infinite number of imaginations they are crossed or into our zeale which if it be according to knowledge yet is it delayed with coldnesse and beeing more feruent then commonly it is without knowledge into our brotherly loue which is more for a shew then in deed and more for that regard wee haue of men rather then for the awe of God into our faith which is either little or else wauering farre lesse then a graine of Mustard seede farre off from remoouing of mountaines Finally into our whole life which being examined according to the summe of the Law of the perfect loue of God and our neighbour will not afford vs so much as one action answerable thereunto but rather such as are contrarie thereunto and that euerie day yea euerie houre And what shall wee find in our wordes nay rather in our thoughts all which are knowne vnto God and must vndergoe the rigour of his iudgement Now we haue heard the old Fathers How far concupiscence worketh in the regenerate according to the old Fathers Tertul. de praescript aduers haeres Probatus aliquis August de fid Orthod c. 49. Idem ad Inno Pap. Ep. 95 vppon the concupiscence that remaineth in the regenerate but it may be that we may thinke that in some it breaketh not out into actuall sinne which they call sinne But let vs heare what they say Tertullian saith Is it such a maruaile that an approued man should come to fall What say you to Saul whome hatred ouerthrew Nay Dauid a man according to Gods owne heart by murther and Adulterie Salomon indued with wisedome from God drawne by women to Idolatrie because it was reserued to the onely Sonne of God to abide without sinne Saint Augustine There is neither Saint nor righteous man that is without sinne and notwithstanding they cease not to bee Saints and righteous because they haue their affections still set vpon holinesse And therefore the Saints are truely declared to be sinners c. Againe O death where is thy victorie where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne And there haue beene some men who haue thought that there might bee some men liuing in this life without sinne though not from their birth yet at the least from the time of their conuersion from sinne vnto righteousnesse and so they would vnderstand that which is said That Zacharâ—e and Elizabeth walked in all the wayes of the Lord Sine querela vnrebukeable But they should haue considered that Zacharie was a Priest and that the Priestes were bound by the Lawe of God to offer sacrifice chiefely for their owne sinnes And secondly are we not all conuinced of sinne in that we are all commaunded to say Forgiue vs our sinnes c. For saith he in an other place It must content vs that there is not so much as any one man found in the Church how excellent righteous or well profited so euer he be that dare say that hee hath not any need to praie and say this prayer Forgiue vs our sinnes c. For this should bee as much as to say that he had no sinne and so by that meanes deceiue himselfe not hauing any truth in him although that hee liued Sine querela without giuing of iust cause to anie to complaine of him Againe Yea seeing all the Saints Ep. 9. if they should be asked together if they had any sinne would aunswere If we should say that wee haue no sinne the truth is not in vs c. But saith he Idem de perfect Iustit in Enchirid. c. 33. Idem Serm. de temp Dominic 4. post Oct. Epiphan Idem in Ep. 54 ad Maced Idem dc Martyr Hieronym aduerf Pelag. Although the Apostle doe openly confesse that both he and all the Saints are tied to this necessitie of sinne yet hee boldly affirmeth that none of them are subiect to condemnation when hee saith There is then no condemnation vnto them that are in Christ c. You will say But behold the one hundred fortie foure thousand in the Apocalips which neuer defiled themselues with women they are vnreproueable there hath not any lie beene found in their mouthes c. And knowest thou wherefore Verily because they haue confessed their sinnes for that they became their owne accusers c. Otherwise the truth had not beene in them and where truth had not beene lying had beene c. And this he said speaking of the Martyrs Saint Ierome The Phylosophers the chiefe begetters and patrons of heretickes defiled the puritie of the Church by a peruerse doctrine raised by their being ignorant how that it was spoken of the frailtie of man Dust and ashes whereof art thou proud Seeing also that the Apostle saith I see an other Law in my members Againe I doe not the good that I would but the euill that I would not that I doe if hee doe that which he would not how can this stand which is said That man if he wil may be without sinne And how can he be that which hee will seeing that the Apostle affirmeth that hee cannot accomplish that which he desireth When as therefore J shall thinke my selfe to haue attained the end of vertues Idem ad Rustic then I am but in the beginning for their is no other perfection in men but to knowe themselues imperfect In an other place There dwelleth no good in our flesh the spirit willeth one thing the flesh is constrained to do an other There is not any man cleane from sin though his life haue bene but a day long The very stars are not pure in Gods sight And if there be sin in the firmament how much more in earth If in theÌ„ that haue no bodily temptatioÌ„ how much more in vs compassed about with this fraile flesh who crie with the Apostle Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from this mortall bodie c. Idem ad Pelag Ep. 9. ad Saluian But Saint Paul saith We which are perfect accompt that c. Then there is some perfection in this world Nay rather saith he to the end that thou maiest see that the perfect perfection of the gifts of God is not here he addeth straight after Not because that I haue alreadie receiued or that I am perfect Then he was perfect through the hope that he had of the glorification to come imperfect through the burden of corruption and mortalitie perfect through his wayting for the reward imperfect through his fainting and being wearied in the fight perfect in that he knew that God was able to performe whatsoeuer he hath promised vnto his imperfect in that God had not as yet performed to his all that which he hath promised them In a word imperfect thinking vpon that which he wanted vnto perfection perfect in that he is not ashamed to confesse his imperfection and that he might come thither he traueleth thitherward like a good traueller Prosper Aquit in Psal 105. 142. c. Prosper
houshold of God doe sing in their psalmes of thankesgiuing we haue passed by fire and by water c. meaning that the hard measure of aduersitie hath not beene able to breake their course by causing them to faint neither the soft bedde of prosperitie make them to become slacke cold through delicacie c and he speaketh by name of the blessed death of S. Malachie Archbishop of Ireland Cassiodorus Because a vessell saith he well hardned and baked in the fire doth hold water better Another saith As S. Laurence passed through fire S. Clement and others through water And let this be set as a brand vpon our aduersaries that they alwaies take hold of the expositions that are least receiued and of all others the worst Caiet in psal 66. I could haue wished that they would at the least haue satisfied themselues in Caietanus his exposition saying He comprehendeth vnder these words of fire and water in briefe all the tribulations of Israel from their comming out of Egypt vnto Iordan that is we haue endured all manner of miseries and in the end thou hast made vs to come ad irriguam to a well watered soile that is to say into the land of promise Neither doth it auaile them Amb. in psal 118. serm 3. that Bellarmine to dasle the eies of the world doeth here alleadge S. Ambrose For this baptisme of fire whereof he speaketh setting the same at the entrance of Paradise allegorizing vpon the Cherubin that kept the passage in is but an appendance and limme of that ancient opinion that the world in that day when the end and consummation thereof commeth and all the creatures therein euen men and of them the most holy and sanctified should bee purged by fire and not in that space of time which shal be betwixt their death and resurrection It appeareth by these words This baptisme saith he shall bee after the end and consummation of the world when hee shall send his Angels to seperate the good from the euill Then shall the fierie furnace feed vpon iniquitie and burne it vp to the end that the iust may shine in the kingdome of God as the Sonne in the kingdome of his father And in deed saith he if that Peter and Iohn be there they shall haue their part in that baptisme Now in deed the truth is that Bellarmine doth not hold or meane that the Apostles haue passed or at any time must passe the fire of purgatorie In the Psalme 107. They cried vnto the Lord in their distresses Psal 107. v. 13. and hee deliuered them from their necessities from darknesse and from the shadow of death Thus wheresoeuer they reade darknesse the graue fire or the shadow of death there alwaies purgatorie must bee summoned to appeare This text is cleare and plaine wherein Dauid maketh a long catalogue or repetition of all the perils whereunto the life of man is subiect the deliuerances that God giueth vnto them that call vppon him although they should bee within two fingers breadth of death But they wil not belieue vs. Lyranus therfore telleth them They were stricken with remorce and sorrow in their afflictions called vpon God who deliuered them And these words frō the shadow of death August Hieron Theodor in psal 106. he expoundeth them by the psalme 23. the daunger of death As Caietan simplie vnderstandeth the same of the inconueniences of the prison S. Ierome did not acknowledge any such like thing to be contained therein but let it passe as he declareth by that which goeth before Et eduxit eos in viam rectam Neither yet S. Augustine who vnderstandeth it of the difficulties lets and impediments that the regenerate find when they should go about to do good and that after such time as God hath opened their knowledge Prosp in psal 107. Haim in psal and enlightned their vnderstanding except himselfe doe worke in them And thus doeth Prosper Aquitanicus also take it Neither Theodoret who vnderstandeth it of the darknes of ignorance and of the seruitude of sinne Haimo In darknesse that is in ignorance out of which no man can free himselfe in the shadow of death that is to say in the villanous and loose course of life which leadeth vnto death And Hugo the Cardinal taketh it in the same sence Darknes that is of ignorance the shadow of death that is faults transgressions bound that is the punishment c. Some others thus Of such as are inwrapped in heresie and are reclaimed by wholesome instruction But and if they wil cleaue to the plaine literall sence it is said There was no man to help them Where were then become the Masses and Suffrages Againe he speaketh of such as had beene rebellious vnto the word of God which had despised the counsell of the most high a mortall sinne and one of the most hainous ones that can be Now purgatorie by their owne speech is not but for veniall ones And yet furthermore if wee will credite the expositions of the old writers Dauid was but a simple fellow and knew nothing in the matter of purgatorie In the booke of the Preacher Ecclesiast 4.14 There is such a one saith Salomon which commeth out of prison for to raigne that is to say according to their vnderstanding out of purgatorie to go into the kingdome of heauen In this whole booke he discourseth of the courses alterations and changes of things happening in mans life and that which followeth in the same verse doth ouerthrow their mistaking And in like manner saith he there is such a man as of a king becommeth poore Now this should fall out contrarie to their owne doctrine that those which are once glorified do neuer fall away If this be not sufficient yet Hugo the Cardinall will help and afford vs some aid This is saith he Christ who from the prison of Pilate the graue and his handes is gone vp to receiue his kingdome Lyranus alleadgeth for an example of the one Ioseph taken out of prison to gouerne Egypt and Sedechias pulled downe from his throne of Maiestie to to be cast into the dungeon for the other I am ashamed to stand vpon the refuting of these fooleries Esay 4. yet notwithstanding we must go through to the end of them In Esay When the Lord shall haue washed away the filthinesse of the daughters of Sion and wiped the blood of Ierusalem from out of the midst of her by the spirit of iudgement and of zeale This iudgement and zeale are purgatorie Let them reade that which goeth before and that which followeth they shall perceiue that the prophet speaketh of the desolation of Ierusalem and of the restoring of the same in Iesus Christ But the Paraphrast saith By the word of iudgement and by the word of consummation He felt no smell of fire And the Glosse In the spirit of iudgement the lightest and least sinnes and in the spirit of zeale the more
and that is it which galleth them most S. Paul to the Romaines alleadgeth Esay I liue saith the Lord that euerie knee shall bow before me Rom. 14. Esay 45.13 and euerie tongue shall giue praise vnto God There was greater show why it should be vnderstood of worshipping and adoration and yet he expoundeth it of the iudiciall throne of Christ Tertull. ca 17 1. de Trinit Thom in Ep. ad Philip. c. 2. and of his last iudgement And indeed Tertullian vnderstandeth it of subiection and not of adoration The ordinarie Glose saith here As well the Angels as men and the Diuell Thomas likewise The Angels willingly and freely the Diuels will they nill they That is saith hee according to that which S. Iames saith that euen the Diuels themselues doe tremble Rom. 9. S. Ambrose interpreteth it by this place of the Epistle to the Romaines Which is God blessed aboue all things c. For saith he there is nothing in the world but heauenly earthly or infernall things and referreth it to the authoritie that Christ holdeth of the Father Chrysost ad Philip. c. 2. Haimo Caict in Ep. ad Philip. c. Chrysostome to the glorie of Christ vnder which both men and Angels and Diuels doe bow and stoupe euen all both iust and righteous as also the sinners and rebellious And Haimo Hugo and Caietan after the same manner And in deed Bellarmine dare not vrge this place neither yet that of the Apocalips but confesseth that they proue not the matter Neither hath it beene alleadged by any certaine Monkes onely of this time and age excepted who make vp their Purgatorie of whatsoeuer commeth to their hands euen as franticke men who sansie euerie thing that is said vnto them For how was it possible for the old writers to find it here vnder the earth when as Saint Gregorie sought it in hotte waters in bathes and in the shadowes of trees When Alcuinus seated it in the ayre betwixt heauen and earth When the certaine place where it was was vncertaine vnto them vntill the time of Beda to whome I know not what spirit did reueale it to bee vnder the earth In the first of S. Peter Christ saith he hath suffered once for sinnes 1 Pet 3.18 c. being mortified in the flesh but quickned by the spirit by the which he also went and preached to the spirits that were in prison This prison say they is Purgatorie Let them reade that which followeth and then they will vnsay it againe Hauing beene disobedient in times past when as the patience of God did once attend and waite in the daies of Noe c. The question then is about matters happening in the daies of Noe Now they are not yet resolued that there was any Purgatorie in the time of the olde Testament And in deed they haue euermore expounded this place of the limbes so that by building their Purgatory vpon this place they haue broken downe the partition wall Againe the Gospell is preached to be heard vnderstood and receiued in faith And they themselues doe affirme that faith is not begotten or to be come by in Purgatorie To what end or vse then should this preaching serue in Purgatorie Againe to the vnbelieuing disobedient for whome according to their owne doctrine purgatorie was neuer builded Now in deed the true sence and meaning is that the spirit of Christ at all times hath called men to repentance yea euen in the daies of Noe those rebellious persons who abused the patience and long suffering of God and who notwithstanding standing out disobedient vnto the same are therefore holden captiues in prison that is to say in eternall punishment And the Greeke article leadeth vs hereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prison when the question is of spirites is ordinarily taken for here In the Apocalyps Sathan shal be let loose from his prison and elsewhere Apoc. 20. 2. Pet. 2. Iude 1. The Deuils are tyed vp in chaines of darknesse in euerlasting bondes c. But seeing they will not accept of our expositions yet at the least I would haue them to stand to the fathers Clement Alexandrine saith Clem. l. 6 that Christ and the Apostles did preach the Gospell vnto the damned but this hee taketh out of certaine Apocrypha writinges attributed vnto Saint Peter and S. Paule who had corruptly vnderstood this place In ep ad Epict. Athanasius saith that during the time that the bodie was in the graue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word went to preach to the spirites that were in hell that is to say saith Damascene Damasc l. 3. de Orthod fid c 6. Not for to conuert them to the faith but to conuince them of their vnbeliefe this preaching being no other thing but a manifesting of his deitie vnto the infernall powers by the descending of Christ into hell S. Augustine ad Euodium handleth this verie place August ad Euod epist 99. and turneth it into all the waies that it may bee taken and vnderstood that so hee might come by the true sence and yet hath not remembred Purgatorie in any one small word in the end he concludeth thus That to the end that hee may auoide the inconueniences that follow other expositions it must bee vnderstood not of any going downe into hell but of the operation and powerfull working of his deitie which he exercised from the beginning of the world that is to say that he preached vnto them which liued here below imprisoned in this mortall bodie by the spirit of his diuine nature sometimes by inward and secret inspirations and sometimes by outward admonitions proceeding from the mouth of the iust And thus it is to bee seene how that for Purgatorie hee vnderstandeth this present life Thom. 3. p. ◠62. art 2. And Thomas doeth likewise approue the same handling this question of purpose To bee shorte Cardinall Hugo saith In carcere in the prison of sinne and vnbeliefe c. And their Glosse Of the darknesse of infidelitie or of carnall desires c. And Lyranus bound and chained with the common custome of sinne And as concerning the whole place they vnderstand it Of the preaching of Noe which he practised amongst the infidels of his time Heb. 13. to draw them to repentance by the spirit of Christ for saith he Christ is yesterday and to day the same and for euer and euer what maketh all this then for Purgatorie In the first of S. Iohn If any man see his brother sinne a sinne that is not to death 1. Iohn 5.16 let him aske of God and he will gine him life to all them I say which doe not sinne vnto death There is a sinne vnto death I doe not say that thou shouldest pray for it c. From hence they inferre those which sinne vnto death Are those that persist in infidelitie saith Saint Augustine euen vnto
death and for such wee ought not to pray either whiles they liue August de cor grat c. 12. or when they are dead For such then as haue shewed some repentance or which haue sinned venially wee must pray both whiles they liue and when they be dead But how can this be gathered out of this text wherein the Apostle speaketh directly of them with whom we liue Idem in Enchir ad Laurent c. 82. Idem de scrm Domini in Monte. Tertul. l. de pudicitia and whose workes we see of the dead not so much as one word They alleadge vnto vs S. Augustine who expoundeth it of perpetuall impenitencie let them not then dissemble how that in another place hee expoundeth it of certaine kindes of sinnes as also doth Tertullian Neither would I haue them to conceale it how that the most parte of the old writers doe dissent from Saint Augustine as Saint Ierome Athanasius Chrysostome Saint Basill Saint Ambrose c. all which though they vnderstand by this sinne vnto death the sinne against the holy Ghost yet therewithall they vnderstande that this is not a finall impenitencie which is not discerned but at the time of death but an obstinate sinne which is committed in the life time and in the course of the same Saint Mathew saith That this sinne is not pardoned either in this world or in the world to come In this world that is to say in this life and in this sence our aduersaries doe alledge it against vs but they doe not remember themselues of any thing els The Apostle to the Hebrewes saith It is impossible that such persons should bee renewed by repentance Hebr. 6. Then they may bee impenitent yea sinne vnto death before death But what manner of conclusion will there follow hereof in the end Wee must not pray for such as sinne vnto death therefore wee must pray for the deade which sinne not vnto death Againe wee must pray to the ende that life may bee giuen them that is to say to the ende that their sinnes may bee pardoned Now is it not a point of their doctrine that sinnes do not come in purgatorie but that there is onely the punishment of sins but and if any sinnes yet none but those that are sleight ones But in their conclusion they except not any sinne saue that which is vnto death To be short to such as well consider the text it will appeare that they are so farre off from reasoning according to it as that in deed they reason directly to the contrarie And furthermore not one of the old writers neither yet of the newe doeth alleadge it to this purpose although the greatest part do handle and expound the same and that to another end Now these are all the places of the new Testament from which they go about to proue their purgatorie places that are obscure and hard and diuersly interpreted by the Doctors but either in a farre other sence then our aduersaries take them or else mystically and metaphorically for the most part and therefore not to be alleadged in any controuersie of diuinitie no more then in anie other for controuersies cannot bee discussed by textes in controuersie And this is the reason why the good man Perion said That in all the canonical scripture he knew not any place eyther prouing purgatorie Roffensis or praier for the dead And the Bishop of Rochester That of a truth there is not any place for the prouing of the same except it bee some such as is very intricate And Petrus a Soto after him That there is not any cleare euidence and testimony in the scripture for Purgatorie but that many other thinge ought to bee belieued which are not contained therein To what end therefore serueth all this shamelesse dealing thus to tumble tosse the scripture vpside downe thus to racke and torment all the textes one after another seeing they know in their consciences that the scripture knoweth not any purgatorie But for certaine that text which knoweth not to agree any whit with their exposition doeth know well enough to admit and receiue ours It doeth not know theirs Mark 16. being alwaies for the proofe of that third pretended place for it saith Who so shall belieue and be baptised shall be saued but hee that shall not haue belieued shal be condemned Iohn 3 c. Againe God hath sent his onely Sonne into the world to the ende that hee that shall belieue in him might not perish but haue euerlasting life Hee that belieueth in him is not iudged but he that belieueth not in him is alreadie iudged c. Againe He that belieueth in him which hath sent me hath eternal life he cometh not into iudgement he is already past froÌ„ death tâ—olife And so passed the theefe into Paradice the same houre Againe Blessed are they that die in the Lord Rom. 4. for from that time saith the spirit they rest from their labours blessed are they whose sinnes are forgiuen But according to their owne sayings the sins of those which are in their Purgatory are they not remitted are they not dead in the Lord And yet what time must they indure in the burning and flaming fire of this purgatorie And thus sayeth Saint Paule That there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ And thus said our Lord to that man Let the dead burie the dead who would not haue hindred him from performing any worke of charitie And S. Paule againe Take no care for those which sleepe All these places of scripture cannot stande with Purgatorie But they haue very well knowne ours euen Christ the eternall Son of God who by himselfe hath wrought the purging away of our sinnes Apocal. 14. Heb 1. Hebr. 9. Tit. 2. Ephes 5. 1. Iohn 1. whose blood cleanseth our consciences from the workes of death who hath giuen himselfe for to purge a people peculiar to himselfe to cleanse a Church for himselfe by the washing of water in the word who purgeth and cleanseth vs by his blood from all sin In so much as that through that confidence which we haue in this our so sufficient Purgatorie we are able to say without fearing any other I desire to bee loosed and to depart from hence and to bee with Christ Because likewise that wee know that if the tabernacle of this our house of earth be dissolued Philip. 1.2 Cor. 5. we shall haue abuilding with God and that not such a building as is made with hands but eternally abiding in the heauens And that not after some intermission of time but presently and forthwith hodié inquam to day euen from the houre in which hee shall call vs out of this world because that we belieue in him And therefore also wee haue alreadie attained life yea we are alreadie passed from death to life CHAP. VIII That neither the Primitiue Church nor the fathers of the same for the space of many
one and the humbling of God Chrysost in 1. Cor. hom 18. Saint Chrysostome in many places That God punisheth not his faithfull children either vpon any pleasure that he taketh therein neither vpon any creditor-like rigour which he exerciseth vpon vs. In that he chastiseth vs saith he it is rather for the admonishing of vs then for the condemning of vs for the curing of vs then for the correcting of vs for the amending of vs then for the punishing of vs. The Apostle saith he saith not 1. Cor. 11.31 if wee punish and afflict our selues if we take punishment of our selues but if wee iudge our selues that is to say if onely wee will acknowledge our sinnes wee shall not bee iudged Chrisost in Genes hom 44. Againe I do require saith the Lord but one thing which is that men woulde confesse their sinnes and that they would abstaine from committing them any more and then I will not lay any more punishment vpon them for their sinnes And in another place Idem in â—roem in Isa I will not saith he that thou shouldest say vnto me I haue sinned how may I be freed from so many sins Thou canst not procure the meanes but thy Lord is able who will in such sort blot out thy sins as that there shal not remaine any marke or print thereof for otherwise then it is wont to fall out in the bodie for in the bodie after the healing of a wound there remaineth a scarre God bee pardoneth the sin God remitteth and forgiueth the punishment God giueth righteousnes therewithall he maketh also the sinner equall with him that hath not sinned c. S. Ierome Hieronym in Esa c. 66. Idem in Daniel c 7. in psal 31. God is called a consuming fire to the end he way consume all the vices that are in vs our hay our woode our stubble I thinke that it was that fire that did sit vpon the tongs of the Apostles Againe Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered because saith hee that that which is hidden is not seene and that which is not seene is not imputed that which is not imputed is not punished c. The schoolmen affirme the like Lombard saith Lombard 3. D. 19. If we looke vpon and behold with a right faith him that was hanged vpon the tree for vs we are set free from the bonds of the Deuill we are deliuered from sin Sathan in such sort as that after this life there is not any thing to be found in vs to be punished for our Lord by his death by this onely true sacrifice hath put out and extinguished all those sins that were in vs whereby the Deuill had power to hold lay hands vpon vs to punish vs. Whereupon also Scotus saith Scot. in l. sent D. 15. Glos in c. 1. de poenit D. No man can satisfie for sinnes saue in the power and vertue of the passion of Christ And the Glose of the Decree Sinnes are not forgiuen either for the contrition of the hart neither yet for the confession of the mouth but by the grace of God And yet the contrition of the heart is a signe that the sins are remitted the outward satisfaction a signe of the contrition of the hart for grace goeth before contrition c. Now let our aduersaries agree and reconcile these Maxims here set downe with those of purgatorie whose foundation they will haue to be a necessitie of satisfaction the forgiuenesse of the sin but not of the punishment and an insufficiencie of that purgation which the blood of Christ hath made c. The second and it affordeth as little fauour to the aduersarie as the first Iust Mart. in quaest â—espons q. 10. Iustin Martyr The historie of Lazarus and the rich man goeth through stitch with this doctrine namely that after the separation of the soule and the bodie men cannot possibly receiue any succour or reliefe by any manner of carefull prouidence whatsoeuer The same Quaest 75. After that the soules are seperated from their bodies there is presently a distinction made betwixt the good the euill the one to bee conueighed into Paradice and the other into hell c. Iustin in Tryphon Cypr. contr Demetr tract Againe in his Tryphon This is a sentence of Christ In quibus vos deprehendero in ijsdem vos iudicabo And S. Cyprian expoundeth it Such saith he as God findeth thee when he calleth thee out of this world vnto himselfe for such a one will he iudge thee Againe We exhort you to make satisfaction whiles you haue any of these worldly things left you c. Againe After that a man is departed hence there remaineth no more place for repentance there is not any further vse of satisfaction thereupon followeth either the losse of life or the sauing of it c. Thou although thou be vpon thy departure vpon the laying downe of this life pray vnto God for the pardoning of thy sinnes confesse them to him in faith he pardoneth those which confesse he letteth loose such as belieue that they may be saued and from the path of death men passe into the place of immortalitie What a cold comfort had it beene vnto them if he had said Athanas in variis quaest quae cius utulo seruntur q. 19. Men making an end of this their walke doe passe into the torments of Purgatorie Athanasius The soules departed hence it is a profound question and hidden from vs to shew whither they go and in what condition they are for neuer did God permit it vnto any man to returne make report of these matters onely wee learne from the scriptures that the soules of sinners go downe vnder the earth into such place as wherein they neither see the light nor the maner of the liues of men but that those of the iust and righteous since the death of Christ went into Paradice which our Lord hath set open not for the theefe onely but for all the soules of the Saints Basil in Moral reg 1. c. 2. 5. Gregor Nazianz in laudem Caesar Saint Basill The time whiles men liue here is the time of repentance for so soone as wee bee gone hence the time of doing well is cut off and taken from vs. Gregorie Nazianzene The words of the wise leade me to belieue that euerie soule that is excellent and beloued of God so soone as it is departed hence being loosed out of the bodie receiueth an vnspeak eable delight and pleasure of the liuely feeling of that felicitie which is appointed for it and betaketh it selfe with a ioyfull flight to the Lord. How agreeth this ioy with griefe and paine this flight to God with purgatorie Ambros de Bono mortis S. Ambrose Dauid laboured to attaine to the blessed communion of the saints crauing by reason of the filthinesse cleauing vnto vs in this worldly pilgrimage that his sinnes
