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
declareth the vse of the sacrament in the receypt of it with the seruice of our mouth Math. 19. as Christ commaunded saying Take eate which is a corporall eating not a spirituall beleeuing And last of all it sheweth the effect of the sacrament which is the resurrection of our bodies to eternall life for because Christes body being the body of very lyfe is ioyned to our bodies as our foode it bringeth our bodies that be dead by sentence of death to his propertie which is life whereof in my last sermon I spake more at large O Lorde what harde hearts haue these men to doubt themselues or to denie or to bring in question that manifest open truth in so highe and necessary a matter which in most playne wordes hath bene taught of our sauiour Christ his Apostles and Euangelistes and declared so to be vnderstand by the holy ghost out of the mouthes of all these holye fathers whome the holy ghost did assemble and inspire with the spirit of truth to the confusion of the great heretike Arius that troubled the worlde then and also did inspire their hartes to declare so plainely the misterie of thys blessed sacrament which then was without all contention beleued of al christen men onely to preuent these heretikes that arise and spring vp nowe in these latter dayes that the worlde may see how they striue agaynst the knowne truth their owne coÌ„science the determination of the hole church being enimies of God breaking his peace and deuiding themselues from the church whose end is eternal confusioÌ„ Nowe are you come to the first generall counsell CROWLEY holden at Nice in the Citie of Bithinia vnder Constantinus Magnus In the .24 deuision of your former Sermon I haue sayde some thing to the later wordes of this sentence that you cite out of the great general counsell of Nice And in the .33 deuision of the same sermon I haue graunted as much as the words that you cite there doe teach when they be vnderstanded so as the auncient fathers do vse that like maner of spéeches But here I must tell you that in the olde allowed counsell of Nice there is no part of that which you rite here found written Wherfore the authority therof must néeds be so much the lesse But graunt that the .318 Byshops had in that counsell agréed and written euen as you haue cited must we therfore beleue that Christ is in the sacrament in such sort as you teach really and substantially c. Saint Austen in his Sermon Ad Infantes which is cyted by Beda Beda in 1. Cor. ca. 10. sayth thus Vos estis in mensa vos estis in Calice You are vpon the table you are in the Cup shall we therefore saye that saint Austen ment that those persons that he spake vnto were really substantially and bodily in the cup and on the table I thinke you will not graunt it And why will you by the wordes cyted out of the Nicene counsell bind vs to beleue that Christ is after such sort present in the sacrament As touching the maruellous touching or couching of the wordes for so I suppose you spake I can not but maruell that you could not sée howe euerye one of them serueth to expresse the truth against that which you teach First they will vs to lift vp our mindes and to consider by fayth not things that are here conuersaunt amongst vs and may be conceyued by bodily senses but that are aboue and can not be conceyued otherwise then by fayth Then they tell vs that the Lambe of God is set vpon the holy table euen as saint Austen telleth his Auditorie that they are set vpon the table to teach vs that the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ is not a bare and naked signe but effectuall to the worthye receyuer that is to such as beyng members of Christ are placed on the table and in the cup with Christ in such sort as the Lambe of God is placed there that is spiritually and in a mysterie And after the same sort the same Lambe is sacrificed by the priestes when by their ministerie the members of Christ be made partakers of that holy mysterie and doe euen sensibly féele the effect of that sacrifice Hebr. 9.10 which that Lambe made of himselfe once for all as saint Paule wryteth Thirdly they declare that we receyuing the precious body and bloud of Christ in déede doe beléeue that it is the pledge of our resurrection Which maner of receyuing it pleaseth you to terme a reall receyuing As though the body of Christ coulde not be receyued by fayth verilye and in déede vnlesse the same be after your reall maner But I must put you in mind that you haue fowly forgotten your selfe when you say that the offering that the priest maketh in his Masse is a distinct offering from that which Christ made vpon the crosse for you shall finde manye of your friendes of a contrarie minde if ye search their bookes well But you would séeme to make bloudy and vnbloudy the difference betwéene those two sacrifices Here say you that is in your Masse he is offered of the priests not by shedding of his bloud but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is insacrificabÃliter after an vnsacrificable maner which is not a newe kylling of Christ but a solemne representation of his death as himselfe hath ordeyned Here the latter wordes doe confute the first For if the maner of offring in the Masse be such as can not be a sacrifice howe can the Masse be a sacrifice And if the Masse be but a solemne representatioÌ„ of the death of Christ how can it be a sacrifice offered to almightie God Not the Popishe Masse but the blessed supper of the Lorde the holy communion of his body and bloud is a lyuely representation of his death and passion And as your Emesenus sayth in the wordes that you cite for you haue taught him to speake congrue latine nowe vere vna perfecta hostia c. That sacrifice which is but one and is perfite in déede must not be estéemed by outwarde shewe nor iudged by the sight of the outwarde man but by fayth and the affection of the inwarde man But eyther not vnderstanding your Emesenus his wordes or else after your olde custome of purpose you corrupt him in the translation For you say This hoste and sacrifice is verily one and perfite as though Emesenus had poynted to your Masse sacrifice Where as it is playne that he meaneth of that sacrifice that is represented by the holy communion of the body bloud of Christ I may therefore vse the wordes of your owne exclamation against your selfe and such as be of your minde For whose harts can be imagined to be more hard then youres which in so manifest a matter as this doe not onely bring in question the open and manifest truth but also in alledging the words of fathers and counselles applie them
for your purpose contrarye to their meaning seing Christ hymselfe hys Apostles and Euangelistes the auncient fathers and counsels haue in most playne wordes taught the contrarie of that which you defende It is manifest therefore that you stryuing against the knowne truth your owne consciences the determination of the whole Church are enimies to God breakers of his peace And deuyding your selues from the Church must néedes in the ende come to confusion euerlasting vnlesse yée repent in tyme. WATSON Diuision 7. Concilium Ephes Epist ad Nestor Likewise the next generall counsell holden at Ephesus in the tyme of Theodosius the Emperour eleuenth hundred and twenty yeres ago doth determine this truth lykewise in these wordes Necessario igitur hoc adijcimus Annunciantes enim sicut secundum carnem mortem vnigeniti filij Dei id est Iesu Christi resurrectionem eius in caelis ascensionem pariter confitentes incruentum celebramus in Ecclesijs sacrificij cultum sic etiam ad misticas benedictiones accedimus sanctificamur participes sancti corporis preciosi sanguinis Christi omnium nostrum redemptoris effecti non vt communem carnem percipientes quod absit nec vt viri sanctificati verbo coniuncti secundum dignitatis vnitatem aut sicut diuinam possidentis habitationem sed vere vinificatricem ipsius verbi propriam factam We adde this also necessarily We shewing and declaring the corporall death of Gods onely begotten sonne Iesus Christ and likewise confessing his resurrection and ascention vnto heauen doe celebrate the vnbloudy oblation and sacrifice in our Churches for so we come to the misticall benedictions and are sanctified being made partakers of the holy body and precious bloud of Christ all our redeemer not receauing it as common fleshe God forbid nor as the fleshe of an holy man and ioyned to the worde of God by vnitie of dignitie nor as the fleshe of him in whome God dwelleth but as the fleshe onely proper to Gods sonne and verily giuing lyfe to the receauer By this determination of this generall counsell wee learne that in the mysticall benediction by which worde is meant this blessed Sacrament wee receaue Christes owne proper fleshe and of it we receaue sanctification and lyfe before the receypt whereof we celebrate the vnbloudy sacrifice of the same in our Churches declaring our Lordes death resurrection and ascention and by this place wee plainely perceiue that the doings and