswere that I haue made to that Sermon Concerning the third point WATSON Diuision 3. which is the consent of the catholike Church neyther the time then suffred to speake as behoued nor yet suffereth nowe if I should performe my promise as I intende God wylllng And for that cause I shall but
playne by that which in the booke that you cite De Ciuitate Dei he addeth to the wordes that you cite His words be these Propter quod etiam vocem illam in psalmo tricesimo nono eiusdem mediatoris per Prophetam loquentis agnoscimus sacrificium oblationem noluisti corpus autem perfecisti mihi quia pro illis omnibus sacrificijs oblationibus corpus eius offertur participantibus ministratur Wherfore sayth saint Austen We doe acknowledge that voyce of the same Meditatour speaking by the Prophet in the Psalme .39 in this wyse thou hast not desired sacrifice and oblation but thou hast made me a perfite bodye for his body is offered in stede of all those sacrifices and oblations and is ministred to such as be partakers thereof The continual offering of Christ This sacrifice bicause it is eternall after the order of Melchisedech is still presently offered by the Meaditor Christ who is both the priest and sacrifice and continually ministred to them that be partakers thereof by faith by that spiritual maner of ministration whereby spirituall lyfe is ministred from the head Christ to his members the Church But nowe to ende this matter your Auditorie must heare one place more which is playnest of all Oecumenius hath said Significat sermo c. If I might vse such libertie in cyting places as you doe in this I could easily finde plaine places ynough to proue whatsoeuer I lusted to take in hande Where the author hath sayde Significat sermo quod licet Christus non obtulerit carentem sanguine hostiam siquidem suum ipsius corpus obtulit attamen qui ab ipso fungentur sacerdotio c. The signification of this saying is that although Christ did not offer a sacrifice without bloud for he offered his owne body yet shall those that shall after him execute the office of priesthood whose high priest God doth vouchsafe to be offer without bloud For that is signified by this saying For euer c. These be the wordes of Oecumenius as Hentenius hath translated them out of the Gréeke But you had promised your Auditorie a playner place then this was beyng thus translated For this is playne against all that you haue done before in proouing that our Sauiour Christ did offer himselfe without bloud For this felow being thus translated sayth Although Christ did not offer a sacrifice without bloud c. Well therefore to make the place plaine in déede you haue amended the translation I trowe and you haue sayde Significat sermo quod non solum Christus obtulit incruentam hostiam siquidem suum ipsius corpus obtulit verum etiam qui ab ipso c. The word meaneth that not onely Christ offered an vnbloudy sacrifice for he offered his owne body but also they that shall vnder him vse the function of a priest whose Byshop he doth vouchsafe to be shall offer without shedding of bloud Well eyther you Oecumenius belyed in translating or your friend Hentenius haue belyed the Gréeke For here is playne contradiction The one sayth Hath not offred and the other sayth hath offered Wherfore it must néedes folow that the one hath made a lye And peraduenture if the Gréeke might be séene and well viewed you might be founde false harlots both for Hentenius was a Louanist c. For who so readeth the rest that Oecumenius hath collected out of other wryters that were before his time and patched togither into one commentarie vpon the Epistle to the Hebrues he shall haue but little occasion to thinke that Oecumenius could be of such minde concerning the meaning of these wordes Tu es sacerdos in aeternum thou art a priest for euer as in this place that you cite he sheweth himselfe to be when he sayth Christ could not be sayde to be a priest for euer but in respect of those sacrifycing priestes that are now by whose meanes he doth still offer and is offred For vpon the tenth Chapter and these wordes Singulis annis he sayth thus An ne nos semper offerimus hostias sanguine carentes sed vnius eiusdemque mortis Christi memoriam facimus vnum Christi corpus semper edimus Doe we alwaies offer sacrifices that haue no bloud But we doe make a memoriall of that one and the selfe same death of Christ and doe alway eate one body of Christ And vpon the worde Perpetuò he sayth Quum vna perpetuò sufficiat Seing that one sacrifice may suffice for euer And vpon these wordes In certitudine fidei In the certainty of fayth he sayth thus Quoniam autem nihil est post haec visibile neque templum id enim est caelum neque Pontifex is est Christus neque victima haec corpus est ipsius necessaria in posterum est fides Verum quia contingit credere simul haesitare ait In certitudine fidei Hoc est vt certisimus de his Oecumenius his meaning made plaine Bicause that hence forth there is nothing visible