Aquinas and all the rest And these are in summe all the places that I know whereby they would proue and allow the intercession of Saints If this were not that wee haue to adde thereto the blasphemie of the Archbishop Antonine Let vs drawe neere saith the Apostle vnto the Hebrewes vnto the throne of grace c. That is to say of the Virgine Marie which is the throne of Christ wherein he hath rested to the end wee may obtaine mercie and find grace for the obtaining of helpe in due time c. Which is manifestly spoken of Iesus Christ our Bishop And therefore it is no maruaile though Eckius doe freely and boldly say That the holy Ghost Eckius in Ench hath not appointed or ordained by the expresse Scriptures the inuocation of Saints either in the old or new Testament And Petrus a Soto That it is not manifestly taught there but onely insinuated and the Iesuites themselues that it is not clearely giuen vs there but as in a mysterie and by a certaine consequence And on the contrarie a great maruaile that a doctrine amongst them of such moment should not bee contained in the holy Scriptures but by the way of a lame and pretended consequence As in deed the Councell of Trent hath not found it in the Scripture but in auncient vse and custome in the consent of the Fathers and in the Decrees of the Councels Which we will examine hereafter A third point remaineth That the morite of the Saints hath no ground in the Scripture that they are as weakly and slenderly grounded in the Masse for the offering vp of the merits and passions of the Saints vnto God for the satisfying of their sinnes in stead of the infinite merite of that one onely sacrifice that the Sonne of God hath offered vpon the Crosse whether we consider the sufficiencie of that only one or the insufficiencie of all the rest how many and whatsoeuer they be The sufficiencie for it is the Sonne of God eternal and infinite the sacrificer and the sacrifice whose sacrifice hath by consequent an infinite and eternall efficacie as the Apostle doth largely handle the same in the Epistle to the Hebrewes The insufficiencie of al other because that they are the works of the creatures by consequent finite and imperfect and of men and by consequent subiect to sinne and sinners and those the most who presume not to bee at all according to that which is said vnto vs in S. Iohn Jf we say he putteth himselfe in the number that we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. That then that all the Saints haue not beene condemned it was in the mercie of God by Iesus Christ the holy Virgine her selfe whom hee hath vouchsafed to regard in her base and low estate being so much the more bound by how much the more shee hath receiued and so much the further off from meriting by how much the more it hath pleased him the Almightie and soueraigne Lord if it be lawfull so to speake to merite at her hands That they are raigning in heauen a botomlesse depth of his goodnesse an inheritance of the children and not any pledge or badge of seruants in as much as in his welbeloued sonne it hath pleased him according to the riches of his grace of vnprofitable and peruerse seruants to adopt them Sons yea coheires with his Christ according to that which is said in so many places Ephes 2. You are saued by grace by faith in Christ and not of your selues For this is the gift of God not by workes to the end that no man may boast Againe We are iustified by grace that we may bee his heires Tit. 3. in hope of eternall life And of grace For we are all conceiued in originall sinnes And all the water of humane merits cannot wash them away though they should amount vnto the measure of a mightie floud it must of necessitie bee the worke of the bloud of Christ washed likewise by that bloud yet the remnants of that naturall corruption doe continually abide and dwell with vs that so we may acknowledge his grace in our infirmitie whereas our first father lost the same by a pretended incorruption and impossibilitie for his nature to sinne And therefore wee haue to say with Dauid If thou enter into iudgement with thy seruant who may abide it With Salomon Psal 143. Ecclesiast 6. Iob. 15. There is not a righteous man vpon the earth that doth good nay which doth not sinne With Iob The heauens are not pure in his sight no not the Angels how much lesse man vnprofitable and abheminable which drinketh iniquitie like water Whereupon it followeth likewise that if God should haue giuen vnto man euen him that is the holiest of all the rest a thousand Paradises if it could bee done for an inheritance yet so gracelesse he is as that he should not be able to keepe one of them without his grace for quickly would hee loose them by reason of his sinnes and transgressions the rigour and seueritie of his iustice taking the balance once in hand And how should he purchase it then by his own power And yet further how shuld he leaue a remainder to be husbanded for others Some say if they haue lost them by their falles as Saint Peter by hauing denied Christ and S. Paul by persecuting of his Church yet they haue recouered them by the confession and Martyrdome which they haue made and suffered for his name and that so aboundantly as that they haue left an ouerplus But O horrible blasphemie 1. Cor. l. 30. S. Paul and S. Peter say not so They doe not glorie in any thing but in the Crosse of Christ but in his sufferings but in his stripes not in their owne righteousnesse not in their owne holinesse but in him which was vnto them from God wisedome righteousnesse sanctification redemption c. So farre off are they from being of that mind that in respect of them he hath suffered in vaine Likewise the bloud of the creature hath no part in making of the recompence or paimēt with or in stead of the bloud of the Sonne of God of the Creatour of the world to whom as he is the Creator we are alreadie indebted euen to the summe of our liues to whome as a iust iudge we stand bound for our sinnes in the summe of a thousand deaths And therefore as vnto our redeemer and that in the price of his bloud Our redeemer not to ransome vs but for to crowne vs not to draw vs from euill but to draw vs to all goodnesse not to deliuer vs from the tyrannie of hell but to cause vs to raigne and triumph eternally with him Here let vs enter into our owne consciences how shall our bloud and life be able to ascend vp thither And therefore the Apostle said All accompts cast the sufferings of this present world Rom. 8.18 are
Wee shall haue euermore need to say Forgiue vs our trespasses And the Apostle himselfe hath a pricke dwelling still in his flesh for to humble him withall 1. Cor. 12.7 because that The grace of God is sufficient for vs his power is perfected in our weaknesse What is then the priuiledge or what is the prerogatiue of the regenerate Great verily euerie manner of way for sinne dwelleth but raigneth not in them for that the old man liueth yet in them but cannot kill them but himselfe rather is mortified and slaine euerie day for that they haue an assurance against the reward of sinne for their sinnes are forgiuen them in Christ and therefore blessed and assured of eternal life For there is no condemnation to them which are in Iesus Christ which walke not after the flesh Rom. 8.2 but after the spirit in as much as the Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus hath freed them from the Law sinne death c. Saint Augustine intreating vppon this question of purpose Testimonies out of the Fathers August de peccat merit remiss l. 2. c. 7. hath not said any otherwise Let vs not thinke saith he that presently vpon the baptising of any man that all his old and accustomed infirmities are wasted and vanished seeing his renuing or Regeneration beginneth at the remission of all his sinnes c. Otherwise saith hee the Apostle would not haue said although that the outward man die the inward is renued day by day But it may be that this concupiscence after Baptisme is indifferent either to couet good or euill This is it which Iulianus the Pelagian did so vehemently auouch vnto him Idem l. 6. c. 6. contr Iulian. Nay saith he if I had thought so much I had not said vnto thee that it is euill and wicked but that it had henâ— for thou speakest as those that would say that it should haue beene sanctified in Baptisme But wee say that it is wicked and that it ceaseth not so to continue in those that haue beene baptised But saith Iulian Reatus eius his sinne is absolued and forgiuen Not his sinne saith S. Augustine for it is no person but rather sinne as it made man originally guiltie is remitted and made voide of all such force As when any man is absolued of manslaughter thou saist not that the crime of manslaughter is absolued but the man from the crime But it is not it may be so bad as men report it to be and that there is a heauier punishment laid vppon it then the fault deserueth Idem contr eundem l 6. c. 5 Nay saith he againe This is so great a mischiefe as that it would hold vs in death and draw vs into the last death if the bonds thereof were not vnloosed or broken in the generall pardon of all our sinnes which is sealed and assured in Baptisme And although that sometimes according to the common custome hee call sinne Non ipsum concupiscere sed post concupiscentias ire Not the blossome or bud but the fruite that commeth therof Rom. 7. yet the saying of S. Paul doth alwaies remaine out of all doubt I had not knowne lust to haue beene sinne if the Lawe had not said Thou shalt not lust c. And in deede S. Augustine proueth it to Iulian August contr Iulian. l. 2. by all them which haue gone before By S. Ambrose who calleth it iniquitie Because saith he it is vnrighteous which the flesh lusteth after against the spirit Malitiam per conditionem originis Againe A delight contrarie to the Law of God By S. Hillarie who calleth our bodies the matter of vices and the euils within vs an originall malice inherent euen from our first framing c. Whereupon saith hee we doe not retaine any thing that is cleane vndefiled or harmelesse No not the Apostles themselues in whome saith he after they were washed sanctified by the word there remained as yet a malice Per conditionem communis originis By the condition of the common beginning Which thing our Lord teacheth vs saying Idem contr eundem l 5. c. 4.5 l. 2. If you which yet are euill c. And as consequently following of all that hath gone before S. Augustine teacheth That concupiscence is an euill not such a one as men are to suffer and beare by patience but such a one as those are which men must bridle and suppresse by abstayning from committing of them that is to say an euill of fault and not of punishment that it is a vice that must be fought against by vertue which is remitted and pardoned but not finished not extinguished by Baptisme Idem de pecc merit l. 1. c. 3. tract in Ioh 4. Not in such sort saith he as that it should not be any longer inherent in man for the rest of the time that he liueth but to the end that it should not hurt him after his death that it is an infirmitie that is troden downe by the Lawe of God a griefe and wearing disease that striueth against our saluation In a word That it is both a punishment of sinne as also a cause of sinne a punishment saith he in as much as it is repaid for the merites of disobedience Idem contr eundem l. 5 c. 3 Aut defuncti one consentientis aut contagione nascentis Idem in Iohn 4. Criminibus querela a cause for that man is either polluted with it in his conception or else is drawne to consent to sinne by the default thereof Yea a verie sinne it selfe in as much as it is a disobedience rebelling against the rule and gouernment of the vnderstanding a desire against which the good spirite coueteth and desireth that is to say the spirit of man regenerate by the spirit of God But in one place after many solemne protestations he handleth the whole question The regenerate saith he are deliuered from sinne But how They are deliuered saith hee in as much as they are both without crime and sorrow but this is a libertie onely begun and not accomplished not altogether absolute not as yet pure and vnspotted because that I see an other Law in my members c. Againe All our sinnes and trespasses are blotted out in Baptisme and yet is it said that if iniquitie bee defaced there remaineth no infirmitie Verily if there were no remnants of it behinde we should liue without sinne If therefore thou serue with thy flesh the Lawe of sinne doe that which the Apostle saith Let not sinne raigne in our mortall bodies It is not said let it not be there at all but let it not raigne because that as long as thou liuest there must of necessitie be sinne in thy members but at the least let it haue his kingdome taken awaie that so it may not bee obeyed in that which it commaundeth Yea such a sinne as is hated of God abiding still in the regenerate and
of the Law The law leadeth to faith and the iustice of God to his grace cannot possibly faile by consequent to explaine and lay open vnto vs the benefite of grace leading vs from Moyses to Christ from workes to faith and from death wherein wee stand naturally euen from the time of our conception and whereinto also euen after the time of our regeneration we runne and cast our selues continually by our faults and offences vnto our life and righteousnesse which is hid in Christ We cannot liue by the Law for we cannot fulfill it wherefore we must haue recourse vnto his grace His grace that is to say the mercie of God freely exhibited in Iesus Christ who hath fulfilled the Law by his obedience and which hath borne our transgressions vppon the Crosse but for such as to whome God hath giuen by the same grace to feele the sentence of condemnation due in themselues and assuredly to belieue their saluation in him And this is the cause why these two points are ordinarily conioyned and coupled together both in the Scriptures and holy Fathers euen grace and faith opposed to the Law and workes namely that grace that is to say that gift which God hath bestowed vppon vs by the righteousnesse of his onely begotten Sonne yea of his Sonne and all that which hee possesseth for the abolishing of our sinnes that faith that is to say that abilitie and power which hee giueth vs by his holy spirite to receiue in humilitie and yet with all assurednesse and certaintie that incomparable good thing which hee bestoweth vpon vs here below as a pledge and earnest pennie of those which hee will consequently giue vs to possesse with him in the highest heauens Origen expounding these words of the Apostle Orig. in Ep. ad Rom. l 3. c. 3. Where is thy glorying it is shut out c. He saith saith he that the iustification which is of faith onely doth suffice although that the belieuer haue not wrought any worke And for an example wee haue the theefe for whose onely faith Jesus said vnto him This day thou shalt be with me in Paradice c. And so likewise the woman in the Gospell Luke the seuenth The Pharisie said Jf he were a Prophet he would know what shee is but for her faith onely Iesus said vnto her Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee c. And for this cause the Apostle doth not boast himselfe of his owne righteousnesse chastitie wisedome c. But of the Crosse of Christ in the Lawe of faith which is in Iesus Christ c. Saint Ambrose saith Ambros de Virgin l. 3. Christ hath not redeemed thee with siluer nor gold haue thy siluer readie thou art not arrested euerie day though thou be in debt He hath paid his bloud for thee thou art indebted vnto him this bloud for we lay pawned in the hands of a wicked Creditor We haue beene the cause of the bill of our owne blame and guiltinesse by our sinnes Idem de fide l. 3. c. 3. wee owe for the punishment of the same our bloud the Lord Iesus is come hee hath paid his bloud for vs c. Againe Our redemption is by the bloud of Christ our forgiuenesse and pardon by his power and our life by his grace Idem de bono mort c. 2. Ep. 72.73 Againe Eternall life that is the forgiuenesse of sinnes and the Lord Iesus is come to fasten our sufferings to his Crosse to forgiue vs our sinnes to nayle to the crosse our obligation and to wash all the world in his blood Otherwise Idem de Iacob beat vita l. 1. c. 5. Psalme 118. saith he wherefore should the Prophet haue said Haue mercie on mee if he had trusted vnto his owne righteousness if there be any thing but mercie which deliuereth from sin But hee that hath need of mercie is a sinner and therefore what soeuer good commeth to vs let vs impute it to the righteousnesse of Christ It is the mercie of the Lord that remission of sinnes is freely and liberally giuen vnto vs Let no man glorie or boast himselfe that he hath a chast hart c. Againe Idem de fide l. 3. c. 3. My wisedome that is to saie the crosse of Christ My redemption the death of Christ Again By the disobedience of one man many are made sinners by the obedience of one man many are made righteous Againe God hath taken vpon him our flesh to abolish the curse of our sinfull flesh Idem de fuga saecul c. 7. Iudicato he was made a curse for vs to the end that the blessing might swallow vppe the curse integritie sinne grace the sentence of death and life death it selfe for he likewise hath vndergone death to fulfill the sentence of death and to satisfie the iudge for the curse lying vppon sinfull flesh Faith receiueth and taketh hold of grace Idem de paenit l. 2. Ex Syngrapha Idem in ep ad Rom. c. 3. 4 euen to the death c. And here behold the poole of grace the fountaine of life freely set open who shall put vs into the poole who shall draw for vs out of that fountaine verily verily no other helping hand saith the Apostle but faith yea Onely faith saith Saint Ambrose Let vs hope and looke for saith he the pardoning of sinnes by faith and not as by debt or merite faith will obtaine it for vs as by vertue of couenant vnder writing that is to say of the promises of God by the which he hath bound himselfe vnto vs Praesumptio propior est arroganti quà m roganti c. Presumption that is that ouer high couceipt we haue of our workes is more incident to such as arrogate and challenge for their owne eternall life by their desertes then to such as acknowledging themselues to haue no parte therein as of themselues doe humblie craue the same by praier c. Againe They are iustified freely because they are iustified without doing or working for the same and because they giue not any thing in exchange for the same they are iustified by faith alone by the gift of God c. The wicked man impius is iustified before God by faith alone c. For Idem devocat Gen. l. 2. c. 8. He that dare saith he preach that the grace of God is giuen according to mens merites preacheth against the catholike faith c. Let no man therefore glorie in his workes for no man shall be iustified by them He that is iust he hath it of gift Tertullian calleth it Donatiuum for hee is iustified by being washed It is faith that deliuereth vs by the blood of Christ Idem ep 71. Blessed is he whose sinnes are remitted and hath his pardon granted c. Againe By the sinne of one all haue deserued to bee condemned sinning alike for in the righteousnesse of one all shall be iustified credentes that belieue If hee
c. Which the second Councell of Orange resolued vpon in these speeches If any man say that the verie beginnings of faith Et ipse credulitatis affectus by which we belieue in him which iustifieth the wicked and not the growth and increase onely are not the gift of grace by the inspiration of the holy Ghost calling and reclaiming vs from infidelitie to faith from impietie and vngodlinesse to pietie and godlinesse c. Let him bee accompted of as an enemie of the doctrine of the Apostles c. Thus Prosper handled the matter reasoning and arguing the same amongst our Frenchmen and this same controuersie or the like was stirred againe by one Abailardus a long time after against our Countrie man S. Barnard Barnar Dom. Serm. 1. for the vnreclaimable pride of man when all other things yeeld will still stand out and bee last in the field who though he be of the last and newest yet is hee not the least worth or comming behinde the rest for the well handling of this matter God saith he hath washed with the water of an other those who had beene defiled by the sin of an other And yet not in such sort altogether an other mans but that it was our owne withall for otherwise it had not polluted and defiled vs but thus an other mans for that wee haue all sinned in Adam ours because that we our selues also haue sinned And howbeit that wee haue sinned in an other yet it was imputed vnto vs by the iudgement of God a iust iudgement and sentence though secret and hidden And yet notwithstanding O man thou hast no cause to complaine thy selfe for in stead of Adam his disobedience thou hast the obedience of Christ freely giuen vnto thee c. Idem Serm. 4. in fer hebdo Of Christ saith he who is come freely to iustifie sinners to make seruants his brethren and slaues fellow-heires with him and banished men kings He hath said Consummatum est All is fulfilled and finished there is nothing left vndone that ought to bee done c. And how was this done Jn this saith hee that he was made sinne all manner of sinne as well originall as personall hath beene defaced yea euerie single and particular sinne hath beene banished and cast out shall mans miseries then ouercome Gods mercies or rather the mercies the miseries And he hath not onely taken vpon him the forme of a seruant to be made subiect but of an euill seruant to bee beaten and of a seruant of sinne to pay the punishment he himselfe notwithstanding being the partie in whome there was no fault c. Let not therefore the name of holinesse astonish thee Idem Serm. 3. ad fratres Propositum Idem in fest Sanctor For God calleth not Saints according to merite but according to his owne ordinance and decree that is to say according to his purpose not according to their affections but according to his owne intention And he rendreth a reason in an other place For saith he What can our righteousnesse bee before God but a menstruous cloth as the Prophet saith All our righteousnesse to be short but vnrighteousnesse And then by a stronger reason what shall our sinnes be And therefore let vs haue recourse with the Prophet vnto mercie alone for it is that alone that is able to saue our soules and only that mercie extended and exhibited in Iesus Christ alone Idem de sepulchro ad milites In Christ alone saith he who taking vpon him the burden of the punishment but being nothing possessed of the fault hath merited life and righteousnesse for vs with God In Christ alone who dying for sinners hath remitted the sinne whereby it commeth to passe that there saith hee remaineth no more place for merite and yet notwithstanding our debt is paid In Christ alone in whose death death is hunted and chased away and his righteousnesse imputed vnto vs. But VVhat a peece of Iustice is it wilt thou say that the innocent and guiltlesse should die for the transgressor and guiltie person Yes And not iustice onely but a worke of mercie also c. But againe How may the gutltie be iustified by this death Nay why may or should hee not One shall haue sinned and all shall be guiltie Now then should the innocencie of one extend and bee imputed but to one The sinne of one hath brought death vpon all And the righteousnesse of one should it restore life but to one The sinne of Adam shall bee imputed vnto me and shall not the righteousnesse of Christ appertaine vnto me The disobedience of one hath spoyled me and shall not the obedience of the other doe me any seruice Multo germanius Idem in Psal 91. Serm. 14. Idem in Cant. Serm. 13.14.22.23 Illibata c Nay rather saith hee we are borne of God according to the spirite both more naturally and lawfully then of Adam according to the fleshe c. And therefore saith hee Iesus Christ hath power to forgiue sinnes as God and to die as man and in dying to acquit the debt of death in that hee was iust and himselfe to bee sufficient for vs all both vnto righteousnesse and vnto life c. Jn this righteousnesse saith hee thou art saued gratis and for nothing in respect of thy selfe but in respect of him not altogedound without any touch or stroke of man therein as hauing alone triumphed ouer the enemie alone deliuered the sillic captiues alone encountred and alone ouercome c. For such as will establish their owne righteousnesse which iustifieth not but accuseth there can no better fall out vnto them then that they should be giuen ouer to their owne righteousnesse which will ouerset and ouerwhelme them in stead of iustifying of them c. But on the contrarie O Lord the sweete smell of thy righteousnesse is so large and farre and wide spread euerie where throughout as that thou art knowne not onely to bee iust and righteous but iustice and righteousnesse it selfe euen that righteousnesse which iustifieth the sinner c. And it is saith hee in this righteousnesse that I am iustified and made righteous For inlighten thou mine eyes and I become prudent and of good vnderstanding remember not the sinnes of my youth and then I become iust guide me in the way and then I become holy but if thy bloud doe not sue for me I doe not attaine saluation But blessed and not iust alone is hee to whome sinne is not imputed c. It is sufficient therefore for me and in stead of all righteousnesse Indulgen Dei Idem Serm. 61 to haue him fauourable and mercifull vnto me against whome alone I haue sinned All that whatsoeuer he hath appointed not to bee imputed vnto me is as if it neuer had beene The righteousnesse of God is not to sinne the righteousnesse of man is Gods pardon Hitherto we see how this holy person cannot satisfie himselfe or thinke that he hath
Serm. de verit mater 27. by the same grace the meanes to cause it to become and prooue such And therefore saith he Man is not onely said to haue the grace of God because he is beloued of God vnto eternall life but also because he giueth him a gift by the which he maketh him wore thie of eternall life which we cal gratiam gratum facientem Grace which maketh a man acceptable that is to wit this faith infused by the holie Ghost into our hearts by the which saith he all the fathers of the olde Testament became acceptable to God and iustified and whereby wee also are deliuered from sinne and death And this fayth saith hee quickeneth the soule by grace Galat. 2. It purgeth it from sinnes Actes 17. c. It giueth righteousnesse vnto the soule Rom. 3. It betrotheth and affianceth vs vnto God Osee 2. Iden in 1.2 q. 102 art 5 Idem in expos 1. Decret In offic de corp Christ In Hymno Tert. summ q. 4.49 arr 1. AEgid Fom c. 12. l. Examer l. 2. c. 4. It adopteth men to be the sonnes of God 1. Iohn 2. It causeth vs to approch and draw neere vnto God Heb. 11. Finally by it men attaine the hire of eternall life Iohn 6. c. Againe To establish and strengthen a sincere heart onelie faith sufficeth c. By faith the passion of Christ is applied vnto vs that so wee may be able to receiue the fruits thereof Rom. 3. It is vnto vs both the beginning and cause of righteousnesse Rom. 8. That righteousnesse which is by the faith of Christ c. Yea and yet Aegidius saith further That all our good workes are the workes of God Thou hast O Lord saith Esai wrought and brought to passe our workes And wee are not sufficient saith the Apostle to thinke anie good of our selues it is he which maketh vs righteous and which effecteth in vs the workes of righteousnesse Nowe were it not better to holde him to these Maximes and to the conclusions necessarily insuing heereof as that wee owe vnto the infinite grace of God our iustification to the perfect and absolute righteousnesse of Christ our righteousnesse to God by Iesus Christ the beginning middest and ende of our saluation according to the Scriptures then according to the curious Meditations which happen vnto the most excellent wittes when the drie and barren veine ouertaketh them to seeke our saluation in our selues in whome there is nothing to bee found but destruction or for any thing wherewith we may pay God or wherewith we may purchase eternall life both for our selues and others out of our owne stocks and prouision In the meane time wee see howe the succeeding ages learned to build vpon these strawie and stubblie foundations Thomas had said That free-will mooued by the grace of God proceeded vnto good workes and became fellow-worker with his grace These men say That free-will of his owne nature dooth such workes as that they merit that God should illuminate the worker with his grace giue him faith c. In such sort as that the vnbeleeuers doe merit of God by their workes not any more the gift of faith and righteousnesse but faith and righteousnesse for a hire which they call Meritum de congruo as a man would say of well beseeming meaning thereby that if not for righteousnesse yet at the least for seemlinesse sake God is bound to giue them his grace See I pray you how this matter agreeth with the Scripture Whatsoeuer is done without faith cannot please God With Saint Augustine The workes of all vnbeleeuers considered in them are sinnes As also with Thomas Whereas God is mooued to distribute his grace it is not in consideration of ante merits gone before or to come but of his free grace and good will sed ex mera gratia And this is the same likewise which the Schoole-men say in their dunsicall doctrine That man by his naturall power doing that which is in himselfe without faith and without the holy Ghost is able to merit de congruo that God should giue him grace And Gabriel Biel expoundeth these woordes Gab. Biel. in 3. sent d. 27. In 4. Sent. d. 14 q. 1. d. 14 l. 3. q. 2. That which is in himselfe louing God saith he aboue all things And this he affirmeth that Man may doe of his owne naturall power Whereas notwithstanding in deed the case standeth thus that loue proceedeth from knowledge and that imperfect knowledge cannot beget perfect loue Yea hee passeth further for saith he as no subiect receiueth anie forme except it be prepared and fitted thereunto euen so it is requisite that our soule should bee prepared for the infusion of grace which is our formall righteousnesse before God and this it commeth to be by the meanes of free-will which maketh a man to know his sinne and to be displeased with himselfe for the same which he calleth dispositionem praeuiam after which he resolueth to loue God aboue all which he calleth dispositionem concomitantem which maketh the soule apt to receiue the stampe and marke namely the infusion of his grace by this act so meriting the same euen so farre foorth as that grace of necessitie and that verie speedilie is infused into it Neither more nor lesse saith hee then in naturall things vltima immediata dispositio necessitat ad formam Which is as much to say in plaine English as that our free-will dooth not onely merit grace at Gods hande for seemelinesse sake but euen of necessitie and perforce Quite contrarie to that which Saint Paule repeateth so often times By grace Thomas likewise Mera liberalitate meragratia c. As also cleane contrarie to that that hee maketh Grace the beginning of our saluation in intention and the effectiue in the execution c. Thomas againe had saide That free-will deliuereth by the grace of God and worketh certaine actions auailable to the purging and taking away of veniall sinnes as also to the stirring vp of the increase of grace But such as come after staie not there For this infused grace of God by the merit of the free-will of man is turned by them into a state and disposition of the spirit made conformable to the Law and will of God by which Man saith this Gabriell also is not onely deliuered from bond of damnation but also is made worthie of life and eternall glorie And the soule saith he informed and taught by this grace by an action drawne partly from this grace and partly from a mans owne will doth merit eternall life not any more de congruo that is to say of congruitie or for seemelinesse sake but de condig no for hauing done a deed worthie of the same that is to say by righteousnesse For euen so doe they define it That the workes of the regenerate done in charitie in this life deserue eternall life in as much as it is to be rendred and giuen to good workes
is swaruing and degenerating from the other wee must first consider after what manner the holy Supper was instituted that holy Supper which is the sacrament of the new Testament and succeeded the feast of the Passeouer which was the Sacrament of the olde that holy supper which is the true commemoration and memoriall of the sacrifice of the lambe without spot or blemish slaine for our sinnes the figure and representation whereof had before beene liuely set out in the Paschall lambe For we do altogether agree in this all the sort of vs that as the law was ordained to leade vs to grace Moses and the Prophets to bring vs to Christ euen so all the propitiatorie sacrifices of the law were to fit and to prepare vs for the laying holde vppon that true and onely propitiatorie the very lambe which taketh vpon him the sinnes of the worlde And all the sacrifices of thankesgiuing likewise which were offered for the acknowledgement of temporall benefites serued to stirre vs vp to the consideration of this great and vnspeakeable spirituall benefite which it pleased God according to the riches of his mercie to manifest and lay open in his Sonne And therefore as we must come to the knowledge of the Masse by the holy Supper so to that of the holy Supper by the Passeouer the holy Supper hauing succeeded the Passeouer by the institution of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Masse in the Church of Rome hauing taken vp the place of the holy supper through the corruption which hath beene brought in by the See and gouernment of Antichrist Behold therefore the institution of the Passeouer in Exodus Pharao perseuering in his rebelliousnes Exod. 1◠That the holy Supper came in place of the Passeouer God declared vnto Moses that he would roote out all the first borne of Egypt yet neuerthelesse to the end he might put some difference betwixt the vessels of his wrath and those of his mercie he would spare the first borne of Israell spare them I say not because of any their merites but for his owne compassions sake through the fauour purchased by the lambe slaine for sinne from the foundation of the world Wherefore hee ordained that in euerie familie betwixt two euens a lambe without spot for a type and figure of the true and verie lambe should bee killed and eaten that with the bloode thereof the postes of the houses of his people should be sprinckled to the end that the destroying Angell might passe ouer as an euident warning and admonition that whereas this blood was not sprinkled what familie or person soeuer it might be there was nothing but matter for his wrathfull anger to worke and feede vpon that moreouer this killing of this lambe should bee renewed euery yeare and that for euer to teach and instruct the ages to come as well in the memorie of the benefites alreadie receiued as in the expectation and faithfull looking for of greater that were to come and to be receiued Now in this institution wee haue both a Sacrament and a sacrifice to consider and thinke vpon In the Passeouer is a Sacrament and a sacrifice The Sacrament giuen of God vnto his people for a seale and assurance of his promise and of the fulfilling of the same for to this end are the Sacraments giuen of God vnto his people when he saith And this blood shal be for a signe vnto you in your houses that when I shall see it I will passe-ouer and that there shall not be any deadly stroke amongst you when I shall smite Egypt A sacrifice offred vp to God by his people for as properly are sacrifices offered vp to God by the people as Sacramentes come from God are giuen to the people as is witnessed when he saith And this day shall be for a memoriall vnto you and you shall keepe holy this feast in your generations in as much as God smote Egipt and passed notwithstanding ouer our houses c. Such a Sacrament notwithstanding as leadeth vs from this lambe vnto another lambe from this blood vnto an other bloode and from this temporall effectualnesse vnto a spirituall in as much as it is chosen without spotte it is for a signe of our Redeemer his innocencie and in that it is slaine it serueth vs for a signe of his death and passion in that it is eaten it is a signe to vs of that life and nourishment which wee draw from his death and of our communicating of his flesh and of his bloode as being bone of his bones flesh of his flesh c. And a Sacrifice also which besides that it is truely and verily one of the number of those which were of praise and thankesgiuing ceaseth not neuerthelesse any manner of way to hold the place of a propitiatorie seeing that this lambe offered by the father of the familie doth prefigure vnto vs the lambe which the heauenly father did sacrifice vpon the tree of the crosse for the saluation of such as were of his houshould through faith and our Propitiation in his bloode as it is expounded by S. Iohn the fore-runner Ioh. 1.19 Behold the lambe which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde And by the Euangelist in better forme referring and applying that to the substance and truth which was ordained and decreed of the type and figure To the end saith he that the Scripture might be fulfilled There shall not one of his bones be broken Now our Lord the true and verie lambe The same in the holy Supper to what end which came to fulfill the law and not to destroy it kept the feast of the typicall or figuratiue lambe with his disciples both according to this institution as also according to all the circumstances thereof Hee kept it I say the fourteenth day of the moneth beginning at the euening according to the order of the Hebrewes the first day of vnleauened bread betwixt two euens that is to say betwixt the euening Sacrifice and the Sunne-set Therein hee likewise obserued the accustomed washing excepted onely that hee therewithall endeuoured to draw men euermore from the naked ceremony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the doctrine contained therin there he taught vs humilitie washing the feet of his disciples whose dutie it was without all doubt to haue washed his Thereat after Supper he distributed and gaue the bread and the cup from hand to hand vnto his Apostles as he was wont to do vpon that day among the Iewes in a certaine kind of collation which they call Aphicomin of the greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otherwise Kinnuah but in steed of the words which euery housholder did vtter in this distribution which intimated no other thing to those that stood by then the miseries they sustained in Egypt and Gods mercy which had deliuered them from the same our Lord in this action as oftentimes elsewhere raiseth their spirites from the type to the truth from the shadowe to the
