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
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
members of one body is the effect of their sacrament of the aultar Let them take the spéeche to be in what kinde they wyll eyther playne figuratiue or hyperbolicall But you haue not yet done with Cyrill in this matter He must nowe expresse by a similitude of two waxes melted mingled togither Cyrill li. 10. Capit. 13. li. 4. capit 17. this coniunction of vs with Christ A man might aske you what this maketh to the purpose You must proue that our knitting togither into members of one body is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But let vs weigh his wordes He sayth thus Quemadmodum si quis c. Lyke as if a man mingle c. You haue cyted the wordes of Cyrill verie truely but you haue not coated the place aright For in the .17 Chapter of the tenth Booke are no such wordes to be founde neyther is there any such matter handled there But in the .13 Chapter of the same Booke the wordes that you cite are founde And in the .17 of the fourth are founde wordes to the same effect Watsons olde tricke will not be left But in the translating of these wordes Communicationis corporis sanguinis Christi You vse one little péece of your common trick For you say thus By the communion and receyuing of the body and bloud of Christ where as the true Englishe of the wordes is thus By the communicating of the body bloud of Christ which communicating is in the faithful beléeuers of the promise of God made in Christ though the same doe neuer receiue the sacrament of the body bloud of christ If you would haue looked in the last Chapter of the ninth booke Cyrill li. 9. Capit. 45. you should haue séene what Cyrill meaneth by this worde Communicatio His wordes be these Non erat possibile aliter corruptibilem secundum naturam hominem mortem effugere nisi primum adeptus gratiam rursus particeps Dei fieret qui omnia per filium in spiritu viuificat Carne ergo sanguini communicauit id est qui secundum naturam vita est vnigenitus Dei Patris filius homo factus est mediator Dei atque hominum vt scribitur Natura Deo coniunctus ex quo est hominibus rursus vt homo c. It was not possible that man which by nature is corruptible should otherwise escape death except obtayning the first grace he might agayne be made partaker of God that doth in the spirite quicken all things by his sonne He hath therefore communicated himselfe to fleshe and bloud that is to say the onely begotten sonne of God the father which is by nature lyfe is become man the mediator of God and men as it is written being by nature ioyned to God of whome he hath his being and agayne vnto man as he is man Thus it is manifest howe euill fauouredly The accorde of Cyrill and Watson the meaning of the auncient wryters doth agrée with your purpose in cyting them in your Sermons Cyrill speaketh of the communion or felowship that man hath with Christ by his incarnation you cite him to proue the ioyning of al christians into the felowship of one body by receyuing the sacrament of the aultar as you call it Nowe let vs sée what Hilarius hath sayde in this matter Hilarius in Psalm 6. His words you say are these Per communionem sancti corporis c. By the communion of his holy body You note in the margent of your printed booke that this sentence of Hilarie is written in his Commentarie vpon the sixt Psalme When you can shewe vs that Commentarie you shall haue the wordes that you cite aunswered Saint Hierome saith that Hilarie wrote onely vpon the first and second Psalmes the. .51 and so forth to the .62 and from the .118 to the last And in his printed workes we finde but eyght mo whereof the sixt is none Wherefore I must thinke that the great learned and godly Byshop that you speake of is your selfe or some other such as you are But if it may be found in some other part of Hilarius works what shal it make for your purpose sith these wordes may haue a good sense if we vnderstand by the first Communion that which we haue by the incarnation of our Sauiour Christ and by the later that which we haue one with another For by the communion that we haue with Christ we be placed in that communion that we haue one with another And so doe these wordes make nothing to proue that our cowpling into one body in Christ is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But nowe that your store is well spent you vse your figure of Rhetoricke to blere the readers eye withall In such playne matter as this what néede I heape places one aboue another All the fathers are full of it How full the fathers that you speake of be of this so playne matter doth I trust sufficiently appéere in that which I haue alreadie written in the aunswere to that which you haue as yet alledged in the proufe of this matter Wherefore seing you haue not as yet proued neyther shall hereafter be able to proue eyther by the wordes of the scripture or of the auncient fathers that our knitting togither into one body in Christ is the effect of your sacrament of the aultar it is no wickednesse nor blasphemie at all to ascribe that effect to the efficient cause thereof which is God the father through his sonne Iesus Christ and the holy ghost But nowe let vs sée what other effectes you haue WATSON Diuision 26. Beside these effectes gathered out of the new Testament there be also other mentioned in the Psalmes Whereof one is that this sacrament is an armour and defence against the temptations of our ghostly enimie the Deuill as it is written in the .22 Psal 22. Chrysost in Psal 22. Euthymi in Psal 22. Psalme Parasti in conspectu meo mensam aduersus eos qui tribulant me Thou hast prepared in my sight a Table against them that trouble me By this Table sayth Chrysostome vpon this place is vnderstanded that thing that is consecrated vpon the aultar of our Lorde and Euthymius a Greeke Author sayth so also Par hanc mensam intelligit altaris mensam in qua caena mystica illa iacet by this table he vnderstandeth the table of the aultar vpon which lyeth the misticall supper of Christ which doth arme and defend vs against the Deuill which sometimes craftily layeth in wayte for vs sometimes fiercely and cruelly assaulteth vs that be fed at Christes table Saint Cyprian teacheth vs the same lesson saying Quos excitamus exhortamur ad praelium non inermes nudos relinquamus sed protectione sanguinis corporis Christi muniamus Cyprianus li. 1 Epist 2. Those persons whom we prouoke and exhort to fight against their enimies be it eyther the Deuils our ghostly
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
speaking of the communion table there springeth a Fountayne of spirituall commodities and thou leauing this table doest forthwith runne to the water and doest beholde women swymming and the very marke of their sexe set out to the eyes of all that be present that thou mayest beholde this thing I say thou leauest Chryst sitting by the Fountayne of heauenly giftes For euen now also he doth sit vpon the Fountaine not speaking to one Samaritish woman but to the hole Citie For euen nowe also there is none that attendeth vpon him sauing that some be present with their bodies but without doubt some other not so much as with their bodyes Yet for all that he departeth not but he taryeth still and requireth drink of vs not water but sanctimonie or holynesse of lyfe For Christ doth giue holy things to them that be holy He doth not giue vs water out of this Fountayne but lyuing bloud which though it be receyued to testifie the Lordes death yet it is made vnto vs a cause of lyfe But thou doest leaue the Fountayne of this bloud and the cup that is to be had in reuerence and wyth spéede thou renuest to that deuillish Fountayne that thou mayest sée an Harlot swim and suffer shipwrack of thine owne soule c. Thus farre Chrysostome You should proue that the Masse is no derogation to the passion of Christ but you haue concluded that we receyue lyfe by receyuing of that which is offered in the Masse If this be no derogation to Christes passion then is there no derogation of it at all in any thing that can be done For what other thing is the fruite of Christes death but our euerlasting lyfe You had forgotten your selfe bylike when you alledged thys place for if Chrysostome ment so grossely as you vnderstand him he did set vp the Masse as much to the derogation of Christes passion as possibly he could Watson wold not see Chrisostomes meaning But Chrysostome had another meaning then you woulde sée when you read his wordes He teacheth the christians of Antioche that those holy things that Christ giueth to them that be holy are made vnto them instrumentall causes of euerlasting lyfe yea euen that mysticall bloud that is receyued to be a testimonie of the death of him that is Lorde of lyfe Thys meaning might you haue séene in the wordes of Chrysostome if affection had not blinded you But I marueile where you found in Chrysostomes words offered in commemoration for euen in the Latine text that you your selfe cite it is Sumitur is receyued But you might at that