tooke bread blessed it c. and said Take eate for the remission of your sinnes This is my bodie c. Doe this in remembrance of me as not hauing there any other kind that hee had made choise of neither yet figure wherein his incarnation might be represented Behold then the Image of his quickning bodie which is honourably and gloriously exhibited c. But this Councell was afterward condemned by the second Nicene Councell which established the adoration of images And without all doubt not without the shaking by that meanes of the truth of this Article as it will be seene in that which Theophilact writeth But that second of Nice was also condemned by that of Francford and of Paris as we haue seene before held vnder the authoritie of Charles the great Lewes and Lotharius which may bee the cause that our French Doctors should as yet hold the same firmely Anno 900. Theoph. in Marc. c. 14. in Mat. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for true and sound doctrine Theophilact therefore about the yeare 900. to sute Damascen The bread is not the figure or any kind of paterne of the bodie of our Lord but the bodie of Christ is turned into it Or else in an other place In Ioh. c. 6. The bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned into the body Againe It is not onely a certaine figure of the flesh of our Lord but the verie flesh of our Lord c. Verily no more constant or assured then Damascen seeing that he saith in the same places God stooping downe and applying himselfe to our infirmitie doeth keepe the figure of bread and wine He saith not the accidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He transformeth and chaungeth them into the power and vertue of the flesh and bloud He saith not into thy flesh and bloud And it is not here to be forgotten that in diuers Copies these words are not to be found Againe Wee celebrate an oblation without bloud the remembrance of an oblation which he hath once made c. The remembrance how can that agree with the real presence But when he saith Transformeth or chaungeth from one element to an other who shall better interpret him then Saint Augustine that it is chaunged from an element to a Sacrament by the power of the word that is to say by the institution of Christ Otherwise if a man should goe about to take it literally our aduersaries who allow not of this proposition The bread is or is made the bodie of Christ could they admit of this of Theophilacts The bodie of Christ is turned to vs into bread The bread of the Altar is transformed and chaunged into the bodie of Christ And what exposition will they giue then thereunto except this he is become our spirituall foode and nourishment Seeing that he saith in an other place That there is not any carnall thing In a word that the bread as we say with all the ancient writers is Sacramentally the body of Christ Now in the life time of Charles the great Iohannes Eryngerus Scotus a Monke of the order of Saint Bennet companion to Alcuinus and Schoolemaster to Charles the great had written a booke of the holy Supper wherein hee dealeth against this abuse touching it euen from the conception thereof a certaine argument and proofe of that which the worthie Beda had taught for as much as hee was his Disciple The occasion of which my speech ariseth vpon certaine places in Beda his works which some haue corrupted in like manner vpon Saint Mathew which Auentinus witnesseth that he found out by comparing together the old Copies which are kept in the auncient Monasteries of Germanie In Biblioth Passaulensi Waltfacrens to haue beene falsified by some such like faithfull and vpright Catholike dealing as our fathers of Trent haue vsed in their Index Expurgatorius deuised and ordained in that Councell against all the most notable writers that haue written since the yeare 100. But of this Scotus his workes wee haue nothing for his booke was burnt in the Councell holden at Verseillis by Pope Leo the ninth more then two hundred yeares after his death at such time as Berengarius was there condemned But so it is that we haue Bertram his booke who was a Priest and writ the same to king Charles the bald brother to the Emperour Lotharius how this controuersie grew hotter and hotter in Fraunce and how there were two questions consulted vpon by the said Charles The first was Whether the bread and wine taken by the mouthes of the faithfull be the bodie and bloud of Christ in deed verily or mistically and Sacramentally The second Whether it be the same bodie that was borne of the Virgine Marie c. sitting at the right hand of the father c. And of this booke there is mention made by the Abbot Trithemius Trithem de doctorib eccle Chron. Hirtsaugien who calleth it Opus commendabile a laudable worke As also of his person whose rare gift both in diuine and humane learning as also in soundnesse of life hee much praiseth and commendeth And his resolution which hee gaue to