wordes which be vsed daylie in our Masse were also vsed in the tyme of thys counsell much aboue a thousande yeares ago By the wordes of the Ephesian counsell CROWLEY you would not onely proue the reall presence in the sacrament but also that the same Apishe toyes that be nowe vsed in the Popishe Masse were then vsed which was within .468 yeres after Christ But the Popes owne hystories doe playnely declare that the greatest number of those things were not as then inuented But to frame the matter somewhat better to your purpose you helpe it a little in wryting out the wordes For in the place of Sacrificij seruitutem you write Sacrificij cultum Supposing belyke that the base Epitheton of seruitude would abate somewhat the high estimation that you would your Masse shoulde haue Well let that passe It is no fault in men of your sort But let vs sée howe this place maye proue the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament The Authors of this Epistle would bring Nestorius then Byshop of Constantinople backe agayne from his errour which was that of the Virgin Marie was borne onely the manhood of Christ and not Christ God and man So that he deuided Christ into two persons one diuine and another humane And to proue that the manhoode in Christ is ioyned with the Godhead in vnitie of person these Byshops doe in this part of their Epistle ioyne to the confession of their beliefe concerning the corporall death resurrection and ascention of our sauiour into heauen the celebration of the remembraunce of his death which they call Incruentam sacrificij seruitutem the vnbloudy seruice of the sacrifice And to make their meaning more playne they say that they come to the misticall benediction and be made holye when they be made partakers of the holy body and precious bloud of Christ the redéemer of all Not receyuing the same as common fleshe or as the fleshe of an holy man or of a man that is ioyned to the sonne of God by the vnitie of dignitie or that possesseth the heauenly habitation but as fleshe that hath power to giue lyfe in déede and is become the peculiar and proper fleshe of the sonne of God himselfe For say they he that is lyfe as beyng God bycause he is vnited to his owne fleshe hath declared the same to be of force to giue lyfe c. These wordes indifferently weighed doe proue that the manhood in Christ is ioyned to hys diuine nature in vnitie of person but that the same manhood is really present in the sacrament and therein offered vp in sacrifice can not be proued by these wordes August ser De sacramentis fidelium Yea these wordes doe verie well agrée with the doctrine of Saint Austen when he sayth thus Qui non manet in Christo in quo Christus non manet proculdubio nec manducat eius carnem neque bibit eius sanguinem etiamsi tantae rei sacramentum iudicium sibi manducet bibat Who so abideth not in Christ and in whome Christ abideth not without doubt he doth neyther eate his fleshe nor drinke his bloud although he doe to his owne condemnation eate and drinke the sacrament of so worthy a thing And agayne he sayth Huius rei sacramentum id est vnitatis corporis sanguinis Christi alicubi quotidiè alicubi certis interuallis dierum in Dominico praeparatur de mensa Domini sumitur quibusdam ad vitam quibusdam ad exitium Res vero ipsa cuius est sacramentum est omni homini ad vitam nulli ad exitium quicunque eius particeps fuerit The sacrament of this thing that is of the vnitie of the body and bloud of Christ is in some places prepared euery day in some place in certaine distance of dayes in the Lordes daye and is receyued at the Lordes table to lyfe in some and to destruction in some other But the thing it selfe whereof it is a sacrament is lyfe to euery man that is partaker thereof and destruction to none So the Fathers of the Ephesian councell haue verie well confessed that comming to the mysticall benediction and being made partakers of the holy body and blessed bloud of Christ they are sanctified and made holy by that quickening fleshe of Christ which being ioyned to his Godhead in vnitie of person is of power to giue euerlasting life to as manye as shall be partakers thereof by dwelling in Christ as saint Austen hath taught I conclude therefore that you haue
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
we shall be able to fight against euen to the death Our receyuing of Christ therfore is spirituall into the soule by fayth and into the body or by the senses sacramentally that is in suche sort as by the receyuing of Sacramentes we maye receyue the things signified by the same In Baptisme therefore we doe by beléeuing the promise of God made in Christ receyue him into our soules to washe and purge the same of all sinne and the verie senses of our bodies doe vnderstand the same when we doe by them consider the nature and vse of the creature water wherin our Sauiour Christ hath instituted that holy Sacrament which is to purge and clense from all filth all those things that be washed therein In like maner in the Lords supper when we beleue the wordes of Christ written by Saint Iohn Ego sum panis ille qui de coelo descendi qui edit de hoc pane viuet in aeternum I am that bread which came downe from heauen Iohn 6. he that eateth of this bread shall liue for euer then doe we by fayth receyue Christ into our soules and the verie senses of our bodies doe perceiue and our common sense doth vnderstande that as the creatures bread and wine wherein this Sacrament is instituted doe strengthen and chéere mens hartes euen so the body and bloud of our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ doe strengthen comfort and make chéerefull the soule of man And further we doe euen sensibly perceyue in Baptisme our buriall with Christ to the worlde and worldly delightes and our resurrection with him to newnesse of lyfe And in the Lordes supper our knitting togither into one bodye whereof Christ is the head According to that which Austen teacheth in that sermon that he intitleth Of the sacraments of the faithful We teach not therfore that they be vaine emptie signes August ad Iaenuarium lib. 1. but we hold that they be most effectual in significatioÌ„ as Austen writeth to Ianuarius Nowe where as you saye that by the power of almightie God assisting the due administration of the Priest Christ is become present in the sacrament after your maner we knowe no such due administration as you meane of I am sure That is dashed full of crossings and trurnings doukyngs and starings in Maskers apparell But we know and acknowledge that order of ministration that Christ appointed the Apostles vsed to be the due order of ministration And the Gods almighty power doth assist that ministration so that the worthy receyuers that is such as be members of Christs body are spiritually sacramentally partakers of Christ and doe receyue into their soules whole Christ both God and man according as the holy scriptures and holye Fathers doe teach without any transubstantiating or chaunging of the substaunces of the creatures bread and wine WATSON Diuision 9. For seing the substaunce of our Sacrifice of the newe Testament is the very reall and naturall body of Christ as may be proued by many Authorities Cyprian li. 2. Epist 3. Saint Cyprian sayth In sacrificio quod Christus est non nisi Christus sequendus est In that Sacrifice that is Christ no man is to be folowed but Christ Here he saith that Christ is the Sacrifice that we offer to almightie God Also Saint Basyl writeth in his forme of Masse Basil in Missa Tues qui offers offerris qui suscipis impartis Christe deus noster O Christ our God thou art he that both doest offer and is offered that both giuest the offering and receaueth Saint Basyll by this meaneth that the Sacrifice which the Church offered to God is Christ himselfe who in that he is the head of his body the Church is one offerer with the Chuch and so is both offerer and offered as Basyll sayth Lykewise Saint Ambrose wryting of the inuention of the bodies of two glorious Martirs Geruasius and Prothasius of the burying of them vnder the aultar sayth thus Amb. lib. 10. Epist 85. Succedant victimae triumphales in locum vbi Christus hostia est sed ille super altare qui pro omnibus passus est isti sub altari qui illius redempti sunt passione Let these triumphing Sacrifices meaning the bodies of the Martirs go into the place where Christ is a Sacrifice But Christ is a Sacrifice aboue the aultar who suffred for all men these two vnder the aulter that were redeemed by his passion Of this place I note my purpose which is that the Sacrifice of the Church and newe Testament is the very reall body and bloud of our Sauiour Christ which is also testified by Chrisostome in his Homely he wryteth of the praise of God in these wordes Chrysost hom de Laude Dei Vereamini mensam quaue desuper victima illa iacet Christus scilicet qui nostri causa occisus est Feare and reuerence that table aboue the which lyeth that Sacrifice that is to say Christ which for our cause was slayne By which wordes Chrisostome declareth