time say what you would to the aduauncement of that Idole of Rome and all Romishe Idolatrie To those two places of Gregory that you alledge I must aunswere as I haue learned of saint Hierome Hiero. in Math. 23. Hoc quia de scripturis c. Because this thing hath none authority of the scripture it is as easily contemned as allowed And least you should think that not being able otherwise to aunswere I doe reiect the authoritie of so auncient and godly a father I will shewe you the reasons that mooue me to thinke that these workes that are extant vnder the name of Gregorius Magnus were neuer of his writing Gregories bookes burned First Sabinianus that succéeded him next in the Papacie caused all his bookes to be burned And it is not to be thought that there were many copies in so short tyme when there was no way to encrease them but by hande wryting Another thing is the fond fables that in those workes are vsed in the probation of weightie assertions and no proufe made eyther by scriptures or authoritie of such as had before his dayes written of those matters Three reasons to proue Gregories workes coūterfaite but bare assertions contrarie to the scriptures and fathers that had bene before him And last of all the straunge maner of finding out the copie of his morral exposition of the history of Iob which is to ridiculous to haue any credite with such as haue any knowledge in christian religion and haue séene the hystories that make report of the liues and doings of those that had béene Byshops of Rome before the time of the finding out of that booke These authorities therefore doe not proue that the Masse is no derogation to the passion of Christ but rather the contrarie For if all these authorities that you haue alledged were as good as you make them and were so ment by the authors as you haue applied them what other thing should they teach but that the Masse is a derogation to the passion of Christ For what greater derogation can there be to Christs passion then to make it a matter of so small power that it could not of it selfe be effectuall to any vnlesse it be applyed by the mediation of some sacrificeing priest And that it must néedes be effectuall to such as it shall by such mediation be applyed vnto eyther in this lyfe or after Wée haue learned both by the scriptures and auncient fathers that the passion of Christ is of effect to take away the sinnes of the whole world The way to apply Christes passion and that it doth take away the sinnes of all that repent and beléeue the Gospell And that there is none other way to apply the passion of Christ to any but only the faith of those to whome it is applyed Furthermore they say we make our owne workes meaning the Masse a sauiour beside Christ WATSON Diuision 30 which is nothing so but by this sacrifice of the Masse we declare that we beleue there is no sauiour but onely Christ For what doe we in the Masse We confesse our sinnes our vnworthinesse our vnkindnes our manifold transgresions of his eternal law we graunt that we be not able to satisfie for the least offence we haue done therfore we run to his passion which after this sort as he hath ordayned we renew and represent We besech our most mercifull father to looke vpon Christes merites and to pardon our offences to loke vpon Christes passion and to releue our affection We knowledge that whatsoeuer we haue done is vnperfite and vnpure and as it is our worke doth more offend his maiestie then please him therefore we offer vnto hym his welbeloued sonne Iesus in whome we knowe he is well pleased most humbly praying him to accept him for vs in whome onely we trust accompting him all our righteousnesse by whome onely we conceiue hope of saluation And therefore in the ende of the canon of the Masse we say thus Non aestimator meriti sed veniae quaesumus largitor admitte per Christum dominum nostrum O Lord we besech thee to admit vs into the companie of thy saintes not waying our merites but graūting vs pardon by Christ our Lord. Also whatsoeuer thing we lacke all plagues all misfortunes all aduersitie both ghostly and temporall we require to be released of them not through our
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
Domini His words be these Vt enim de vsualibus sumamus exemplum datur anulus absolutè propter anulum nulla est significatio datur ad inuestiendum de haereditate aliqua signum est ita vt iam dicere possit qui accipit Anulus non valet quicquam sed haereditas est quam quaerebam In hunc itaque modum appropinquans passioni Dominus de gratia sua inuestire curauit suos vt iâ—usibilis gratia signo aliquo visibili praestaretur Ad haec instituta sunt omnia sacramenta ad haec Eucharistiae participatio c. That we may take an example from among those things that be vsuall a King is delyuered as a King without condition and it hath no signification And the same is giuen to inuest in some enheritaunce and so it is a signe so that the partie that receyueth it may now saye The King is a thing of no value but the inheritance is the thing that I sought After this sort the Lorde therefore drawing néere vnto his passion did of his owne frée mercy prouide to inuest those that appartayned vnto him that the inuisible grace might by some visible signe be set forth and shewed For this purpose were all sacraments instituted The participation of the Eucharist was instituted for this purpose and so was the washing of féete To coÌ„clude Baptisme which is the beginning of all sacraments was instituted for this purpose wherein we are planted togither to the similitude or lykenesse of his death wherefore the thrée solde dipping doth beare the figure of the thrée dayes space that must now be celebrated This matter is farre disagréeing to that which you cite out of your Bernarde Watson hath a Bernard of his owne I conclude therefore that your Bernarde is not the right Bernarde but a counterfait of your owne making Such a one as your Emisenus is And therefore his Sermons are printed by themselues with this note before them Proculdubio non a nostro Bernardo editi fuerunt Without doubt they were neuer of our Bernards setting out Thirdly we maye consider that these wordes WATSON Diuision 16 be the performaunce of a former promise where Christ as it is written in the sixt Chapiter of S. Iohn promised to giue vs the same fleshe to eate that he would giue to the death for the lyfe of the worlde saying Panis quem ego dabo caro mea est Iohn 6. quam ego dabo pro mundi vita The bread which I shall giue vnto you is my flesh which I shall giue for the lyfe of the world Which promise we neuer read that Christ which is the very truth can not lye did euer at any time performe but in his last supper when he gaue his bodye and bloud to his Disciples and to promise his fleshe and to giue bare bread and not his fleshe is no performing but a breaking of his promise and a deluding of them to whome he made the promise For as for the interpretation which some men make of Christes words that he will giue his fleshe to vs to be eaten spiritually by faith is but a vaine and fained glose for that text And although Christ doe so giue it to be eaten by faith yet we maye not exclude one truth by another truth as Sophisters doe For Christ gaue his fleshe to vs to be eaten spiritually by fayth euer from the beginning of the worlde and also at that present when he spake those words so that it were a verye vaine thing for Christ to promise to giue a thing which he euer before and also at that present and euer after contynually doth giue But it was neuer so taken of any good auncient aucthor which all with one consent doe expounde this text of saint Iohn of the giuing of his fleshe in his last supper vnder the forme of breade and therefore Cirillus wryteth Cirillus in Iohn li. 4. Capit. 