King Charles debated and argued from the testimonies of all the old writers it was this in summe S August S. Hieronym S. Ambros c. That the Fathers vnder the Law in their Sacraments did eate the flesh and drinke the bloud of Christ as wee doe That the eating in the holy supper is accomplished after the same way and maner that regeneration in Baptisme that the visible elements are Sacraments signes mysteries and similitudes or resemblances which are taken by the mouth and hand That the inuisible things that is the flesh and bloud of Christ are receiued into the soule and taken by faith That the sanctified Elements continue and abide still in their first substance and yet exhibite vnto vs by the institution of the Lord that which hee hath promised by his word The fruit whereof is to be ioyned to Christ and made fellow sufferers with him in his sufferings the image and remembrance whereof is celebrated in this mysterie I would intreate the Reader not not to grieue to reade this book because it is learned and setteth forth in verie liuely sort the opinions of the Fathers pressing and vrging the places of Scripture and of the fathers and as it were foreseeing all the cauils of the masters of Transubstantiation But let him that buyeth or readeth it see that it be of those that were Imprinted before the Councell of Trent because that in signe of their perseuering in their honest and faithfull course they ordaine and appoint in their Index Index pag. 11 that whatsoeuer it containeth to their dislike should bee either chaunged or quite raced out that is to say the greatest part of the booke Their maner of correcting and interpreting is no grosser but to turne the affirmatiue into a negatiue so on the contrarie as for example For
thing was said to be done And here it is not to be forgotten that Bonauenture saith that when he was dead these scarres and printes were seene and acknowledged by many in so much as that some of them put nailes into them And Mathias Paris on the contrary a Monke that liued at the time of his death of a longer standing and more auncient by fortie yeares then Bonauenture writeth in his Chronicle that there was not any manner of print to be seene after his death And yet the man was not to bee suspected for the matter Dominick for he speaketh as superstitiously as any of the rest And haue they said any lesse of Dominick Nay rather it belonged to them to incroach dayly enter deeper into blasphemy And so much the more because of the emulation raised betwixt these two orders because that Dominick who was the formost in time seemed to come last in reputation account Anton. Archicp in tit 23. c. 11. the Archb. Antonine therefore that was of this order peiseth his miracles not against those of S. Frauncis but against the miracles of our Lord giueth them the start prerogatiue both for number for greatnes Christ saith he raised but three from death at all Dominick at Rome onely raised as many and 40. neere to Tholosa which were drowned on horsebacke in the riuer Garona besides infinite others Christ after his resurrection went in to his disciples the dores being shut Dominick whilet yet he bare about this mortall bodie which is much more went into the temple the dores being fast Now by the way let vs note that this was by their owne speech either by the proprietie of a spirituall and glorified bodie or els by an Almightie power And thus he goeth through all the miracles of our Lord alwaies preferring and giuing S. Dominick the vpper hand To be short Christ said after his death All power is giuen to me in heauen and in earth and verily saith he this power was not in a small measure communicated bestowed vpon Dominicke ouer all things in heauen earth or hell and that euen in this life for he had Angels to attend vpō and serue him the elements obaied him and the deuils trembled vnder him And this he laieth downe in many examples He addeth further that at Rome there were two images the one of S. Paul and the other of S. Dominick that at the feet of the former was written Per istum itur ad Christum by this men go to Christ and at the feet of the latter Facilius itur per istum but more easily and readily by this man that is to say by Dominicke That is saith Antonine Because that the doctrine of Paul and the Apostles induced and persuaded men to belieue but Dominicks to obserue and keep the councels Which is a shorter course and cut And thus you may already see that he was more then S. Paul and all the Apostles But what shall we say now of that which followeth Quia saith he Domino nostro similis est Dominicus aptissimé denominatus est verie fitlie and rightly was he called Dominicke because he was like Domino to our Lord. And he was possessiuelie in possession that which our Lord was authoritatiuely in authoritie for the Lord said I am the light of the world and the Church singeth of Dominick you are the light of the world The Prophets beare