his fayth that the Sacrifice of the Church is Christ and also that Christ is not onely in heauen as some men damnably beareth you in hande but is placed lying aboue the Fable of the aultare as the substaunce of our Sacrifice And in an other Homely he wryteth Idem homil De Enâ—â—â—ijs Mensa mystâ—rijs instructa est agnus dei pro te immolatur The Table is furnished with misteries the Lambe of God for thee is offered teaching vs that the holy misteries wherewith the Table of our aulter is furnished be the bodye and bloud of Christ that is to say the Lambe of God which is also then offered for vs. August lib 9 Confes Ca. 12. Saint Augustine is full of such sayinges as wryting of his mothers death how that he wept nothing for hir all the time the Masse was saide for hir Soule which he expresseth by these wordes Cum offerretur pro ea sacrificium praecij nostri When the Sacrifice of our price was offered for hir I leaue out al the rest of the sentence contented to allege onely this that proueth the sacrifice which is offered by the Priest for the dead to be our price which is and can bee nothing else but the body and bloud of Christ which he gaue vpon the crosse as the price of our redemption August lib. Senten prosp But playnest of all he wryteth in a Booke intituled Liber Sententiarum prosperi Which Booke is alledged of Gratian in the decrees in these wordes Hoc est quod dicimus quod modis omnibus approbare contendimus sacrificium Ecclesiae duobus confici duobus constare visibili elementorum specie inuisibili Domini nostri Iesu Christi corpore sanguine Sacramento re SacrameÌ„ti id est corpore Christi This is that we say that we labour to prooue by all meanes that the Sacrifice of the Church is made and
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
vpon this place And Lyranus who was a Iewe borne doth expound it after the letter And the ordinarie Glosse Hierony in Prouer. 23. foloweth saint Hierome who vnderstandeth by the mightie man the teacher of Gods worde and by the things set before them the worde of God c. Fearing to be long therefore you might well haue spared all this and the applying of your comparison of taking and gyuing the like agayne with boasting that it auoydeth all the trifling cauillations of figuratiue spéeches c. WATSON Diuision 33. I neede not stand longer in so playne a matter although I could alledge much more out of all the auncient fathers yea more plainer then these I haue touched if any can be playner If I did but tell the bare names of the sacrament which the aucthors giue it I should proue manifestly that it were the very body and bloud of Christ and not bread and wine Ignatius calleth it Medicamentum immortalitatis Ignatus ad Ephesios antidotum non moriendi a medicine of immortalitie a preseruatiue against death Dionisius Ariopagita S. Paules Scholer calleth it hostia salutaris the sacrifice of our saluation Dionisius Hier. Eccle. Capit. 3. Iustinus Apolo Origen in Luc. hom 38. in Mat. bo 5. Cyprianus de lapsis de caena Iustinus martyr saith it is caro sanguis incarnati Iesu the flesh bloud of Iesus incarnate which names be giuen to it of the scripture and all other wryters Origen calleth it Panis vitae dapes saluatoris epulum incorruptum Dominus the bread of lyfe the deynties of our sauiour the meate that is neuer corrupted yea our Lord himself Cyprian calleth it Sanctum domini the holy one of God gratia salutaris the sauing grace Cibus inconsumptibilis the meate that can neuer be consumed Alimonia immortalitatis the foode of immortalitie Portio vitae aeternae the portion of eternall life Sacrificium perpes holocaustum per manens a continuall sacrifice an offering alwaies remaining Christus yea he calleth it Christ The great generall counsell at Nice calleth it Agnus Dei qui tollit peccatum mundi Concilium Nicenum the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the worlde Optatus an olde author giueth it diuers names as in this sentence Quid tam sacrilegium quam altaria dei frangere radere Optatus li. 6. remouere in quibus vot a populi membra Christi portata sunt vnde à multis pignus salutis aeternae tutela fidei spes resurrectionis accepta est What is more sacrilege then to breake the aultars of God as the Donatistes did or to scrape them or to remoue them vpon the which aultars the vowes of the people that is to say the members of Christ are borne from which aultars also the pledge of eternall saluation the defence and buckler of faith and the hope of resurrection be receaued Hilarius calleth it cibus dominicus our Lordes meat Hilarius li. 8. Basilius in Missa verbum caro the worde made flesh Saint Basill in his Masse calleth them sancta diuina impolluta immortalia super celestia viuifica sacramenta Holy sacraments godly pure vndefiled immortall heauenly and giuing life What wittelesse and vngodly man would giue these names to bread and wine Saint Ambrose calleth it gratia dei Ambrosius de obitu fratris the grace of God not an accidentall grace receaued of God into mans soule but the verie reall sacrament he calleth the grace of God the which his brother Satirus being vpon the sea and his ship broken seeking for none other ayde but onely the remedy of fayth and the defence of that sacrament tooke this grace of God of the priestes and caused it to be bound in a stole which he tied about his neck and so trusting in that committed himselfe to the waters by vertue wherof he escaped drowning and afterward of a Catholike Bishop he receaued that same grace of God with his mouth Chrysost 1. Cor. 10. Chrysostome O with what eloquence doth he vtter this matter heare but this one place Ipsa namque mensa animae nostrae vis est nerui mentis fiduciae vinculum fundamentum spes salus lux vita nostra The verye table sayeth he meaning the meat of the table is the strength of our soule the sinewes of our minde the knot of our trust the foundation our hope our helth our light and our lyfe What names what effectes bee these and in an other Homely he calleth it Rex coeli deus Christus Ad Ephe. Ser. 3. the king of heauen God himselfe Christ which he sayth goth into vs by these gates and dores of our mouthes Cyrillus calleth it sanctificatio viuifica the very sanctification that giueth life Cirillus li. 4. Capit. 17. August Epist 163. And S. Augustine calleth it Pretium nostrum the price of our redemption which Iudas receaued What should I trouble you any longer in so plaine a matter Why should these holy fathers deceaue vs by calling this sacrament with so glorious high names if they ment not so but that it was but bread wine they lacked no grace that had so much grace as to shed their bloud for Christes fayth they lacked no wytte nor eloquence to expresse what they meant Thus did they with one consent after one maner alwayes speake and write by whose playne preaching and wryting the whole worlde of Christendome hath beene perswaded and established in this faith of the reall presence these fiftene hundred yres If they haue seduced vs meaning otherwise then they wrote then may we iustly saye that they were not martyrs and confessors in deede but verie Deuils erring themselues and bringing other also into errour But good people the truth is they erred not but taught vs as they beleued the very truth confirming and testifying that faith with their bloud that they had taught with their mouth And if there be anye errour it is in vs that for the vnlearned talking and witlesse sophisticall reasoning of a fewe men will headlings destroy our soules forsaking and not contynuing in that faythe whiche was taught by the mouth of Christ sealed with his bloud testified by the bloud of martyrs and hath preuayled from the beginning against the which Hell gates can not preuayle Nowe there remayneth something to bee saide concerning the thirde part which is the consent of the catholike Church in thys point but I am sorie the tyme is so past that I can not nowe say any thing of it in my next daye God wylling I shall touch it and also proceede in the matter of the sacrifice which I hope to God to make so plaine that it shall appere to them that will see and be not blinded forsaken of God to be a thing most euident most profitable to be vsed and frequented in Christs Church and that such slaunders and blasphemers as be shot against it shall rebound I hope vppon their owne
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