14. that oure sauiour Christ did not expounde and make plaine the maner of the mistery the performaunce of this his promise to them that asked the vnfaythfull question Howe without fayth but to his Disciples that beleeued him and asked no such question of him he declared the maner of it in his last supper Wherefore we maye well conclude vpon this circumstaunce that Christs flesh is verily present in the sacrament to be giuen vnto vs bicause he promised before that he would giue vs the same fleshe for our foode that he would giue on the crosse for our redemption CROWLEY The thirde circumstaunce you saye that you consider is a promise that our Sauiour made when he sayde the bread that I shall giue is my fleshe c. If I did not knowe your blindnesse and shamelesnesse in fathering vpon the auncient Writers such matter as they neuer ment to vtter in their wrytings I coulde not wonder ynough at your beastly boldnesse which driueth you to saye that all the good auncient Writers doe with one consent expound the wordes of saint Iohn as you doe But after this great boast you giue vs a taste of your small roste as the common saying is and you make Cyrillus to speake after your fantasie in this sort Our Sauiour Christ did not expounde c. But that the reader may sée how faythfully you deale with Cyrillus in this point I will let him sée the words as they be written in the place that you note in the margent His wordes be these Misericors certè mitis Christus est vt à rebus ipsis videre licet Non enim aspere ad crudelitatem eorum respondit nec vllo modo contendit sed viuificantem huius mysterij cognitionem iterum atque iterum in mentibus eorum imprimere studebat Et quomodo quidem carnem suam dabit ad manducandum non docet quia intelligere illi non potuerunt Quam magna verò bona si cum fide manducabunt adipiscentur id iterum atque iterum aperit vt aeternae desyderio vitae ad fidem compellantur per quam etiaem doceri facilius poterint Esay 7. Sic enim Esaiaes dixit Si enim inquit non credideritis nec intelligetis Oportebat igitur fidei primum radices in amimo iacere deinde illa quaerere quae homini quaerenda sunt Illi verò antequam crederent importunè quaerebant Hac igitur de causa Dominus quomodo id fieri possit non enodauit sed fide id quaerendum hortatur sic credentibus discipulis fragmenta panis dedit dicens Accipite manducate hoc est corpus meum Calicem etiam similiter circumtulit dicens Bibite ex hoc omnes hic est Calix sanguinis mei qui pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum Perspicis quia sine fide quaerentibus mysterij modum nequaquam explanauit credentibus autem etiam non quaerentibus exposuit Vndoubtedly sayth Cyrill Christ is mercifull and mylde as a man maye perceyue euen by the
intelligi corporis membrorum suorum In Iohā tract 26. quod est sancta Ecclesia in praedestinatis vocatis iustificatis glorificatis sanctis fidelibus suis His wyll is that this meat and drinke should be vnderstanded to be the societie or felowship of his body and members which is the holye Church which consisteth of his predestinated called iustified and glorified saints and faithfull ones To these is the promise of grace made and confirmed by sacraments These beléeuing the promise doe worthily receyue the sacraments And these being preuented by death before they can come to the vse of the outward and visible sacraments shall haue lyfe euerlasting bicause they are elected in Christ before the beginning of creatures Luther and such as be of his sect WATSON Diuision 19 as taking his dreames for the ground of their fayth were much pressed with this argument deduced of the propertie of the sacrament and sawe playnely that it could not be a sacrament of the newe Testament except it had a promise annexed to the worthy vsing of it And yet for all that he would not condiscend to say as the Church sayth that Res sacramenti the thing of the sacrament signified and not conteyned which is the vnitie of the mysticall body were that grace which by Christ in S. Iohn was promised to the worthy receyuer of it but went and sought about for another promise and after much pooreyng at last he brought forth a promise as he thought meete and conuenient which is the wordes of Christ Quod pro vobis tradetur Which shall be giuen for you And in thys point 1. Cor. 11. he shewed with what violence he handled other matters of our fayth that in this great matter so much ouershot himselfe First with what face could he call that a promise which hath no apparaunce of anye promise but that the wordes in latine be spoken in the future tense which in Greeke be written in the present tense both in S Paule and in Saint Luke Quod pro vobis datur Which is giuen for you And if they were spoken in the future tense as they were not yet they be wordes not promising a thing to be done but declaring what shall be done And further if we should graunt them to be wordes of a promise yet they promise not the grace of the sacrament which is to be giuen to the worthy receyuer For the passion of Christ or the gyuing of Christs body vpon the crosse is not a grace giuen by the sacrament to the receiuer but it is that worke that hath deserued grace to bee giuen by the sacrament for all our sacraments take their vertue of the passion of Christ doe not promise the passion of Christ This may suffise for this short time to shewe vnto you the folly of these men that neyther wot nor care what they affirme in these weightie matters I could saye more in it but that I haue more necessarie matter behinde to be sayd Augst in Ioh. tract 15. In Psal 138. Saint Austen in dyuers places and other auncient Authors haue this doctrine in their bookes Elatere Christi fluxerunt duo sacramenta Two sacraments did issue forth of Christs side And in those places he teacheth vs by comparing the creation of Eue the wyfe of Adam the first man and of the Church the spouse of Christ the second man Lyke as God casting Adam into a sleepe tooke forth a bone out of hys side and thereof builded and created him a wyfe euen so when Christ did sleepe by death vpon the crosse vpon water and bloud that came forth of his side when it was opened with a speare God did forme and builde the Church the spouse of Christ in that by water we be regenerated by bloud we be redeemed and nourished Nowe concerning our purpose if two sacraments came out of Christes side we are sure there came out no wine except ye will say the wine of the true vine which Christ shal neuer drinke with vs any more but after a newe sort in the glorie and kingdome of his father Therfore it must needes be that our sacrament is Christs bloud and not wine CROWLEY If you had tolde vs when and where Luther wrote or spake that which you charge him with here something might haue béene sayde to the matter eyther in noting his fault or yours or both But for as much as you doe but saye it I wyll neyther defende Luthers doing therein nor condemne it but passe it ouer tyll ye tell where when and by whome he was so pressed But for your owne dealing I must néedes note that you are verie forgetfull sith yée doe so straightly charge him as with a great fault for that the lyke whereof is to be found euen in your owne assertion concerning this matter Watson is faultie in that which he reprehendeth in Luther The fault that you finde with Luther is for that he alledgeth a promise made in wordes of the present time or tense as you terme it And haue you forgotten what tense Christ spake in when he saide Qui manducat meam carnem bibit meum sanguinem in me manet ego in eo Men say it is a great fault for a man to be found faultie in that thing wherewith he himselfe findeth fault Well if you will promise that you will doe no more so I could be content to winke at this fault Aduertising you to looke better vpon saint Iohns Gospell where you shall finde as I haue sayde before that he which eateth Christ shall liue by the meanes of Christ Here is a promise made to him that eateth Christ not sacramentally onely but by fayth As appéereth by the wordes that Christ spake before saying he that beléeueth in me hath lyfe euerlasting This may suffise for aunswere to that great fault that you finde with Luther till you tell vs where and when he committed that fault c. As touching the doctrine that you say saint Austen and other auncient Authors haue in dyuers places I know saint Austen hath the wordes but the doctrine that you would confirme by the wordes is not saint Austens but yours You cite the fourth treatise of Austen vpon Iohn but in that treatise is not one worde that soundeth any thing that waye You therefore or else your printer haue misreported the place I suppose you would haue noted the .xv. treatise where saint Austen sayth thus Adam qui erat forma futuri praebuit nobis magnum iudicium sacramenti Imo August in Ioh. tract 15. Deus in illo praebuit Nam dormiens meruit accipere vxorem de costa eius facta est ei vxor quoniā de Christo in cruce dormiente futura erat Ecclesia de latere eius de latere silicet dormientis Quia de latere in cruce pendentis laucea percusso sacramenta Ecclesiae profluxerunt Adam which was the shadow or ymage of one to
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