witnesse Domino vnto the Lord and to Dominicke also Zacharie 11. I haue chosen me two roddes the one I haue called Decorem beautie that is to say the order of Saint Dominicke the other Funiculum a corde or band that is the order of the Gray friers thus they abuse the scripture Dominus that is to say our Lord was borne on the bare earth but the virgine for feare of cold laid him in a manger Dominicus from his swathing clothes abhorring the pamperinges and tender delightes of the worlde was found oftentimes by his nurse lying all naked vpon the bare earth For our Lord there appeared a starre in beauen in token that he did lighten the whole world In the forehead likewise of Dominicke as he was baptised the Godmother espied a star signifying a new light to be borne into the world c. The praier of our Lord was euer more heard when he would for in the garden that which he asked of a fleshlie desire hee would not obtaine according to reason But Dominick neuer demanded any thing of God which he did not whollie enioy according to his owne desire Dominus that is our Lord loued vs and washed vs from our sinnes in his blood Dominicke through a perfection of charitie tooke euerie daie three disciplines or corrections from his owne hand not with a corde but with an iron chaine euen to the causing of his blood to runne downe One for his faults though they were verie small another for those that were in Purgatorie and the third for them that liued here in the world c. And thus this Archbishop Antonine draweth this comparison through all the parts of the life of our Lord. In a word our Lord being to depart out of this world promiseth the Comforter vnto his disciples And Dominick saith vnto his Be not grieued for I wil do you more good in the place whither I go then I haue done here for there you haue me a better aduocate then any other that you can haue there c. And what shall now become of that which S. Iohn saith vnto vs If we haue sinned we haue an aduocate euen Iesus the righteous c. And notwithstanding these blasphemies are authorized by the Church of Rome for the good establishment that they haue procured vnto the Popes their authoritie for Gregorie the ninth canonized Dominicke in the yeare 1223. ordained a festiual day to be kept vnto him authorized also his rule and order and bestowed priuiledges vppon the same Now hee that writ these thinges was an Archbishop of Plorence high accounted of amongst our aduersaries Albert. Krant in hist Saxon. l. 9. c. 7. Abb. Trithem in Chronic. Hirsaughtiens But in the meane time they are warie enough not to tell vs any thing amongst the rest of their miracles of that which Krantzius reporteth vnto vs That one Bernard a Iacobine Confessor and Chaplen to the Emperour Henrie the 7. did poison him in the host Whereupon saith Trithemius the Abbot Pope Clement the fift inioyned them for a marke of reproch and ignominie that the Priests of their order from thence forward should neuer receiue or deliuer the communion but with the left hand An example for the Popes of these times to ordaine by the same reason that they should as yet be restrained from the vse of their right hand in detestation of the murther committed by frier Clement a Iacobine vpon the person of K. Henry the third In a word to come to our purpose Bullae fraternitatum ordinis
the worlde did sound therein Euseb lib. 2. c. 16. 17. in the doctrine of the Gospell For whereas Eusebius would applie vnto Christians that which Philo saith in the treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they had at that time sacred or consecrate houses which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best learned do vnderstand acknowledge that he speaketh there of those religious Monkish Iewes which were called Essei for that he saith that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alluding vnto their name De praeparat e. uang l. 8. c. 4. and Eusebius himselfe in another place doth expound it of them Those which haue written after him as Sozomenus Epiphanius Nicephorus c. as they followed his steps so they stumbled at the same stone And that which Onuphrius saith that Anacletus the first in the life time of S. Peter did build the temple of Laterane at Rome is verie fond and friuolous And in deed the first Christians were without temples for certaine ages That there were no churches at the beginning Orig. contr Celsum l. 8. Minutius in Octauio Euseb l. 9. c. 10. Tertul. cont Valentinian Onuph in appendice Platin. Euseb l. 7. c. 9. Euseb l. 9. c. 42. which appeareth by Origen and Arnobius who were reproched by the Painims for that the Christians had not any As also by Eusebius who saith that the places wherein they prayed were caues and dennes as hauing made them places for to pray in whereas on the contrarie our Sauiour Christ reproueth and reprocheth the Pharisies for that of the places of praiers they had made dennes for theeues Tertullian