Lord God The people It is meete and conuenient c. And then the Minister did handle in manner of a briefe preface the causes why they gaue thankes as namely for that he had created man after his owne image for that he hauing reuolted and forsaken him it pleased him to recouer and recall him in Iesus Christ for the giuing of his Law vnto him for hauing admonished him by his Prophets for hauing sent them his onely begotten Sonne in the fulnes of time to fulfill the law in his owne person for quickning by his death those that were dead in Adam to make them capable of eternall life and for that to this ende hee had dyed risen againe and ascended into heauen and for that also hee gaue himselfe freene to the death readie to deliuer vp his life for the life of the world and for hauing left vs a liuelie representation of this so great a benefite and for that he had taken the bread in his holie handes blessing sanctifying breaking and distributing it vnto his Disciples and Apostles saying Take eate This is my bodie c. and for hauing done in like manner with the cuppe saying Drinke yee all This is the cup of the new Testament in my blood c. And in this place in the processe of this goodlie Preface was read in a briefe manner the institution of the holie Supper as it is to be seene also in all the Lithurgies The Lithurgie of S. Basill The Lithurgie of S. Denys and this action was shut vp and ended with the answere of the people in these wordes Lord wee remember herein thy death and passion and do emfesse thy resurrection vntil the time of thy comming or as it is read in S. Denys with a protestation Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast said Do this in remembrance of me which done the bread and the wine were held consecrate sanctified and for sacraments by vertue of the institution of our Lord which is alwaies powerfull and hath his efficacie and not by vertue of certaine wordes spoken ouer the elementes Of which thing as shall bee declared in his place the purest old Churches neuer dreamed Then there followed a praier that it would please God to shew them all the mercie as that they may communicate the bodie and blood of his Sonne by a true and liuelie faith and not to their condemnation and iudgement as also that it would please him to knitte them altogether in true charity and loue in the communion of his Sonne by his holy spirit euen in so effectuall a manner as they did certainely eate and drinke all of the same bread and cuppe then the conclusion followed with the ioyning thereunto of the Lordes Prayer and after that for a signe of this holy vnion of their spirites and wils in Christ a mutuall kisse the signe and testimonie eyther of true and vnuiolate amitie or else of an vnfained reconciliation and that they had not vainely and for a fashion spoken The kisse of peace Forgiue vs our sinnes as wee forgiue them c. and thereupon also it was called Osculum pacis the kisse of peace as also further to signifie that this knot of the vnitie of the faithfull did not end in this world After this peace there was mention made of them who either had liued wel or which were dead in Christ especially of the Martyrs whose names were read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is out of a certaine register or catalogue partlie sayeth S. Denys to signifie that they were not dead but verilie liuing and therefore the Primitiue Church called the death of man by the name of birth natiuitie and partly to stirre vs vp to the same constancie by their example Now when this was finished the Pastors and Deacons which were to distribute the holie Supper did first communicate themselues and after deliuered the bread and the cuppe to the faithfull and gaue it them in their hands speaking the significatiue wordes of this holy Mysterie but so as that they did not all binde themselues to vtter them in the same tearmes And during this whole action Psalmes were sung by the people and that such as concerned the thing in hand and the same in the end was shut vppe with a solemne thankesgiuing and before that it was not lawfull for anie man to depart and goe away and all this was alwaies done in a tongue which the people vnderstoode and with so loude a voice as might be that so the people might bee able to say Amen And this order will wee runne ouer againe particularlie according to euery parte of same Of the Preface speaketh Chrysostome saying when we beginne to say The Lord bee with you Of the Preface Chrysost in 1. ad Corint hom 36. in 2. hom 18. Chrysost hom de Eucharist ad Heb. hom 22. the people doth aunswere And with thy spirite Againe In the holie and reuerende Misteries the Pastor praieth for the people and the people for the Pastor for these wordes and with thy spirit can not tell vs or giue vs to vnderstand any other thing The councell of Nice 1. sayth Let vs not rest our selues in the bread and wine which are set vpon the Table but let vs lift vp our heartes on high that is Sursum Corda namelie to the Lambe of God c. Chrysostome Hast not thou promised to the Priest who saieth Lift vâ—â—o your hâ—artes and mindes on high we haue them fixed and setled in the Lord This table is altogether furnished with mysteries the Lambe of God is offred for thee c. And in an other place Wee lift vp our mindes on high This is a table for Eagles and not for Crowes to feede at c. S. Augustine August de bono perseuer cap. 13. de vera elig c. 3. de bono vid. cap. 16. Epist 15. in Psalm 85. c. Chrysost in hom 26. in Genes That which is saide in the sacrament of the faithfull namely that wee should haue our heartes raysed vppe to God on high Vt sursum corda habeamus ad Dominum sheweth that it is a gift of God as also in asmuch as the Pastor saieth vnto vs afterwarde that we are to yeelde him thankes and that wee make answere that it is meete and right that we should so doe c. And these wordes are repeated in an infinite sort of places And yet sayeth Chrysostome not because hee hath neede of our thankes doe wee say vnto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c for who is able sufficientlie and worthilie to performe such a seruice seeing the Cherubius cannot attaine vnto it but he willeth it to the end that the gaine may redound to our selues c. And the reasons of this thankesgiuing laid downe by the Minister of the Church in the short abridgement of the historie of the redemption of mankinde or rather of the Church are no lesse to bee noted and marked of vs. Chrysostome We
the time of Alexius not the Pope Zonar tom 3. Bellarmin de praef Ro. Pont. é Signibert Leon. 9. Ounphâ—fast lib. 4. And furthermore in the saide lithurgie are rehearsed all the names of the other Patriarks and what appearance of truth can there be alledged why the Patriarch of Constant should be forgotten if it were made by him that the rather because the Bb. of Rome is remeÌ„bred therein as likewise for the empire of Alexius And the first of that name raigned about the yeare 1080. This was 700. yeares after Chrysost So that he whosoeuer he was that was the coÌ„pounder mingler of these liturgies shold haue looked a little better vpon his receipt takeÌ„ better aduisement with him in his matters And neuertheles we gaine and get the aduantage in these points ouer and aboue namely that by them it is said that the people coÌ„municated euery day in the sacraments that vnder both kinds not the cleargie alone as they call it that as then it was not known what should be meant by the priuate Masse neither yet by the Opus operatuÌ„ the worke wrought and that there are in the same many thinges for to condemne the Romish Masse but no one thing to induce or leade vs to the approbation thereof and let the same serue likewise for other the lithurgies which are attributed vnto the same time As concerning the Decretall epistles of these times Decretall Epistles they are not of any better passe then the rest going before The very same reasons perswade me to reiect them besides the barbarousnes the fooleries and ignorances apparant and euident in them If we allow them to haue been written by the Popes theÌ„ let vs also giue this allowance vnto the Popes as to be the most insufficient least capable Bishops of any that were then liuing and to haue beene more Gothish then the Gothes themselues And yet in the meane I am not ignorant how that the pietie of these times was grown to a verie great confusion as being much mingled with superstition through the intermingle of infidels with Christians by reason also of the deepe and dead bed of negligence that Christians were fallen into the great swarmes of barbarous people and the ignorance of the Prelates all which did one after another as it were hand in hand follow and fall out But I say that these as yet were but the doting deuotions of some particular persons and were not growne vp so farre as to get a law vppon their heades Particular Superstitions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verè appellemus we may call them with the scripture wil-worships or seruices the wandring and vnruled deuotions of some men rather then of the Church As for example when we reade in S. Cyprian that certaine women caried away the Eucharist in their handkerchefes kept it in their coffers took it euerie morning fasting In S. Ierome that it was wont to be sent to new maried folkes to take it at their owne house together In S. Augustine that it was wont to be giuen to infants Concil Carthag 3. cap 6. Concil Hipponensis compendium Concil Altisiod Amphiloch in vita Basil mistaking this place following If you eate not the flesh of the Son of man you haue no life in you c. In the third councell of Carthage and in that of Bonne in Afrike That it was put into the mouth of the dead contrarie to that which is said Take and eate which likewise we reade to haue beene practised by S. Bennet about a woman that was dead and forbidden in the Councell holden at Auxerre in expresse wordes And likewise to be briefe in that goodly booke of Amphilochius if we will belieue it which telleth vs that S. Basill caused a piece of it to bee buried with him which hee had kept I cannot tell how many yeares for the same purpose c. all of them being superstitions which haue presidentes and examples of great antiquitie though neuerthelesse at this day condemned by the Romish Church which yet is faine to builde and boulster vp her selfe with such antiquitie For who can tell into how many by-waies man erreth and wandreth when once hee is out of the right path or into how many falsities and vntruthes hee falleth when once hee departeth from the institution of the Lorde to follow his owne humour and floating fancie CHAP. VII What a metamorphosis and mishapen chaunge was wrought vpon the celebration of the Supper about the time of Gregory the great which happened about the sixth age of the Church WE passe now from out of the calme pathes of silence into the rough and vnbeaten way of darknesse and from the glittering beames of dazeling pompe into the blacke duskish clouds of the dreadfull ignorance of the Church I meane in respect of the outward face and appearance of the same as it was then to bee seene If the first did mightily inlarge the bounds of vanities and ceremonies no doubt the other was not behind in the promoting of superstition and false doctrine And that we may the more easily comprehend compasse the truth hereof let vs briefly call to mind in what estate and plight wee haue left either the holy Supper or the Masse and by this name onely let vs call it hereafter seeing that this name beginneth to get the vpper hand in this time and age whereof wee are now to speake It was an assemblie of Christians calling vppon the name of God by Iesus Christ singing his prayses hearing his worde attending vnto the expounding of the same as it was deliuered them by the Pastors then offering afterward vnto God in giuing thankes for his graces for the fruites and goods that hee had giuen them that some part thereof might be consecrate to the vse of the Sacramentes and some part imployed in the sustaining and nourishing of the poore or for other such like necessities of the Church And as for the Canon that is to say that principall part of seruice in which the Sacraments were blessed receiued and communicated wee haue left it as it was composed and made of a preface which lifted vp the spirites of those who were at it on high of a rehearsall of the pure and holy institution of the Supper of a prayer vnto God that it would please him to giue an effectuall power and operation to the sacramentes to knit and vnite together more and more those which were communicantes to Iesus Christ their head to the members of his bodie which is the Church and as such to foster and feed them vp vnto eternal life with a commemoration of the holy Martyrs of their life and of their death for the stirring vp of the zeale of euerie one so farre as that they may not grudge at or be sparing in any thing which might serue for the setting forth of the glorie of God neyther yet preferre any thing whatsoeuer to the working and assuring of their
the Monasterie of neuer so little a thing for his purgation hee was put to receiue the Sacrament in these wordes Corpus Domini sit tibi in purgationem Let the bodie of the Lord bee thy purgation that is for a proofe and triall whether thou bee guiltie or no whereas they were wonte to say in the supper To feede thee vnto eternall life Some gaue it vnto the deade whereuppon the Canon in the councell of Auxerre was made De Eucharistia mortuis non danda and all did vse to giue it to young children whereuppon came the constitution and lawe made by Charles the great To haue the Eucharist readie for to giue to children euerie daye Others did weare it at their breast as they vse to doe the Agnus Dei the blessed graines c. at this day The eight practise was the beginning of the consecrating of it in honour of the Saintes the Masse drawing to their profit and aduantage all the abuses and poisonous infections which were sprung vp together in the Church Whereupon we reade that Gregorie the third added these wordes vnto the Canon Quorum festiuitas hodiè celebratur whose feast is solemnized this day About the yere 750. and 800. because that at this time beganne the inuocation of Saintes to be very rife in the Church of Rome To be briefe Adrian the first as we haue seene redoubled and drew out the Offertorie into a far greater length to the end that there might be the more time leasure for the bringing of their offeringes and caused to be receiued so neere as he could the Gregorian office in euerie place So likewise did Stephen his successor and ordained moreouer that in euery Masse said vpon the Lords day there should be sung Gloria in excelsis whereof wee haue a law by Charles the Great lib. 6. c. 170. The saying of Masses for the dead was not yet established by law Ep. 2. Gregor ad Bonifac. in Tom. 2. concil Naucler Ge. 25 so carefull was he to apply himselfe to all their decrees and nouelties And all this fell betwixt the time of Gregorie the first and the thirde which fell about the time of Pipin and Charles toward the yeare 800. And yet this is to be noted that Masses for the dead were not as yet established by law for Boniface the great Apostle of the Romaine ceremonies in Germanie consulting with Gregorie the second about his commission demaunded of him amongst other questions If kinsfolkes shoulde offer for their dead and so thereupon was inioyned by the Pope to see it done and obserued CHAP. IX What was the manner of the proceeding of the Masse and of the making vp of the same as also of the vse thereof after the time of Charlemaine and particularly of the taking away of the cup of the Lord. NOw we haue hitherto seene the setting together and building of the Masse and that for many ages and by many authors and rearers of the same and of the diuers differing peeces whereof it was patcht From henceforward we are to looke vpon and take the view of the rising not so much of the building as of the vse and manner of vsage thereof falling out more pernicious faultie then the former Let vs alwaies call to mind that the holy Supper by hy his first institution was a remembraunce of the death and passion of our Lord and a communicating of the faithfull in the bodie and blood of the same with the creatures of bread and wine as seales and assurances of eternall life and wee haue seene the making of a Supper without any Communion a pretended sacrifice without any remembraunce of the death of Christ But now it becommeth a custome to vse it in remembraunce not any more of the passion of our Lord and of the merite of his crosse but of the Saints Masses in the honour of the Saints and for diuers other vses of their sufferings and of their merites It is made good for all vses for the liuing for the dead for the whole and for the sicke for men and for beasts for the fruits of the earth and the distemperatures of the aire c. This is now from henceforth become a Catholicon and vniuersal remedie good for euerie thing except for that from which it is fallen and degenerate as namely for that for which the holy Supper was instituted and contrariwise there is not left vnto the holy Supper whose place it vsurpeth the least marke or signe of it selfe It is good for the dead Let the remembrance of the dead be made in all Masses Concil Cabilon Can. 33. saith the Councell of Caualion and the reason is added though it bee smally to the purpose For euen so saith it therein is prayer dayly made for the liuing And it was likewise at this time that they were begun to bee ordained by tennes and thirties c. as it appeareth by the Epistles of Sigibaldus Torchelmas Cuthbertus Lullus c. of giuing landes to the Church in these wordes Offero Deo omnes res quae in hac chartula continentur insertae pro remissione peccatorum meorum parentum ad seruiendum Deo ex its in sacrificiis Missarumue solemniis c. I offer vnto God all that which is contained in this scedule for the remission of my sinnes and the sinnes of my forefathers for the seruice of God practised in the offering of sacrifices and saying of Masses a thing neuer heard of to bee vttered and spoken of by any former writers Good against tempestes Call to your mindes saith Lullus and remember to sing the Masses which are accustomed to be sung for tempests Good against sicknes The priests saith Wigbertus at this time haue said euery one of them fiue Masses for the recouerie of Lullus Good for warres Let the Priests saith Charles and Lotharius say the Masses vsed for them that go to wars with vs. Good for to purge offenders If any man in the Monasteries saith the Councell of Wormes be suspected of theft let him be purged by the taking of the Sacrament And Sybicon Bb. of Spire in the councell of Mentz about the yeare 1100. did by it purge himselfe of adultery Good to hallow cities and fortresses Leo the fourth about the yeare 900. did hallow the Cittie Leopolis against the Saracens And finally good against inchanters for the priestes do vse the hallowed linnens wherein the Eucharist is wrapped for to quench and put out fire And it was requisite that the Councell of Schelestat should helpe and remedie the same by an expresse article Concil Selegstad c. 6. But how farre off are all these vses from that which is ordained by the Sonne of God He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood he abideth in me and I in him Againe All we saith the Apostle which doe eate one and the same bread are one bodie c. But let vs proceed if it bee S. Gregories it deliuereth soules out of
Carth. called the Doctor of trances said vpon the same place In the primitiue church the sacramēt was giuē vnder both kinds to al the faithful afterward the church did forbid the distributing of the kind of wine vnto the people propter periculum effusionis And now wee are come to the notable opposition that Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prage made against this abuse about the yeare of our Lord 1400. At the same time I say that the taking away of the cup gained and got entrance in Church after Church throughout Christendome by the practises of the ingrossers amongst the Cleargie And it is to be noted that this Iohn Hus as Pope Pius the 2. Aeneas Syluius hist Bohem. c. 23. maketh mētion in his historie of Bohemia was a mā Lingua potēs mūdioris vitae opinione clarus mighty powerfull in speech as also in being reputed to liue a holy life and which is more one that was called to the function of the ministrie for besides that he was principall of the Colledge erected at Prage by the king Wenceslaus according to the foundation of that of Paris hee was called to preach the worde of God in the vulgare language in the Church of Bethelem as they call it This man then began to preach against the abuses of the Romish Church and namely against the profaning of the holy supper and the taking away of the cup contrarie to the institution of Christ and practise of the Primitiue Church and he was seconded herein by Ierome of Prage and followed of many But whereas the Romish Church should haue reformed what was past and returned into the olde and auncient way repenting her selfe and correcting her by-waies and doctrines by the originall of all wholesome and sound doctrine the holy Scriptures she calleth a generall Councell at Constance at the instant request of the Emperour Sigismund and summoneth or calleth to appeare there before them vpon warrantize of being equally and vprightly heard by the pawning of their faith and faithfull promise thereupon the said Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prage they against the publike and sacred oath and promise passed both by the Emperour and Pope did condemne them before they had heard them the one of them forthwith and the other after long imprisonment to be burned quicke leauing in the end a writ for the posteritie succeeding to learn hold that there is no faith or promise to be kept with pretended heretickes to the end that from thence forward all hope of reforming the Church or curing and reconciling of the pretended schismes by that Councell might be cut off Wee haue not any to beleeue or giue credite vnto concerning the matter of their martyrdome saue Pope Pius or his Secretarie Poggius who in their owne persons did sit iudicially vpon them in the same Councell Pertulerunt saith he ambo constanti animo necem quasi ad epulas inuitati ad incendium properarunt nullā emittentes vocem quae miseri animi possit facere indicium Vbi ardere caeperunt hymnum cecinere quem vix flamma fragor ignis intercipere potuit Nemo philosophorum tam forti animo mortem pertulit quà m isti incendium Poggius Florentinus aetatis nostrae nobilis scriptor de morte Hieronymi ad Nicholaum Nicol conciuem suum elegantem scripsit epistolam c. Both of them suffered death very couragiously and went as merrily to the fire as if they had been inuited vnto some great feast or banquet without vttering of any one word that might argue a sorrowfull heart when they began to burne they sung a hymne which could hardly by flame or noise of fire be kept from being heard Neuer did any Philosopher suffer his death so constantly as they indured the fire Poggius in Epist ad Leonard Aretinū Fasciculus rerurn expetendarum Poggius a Florentine a worthie Secretarie of our age hath written an excellent epistle vnto Nicolas Nicol his fellow cittizen of the death of Ierome c. And as for this Poggius alleadged by Pope Pius the second who was Secretarie to the Councell writing to Leonardus Aretinus his Epistle deserueth to be read vpō that place or els to be here set downe at large It is not credible saieth hee how hee defended himselfe by arguments how well he was furnished both with scriptures and Doctours c. He neuer vttered one word misbeseeming a good man If he beleeued as he spake he was so farre from being worthie of death by iust desert as that indeed there was not any cause of offering him the least discourtesie that may be Euery man tooke his case heauilie in bewailing him euery man desired that he might be saued but he desired rather to die than to vnsay any thing that he had deliuered Was there neuer Cate Scaeuola or Stoike that inaured with such courage and patience the losse of one member as he did of his life nor that so went to his death as he to the fire But this saith he deserueth a more large discourse c. But the Councell kicking against the pricke and hardning their hearts of a custome brought in by sufferance made a law and in stead of restoring the communion excommunicated all those which were vrgent and earnest suters for the same The very words are let euery man iudge whether the spirit of Christ or Antichrist did speake in this Councel Seeing we are giuen to vnderstand that in many Churches there is continued the administration of the Sacrament vnder both kinds vnto the laitie wee pronounce and declare that although Iesus Christ hauing supped did institute and minister this reuerend sacrament vnto his disciples vnder both kinds and that since then it hath been receiued a conficientibus by those which haue administred it that is by the Priests vnder both and by the laitie vnder that onely of bread yet notwithstanding all this the laudable authoritie of the holy Canons and the commendable custome of the Church hath obserued and doth obserue that for the avoiding of certaine daungers and scandals this sacrament shall be onely administred vnder one kind Thus then you may see the Pope his Canons opposed to the institution of Christ the onely Canon and rule of all sacraments the Church of this time opposed to the Primitiue howsoeuer it be the patterne by which all others ought to square fashion themselues throughout all ages And therefore he addeth wee commaund vnder paine of excommunication that no Priest doe administer the communion vnto the people vnder both the kinds of bread and of wine contrarie to that hee had reserued and kept in the power of the Church and Pastors to iudge of the discretion of them to whom they were to administer as wee haue alreadie seene out of Thomas Waldensis who writ at this very same time yea and it is a worke of this time which our maister Gerson drew into a treatise against the heresie of the cōmunion vnder both kinds therby condēning of
concourse and flocking it was no good order and by this goodly reason they would cleare themselues of all the olde fathers But what will they say to Tertullian who saith Tertul. in Apol. We haue filled your cities and your fieldes your pallaces and your armies where is the empire that can withstand vs if our doctrine did not carrie with it the doctrine rather of dying then of killing And notwithstanding all this people did receiue the communion vnder both kinds Or to S. Chrysostome where we see soldiers pressing and endeuouring desirously to receiue the cup And to the conuersion of the nations vnto Iesus Christ all which intirely and wholy we read to haue receiued both kinds I meane the citties prouinces nations and armies yea and that in the wide open field whereas we see on the contrarie that this custome came in when Christendome beganne to decline and fall away from her first zeale euen at such time as there was not such pressing forward nor deuotion eyther vnto the word or Sacraments They say What the laye mans communion is yea wee do ordinarily reade in the old writers Communionem laicam the communion of the laeitie that was this which is administred vnder one kinde This guile and craftie shift is too plaine and manifest the distinction and difference of the laitie and of the Clearkes is well inough knowne what it meant in the old Church these being such as were to take charge in the ministerie vpon them as to be Pastors Elders Deacons Subdeacons c. and those to be such simplie as were faithfull gouerned and led by the ministerie of the others Now the old Church that they might the better containe and kepe such as had charge of the dispensing of the word in the performance of their dutie did hold them vnder a more straite and seuere kind of discipline and if it had happened that any one of them had swarued in the confession of Iesus Christ or grieuously failed in any parte of his dutie according to the qualitie and measure of his fault he was suspended from his ministerie or els he was wholy depriued and put from the same notwithstanding whatsoeuer acknowledgement of the same that he made reserued notwithstanding their libertie to be receiued into the Christian societie and to communicate in the sacraments after the manner of other faithfull people that is of the laitie but not to dispence or distribute the sacraments in the charge place which before they had inioyed neither yet to communicate amongst them of the cleargie Euseb l. 6. c. 33 And this is that which they call recipi ad laicam communionem that is to be receiued to the communion of the laitie And in the Canons Ad veniam non ad dignitatem c. In this sorte saith Eusebius that of three Bishops which had vpon importunate sute request laid their hands vpon the hereticke Nouatus there came one incontinently vnto the Church confessed his sinne and was receiued into the communion of the laitie and that at the request of the people that is to say not to be any more a publike person in the Church but a priuate Cypr. 2 cp ad Stephanum and to be simply a sheepe and not a shepheard And Cyprian layeth the matter open in more plaine sort writing vnto Stephanus If there be any Elders or Deacons saith he which hauing beene ordained in the Catholike church are become rebellious or carrying themselues disloyally or vndutifully towards her c. we adde and set downe this by common authoritie that if they repent communicent laici that is let them be receiued into the communion of the Church as laye people and let them rest satisfied that they are receiued into the peace of the church hauing beene the enemies thereof but not to heare armes or any ensigne of ordination or honour seeing they haue abused them to rebellion against her that is that which commonly they call Orders c. as if they should say let them bee receiued into the church to receiue the Eucharist with the faithfull but not to blesse and distribute it And the reason which he addeth taken out of the olde Testament doeth witnesse as much For it behoueth the Priestes and Ministers saith he which serue at the altar and sacrifices C. 1. Q. conuenientibus that they bee without spot and blemish The Glose of Gratian saith By this authoritie wee learne that those who haue beene willing to be ordained by the heretikes if they came to forsake their heresie are receiued into the Church but yet so as that notwithstanding they cannot exercise their office And by that of S. Cyprian That they are excluded and altogether restrained from all ecclesiasticall Ministerie This is then to say Ad laicam communionem recipi to be receiued to the communion of the laitie is interpreted by these words Administratione ecclesiastica prohiberi to be excluded from all ecclesiasticall administration Dist 84. C. Quisquis Clericus 1. q. 4. C. homini c which a certaine Canon of Pope Syricius calleth Omni dignitatis ecclesiasticae priuilegio denudari to be stript of all manner of priuiledge of ecclesiasticall dignitie And by one pronounced by Innocent against them which are baptised by heretikes that Laicam quidem communionem accipiant ne ex iis aliquis in clericatus honore vel exiguo subrogetur Concil Sard. c. 1. Conc. Agath c. 34. let them receiue the communion with the laie people but that no one of them be admitted vnto the least dignitie of the cleargie that is to say that the graunting of the one presupposeth the deniall of the other And thus also it is vnderstood in the Councell of Sardis of Agatha and others wherein is handled the question of Bishops going from one citie to another of Elders Deacons offending in matters of life and death c. Whereupon also Georgius Wicelius doth confesse that Laica communio in S. Cyprian Georg. Wicel in lib. qui inscribitur typuâ— ecclesiae prioris Cyprian lib. 4. c. 2. is no other thing but that Triphonius a Pastor reuolted from the truth and repenting of the same might communicate with the laye people but not celebrate the communion according to his office of ministerie Adde hereunto that all these canons are of the same time wherein as we haue proued all the faithfull did receiue both kinds And it is nothing to the purpose that Bellarmine saith that these canons doe speake for the most part of Deacons to whom it did not belong to consecrate For besides that he speaketh there of Bishops also he doth not deale onely with persons whose office serueth to consecrate but with all maner of persons hauing charge in the Church besides that it was the ordinary function of the Deacons to administer the cup. As little consequence is there in that which he gathereth of that that the ambitious Bbs. at the request of Osius were not receiued to