Ergo this sacrament is the reall and naturall body and bloud of Christ and not eyther bread or wine I trow not I dare referre this to the iudgement of them that vnderstande Art But is there nothing in that Masse that maketh against you I trowe he sayth thus Confidentes appropinquamus sancto altari tuo proponentes configuralia sancti corporis sanguinis Christi tui te obsecramus te postulamus saencte sanctorum beneplacita tua benignitate venire spiritum sanctum tuum super nos super proposita munera ista benedicere ea sanctificare Presuming vpon thy mercies we drawe nigh vnto thine aultar And setting before thée apt figures of the bodie and bloud of thy Christ we doe praye and beséech thée O thou holyest of all that by thy good and mercifull pleasure thy holye spirite may come vpon vs and vpon these giftes which are set before thée and that he may blesse and sanctifie them All these wordes would your Basill haue his high Priest to speake after the wordes of consecration as you terme them wherby as much as may be done in making the body and bloud of Christ is done and yet the holy ghost must come vpon those gifts and blesse and sanctifie them yet more When you haue weighed these wordes with the other then tell me what you haue gayned towards your purpose But when he commeth to the distribution All thinges reconed more is lost then won he marreth all for he sayth that they doe all communicate And so your owne Basill ouerthroweth your priuate Masse which may so euill be spared in your holy fathers Church Ambrose calleth it Gratia Dei. The grace of God not accidentall Ambrose De obitu Fratris c. In mine aunswere to the ninth deuision of this Sermon I haue noted of what authoritie Erasmus doth thinke those works to be that are conteyned in the thirde Tome where these wordes that you cite should be He sayth that he is out of doubt that they be all counterfayted and set forth in Ambrose name for there is no whit of Ambrose vayne in them Besides this I meruaile that you are not ashamed when you haue reported a lie to dubbe it with another of your owne saying that Ambrose doth cal the sacrament by the name of the grace of God Were it not for troubling the reader with to much of your folly I would let him sée the whole fable in wryting and referre the iudgement euen to your dearest friendes that haue not lost the vse of their reason Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. But to make vp the matter withall you haue sought out one place of Chrysostome which doth enforce you to crye out and say Oh with what eloquence doth he vtter this matter Heare but this one place If a man should aske you what matter it is that Chrysostome doth with such eloquence vtter you must say the reall presence of Christ bodie and bloud in the sacrament and that the sacrament is neyther bread nor wine But what one worde hath Chrysostome in that place to proue this His words being taken wholy together are these Quemadmodum frigida accessio periculosa est ita nulla mysticae illius Caenae participatio fames est interitus Ipsa namque mensa animae nostrae vis est nerui mentis fiduciae vinculum fundamentum spes salus lux vita nostra Si hinc hoc sacrificio muniti migrabimus maxima cum fiducia sanctum ascendemus vestibulum tanquam aureis quibusdam vestibus vndique contecti Et quid futura commemoro Nam dum in haec vita sumus vt terra nobis caelum sit facit hoc mysterium Ascende igitur ad Caeli portas diligenter attende Imo non Caeli sed Caeli Caelorum tunc quod dicimus intueberis For euen as a colde comming to the Lordes table is perillous so not to be partaker of the mysticall supper at all is famishment and death For the table is the strength of our soule the sinewes of our minde the bonde of our confidence or sure trust our foundation hope health light and our lyfe It we shall depart hence being armed with this sacrifice we shall with great boldnesse ascende vnto the holy entrie as apparailed on euery side wyth certaine garmentes of Golde And why doe I speake of things to come For euen whylst we be in this lyfe this mysterie doth make the earth to be an heauen vnto vs. Go vp therefore to the gates of heauen and marke diligently Yea not to the gates of heauen but of the heauen of heauens and then thou shalt behold those things that we speake of Here you may sée what it is The ende of Chrysostomes Eloquence that Chrysostome mindeth to set forth by this elequence that he vseth He that will beholde the things that he doth so highly extoll must in spirite go vp to the gate of the heauen of heauens euen into the thirde heauen into which saint Paule was rapt in which he learned things that he could not vtter with his tongue The Lordes supper being rightly vsed of vs doth lyuely set forth vnto vs yea vnto oure senses the Lorde Iesus himselfe which is the strength of oure soule the sinewes of our mind c. This can we not liuely sée vnlesse we doe in spirit ascend to the gate of the heauen of heauens c. But when you will proue your purpose then all that the fathers haue eyther written or spoken to stirre vp their hearers or readers to heauenly contemplation must néedes be playne spéeches and applyed to prooue your grosse opinion of the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament They must néedes say that they neyther vse figure nor spirituall meaning And where Chrysostome doth in an other Homily call the sacrament by these names Rex Caeli Deus In Epist ad Ephes ho. 3. Cyril li. 4. Capit. 17. August Epist 163. Christus as you say The king of heauen God Christ you may thinke your selfe aunswered alreadie And so may you for that which you doe here cite out of Cyrill and Austen But I maruayle much that you could not sée what Chrysostome wryteth against the staryng and gaseing presence of your good people at your Popishe Masse wherein your priest doth eate and drinke vp all himselfe and giueth none any part with him Quisquis mysteriorum consors non est sayth Chrysostome impudens improbus astat Whosoeuer is not partaker of the mysteries is as a shamelesse and wicked man presente at the ministration But what should I trouble the reader any longer in so plaine a matter The fathers haue not disceyued you by calling the sacrament of Christ by so glorious and high names but you haue disceyued your selfe by drawing their figuratiue and Rhetoricall maner of spéeches to playne and grammaticall maners of speaking and their spirituall meanings to your carnall and fleshely meaning And as you haue disceyued your selues so you
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
sacrifices were proper to the olde lawe so there must of necessitie be one sacrifice proper to the newe testament seing there is but one God c. I haue sufficiently aunswered in mine aunswere to the tenth deuision of your former Sermon where you haue touched it as you say here And when you say that to the vnperfect lawe there succéedeth a perfect lawe c. it séemeth that you haue forgotten that which you sayde before in the .xx. Watson forgetteth hys last sayings deuision of this Sermon where you affirme that the sacraments of the olde lawe did conferre grace Ex opere operando by the worke that was then to be wrought and nowe you say that they were but figuratiue and not effectuall working sacraments and therfore such must succéede them When you shall proue that Moses his lawe and the sacraments thereof be an vnperfect lawe and vnperfect sacraments then will I allowe your similitude But so long as you shall not be able to proue any imperfection in eyther of them I wil reiect your similitude as foolishe and vayne Galath 3. I knowe that the lawe could bring nothing to perfection because it was not ordeyned to that ende to bring things to perfection Rom. 10. Christ is the perfection of the lawe but as saint Paule wryteth to leade vnto Christ And Christ is the perfection and end of the law That is to say Christ maketh those perfect whome the lawe with the sacraments and ceremonies thereof doe bring vnto him And so that sacrifice that Christ offered once for all is the ende and perfection of all the sacrifices of the olde lawe which is no more all one in substaunce with the sacrifices of the olde lawe that you speake of then the shadowe of any bodye is one in substaunce with the body it selfe Law sacrifice priesthood c. be relatiues and as saint Paule sayth when the priesthood is translated the lawe must also be translated But what maketh this to your purpose to proue that there must néedes be in the new lawe such a sacrifice priesthood and altar as you imagine Is it not sufficient that we haue such a sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. Peter 2. Apoc. 6. priesthood and altar as Paule Peter and Iohn speak of Must we néedes haue such a priesthood sacrifice and altar as the Popes Antichristian Church hath deuised and maintaineth You must proue it more substantially before any that is eyther learned in the scriptures or godly wise will beleue you A perfect and contynuall lawe requireth a perfect and continuall sacrifice as you say and shall not that reasonable seruing of God that saint Paule speaketh of in the place that you haue taken for your theme be as perfect and contynuing a sacrifice Rom. 12. Rom. 3. as the lawe of fayth is a perfect and contynuall lawe I thinke there is none that vnderstandeth what christian religion is but the same will consent to that which I haue saide hereof For this cause say you our sauiour Christ did in his last supper institute c. you tell vs here of two seuerall vses of the sacrament of Christs body and bloud One is that it should be receyued of vs. c. This you confirme with a note in the mergine 1. Cor. 11. It is true that Paule teacheth that doctrine there Paules doctrine not so grosse as Watsons euen as he himselfe had learned of the Lorde but not in such grosse maner as you doe teach in these two fine Sermons He teacheth there that our sauiour christ did ordain that this holy sacrament should be receiued of christians in the remembrance of his death passion that being so receiued of vs it is a foode that doth nourish vs in spiritual life Otherwise it is a cōdēnation to the receiuers As for the other vse which you say is to be offered in