sheweth vs that in his time they had no where to assemble and come together but in simple and silly houses where he saith The house of our doue is but a simple one scituate in high places daily inuaded and beset This was about the yeare 200. their first publike assemblies were in the places where they vsed to burie the Martyrs So wee reade that in the time of Valerian Aemilianus gouern or of Egypt defendeth the exercise of religion in the Christians of Alexandria by these words You are vnthankefull for the mildnes and lenitie of the Emperors c. you are not like to hold and inioy your Synodes and assemblies in the places of buriall of your Martyrs any longer And it is said of Galerius That hee may spoile vs and bring vs to nothing he will take away from vs the libertie of our assemblies in the places of the buriall of our Martyrs Euseb l. 6 c. 3. But contrariwise of Galienus That he restored them the places of the buriall of their Martyrs to the end that they might celebrate the diuine seruice that is saith Onuphrius baptisings the holy Supper and sermons c. But in time they began to build and erect certaine slight manner of buildings to defend them against the iniuries of the weather and them they called frames And this is attributed to Fabianus a Bishop of Rome and a Martyr by Damasus And hereby is seene the impudencie of those men which haue imagined and deuised these goodly legendes wherein is reported that Sauinian did build a temple vnto Saint Peter in his life time and Alexander the first another which hee called Advincula And Hyginus ordained that temples should not be dedicated without Masse that the stuffe brought into the place to build withall should not be conuerted vnto profane vses c. All such as liued in the heat and raging times of persecution being more busie to build the Church by their death then by any such monuments which might be the remembrauncers of their life After the yeare 200. at certaine spaces of time which fell out calme they assembled more freely and builded more solide and substantiall places of praier and that in Citties in the time of Alexander Seuerus Gordianus Euseb l. 8. c. 1. 2 Philippus Aemilianus Marcus Aurelius c. Whereupon Eusebius crieth out Who shal be able to describe vnto vs these goodly assemblies in euerie citie this great concourse of people vnto the places of praier which are so far inlarged and made much bigger then the old But within a short while after they were seene pulled downe again and ouerthrowne by Dioclesian The beginning of Temples in so much as that their foundations therewithal were razed and in this ruinous vnprouided estate they continued till it pleased God to raise vp Constantine who did not onely command that they should be built againe with all diligence but himselfe began to erect build them in most sumptuous and costly manner going on from necessitie to vtilitie and profit and from profitablenes to wast superfluitie conuerting and turning by little little in the great famous cities the temples that had beene dedicated vnto idolles vnto the vse of Christians the like did his successors according to his example And from that time forward we find the Bbs. of Rome more careful industrious to build churches as they call thē then the Church it selfe the Doctors on the contrarie calling vpon them that rather to the praise of God through the beauty and brightnes of the same they wold labor for the true ornaments of the Church Lactantius the Maister of Constantine saith It behooueth not to build such sumptuous temples vnto God but it behooueth euery man to consecrate his breast vnto him to retire and betake himselfe into the same therein to fall downe worship And Chrysostome Wouldest thou build a house to God giue vnto the poore faithfull ones to sustaine their liues withall and then thou hast built him a reasonable house Chrysost in Matth. The Martyrs take no delight or pleasure in it to be so honoured with thy siluer when the poore in the meane while do mourne and weepe But Ierome more then any other Hieronym ad Demetriad howsoeuer ordinarily too much giuen to outward decking and trimming Let others saith he speaking to Demetrias build Churches parget the walles with marble rough-cast let them gilde the heades of these huge pillars which do nothing at all perceiue their beautifying c. I speake not against it but it behooueth thee greatly to haue some other drift and purpose and what must that bee To cloath and couer saith he Iesus Christ in his poore to visite him in those that languish to feed him in the hungrie to barbour him in those that haue no house or roofe to lie vnder but especially in those which are of the houshold of faith c. Meaning by these speeches that Christian charitie proueth a far better lodging and house then all these goodly and stately buildings And vppon Aggee Hieronym in Aggeum Wouldest thou know what I meane by the money wherewith the temple of God is to be garnished verily the words of the holy scripture whereof it is written The words of the Lord are pure words they are as siluer purified in the