the cōmunion of the laie people no not vnto the death which is likewise affirmed afterward of all haynous crimes for the seueritie of the old Church did excommunicate all such as had committed any criminall trespasse from the holy supper Concil Sardic c. 1. for the reuerence they had of the sacrament and detestation of malefactors according to the qualitie of their offences for ten yeares for twentie yeares for the whole time of life and sometimes so as that they would not giue it them no not to the death Whereupon at this time riseth that practise which wee see of not giuing it to such as are conuicted of any enormous crimes nor vnto those which are going to execution But in the meane time they lay amongst the penitentes in a place seperated both from the Cleargie and laitie And of them if they bee laye people speake the Councels Ne in fine quidem iis communionem dandam that they should not haue the communion no not to their dying day If they were Clearkes then there is added no not the Communion amongst the laitie Ne laicam quidem for tenne twentie thirtie yeares yea not to death And when they did graunt it vppon the manifestation of their repentance and shedding of their aboundant store of teares yet it was not to any other effect but to accompt and take them as laye men without any inabling of them to their former places of dignitie that so the Ministers of the Church might bee the better brideled and kept in the doing of their duties For as for that which Bellarmine sayeth That there was nothing giuen them but bread because they durst not touch the cuppe what appearance of truth is there in it that they should take the bread in their hand a thing that some doe agree vnto and durst not touch the cuppe that they durst not touch the vessell and yet touched the Sacrament Againe what punishment had it beene to giue the bodie and not the blood and the bodie according to their concomitancie which extendeth to the containing of the blood And had not this rather beene an iniurie to the sacrament then a punishment to the crime In briefe it is apparant by many examples that both the one and the other was giuen to the sicke Iustinus saith Iust in Apol. that the one and the other was carried to those that were absent Saint Ierome speaking of Exuperius Bishop of Tholosa saith De canistro vimineo de vase vitreo out of a wicker basket for the bread and out of a glasse for the wine The historie of Serapio vseth these words to runne and to poure into the mouth which cannot be vnderstood but of licor But euen as we haue said before that wheresoeuer they find Eucharist Iustia Apol. 2. they haue translated it Masse so now they will vnderstand by this word Eucharist nothing but the sacrament of bread against all antiquitie which speaketh it both of the one of the other And this food we call the Eucharist Againe When the word commeth to the wine mingled the bread broken they are made the Eucharist of the bodie blood of our Lord. And as for the sicke the old fathers did not carrie it indifferently vnto all Irenaeus lib. 5. but vnto them which were neare vnto death hauing beene suspended from the Sacraments as may bee seene in the historie of Serapio that so there might effectually be declared vnto them their reconciliation with God and their peace with the Church to the establishing of their consciences vpon their departure out of this life into another which otherwise should haue beene diuersly tossed and perplexed in this agonie dying vnder the censure of the Church To this purpose S. Cyprian saith In the extreame perill of death the excommunicate must not stay till he be reconciled by the Bishop but let him testifie his vnfained repentance before the Deacon August ep 180 and so depart in peace Saint Augustine When it is come to that point say they they runne to the Church some desire to bee baptized others to bee reconciled others the testisying of their repentance c. And if the Ministers faile into what daunger do they cast them which depart from the church either not baptised or bound with the censures ecclesiasticall But the historie of Serapio cleareth this matter In the time of persecution he had sacrificed to an Idoll the Church had excommunicated him deliuering him vp vnto Sathā then he was as a heathen idolater shut out not only from the communion of the sacraments but from the societie of Christians Hauing in the end beseeched his brethren with teares hee fell sicke through sorrow and heauines of heart losing his speech within three daies which he recouered againe vpon the fourth and said How long will ye hold me in this case bring me hither a minister that I may be reconciled vnto God and restored vnto the church before I die And then the sacraments were administred vnto him in token that the Church was at peace with him againe Against the ordinarie vse of the Church which we propound and stand vpon they continue to oppose the extraordinarie abuses of certaine women or priuate persons There are found say they such as did take the cup in the Church and notwithstanding carried home to their houses the sacrament of bread And thereupon they alleadge vnto vs the example of Gorgonia the sister of Nazianzene Tertul. lib. 2. ad vxorem Ieronym aduer◠Iouinian Nazianz. in funere Gorgoniae of Satyrus the brother of S. Ambrose c. of a certain infidel woman who stole the bread from Chrysostom c. as also of S. Ambrose himself who died after he had taken the sacrament of bread c. what can the authoritie of these priuate examples doe against a publike law and custome these examples of poore sillie women of infirme and weake persons or such as had beene slenderly taught against the institution of the Sonne of God And if these examples be so infalliblie certain why then did they not rather depraue them of the bread seeing they all agree that they caried it home with them tooke the cup in the Church And afterward why did they not call to mind what is said of Gorgonia that shee kept both the one and the other kind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the signes of the precious bodie and blood And that in the historie of Satyrus there is mention made Haustionis fusionis in viscera of the shedding and poowring of them into the entrailes which cannot be vnderstood but of licour And that this pretended Paulinus which hath written of S. Ambrose is he as saith Erasmus Which hath marred all S. Ierome and S. Augustine borne saith he onely to spoile good writers But as we do not denie vnto them that these superstitions tooke place at the least amongst some particular persons so they should not haue
de illo Clerico except the Readers of the lessons and the Song-men and for that also the saide Nicholas the first went about to presse the execution therof in the highest degree and that euerie where euen in Germanie And certainelie this Epistle deserueth to bee throughlie read Vlrich Episc August ad Nicol. 1. both for the zeale and doctrine of this Vlrich but wee will onelie touch the principall pointes Reading sayeth hee thy decrees vppon the continencie and single life inioyned the Clearkes I was taken with great feare and sadnes both at once with feare because the sentence of a mans Pastor be it iust or vniust is to be feared and withall I feared least they who hardlie obey iust and vpright sentences should trample and tread vnder their feete the vniust and wrongfull their Pastor going about to lay vppon them an vnsupportable charge and commaundement with heauie pensiuenes or rather with compassion for how can the members fare well when the head is so grieuously diseased for what more grieuous maladie what more to be pittied of the whole Church then to bee out of the way of holie discretion Wherein you are not lightlie ouertaken in going about to compell and imperiously to force them to leade a single life whome you ought with all gentlenes to exhorte when against the institution of the Gospell and that which is spoken by the holie Ghost you will notwithstanding that your priuate decrees bee executed Of manie sayeth hee I will tell you of some God in the old lawe permitted the marriage of Priestes and it is not read that he forbad the same afterward at anie time in the Gospell there is mention made of Eunuches who gelded themselues for the kingdome of heauen but euerie man saith our Lord cannot learne this manner of speech The Apostle saith as concerning virgins I haue no commaundement from the Lord I aduise c. And you ought further to consider that all men are not fit to receiue this counsell And whereas they say that this place concerneth the Laitie onelie they lie like hypocrites in going about to wring the tender teates of the scripture they haue sucked blood in steade of milke That which the Apostle saith Let euerie man haue his wife hath not I assure you anie exception to bee taken against it in respect of anie man except it bee of such as haue vowed chastitie whereunto they are not to bee constrained But the Apostle saith It behoueth that the Bishoppe should bee vnblameable the husband of one onely wife and hee saith the same also of Deacons And to the end that they may not say that this is ment of the church hee addeth hee that cannot guide and gouerne his house well c. Again you know verie well that by the decrees of Pope Siluester it is saide that the wiues of Deacons must be blessed by the Priest And this by the way is to bee noted that this Decree of Syluesters hath beene raced out of the Decretall and Councels There hee alleadgeth Isidore in the rule of Clearkes and that entire and whole not maimed and mangled as in the Councell of Mentz the Canon of Gangres the storie of Paphnutius c. And whereas they alledge furthermore That without chastitie no man shall see God hee aunswereth Truth but chastitie consisteth not onelie in the flower of virginitie but also in the bond and knot of marriage And whereas they holde forth S. Gregorie as a strong bulwarke for their defence I cannot but laugh at sayeth hee their rashnes and I pittie their ignorance for hee earnestlie repented himself of this dangerous heresie Therupon also hee taketh occasion to make mention how that S. Gregorie hauing sent to fish his pond there were brought vnto him more then sixe thousande heads of yong children which drewe deep sighes from the bottom of his soule caused him to confesse that this was the iust fruite of his forced single life and to flie from his Decree to the good aduise and counsell of the Apostle It is better to marrie then to burne and he added thereunto it is better to marrie then to giue occasion of death He passeth on forward to adulteries incestes and buggeries wherewith this Decree which was made in his time made the earth to stinke and further sheweth that it was growne to a conclusion amongst men that it was better secretlie to defile themselues with whoredome with manie then in a good conscience to liue openlie and in the sight of men with one lawfull wife c. And that in a worde to forbid marriage vnto ecclesiastical persons is a plague a Pharisaicall doctrine a peruerse sect a daungerous heresie and intollerable offence and scandall to the whole Church the fulfilling of that which was threatned by S. Paule That there should rise a people that should giue eare to spirites of error c. forbidding marriage And there upon adiureth him to leaue off and forsake it euen as he loueth the spouse of Christ and desireth the vndefilednes of the same and that he would take this reproof in good part and remember himself that though a Bishop be more then a Priest yet S. Augustine may be lesse and come behind S. Ierome that is may be taught by one of lesse accompt and dignitie For otherwise he feareth that his Holines by this priuate decree for so hee calleth it will bee founde to oppose and set himselfe against the olde and new Testament c. That which is here further to bee noted for the proceeding and growth of this abuse is that there were certaine Bishoppes that being vnmarried despised others and to those he saith Presume not neither be proud of your giftes iudge not another mans seruant beware that vnder this faire cloake of continencie there lye not hid manie infamous delightes and pleasures As also that in his time they obtained and got their wils rather by the franke and voluntarie accord of men then by the swaye and force of anie lawe and that the Clearkes whom they admitted did promise by word of mouth or by the giuing of them their hand that they would continue to liue a single life From which S. Vlrich freeth himselfe as putting in a caution That there be no necessitie constraint to be vrged Now this Vlrich was a great personage of the house of the Conties of Riburg and Dillingen in Sueuia afterward canonized for the holines of his life But to the end that no man may thinke that this Epistle was made by some other to pleasure and gratifie any bodie although the stile it selfe do sufficientlie resolue all such doubt Pope Pius the second in his Germany alleadgeth it and reciteth the argument thereof againe it hath been seen in famous Libraries before the controuersies of this time And Bertold Priest of Constance Berthold in appendice ad Herman cont act Chronic. who writ in the yeare 1079. alleadgeth it in these wordes Gregorie helde a Synode at Rome wherein he
my bodie which is giuen for you And yet it ceaseth not considered in some sorte to bee in manner of a sacrifice in as much as this is a remembrance of this propitiatorie sacrifice of our Lord on the Crosse according to that which is said Doe this in remembrance of mee shew forth the Lordes death vnto his comming In such sort that as the lambe was after a certaine manner a propitiatorie Sacrifice in that it did prefigure him so the holy Supper in like manner in as much as it bringeth him vnto our remembrances in that it representeth him vnto vs before the eyes of our faith And yet furthermore of this remembrance there proceedeth an other sacrifice euen the true sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing which the Church hath called by the name of Eucharist That is that when we call to mind that God hath so loued the worlde or rather the Church hated of the worlde as that hee hath giuen his dearely beloued Sonne the eternall and euerliuing for the mortall the iust for the vniust to the ignominious and reproachfull death of the Crosse to redeeme them from their sinnes wee adore the bowelles of his mercies wee are lifted vppe with a holy rauishment euen into the heauens farre from our our selues wee vtter our cries in a certaine feruencie of faith from all in generall saying praised bee thou O Lorde for that thy grace hath appeared in the worlde for that it hath superabounded in loue for the sauing of sinners and afterward let vs say with Saint Paule being humbled in our infirmities but imboldened in his grace to the appropriating and particular applying of this benefite vnto our selues Euen the sinners Lord whereof I am the chiefe I a blasphemer a persecutor and oppressor c. And this faith applyeth this sacrifice vnto our selues it maketh it seuerall and peculiar vnto euery one of vs it maketh vs then to say with confidence No more He that eateth the flesh and drinketh the blood of Christ hath eternall life No more I say God so loued the worlde as that he hath sent his sonne c. For what good doth this serue vs vnto but to increase our sorrowe and griefe if wee bee not the parties our selues But more boldly with the Apostle I am crucified with Christ I liue and yet not I now but Christ in mee Galath 2.20 in that I liue in the flesh I liue in the faith of the Sonne of God who hath loued mee and who hath giuen himselfe for me c. Thus in remembring this sacrifice the shamefull death of the Lord wee acknowledge our selues lost in our selues yea vtterly lost seeing that for to saue mankind it was requisite that the Sonne of God should be made man and expose himselfe to the reuilinges and slaunderous speeches of men And this knowledge begetteth in vs an acknowledgement of the free mercie of God which hath giuen vs his onely begotten Sonne yea who hath giuen vs himselfe in his Sonne How can we then do lesse then offer vp then sacrifice our selues to him To offer vp vnto him as saith the Apostle Rom. 12.1 Our bodies a liuing sacrifine holy acceptable a reasonable seruice In such sort as that in the holy Supper wee communicate really and effectually in the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ euen to the sucking of life nourishment to our soules from the same and this is that which proceedeth from it as a Sacrament Wee celebrate likewise his death from whom as out of a fountaine wee drawe life and that the rather because this his death is our life in as much as wee haue the propitiation for our sinnes in his blood and the celebrating of the remembrance of this propitiatorie sacrifice although somewhat improperly may be called a Sacrifice Seeing that consequently vpon the deepe meditation of this high mysterie and vnspeakable benefit receiued by the faithfull adored of the Angels we enter into a serious thanksgiuing in which we resolue to renounce and forsake our selues that so we may offer vp our selues the more freely vnto God ceasing from thenceforth to fashion our selues any more according to this present world seeking rather to transforme and chaunge our selues by the renewing of our vnderstanding c. And here we haue another sacrifice euen a sacrifice of peace in as much as there is a peace concluded betwixt God and the faithfull man a sacrifice of praise in as much as all increase and prosperitie are giuen vnto vs by God and God in this peace Finally a sacrificing of our selues in the offering vp of our thankfull heartes and resoluing therewithall to liue and die in him and vnto him who hath giuen himselfe for vs who hath vouchsafed to offer vp his body and to shed his blood for to purchase vs life who giueth vs them in ordinary bread and wine to nourish our soules vnto eternall life Amen And it is not for any other consideration Wherfore the old writers did vse this worde Sacrifice that the olde writers doe sometimes call the holy Supper a sacrifice a Sacrifice of remembrance and thankesgiuing of the faithfull And if our aduersaries doe keepe themselues within these boundes wee shall not neede to reason and dispute about wordes neither yet refuse or reiect the worde Sacrifice But and if that they tell vs that the Masse is a sacrifice propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead wee tell them that wee would haue them to aunswere vs whether they ground it vppon the holy Supper or els borrowe the institution thereof from els where If from else where then wee boldly auouch vnto them that there is no title of the Masse in all the holy scripture neyther of any thing belonging thereto neither yet in the workes of any of the auncient writers and this wee haue alreadie proued and shall bee able further to proue most plentifully if any thing bee wanting therein But if they fetch and deriue it from the holy Supper then wee auouch and say vnto them that it is no propitiatorie sacrifice that the Lord did neuer ordaine it for any such ende that the Apostles did neuer so teach it neyther yet that the fathers did so vnderstande it And this is the matter that wee are to handle and intreate of in this Chapter In the meane time wee will note and obserue by the way that these wordes Sacrifice and Sacrament doe not alwaies keepe the proper limites and boundes but that sometimes they runne in their generall signification and are taken eyther for all holy offices or for all the signes vsed in the Church to signifie any thing August l. 19. contr Faust c. 14. In Psal 141. Psal 65. de peccat meritis Bernard de caena Dom. And to the end that the doubt of this generall vsing of this worde Sacrament may not trouble vs it appeareth in certaine olde writers that they haue giuen this name to the signe of the Crosse to all the ceremonies of baptisme to
the supper and that by them wee are inioyned to doe the same that he hath done as to blesse the bread to eate the bread to blesse the cuppe and to drinke the cup to distribute them both and to receiue them both But as for the matter of sacrifice there was none but vpon the Crosse The communicating of him and his graces and the action of thanks is ordained instituted to be practised at this Table and vpon this Crosse hee hath borne our iniquities vpon this Crosse he hath beene broken for our sins God forbidde saith S. Paul that I should euer glorie but in this Crosse If then this be to sacrifice the bodie then it is not hoc facere to doe that which Christ hath done who tooke the bread who distributed it who performed not in all this anie action of a sacrifice but if it be thus Do that which I haue done then it must not bee anie worke of sacrificing here will not bee found any sacrifice and so there must needes follow as poore slender Diuinitie as the Grammer or sence that went before was poore and slender To be short if faire in that place bee to sacrifice it is saide Doe this as oft as yee shall drinke it c. by which reason it should follow that the sacrifice hath no place but at such times as a man doth drink And yet they say that the Sacrifice Transubstantiation doe goe before And againe if it were saide vnto all those which were sitting at the Table with our Lord Hoc facite then the commandement of sacrificing was generall to all for in like manner vnto all in general euen to all the whole Church of Corinth S. Paul said Hoc facite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Priestes by this account shall haue as weake a foundatiō for their places as the sacrifice hath But who can better expound this place then S. Paul Do this saith he in remembrance of mee And how For as oft as you shall eate of this bread and drinke of this cuppe you shall shew forth the death of the Lord vntill his cōming Not by standing gazing on in a fond sort not by the means of an Enterlude or play neither yet by any such apish fooleries but by a serious earnest either meditation or laying open of the horror of our sinnes and of the mercy of God who hath so greatlie loued the world as that hee hath vouchsafed to giue his Sonne to the death of the Crosse for vs miserable sinners to the end that he that belieueth in him may haue eternall life And this is the same with that which their Glose saith Do this in remembrance of me For saith it the sacrament ought to be receiued in the remembrance of the Lordes passion shew forth the Lordes death c. that is to say make your account and set it down for certain that the suffering and death of the Lord came through you For Whosoeuer sayeth Oecumenius sheweth forth this death he displayeth and maketh a shew of all manner of gifts and of all manner of loue towardes men yea in a worde Oecum in 1. Cor. 11. sayeth hee of the whole meanes of our saluation Let these fellowes now draw neare which haue the Fathers so full and so rife in their mouthes but cannot bring foorth so much as any one who hath founde the sacrifice of the Masse in these wordes Hoc facite that hath expounded this worde for to sacrifice And yet notwithstanding if there were any place wherein it might be found who doubteth yea or who can denie but that of all others that is no place for to finde it in A great man of this time seeing himself thrust out of this place Genebrard hath inuented this shift namelie to say that the Apostles did say their first Masse vpō the day of Pentecost And this hee would tug out by the haire both out of a place of Deuteronomie where mention is made of the offering of new fruites which then was ordained in the lawe as also from the 2. of the Actes where these wordes are Act. 1.2 They did perseuere in the doctrine of the Apostles in communicating and breaking of bread and in prayers which wee haue alreadie sufficientlie refuted For what agreement is there betwixt any thing therein and the sacrifice of the Masse for the remission of sins And yet notwithstanding we will further take the paines to call to minde Hugo Card. in Act. c. 2. what their Glose saith vpon this place of the Acts Of bread aswell common as consecrated that is to say aswell ordinarie as sacramentall And Cardinall Hugo after the same manner And Lyranus Partly sayeth hee because they did communicate euerie day partlie also because they did eate together in common And Oecumenius sayeth This is for to shewe the simplicitie that they vsed in liuing and conuersing together And the Syrian and Arabick interpreters They receiued the Communion or Eucharist Vcharisto And Caietanus This is to shewe the distribution of the meat as it was practised from familie to familie So that on euery side the standing of the Masse doth still faile and deceiue it But let vs come to other places It is saide Actes 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13. as they sacrificed Their olde translation sayeth Ministrantibus as they were executing their office and Ministerie And the Glose addeth In good workes euery man according to his charge and degree The Syrian and Arabian As they were in praiers because it is added that they did fast Chrysostome and Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they preached Caietanus As they preached and prophesied that is to say as they expounded the word And Cardinall Hugo Ministrantibus scilicet praedictis Prophetis And of him wee haue spoken else where But let vs grant them according to their owne desire Sacrificantibus let it bee said As they sacrificed Epiphanius saith concerning this place These were chosen with Paule and Barnabas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacrificing the Gospell Chrysostome saieth to the same purpose Let him sacrifice the Gospel But where shall wee haue a better expositor then S. Paule himselfe This grace sayeth hee hath beene giuen mee of God that I should bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Minister of Iesus Christ Let vs say a Priest if they will towardes the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacrificing in very forcible tearmes the Gospell of God to the end that the offering of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might bee well accepted of being sanctified by the holy Ghost In which place Theodoret sayeth The Apostle called hit preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a holy Ministerie a holy sacrifice and a true and sincere faith an acceptable offering It is said 1. Cor. 10. You cannot bee partakers of the Table of the Lord 1. Cor 10. and of the table of diuelles Now the Table of diuelles say they is an Altar and that of the Lordes
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in prayers in hymnes and supplications c. confessing the name of the Lord. And how In as much saith hee as wee giue him thankes for that he died for our sinnes c. Theoder ad Hebr. c. 13. Thom. ad Heb. c. 13. Chrysostome and Theodoret vpon this place after the same sort But Thomas more clearely then any of them all saying This is the Altar or the Crosse of Christ whereupon he was offered for vs or els this is Christ himselfe in whom and by whom we offer vp our praiers This is the Altar likewise whereof mention is made Apoc. 8. c. But let them tell me then in their consciences Belarm l. 1. de Sacram. c. 35. l. 1. de Miss c. 14. if there be in all this any one word of the Masse And in deed Bellarmine in a certain place after the manner of other would faine abuse it but elswhere he saith that hee will not presse this place seeing that other good Catholike writers doe vnderstande it of the Altar of the Crosse In the ende they come to breath life into the Masse with that which cannot but make it breathlesse and presse it to death euen with this Epistle Heb. 5. v. 1. which ceaseth not to go ouer it againe and againe in a hundred places that our priest hath fulfilled whatsoeuer was needfull for our redemption by the onely sacrifice of the Crosse It is written say they Omnis Pontifex siue sacerdos euerie high priest or other priest taken from amongst men is established by men in things which are done to Godward to offer sacrifices and giftes for sinnes then it behoueth that our priestes doe offer for sinnes and that in the new Testament Let vs note their good dealing the text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euery high priest and not euerie sacrificer nor euerie priest And in deed hee compareth in this place and setteth the high priest of the law against our high Priest Iesus Christ in these words In like manner also Christ c. Hee compareth him I say in this that both of them had their calling of God he setteth downe the prerogatiue in that the one was a seruant and the other the Sonne of whom it is said This day haue I begotten him He opposeth and setteth him against him in that he was taken from amongst men from time to time but this our high priest vnder the Gospell is eternall without beginning after the manner of Melchisedech And this is the cause why the interlineall Glose saith Omnis Pontifex secundum legem And Oecumenius By the comparing of the priestes that is to say of Christ and of the high priest of the law hee would shew the excellencie of the new Testament aboue the old c. And Thomas of Aquin comming after all the old writers vnderstandeth this place after the same manner What shamelesse cogging and foisting then is this to conclude from the high priest to euerie ordinarie and inferior priest from the high priest of the law to the inferior priests of the Church of Rome And let it be said here by the way that which is to bee held once for all that there is not so much as any one place in all the holy scripture where the Ministers of the new Testament are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacerdotes priestes or by any other name of equall sence and signification but rather all manner of Christians are called in certaine places by the name of Priestes notwithstanding that they be qualified with diuers names as Euangelistes Prophets Teachers Ministers Pastors and Elders that for no other cause doubtles but because the holy Ghost purposed to abolish the pedagogie and childish rudimentes of the law that so they might not haue any place or vse vnder the Gospel He wold also take away therby this stumbling stone which Antichrist hath very cunningly cast in the way hauing drawne from this word sacrifice which is to say A holy consecrate kind of dutie or seruice a phrase and tearme first vsed by Christians generally for the whole exercise of deuotion a Sacrifice properly so called as they speake then propitiatorie and afterward meritorious for the remission of sinnes and that not for the liuing onely but also for the dead But they go further It is thus said at the least in place elsewhere that it behoueth that Iesus Christ should haue something to offer and if any thing then himselfe and that euery day vnto God in heauen for vs. Now without all question the Masse by this accompt is as farre from this place as heauen is remoued from their Altar But yet we must looke further into this their deceit craft It must needs be that he haue something to offer that is to say that he hath offered something and what hee hath offered Heb. 8.3 the Apostle telleth vs in a hundred places Hee offered himselfe once for all for the sinnes of the world he hath purchased vnto vs by his blood an euerlasting redemption by one onely offering once offered he hath sanctified vs and sitteth at the right hand of God his father He doth not then offer or sacrifice any such thing vnto him euerie day as they doe falsly alleadge the text but rather Hee appeareth before God making intercession for vs praying and making requestes for vs by the power and vertue of this sacrifice once made c. The question onely betwixt vs is whether these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be expounded Quod offerat or Quod offerret that is that he doth dayly offer or that he hath once offered And the Apostle hath decided it without the helpe of any others in many places but let vs heare what the olde writers doe say thereof Oecumenius saith Oecumen in epist ad Heb. c. 8. Because it properly belongeth to priests to offer gifts sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where our aduersaries woulde vnderstand for the perfecting of the sence this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is necessarie we do make the supply with this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make the sence It was necessarie which agreeth better with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is as much as to say that it was meet that Christ should also haue something to offer But that which followeth doth decide the question This was the cause saith he wherefore he had his owne proper flesh which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath offered For it might haue beene said If he bee a high priest for euer why is he dead wherefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee might offer himself a sacrifice c. And a little after He is therefore dead that he might offer this sacrifice but he is risen from the dead ascended into heauen to possesse keepe the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where it is requisite that he should exercise his priesthood And how Verily saith he by