neither temple for that is heauen neyther high priest for that is Christ neyther sacrifice for that is his bodye fayth is from this tyme forward necessarie But bicause it doth happen that a man doth at one time both beleue and doubt he sayth in the certaintie of fayth that is that we may be certaine of these things Many such sayings as this are in that Commentarie wherefore corrupting of the Author in translating may be suspected as well on the behalfe of Hentenius as you although your doing doe more appéere then his But graunt that Oecumenius haue written in Gréeke euen as you haue reported him in Latine Is he knowne to be of such antiquitie and authoritie in the Church that his glose must be of more authoritie credit then the playne wordes of the text Saint Paule sayth Iam non est oblatio pro peccatis There is nowe no oblation for sinnes Seing Christ hath by one oblation made perfite such as be sanctified what néedeth there any more offering for sinne For the cause of the continuaunce of the offering was the imperfection of the offerings which could neuer take away sinne but alway put the offerers in minde of one that was to come who should be able by one oblation once offered fully to take away the sinnes of the whole worlde Oecumenius may haue no credite against saint Paule Your Oecumenius therefore being a great many of hundred yeres after saint Paule as may iustly be gathered by that he wrote after so many of the Gréeke wryters as he nameth in his booke should nowe be credited in that which he wryteth contrarie to saint Paule if that should be beleued as taught by him which you would so fayne maintaine by his wordes Your false dealings therfore being so playne as it is I néede not to stand vpon the opening of it any more but onely to desire the reader to waight the matter and he shall sée that the
whereby God doth stirre vs vp to continuall thankesgiuing which is the same that before he hath sayde is made our Table That is the sacrament of his bodie and bloud wherein that sonne of God that was giuen for vs is liuely represented by visible signes and we moued thereby to be continually thankfull to God for the lyfe that our soules haue by his death By this it doth euidently appeare that nothing doth more exercise our fayth in the knowledge of God and our selues nothing doeth more increase our charitie and hope in the mercy of God then doth the right vse of the holy Communion And although Iob in offering sacrifice for his sonnes did shewe himselfe thereby a louing and carefull father yet can not we acknowledge that strumpet to be our mother that will make a sacrifice of hir husbands heart bloud For Gods wrath can not be mittigated with any such sacrifice But we are the children of that mother that acknowledgeth hir selfe and all hir Children to be alreadie washed and made pure and cleane by the bloud of hir husband which he in his owne person offered to make both hir and all hir children cleane thereby And there is nothing that doth more set forth the benefite of Christ then doth the right vse of the sacrament of this death and bloud shedding For in it wée protest that we haue all thinges by Christ and so forth as you haue sayde of the Masse Which is a méere mans inuention and no ordinaunce of God The other obiections I will but shortly touch for they be of no strength or authoritie one is this WATSON Diuision 31. There is no mention nor no one worde of any oblation in the supper Ergo Christ made no oblation there a goodly reason So there is no mention made neyther of Christes owne mouth nor of any the Euangelistes concerning the oblation of the Paschall lambe yet we knowe most certainely by the olde Testament that the Paschall Lambe was neuer eaten but it was offered before which we are sure Christ did obserue litterally till the truth of that figure were established And also what is more sure then that Christ offred himselfe vpon the crosse and yet neyther Christes owne wordes nor any of the foure Euangelistes wryting the story of the passion make any mention in playne and expresse termes of oblation or offering Though we know it by other scripture sufficiently But their collection is all false they should haue concluded thus Ergo if there any oblation it is reall and not vocalle and so it is in deede Luc. 22. and therefore Christ sayde Hoc facite doe this as ye see mee doe But in the forme of our Masse there be expresse wordes of offering for the rude and ignoraunt and for the euidence of the truth Vnde memores nos domini c. Wherefore we thy seruauntes and people being mindfull of thy sonne Christ our Lorde of his blessed passion resurrection and glorious ascention doe offer to thy most excellent maiestie of thy rewardes and giftes this pure sacrifice thys holy and vndefiled sacrifice the holye bread of euerlasting life the cup of perpetuall saluation There be also other wordes of oblation folowing these words saint Basill hath them Chrysostome saint Ambrose the generall