remembraunce of Christes passion you go about to proue by doe this in my remembrance And then very well you say that you haue but simply declared it without euident proofe It had bene good that you had delt simply not so subtilly as to cite the words of Christ in such sort that it might séeme Watson dealeth not simplie that he had giuen commaundement that the sacrament of his body should be offered in sacrifice where as it is manifest by the circumstaunce of the place that he commaunded the sacrament to be receiued in the remembraunce of his death and passion But your onely assertion without proofe is sufficient to perswade an obedient Catholike c. Watsons obedient Catholikes You accompt for obedient Catholikes such onely as will captiuate all their senses and beléeue all that you say and doe to be good and godly and folow you whether soeuer you leade them though they sée plainely that you go before them into the bottomlesse pit of hell Wel let vs sée nowe how you can conuince by arguments those that will not obediently say white is black light darkenesse and good euill for such you call heretikes that denie the Church and impugne the doctrine and determination of the same WATSON Diuision 22 But to our purpose that the oblation of Christes body and bloud in the Masse is the sacrifice of the Church and proper to the new testament I shall proue it you by the best arguments that we haue in our schole of diuinity that is to say first by the institution of our sauiour Christ then by the prophecy of Malachy the prophet thirdly by the figure of Melchisedech in the olde law and this shall I doe not expounding the scriptures after mine owne head but as they haue bene taken from the beginning of the most auncient and Catholike fathers in all ages 1. Cor. 11. This sacrifice was instituted by the commaundement of Christ saying to his Apostles do this in my remembrance Our new men laugh at vs where we say that this commaundement of Christ doth proue the oblation of the sacrament But we pittie them that set so light by that they are bounden to beleue and can not disprooue seeming euidently not to regarde and way the fact of Christ and their obedience to his commaundement When Christ sayde doe this by this worde this must needes be vnderstanded all that he did concerning the institution of this sacrament Let vs now see what Christ did First he did cōsecrate his precious body bloud by blessing the bread saying this is my body this is my bloud for if this consecration be not comprehended vnder this worde Hoc this then haue we no commaundement nor authoritie to consecrate this sacrament so should we be vsurpers to doe that thing we haue no warrant to shewe for vs in holy scripture But without doubt this is so plaine that we nede say no more of it except we should vtterly denie this sacrament and the whole ministration of it which I think no man doth Secondarily Christ did offer that he did consecrate which appeareth
Melchisedech did not in substaunce but in misterie I wyll let the reader sée what Hierome hath written immediatly before and after the words that you cite First he sayth thus Superfluum est nos de isto versiculo velle interpretari cum sanctus Apostolus ad Hebreos plenissime disputauit Ipse enim ait Iste est Melchisedech sine patre sine matre sine generatione Et interpretatur ibi diligentissimè quare sine Patre c. It is a thing superfluous for vs to go about to make an interpretation of this verse seing that the holy Apostle hath in his Epistle to the Hebrues reasoned this matter at the full For he sayth This that is to say Christ is Melchisedech Wherein Christ is like Melchisedech without father without mother and without generation And he doth there most diligently enterprete wherefore he is without father without mother and without generation And all ecclesiasticall persons doe say That Christ is sayde to be without father in that he is man and without mother in that he is God Let vs therefore interprete this onely thou art a priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech Let vs onely declare this thing Wherfore he hath said after the order According to the order is as much as to say Thou shalt not be a priest according to the Iewish sacrifices but thou shalt be a priest after the order of Melchisedech And then follow those words that you haue cyted Quomodo enim c. And immediatly after those wordes he sayth Iste Melchisedech ista mysteria quae habemus dedit nobis c. This Melchisedech hath giuen vs these mysteries that we haue It is he that sayde He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud He hath giuen vs his sacrament after the order of Melchisedech No indifferent reader can iudge that saint Hierome meaneth here to teach that Christ did at his last supper offer his body and bloud vnder the formes of bread and wine as you affirme But as Melchisedech did offer bread and wine so Christ should offer vpon the crosse hys owne body and bloud which is the true bread and true wine and giue vs a sacrament to be frequented in the remembraunce thereof But in that Epistle that Paula and Eustochium wrote vnto Marcella You haue found a most manifest place Paula Eustoch ad Marcellam Recurre ad Genesim Melchisedech say they c. Here I must tell you that where you doe in the Englishe make Melchisedech the Datiue case and in the Latine put the point Periodus after Salem you shew your selfe not to vnderstand the grammaticall sense which is thus Returne to the booke Genesis and thou shalt finde that Melchisedech king of Salem was Prince of thys Citie which euen then c. Men of your sort are very néere driuen Watson is neere driuen when they alledge womens wordes or wrytings for proofe of matters so diuine as is that which in this Sermon you treate of But graunt it were Saint Hierome himselfe that wrote that Epistle might not Melchisedech offer bread and wine in a figure of Christ and dedicate the mysterie of Christians but it must néedes folow that Christ did at his last supper offer his owne body and bloud vnder the formes of bread and wine as you doe affirme I thinke none that is learned in Logick will graunt that argument But as you haue slightly touched before the booke hath not Obtulit but Protulit He brought forth bread and wine Watson maketh light of that which he is not able to waigh As lightly as you let passe the reasons that men make against your opinion by the vauntage that the text gyueth being Protulit and not Obtulit neyther you nor any of your sort shall euer be able to aunswere otherwise then by calling them fond cauillations as you doe In the Latine these two Verbes are sometime vsed both in one signification but Profero is neuer found in that signification that you and such other doe vse Offero when you speake of Melchisedechs comming forth to méete Abraham and offering him bread and wine to refreshe himselfe and his companie withall The Hebrue interpretors who doe best know the signification of the wordes of that tongue wherein that hystory was first written doe teach that it was the maner in those dayes for such as remayned at home in peace to come forth against them that returned from battayle with victorie bringing with them bread and wine to refreshe the wearie Souldiours withall and so receyue them friendly Antiquit. li. 1 Capit. 18. Iosephus a Iewe borne and so well learned in the Iewes lawes and histories that he was able to write a continuall historie of the antiquitie lawes and ceremonies of the Iewes and of their warres doth when he commeth to this part of the historie write thus Suscipitque cum rex Melchisedech quod significat rex iustus erat vtique sine dubio talis ita vt propter hanc causam etiam Dei sacerdos esset Solimorum quam Ciuitatem postea Hierosalymam vocauerūt Ministrauit autem iste Melchisedech Abraham exercitui xenia multam abundantiam rerum oportunarum simul exhibuit super epulas eum collaudare caepit benedicere deum qui ei subdiderat mimicos Abraham verò dante ei etiam decimas spoliorum munus accepit And hée was receyued of king Melchisedech which signifieth a righteous king and verily and without all doubt he was such a one so that for that cause he was also Gods priest in the Citie Solyma which Citie men did afterwarde call Hierosolyma And this Melchisedech did minister gifts to the armie of Abraham and he did also giue them great abundaunce of things néedefull And as they were at meat he began to prayse him and to blesse God which had subdued his enimies to him And when Abraham gaue him the tythes of the spoyle he receyued the gift Hiero. ad Euagrium Iohn 3. Saint Hierome in his Epistle ad Euagrium doth proue that the Citie Salem whereof Melchisedech was king was not that which was afterward called Hierusalem but that Salem that is mencioned in the Gospell where Iohn baptized bicause there was plentie of water there He doeth therefore disproue not onely Iosephus but also all Christen writers for that they suppose Melchisedech to haue béene king of that Citie which was called Hierusalem after his dayes but in his dayes Salem He alloweth the iudgement of those which doe suppose that Melchisedech was the first sonne of Noe and that he liued after Abrahams death .35 yeares at the least which is easie to be seene by the supputation of the yeares from the byrth of Sem to the death of Abraham which is .565 yeares and the whole tyme of Sems life is .600 yeares but fayling somewhat in the supputation he sayth that Sem liued after Abraham .40 yeares He alloweth also the opinion of Iosephus and other which thinke that