that so far as that Arnobius telleth them that they can haue no religion wheras there are Images he saith Simulachra not Idola How far was this man from being of their minds who can finde no religion if they see no Images But Lactantius his Disciple Schoolemaister to Constantine the Great doth lay open this matter at large in these generall rules That Images Imagines inquam were not taken vp for any other cause then for such as were absent that the Image of God is alwayes superfluous because he is present euery where That man is the truest Image that can be made of him as represēting him in the actions of the soule That it is a meer foolerie to paint such things as one hath and after to fal down and worship them seeing that the Images to the cōtrary if they had vnderstāding haue iust cause to fal down and worship man who hath made them It is likewise a great blockishnes for them which haue sence to worshippe senceles thinges and for those which haue reason the vnreasonable as it is for them which are heauenly borne to worship the earthlie That Images are nothing else but the shapes and similitudes of dead men or the works of mortall men In the end concluding after the maner of his Maister in these words Nō dubium est quin religio nulla sit vbi simulachrū est It is most certain that there is no maner of religion whereas Images are But with what face could he say this if in his time that is in the time of Constantine the very time wherein was held the famous Councell of Nice the Christians had Images seeing that all the reasons which he alledgeth against the Pagans are aswell to be applied to the Christians in asmuch as they may equally and as indifferentlie be spoken against their Images And indeed the Councell of Elibert held at that time Concil Elibert c. 36. deliuereth vnto vs this writ in expresse tearmes Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non deberi ne quod colitur aut adoratur in parietibus depingatur It hath seemde good vnto vs that is it is decreede that there should be no pictures in the Church for feare that what men do honour and worshippe should be painted vpon the walles Yuo in decret l. 2. Therefore not the three persons of the Trinitie for wee worship them but so do we not the Angels neither the Saintes in the same sence with our aduersaries who worship and adore them Neither is that to bee taken for an aunswere which some men alledge namely that this was in the time of persecution for the reason serueth indifferently for all times As that that which is worshipped shold not be painted c. But on the contrarie it may seem that this Decree was made for feare that the rest which then the church inioyed should minister occasiō to the Christians to follow the lewd maners of the Pagans it hauing bin freely confessed before by the Pagans that the Christians did not vse thē at all as may bee gathered as well by the reproches wherewith they were ordinarily giuen to reproach them Lampridius in Adriano as also by the testimony of the Historiographer Lampridius as That the Emperour Adrian willing to receiue Iesus Christ into the number of the Gods caused to be prepared for him many Temples without Jmages which were well remembred vnto the time of Constantine and called the Temples of Adrian c. Athanas cont Gentes Athanasius sayth The inuention of Images is not good it sprung from that euill one and that which hath an euill beginning cannot bee iudged good but altogether and wholy naught for how I pray you can God bee knowne by Images If it bee by the matter then what needeth any forme And doth not his glorie appeare in all thinges If by the forme what neede is there then of colours painting and might hee not be better known in reasonable creatures And otherwise what a pittifull and lamentable thing is it that the seeing should worship the blind the hearing pray vnto those which cannot heare for where is there any creature that can saue an other c Reasons altogether alledged against the Pagans but so as that they haue the same force against the Christians and as for that little treatise of the Image of Christ slipt in amongst the workes of this great and worthy man let it bee farre from any man to obiect it against vs there is indeed recorded therein that Nicodemus did make one and that it fell into the hands of Gamaleel Zacheus and others after that into the handes of the Bbs. of Ierusalem and that after the destruction thereof it was carried into Barutus a Citty of Syria where being pierced and thrust through by a Iew there issued out of it blood that by it likewise were miracles done c. For besides that this fable may seeme to come out of the Legends budget and for that also it is not confirmed by any Author Nannius in praef in Athanas Nannius a Doctor of Louaine who