and haue assured me That is to saye that the bread and wine which are set on the aultar are not onely a sacrament after the consecration but also the very body and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ that not onely the sacrament but the body of Christ in déede is sensibly handled and broken by the priestes handes and grounds with the téeth of the faythfull The homely glose vpon the same place doth so mislike with this recantation of Berrengarius or rather the decrée of the Synode A pretie recantation that he sayth thus Nisi sane intelligas verba Berrengarij in maiorem incides haeresim quam ille habuit Except a man doe warsly vnderstande the wordes of Berrengarius he shall fall into a greater heresie then euer Berrengarius helde any The Pope and the whole Synode doe decree an heresie By this it is manifest euen by the writer of this glose that Pope Nicholas and the whole Synode at Rome did decrée and teach to be holden and enforce Berrengarius to confesse a greater heresie then euer he helde before And howe doth this proue the consent of your Popishe Church in condemning of heresies For the condemnation of Wyckliefe in the counsell of Constance I referre the reader as before And your owne Lirinensis will not take your part in this matter For he was deade many hundred yeres before Berrengarius was borne But I am glad that you haue now found that there may be great treasure of good learning in sixe penie bookes Sixe penie bookes I trust you will not now denie but there may be some good learning in books of halfe the price WATSON Diuision 16 Against the blessed Masse which is the sacrifice of the Church many wordes of many men haue bene sayde but sufficient reprofe of it hath not yet bene heard Here the prayer was made Scriptures neuer one was yet alledged against it sauing one out of the Epistle to the Hebrues where saint Paule wryteth Hebr. 9. that Christ entred into heauen by his owne bloud once and afterward he sayth Christ was once offered vp to take awaye the sinnes of many and all the argument consisteth in this worde once which I shall God wylling discusse hereafter But in very deede that same scripture that they bring against the Masse to no purpose is the verye foundation of the Masse wherevpon the Masse is builded and established after what sort I shall declare as time will serue Howe sufficient proofes haue bene brought against the Masse CROWLEY shall easily appéere to as many as will reade that which Byshop Iewell hath written for an aunswere to your friende Maister Harding And some sufficient proofes may be séene in this that I haue aunswered to your two notable sermons One scripture onely you say hath bene hitherto alledged against your Masse Bylike you haue not séene Iohn Caluines Institutions Where in the fourth booke and .xviij. Chapter he alledgeth more then foure places of scripture against it Thrée out of the first Epistle to the Corinths Manye proofes against the Masse one out of Saint Iohns Gospell the .19 Chapter and the same text that you take for the theme of your two Sermons But what should we make reconing of a multitude of places sith one alledged in the true meaning is sufficient But you haue promised to proue that one place which is alledged against your Masse to be the foundation of the same Which when you shall go about to doe I wyll God wylling proue that no such building can stand vpon such foundation Lyke as there is one God the father WATSON Diuision 17 Ephes 1. Hebr. 7.9 and 10. one Christ our redeemer one body and Church which is redeemed so there is but one onely sacrifice whereby we be redeemed which was once and neuer but once made vpon the aultar of the Crosse for the sinnes of all men 1. Iohn 8. This sacrifice is propitiatorie and a sufficient price and raunsome of the whole world as saint Iohn sayth he is the propitiation for our sinnes and not for our sinnes onely but for the sinnes of the whole worlde Iohn 1. and in his Gospell he wryteth Beholde the Lambe of God that taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde The vertue of this sacrifice beganne when God promised that the seede of Adam should bruse and breake the Serpents head Genes 3. without the merit of this sacrifice there is no saluation 2. Cor. 5. for God was in Christ reconcyling the world to himselfe This sacrifice is common to both the Testaments wherof both take their effect whose vertue is extended from the beginning of the worlde to the last ende Apoc. 13. for the Lambe was slaine from the beginning of the world as saint Iohn sayth It is also a bloudy and a passible sacrifice extending to the death of him that offered himselfe Galath 3. and it was promised to the fathers and performed in the fulnesse of time the merites whereof receaue no augmentation because it is perfite nor yet diminution because it is eternall And although this sacrifice be sufficient to saue all men yet it is not effectuall to the saluation of all men it is able to saue all but yet all be not saued for what doth it profite the Turkes Saracenes vnfaithfull Gentils and counterfeyt christians The fault is not in God being mercifull to all his workes who created vs without vs but the fault is in our selues CROWLEY Watson can speake truth If all the rest of your two Sermons had bene according to this péece I would not haue misliked with you For I confesse all this to be most true WATSON Diuision 18. Therefore that this sacrifice of Christ as it is sufficient for all so it may be effectuall and profitable for all God hath ordeyned certaine meanes whereby wee may be made able to receaue the merite of it and whereby the vertue of it is brought and applyed vnto vs in the new testament after his passion as it was to the fathers in the olde testament before his passion Of these meanes some be inwarde some be outward the inward be common to both the testaments of which the first and principall is fayth for without faith it is not possible to please God and as saint Iohn sayth he that beleeueth not Hebr. 11. Iohn 3. is nowe alreadye iudged to hym therefore that is an Infidell Chryst hath dyed in vayne Charitie also is a meane 1. Iohn 3. 1. Iohn 2. 1. Cor. 13. for he that loueth not remayneth in death he that hateth his brother is in darkenesse and walketh in darkenesse and can not tell whether he goeth and if I haue all fayth and haue no charitie I am nothing He is not therfore partaker of Christs merites in the remission of sinne that lacketh charitie And so may we say of hope without the which no man receaueth mercye at Christs hande It is true that you say
CROWLEY The meanes whereby Christs merits are applyed to vs. no man can be partaker of Christes merits without faith loue and hope And we say that these thrée be so lyncked togither that one of them can not be wythout the other And that God is the giuer of these thrée meanes whereby the merites of his sonne are made oures And that these are the onely meane whereby the fathers before and we since the death of Christ be made partakers thereof Amongst the inwarde meanes there be other spirituall sacrifices as the sacrifice of a contrite heart WATSON Diuision 19. which God doth much regard the sacrifice of our lips Psal 50. Osee 14. Luc. 11. Math. 7. Hebr. 13. which is prayer and praise of God whereby we attaine remission of sinne hauing a plaine promise that whatsoeuer we aske of God in the name of Christ we shall obteyne it And the sacrifices of almose and beneuolence which saint Paule woulde not haue vs to forget because God is gotten and wonne by such sacrifices All these and other such like doe not fully deserue grace and remission of sinne but be meanes that the vertue and merite of Christes passion may be deriued and applyed vnto vs as he hath ordeyned CROWLEY Here you shewe your selfe somewhat You will not receyue the merites of Christ fréely but you will by fayth loue hope contrition prayer prayse and almose deserue some part thereof But Christ hath taught vs to say that when we haue done all that we are commaunded to doe Luc. 17. we shall say that we are vnprofitable bond men that is such as can deserue nothing more then bond slaues can deserue at the handes of their Lordes and Maisters Blasphemous doctrine whose bond slaues they are Your doctrine therefore in thys point is blasphemie For you ascribe to mans merite that which is to be ascribed to the mercy of God alone WATSON Diuision 20 There be also other outwarde meanes as sacramentes and sacrifices Of sacraments some be proper to the olde Testament some proper to the newe without the which ordinarily there is no remission of sinne nor collation of grace As circumcision was to the fathers so baptisme is to vs without the which this bloudy sacrifice taketh not awaye original sinne not because it can not Gene. 17. Iohn 3. Iohn 6. Luc. 13. but because God hath so ordeyned For as it is sayde in the olde Testament whose fleshe is not circumcised his soule shall be put away from the people so it is sayde in the newe Testament except a man be borne againe of the water and the holy ghost he can not see the kingdome of God and except ye eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud ye shall not haue lyfe in you and except yee doe penaunce ye shall all lykewise perishe And so must we thinke of all other sacraments of both the testamentes that they be meanes ordeyned of God to atteine the grace they signifie which grace is fully purchased and deserued by the passion of Christ whereof onely they take their effect For the olde sacraments haue their vertue and strength Ex opere operando as the schoole men say that is to say of the worke that is to be wrought vpon the Crosse by Christ in whome onely