counsell holden at Ephesus the latest of these was a thousand three hundred yeres ago that it might appere that it is not newly brought in as they would slaunder it but the most auncient thing in all the Masse They reason also thus It is a commemoration ergo no sacrifice as who saye the paschall Lambe being the figure of this was not both a commemoration and a sacrifice for the Lambe was instituted to be offered for a memorie of the delyueraunce of the Iewes from the sworde of the Aungell that smote the first begotten of the Egiptians and therefore the Iewes kept this worde of offering the Lambe for a statute for them and their children for euermore Euen so this Lambe of God that lyeth vpon the table of our aultar is a sacrifice offered of vs in commemoration of our delyueraunce from the Deuill by the death of Christ In the olde Testament the first Lambe offered before their deliuery the Lambe which was offered euery yeare after in memory of the same deliuery were verye reall Lambes in deede of one nature and condition euen so the Lambe of God being Christ which Christ himselfe offered in his supper there instituting before his death what we should contynually doe after his death and that Lambe of God which we offer now in memorie of our deliueraunce be very reall Lambes of God in deede and yet not dyuers in number as the other were but all one in number nature condition and dignitie As Chrysostome sayth Chrysost ad Hebreos ho. 17. we offer daylie in commemoration of his death and the sacrifice is one not many Nor we doe not offer one Lambe now to morow another but alwayes the very same or else because it is offered in many places is there many Christs No forsooth but one Christ euery where here full Christ and there full christ one body And so foorth You frame our argument after your owne fashion CROWLEY and so are you the better able to answere it We reason thus Whatsoeuer Christ would haue vs do or beleue is in some part of the scripture so mentioned that we may plainly perceyue that it is his wyll that we should doe or beleue the same But there is no such mention in any part of the holy scripture whereby we may perceyue that it is Gods will that we should beleue that Christ offered himselfe in his last supper or that he did then institute a sacrifice wherein we should dayly offer him Ergo Christ hath not instituted any such sacrifice as you speake of As for the like reasons that you would make of the Paschal Lambe and Christ offering himselfe vpon the Crosse might bée well accepted of some of your Auditorie that were of your mind and therefore blinded by affection But as many of your readers as knowe the scriptures must néedes say that you might with more honesty haue kept them still in your bosome For who knoweth not that Christ himselfe hath sayd Non veni soluere legem sed adimplere Et qui soluerit vnum ex mandatis istis minimis minimus vocabitur in Regno coelorum I came not to breake the lawe but to fulfil it Math. 5. Iohn 14. Iohn 8. Rom. 5. Hebr. 9. And he that shall breake one of the least of these cōmaundements shall be called the least in the kingdome of heauen And againe Beholde the prince of this world commeth and in me he hath nothing at all And againe Which of you can accuse me of sinne And againe As by the sinne of one condemnation came vpon all so by the righteousnesse of one came the righteousnesse of life And againe He offered himselfe vnto God without spot c.
such as then lyued in monasteries The forger of this péece of worke did not remember how early dayes it was in saint Iames his time and therfore he supposed Monasteries had bene builded then It forceth not greatly what is found in those counterfaited Masses And for my part I wyll looke for no credite of those that wyll beléeue that Iames would pray for them that dwelt in Monasteries so long before any Monasteries were builded let that great learned councell report what they lust And if I shall say that neyther the Apostles nor any in their time did offer sacrifice to God then let no man credite me except I be able to prooue the negatiue which I confesse I shall neuer be able to doe What sacrifice the Apostles did offer to God For they did continually offer to God that acceptable sacrifice that God requireth of Christians which is their hole bodies and soules in his seruice But that they offered Christ to his father as you imagine that no wise man will beleue till you be able by scripture to prooue that affirmatiue which you shall neuer be able to do WATSON Diuision 34 There be other some that will graunt the sacrifice but denie that it is propitiatory for the sinnes of the quick and the dead And therefore they disalow the last sentence of the Masse Where the priest sayth graunt good Lord that this sacrifice which I haue offered to thy diuine maiestie be propitiable or a meane to obteyne mercy to me and to all for whome I haue offered it And surely these be most foolish of all for if it be a sacrifice it