hath reduced the workes of Athanasius into tomes doth not let to put it in the number of the bookes imagined falsly to bee his and Bellarmine himselfe for shame cannot deny it whereunto you may also adde the testimonie of Sigibert who sayeth that that accident in the City of Barut happened in the yeare 765. Sigibert in Chronic. Legend 30. and the historie of Lombardie in the yeare 750. that is neare 400. yeares after the death of Athanasius as indeed this Treatise is neuer found to be alledged before the second Councell of Nice about the yeare 800. and thus you see how vpon this and other such vntruthes this doctrine of lyes is founded and built And indeed we read these words in Athanasius He that worshippeth the Image of the king worshippeth in it the king himself And this our aduersaries vse to serue their turn withall against vs but they do willingly let passe to speake what image it is that hee meaneth Serm. 4. cont Arrian for indeed he meaneth not that made by Nicodemus seeing it would haue serued his purpose for the maintaining of the worshipping of the Sonne of God against the Arrians but the substantiall Image of the Father Iesus Christ our Lord whome hee concludeth to bee worthy to bee worshipped in himselfe August Epist 119. and the Father in him as S. Augustine sayeth by the same reason That whereas it is forbidden in the law of God to honour his similitude or likenes it was not as though there were not an Image of God but because hee had but one which ought to be worshipped euen that which is himselfe namely the Sonne of God and that not for him and his sake but with him not Christ himselfe considered as a man how glorious soeuer he be seeing that the holy Fathers do call the Arrians Idolaters because they honoured Christ as
cast away a booke framed in expresse tearmes approuing that of Constantinople and confuting for false and counterfeit that of Nice the same being signed by all the Bishops And furthermore for the further gracing of the same published vnder the name of Charles the Great which is yet at this day to be read and was put forth here some fortie yeares since by my L. Iean du Tillet Bishop of Meaux This booke keepeth the meane or middle way betwixt the Synodes of Constantinople and that second of Nice that is to say That images might be had to be remembrances of thinges which the Councell of Constantinople denied but that they might not be worshipped and this the Councell of Nice affirmed Neither doth it make as the sophisters of our time vse by a false Grammer that common distinction betwixt an idoll and an image but it rather affirmeth according to sound Diuinitie We call not idols those images which are in Temples but we forbid them to bee worshipped for feare that they should be called idols that is to say that by worshipping of them they become not the thing which they are not And to the end that no man may call this booke in question Augustinus Steuchus Bishop of Agobio the keeper of the Popes librarie testifieth that it is kept in the library of Laterane Hinemar Archiepisc Rhemens c. 20 Bellarm. de eccles triump l. 2. c. 19. written in old Lumbardie letters and Hinemarus Archbishop of Rhemes doth alleadge whole pages out of the same and Bellarmine likewise doth acknowledge that in it is contained the Councell of Franckford yea and that which is more maruellous and strange that is that Adrian by letters which he writ vnto the Emperour of Constantinople and to Tharasius the Patriarch the furtherer aduauncer of images doth approue that which was done at Franckford as in deed the truth is that he had his legates there which were ashamed of that which was done at Nice But seeing that images had beene retained in Churches when Charlemaine was once dead idolatrie found an easie reentry in the West as will be seene in the time of Charles his sonne who was constrained to write a sharper booke then the first as on the contrarie Constantine the son of Irene comming to his age would not obserue keep that Councell held in the time of his mothers regencie who for that occasion wrought his death and dissolution And this contention in the Empire of Greece indured more then 200. yeres according as the Emperours were well or ill inclined working sometimes the ruine and ouerthrow of images and sometimes the establishing and confirming of the same In this contrarietie of Councels A comparing of these two councels together to which of them I pray you shal Christians haue recourse to stay and rest their consciences vpon To whom say I when as they see the East armed against the West about this cause and quarrell yea the East against the East that is the Churches and Empires of those partes at iarre amongst themselues Doubtlesse nothing can assure or certifie them but the word of God Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image c. thou shalt not worship or serue them The word which the Popes Emperors neuer could neither