to allude to the place of the prophet Malachie but in a far other sence then that of our aduersaries To bee short hee sayth Christ is called a high Priest sacrificing vnto God and besides him there is not any one to whom we do attribute either the name or the effect of priesthood for hee was made the mediator betwixt God and men hee hath sacrificed for vs and not for himselfe and that euen his owne bodie All which arguments are grounded vpon the qualities requisite in a priest of the new Testament but such as men cannot attaine vnto He calleth the Eucharist verie many times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacrifice without blood Idem in Ioban l. 5. c. 7. ad Reginas de recta fide but in the same sence that the former by comparing of it with them of the law Vpon S. Iohn S. Paule saith he to the Hebrewes would not take away the second nor the third remission of sinnes but rather the secondoblation because that Christ hath beene offered once and cannot be any more offered c. The Latine fathers did not vnderstand it otherwise Saint Ambrose saith In Christ the oblation or sacrifice hath beene once offered powerfull and mightie vnto life eternall Againe The Lord commanded the Angell to spare the people and to offer the sacrifice of Dauid For at that time there were sacrifices for sinnes the same are now the sacrifices of repentance Ambros in ep ad Heb. c. 10. Idem ad Theod ep 28. Idem in ep ad Rom. c 12. Idem ibid. Againe The Elders did kill the sacrifice to signifie that men because of sinne were subiect to death And now that men by the gift of God are purified and deliuered from the second death they must offer a liuing sacrifice to the end it may bee vnto them a signe of eternall life For the case standeth not now as when bodies were slaine and sacrificed for bodies now there is not any more question of killing of bodies but of the vices of the bodies Again Is there not a celestiall altar our faith whereupon we dayly offer our praiers Let vs draw neere saith he in another place with a true hart a fulnes of faith let vs draw neere in faith in a spiritual seruice from a sincere hart for in all these there is nothing visible neither the priest nor the sacrifice nor the altar c. In our spirits we receiue spirituall things c. Idem in institut virgin c. 2. In another place We sacrifice vnto God the sacrifice of praise whereupon the Apostle saith I pray you before all thinges to make prayers supplications requestes and thankesgiuing c. Now this is one of the places from whence our aduersaries would gather their Masse their propitiatorie sacrifice and see how hee expoundeth it of the sacrifice of praise Idem epist 28. lib. de fuga sent c. 8. Againe A simple prayer is a sacrifice the good sacrifice that is wisedome the good oblation that is faith and euerie other vertue c. And of all this going before we conclude most euidently that he acknowledged no sacrifice for sinne saue the blood of Christ once shed nor any sacrifices amongst Christians but repentance mortification and calling vpon the name of God in faith c. But some will say vnto vs hee speaketh now and then of the holy Supper in the tearmes of a sacrifice But in this case I could wish such to hearken how hee expoundeth himselfe he speaketh to the matter of the onely oblation of Christ and saith What then do not we offer euery day for the Supper was then administred ordinarily We offer saith he but in making a memoriall of his death and there is but one oblation but one sacrifice not many One and not many saith he how because that it hath beene once offered in the most holy place and this sacrifice is the patterne of that other c. That which we do is in remembrance of that which hath beene done For hee saith vnto vs doe this in remembrance of mee c. Wee offer not as the Priest did another sacrifice but euerie daie the same or rather wee sacrifice the memoriall of this sacrifice Thus say wee sayeth hee to daye is the resurrection of the Lorde that is to say to day wee call to minde the resurrection of the Lord c. And Saint Ierome vnderstoode as little as the rest in this point namely that there should remaine a seruice to bee performed of Christians Hieronim in Esa c. 1. which properly was called a sacrifice Shall I eate sayeth the Lorde the flesh of bulles c. Psalme â—â— After hauing reiected and cast away sayeth hee the ceremonies of the old law hee passeth to the puritie of the Gospell and sheweth what hee desireth in stead of them Offer vnto mee the sacrifice of praise Idem in psal 26. c. Againe I will offer in his Tabernacle the sacrifice of ioy and gladnesse that is to say of full and perfect ioy that is to say I will ioyfully declare that hee did vnder-go a base and lowe estate for vs that is to say that he did humble himselfe to aduance exalt vs For God taketh pleasure in such sacrifices of reioycing ioyfull declaring of their gladnesse for this is the sacrifice of preaching And in another place Idem in psal 49. 50. The old sacrifices are past he requireth his sacrifice in good works and maners a fat burnt offering That is that God may be praised by man whom he hath created whom he hath redeemed and to whome hee hath promised the kingdome of heauen Againe By this place the Iewes doe knowe and vnderstand that their sacrifices are ceased And what then shall men haue hereafter to offer hearken to that which hee addeth The humbled heart and the contrite heart is a sacrifice vnto the Lord c. Idem ad Damas Yea but hee sayeth in another place Our Sauiour is the calfe of whose flesh wee are dayly fed and with whose blood wee all haue our thirst quenched This banquet is solemnized euerie day euerie day the father receiueth his sonne euerie day Christ is slaine and sacrificed This is a large speech but hee addeth yet one worde more Immolatur credentibus out of question not sacrificed by the Priest but sacrificed sayth hee by the faithfull In so much as this sacrifice is dayly freshe alwaies present and in Gods sight daily applyed apprehended and taken holde vppon with great efficacie of the faithfull as being such Idem in Psal 97. August quest euangel l. 1. as conceiue and finde their life to lie and consist in his death and the appeasing of Gods wrath for their sinnes to rest in his bloode This is it which hee saith in a worde elsewhere Euerie day Christ is crucified vnto vs. S. Augustine yet more distinctly Christ is then properly slaine for any one when hee beleeueth him to be
bee able to make it to serue in the distinction that followeth of her that had brought forth a sonne or a daughter and how in the number of dayes of the one or of the other But the point is that they haue neither Greeke nor Hebrew Paraphrast neither Iewish nor yet Christian Commentarie which euer could finde out Purgatorie by this text Origen who hath made an expresse Homily vpon this verse notwithstanding he be greatlie delighted in allegorizing Orig. hom 9. in Leuit. Ieronym in Ezech. c. 49.47 Theod. in Leuit c. 12. could not perceiue anie such matter therein And as farre off was Saint Ierome expounding the same in his Commentarie vpon Ezechiel Theodoret likewise who handleth this question Wherefore there is appointed a double time for the purging of her that hath brought forth a daughter in respect of her which hath brought forth a sonne Caietan sayeth verie well From all these lawes this instruction and point of pietie Caietan in Leuit c. 12. 1. Sam. 2.6 may verie well bee drawne That wee were borne from our mothers wombe subiect to sinne c. In the first of Samuell Hanna sayeth in her song The Lord is he which destroyeth and raiseth to life which throweth downe into the graue and raiseth vppe againe from thence which giueth pouertie and riches which humbleth and exalteth And because that this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie a graue and hell they wil haue it to signifie hel in that place and notwithstanding that it may bee vnderstoode for Purgatorie But this place is expounded by it selfe for these wordes Which throweth downe to the graue and bringeth backe againe are no other thing but according to the manner of the Hebrewes the expositors of the former which killeth and bringeth to life againe as in the verse following which humbleth and exalteth is contained the exposition of the wordes going before Who maketh poore and filleth with riches c. Psal 30. Psal 71. But Dauid himselfe without any other will expound it vnto vs The Lord hath lift vp my soule out of the graue or out of hell And in another place Thou hast shewed me manifold troubles but afterward thou turnedst vnto me and hast quickened me and brought me from the depth of the earth But this did no man euer vnderstand to be meant of purgatorie and the Chaldie Paraphrast whom they alleadge is against them God saith he carieth to the graue and bringeth backe againe Ad vitam saeculi to the life of this world that is to say to the life present as appeareth by this word Rursus And Lyranus saith There is not hell in Hebrew but the pit that is to say the graue And that it is his purpose to declare how that he oftentimes giueth life vnto them whom men are giuen to iudge past recouerie as it was with Ezechias But if wee should allegorize their Glosse saith Hee bringeth the obstinate Iewes to hell in as much as he suffreth them to bee led into the condemnation thereof He bringeth backe from thence the Gentiles who did deserue it in calling them backe from idolatrie Tertullian maketh this kind of argument Tertul. l. de resurre carn 28. Contr. Marcion l. 4. c. 34. Cyril Catech. 6 de Monarch Dei Sophron. in serm de Natiuit Dom. August de ciuit Dei l. 17.6.4 That seeing it is the flesh properly which is mortified that is to say which suffereth death that it followeth likewise that it shall bee quickned namely by the resurrection And againe against Marcion That one and the same Christ hath in his power the sentence of eternall death as also of eternall life Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus reasoneth after the same manner against Manes Sophronius Bishop of Constantinople proueth the greatnesse of our redeemer who hath turned the curse by Adam into a blessing his death into life and his fall into a rising againe But S. Augustine standeth more amply vpon it and in better sort saying The Lord killeth and quickneth againe c. and this is nothing els but that which he repeateth againe when he saith He bringeth to the gates of hell and bringeth backe againe He killeth saith he according to that which the Apostle saith If you be dead with Christ seeke the things which are aboue c. For you are dead c. And afterward he addeth And our life is hid with Christ behold how he killeth them holesomely behold how he reuiueth and quickneth them againe But hee bringeth them likewise saith he to hell and bringeth them backe againe Without doubt saith he this was accomplished in our head in whom our life is hid For he that hath not spared his owne Sonne hath slaine him for vs and in that he hath raised him vp againe he hath also quickened him brought him to hell and backe againe according to that which hath beene said Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell and of his pouertie we are made rich c. By their accompt it should follow holding the exposition of Saint Augustine that our Lord had beene in purgatorie Saint Gregorie God slayeth and bringeth backe againe to life Gregor in 1. Reg. c. 1. and behold saith he the order in as much as hee bringeth to hell and bringeth backe againe For in respect of God to bring downe to the gates of hell that is to strike amased the hartes of sinners with the apprehension of eternall torments and to bring them backe from thence that is to relieue their astonished hearts sorrowing and bewailing their faultes by the hope of eternall life c. And yet euerie one knoweth if hee fauour purgatorie or no. Hugo the Cardinall This is a metaphoricall speech He bringeth Phenenna euen into extreame affliction taking her children from her hee bringeth againe Hanna making her fruitfull when she was barren And so saith he by hell in many places is vnderstood great affliction Caietan in l. 1. Reg. c. 2. Cardinall Caietan in like manner In Hebrew saith he it is He bringeth downe into the pit and causeth to rise vp againe And for that he vseth a verbe of the Preter-tense and not of the future I am constrained by the name of pit to vnderstand in this place neither hell nor graue but rather a prison For from the creation vnto the time of Hanna there was not any that rise out of hell none that rise againe from the dead but God hath often caused many free and innocent persons to be put in prison and hath brought many out from thence againe In the last of the first of Samuel it is said That the valiant men of Israel 1. Sam. the last Chapt. ver the last 2. Sam. 1.12 after the ouerthrow of Saule did burie the bodie of Saule and of his children burned them in Iabes tooke their bones buried them and fasted seuen daies And in the 2. Sam. 1.12 that Dauid mourned wept and fasted And thereupon Bellarmine reasoneth thus He fasted therefore
writers haue condemned for turning the scriptures from their naturall sence by his allegories But I appeale vnto their owne consciences whether this place make any thing for purgatorie And why do they not rather hold themselues to S. August S. Ierome Theodoret who do not acknowledge any other thing in that place but Dauid his humiliatiō for his sins being cast vnder the mighty hand of God The glose saith Thou hast instructed my soule in infirmity and humilitie that so it might not presume through any strength or pride and hee compareth it to a spiders web because there is nothing more rotten then it Saint Ierome Hieronym in psal 38. The soule melteth when the concupiscences of the flesh are repressed and snubd when sinne is so worne away as the threed which hath not any substance left in it either to make it hard or thicke S. August ibid. Augustine Thou hast dried it vp through the insatiable thirst it hath after vertue and knowledge thou hast caused the iniquity thereof to be pressed and wrung out of my heart Theodor. ibid. as are the entrailes of a spider Theodoret In pressing and rubbing vpon the most hidden and secret corners of my exulcerated parts and inward sores thou hast healed me like a good phisition rather then with great paine and griefe Halmo This falleth out when as man by Gods chastisements and corrections being vpon him doth humble himselfe and turne vnto God Lyranus Thou hast made my life vile and abhominable vnto me Caietan The moth fretteth through and destroyeth the thing whereof she is bred and so we are pearced and fret away through our owne concupiscences and desires And thus he referreth this to the punishment of all mankind in the person of Adam Of all the translations they haue made choice of that which is furthest from the sence of the text and of so many expositions that which is furthest from the purpose and yet they can come by nothing for their purgatorie In the Psalme 49. God will redeeme my soule out of the hand of the graue or out of hell Psal 49.16 for the word signifieth both the one and the other when hee shall take mee vnto himselfe The shot is by their reckning he will deliuer mee from purgatorie whereas they should haue noted that in the verse going before it is spoken of the men of this worlde That death shall feed vpon them in the graue and that the vpright men shall haue dominion rule ouer them c. Where the selfe same word is vsed If the men of this world bee not threatned with any greater punishment then purgatorie then what priuiledge or preferment haue Dauid and others the workers of righteousnesse in whose persons he speaketh more then they If it do signifie hell in the one verse and in the other purgatory then let them shew vs some reason of such diuers construing of it that so wee may admit it The Chaldee Paraphrast God will deliuer my soule from hell because he will teach me his law and will take me to be partaker with him of the life to come But what will they then say to all the old fathers S. Ierome saith God being made man made himselfe of no reputation euen to death that thereby hee might repaire the ruines of mankind that is it which hee would say Cum acceperit me S. Augustine God will redeeme and deliuer my soule shall it be out of prison from oppression from the waues of the sea c. Nay rather saith he from hell and this is that redemption which hee hath shewed and set forth in himselfe Chrysost t. 1. de Dauidicis Cant. What wee haue seene in the bead the same shall we find in the members he descended into hell and ascended vp into heauen c. Chrysostome And that there is a freeing from eternall death he teacheth thee it in these wordes God hath deliuered my soule out of the power of hell c. Theodoret dealeth more plainely This certifieth and assureth vs that God doth giue counsell consolation to the poore which are oppressed of the mightie Haimo Out of the power of hell that is to say out of the power of the deuill when he shall haue taken me Caictan in psal 49. Psal 66.11 12. that is to say put vpon him my humanitie and so Cardinall Hugo Caietan in like maner He wil deliuer my life from the power of hell when he shall draw mee from out of this life into eternall into Abrahams bosome c. In the Psalme 66. We were saith Dauid entred into fire water Et eduxisti nos in refrigerium and thou hast brought vs forth into a place where wee find reliefe Otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a plentifull and fruitfull place Yet once againe here is purgatorie and that with an imagination that it worketh vpon men by casting them out of an extreme heat into an extreame cold c. From the fansying and good liking of an allusion in Origen Orig. hom 25. in Numer who yet medleth not any thing at all with this text which besides euen with the bare reading is easily refuted seeing therein he speaketh simply of diuers crosses and aduersities out of which God had extraordinarily deliuered Dauid The old writers haue vnderstood it cleane otherwise then they The Paraphrast Thou hast made the oppressor to go ouer my head Thou hast condemned vs to the rage of the flaming furnace and deuouring water and afterward hast set vs at libertie herein alluding very strongly vnto the seruitude of the people of Israell in the land of Egypt Lyranus Through the fire made to burne brickes through the water which we caried to temper the matter and make it fitte for the forme And if wee may lawfully moralize S. Augustine saith Through aduersitie and prosperitie through the scorching heat of tribulation the filthie puddle stinking waters of noysome corruption that which seemeth the least saith he being no lesse to be feared thē the other Hugo in psal 65. Hieronym in psal 65. And Hugo the Cardinall followeth his collection and interpretation S. Ierome Thus haue the Martyrs passed and come ad refrigerium to Christ who is their true reliefe and rest by the crosse by stripes by fire by water and diuers punishments and by them they haue become acceptable well pleasing sacrifices Hillar ibid. Chrysost t. 2. in c. 4. Mat. no. 5. Theod. in psal 66. Haimo in psal 66. Bernard de transitu S. Malachiae c. And S. Hilarie writeth thereupon after the same manner Chrisost Theodoret do deale somewhat more simply plainly take it to be vnderstood of the ordinary afflictions of the faithful Haimo Of Martyrs that haue passed through fire water of trauellers that haue indured the heat and cold yet giue not ouer their iourney Saint Bernard Such as die in the Lord fellow citizens with the Saintes and are of the
passed ouer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath beene obserued by the most learned that the Hebrew words which signifie paines and bands doe not any thing differ Psal 18.6 2. Sam. 22.6 but in one small pricke And this might verie well bee referred to that which Saint Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing loosed and made an allusion to these words of Dauid The snares of Hell or of the Graue haue compassed me about Where the Septuagints haue translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the paines of child-birth And the Paraphrast goeth not far from them and it may bee that one and the same word without any let by reason of scruple caused through the prickes doth signifie them both And this might very wel come to passe through the custome they had to binde the bodies of their dead according wherunto we read in the storie of Lazarus Wherupon our Sauiour saith vnto his Apostles Vnloose him c. And it is not to bee forgotten that neuer a one of the Fathers hath found out Purgatorie in this place neither yet any of the late writers Caiet in Act. c. 2. Fcrus Hofmester in Act. c. 2. Caietanus expoundeth it of the penalties for such a word hee vseth which the Soule of Christ suffered being separate from the body Ferus vnderstandeth it of Christ his loosing of the paines of death for the faithfull in so much as that he which belieueth in him tasteth not of death but is alreadie past from death to life Hofmester by these paines of death or Hell all the sufferings that Christ hath indured for vs c. According to that place of the Psalme The paines of death haue compassed me and the daungers of Hell haue enwrapped me c. And these are the most noted and best esteemed Expositors amongst them Now commeth their maine argument No man saith Saint Paul 1. Cor. 3. can laye any other foundation then that which is laid which is Iesus Christ. But if any man build vpon this foundation Gold Siluer c. The worke of euerie man shall be manifest for the day will declare it because it shall bee disclosed by fire and the fire will proue what euerie mans worke is c. But he shall be saued as concerning himselfe as it were by fire This last fire they will haue to bee Purgatorie by which we are to bee saued Here let vs call to mind againe that which hath beene so often spoken of That Symbolicke Diuinitie or that Diuinitie which is deliuered in Similitudes doth not proue that there is no disputation or argument to bee held from Metaphors that no Article of doctrine is established by darke and obscure places For these bee the Maxims of the old writers whereunto we doe willingly subscribe Now the case so standeth as that all this text consisteth of Metaphors as foundation frame building Gold Siluer c. Wood haye strawe c. August de fide opcrib c. 15. 16. Idem in quaest ad Dulcit q. 1. that it is likwise obscure and difficult In so much as that S. Augustine doth accompt it amongst those whereof Saint Peter speaketh saying In the Epistles of Saint Paul there are certaine things that are hard to be vnderstood c. And after that hee hath giuen his aduice and iudgement I desire saith he to heare the wise and learned vpon this place c. This is to make way that wee may come to this that vpon a doubtfull and darke Exposition we ought not to ground any certaine doctrine much lesse an Article of our Christian faith Idem de fide oper c. 16. Ambros in 1. Cor. 3. Hieronym in l. 2. in Ioh. Thom. in 1. Cor. c. 3. Chrysost in 1. Cor. c. 3. Ambros in 1. Cor. 3. Heronym in Esay c. 5. Haim in 1. Cor. 3. Greg. li. 4. dial c. 39. August l. de fid oper c. 16. Greg. l. 4. dial c. 39. This also is the thing that hath begot so many and so diuers interpretations almost vpon euerie word For by builders some vnderstand all Christians as S. Augustine S. Chrysostome Theodoret c. Other some the Doctors and Pastors as S. Ambrose Saint Ierome Thomas and others Againe some by the word foundation do vnderstand true doctrine by Gold Siluer c. good works by wood haye c. mortall sinnes as Chrysostome Theophilact c. Others the preaching of faith wherupon euery man buildeth his expositions some of them being Orthodox and according to sound doctrine and other some heretical as S. Ambrose S. Ierome Haimo c. Others the good workes of one part and the veniall sinnes on the other as S. Gregorie Others the good and euill hearers as Theophilact Oecumenius c. Againe by the day S. Augustine and Saint Gregorie vnderstand this present life or the time of tribulation which causeth the good to be known from the wicked others and those in greater number the day of iudgement yet differing herein that some will haue it to be the great day of the Lord as Theodoret Theophilact Haimo Anselme c. The others that iudgement which passeth vpon euery person so soone as he is dead as Caietanus many of this time Againe this fire which shall trie the worke of euerie man by some is taken for tribulations as S. Augustine and S. Gregorie and by others for euerlasting fire By some for the consuming of the whole world by fire By other for Purgatorie and by others for the fire of the iust iudgement of God c. who examineth and trieth say they but punisheth not And in this opinion may S. Ambros in Psal 118. August in Enchirid. ad Laurent c. 68. Ambrose seeme to be And finally by this fire whereof it is said But be shall be saued as it were by fire Some vnderstand the tribulations of this life as Saint Augustine and S. Gregorie S. Augustine by name who saith that this place darke and obscure in it selfe must bee expounded by diuers others that are cleare and plaine in which fire doth signifie the triall of tribulation Others the euerlasting fire as Chrysostome and Theophilact and certaine also Purgatorie and amongst them some after the manner and fashion of the Church of Rome others after a certaine particular opinion such namely as was then common Which was that in the verie moment of the vniuersall Iudgement euerie one without exception should bee tried and proued by fire By these so variable and differing coniectures euerie one may iudge with what face our aduersaries can take this place and the interpretations thereof for the foundation of their Purgatorie Seeing also that Bellarmine a thing worth the noting is constrained by reason of the absurdities that hee meeteth withall therein to leaue and forsake all and to refute them euerie one for this or that inconuenience that would insue that so hee may lay some one particular and speciall sence and that such as may be sound Now we cannot
spoke in the verse going before For why shall it in that place signifie vnto Bellarmine the seuere iudgement of God examining and making triall of workes and doctrines and in this place a materiall fire of Purgatorie which burneth not workes or doctrines whereof the question is but the soules of men And in deed S. Augustine and S. Gregorie haue taken both these two fires for one that is to say tribulations Chrysostome and Theophilact for one that is the euerlasting fire and many of the late writers for one namely Purgatorie The distinction came not to be knowne vntill such time as it was espied that the former word could not bee auouched in this signification and therefore they haue restrained it to this latter Now we say that this commeth to passe in many good Doctors and Teachers who haue built and brocht many friuolous doctrines of a good intention vpon this foundation of Christian faith and cease not notwithstanding to be happie by the mercies of God because they haue retained and held it fast especially at the time of the approaching of the pangs of their death as is recorded of many in writing and which doe now ioy and reioyce in heauen to see them burnt and deuoured yea euen this pretended fire also by the effectuall power of the word of God whome they see and well perceiue to bee glorified in the destruction of their workes Now whosoeuer he is that shall reade this text without preiudice wil easily rest satisfied with this interpretation And in deed that of Bellarmines for it doth not agree with any of the old writers cannot free it selfe frō many inconueniences We are very neere at agreement with him concerning that which is to be vnderstood by the foundation builders and that which is diuersly built thereupon But we still differ cannot agree about the day of fire which trieth and proueth the doctrines nor yet vpon the fire from which the Teachers doe escape and saue themselues hee confuteth the opinion of Caietanus who vnderstandeth it to be the day of euerie particular mans iudgement that is to say his last day or deathes day And for mine owne part I agree with him therein as holding it absurd without bringing any further witnesse for the same But hee would vnderstand by the same the latter iudgement presupposing still that it is that day of the Lord. Now the Apostle saith that day simply He saith also that in that day it shall bee manifested which side hath the truth by the proofe and tryall which shal be made and that before such as it concerneth to know the same This then shall be in this present life as S. Augustine and S. Gregorie doe vnderstand it Thus far we both are agreed vppon the fire which proueth the doctrines namely that it is not any materiall fire contrarie to that which they affirme that would haue it the fire of Purgatorie but the effectuall working of the Iustice and seueritie of God in the day of iudgement whereas we vnderstand it with S. Ambrose of the word of God accompanied with his holy spirit exercising his authoritie power in the Church And this we hold to be so much the more agreable because the triall is by nature to go before the sentence of iudgement as also for that this triall is made for the instruction of the Church by manifesting and making knowne on what side the truth standeth and therefore in this life and therefore also before the iudgment But neuerthelesse Bellarmine in all this portion of Scripture hitherto hath not found out Purgatorie About the fire from which the Teachers do saue themselues we doe especially square and disagree for therein he findeth his Purgatorie but we say vnto him that there is no apparance that from one verse to an other this fire should suffer such an alteration and chaunge in his nature as of a spirituall to become materiall and of a powerfull worke of the iudgement of God to become a reall and substantiall flame That these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe note out vnto vs a meere metaphoricall fire That seeing as he himselfe saith the question here is of the day of iudgement that therefore here is no more to doe with Purgatorie that seeing the fire of iudgement hath alreadie consumed and eaten vp the wood haye and strawe that there is not left behind any manner of thing to be burned in this no not the Author himselfe seeing that hee must by this iudgement goe presently to life or to death eternall For as concerning that Bellarmine saith he shall be saued but so as it were by fire that is to say he shall be saued prouided alwaies that he must first haue passed and gone through the fire This is the begging of the matter in question and this is to set downe for graunted the thing that is in controuersie In the end he commeth to seeke his defence from the old writers who how contrarie they are one to an other wee haue alreadie seene and it will not stand him in any seruice Chrysostome vnderstandeth by this latter fire the eternall fire and to be saued to be as much as not to be consumed in the said fire Saint Augustine and Saint Gregorie the tribulations of this life Theodoret and Oecumenius they setting of the vniuersall world on fire which shall be accomplished in the day of the last iudgement And as concerning the place which Saint Thomas alleadgeth out of Theodoret vpon this Epistle it is not to bee found either in the Greeke or Latine Copie but hee affirmeth verie well that the Teacher shall bee saued from the fire of the last iudgement which shall goe before the face of the Iudge Which saith hee will not burne the iust Alcuinus de Trinit l. 3. c. 21 Orig. hom 3. in Psal 26. but make them shine more cleare and bright Alcuinus and the ordinarie Glose doe iumpe together with the former sence Origen vnderstandeth it of Purgatorie but it is a Purgatorie of his owne deuise in that he maketh it not to be till after the last iudgement and through which both Saint Peter and Saint Paul are to passe holding that none can be free from the same but Christ himselfe no not the Diuels for by it hee holdeth that they shall be purged Ambros in Psalm And Saint Ambrose holding the same from and with him speaketh after the same sort and yet notwithstanding he addeth thereunto how that the euill Teachers shall bee for a certaine time after the last iudgement in Hell and yet in the end they shall be saued To the end saith he that it may yet turne to some profit to haue belieued in Christ But what proueth all this for our Purgatorie And what will themselues say of Gregorie Gregor l. 4. Dial. c. 39. who durst not deale or meddle with the expounding of the place If any man saith hee thinke good to vnderstand it of the fire of that Purgation which
that the Saintes liuing in the time of the olde Testament were saued by the law of Moses and the Grecians by Philosophie That Christ and his Apostles did preach the Gospell in hell Origen his purgatory Orig. hom 8. in Leuit. Hom 25. in Numer Hom. 6. in Exod in ep ad Rom. c. 11. In psal 36. hom 3. In Hierem. Bellarm l. 2. de purgat c. 8. ¶ 8. septim Synod 5. c. 11. Synod 7. ex prato spiritualt Iohan. Diacon in vir B. Greg. l. 2. c 45. thereby to conuert the damned and that both in this worlde as also in that to come yea euen in hell there may bee vse and place graunted for repentance c. And the other building vppon this his maisters bad foundation a great deale worse As that all men how holy soeuer are to passe this Purgatorie euery one according to his proportion S. Peter S. Paul c. the one to be purged by fire and the other by water more or lesse c. And again that the most wicked the most miscreants yea the Deuilles themselues are purged are amended yea and saued by the same Now I desire to know of them if they will approue this Purgatorie of Origen And if they doe not approue it that then they would not obiect it any more vnto vs neither yet any of those places which haue relation thereunto seeing also that Bellarmine intreating of Purgatory doth acknowledge that the fift generall Synode condemned and cursed Origen no lesse then Arrius and Nestorius furthermore that the seuenth general Councell maketh mention of a reuelation wherein he was seene in hell amongst others the Arch-heretickes And the same is likewise confirmed by Iohan. Diaconus in the life of Gregorie But it is worth the noting how that Origen had not as yet learned that these punishmentes were mittigated and lightned by suffrages for there is not found any maner of print or note of any such thing in all his purgatorie These pollutions and sinnes go for no better then matter for the fire and torments without any hope of release or ransome And still as these fantasies continued and abode with some curious spirites they were condemned in the fift generall Councell by the East Church The Apologie of the Grecians presented by Michael Bishop of Ephesus Vincent Lyrinensis Lactan. de diuino praemio c. 21. and euen in that which concerneth their false foundation namely that Christ hath purchased the remission of sinnes but not of the punishment And this appeareth to bee so by the Apologie giuen by the Greekes in the Councell of Basill These fantasticall dreames of Origen notwithstanding by reason of the reputation of his learning did leaue their impressions in the Latine Church whereupon Vincentius Lirinensis had iust cause to say That Origen his knowledge and zeale was a great temptation to the Christian Church Lactantius saith That men are not iudged presently after their death but that they are kept in a common prison vntill the day of iudgement in which they are to bee tried by fire This place is ill alleadged by our aduersaries for they do not place together the good the bad the faithfull and vnfaithfull at the time of their departing out of this life neither do they hold that purgatorie sleepeth without doing any thing vnto the day of iudgement for they will haue it occupied about the dead from the day of their death Againe it is apparant that in the time of Lactantius the doctrine of the Church was cleane contrarie For Eusebius as we haue said comparing the opinion of the Platonistes therewith maketh but two estates and conditions after this life whereas they made three But let it be for the making of the comparison the more full that hee did not altogether forget the third But they alleadge vnto vs Saint Ambrose Saint Hillarie Saint Ierome c. The purgatorie spoken of by certaine of the old fathers is not the same with that of the Church of Iâ—ome Ambr. in psal 118. in psal 36. 2. ad Timoth 2. Then let vs see if wee shall be able to find such euidence as may make vs acknowledge this their purgatorie in them Verily there is no man that can bee ignorant how greatly Saint Ambrose did esteeme of Origen when as the most part of his expositions are translated word for word from him And thereupon likewise his opinion touching Purgatorie doth nothing differ and therefore also no lesse worthy to be condemned then his All men saith he which are haue beene or shall be the one onely Christ excepted shall be purged by fire The sonnes of Leui Ezechiel Daniel c. if they be not consumed yet at the least they shal be fired if they be not drowned yet they shall bee wette and dipt in the water for so was Iohn the Euangelist himselfe whom the Lord loued so much so was Saint Peter which receiued the keies of heauen There is not any one but Christ onely which doeth not smel of this fire who is the righteousnesse of God not hauing any sinne so that in him there is nothing found for this fire to consume or burne And this hee amplifieth by two seuerall Allegories the one taken from the glittering sword which was set at the entrance into Paradise the other from the people of Israel which went through the red sea c. He addeth hereto that this triall and proofe by fire shall bee made in the day of iudgement by the vniuersall burning of the world which shall vniuersally purge all men but euery one according to his nature euen as the fire doth melt the lead otherwise then it doth the gold c. S. Hillarie no lesse addicted to Origen Hilar. in comment in psal 118. holdeth the same opinion and proceedeth yet further saying If the virgine Marie the virgin of God must also vndergo the sentence of this iudgement of this fire hee spake before through which wee must all passe who is hee that dare desire to bee iudged of God And in another place hee saith Idem Canon in Mat. 3. Hieronym Amos 3. ex Amo 7.14 Ezech. 46. It remaineth that those which are baptised with the holy Ghost bee made perfect that is to say accomplished and fully refined by the fire of the last iudgement c. Saint Ierome likewise is infected with the like opinions by continuall reading of Origen He will call saith hee the fire vnto iudgement and behold it commeth at his summons and first of all deuoureth the depth that is to say all sortes of sinnes wood baye stubble and afterward it eateth at once the parte and portion that is to say it commeth to the Saintes which the Lorde hath made choice of to belong to him c. Againe Hieronym in vlt. cap. Esa Euerie creature is vncleane and must bee purged by the fire of God for the Sabbath day wherein hee shall haue eternall rest Likewise hee meaneth that euen wicked Christians shall