then blame vs for that we say it is perfite None can offer Christ but himselfe And if you can finde any man or other creature that is able to offer Christ for sinne then blame vs for that we say that none can offer him for sinne but himselfe But you haue found in Daniell the Prophet Daniel 7. Lucae 2. that the aungels offered Christ to his father And in Luke that his mother offered him at hir purification You should haue alleged Hieroms exposition of Daniels words watsons learning and wisedome shewed as you haue done Bernarde for the other and then men might haue taken you for such one as you by alledging this place for this purpose do shew your selfe to be That is neyther learned nor wise Saint Hierome sayth thus Totum quod dicitur oblatum eum omnipotenti Deo accepisse potestatem honorem regnum iuxta illud Apostoli accipiendum est Qui cum in forma dei esset c. All that which is sayde that he was offered to the almightie God and that he receyued power and honour and a kingdome Philip. 2. must be taken according to the saying of the Apostle Which beyng in the forme of God he thought it no robbery to be equall with God c. What shamelesse beast would saye that Daniell sawe the Angels offer Christ in sacrifice to his father watson was deepe in his oblations because the text sayth Et in conspectu eius obtulerunt eum And they presented hym before him But you were so farre in your oblations that you could not remember that Offero hath any other signification then to offer sacrifice Those thousandes therefore that Daniell sawe attending vpon the auncient iudge must néedes make a sacrifice of Christ because they presented him before that iudge And the virgine Mary bicause she presented hir sonne Iesus in the temple according to the law of Moses she must néedes be sayd to offer him in sacrifice Leuit. 12. The lawe did not require that the first begotten sonne should be offred in sacrifice but that there should be a sacrifice offered for him The virgine Marie therefore comming to the temple to do for hir first borne sonne according to the law did offer that offering that the law did require The Euangelist saint Luke who wryteth the Hystorye sayth that they brought Iesus to Ierusalem vt sisterent eum Domino to set him before the Lord or to make him appeare before the Lorde Bernard Sermone 3. De purificae If Bernarde and you can proue that Sisto doth signifie to offer in sacrifice then will I graunt you that Christ was offered by his mother as a sacrifice But Bernarde himselfe doth in the same place that you cite expound his owne meaning better then you will vnderstand him when he sayth Offer filium tuum virgo sacrata benedictum fructum ventris tui domino repraesenta Offer thy sonne O holy virgine and shewe forth vnto the Lorde the blessed fruit of thy wombe Here it appeareth that in this place Bernard doth by offering vnderstand representing or shewing forth Yea Bernards meaning made plaine by his owne wordes the very words that you cite do declare Bernards meaning to be other then you would haue it séeme to be For he sayth Tantum sistitur Domino He is onely set forth or represented to the lord And therfore we aunswere you that our arguments are to strong for you to confute by telling vs that Christ is offered thrée wayes of himselfe and thrée wayes of man For we know that he was neuer offered for sinne mo wayes then one But let vs see how you proue these six maners of offering Christ First he offered himselfe vpon the Crosse you say and that truly and you proue it by the saying of Esay Esay 53. Oblatus est quia voluit He was offered because he was willing so to be In the same Chapter is a place which some of vs haue alleaged against the sacrifice of your Masse and I thinke will not be easily aunswered of you Which is this Liuore eius sanati sumus By his stripes or bruses are we made hole Out of which wordes I reason thus Whatsoeuer wound is thorowly cured and made hole An argumâ— agaynst thâ— sacrifice of the Masse néedeth no further playstering But the wound that sinne gaue vs is thorowly healed by that once offering of himselfe that Esay speaketh of Ergo it is superfluous to haue any other sacrifice to cure that wound c Secondly Christ offered himselfe in figure when he offered the Pascall Lambe And this you proue by the .xiij. of saint Iohns Reuelations Apoc. 13. The Lambe that was slaine from the beginning of the worlde Here is no abusing of Scriptures when the text hath relation to a thing done two thousand yeares before the Pascall lambe and other sacrifices were instituted is restrained to proue that the thing that it hath relation to was done by that Pascall Lambe and other sacrifices instituted by the lawe that was ordeyned so many yeares after When promise was made to the first man that the séede of the woman should breake the serpents heade How Chriâ—â— hath bene slaine from the beginning and that promise was beleued of them to whome it was made then was the Lambe Christ slaine vnto them that beleued the promise and so hath hée bene to as many as haue hitherto beleued that promise And the memorie of this promise hath bene kept by the Pascall Lambe and other sacrifices and the maner of the fulfilling of it plainly paynted out to such as could consider them with a spirituall eye But the offering of the Pascall Lambe and other sacrifices was not instituted that the offerers might thereby offer vp Christ figuratiuely but to kéepe in memory the promise and to set forth before their senses the maner of the fulfilling of the promise when the time of fulfilling the same should come The Pascall also had one speciall vse which was to kéepe in minde the wonderfull deliueraunce that God wrought in Egypt as it appeareth in Exodi Where it is written thus Cum dixerint filij vestri quae est ista Religio Dicetis eis Exod. 12. The speciall vse of the Passouer Victima transitus domini est quando transiuit super domos filiorum Israel in Egipto percutiens Egiptios domos nostras liberans When your children shall saye what is this Religion you shall say vnto them It is the sacrifice or slaine offering of the Lordes passing by when in Egypt he passed ouer the houses of the children of Israell and slue the Egyptians and deliuered our houses August de Verbis Apostoli sermo 6. And saint Austen sheweth a nother vse of the olde Paschall which is to signifie the death of Christ by slaying of the Lambe and our emendement of life by the eating of it with vnleauened bread His wordes be these Celebrabatur Pascha
in veteri populo sicut nostis occisione Agni cum Azymis vbi occisio ouis Christum significat Azyma autem nouam vitam Hoc est sine vetustate fermenti The Pasouer was in the olde people celebrated as you know in the killing of a Lambe with vnleauened breade where the killing of the shéepe doth signifie Christ and the vnleauened bread a newe lyfe that is without the oldnesse of leauen And a little after he saith Venit verum Pascha immolatur Christus transitum facit à morte ad vitam TraÌ„situs enim interpretatur hebraice Pascha The true Passouer is come Christ is offered vp he passeth from death to life For Paschal in the Hebrue is interpreted passing by or passing ouer Here is no worde of the offering of Christ figuratiuely in the olde Paschall but when Christ passed from death to life then he was offered sayth saint Austen Wherfore I conclude That Christ did not offer himselfe figuratiuely in the olde Paschall neyther did the fathers of the olde lawe offer him in their sacrifices But as all the faythfull fathers that beléeued the promise did offer passouer and other sacrifices thereby to shewe their due obedience to the lawe of God Why Christ would eate Passouer by which those things were commaunded to be done trusting that when the time should be fulfilled God would performe his promise so did Christ obserue al the points of the law absolutely that being frée from the cursse of the lawe he might delyuer from that cursse those that were vnder it Thirdly Christ offereth himselfe in heauen really and so continually as the same Chapiter that we bring against the Masse doth testifie say you Non in manufacta c. Iesus entred not into a temple made with handes c. It séemeth that you haue learned some painters diuinitie Painters diuinitie where you haue séene Christ representing his woundes to God his father to mooue him to haue compassion vpoÌ„ vs for whose cause he hath suffred those wounds That which you gather of this place of saint Paule doth shewe you to be very nigh a daungerous errour if you be not already fallen into it That is the errour of the