they beleeued The new sacraments haue their vertue Ex opere operato of the worke of Christ that is already wrought vpon the crosse and not of any worthynesse of the priest the minister By the merite of which worke vpon the crosse they haue vertue and efficacie appropried vnto them to giue that grace they signifie to such as worthyly receaue them or at least that haue no impediment nor put no stop but that the grace may be receyued It is true CROWLEY that there be some sacramentes proper to the olde Testament and some proper to the newe but the latter part of that sentence wherein you affirme this is some thing obscure You séeme to affirme that there is no remission of sinne Gene. 15. Luc. 23. Acts. 10. nor collation of grace without the sacraments which saying is most false For Abraham had his sinnes forgiuen him before he was circumcised and so had the théefe that hanged on the crosse by Christ without the sacrament baptisme And Cornelius and his company had receyued the gift of the holye ghost before they were baptised But you saye that ordinarily there is no remission of sinnes nor collation of grace without sacramentes Watsons dark speaking By which maner of speaking you amaze the people who can gather none other thing thereby but that commonly God doth not forgiue sinnes nor collate or bestowe his graces vpon any before they doe receyue the sacraments that he hath instituted to signifie the same Which is most false For fayth and the feare of God are the beginning of all heauenly wisdome must néedes be had of euery one that shall receyue any sacrament Hebr. 11. Mark 16. before the receyuing therof can be any thing at all auayleable For without fayth it is not possible to please God And he that will not beléeue shall be condemned To receyue a sacrament therefore without fayth is to no purpose Sacraments both of the olde and newe Testament were instituted not to giue grace but to confirme the grace alreadie giuen and receyued Rom. 4. as appéereth playnely by that which saint Paule wryteth to the Romaines Et signum accepit Circumcisionis signaculum iustitiae fidei quae fuerat in praeputio c. And he receyued the signe of circumcision the seale of the righteousnesse of fayth which was in him before he was circumcised that he might be the father of all that beléeue among the vncircumcised that the same might be reconed to them for righteousnesse also c. By this it is manifest that Gods ordinarie meane of forgiuing sinnes and conferring grace is by his holy spirit of adoption whereby he doth regenerate his elected and chosen children and not anye Sacramentes eyther of the olde Testament or the newe As for the places that you cite for circumcision baptisme the sacrament of Christes body and penaunce you might haue spared till you had founde a fitter place for them For they serue nothing to proue that which you pretend to proue We knowe that baptisme is the same to vs that circumcision was to the fathers and that as the vncircumcised might not be suffred to liue among the people of God so such as refuse baptisme cannot sée the kingdome of God And that except we doe eate the fleshe of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud we shall haue no lyfe in vs. And that except we repent we shal all perish as the Galileans did But what maketh this for the proofe of your purpose Which is that sacramentes be the ordinarie meanes to take away sinnes and conferre grace sith the forgiuenesse of sinnes and grace must be conferred before we can
secret bringing in of a greater hope which is giuen vs hath set vs in this hope But this sacrifice doth note vnto vs that hope which is called the greater hope whereby we do alwaies approch to serue God And why is this Ramme nowe named the second Ramme Forsooth bicause the Lorde supping with his Apostles did first offer the figuratiue Lambe and afterwarde he did offer his owne sacrifice and did secondarily kill himselfe euen as a shéepe which thing the wordes that followe doe declare And Aaron and his sonnes did put their hands vpon the head of that Ramme Which when Moses had offered the sonnes of Aaron did of necessity set their hands vpon the head of the Ramme with Aaron bicause Christ did celebrate a common supper of the feast of Easter with his Disciples c. Now let the reader consider how faithfully you handle this place of Isychius He expounding the eyght Chapter of Leuiticus What is ment by the second Ram. doth when he commeth to those words Obtulit Arietem secundum c. declare that that second Ramme did signifie our Sauiour Christ Who after he had with his disciples celebrated a common supper of the solemnization of the passouer eating with them the figuratiue Lambe did as it were kyll and offer vp himselfe vpon the crosse bicause he gaue himselfe into the handes of his enimies that fastined him to the crosse which Isychius calleth our sauiour Christes owne sacrifice And you M. Watson will néedes haue vs thinke that our Sauiour did after the offering and eating of the passouer offer his owne sacrifice in bread and wine and afterward offer himselfe on the crosse and that Isychius meaneth so to teach in the words that you cite And to cause the words the better to séeme to serue for your purpose you doe in the place of the Aduerbe Secundo vse Deinde which all wise and learned men doe know to be but homely dealing But that Isychius was not of your minde concerning the sacrifice of the Church the reader may well sée Isychius li. 1. Capit. 1. by that which he wryteth in his first booke and first Chapter His wordes be these Quia sacrificia Deus à nobis pro nostra salute vult non ipse ea opus habens satis nos Paulus commonefacit Ait enim Obsècro itaque vos fratres per misericor diam Dei vt exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam viuam sanctam Deo placentem racionabile obsequium vestrum Ergo placens sacrificium Deo corporum nostrorum mortificatio est simul enim in eo lucramur quod à peccato abstineamus quod virtutes acquirimus Paule doth sufficiently certifie vs that God hauing no néede thereof will haue sacrifices of vs for the health we haue receyued For he sayth I beseech you therefore brethren euen by the mercie of God that you would giue your bodyes a sacrifice quick holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable seruing of God The mortification of our bodies therefore is the sacrifice that pleaseth God For we doe therein both winne that we may abstaine from sinne and also that we obtaine vertues By these wordes it is most manifest Isychius doth not agree with Watson that Isychius vnderstood not that place that you haue taken for your theme as you do shewe your selfe to vnderstand it And that therefore he was not of such minde in the other place that you cite out of him for your purpose as you would faine haue men thinke that he was He knewe no mo sacrifices of Christ but one which was offered on the Crosse once for al wherof the Passouer lambe was a figure and our sacrament is a remembraunce And the mortification of our bodies is the sacrifice of thankesgiuing that God doth continually require at our handes As for your Damascenus although Iohn Tritemius Tritem de Eccles scrip Damasc li. 4. Capit. 14. would faine haue him séeme more auncient yet Iohn Patriarcha Hierosolomitanus writing his life sayth that he liued in the dayes of Leo Isaurius which was .720 yeares after Christ His authoritie therefore can not be so waightie that it might enforce vs to graunt that all that he writeth is true though he dissent both from the writinges of other more auncient fathers and scriptures also As in that Chapter out of which you cite his wordes and in many other places of his writings he doth most manifestly But let vs sée howe honestly you applie his wordes that you cite Marke say you that he saith he offered himselfe in the night c. I would gladly be short in these your vnhansome handlings of that which you cite for your purpose but I can not suffer the Reader to lacke those wordes that do giue light to that which you do so subtilly cite Damascenus sayth thus Cibus vero ipse panis vitae Dominus noster Iesus Christus qui ex Coelo discendit Nam suscepturus voluntariam pro nobis mortem in nocte in qua seipsum obtulit testamentum nouum disposuit sanctis Discipulis Apostolis per ipsos omnibus alijs in seipsum credentibus c. Certes that foode which is the bread of life is our Lorde Iesus Christ which came downe from heauen For when he would for our sakes take vpon him a voluntarie death He did in the night wherein he offered himselfe dispose to his holy Disciples and Apostles and by them to all other that beleue in him a newe testament Watsons fallace opened He offered himselfe in the night say you but the oblation on the Crosse was in the mid day Ergo they be distinct oblations All that doe vnderstand what Logicke meaneth do know wherin the fallace of this Argument is he offered himselfe to death and he offered himselfe in death Howe the first can be called a sacrifice I would gladly learne otherwise then the obedience of a Christen man to do the will of God may be called a sacrifice But that will not serue your purpose here For you must haue thys first offering to be a Massing sacrifice propiciatorie both for the quicke and the deade Whether Damascenus can iustly be taken to meane so here I referre to the iudgement of the indifferent Reader But this I must tell you that in the same place he fighteth agaynst your opinion of Datur it is giuen for he sayth Frangetur it shall be broken Wherby it is manifest that he meaneth there of the sacrifice that was made on the Crosse and not of a sacrifice then presently offred as you would haue vs think that he ment Theophilact in Mat. 28. Theophilactus a writer of like antiquitie and integritie of iudgement with Damascenus hath sayd say you Tunc immolauit c. The Reader shall sée the wordes that go before and then let him iudge howe these serue your purpose He sayth thus Possum tibi aliam causam dicere quomodo tres dies tres noctes