thing to stand for pardon and forgiuenesse and an other to come to glorie one thing to bee sent to prison not to come out thence till the vitermost farthing be paid and an other thing to receiue incontinently the reward of faith and vertue one thing to be corrected and purged a long time by fire for sinnes with the induring of great torments and an other to haue all his sinnes purged by one onely passion and suffering c. Which words at the first blush might seeme to make mightily for thē but let vs reade the whole Epistle there he speaketh of such satisfactions as are made in the Church during this life but not a word of any that should be made after the same It was said vnto him If you offer the peace of the Church vnto penitents there will not be any moe confessors there will not be any moe Martyrs for this was the glorie of our fathers But saith hee there will contin ually remaine a great difference betwixt the one and the other Lapsi saith he such as are fallen stand to aske pardon they are as it were in prison vntill such time as they haue exactly satisfied the Church they are as it were refined by fire through the long griefe which they indure by their penance in a word they suffer much before they obtaine the peace of the Church and in this peace peace with God and that which followeth On the contrarie the Martyrs and confessors abiding in peace with God doe not passe through all these sorrowes and griefes they passe speedily into glorie they receiue the reward of their constancie all their sinnes are swallowed vp in their suffering of death c. He addeth likewise that they haue this aduātage in the iudgement of God that they appeare and present themselues in the same assured of the crowne wheras others are in suspence as those that expect and depend vpon the sentence of the iudge And yet they obiect Prayers for the dead you cannot say but that the Church hath belieued Purgatorie seeing it hath praied for the dead Neither doe we denie but that this custome is auncient enough but on the contrarie we say how that the Church neuer praied for the dead vnder the old Testament not Ioseph for Iacob who was notwithstanding verie carefull for the embalming and burying of him 2 Kings 18. nor Dauid for Absalom whose death so much grudged and mooued his tender and fatherly affections nor for the child which he begot of Bersabe but on the contrarie after that hee knew him dead he gaue ouer his fasting and praier And as for Machabeus if any man obiect him vnto vs we answere that hee was the first and the last in that action The Church then before and vnder the Law neere hand for the space of foure thousand yeares knew not any Purgatorie And further wee affirme that our Lord hath not left any thing any word or mention of the same vnto his Apostles but on the contrarie that he hath left the dead to burie the dead Act. 9. 9. S. Paul saith vnto vs Bee not carefull and pensiue for them which are a sleepe Amongst so many arguments to prooue the resurrection that is not once touched amongst them 1. Thes 4. which yet would haue made for the purpose Likewise we see them wash the bodies of the dead and burie them carefully and to comfort one an other in the midst of their mourning in the hope of the resurrection but as for praying for them they say nothing of it Wherefore the Church of Christ from the beginning hath not knowne Purgatorie How came they then into the Church Verily euen through the conduite that brought in Purgatorie the inuention of men and the imitation of the Gentiles who being but slenderly and superficially instructed of the state of the soule after death rent and launced themselues ouer the dead made feasts vppon their graues as though thereby they would haue recouered them and brought them againe to life and sacrificed to the infernall Gods for their shadowes and likenesses this humane affection and carnall loue haunted them so as that it wrought prayers out of them yea euen to the time of death and after also But these courses of afflicting themselues in such extreame manner were forbidden the people of God as being better instructed and taught in the holy word of God and these humane affections also bounded within the limits of his Law And this is the cause that kept them from falling away so lightly to the imitation of the Gentiles From the Gentiles this opinion was slily and smoothly conueighed into the Apocripha books of one Clement Abdias Babilonius Hermas and such like and as it was no straunge thing to those who were drawne from their Paganisme so was it nothing vnplausible to them to retaine the same the Pastors admitting it for indifferent and nothing looking to the consequence and that which might fall out in the end did let it alone by sufferance Whereas if they had seene how farre Sathan hath vndermined thereby the merite of Christ the foundation of saluation they would vndoubtedly haue resisted and gaine-saied the same according to the necessitie of the cause and kept themselues to the rule of the Apostle repeated by S. Augustine who saith Gala. 1. If any man whatsoeuer vpon any thing concerning conuersation or manners doe vtter and offer vnto vs for certaine and necessarie doctrine or for an Article of faith August contr Petil. Tertull. de Coron milit li 2. ad vxor Arnob. l. 2. the thing which goeth beyond the Scriptures of the Law and the Gospell let him be accursed In Tertullian first of all we haue Oblationes pro defunctis and in like manner Oblationem pro sponsa from the same roote this is about two hundred and fiftie yeares after our Lord. The Paganes had accustomed to offer when they were dead as also when their kinsfolkes or friends departed and left them now the Christians seeing the same and being ashamed to bee behind in humanitie and naturall affection doe in like manner offer but so as that they appoint their oblations to bee imployed to better vses as to the feeding of the poore following the counsaile mentioned in Tobiah Set thy bread vpon the Graue c. The Pagans had their yearely birth feasts the Christians celebrated the day of their true second birth or regeneration of the Martyrdome confession and death of their brethren in Christ And Beatus Rhenanus noteth verie well in this place Index expurg p. 82. From hence sprung the originall of the yearely remembrances and feasts Where the Fathers of Trent haue caused Antiquitie to be put in place of the originall Likewise Tertullian saith that this is a doctrine neither grounded in the Scriptures nor yet vpon any Apostolicall tradition but onely growne vp by custome Si legem saith he expostules Scripturarum nulla legis tibi traditio pretendetur
are aliue that so the Church may sing Gaudeamus in Domino c. Let vs reioyce and be glad in the Lord c. In this sence hath the greatest part of the auncient Fathers prayed Dionysi de Ecclesi Hierat c. 7. and that will be the more clearely vnderstood by themselues S. Denis speaketh not of Oblations neither yet of yearely feasts but how that they kisse the dead and poure Oyle vppon his head These diuers fashions taken from the customes of diuers Countries doe shew the indifferencie The prayer followeth That it might please God to pardon him his sinnes and to place him in the light and region of the liuing in the place from which griefe sadnesse and sighing are banished and vtterly excluded c. Was this because he doubted No for on the contrarie hee maketh but two rankes and so consequently but two places of abode after this life one for the prophane who die and depart out of this life desperate and without all hope in as much as they goe hence vnto miserie and an other for the Saints who haue liued well who in their death doe shew themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of good hope and dying doe require of God pardon for their sinnes These men saith hee depart out of this life full of ioy perceiuing themselues now to bee come to the end of all their fights and conflicts and drawing neerer vnto the crowne of glorie They possesse in hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rest conformable to that of Christs Prayers doe call them blessed and offer thankes vnto him who hath giuen them the victorie The high Priest prayseth God who hath ouerthrowne the rule and soueraigntie of death The Ministers read in the assembly in the Scriptures the promises of the resurrection to the end they may serue for an exhortation to stirre vp those that are liuing to the like vertues they recite them in the end amongst the Saints in the commemoration which is made in the Church as those that are alreadie partakers of the same glorie with them c. Is it possible that a man should belieue them that all this is spoken of a Soule in Purgatorie or of any of whom the least doubt that is may be made Origen We doe not celebrate saith he the birth day Orig. l. 3. in Iob. for that it is an entrance into paine and griefe and manifold temptations but the day of death as the day of the laying downe and ending of all griefe c. And this is the cause why we vse the renuing of the memorie of the Saints and of our kins folkes dying in the faith as well to reioyce our selues for their ease as for to become humble sutors for a holy finishing and knitting vp of our end in faith Note well and obserue the end of griefes ease and rest the giuing of thankes for their rest and ease c. Againe Wee celebrate the memorie of the dead feasting Religious persons together with the Priestes the faithfull with the Cleargie feeding the poore the fatherlesse and the widdowes to the end that our feast may be for a memoriall of the rest of the Soules that are deceased whose memorie wee solemnize therein Note here also The distributing of almes the memoriall of their rest c. Then this cannot be a sacrifice to purchase vnto them ease or rest and yet notwithstanding this is that which first brought in Purgatorie but such a one as is not able to stand with these propitiations seeing that it taketh no hold but at the howre of iudgement So vnsound and vnsure it is to reason either from Purgatorie to the making of prayers for the dead or from these to goe about to proue their Purgatorie Greg. Nazian hom 7. Gregorie Nazianzene in his seuenth Homily O thou which art the Lord of life and of death saith he receiue Caesarius for we commit and commend him now vnto that course and order by which thou gouernest the world whereunto likewise we recommend as laid vp with thee both our owne Soules and theirs which haue gone before vs. Now hee had said before That he did alreadie enioy saluation that his soule receiued the fruit c. S. Ambrose commeth in with these words Blessed saith he are you both Ambros de Obitu Valent. he speaketh of the Emperour Valentinian and his brother If my prayers saith he be any thing worth for there shall not one passe from me wherin I will not haue an honorable remembrance of you Omnibus vos oblationibus frequent abo I will make mention of you in all my offerings that is to say in all my seruices Againe speaking of Theodosius Graunt rest O Lord saith he to Theodosious thy seruant let his soule enter into the place Ambros de Obitu Theod. where there is not any sence or feeling of the sting of death I loue this man and will not giue ouer the following of him into the land of the liuing I will not leaue him vntill my teares and my prayers haue brought him into the place whither his merits doe call him Namely into the mountaine of the Lord where there is euerlasting life without any sighing heauinesse or griefe c. And doe you tel vs still that they were in Purgatorie Yea rather saith he of Valentinian in the same place wee belieue and that by the testimonie of Angels that hee is ascended and gone vp into heauen washed from the defilements of sinne that his faith hath washed him c. that hee inioyeth the ioyes of eternall life Yea and this he saith of that Valentinian who was as yet but learning the principles of Religon that is to say as yet vnbaptised in which case Purgatorie was meetest to haue had place And in like manner of Theodosius He is deliuered from this doubtfull fight and warfare he inioyeth an euerlasting light eternall tranquilitie c. Hee is glorified amongst the companie of Saints there he embraceth Gratian he beholdeth in the kingdome of Christ the temple of Christ c. And he speaketh saith he full assuredly and confidently For as much as they are dead in the faith of Christ seeing the Lord was made sinne to the end that he might take away the sinne of the world to the end that wee might be all in him the righteousnesse of God no more saith he the slaues of sinne but sealed vp for the reward of righteousnesse In like manner his prayers could not possibly be vnderstood of his Purgatorie in as much as we haue seene as he gaue it no place vntill the day of iudgement With the same intent and mind S. Augustine praied for his mother saying I pray thee O Lord for her sinnes heare me by the medicine of his wounds which was hanged vpon the Crosse and sitteth at thy right hand making intercession for vs Pardon her and enter not into iudgement with her And I doe verily belieue that thou hast done this which I haue prayed thee
receiued into eternal happines because of the Son of God made a sacrifice for vs whome they haue participated in the Eucharist But as hee was vrged drawne by the strife contention of the time for there was then much to do about this Article whereas al the former haue made but two orders of the deceased August de cura pro mortuis ad Paul Nol. c. 1.4.18 Ad Dulcit q 2. De Ciuit. Dei l. 21. c. 13. 14 Idem de verb Domini Serm. 32. he hath made three The good saith hee who haue nothing to doe but to make prayers and supplications and these are they whome by name they dayly vsed so to praie for The wicked for whome no prayers or supplications could serue if it be not it may be saith he for the damned for the diminishing and lessening of their punishment And Chrysostome said also that they did ease their paines And the middlemost or those betwist the other two who haue need and accordingly ayde and succour there by whether it bee saith hee that God may not deale with them according to their sinnes or that their soules may be purged before the day of iudgement by temporall punishment that so they may not fall into the eternall Finally the prayers which are made for the good are thankesgiuings for the wicked such as whereby the liuing may be comforted and for those which are betwixt both such as are propitiatorie Now this is the first man that hath set open this way and passage contrarie to all auncient writers and more then foure hundred yeares after our Sauiour Christ there hauing not beene any man before time that had so much as read any thing of prayer for the dead or of a third place which they call Purgatorie and this Purgatorie notwithstanding wherof he saith elswhere in other places That there is some apparance that it is That it may be that there is one That no part of the Scripture speaketh of it That there is not any at all Doubtfull therefore are these prayers and oblations euen for the middle order of the deceased as is also his Purgatorie Or rather none at all absolutely as neither his Purgatorie seeing that by his confession there is none in the Scriptures What doe wee gather out of all this discourse Verily first That these prayers haue no foundation or ground either in the olde or new Testament Secondly that they are proceeded partly from humane affections and partly from the imitation of the Pagans Thirdly that the old Fathers vsed them for those whome they belieued alreadie to enioy eternall life as the Apostles Prophets Martyrs the holy Virgine c. Or we may say better according to the manner wherin they prayed in the Councell of Trent for the Soules of the Popes Paul the third and Iulius the third For those which liue and die in a most holy manner can they possibly according to their owne doctrine abide so long in Purgatorie Fourthly that it was then in regard of their soules a holy desire and to be taken in like sence as when we say liue O Christ liue O God c. whome wee know to raigne eternally In regard of their bodies a prayer vnto God that it would please him to glorifie them in the resurrection c. Fiftly that they were made rather in consideration of the liuing then of the dead to ease them of their griefe and confirme them in their faith instructions that may bee taken at a better hand and warrant from the Apostle Torment not your selues about them which are a sleepe c. Sixtly that they made them not vpon any consideration of Purgatorie seeing that amongst so many reasons of so many Doctors liuing in diuers ages and places not any one before Saint Augustine hath alleadged Purgatorie Seuenthly that these obseruations and reasons so diuers and manifold doe witnesse vnto vs that it was at that time held as an indifferent doctrine as also how that the greater sort doe call it a Custome a Decree an Institution c. Eightly that Saint Augustine himselfe who alone after many other better reasons alleadgeth Purgatorie cannot make any good proofe of the same seeing he himselfe doth not couer or conceale what doubt hee was in whether there were a Purgatorie or not Likewise he deliuereth contrarie assertions whereby there is great apparance and likelyhood that he did not reuoke or vnsay any thing but so farre as hee was wonne and ouerswayed by the headstrong conceipt of men seming in the light of nature to know that which they had neuer heard or seene Finally that the prayers for the dead which haue no foundation in the world ought not to haue any more authoritie in the Church then Baptisme for the dead practised say the ancients but not approued from the time of the Apostles or the Eucharist giuen into the mouth of the dead the one and the other proceeding from the same naturall affections and yet both the one and the other abolished and banished out of the Church Now it is not to be forgotten that that which was to be seene very weake and feeble in S. Augustine for to strengthen this new building withall hath beene since that time vnderpropped by counterfait and fained writings by men willing that way to imploy their vttermost indeauour thus labouring by vntruth to establish a lie and mans deuice and inuention by notorious and hainous crimes And to that end some haue attributed vnto him the Bookes August de ver fals paenit c. 71. De vera falsa paenitentia made in deede by Monkes though they be commonly cited in his name where he saith Let him that deferreth to conuert and turne too long passe through the fire of Purgatorie which is more painefull and grieuous then all the punishment that man can indure in this life A Sermon also of the day of the dead or of the remembrance of all the deceased where they haue made him speake in the same tearmes and manner of speach A booke notwithstanding wherein the Author himselfe alleadged S. Augustine as also the feast not being as yet receiued into the Church in his time but instituted by Odilo Abbot of Clugni more then 500. yeares after And yet which is more there are some that haue deuised an Epistle written from S. Cyril Bb. of Ierusalem to S. Augustine for to confirme him in the opinion of Purgatorie Cyril I say whose life S. Ierome did write whiles he liued writing to S. Augustine of the myracles of Saint Ierome after his death In which Epistle there is mention made How that S. Ierome appeared vnto a certaine man named Eusebius and commaunded him to cast his sacke ouer three dead bodies which should presently therupon rise therby confounding the heresie which denied Purgatory That these three men thus raised againe made their abode amongst men for the space of twentie dayes declared how that S. Ierome had beene the meanes of their seeing of
Sabinian his next successor caused so many of them to be burnt as he could But some on the contrarie haue sought by all the wayes they can to make them to bee belieued for the procuring of the greater authoritie to Purgatorie And by name Anno. 730. Gregorie the thirde caused them to bee published throughout all Christendome to the same ende Damascen Damascen confirmeth it if a man will lend his eare vnto them hath not smally aduaunced this building but alwayes with the selfe same Argumentes for in a certaine prayer which they attribute vnto him S. Steuen by his prayers saueth Falcouilla a Pagan deceased in Idolatrie God also made the head of a certaine Priest that was dead and a Gentile borne for such a one doth Durandus describe him to bee to speake to Macarius and declare to him the consolations that they in Purgatorie receiue by the suffrages of the liuing Againe at the prayer of Gregorie passing through Traian his Countrie God deliuered Traian out of hell c. But I maruaile that they are not ashamed of these fables or why at the least they set them not in better order Seeing that out of hell there is no redemption Seeing also that according to their doctrines the Gentiles cannot be in Purgatorie But it seemeth that this pretended Damascen is ashamed of himselfe when he concludeth saying that he speaketh not any thing that he meaneth to stand vnto and that what hee saith is but by way of discourse but such is his discourse as that they make a Creed of it And yet it is not credible that this was his prayer seeing that in his Bookes de Orthodoxa fide in which it is his drift to comprise the Christian faith he maketh no mention of Purgatorie Anno. 750. Now this fell out about the yeare 750. From this time forward the opinion of the sacrifice The growth of Purgatorie through the opinion of a sacrifice as also that of Purgatorie began mutually wittingly to lend their hands the one to the other ignorance groweth grosser and grosser and that sensibly and to the sight of the eye throughout all Christendome and in this darknesse the spirit of darknesse dispatcheth and bestirreth himselfe about his busines Once to looke into the Scriptures was by no meanes to be heard of but to hearken after myracles was the whole imployment of the mind One man had seene the soules tormented vpon the Gridyron an other vpon a Spit this man had seene them burning in the fire that man had espied them dipt in the Ice one was hung vp to be dried in the chimney smoake an other to vnderlay the washing raine distilling and dryuing downe a Gutter one liuing but in a traunce an other returning againe after death Further more this man had discouered one of the Gulfs in Ireland an other that in Sicilia and a third that in Pozzuolo the one by the conduct and guidance of an Angell the other by reuelation from the Diuell And all the bookes of those times are full of such fooleries other instructions then these there was not any currant amongst the people namely the Legends the Lombardicke historie and such like In a word whereas the Fathers had practised the remembrance of the dead as we haue seene for the comfort and consolation of the liuing they begin to turne all to the contrarie For those said that they were in Abrahams bosome in a place of blessed and happie rest these said they were in extreame torments nothing differing from those of hel c. And in stead that those knew how to teach them to die in an assurance of eternall life these tooke the way to make them apprehend conceiue of death as of the doore opening to an vnauoidable fire if they redeeme not themselues from thence by suffrages for now there was no more leaning vnto the mercie of God God was become a rigorous mercilesse tyrant and tormentor neither was any thing to be looked for from the satisfaction of our Lord for hee had paid no debt but what was answerable for the meere faults and transgressions the infinite merite of his passion was become vnable to satisfie for our demerits his paines and punishment for ours But Aut satis faciendum in hac vita say they or Satis patiendum in altera Either a man must prouide to make satisfaction in this life by doing sufficiently well or in the other by suffering sufficiently euill So that this is nothing else but to say let the suffrages of those that liue after vs ransome and redeeme vs from our paines And thereupon a man must cause great store of Masses to bee said for the dead for them also men must found yearely feasts Obits Chapels or Monasteries And the ordinarie clause of these foundations is Anno. 800. Anno. 1000. Anton. l. 15. c. 15. Violater l. 2. Lombar hist l. 8. Polyd. l. 6. c. 9. We giue bequeath c. such or such a thing for the saluation or redemption of our soules of the soules of our predecessors and successors c. And these fashions of doing and speaking began since the yeare 800. Toward the yeare 1000. there was a vision set out to be knowne of the people How that a man guided by an Angell had seene a number of Soules diuersly handled and intreated some lying vpon Gold some vpon Chaffe or straw some in aboundance some in want and penurie according as they were helped there by the suffrages of their friends or otherwise neglected and finding no bodie to care for them Whereupon sprung a deuotion of ordaining that vpon some certaine day in the yeare there should be generall prayers made for all soules And that is it which is called Dies omnium animarum the day of the dead attributed by the most to Odilo the fourth Abbot of Clugni perswaded by the flames of the mountaine Etna in Sicilia of the certainty of the tormentes of Purgatorie But by other some to Boniface the fourth a little after the time of Gregory the great after the fashion and imitation of a certaine feast of the Romaines celebrated yearely in the month of Februarie for the soules of the deceased that is to purchase rest for them by sacrifices night praiers waxe candles Plutarch in Romulo Anton. ut 13. S. I. Histor Lombard leg 157. Polyd. l. 6. c. 9. Canones Reform a Card. Camp propositi Not generally all at once Synod Tolet. 3 Epist Bonif. ad Gregor 3. Gregor 3. ad Bonifac. and torches light vp amongst al the people c. And thereupon it commeth that Plutarch calleth the moneth of Februarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purgatiue or purgatorie Now in the meane time it is not to be forgotten that in the councel of Lyon 1244. it was not receiued hauing rooted it selfe no where else but within the Monasteries of the order of Clugni as also that in the yeare 1524. Cardinall Campegius propounding certaine Canons of reformation was
ashamed thereof and so omitted in the twentieth Canon to which he reserued the number of feastes to speake any word of this feast which is at this day growen so famous and solemne a thing Here notwithstanding we haue two things to obserue The one is that these superstitions were not receiued all at one blow in so large a measure For in the third Synode of Toledo it is ordained That the dead shal be conueighed to the graue with singing of Psalmes onely in hope of the resurrection This was about the yeare 650. And euen at the same time when Boniface Archbishop of Mentz was sent by Pope Gregorie the third to reforme the Churches of Germanie after his fashion Hee found not any of these offeringes for the dead in the countrie but hee brought them in there by the commandement of this Gregorie And this was about the yeare 800. Carol. Mag. l. 1 c. 83. And Charles the great to represse these beginninges thought good to limit the same to the end that they might not runne on to the ruine and vndoing of inheritours and other children that were then but yong in like manner he ordained to what vse the oblations that were offered should serue namely two thirds to be giuen to the poore and one third to the Cleargie Innocent 3. in Extrauag de Presbyt non baptizato The decree of Innocent the third is not sleightly here to be passed ouer of a priest vnbaptised and yet dying in the faith of Christ whom hee affirmeth Caeleste gaudium incunctanter adeptum to haue obtained eternall life without delay or stay ordaining notwithstanding that praiers and sacrifices should be offered vp for him Where we will note two things The first that the way to heauen by purgatorie was not in his iudgement necessarie seeing that an vnbaptised priest had nothing to do there The second That the praiers for the dead do not presuppose a purgatorie seeing he ordained them for one whom he belieued affirmed to bee alreadie in Paradice And it is not to be stood vpon here that Panormitan saith that hee had obtained it Spe non re in hope but not in deed Bellarm. l. 1. de eccles Triumph c. 1. 2 For Bellarmine himselfe alleadgeth this place against those which denied that the faithfull departed did enioy the sight of God before the day of iudgement Let vs adde hereunto that in all the vigiles of the dead there is not a word mentioned of purgatorie nor yet of the fire or paines from which the dead are to be released by the diligence and carefulnesse of those that are aliue but rather there is speech laying out the miseries of this life the mercifulnesse of God repentance and reconciliation with him whiles wee are here by Iesus Christ the blessed life and the resurrection of the dead c. All of them lessons of consolation for such as are liuing who were accustomed after the death of their kinsfolkes to call the Ministers of the Church vnto their houses to spend the night with them in these holy meditations Playing the Philosophers saith Chrysost according to the word of God whereupon they were called vigils whereas they are so called now a daies though they fall to be kept at high noone The other is Resistances that these superstitions likewise were not receiued without contestation for after the sharpe contentions which were in the Church in the time of S. Augustine which wrought this effect that Purgatorie was left indifferent About the yeare 1200. as time grew on God who neuer leaueth himselfe without testimony vnto the face of the world that so he might make it inexcusable raised vp some to withstand the same in diuers places and at diuers times In the East the fift generall Councell which quenched and quite put out the fire of Purgatorie in the East Church that almost at the same time that Gregorie did blow it vp in the Latine and that after so sure a maner as that it was neuer able to recouer either heate or light since then in those Churches Nilus de purg And this appeareth by the Apologie put vp by the Greekes in the Councell of Basill and by a treatise of purgatorie made by Nilus Archb. of Thessalonica And in the West Churches the disputation held by Claudius Archbishop of Turin in the time of Lewes the Gentle against the superstitions of the Church of Rome and particularly against this same Anno 900. about the yeare 900. The lectures and publike sermons of Peter de Bruits and Henrie his successor at Tholosa who taught for the space of thirtie yeare throughout all Languedoc and Guienne That Christ was not sacrificed a new vppon the Altar in the Masse That this oblation was not offered for the saluation of soules That the Masses praiers other works of the liuing for the dead were vnprofitable foolish Petr Cluniacens l. 1. impious And these things we shuld not know how to come by to haue vnderstanding of the same but that Peter Abbot of Clugni reporteth the same vnto vs who no doubt forgot not to darken and ouershadow their doctrine so much as lay in him And it is to be noted that this Peter was in the end burned aliue and notwithstanding Henry continued aliue and tooke his place Anno 1100. This was about the yeare 1100. The bookes of Arnoldus Villanouanus a Spaniard by nation excellently learned in the languages Hebrew Greeke Latine Arabicke a great Philosopher and Diuine in which there is set downe amongst diuers others this generall Proposition That we must not either make satisfaction or offer any sacrifice for the dead This was about the yeare 1200. Anno 1200. At the same time the Waldenses in France taught That the true and onely purgatorie was in this life in the precious blood of Iesus Christ and not elsewhere That the Masses were sacriledges and not sacrifices which rob and steale away the honour due vnto the merit of our Sauior c. who after they had maintained their doctrine in many Synodes in Languedoc and Guyenne as appeareth by the very histories of the aduersaries were in the ende oppressed and borne downe by force of armes the Christian forces leuied against the Turkes and Sarasins being set on worke to do this feat And notwithstanding they were not so wholly extinguished but that their ashes sowen by the prouidence of God throughout all Europe did afterward stifle and choake these abuses of our age throughout the better part of Christendome Now when the field might seeme to be wholie left wast and emptie for the Deuill he contented not himself to walke the broad high way An exceeding great increase Questions of Purgatorie And thereupon taking purgatory for granted they begun to reason in the schools Whether the suffrages made for many together haue as much efficacie as when they are made for one alone Or els being made for one alone