euer shal be able to dispatch quite destroy from out of the world neither yet out of the hearts of such as are truely faithful howbeit it may be obserued that from this time this commandement beginneth such is the shameles boldnes to be raced out of the law of God as may yet be seene in the ancient lawes of England Archaeonomia Anglicana written published shortly after the second councel of Nice whose first title containeth the ten Commandements but the second commandement is wholly wanting therein the third continued in place thereof But let vs notwithstanding briefly weigh the reasons of these Councelles the one against the other because it may be that out of their disagreement wee shall make the truth and light to appeare The Nicene doth alleadge the image which Iesus Christ sent to Abgarus that which Nicodemus painted vnder the name of a false Athanasius which we haue proued to bee onely imagined and supposed likewise the vision of Constantine as it was foretold him by Peter and Paule before that hee was baptised which all ecclesiasticall histories together with those next afore mentioned do note for Apocrypha It playeth and sporteth it selfe with the scriptures as men vse to doe with Pasquils Adrian the Pope in his Synodall Epistle Concil Nic. 2 Act. 2 God tooke of the myre and clay and made man according to his owne image and likenesse And the Prophet Dauid saith Confession and dignitie are before him Againe I haue loued the beautie of thy house O Lord I will seeke thy face c. It behooueth therefore saith it to haue images in Temples Theodorus saith As we haue heard so haue we seene wherefore we must haue images to looke vpon them And God is wonderful in his Saints therefore we must haue painted pictures And No man lighteth a candle to put it vnder a bushell therefore it must bee set vpon Altars To bee briefe the Psalmist hath said Worship his footstoole worship him in his holy mountaine O Lord all the riches of thy temple shall worship before thy face wherefore we must worship images But I would verie gladly that of all the ancient Doctors that haue written vppon the Psalmes and Prophets they would shew me but one who hath from these places or any one of them found out images They alleadge the fathers with like conscience Quest 16. citing an Epistle written by Basill to Iulian which is not to bee found and another of Gregorie the Great which is manifestly knowne to be written by Gregorie the third a certaine booke of questions vnder the name of Athanasius in the sixteenth question and it is found to haue beene written by one Leontius almost three hundred yeares after in the time of the Emperour Mauritius And how should they spare the Doctors when they haue not beene ashamed to corrupt the first Councell of the Apostles held at Antioch daring to affirme Actes 15. that they therein ordained that the image of our Sauiour Christ should bee worshipped in steade of the images of the false Gods Although it be so as that there were not according to their owne confession any images in the Christian Churches before Constantine his time thereby charging the Primitiue Church with an vnsupportable crime for hauing made so small accompt of the Apostles their ordinance yea or rather of the holy Ghostes and that in a full Councell In the end they come to the legends of the Saintes and to pretended miracles And what miracles How that there was a woman healed of the gnawings and gripes that she suffered in her bellie by looking vpon the images of Saint Cosme and Saint Damian an other of the fluxe
the pronouncing and vttering of the principall part thereof according to their construction which is that which containeth the consecration to bee done secretlie and closelie thereuppon they call it a secret and that of purpose in such sort as that neither the wordes nor the sound thereof can be vnderstoode of the people learning the same of the Pagans who vnder the muttering of certaine strange and vnknowne wordes concealed and priuilie couered their mysteries Whereas the glorie of our Maister is to publish and make open proclamation of his this great secret especiall which hath laine hid from before all worldes of the saluation purchased for mankinde by the blood of his Sonne whereof he saith vnto his Apostles Preach my Gospell this good tidings vnto all creatures which by name hee would haue published and repeated at all times in his holy Supper instituted of purpose for this end in these wordes You shall shew forth the death of the Lord vnto his comming But what meaneth this shewing forth but to vtter and speake it so lowde as that it may bee heard and so plainely as that it may be vnderstood And what then is there more contrarie to the institutiō of the holy supper of our Lord and to the renewing of the remembrance of his death passion in the Church then this pretended mysterie this strange and vnwonted kind of muttering and whispering Concil