playne by that which in the booke that you cite De Ciuitate Dei he addeth to the wordes that you cite His words be these Propter quod etiam vocem illam in psalmo tricesimo nono eiusdem mediatoris per Prophetam loquentis agnoscimus sacrificium oblationem noluisti corpus autem perfecisti mihi quia pro illis omnibus sacrificijs oblationibus corpus eius offertur participantibus ministratur Wherfore sayth saint Austen We doe acknowledge that voyce of the same Meditatour speaking by the Prophet in the Psalme .39 in this wyse thou hast not desired sacrifice and oblation but thou hast made me a perfite bodye for his body is offered in stede of all those sacrifices and oblations and is ministred to such as be partakers thereof The continual offering of Christ This sacrifice bicause it is eternall after the order of Melchisedech is still presently offered by the Meaditor Christ who is both the priest and sacrifice and continually ministred to them that be partakers thereof by faith by that spiritual maner of ministration whereby spirituall lyfe is ministred from the head Christ to his members the Church But nowe to ende this matter your Auditorie must heare one place more which is playnest of all Oecumenius hath said Significat sermo c. If I might vse such libertie in cyting places as you doe in this I could easily finde plaine places ynough to proue whatsoeuer I lusted to take in hande Where the author hath sayde Significat sermo quod licet Christus non obtulerit carentem sanguine hostiam siquidem suum ipsius corpus obtulit attamen qui ab ipso fungentur sacerdotio c. The signification of this saying is that although Christ did not offer a sacrifice without bloud for he offered his owne body yet shall those that shall after him execute the office of priesthood whose high priest God doth vouchsafe to be offer without bloud For that is signified by this saying For euer c. These be the wordes of Oecumenius as Hentenius hath translated them out of the Gréeke But you had promised your Auditorie a playner place then this was beyng thus translated For this is playne against all that you haue done before in proouing that our Sauiour Christ did offer himselfe without bloud For this felow being thus translated sayth Although Christ did not offer a sacrifice without bloud c. Well therefore to make the place plaine in déede you haue amended the translation I trowe and you haue sayde Significat sermo quod non solum Christus obtulit incruentam hostiam siquidem suum ipsius corpus obtulit verum etiam qui ab ipso c. The word meaneth that not onely Christ offered an vnbloudy sacrifice for he offered his owne body but also they that shall vnder him vse the function of a priest whose Byshop he doth vouchsafe to be shall offer without shedding of bloud Well eyther you Oecumenius belyed in translating or your friend Hentenius haue belyed the Gréeke For here is playne contradiction The one sayth Hath not offred and the other sayth hath offered Wherfore it must néedes folow that the one hath made a lye And peraduenture if the Gréeke might be séene and well viewed you might be founde false harlots both for Hentenius was a Louanist c. For who so readeth the rest that Oecumenius hath collected out of other wryters that were before his time and patched togither into one commentarie vpon the Epistle to the Hebrues he shall haue but little occasion to thinke that Oecumenius could be of such minde concerning the meaning of these wordes Tu es sacerdos in aeternum thou art a priest for euer as in this place that you cite he sheweth himselfe to be when he sayth Christ could not be sayde to be a priest for euer but in respect of those sacrifycing priestes that are now by whose meanes he doth still offer and is offred For vpon the tenth Chapter and these wordes Singulis annis he sayth thus An ne nos semper offerimus hostias sanguine carentes sed vnius eiusdemque mortis Christi memoriam facimus vnum Christi corpus semper edimus Doe we alwaies offer sacrifices that haue no bloud But we doe make a memoriall of that one and the selfe same death of Christ and doe alway eate one body of Christ And vpon the worde Perpetuò he sayth Quum vna perpetuò sufficiat Seing that one sacrifice may suffice for euer And vpon these wordes In certitudine fidei In the certainty of fayth he sayth thus Quoniam autem nihil est post haec visibile neque templum id enim est caelum neque Pontifex is est Christus neque victima haec corpus est ipsius necessaria in posterum est fides Verum quia contingit credere simul haesitare ait In certitudine fidei Hoc est vt certisimus de his Oecumenius his meaning made plaine Bicause that hence forth there is nothing visible neither temple for that is heauen neyther high priest for that is Christ neyther sacrifice for that is his bodye fayth is from this tyme forward necessarie But bicause it doth happen that a man doth at one time both beleue and doubt he sayth in the certaintie of fayth that is that we may be certaine of these things Many such sayings as this are in that Commentarie wherefore corrupting of the Author in translating may be suspected as well on the behalfe of Hentenius as you although your doing doe more appéere then his But graunt that Oecumenius haue written in Gréeke euen as you haue reported him in Latine Is he knowne to be of such antiquitie and authoritie in the Church that his glose must be of more authoritie credit then the playne wordes of the text Saint Paule sayth Iam non est oblatio pro peccatis There is nowe no oblation for sinnes Seing Christ hath by one oblation made perfite such as be sanctified what néedeth there any more offering for sinne For the cause of the continuaunce of the offering was the imperfection of the offerings which could neuer take away sinne but alway put the offerers in minde of one that was to come who should be able by one oblation once offered fully to take away the sinnes of the whole worlde Oecumenius may haue no credite against saint Paule Your Oecumenius therefore being a great many of hundred yeres after saint Paule as may iustly be gathered by that he wrote after so many of the Gréeke wryters as he nameth in his booke should nowe be credited in that which he wryteth contrarie to saint Paule if that should be beleued as taught by him which you would so fayne maintaine by his wordes Your false dealings therfore being so playne as it is I néede not to stand vpon the opening of it any more but onely to desire the reader to waight the matter and he shall sée that the
away Per ipsum igitur offerrimus sacrificium laudis semper Deo hoc est fructum labiorum confitentium nomen eius Through him therefore we doe alwayes offer vnto God a sacrifice of praise that is the fruit of those lips that doe confesse his name This sacrifice hath Antichrist of Rome taken away from the vniuersall Church of Christ in taking vpon himselfe the title of vniuersall head of the same Church which tytle is due to Christ onely and in taking vpon him the authoritie and power to remitte and pardon sinnes which power belongeth to God onely The fruite of those lips that confesse his name is taken away when none may without perill of death confesse that Christ onely is the vniuersall head of his Church and that God onely in his sonne Christ and for his sake doth fréely forgiue and pardon sinnes Thus you haue my iudgement of a sacrifice contynuall that may be taken away by Antichrist and yet is not your Popishe Masse The thrée yeres and halfe also may well be applyed to the times wherin the power of Rome hath taken away this sacrifice by cruell persecution so that very few or none in all the knowne worlde durst offer this sacrifice to God Now let the indifferent reader be iudge betwéene your iudgement mine in this matter of a continuall sacrifice that may be taken away by Antichrist But that Daniell ment there to prophecy that Antichrist shal take away the continuall sacrifice the text will not suffer me to thinke For he sayth thus A tempore oblationis iugis sacrificij The meaning of Daniels prophecie positae abominationis desolationis