Anthropomorphits which supposed God to be as a man Watson vâ— nigh a daâ—gerous eâ— not onely in bodily shape but also in humane affections As though a thing once done coulde not be present with him both before and after it is done for euer but must be stil presented before him to mooue his affections by the sight therof which otherwise would forget it as a man doth How you can auoid this I can not sée affirming as you do that Christ is entered into heauen to offer himselfe for vs. c. We haue learned both by the scriptures and also by the auncient wryters that there is with God neyther time to come nor time past but all present The woundes of Christ were present in his sight before Adam was made and so are they nowe and shall be for euer Christ néedeth not therefore perpetually to stande representing hys woundes Ephesi 1. that we might be reconciled by him for as many as shal be reconciled to God by Christ were before the foundations of the worlde were layd reconciled to him in Christ and doe and shall remaine reconciled for euer God had appointed a time wherein Christ should worke the worke of our reconciliation which time is now past with vs but still present with him and he hath also appointed a time wherein we that be by him reconcyled shall enioy the fruit of that reconciliation that is euerlasting glorie in his kingdome which with vs is yet to come but with him it is already present In the meane season Hebr. 10. Christ hauing offered one oblation for sinne as Saint Paule sayth doth for euer sit at the right hande of God from thenceforth tarying tyll his enimies be made his footestoole For by one oblation he hath made persite for euer those that be sanctified That is those which be made holy by the spirit of adoption Rom. 8. whereby they cry vnto God Abba father But you haue founde saint Ambrose Ambro. li. 1. Officio Ca. 48 in Psal 38. in two places of hys workes to be of your minde and to accompt the sacrifice that Christ made vpon the crosse to be but an ymage of a sacrifice in comparison of that which he maketh perpetually in heauen If Ambrose were nowe lyuing and did knowe of your doing he could not thinke well of you that would make him a maintayner of your fond opinion of Christes perpetuall offering of himselfe drawing his wordes so farre from his meaning By occasion of the wordes of the Prophet Dauid where he sayth Psalm 38. Notum fac mihi Domine c. Lorde let me know mine ende and what the number of my dayes is that I may know what it is that I lack saint Ambrose doth note that the ende which the Prophet doth desire to know is that day wherein euery one shall rise out of the earth in his order wherein our perfection doth begin Here therefore sayth Ambrose that is in this mortall state there is a let or impediment there is infirmitie euen in such as be perfite but there that is in the lyfe to come there is full perfection Therefore he desireth to knowe what dayes of eternall lyfe are yet remayning not what dayes be past That he may know what he himselfe lacketh what the lande of promise is which bringeth forth contynuall fruites what maner dwellings the first second and thirde dwelling are wyth the father wherein euery man doth rest according to his worthynesse We therefore sayth he must desire those things wherein perfection is wherein the truth is Hic vmbra hic Imago illic veritas c. Here is the shadow here is the ymage there is the truth And so forth as you haue cyted But to the ende of those wordes that you rehearse Ambrose openeth his owne meaning he addeth a sentence that doth make his meaning more playne Hic ergo in imagine ambulamus in imagine videmus illic facie ad faciem vbi plena perfectio quia perfectio omnis in veritate Here therefore sayth Ambrose we walke in an ymage we sée in an Image then we shall sée face to face where there is full perfection bicause all perfection is in truth Who would thinke that any man of learning coulde be so blynded as to vnderstand these wordes of Ambrose as you doe His whole purpose is to declare that in this mortall state there can be no perfection in any thing But the most perfite things that be here are but as ymages are in comparison of those things whereof they be ymages Yea the mediation of Christ betwixt God and man was not without imperfection in the ymage and outwarde shewe thereof For he suffered sayth Ambrose as a man and as one worthyly condemned to die And he offered
we offer Christ dayly in commemoration and what benefite of innouation we receyue thereby Chrisostome also sayth Chrisost in Math. hom 7. Non aquam de hoc nobis sonte largitur sed sanguinem viuum qui quanque ad mortis dominicae testimonium sumitur nobis tamen causa sit vitae Christ out of this fountaine of the Chalice giueth vnto vs not water but liuely bloud which although it be receyued for the testimonie of Chrystes death yet to vs it is made a cause of lyfe Is not this to haue fruite of Christes passion applied vnto vs when wee receyue life by receyuing of that which is offered in commemoration of Christes death Saint Gregorie sayth Quoties ei hostiam suae passionis offerrimus Gregorius homil 37. toties nobis ad absolutionem nostram passionem illius reparamus As often as we offer to him the host of sacrifice of his passion so often we renewe and repaire his passion to vs for our absolution and perfection Gregor li. 1. Dialog lib 4. Capit. 58. And in another place he saith Haec victima singulariter ab aeterno interitu animam saluat quae illam nobis mortem vnigeniti per mysterium reparat This sacrifice doth singularlye saue the soule from eternall destruction which by mysterie renueth vnto vs the death of Gods only begotten sonne By these authorities ye see that the sacrifice of the Masse doth nothing derogate from the passion of Christ but most of all doeth exalt it repayring and renuing it for vs in the sight of the father that we therby may be renued in grace and receyue life perfection and saluation CROWLEY The Masse doth diminishe Christes glorie You saye that we prooue not that the Masse doth diminishe the glorie of the passion of Christ You shall haue a short and a plaine proofe and leysure ynough to disproue it Christes glory is to haue conquered death hell and damnation alone in his owne person as it was prophecied by the Prophets Torcular calcaui solus Esay 63. de Gentibus non est quisquam mecum I alone haue troden the wine presse and there is not one of the people with me And another Prophet sayth Perdidisti te Israell tantummodo in me auxilium tuum Osea 13. Thou hast cast away thy selfe O Israell in me alone is thy helpe And againe the same Prophet sayth Ero Mors tua O Mors morsus tuus inferne O death I will be thy death O hell I will be thy sting But the sacrifice of the Masse will not suffer that Ergo c. A proofe of that which Watson sayth is not proued But least you shoulde picke a quarrell to the forme of mine argument I will frame it in figure and moode Whatsoeuer is thought to be an helpe to Christ in the conquering of death hell and damnation doth diminishe the glorie of Christ But the sacrifice of the Masse is thought to be an helpe c. Ergo the sacrifice of the Masse doth diminish the glorie of Christ The maior proposition is proued by the scriptures aboue mentioned The minor is proued by your owne doctrine in the beginning middle and ende of both these sermons of yours Ergo the conclusion must necessarily folow Now that I haue proued that which you say was not before proued let vs sée whether we can disproue your two assertions First you say that nothing doth more set forth the glorie of Christ and his true honor than doth the Masse If you can not disproue that argument that I haue made for the proofe of that which we haue sayde then is this that you haue sayde sufficiently disproued by that argument But you haue founde saint Austen to be of your minde when he sayth Ad hunc cultum c. Contra. Faustum lib. 20. cap. 21. To thys godly honour c. In the matter that foloweth in the same Chapter saint Austen doth make his owne meaning more playne then it can appéere by these onely wordes that you cite He sayth thus Sacrificium laudis glorificabit me illic via est vbi ostendam illi salutare meum Huius sacrificij caro sanguis ante aduentum Christi per victimas similitudinum promittebatur in passione Christi per ipsam veritatem reddebatur post ascensum Christi per sacramentum memoriae celebratur The sacrifice of praise shall glorifie me and there is the way where I wyll shewe my sauing health vnto him The flesh and bloud of this sacrifice was before the comming of Christ Saint Austens minde in plaine wordes promised by sacrifices of similitudes In the passion of Christ it was performed by the truth thereof in déede And after the ascention of Christ it is celebrated by a sacrament of remembraunce And agayne he sayth Non ergo illi Patres nostri c. Those our fathers therefore did not onely leaue the ymages of the heathen but they neyther offring any thing to the earth nor to any earthlye thing neyther to the sea neyther to the heauen did offer sacrifices