our aduersaries for we praise and honor the Lord in his saints glorifying his name for the singular graces which he hath bestowed vpon thē for the edifying of his Church acknowledging the meruailes that hee hath wrought by his power in the weaknesse of their ministerie hauing chosen them base and vile that they were for instruments of his power of his wisedome of his goodnes to carrie his name amongst the people hauing assisted them in their trauels deliuered them from infinite tribulations and in the end of their course crowned them with glorie And afterward wee praise and magnifie themselues in the gifts which it hath pleased God to distribute vnto them of his grace and fauour and specially that hee hath shewed them this fauour to vse them for the setting forth of his glory Math 25. Heb. 3. for that hauing well imployed their talentes giuen them of the Lord they are entered into his ioy for that they haue beene faithfull in the house so that they haue not loued or spared their owne liues Apocal. 12. euen vnto the death whereby they haue receiued of his liberall mercie the white garment c. And from thence wee are led along to a third honour that is to set them before vs as patternes of our life to pray to God to vouchsafe vs the fauour that wee may follow their vertuous steppes their holinesse their humilitie zeale and constancie following the exhortation of the Apostles Bee ye followers of me Rom. 15. Hebr. 12. as you haue vs for a pats terne and example And in another place Be ye not slothfull but followers of them which by faith patience haue receiued the inheritance of the promises After this fashion say I honor we the Saints praising God in them praising them in God and conforming our selues vnto thē by his grace And all this according to the precepts examples which we haue in the scriptures wherein their liues their deathes haue beene set out vnto vs to those endes whereas our aduersaries haue made them ridiculous by their deuised and faigned legendes and still doe make the name of Christ in stead of being glorified to be blasphemed by these their fooleries which they deliuer to the poore people for their principall instructions whereas for fiue hundred yeares after our Lorde they were condemned to be false Gratian. D. 15. ex Gelasio and by the Bishops of Rome themselues reiected as thinges inuented by such men as were either heretickes or infidels suborned thereunto by the malice of the Deuill himselfe to discredite the name and faith of Iesus Christ But rather wee denie with the scriptures that we ought either to flie vnto them for succour or els worship them For these seruices are due vnto God alone and to take them as intercessors betwixt God and vs is not belonging to them it is the office of our onely Mediator Iesus Christ our Lord Neither yet ought we to make any imployment of their merites or workes of supererrogation eyther to appease the wrath of God or to supply our vnworthinesse or else the passion of our Lorde for this were to annihilate and make of no effect his perfect sacrifice And this is that which wee haue to condemne in the Masse in this place wherein the Priest contrarie to that which hath beene tolde vs so oft namely that God is the onely searcher of heartes doth confesse his sinnes to the Angelles to the virgine Marie to the Saintes and Saintesses and prayeth them to bee intercessors for him vnto God wherein hee prayeth God to pardon his sinnes not by the merite of Christ nor by his blood but by the merite of all the Saintes and specially Of those whose relickes are vnder the Altar c. And wherein the sacrifice as they pretend of Christ is offered to God in the honour of the virgine Marie and of the men saintes and women saintes c. And these thinges we affirme to be directly against the word of God against the analogie of faith and against the vnitie of the auncient Church Now let vs consequently heare if our aduersaries haue any thing to say to the contrarie In Genesis 41. Iacob blessing the children of Ioseph vttereth these wordes Gen. 18.15.16 The God that fedde mee euer since I was vnto this day the Angell which hath beene my protection from all euill blesse these children And my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac bee called vppon or cryed lowde vppon by them c. Out of this place they gather that the Angels and Saintes ought to bee called vpon and praied vnto But as concerning the Angell whereof hee speaketh it appeareth that it was no created spirit for then Iacob would not haue ranked him and made him equall with God neither had hee praied vnto him or done other like thinges and vsed the verie same tearmes which are belonging to the Lord This Angell then is he of whom the Prophet Malachie speaketh Malach. 3. the Angell of the couenant the Sonne of God himselfe the Mediator of the old and new couenant in the beholding of whom the Patriarkes found grace with the Lord Eoxd 10.19.13 21 14.24 That Angell which is sometimes by Moses in Exodus called an Angell sometimes Iehouah that in like tearmes of speech alluding vnto these that is then when there is any speech of the conduct and guiding of Iacob that is to say of the people of Israel of his Church And thus haue the olde writers spoken Tertul. de Trinit c. 15. Tertullian expounding this place saith As hee hath not doubted or made any scruple in calling Christ an Angell so let no man be afraid or sticke to call him God seeing hee vnderstandeth here that in the blessing of his children hee is God and called vppon and likewise an Angell But and if that any hereticke shoulde obstinately sette himselfe against the truth that here is properly spoken of an Angell in this let him bee conuinced by the force and power of the truth c. Saint Hillarie alleadgeth it in the same sence vpon Psalme 123. Hilar. in psal 123. Chrisost in Genes c. 48. That wee ought to owe and ascribe all our graces prosperitie and deliuerances vnto the one onely God And after the same manner Chrysostome And as for that which is said of the name of Abraham being called vpon by his children it is a common and accustomed speech of the Hebrews vsed when they will speake of those men or women which are ingrafted into a familie Esay 4. as in Esay seuen women desire of one man that his name may bee called vppon by them that is to say that they may bee called by his name or held for his c. And in this place is plainly deliuered the adopting of the two sonnes of Ioseph which Iacob reputeth and holdeth to bee by place and right as capable of inheritance in the parting of the land as his
we reiect and cast of that which it offereth vs and particularly it condemneth the Pharisies for that they denie Christ promised in the law Moyses on the contrarie that is to say this same doctrine dooth iustifie vs worketh with vs vnto saluation when we embrace Christ at whome it altogether aimeth according to that which is said afterward If you belieue Moyses you will also belieue me for it is written of me Iohn 5.39 And the Pharisies hoped in him that is to say in this doctrine according to that which hee said in former times Search the Scriptures for you thinke to haue eternall life by them c. And in the same sence Abraham aunswered the rich man They haue Moyses and the Prophets Not Moyses in the flesh not Moyses in the soule but Moyses as likewise the Prophets in the doctrine What should then the question of the intercession of Moses doe here Origen To belieue Moyses that is to say the writings and workes of Moses Orig in Ep. ad Fom l. 4 c. 4. Basill de Spir Sanct c. 14. Cirill in Ioh. l 3. c. 8. And by consequent to be accused by Moses that is to say by the law giuen by the Ministers of Moses S. Basill It is the custome of the Scripture to vnderstand vnder the name of Moyses the Law as when it is said they haue Moses and the Prophets Cyril more clearely intreating vpon this place When as saith he all others did hold their peace the Lord said that Moyses law alone did suffice to condemne the incredulitie of the Iewes Cardinal Hugo Moyses that is to say the Scripture or Law giuen by Moses Caietanus goeth yet further Caiet in Ioh. c. 5. The Iewes are accused by Moyses for that his writings declare them worthie of punishment in not belieuing in Iesus the Iewes also are said to hope in Moses because they generally hoped in the promises contained in the said writings but they acknowledged not the fulfilling of the same Iesus In the 2. Peter 1.15 I am saith he shortly to goe out of this my Tabernacle as our Lord himselfe hath declared vnto me 2. Pet. 1.15 but I will doe my indeuour that after my departure also you may continually call to mind these things that is pietie charitie brotherly loue c. Here they affirme that this shall be by his intercession in heauen But we that this shall bee by his diligence in instructing them well before that he goe out of this world that is as he hath said in the former verses By continually bringing it to their remembrance And the text is verie cleare and plaine for the same for he doth not say Dabo operam post obitum meum vt possitis but Vt possitis post obitum meum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say I wil haue care that after my death you may remember your selues and not I will haue care after â—y death c. That which followeth teacheth it For we haue not taught you the power and comming of our Lord in the deceitfulnesse of fables c. The Glose saith Jnterim dum venio dabo operam c. As long as I liue I will giue order or I will doe my endeuour c. And as for the alleadging of Oecumenius saying that certaine would collect heereof by the figure called Hyperbaton that is to say a long draught of words the intercession of Saints it had beene their dutie in like maner for the discharge of a good conscience to haue added that which followeth That others which handle the same more simply do vnderstand it thus That wheras he so carefully laboureth to imprint this doctrine in them it is not for that he doubteth them to be egnorant but to the end that they might abide the more firme after his death Caiet 2. Pet. 1. At the least they should haue held themselues to Caietanus I wil giue order that is in my life time that you may haue after my death books which may put you in remebrance of this doctrin In the Apocalips 5. Apocal. 1.8 the foure beasts and the foure and twentie Elders haue harps in their hands and Viols of gold full of perfumes Which are saith S. Iohn the prayers of the Saints therefore they must be imployed as intercessors for vs. Now it is not called in question whether they pray or praise God or no but if they make intercession to God for the things which wee particularly and by name pray vnto them for and againe if we may and ought to imploy them for intercessors with God for vs. And this cannot be gathered out of this place but rather that they praise God and pray vnto him And this praier without any further gessing of it doth follow in the next verse Thou art worthie to take the booke and to open the Seales thereof c. for thou hast bought and purchased vs to God by thy bloud out of euerie tribe and language c. And then not to imploy their merits with God for vs in stead of that of the Lambe but rather to acknowledge the bloud of the Lambe imployed for themselues And that maketh yet lesse for them Apocal. 8.3 which they further alleadge out of the fore part of the eight Chapter where the Angell standeth before the Altar with a Censor of gold wherein there were many perfumes giuen vnto him either to offer vp with the praiers of all the Saints or rather according to the Greeke to adde it to the praiers of the Saints vpon the Altar of gold which is before the throne For this Angell saith their Glose is Christ himselfe offering vnto God his father the petitions of the faithfull which are acceptable and well pleasing to him for his sake S. Ambros Aug. Primas Andraeas Caes in Apocal. Ambrose expoundeth this whole place of the teachers of the Church euerie man in his age That Christ openeth then the booke when by his holy spirit hee manifesteth vnto them the sence of the Scriptures that they fall downe before the Lambe when they are raised to the meditation of his mysteries and by consequent are humbled in themselues that these odors are their praiers whereof the Psalmist speaketh Let my praier ascend vp vnto thee as the perfume of incense c. And vpon the eight Chapter he taketh Christ for the Angell Ambros in Apocal c 8. the Church for the Altar c. and maketh many sorts of incensings praiers of the Saints For saith he the faithfull pray when they aske forgiuenesse of their sinnes when they giue almes when they forgiue their neighbours when they obserue and keepe the commaundements of God c. August Primas Andr. Caesar Thom. Aquin. in Apoc. c. 5. l. 8 And not a word of the praiers of the Saints that are dead for vs or of vs praying to them And as little in S. Augustine Primasius Andreas Bb. of Caesarea Thomas
shall first be called away hence let them continue their amitie and loue without ceasing in the presence of God let their prayers neuer cease for their brethren and sisters crauing in their behalfe the manifolde mercies of the father That is Saynt Cyprian extending and stretching the care that the Saintes deceased should haue not vnto the Church in generall onely but by a continuance of holy affection vnto them whome they had loued in Christ here vppon earth And this although it haue no example in the scripture yet it is far off from our aduersaries their doctrine for he prayeth to the liuing and not to the dead Now the controuersie or question betwixt vs is not if they pray and to what end but if wee ought to pray vnto them at all I know well what they haue to alleadge out of the sermon of the starre and the wisemen of the East As that the infantes slaine by Herode are made Senators in Paradice and obtaine grace for them which doe not merite it c. But they are not ignorant that this sermon hath by themselues beene alwaies numbred amongst the deuised and faigned ones As likewise that which they bring out of the booke of S. Cyprian his penitentnes How that he had beene a Magician and that by the help of the Deuils hee would haue assailed the chastitie of a maide and that she calling vpon Iesus Christ her husband and afterward the virgine Marie was deliuered and thereupon also S. Cyprian conuerted But with what face seeing S. Ierome telleth vs that S. Cyprian was a Rhetorician and wonne vnto Christ Hieronym in epist ad Paul in Comment in Ionam c. 3. Cyp l. 2. ep 2. Gelas D. 15. c. Sancta Rom. partly by the familiaritie he had with Caecilius whereupon he was surnamed the Cecilian and partly by the reading of the Prophete Ionas And seeing that S. Cyprian in setting downe his owne conuersion saith not a worde of all this And as little is that which commeth to light by Pontianus his Deacon who hath written his life But which is more seeing that Pope Gelasius at the verie same time when the inuocation of Saints had rooted it selfe verie deeply did pronounce and affirme vnto them that this booke was Apocrypha And yet they are still abusing the common people with the name of the fathers For as concerning the sermon of Gregorie Nazianzene Marulla hath very well obserued that he hath made Cyprian of Damascus and Cyprian the Carthaginian all one whereas the first suffered in the time of Valerian and the second vnder Dioclesian And it hath beene noted by many others before and after him We are now in this place to bring in Dionysius the pretended Areopagite for hee cannot be so auncient as we haue proued as they would make him Dionvs eccles Hierarch c. 3. and this we say and affirme by the way that we need not doubt that the miracles which God wrought vppon the establishment of the Church at the sepulchers of the Martyrs made many to looke downe and to fixe their eyes vppon the Martyrs whereas they ought to haue lifted them vp and to haue caused them to looke vpon God alone and that so much the more because it was called and accompted to be the honouring of God in his Saintes as also for that it seemed to bee an instigation and pricking of men forward to suffer for the name of Christ Whereunto also you may adde as another cause the want of a Paule or Barnabas at the corner of euerie fielde to represse these disordered and vnruly deuotions of the people Actes 14. and to cause them to leaue the creature to betake themselues to the liuing God But so it is that this Denys rehearsing the causes for which he made mention of the Saintes in the seruice speaketh not but of those that follow To the end saith he that those that liue may learne by these examples to liue and die well in God and that they might bee admonished and taught that those that die in him doe liue out of this life in a better That God hath them in his remembrance according to that which is said God knoweth those that are his The death of the Saintes is precious before God That they are also one with Christ by an indissoluble vnion and bond that can not bee broken which are the causes saith he that this mention or rehearsall is made at the time of the celebrating of the Sacrament the Sacrament of the coniunction and vnion of Christ and his members That is to shew vnto vs that those that bee not the greatest parte in this world that yet they cease not to be a part of the Church The contention raised about the Arrians was a cause that for a certaine time men did speake without fault The Christians reasoned Christ is truely God for we are all agreed to pray vnto him but we pray not vnto neither call vppon any but God This argument had beene of no force if the Church at that time had vsed the inuocation of Saintes for the reply had beene verie readie But tell mee how many Saintes doe you pray vnto Hillar in psal 129. which you know to be no Gods And although S. Hillarie doe playe the Philosopher as others before him vppon the mediation of Angelles the protection of the Patriarkes and Apostles c. yet he reserueth inuocation for Christ alone Idem in Psal 123. Because saith he that he belieueth that he is very God that he is present by his nature when he is faithfully called vpon and for that he is present with him that belieueth in him c. Idem c. 27. in Matth. Athanas orat 2. cont Arrian Idem de incarnat verb. But in regard of the Saintes The virgines saith he doe answere that they cannot giue any oile because it behoueth euerie one to buy for themselues and that none doe expect trust to be helped by the merites and workes of another c. Athanasius in like manner The Saintes saith he doe not craue any helpe of the creatures but they crie and call vnto Christ in their necessities He is not therefore a creature hee is verie God Againe If thou worship saith he Christ as he is man because the word dwelleth in him then worship the Saintes because that God hath a little house or dwelling place in them c. which thing hee proueth to bee absurd What force should such a reason haue had if the sermon intituled of the virgine the mother of God were his wherein he praieth vnto her for succour by the names of Ladie Mistresse Queene c. But the learned know that the greatest part of the third and fourth Tome of Athanasius are suspected of vntruth as Nannius likewise hath confessed being publike professor in the vniuersitie of Louaine and hee that did translate them And this is one speciall marke thereof for that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not
Francise Dominic To euerie one that would ioyne themselues not with the Couent but to be of the fraternitie onely of S. Francis or S. Dominicke c. For to merite the kingdome of heauen for to be able to ransome redeeme their owne soules and the soulet of their friends for these are the expresse tearmes of the Bull There are Bulles of fraternitie giuen vnto the Prouinces by which they are made capable as well in life as in death of the merites of the whole Couent and of all the friers in the prouince purchased by their Masses praiers sermons fastinges contemplations vigiles abstinences Cloister disciplines deuotions singinges lessons labours c. About this time also there was in England one Thomas Becket who was slaine for hauing traiterously attempted to haue withdrawne the Cleargie from their obedience vnto the king It was concluded by the full Colledge of Sorbone at Paris that he was worthie of eternall death the Cleargie notwithstanding caused him to be canonized by Alexander the third And in derision of the blood of Christ he was there praied vnto in these words Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit Fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas ascendit That by the grace fauour purchased by the blood of Thomas hee would make vs ascend whither Thomas is ascended c. this was about the yere 1220. And who can then but be ashamed for their sakes for that as yet in the time of so great light they are not ashamed themselues verily it is not to be concealed or hidden that there haue been some that might seeme to haue blusht in their souls as being able to haue taught better things if they durst Alex. Halez q. 91. Alexander Halez Bonauenture likewise after all their wandrings turne backe againe to our Maxims Alexander We must not inuocate or adore any but one God onely c. The Saints ought rather to be reckned ex parte orantiū quà m illius qui oratur as assisting our praiers by their owne not to be praied vnto themselues Bonauent in l. 3. Sentent Anno 1360. Bonauēture likewise We must be warie in our large setting forth and commending of the excellency of the mother that is of the holy virgin least we impaire and diminish the glorie of the Son and by so doing prouoke her to anger seeing she delighteth more to haue her son praised and magnified then her self she being but a creature and he the creator And whereas there were some that replied vpon him that the honor of the mother returned to the honor of the Son But therefore saith he we ought not to giue vnto the mother all that which is due vnto the son c. And this was much spoken of both in his time in the Couent of S. Francis Wicklif apud Thom. Waldens tom 3. tit 12. c. 121. 124. Iohn Wicklife shortly after went further for amongst many abuses of the Church of Rome he condemned this openly by the scriptures and maintained the same with the peril of his life against all those of the facultie of diuinity in England His wordes are This is and seemeth to be a sottishnesse to leaue the fountaine which is more ready to our handes to seeke the troubled brookes and those further from vs c. Againe Who would make I know not what Scurram knaue that is the Latine of the time his Mediator when hee may freely speake vnto the King And yet notwithstanding his thus writing he ceast not to be verie well intreated of king Edward the third and after some small time of his liuing an exile in Bohemia to die an old man in his owne house leauing behind him a number of disciples of euerie estate condition in England Anno 1416. in whom his doctrine liued after him vntill such time as things grew to that extremitie wherein they now stand We may say the same of Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prage put to death contrary to the promise made them of safe conduct by the Councell of Constance wherein the good fathers in stead of being inuited and won to the reformation of the Church both by the truth of their doctrine and the constancie of their faith did thinke it better to haue them the heraldes of their condemnation by the iust iudgement of God then of their repentance before men And further as if they would worke a further despite they turned in the same Councell that goodly hymne which the Christian Church had made for the holy Ghost to the virgine Marie and in stead of Veni sancte spiritus c. they made it Veni mater gratiae c. wherein they call her the fountaine of mercie the light of the Church the saluation of those that call vpon her the Mediatrix betwixt God men the port of S. Peters ship the death and destruction of heresies c. But in the meane time as in this age wherein we liue men begin willingly and wittingly to cast out this dung and filthines with others such like the stinke whereof groweth so strong euen vnto themselues that haue made it as that they are constrained to stop their nose and to endeuour themselues to couer it as much as lyeth in them Viues in August de ciuit Dei l. 8. c. vit Viues that famous Spaniard had rather to cause them to be detested then couered and smoothed ouer in saying That he could find no difference betwixt the opinion that the Christians haue of their saintes and that which the Pagans haue of their Gods when as they giue them the same honour that is giuen vnto God himselfe And if there had beene any number found of the same zeale with him at that time he could haue hoped wel to haue obtained a remedie against idolatrie But certainly the greater part had rather against their owne consciences of a carnall wisedome runne and betake themselues to disguise and smooth ouer the matter Some saying that we ought not to pray vnto saints to obtaine any help of them or yet any mercie but onely to bee assisted by their praiers to obtaine them of God And this was in one worde to ouerturne all their Howres Psalters Letanies and praiers before alleadged which were directly made vnto the virgine Marie and that that she might not onely procure but giue the things praied for Wicelius Other some more boldly That wee ought not at all to pray vnto them inuocation being an honour due vnto God alone but onely Compellare to solicite them that they would remember vs vnto him as wee vse to stirre vp the liuing to succour and help vs with their praiers And other some do yet go further That this inuocation was nothing but a figure of Rhetoricke by which wee were admonished that the saintes deceased as triumphant members of the Catholicke Church haue care in heauen on the members which are as yet warfaring here below after the manner
vnthankefull I do not see thee to haue any thing that thou hast prepared and gotten of thy selfe but what is euill And therefore when God crowneth thy merits he crowneth nothing but his owne gifts c. Now if the merites for which the wages are pretended as due be gifts then by a stronger reason the wages giuen to these merites which are gifts must needes be a gift Idem in Serm. 141. de Temp. Psal 16. As God cannot giue any thing againe to vs because he cannot haue receiued any thing from vs neither certainly can we retribute or giue any thing againe to him for his gifts for our goodnesse doth not extend or reach to him Thou hast nothing saith he to giue againe vnto him for thou expectest and lookest to receiue all from him Dauid sought on euerie side and looked diligently about him what he might retribute and giue vnto the Lord and what found he I will take saith he the cup of saluation Thou thoughtst to haue rendred and giuen but behold thou takest more and more and if thou take then thou inwrappest thy selfe in deeper debt how long then wil it be before thou become fit to retribute and to recompence c. In an other place Grace goeth before thy merite for merit is of grace and not grace of merite for if thou hast purchased grace by thy merit Idem de verb. Apost Ser. 15. then thou hast it not freely But it is said Thou shalt saue them for nothing And what is this for nothing That is thou findest nothing in them to saue them and yet thou sauest them Thou forgiuest them freely Thou sauest them freely thou goest before all merits to the end that thy gifts may purchase thine owne merits freely and because thou knowest no matter to saue but much to condemne c. This is the burthen of Saint Augustines song in all his writings Idem in sent 95. No man ascendeth vp into the heauenly Ierusalem that declareth not manifestly that it is not of his owne worke and doing but of the gift of God Otherwise saith he it should be a debt it should be a hire and deserued wages it could not be well called grace Grace is not giuen to merits but merits are giuen by grace shake off and cast away all thy good merites and thou shalt find nothing but my free gifts And therefore verily euen in thy wages nothing but my graces And therefore saith he Idem de verb. Apost Serm. 2. in Psa 51. Ep. 105. Eternal life it selfe which is the certaine wages of good workes is called by the Apostle the grace of God For saith he death is the reward of sinne but the grace of God is eternall life c. And the merites of a good man are the gifts of God whereunto eternall life being giuen what can this bee but grace for grace Barnard de Serm. Sepulch Saint Barnard God hath chosen vs in his Sonne by the spirit which is of God charitie is spred and shed into our hearts But this spirituall birth and generation is not felt or perceiued in the flesh but in the heart and that by them onely that can say with Saint Paul But wee haue the sence and feeling of Christ c. And therefore saith he Idem Serm. 30 in Cantic When we are busied in our hearts about euill and wicked matters they are our owne thoughts but when about good godly matters it is the word of God And therefore God speaketh in vs peace godlinesse and righteousnesse and these things we thinke not of by our selues we heare them in vs but the blasphemies the murthers c. those wee heare not but we vtter c. But it maketh no great matter for vs to know how it commeth to passe that such wickednesse is in vs prouided alwayes that we know it to be there c. Or rather that there is matter of errour and that such as is damnable if we attribute and giue to our selues that which is of God in vs thinking that the visitation of the word that is to say of the eternall word is our owne proper thought Proles Cordis Idem Serm. 67 68. Wherefore the sufficiencie of the heart is of the grace of God and whatsoeuer good thing wee thinke it is the voice of God and not any birth begotten of our owne hearts c. Againe I conceiue and take that which is mine to be mine owne for it is grace that maketh me freely iustified c. Thy merit saith the Lord had no stroke in the matter but it was my good will and pleasure The Church hath bene preuented by a former grace and after it commeth yet an other grace c. Neither hath the Church any neede to take care for merit seeing it hath wherein more certainely to glorie Idem Serm. 13 in Cantic In proposito Dei in the purpose that is to say in the decree and sentence of the Almightie who saith I will doe it for mine owne sake c. And from whence saith he commeth thy glorying rotten and stinking dust that thou art Idem delib arbitr Quid praemii From thy holinesse But it is the holy Ghost that sanctifieth thee thy holinesse is of God and not thine owne c. Againe How saith he may J commend the grace of God may some man say vnto me If God doe all what recompence doest thou looke for I answere He hath giuen me to will let him also giue me the abilitie to performe the worke And where are then our merits saith he Giue eare Not workes saith the Apostle c. For what our will or desire was that came through belieuing grace that it became better and amended that also was the effect of grace c. And we must not saith he a little after seeke or search after merits for mercie alone doth saue Saluation is of the Lord Saluation that is the Lord The way to saluation that is the Lord Tam nostra opera quà m eius praemia sunt Dei munera Both our workes and his rewardes and wages are the giftes of God c. who worketh in vs all our good thoughts good desires and good deedes But where shall bee then according to the old fathers either merit properly so called when the good worke is of God or else the reward seeing the euill commeth of vs And who seeth not that which wee haue obserued heretofore in many other points that the pride of man which puffeth vp it selfe and swelleth as bigge as it can of an ill Grammer construction to haue made in this point a peece of worse Diuinitie louing rather to exact eternall life of God as a hirelings wages then to receiue it at his bountifull and liberall hand for an inheritance after the manner of a Sonne But say they Assurednesse in the mercie of God is humilitie and not pride your selues are the proud persons which dare bee so bold as to
presume of this assurance of your iustification and being of the children of God c. We are so But a word of the pride of Abraham Who belieued saith the Apostle vnder hope against hope And he was not weake in faith neither doubted hee of the promise of God through distrust knowing certainely that he which had promised was able to performe And of the pride of Dauid Psal 23.26.30 c. Rom. 8. who saith God is my saluation whome shall I feare Not saith he the shadow of death I shall neuer bee shaken neuer confounded And of the pride of Saint Paul Rom. 8. Who shall accuse vs who shall condemne vs Who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ Math. 6. Luk. 14. Nay saith he I am fully perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities c. can separate vs he speaketh of all the faithfull and not of himselfe from the loue which he hath shewed vs in lesus Christ A pride well pleasing and acceptable vnto God which this doubtfull and wauering faith of our Aduersaries cannot bee as appeareth in that he reproacheth his Apostle therewithall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou of little faith why doest thou doubt As neither that spirit houering in the ayre which he forbiddeth them in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And that in such things as for which they had no such expresse promise Namely in as much as it was humilitie in Abraham to submit himselfe and all his reason to the will of God how contrarie so euer it might seeme to him to be vnto the promise as it is likewise in euerie Christian to assure himselfe both of the remission of his sinnes as also of the kingdome of heauen by the free goodnesse of God manifested in his word whereas on the contrarie it is a pride borrowed from that first in the fall of man rather to belieue the doubts of the flesh or of the creature then the word of the Creator as also to goe about to attaine the least thing that can be by all our merits and then by a stronger reason to pretend to be Gods without God as our first father did And sutable vnto the same is that which we learne of the same fathers Hillar in Mat. c 5. S. Hillarie The Lord would haue vs to hope for the kingdome of heauen which hee hath declared to consist in him without any ambiguous doubting of any vncertaintie that can be in his will For if faith become doubtfull and wauering there is no iustification insuing such a faith And therefore S. Cyprian said Cypr. de mort Why should wee stand perplexed or amazed Who needeth to tremble and be sad but he whose hope and faith doe faile him It is fit for him to feare death who will not goe vnto Christ And to be vnwilling to goe vnto Christ belongeth to such a one as belieueth not that he shall begin when he is dead to raigne with Christ For it is written That the iust liueth by faith If therefore thou be a iust man if thou liue by faith if thou belieuest truly and verily in God why doest thou not imbrace death it being so certaine a thing that thou shalt abide with Christ and beeing so sure to inioy the promise of thy God c. This is saith he in an other place not to know God This is to offend Christ the master of the belieuers by the sinne of incredulitie This is not to haue in the house of faith the faith which is est ablished in the Church August de verb. Dom. Serm. 28. But is not this then ouer weening Heare Saint Augustine Presume saith he but not of thy workes but of the grace of Christ for you are saued by grace saith the Apostle To preach that which thou hast receiued is no arrogancie it is faith and faithfulnesse it is not arrogant ouer weening it is deuotion But we are vnworthie we are weake in faith c. Idem in Psal 88. Yea saith hee but God hath said it but God hath promised it and if all this may yet seeme little vnto thee then hee hath sworne it vnto thee Seeing then saith he that the promise of God is not firme according to our merits but in respect of his mercie no man ought to preach with a trembling doubtfulnesse that which he cannot any way doubt of But must wee not all appeare before the tribunall and iudgement seate of Christ Idem tract 22. in Iohan. Iohn 5.24 And how darest thou promise thy selfe saith hee that thou shalt not come into iudgement Nay God forbid saith he that I should be so bold as to promise my selfe that but I belieue him that hath promised it Who so belieueth on him that hath sent me hath eternall life and shall not come to iudgement that is to say to haue the sentence of condemnation pronounced against him for he is alreadie passed from death to life And this is brought to passe by his promise not by my presumption that I come not vnto iudgement And this is the same that Saint Barnard argued against Abailardus Bernard in Ep. If faith saith he doe wauer it is nothing worth as also our hope is in vaine c. Who so speaketh that hath not as yet receiued the holy Ghost But Saint Augustine better Faith consisteth not in opinion neither yet in coniecture it is fast placed in his heart that hath it and that from him of whome it springeth but Certae scientiae acclamante conscientia Of certaine knowledge the conscience testifying thereunto This is the substance of things to be hoped for and not a fantasie gathered vpon coniecture By the word substance there is set before thee a certaine and stable thing Faith then is not an opinion but a certaintie But Who art thou saith hee Aestimatio Idem de sragmentis septem Serm. 3. Fiducialiter And how great is this glorie And by what merits dost thou hope to obtaine it I consider saith he three things wherin my hope consisteth The loue of Adoption the truth of the promise and the power of the deliuerance As for any other thing let my foolish reason murmure and repine as much as it will I aunswere confidently and boldly I know whome I haue belieued and am throughly assured because he hath adopted me in the aboundance of his loue because hee is true in his promise and because he is of power and abilitie to exhibite and effect the same This is that three-fold band that is so hard to breake in peeces the which hath beene reached and conueyed vnto vs from our natiue Countrie from on high into this prison Let vs hold fast by the same to the end that it may lift vs vp that it may drawe vs yea that it may attract and hale vs to the presence of the glorie of the great God c. The Disciples say Who can bee saued The Lord answereth them