dies mille ducenti non aginta From the time of the taking away of the contynuall sacrifice and setting vp of the abhomination of desolation are a thousand two hundereth foure score and ten dayes Which is the time two times and halfe a time that he spake of before The continuall sacrifice of the temple was fully ended and taken away by Christes one oblation of hymselfe 2. Thess 2. and the abhomination of desolation is set vp in the Church of Christ the man of sinne boasting himselfe to be God as doth the Antichrist of Rome which setteth vp himselfe aboue all that is called God that is aboue all Princes and earthly Potentates The space therefore betwéene the ending of the ceremoniall sacrifices and Christes comming to iudgement may be a time two times and halfe a time That is a long time twise so long a time to the feruent desire that Gods elect haue to sée the ende and but halfe a tyme that is to say a verie short time in comparison of that euerlasting time wherein they shall raigne with Christ in glorie incomparable Words that remayne sealed This my iudgement I submit to the iudgement of the godly learned til that time be ended during which as the Angell tolde Daniell those wordes of his must remaine sealed Thus much haue I written to let the reader sée what scriptures you haue brought to prooue the oblation of Christes body in the Masse to be the sacrifice of the Church and newe testament Which as you say many haue assaulted and oppugned with such direct scriptures Doctours and good reasons that it is by them expugned and can not be by you propugned Not by tyrannicall power but by simple and plaine preaching of the Gospell these men haue preuayled in many places for a time And Truth the daughter of Time hath neuer suffered hir selfe to be altogither ouercome by Popishe tyranny WATSON Diuision 27 Heb. 9. 10. Some scriptures they abuse what they be ye shal heare They alledge saint Paule to the Hebrues Semel oblatus est ad multorum exhaurienda peccata Christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many Vnica oblatione cōsumauit inaeternum sanctificatos With one oblation he hath perfited for euermore al that be sanctified These be the scriptures they alledge against the Masse and they say Christes oblation is perfite no man can offer Christ but himselfe which hee did but once and neuer but once as though we should say that Christ was crucified twise or often times To this obiection of theirs wee aunswere that Christ was neuer offred to the death for our redemption but once and yet otherwise was he offered many times both of himselfe and of his creatures Daniell 7. We reade in the prophet Daniell that Aungels offered him in the sight of his father Luc. 3. Bernard Ser. 3. de purificatione And also the blessed Virgin his mother offered him at hir purification of which offering saint Bernard sayth Ista oblatio fratres satis delicata videtur vbi tantum sistitur domino redimitur auibus illico reportatur Thys oblation brethren is very delicate where he is onely presented to our Lorde redeemed with birdes and by and by brought home againe And therefore we aunswere them that their argument is of no strength to confute one truth by another when both may be true as to reason Christ was but once offered vpon the crosse Ergo he was not offered in the sacrament And we tell them that they doe not consider how Christ is offred three wayes of himselfe and also three wayes of man First he offred himselfe vpon the crosse really and corporally as I say as sayth Oblatus est quia voluit Isay 50. This is manifest ynough And here their exclamations of ones ones hath very good place Secondly he offered himselfe figuratiuely in the paschall lambe For the scripture sayth the lambe was slaine from the beginning of the worlde Apo 13. and the fathers in the olde lawe in all their sacrifices did offer Christ not in substaunce but in figure and so Christ offering the paschall lambe at his supper offered him selfe in figure Thirdly Christ offreth himselfe in heauen really and so contynually as the same Chapiter which they bring against the Masse doth testifie Non in manifacta sancta Iesus introiuit exemplaria verorum Heb. 9. sed in ipsum coelum vt appareat nunc vultui Dei pro nobis Iesus entred not into a temple made with mans hand a figure of the truth but into heauen that he might appeare nowe to the countenaunce of God for vs. What is this appearing in the sight of God for vs but an offering of himselfe for vs to pacifie the anger of God with vs to represent his woundes and all that he suffered for vs that we might be reconciled to God by him This is the true and perpetuall oblation of Christ in comparison of this in heauen the bloudy oblation vpon the crosse is but an Image as S. Ambrose sayth Hic vmbra hic imago Ambrose offi lib. 1. Capit. 48. illic veritas vmbra in lege imago in Euangelio veritas in coelestibus antè agnus offerebatur vitulus nunc Christus offertur sed offertur quasi homo quasi recipiens passionem offert se ipse
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
te in conspectu Domini video c. As often as I doe sée thée sighing in the sight of the Lorde I doe not doubt but the holy ghost doth breath vpon thée And when I doe behold thée wéeping then I doe perceyue him pardoning thy sinnes If thou doe defile the temple of the holy ghost if thou defile and make filthy Gods sanctuarie that is within thée if thou doe communicate of the cup of Deuilles with the cup of Christ it is a contumely and not a religion an iniurie not a deuotion It is Idole seruice and horible abhomination to be wylling to serue Baall and Christ togither Stand back with thine Idole chapels thou that gapest after gaines and folowest rewards c. I referre it to the iudgement of all indifferent readers whether these wordes may maintayne your Popishe Masse or not Is not your Masse such a money matter that it is growne into a Prouerb No penie no Pater noster Such places doe you pick to maintaine your Masse But in Chrysostome you haue found other maner places In his third Homily vpon the Acts you say he hath these words In illa hora. c. In the houre c. In that hole Homily is not one word that maye be wrested to that sense but thus I finde it written there Chrisost in Act. hom 3. Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui saluifiant sed multò plures qui pereant I doe not suppose that there be many among the priestes that can be saued but verie many moe that must perish And least any man should thinke that he had spoken these words rashely he sayth before Non temerè dico sed vt affectus sum ac sentio I speake not this rashely but euen as I am affected and doe thinke Mo priestes damned than saued It should séeme by these wordes that Chrysostome did not thinke that prayers made at the Masse time should be so effectuall as you boast of For if they were moe priests should be saued then perishe For who should so soone be partakers of those prayers as they that make them But in the .21 Homily vpon that booke Chrysost in Act. hom 21. you finde other maner wordes For there he sayeth In manibus est hostia adsunt Angeli c. The host of our sacrifice is in the priestes handes the Aungels be present c. And peraduenture the wordes that you sayde are in the thirde Homily doe folow in this place For he sayth thus Quid putas pro martyribus offerri quod vocantur in illa hora licet martyres sint Etiam pro martyribus magnus honor nominari Domino praesente dum mors illa perficitur horrendum sacrificium ineffabilia sacramenta Nam quasi sedente Rege quaecunque voluerit perficit vt autem surrexerit quaecunque dicit frustra dicit ita tunc quandiu posita fuerint mysteria omnibus honor maximus in memoria haberi What doest thou thinke is offered for the Martyrs in that they are named in that houre notwithstanding they be Martyrs Yea it is a great honor for the Martyrs to be named in the presence of the Lorde whiles that death and the horrible sacrifice and the vnspeakable sacraments are performed For euen as when the king sitteth in iudgement he finisheth whatsoeuer matters he lusteth but so soone as he is risen whatsoeuer he sayth is in vayne euen so is it then also so long as the mysteries shall be set forth it is the greatest honor to euery man to be had in memorie If these were the words that you ment of before Shamefull chaunging of wordes then haue you shamefully chaunged some of them For where find you Quaecunque volueris perficies Whatsoeuer thou wilt thou shalt bring to passe The words would not otherwise serue your purpose so wel and therfore you must haue liberty to chaunge the third person into the second leaue out the rest that should declare the wryters meaning But what néede I to trouble the reader with any moe words about the meaning of thys wryter seing Erasmus the translatour doth in his short Epistle set before the translation giue all wise men to vnderstande that the worke was neuer of Chrysostomes wrytings but of some one that lyke an Ape went about to counterfait Chrysostomes doings To the place