must needes be a propitiatory sacrifice taking propitiatorie as it ought to be taken not confounding the meaning of it by sophistrie but vnderstanding the diuerse acception of the word but these men dally and seduce the people with Amphibologies and doubtfull sayings Distinctions they admit none nor can not abide to haue the matter opened with a confuse generall saying slaunder the Church This is their priuate sophistry and yet they call other men sophisters that detect and open their collusions that diuide the sentence that men might see how it is true and how it is false For example They cry out of this that we say the Masse is a sacrifice propitiatory By the word Masse may be vnderstanded two things the thing it selfe that is offered and the act of the priest in offering of it If ye take it for the thing offered which is the bodye of Christ who can iustly denie but that the body of Christ is a sacrifice propitiatorie seing saint Iohn sayth he is the propitiation for our sinnes euer was and euer shall be and neuer cease so to be till our sinnes be ended Oecumenius in cap. 3. ad Romanos and death the last enimie be ouercomed in vs his misticall bodye and as Oecumenius sayth Caro Christi est propiatorium nostrarum iniquitatum The flesh of Christ is the propitiation for our iniquities But if by the worde Masse be vnderstanded the act of the priest and the vse of the sacrament as they would haue it then it is not propitiatory in that degree of propitiation as Christes body is but after an other sort And therefore I must diuide the worde propitiatory which is taken two wayes also First for that that worthily deserueth mercy at Gods hande and so the act the priest in offering is not propitiatorie of it selfe deseruing mercy as Christ doth Next for that prouoketh God to giue mercye and remission already deserued by Christ And so the oblation of the priest is propitiatory moouing and prouoking God to apply his mercy vnto vs. So praier is a sacrifice for sinnes as S. Iames saith Iacob 5. Oratio fidei saluabit infirmum si in peccatis sit remittentur ei The Prayer of faith shall saue the sick and if he be in sinne they shal be remitted vnto him And christ taught vs to pray thus forgiue vs our trespases as we forgiue them that trespase against vs. Math. 6.7 And also promised to giue vs that we aske in Christs name Then ye see that prayer being a sacrifice is a prouocation of God a meane to atteyne remission of our sinnes and therefore may be well called propitiatorie So is a contrite hart a sacrifice propitiatory and almose as appeared by the storie of the Niniuites and of Daniell Psalme 50. For all good workes that we doe both fasting prayer almose forgiuing of my neighbour is done for this ende to mittigate Gods anger against our sinnes and to prouoke him to haue mercy of vs for Christes merites Euen so the Masse taking it for the act of the priest is a sacrifice propitiatory for sinne Which I shal proue vnto you by the holy fathers Origen wryteth thus Si referantur haec ad mysterij magnitudinem Origen in Le. hom 13. inuenies commemorationem istam habere ingentem repropiationis effectum Si redeas ad illum panem propitiationis quem proposuit Deus propitiationem per fidem in sanguine eius si respicias ad illam commemorationem de qua dicit dominus hoc facite in meam commemorationem inuenies quod ista est commemoratio sola quae propitium faciat Deum If these be referred to the greatnesse of our misterie thou shalt find that this commemoration hath a great effect of propitiation If ye returne to that bread of propritiation which God hath set for a propitiation by fayth in his bloud and if ye looke to that commemoration of which our Lorde sayde Doe this in commemoration of me thou shalt finde that this is the onely commemoration that maketh God mercifull Cyprian Ser. de coena Doth not saint Cyprian call the sacrament hol aucastum ad purgandas iniquitates a sacrifice to purge iniquitie in what respect is it called so but for that it is offered to that ende And so is it called a medicine to heale infirmities for thys respect that it is receaued to thys ende Augu. ser 11. de sanctis Saint Augustine sayth likewise Nemo melius praeter martyres meruit tibi requiescere vbi hostia christus est sacerdos scilicet vt propitiationem de oblatione hostiae consequantur No man hath deserued better then the Martyrs to rest and be buried there where Christ is both the host and the priest that is to say vnder the aultare for this ende that they might attayne propitiation by the oblation of the hoste Marke the purpose I bring in this for which is to atteine propitiation by the oblation of the sacrifice and as he sayth in an other booke Sacrificium illud mirabile coeleste quod tu instituisti offerri praecepisti in cōmemorationē tuae charitatis mortis scilicet passionis August in Manuale Cap. 11. pro salute nostra pro quotidiana fragilitatis nostrae reparatione That maruellous heauenly sacrifice which thou hast