bread shall liue for euer And in S. Augustines time there were that taught hereupon that if a man had communicated at the Lords supper how be it he should afterward renounce the Christian profession yet hee could not possibly perish and fall away for euer Wherefore as oft as euer wee shall reade such places we ought alwayes to remember and call to mind these rules The good and prudent Reader saith Saint Hillarius doth looke for the vnderstanding of that which is said Hilat. de Trin. l. 1. Hieronym in Mat. not by fetching it from any preiudicate opinion of his owne but from the cause of that which is said And S. Ierome The discreete Reader is verie carefull to keepe himselfe euermore from all manner of superstitious vnderstanding he frameth and squareth his sence and vnderstanding according to the Scriptures August cont aduers leg Prophet l. 2. c. 9. and not the Scriptures according to it And Saint Augustine handling this same matter One peece of Scripture must be expounded by an other and all the holy Scriptures according to the soundnesse of faith if we expound any thing done or spoken figuratiuely it standeth vs vpon to see that such expositions be drawne wisely and not negligently from other things and words which are contained in the holy writings But aboue all wee haue to consider in the matter of the Sacramentes what a Sacrament is and in the matter of the holy supper that therein is handled the most excellent of all the rest that is to say a great mysterie a profound and high secret and that so soone as wee heare the word Sacrament wee must lift vp our spirits from the beholding of these outward things to the apprehending of inward things from the skin to the marrow and from of the earth vp vnto heauen obseruing the nature of the misterie the signification of the word and what the thing doth permit suffer what the letter saith and what the meaning of the spirit is Thus These words This is my body cannot bee interpreted without a figure This is my bodie according to their sence and construction what shall it signifie Hoc this If it be meant of the bread then it must be thus taken This bread is my bodie But this is not their meaning for they confesse that it cannot bee two substances at one and the same instant And when two chiefe and primarie substances that is to say two Iudiuidua as the Logicians call them are called the one by the name of the other there must of necessitie be included a figure but this they wil not yeeld vnto Furthermore they doe not pretend that it is the body vntill the last word be vttered and wee are as yet but in the verie first And in the meane time then shall it not be the same which our Lord tooke blessed brake and gaue to his Disciples that is to say bread What shall then this hoc make The accidents of bread without the subiect namely whitenesse roundnesse c And what manner of speech were it to say The accidents of bread are my body which is giuen for you or else their Indiuiduum vagum and vage determinatum This I cannot tell what in the ayre which they can neither name nor point out so as that it may be comprehended How it may bee bread in the beginning of the vttering of the words and his body in the end What a number of obscure and straunge figures to how many contradictorie designments and deuises are they driuen and all to auoide one cleare and manifest figure and that such a one as is verie often and familiarly vsed in the Sacraments Afterward This is my bloud What shal be the meaning of this Hoc in this place It is said that taking the cup he blessed it and said Drinke ye all Bibite ex hoc omnes This Hoc then is the cup whereof he saith This is my bloud But can it possibly be that the cup should be called blood without a figure seeing that according to their owne assertions it is the wine and not the cup It followeth Est This is say they a verbe substantiue Let it bee granted but is it therefore a verbe transubstantiue This is my bodie that is to say This is made my bodie It is substantially turned it is transubstantiated into my bodie and bloud This is their meaning and they call this word in their affected tearmes and gibberidge an operatiue and practicke Est But if it be vnderstood of the bread then what figure is it And how will their fond deuised fantasie stand sith they hold that the bread is not changed or turned but becommeth nothing to the end it may giue place to the bodie And what shew of any figure will there then be here Hoc est that is to say this Vagum Indiuiduum which hath no name is transubstantiated into his bodie And if it bee wandring and vnstable it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it hath not any substance Or els This bread is become nothing to giue place to the bodie c. But this word Est may it bee expounded by the word Fit factum est conuertitur transubstantiatur it is made turned transubstantiated Yea and also by Fiat conuertatur transubstantiatur that it may be made turned transubstantiated without a figure yea and which is more without any contradiction And of the cup particularly without acknowledging that it is transubstantiated But this they do not admit Let vs proceed Take eate but what Accidents but they are no proper obiects for the teeth to be occupied about The bodie of Christ then But as they say themselues it is not as yet there And then it is not chewed there it is not there broken What shall then the meaning bee of this word eate But to endeuour to eate to make semblance of eating c. But how much better had it been to haue expounded this place by the nature of other Sacraments whereof it is said This is my couenant as here This cup is the new Testament in my blood This is the blood of the new Testament c. all comming to the same sence Againe The rocke was Christ I am the bread of life as here The bread is my bodie the cup is my blood To expound it I say by Iesus Christ in S. Iohn My flesh is meate in deede and my bloud is drinke in deede Where in plaine tearmes he referreth vs vnto his death when hee saith Which I will giue for the life of the world As also here Which is giuen which is shed for you But saith he to the Capernaites The words that J say vnto you are spirite and life And therefore some are of iudgement that this whole speech of his was nothing else but a resolued and purposed Commentarie and a preparatiue to the right vnderstanding of the holy supper And finally to haue expounded it by Saint Paule Who giueth vnto vs that which he
grace And Saint Augustine That the signes are common to the good and euill but the thing proper vnto the faithfull alone That although they shut vp within their teeth tantae reâ— Sacramentum that is to say the signe of so excellent a thing Idem de ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 25. In sent Prosper 318. tract 59. in Iob. yet they eate but their owne condemnaion That none abide in him but such as beleeue in him that such as abide in him eate him that the rest eate Sacramento tenus non re vera the signe not the thing That the Apostles did eate panem Dominum the bread which was the Lord but Iudas the bread of the Lord against the Lord c. Although Saint Hillarie say that he communicated not at all and the Canon Qui discordat drawne out of Saint Augustine is cleare and euident therein Wheras on the contrarie it should proue most plain and manifest that if their opinion take place that the vnbeleeuers and hypocrites shall receiue the bodie of Christ Christ shal dwell in their bodies corporally such as are dead in their sinnes shal receiue the bread of life and in it eternal life Thus then they destroy the Sacrament of the Supper both in the thing and in the signe prostituting holinesse and sanctimonie vnto the prophane casting the childrens bread vnto dogges and bestowing the spiritual life vpon the vnbeleeuers In the signes causing them to cease to be substances and signes of a most substantiall substance turning them into vaine and imaginarie accidents accidents subsisting without any subiect and yet hauing taste and apt to feed and sustaine and to beget excrements and wormes that is to say substances yea and to be turned into ashes that is to say into matter doe we consent and agree vnto the contradictions contained in these things yea and to be brused and broken in peeces For if this be not bread which is broken shall it be the bodie They are not able to affirme it Iohn 19. Exod. 12. The scripture is verie cleare and plaine His bones shall not be broken Thus then you see how they go about to make them accidents without any bodie Thirdly the nature of one Sacrament is vnderstood by the other It destroyeth the conformity and correspondency that is betwixt the holy supper and the other sacraments We haue affirmed it heretofore out of the old writers with the Apostle That in the Sacraments of the old Testament the fathers receiued the same meate and the same drinke and yet notwithstanding without transubstantiation euen Christ And namely in the comparing of the holy Supper they haue â—o vnderstood it S. Augustine The same faith abideth but the signes are chaunged There the rocke was Christ here that which is set vpon the Altar There they drunke the water that ranne out of the rocke and we the faithfull know that which we drinke c. And Bertram They did eate and drinke the same meate which the people of the beleeuers doth eate and drinke in the Church euen the flesh and blood of our Lord and infinit others Let vs speake now of those of the new Testament Of Baptisme it is said Bee baptised in the name of Christ for the remission of sinnes Of the Supper This is my bodie which is broken my bloud which is shed for you for the remission of sinnes Of the one If a man be not regenerate and borne againe of water and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of God Of the other If you eate not the flesh of the Sonne of man drinke not his blood you haue no life in you In a word it is said that in the one We put on Christ we are baptised into his death established and â—ssured into his resurrection regenerate renewed saued c. That in the other We dwell in Christ and that we are in him nourished vnto eternall life c. And Saint Paule seemeth to haue ioyned them together in one verse 1. Cor. 12.13 We were all baptised into one selfe same spirit and we haue all drunke of one selfe same spirit that we might become one and the same bodie c. For the like effects proceeding from the same power and tending to the same end wherefore then wil we in these Sacraments find out diuerse natures Tit. 2. 2. Pet. 1. And why dooth water continue still to be water and neuerthelesse the sprinckling saith the Apostle of the bloud of Christ washing vnto regeneration and remission of sinnes and to saluation by the operation of the holy Ghost when as the bread and wine by the verie same cannot become instruments to nourish our soules with the bodie and bloud of Christ but that it must first come to passe that they be made of no reckoning that the bodie and bloud doe enter into and take possession of their places and that the nature of all both wordes and things holie and not holie be turned topsie turuie As though the power of God were weaker in the one then in the other And it is likewise most certaine that there is nothing more familiar amongst the fathers Epiph. cont haeres l 3. c. 2. in Anchorat Chrysost in Mat. hom 83. August in Io. tract l. 25. 26. Euseb Emiss then to reason from Baptisme vnto the Supper of the Lord. As when Epiphanius saith That the strength of the bread and vertue of the water are made powerfull in Christ c. And Chrysostome speaking of the Supper The Lord saith hee hath not giuen vs here anie sensible thing wee must see and looke vpon the same with the eies of our vnderstanding c. And thus saith hee by the water in Baptisme which is a sensible thing he hath giuen vs regeneration which is a gift apprehended by the vnderstanding And S. Augustine vpon the same matter The Christian is made fat inuisibly namely in the holie Supper as also he is begotten and borne againe inuisibly namely in Baptisme And Eusebius Emissenus labouring to declare and shew what manner of change it is that is made in the bread and wine laieth out the same in plaine sort by that which is wrought in the regeneration of man saying which continueth idem idem the verie same and yet notwithstanding quite another maner of man through the growth and increase of faith Damascene also in like maner Damasc l. 4. c. 14. D. 2. C. Quia corpus de consecr C. vtruÌ„ though one that hath written after the grossest sort in this matter Gratian likewise in the Canon Vtrum which is taken out of Saint Augustine and manie other Certes the Councell of Nice saith of Baptisme Our Baptisme is not to be considered with the eies of the bodie but with the eies of the spirit and so of the Supper Let not your eies stay themselues vpon these signes but lift theÌ„ vp on high c. And he letteth not to say of Baptisme Seest thou water
Councel of Nice including it within the same CHAP. V. The continuance of the beliefe of the Fathers of the Church in the matter of the holy supper from the first Nicene Councell vnto the time of Gregorie the great LEt vs proceede according to the order of time and succession of the Fathers Dionvs Hierarch l. 3. Saint Denis pretended the Areopagite for we haue said that he may seeme to haue liued about this time did not otherwise vnderstand it After saith he that the Bishop hath declared the workes of Iesus for the saluaetion of mankind according to the good pleasure of his father c. and that hee hath preached the reuerend contemplation of the same which is apprehended by the vnderstanding he taketh his way to the Symbolicall administration of the same and that according to the holy institution of God whereupon first crying vnto him Thou hast said it Doe this in remembrance of me he administreth the sacred things and setteth in open sight the things whereof hee hath preached by the pledges presented there in holy sort c. Againe By these venerable and reuerend signes saith he Christ is signified and receiued c. Where we may briefely note That the holy supper is celebrated according to the institution of the Lord and in remembrance of him That this is a Symbolicall that is to say a shadowing and figuratiue administration of the redemption of mankind represented by the signes of bread and wine the tokens of his bodie broken and of his bloud shed for vs That this institution is not tied to the fiue words where to our aduersaries would referre it for hee maketh mention by name of others Thou hast said it c. And that these signes doe signifie Christ vnto vs and neuerthelesse exhibite him vnto vs that is to say his grace Nowe what is there contained in all this tending to prooue any carnall eating They fortifie and beare themselues stout vpon Saint Cyrill Cyril Cateches mystag 4. 5. Bishop of Ierusalem but let vs see vpon what ground If you eate not my flesh c. The Iewes saith hee were offended because they did not vnderstand those things according to the spirit thinking that he had inuited them to a banket of mans flesh This should suffice to raise and lift vp our minds aboue the reall transmutation but this that followeth seemeth to them to proue their opinion very strongly Let vs holde it for a most vndoubted truth that the bread which we see is not bread although the taste thereof bewray it to be but the bodie of Christ and the wine in like manner c. And why do they not call to minde and bethinke themselues well at the least of their owne Maximes That the Catholike Church neuer saide That the bread was the bodie of Christ c. And therfore if they will haue S. Cyril a Catholike they must not haue him taken according to the bare letter But yet let vs admit him to bee the expounder of himselfe Consider it not saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as meere bread for it is the body and bloud of Christ And how Verily saith he according to the words of our Lord c. And how so euer our sences may goe about to informe vs otherwise yet let faith confirme vs therein Iudge not of these things according to the taste c. Then it is bread and wine and not accidents but not naked and meere bread and wine for they are Sacraments and sanctified instrumentes of God indowed clothed with an other qualitie that so they might cloth vs with Christ And what they are more that we receiue by faith and that grounded vpon the words of our Lord Namely that his words are spirit life But haue they then either lost or chaunged their substance Marke him yet further Verily not any more then the water in Baptisme wher of he speaketh in the same tearmes Thinke not of this water as of bare and meere water Namely Because it is not any more wawater for drinke saith Chrysostome But the water of sanctification c. Chryrost in Psal 23. Cyril Catech. 3. No more also then the vnction or oyntment whereof Cyrill saieth You are annoynted with an oynment being made partakers and companions of Christ But beware that thou accompt not of it as of a meere oyntment for as the bread of the Eucharist after inuocating of the holy Ghost is no more common bread but the body of Christ so this holy oyntment is not a bare or common oyntment after that it is consecrated but it is a benefit of Christs which by the comming of the holy Ghost hath a vigour and power of his Diuinitie Doest thou then doubt what this should meane to be no longer bare and meere bread It is as much as not to be any more common bread it is as much as to say consecrated bread Doest thou doubt how farre this chaunge extendeth it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si fiat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The oyntment although it bee an instrument of the grace of Christ is not changed in his nature No more is the bread and the wine of the Eucharist in theirs though instruments sanctified of God and exhibiting his grace Idem Catech. 5. For saith he further in an other place this holy bread is called supersubstantiall in as much as it confirmeth the substance of the soule It descendeth not into the bellie it goeth not into the draught but it is distributed thorough out thee throughout the whole man for the saluation and profit of the body and soule c. that is to say it goeth not in at the mouth of the body but it is receiued by the mouth of the soule distributed through all the veines of the same vnto the resurrection of life And againe Idem Catech. 4. Drinke this wine in thine heart namely this spirituall wine c. Saint Ambrose This oblation is the figure of the body and bloud of our Lord c. This is not the bread that goeth into the body but the bread of eternal life which strengthneth our soules 1. Cor. 11. Againe Seeing we are deliuered by the death of our Lord in remembrance thereof in eating drinking we signified there the flesh bloud of our Lord which haue beene offered for vs. Now what should this be To be a figure to signifie to make mention of or to haue in remembrance but the same which we say That the bread is Sacramentally the body of Christ Ambros de Sacram. l. 4. c. 4. And that which hee saith himselfe In the Sacrament is Christ But some obiect from an other place Peraduenture thou wilt say saith hee my bread is vsuall that is to say common bread know that this bread is bread before the word of the Sacraments but after the consecration of bread it is made the flesh of Christ the body of Christ c. Namely by the consecration of the
contrarie saith that it signifieth that which is secret and hidden vnder the formes thereof What difference is heere betwixt the forme and the body the substance and the accidents Againe some say that the body of Christ is made of the bread and his bloud of the wine as of his matter others denie it And Bellarmine doth affirme and denie both together Againe sometimes vrged out of Tertullian and Saint Augustine they acknowledge that there is a figure and sometimes they doe wholly and flatly denie it c. And they speake as vncertainly of the chaunge and transmutation Sometimes Bellarmine saith that the substance of bread is turned into whole Christ body and soule God and man sometimes into the body onely c. And sometimes that hee is there hypostatically or personally and as he speaketh with his personalitie that he may not fall into Rupertus Tuitiensis his errour sometimes that hee is not And there are that say that the substance of bread is turned into the truth of the body and others into the power and vertue of the same onely Besides others which in diuers places affirme sometimes the one sometimes the other Now what becommeth of this body afterward Their answeres herein haue no lesse vncertaintie and ambiguitie For one saith after that the kindes be altered and corrupted it withdraweth it selfe Nay saith an other it still continueth and abideth there Idem tr 1 c 19 Veg assert 205 Bellâ—rm l 3 de Euchar. c. 10 24. l. 1 c. 14 Veg. de reâ—l Praesent c. 58 Turr. tr 1 c 11 19 Scarg art 12 pro sacratiss Euchar. c 6. c Cont. Vel. Vega de Miss fol. 11 thes 19. 20. Idem de real praesent thes 84 Scarg in art 11. Turr. tr 1. c. 7 tr 2. c. 11. 8 Stel. Clericor for an incorruptible seede of the resurrection and that if not in substance yet in power and effectuall operation Let vs reason thus then If the efficacie and powerfulnesse be sufficient for the seede of the resurrection and incorruption Wherefore the body in our body And wherefore doe we admit this absurditie of hauing so many bodies within our bodies a thing contrarie to reason nature and all Diuinitie An absurditie wherein as yet they infold and wrap themselues For if the glorified body be supernaturally euerie where wherefore say they that he commeth downe vpon the Altar and why doe they say that hee departeth and goeth his way in respect of his body If he come downe if he goe vp why doe they say that he is not circumscript and tied to place and that he is corporally euerie where Againe sometimes they say We set our teeth in the flesh of our Lord wee deuour and feede vpon him with our teeth c. We chew him wee breake him c. And sometimes they are angrie that one should obiect it against them as their reproach they vexe themselues they denie it To bee short for we should neuer haue done if wee should goe about to gather together all their contradictions and this shall suffice for a taste when shame seaseth vpon them they are offended that a man should laye it to their charge that they haue saide That the Priests are creators of their Creator c. And by and by they come againe to their mutuall byace and doe freely vtter it That the Eucharist is no creature That it is the Creator himselfe That it is an Hypostaticall grace That it deserueth to bee adored and praied vnto c. And yet the same neuerthelesse say they that dependeth vppon the intent and purpose of him that consecrateth Now wee haue finished the whole historie of the doctrine of Transubstantiation taught in the Church of Rome The comparing of the holy supper and the Masse together But how farre is it off from the auncient simplicitie of the Christian Church and how farre from the institution made by our Lord of the holy supper The Summe wherof is thus That in the holy supper we are seriously admonished of our bond and obligation vnto our Lord and of our dutie towards our neighbour likewise nourished and strengthned in our coniunction with Christ our head whereupon dependeth our true life which approueth and maketh it self manifestly knowne as the soule doth it selfe by his motions by our zeale towards God and our behauiour towards our neighbours Therein we cal to mind our obligation when we remember according to his commandement the death and Passion of our Lord That we were dead in our sinnes dead verily and eternally seeing it was requisite and necessarie that the eternall Sonne of God should expose and giue himselfe to death euen to the death of the Crosse to redeeme and set vs free from that death therefore eternall death And thence is that action of praise and thankesgiuing that followeth solemnely obserued and performed in this action and perpetuall in our soules if we be truely faithfull For hee that willingly belieueth this great and vnspeakable benefit how can he possibly forget it How can it possibly be but that he should occupie and as it were powre forth himselfe in a continuall exercising of praise and thankesgiuing Seeing I say he sinneth euerie moment he cannot bee without matter to humble himselfe euerie moment and to haue his eye both vpon death and also vpon hell and accordingly againe he hath matter euerie moment to raise vp him selfe againe in hope by the remembrance of this eternall Sacrifice vpon the mention that is made namely in this Sacrament How that the Sonne of God hath giuen his bodie for him hath beene broken with cares and griefes and how that his bloud was shed for the remission of his sinnes And this is the cause why this Sacrament is called both a remembrance and an Eucharist or action of thankesgiuing For of the remembraunce of this benefite of this gift of saluation and by this vnspeakable meanes there followeth in euerie Christan heart a serious and heartie Eucharist or thankesgiuing But this effect by name is wanting in the Papists their Masse For this remembrance is not practised in it at all the death of the Lord is not shewed foorth there at all vnto the people This is in steed of whatsoeuer it should bee a heape of words and a varietie of gestures neither the one nor the other vnderstood Wee are taught likewise in the holy Supper our duties towards our neighbours for wee are not only created of one and the same Masse but regenerate and begotten again but redeemed and bought with one price euen bloud but made members of the same bodie and quickned by one and the same spirit but liuing mouing and feeling from one and the same head One with him through the grace of his good pleasure and will One therefore amongst our selues both by his commaundement and by naturall dutie And if the head the eternall Sonne of God haue giuen his life for vs to make vs I say his members what do
there members owe yea what doe they not owe one to an other Seeing also that this head most liuely feeling all that which these members doe or suffer doe not disdaine to declare and manifest vnto vs that what is done or denied vnto the least is done or denied vnto himselfe and from him hath either reward or punishment And this is the cause why the Fathers haue called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an assemblie a Communion And this second fruit and effect is also wanting in the Masse where there is no Communion betwixt the members nor any signification of this coniunction of Christ with vs of our selues together all men vsing of so many cornes to make but one Loafe and one wine and al of vs sucking life out of the same death nourishment from the same meate of the fleshe and bloud of our Lord But particularly in respect of our selues we being members of Christ and quickned by Christ are there nourished and strengthned both in Christ and of Christ And it is not more sure that the Minister doth giue vs the bread and wine that wee take them with our hands that we eate and drinke them that they are conuerted into our substance and become nourishment for our bodies to maintaine and strengthen this life then it ought to be sure and certaine to euerie Christian that our Lord in the holy Supper celebrated according to his institution dooth giue vnto vs at the same instant his flesh and bloud That we take them by faith that we eate and drinke them that they are turned into the life and substance of our soules becomming the foode of the same to maintaine and strengthen vs vnto eternall life Yea and which more is that by the predominant and ouer-ruling power that they haue they turne our soules both to Christ and into Christ vniting them vnto him and making them one with him and our bodies consequently and proportionablie after the manner of our soules doe make vs bones of his bones flesh of his flesh members of that head gouerned by his spirit and one with him to raise againe one day our bodies and soules to be glorified and raigne with him And this fruit also of the holy Supper is lacking in the Masse of the Church of Rome wherein there is not any thing at all representing this straite and neere coniunction with Christ or that true eating by the which it is cherished and maintained wherein such as are present doe neither eate nor drinke corporally nor spiritually wherein they become all together idle gasers and starers vpon the Priest which eateth and drinketh and vpon a pretended mysterie both deafe and dumbe and wherein in a word there is not any one action which stirreth vp their consciences nor any manner of instruction to helpe forward and ad vnto their knowledge These are the principall ends for which our Lord instituted his holy Supper and whereof wee haue beene altogether destitute vnder the Church of Rome which in steed of this sacred meate which we were wont to eate at our Fathers table hath fed vs with huskes apish toyes and mummeries intertaining in stead of all that which was the old fashion of Rome the poore people with vaine pompes and ceremonies and therefore famished with the want of the grace of God From that farre countrie whether our humane fancies had transported and led vs wee are put in mind of our Fathers table and become resolued to returne againe home vnto him from these abuses and deceits so farre differing from his institution to his truth and from our sinnes to his grace and that by his grace Father haue we said We haue sinned against heauen and against thee we are not worthie any more to be called thy children And hee hath according to the same euen his wonted mercie put a ring vpon our finger cloathed vs with Christ and caused vs to eate his flesh and his bloud They were dead hath hee said but they are returned to life they were lost and they are found againe c. To God bee praise and glorie for euer by the same his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord Amen Let vs now runne ouer and briefely rehearse againe all that which we haue handled and intreated of in this whole worke In the first Booke we haue handled the rearing and raising vp of the Masse A briefe rehearsal of the whole worke from time to time and from parcel to parcell we haue shewed that the old seruice did consist of a publike confession of sinnes in the reading of the old new Testament and that of whole bookes of the same in singing of Psalmes by the whole Congregation in a Sermon vnto the people which was made by the Bishop or Pastor expounding either some place that had beene read or some such other as hee iudged fit for the edifying of the Church in offerings which were offered by the people for the poore and other vses of the same in a generall praier for all the necessities of the Church state in the institution of the holy Supper taken out of the Gospell or the Apostle in a witnessing of the sincere loue of the faithfull one towards an other before they should draw neere vnto the holy Table and in a denunciation vnto such as were not of this number to the wishing of them to abstaine in the distribution of the holy Supper vnto all the people vnder both kindes during the time of which action they ceased not to sing Psalmes or to read the Scriptures and finally in a solemne thankesgiuing for the benefit receiued as well in the death and Passion of our Lord as in the Communion of his body and bloud in the holy supper Which done the Bishop or Pastor sent the people away with a holy blessing And it is not to be forgotten as we haue seene that all this was done in an vnderstood and knowne tongue As for prayers for the dead praying vnto Saints the Canon of the pretended sacrifice and all the parts whereof it is framed wee haue seene them brought in many ages after and that at seuerall times and great distaunces betwixt one and an other and still impairing and growing worse from time to time Retaining therfore for our seruice that which we well perceiue to bee truely auncient and reiecting that which is notoriously new what shall such seruice bee to speake according to a good conscience but the same that is now vsed in the reformed Churches In the second Booke we haue compared the circumstances of the old seruice and those of the Masse First we haue found the Church vnder persecution without publike places to call vpon the name of God in Afterward wee did see Churches built for the same but without any manner of Images with tables let vs call them if you will Altars for the communicating of the holy supper but without Lampes burning of Incense Consecrations Dedications c. We haue obserued the lawfull election and calling of