that you cite out of the thirde Homily vpon the Epistle to the Philippians Hiero in Math. 23. I must aunswere with Hierome Hoc quia de scripturis c. Because this hath none authoritie of the scriptures it is as easily reiected as allowed And the rather to be reiected because that in all Chrysostomes workes where he had by the text greater occasion to vtter such doctrine there is none such founde But in this and certaine other places where he had none or verie small occasion to speake any thing of the state of the dead he playeth or some other in his name the Purgatorie Proctor euen as though he had bene a Purgatory Chaplayne or soule Masse priest Chrisost de incomprehens Dei natura homil 3. Fourthly Chrysostome hath sayde Vt homines ramos olearum gerentes c. Like as men bearing branches of Oliue trées c. He séemeth to haue marked but a little the maner of Chrysostomes teaching that vnderstandeth his wordes in this place as you séeme to doe He findeth great fault with his Auditorie because they vsed to depart out of the Church immediatly after his sermons were ended and did not tarie to be partakers of the holy communion of the body and bloud of Christ and the common prayers that were made in the ministration therof And as his maner was he laboureth to moue their affections and to that ende he vseth those maner of spéeches that you alledge But what maketh this for your Masse Wherein such as be present are not partakers of the mysteries nor yet doe vnderstande the wordes much lesse the sentences of the prayers that are made This place may serue verye well to proue that the prayer that is made by the Minister and the hole congregation in the time of the ministration of the holy communion is most effectuall and euen as much as if all the Aungels in heauen did as Chrysostome would haue his hearers imagine that they doe As for that which you alledge out of the twentie sixt Homily vpon Mathew Chrysost in Mat ho. 26. could haue no colour of proouing your purpose were it not that you helpe it a little in Englishing the Latine of that which foloweth those wordes that you cite in Latine Bearing your hearers and readers in hand that Chrysostome hath said that Christ euen by the very nature of the sacrifice which is his bodie doth stirre vs vp to continuall giuing of thanks where as Chrysostome maketh no mention at all of Christes bodie in that place The sacrament of christes body and bloud called our table but of a kinde of sacrifice
whereby God doth stirre vs vp to continuall thankesgiuing which is the same that before he hath sayde is made our Table That is the sacrament of his bodie and bloud wherein that sonne of God that was giuen for vs is liuely represented by visible signes and we moued thereby to be continually thankfull to God for the lyfe that our soules haue by his death By this it doth euidently appeare that nothing doth more exercise our fayth in the knowledge of God and our selues nothing doeth more increase our charitie and hope in the mercy of God then doth the right vse of the holy Communion And although Iob in offering sacrifice for his sonnes did shewe himselfe thereby a louing and carefull father yet can not we acknowledge that strumpet to be our mother that will make a sacrifice of hir husbands heart bloud For Gods wrath can not be mittigated with any such sacrifice But we are the children of that mother that acknowledgeth hir selfe and all hir Children to be alreadie washed and made pure and cleane by the bloud of hir husband which he in his owne person offered to make both hir and all hir children cleane thereby And there is nothing that doth more set forth the benefite of Christ then doth the right vse of the sacrament of this death and bloud shedding For in it wée protest that we haue all thinges by Christ and so forth as you haue sayde of the Masse Which is a méere mans inuention and no ordinaunce of God The other obiections I will but shortly touch for they be of no strength or authoritie one is this WATSON Diuision 31. There is no mention nor no one worde of any oblation in the supper Ergo Christ made no oblation there a goodly reason So there is no mention made neyther of Christes owne mouth nor of any the Euangelistes concerning the oblation of the Paschall lambe yet we knowe most certainely by the olde Testament that the Paschall Lambe was neuer eaten but it was offered before which we are sure Christ did obserue litterally till the truth of that figure were established And also what is more sure then that Christ offred himselfe vpon the crosse and yet neyther Christes owne wordes nor any of the foure Euangelistes wryting the story of the passion make any mention in playne and expresse termes of oblation or offering Though we know it by other scripture sufficiently But their collection is all false they should haue concluded thus Ergo if there any oblation it is reall and not vocalle and so it is in deede Luc. 22. and therefore Christ sayde Hoc facite doe this as ye see mee doe But in the forme of our Masse there be expresse wordes of offering for the rude and ignoraunt and for the euidence of the truth Vnde memores nos domini c. Wherefore we thy seruauntes and people being mindfull of thy sonne Christ our Lorde of his blessed passion resurrection and glorious ascention doe offer to thy most excellent maiestie of thy rewardes and giftes this pure sacrifice thys holy and vndefiled sacrifice the holye bread of euerlasting life the cup of perpetuall saluation There be also other wordes of oblation folowing these words saint Basill hath them Chrysostome saint Ambrose the generall counsell holden at Ephesus the latest of these was a thousand three hundred yeres ago that it might appere that it is not newly brought in as they would slaunder it but the most auncient thing in all the Masse They reason also thus It is a commemoration ergo no sacrifice as who saye the paschall Lambe being the figure of this was not both a commemoration and a sacrifice for the Lambe was instituted to be offered for a memorie of the delyueraunce of the Iewes from the sworde of the Aungell that smote the first begotten of the Egiptians and therefore the Iewes kept this worde of offering the Lambe for a statute for them and their children for euermore Euen so this Lambe of God that lyeth vpon the table of our aultar is a sacrifice offered of vs in commemoration of our delyueraunce from the Deuill by the death of Christ In the olde Testament the first Lambe offered before their deliuery the Lambe which was offered euery yeare after in memory of the same deliuery were verye reall Lambes in deede of one nature and condition euen so the Lambe of God being Christ which Christ himselfe offered in his supper there instituting before his death what we should contynually doe after his death and that Lambe of God which we offer now in memorie of our deliueraunce be very reall Lambes of God in deede and yet not dyuers in number as the other were but all one in number nature condition and dignitie As Chrysostome sayth Chrysost ad Hebreos ho. 17. we offer daylie in commemoration of his death and the sacrifice is one not many Nor we doe not offer one Lambe now to morow another but alwayes the very same or else because it is offered in many places is there many Christs No forsooth but one Christ euery where here full Christ and there full christ one body And so foorth You frame our argument after your owne fashion CROWLEY and so are you the better able to answere it We reason thus Whatsoeuer Christ would haue vs do or beleue is in some part of the scripture so mentioned that we may plainly perceyue that it is his wyll that we should doe or beleue the same But there is no such mention in any part of the holy scripture whereby we may perceyue that it is Gods will that we should beleue that Christ offered himselfe in his last supper or that he did then institute a sacrifice wherein we should dayly offer him Ergo Christ hath not instituted any such sacrifice as you speake of As for the like reasons that you would make of the Paschal Lambe and Christ offering himselfe vpon the Crosse might bée well accepted of some of your Auditorie that were of your mind and therefore blinded by affection But as many of your readers as knowe the scriptures must néedes say that you might with more honesty haue kept them still in your bosome For who knoweth not that Christ himselfe hath sayd Non veni soluere legem sed adimplere Et qui soluerit vnum ex mandatis istis minimis minimus vocabitur in Regno coelorum I came not to breake the lawe but to fulfil it Math. 5. Iohn 14. Iohn 8. Rom. 5. Hebr. 9. And he that shall breake one of the least of these cōmaundements shall be called the least in the kingdome of heauen And againe Beholde the prince of this world commeth and in me he hath nothing at all And againe Which of you can accuse me of sinne And againe As by the sinne of one condemnation came vpon all so by the righteousnesse of one came the righteousnesse of life And againe He offered himselfe vnto God without spot c.