to one God the creator of all thinges euen such as he would should be offered vnto him Promising by the similitude of those sacrifices that sacrifice by which through the forgiuenesse of sinnes he hath reconciled vs to himselfe in Christ Iesu oure Lorde To the faithfull that are made the body of that head doth Paule speake saying I beséech you brethren euen for the mercie of God make your bodies a liuing holy and acceptable sacrifice These words well weighed togither with those that you haue alledged will make Saint Austens minde be knowne to differ farre from yours It is not your masking mumming Masse that he calleth the sacrament of remembraunce Not the masking Masse but the holy communion whereby the sacrifice of praise is celebrated among the christians but it is the holy communion of Christes body and bloud This he calleth the outwarde worke of fayth to this he ioyneth the consecrating and dedicating of the hole man to the seruice of God which he calleth as saint Paule doth the lyuing holy and acceptable sacrifice Your Masse therefore not being the institution of Christ as I haue already declared nor yet hauing any ground in the commaundement or worde of God doth not onely diminishe the glorie of Christ but is the greatest dishonor that man can do to God Your other assertion is that the Masse doth ascribe altogither to Christ Cypri lib. 2. Epist 3. and therefore is no derogation of the passion of Christ at all And this you prooue first by the words of Cyprian where he sayth Passio Domini c. I will let the reader sée the hole sentence that Cyprian writeth in that place for this that you cite is but a Parenthesis that may be left out yet the sentence remayne perfite His words be these Et quia passionis eius mentionem in sacrificijs omnibus facimus Passio est enim Domini sacrificium
that haue most frequented it Yea they that will but enquire of the lyfe and conuersation of them that at this day be Massemongers shall soone sée how great an enimie the Masse is to the Deuils kingdome Yea though there were none other euill in them The Masse alone is able to holde vp the Deuils kingdome then onely that they say and heare Masse which is ydolatry yet were this one euill sufficient of it selfe to holde vp the kingdome of the Deuill But admit that the Masse were no ydolatry yet it is alwaies accompanied with a multitude of grosse ydolatries As the inuocation of creatures the opinion of meryting by mens owne workes the representing of God to the bodily eye by an Image made lyke a man the bowing of the knées and burning of Wax and Incense before the Images of creatures trust confidence in the holynesse of creatures made holy by men and such lyke Thus is the Masse the greatest aduersarie that the Deuils kingdome hath But least some of your Auditorie should take paynes to read Luthers booke and so perceyue that you haue not sayde truely of him you thinke to preuent that matter by speaking a fewe wordes of that part of the booke that openeth the meaning of the hole and knitting vp your tale with this exclamation O what a cloke of mischiefe is this and all grounded vpon lyes and falsehood He sayth the Deuill lyeth not when he accuseth c. And if this saying of Luther be true then there will folow a number of as great inconueniences as vpon the wordes of Dauid when he sayth Omnis homo mendax Euery man is a lyar Psam .. 115. If Luther were in this lyfe he would not sticke to graunt all that you conclude vpon that proposition that you call his principle For which of the two may be thought better the fayth of a Turke or of a Massemonger Seing the one denieth Christ in wordes denying him to be his sauiour and the other in déedes in séeking saluation by other meanes then by Christ which is to denie him And wherein shall Hieroboams priestes be found worse then the Popes Massing priestes If you wil read the prophecie of Oseas and vnderstande it you shall finde that they had as good a colour of obseruing Moses his lawe as the Popes priestes haue of kéeping Christs institution And so of the reast that you doe name damnable heresies c. Now because the time is farre past shortly to conclude I shall most humbly beseech you to consider and regarde the saluation of your soules WATSON Diuisiō 44 for the which Christes Gods sonne hath shed his precious bloud which saluation can not bee atteyned without knowledge and confession of Gods truth reueled to his holy Church and by her to euery member of her and childe of God whose sentence and determination is sure and certaine as proceeding from the piller of truth and the spirite of God by whome we be taught and assured in Gods owne worde that in the blessed sacrament of the aultar by the power of the holy ghost working with Gods word is veryly and really present the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ vnder the formes of bread and wine which is by Christes owne commaundement and example offered to almightie God in sacrifice in commemoration of Christes passion and death whereby the members of the Church in whose fayth it is offered both they that be aliue and departed perceaue plentuous and abundaunt grace and mercy and in all their necessities and calamities reliefe and succour Our most mercifull father graunt vs to persist stedfast and constant in the true Catholike fayth and confession of this most blessed Sacrament and sacrifice with pure deuotion as he hath ordeyned to vse and frequent this holye mysterie of vnitie and reconciliation that we may thereby remaine in him and he in vs for euermore To whome be all glory and praise without ende Amen To make a short conclusion CROWLEY I will ioyne wyth you in making humble request to the readers of these your sermons and mine aunswere that they will haue an earnest regard to the saluation of their owne soules for which Iesus Christ the only begottē sonne of God hath fréely shed his most precious hart bloud Which saluation can not be attayned vnto without the knowledge and confession of Gods truth which he hath by his worde reuealed to his Church and doth daylie by the faythfull and diligent ministerie thereof reueale it to euery member thereof and child of God Which Church is and euer hath bene the pyller of truth In. 1. Timo. Capit. 3 wherein onely the truth is séene and doth playnely appéere to the worlde as saint Hierome hath sayde and hath hir foundation vpon truth which is hir onely stay and piller to leane vnto as Chrysostome hath written Which truth being the determination of God before the beginning this piller of truth doth still cleaue vnto neuer séeking to determine otherwise then God hath by his sonne Christ determined taught In whose worde we are assured that at his last supper with his holy Apostles he did institute a most comfortable sacrament of hys owne body and bloud to be frequented and vsed in his Church in the remembraunce of his death and passion till his comming agayne in our nature to iudge both the quick and the dead In which sacrament is lyuely represented vnto vs yea euen vnto our senses that vnity that he hath and doth by his almighty power make betwixt himself and vs and amongst our selues one with another which vnitie the nature of the bread and wine wherein this sacrament is instituted doth plainely expresse and signifie In vsing whereof his Church doth not onely call to memorie the benifits that she hath receyued by him but also shewe hir selfe thankfull in offring hir selfe a sacrifice of a swéete sauour vnto God by ready good wyll to glorifie him both by lyfe and by death as the holy saintes that be departed thys lyfe did whilste they lyued here assuring themselues of his contynuall presence to comfort help and succour them in all the necessities and calamities of thys lyfe and after thys lyfe of euerlasting ioye and felicitie in euerlasting lyfe through him Which they haue alreadie attayned vnto in part being delyuered from the burden of the fleshe and we shall in the ende of this lyfe attayne vnto in lyke maner if we contynue faythfull to the ende as they did And when the day of the generall resurrection shall come we with them and they with vs shall through Christ receyue our owne bodyes agayne incorruptible immortall glorious and spirituall euen such as his blessed body is nowe in the throne of maiestie to reigne wyth him in his fathers kingdome for euermore Our most mercifull and louing father graunt vs to contynue stedfast and constant in the true Catholike fayth and confession of our hope of forgiuenesse of all our sinnes by that one onely sacrifice that Christ Iesus made in offering hymselfe on the Crosse once for all as by his holy worde and sacraments he doth daylie teache vs to doe And that we may so frequent and vse this holy misterie of vnitie and reconciliation that we may daylie more and more be assured thereby of his dwelling in vs and our abyding in him To whome be all prayse honour and glory for euer Amen FINIS ¶ Imprinted at London by Henry Denham dwelling in Pater-noster Rovve at the Signe of the Starre SVBLIME DEDIT OS HOMINI Anno Domini 1569. Cum priuilegio