Coloniens yea and yet furthermore the Councell of Colen about the yeare 1300. hath added That the Priest must hasten as fast as he can in the saying of the Canon for feare of being interrupted by some hicket yexing neesing or otherwise as if it were the propertie of our God to take vs at a word or at a halfe sillable or as if this mysterie depended and had his whole force vpon the bare pronunciation after the manner of the conceiued words of the Pagans their sacrifices whereas indeed our God worketh therein by his holy spirite which cannot be interrupted and looketh therein at the faith as wee shall see afterwarde and yet so as that hee examineth and tryeth the same in great mercie of him who presenteth himselfe vnto this holy Table But let vs heare notwithstanding what the Fathers will say vnto vs. Saint Paule will that the people should bee able to aunswere Amen which they cannot doe as wee haue already seene except they vnderstand and yet a great deale lesse if they do not heare So also it was obserued and noted by all the auncient Writers Clemens Constit Apost l. 8 Their Clement whom they so much alledge vnto vs testifieth aswell in his Lithurgie as in his Apostolike cōstitutions that after the vttering of the wordes which they call the wordes of consecration that is of the institution of the holy supper the people saide Amen a signe that they heard and vnderstoode them Seeing then that the Apostles had so ordained Ambros de Sacram. l. 4. c. 5. by whome and by what authoritie is this change and alteration S. Denys sayeth of one who had beene baptised by the Heretikes That hee heard the Eucharist and saide Amen together with the rest S. Ambrose sayeth And after these wordes thou sayest Amen August in Psa 33. Cardinal Bess de Sacrament Euchar. that is it is true S. Augustine Our brethren likewise do celebrate the Sacraments aunswere the same Amen S. Basil S. Chrisostome and all the Greeke Churches do the same to this day in their Lithurgies whereupon also the Cardinall Bessarion sayeth The Priest according to the order of the East Church vttereth with a lowd voice these words This is my bodie c. And Iustinian the Emperour in his new constitution before alleadged commaundeth the same vpon paine of grieuous punishment adding therto the threatning of Gods iudgements grounding the same vpon the precept of Saint Paule and rendring this reason thereof saying To the end they may bee the better vnderstoode of the faithfull people and that the heartes of the hearers may bee so much the more pricked with repentance as also moued and stirred vp so much the more to praise God And all are of that minde that in the Primitiue Church it was neuer practised otherwise Where then will these our aduersaries grounde this their newe deuise Gab. Biel. in Exposit Can. l. 15. Lit. D. And of what time by what Scripture Tradition or Councell They say we must haue a reuerent regard of the Sacrament And our Lord will say vnto them who hath taught you this pretended reuerence Who hath required this honour at your hands And that S. Basill sayeth That contempt is companion vnto that which is common From whence Innocent the third doth ground his speech Ne sancta verba vilescerent Laicis nota for feare that these words being vnderstoode should become vile But why doe they not rather say with Moses Would to God they had all prophesied with S. Paul Labour aboue all thinges that you may prophesie that is that you may vnderstand your selues and make others to vnderstand But and if S. Basil would haue stretched this rule to this Sacrament and to this kinde of pronunciation wherefore hath hee left vs a contrarie example And why doe wee not as quicklie call to minde the saying of Lactantius Lactanc l. 5. c. 20. That these mutteringes so greatlie recommended haue beene deuised and ordained by wilie and crafty Marchantes to the end that the people might not vnderstand what they worshipped Concil Laod. c. 19. They are not ashamed to alledge the Councell of Laodicea but yet so as that they will not seeme to know that there is any thing spoken of the Canon nor of the consecration made by the Priest but rather of the first praier of the seruice of the faithfull which euery one of them being exhorted therunto by him made vnto God with a lowe voice praying him that it would please him to blesse this holie action and ministerie the steppes and printes whereof are yet to be seene in the Lithurgies In the ende when they can say no more they flie vnto miracles as that certaine shepheardes who had learned these wordes by heart did abuse them in saying them ouer their breade for which they were presentlie punished of God and from thence forward the church ordained that these words should not be spoken otherwise then in secret But where may wee read this historie Where is the councell or decree that followed vppon this so euident and important a miracle And what other thing do they herein but oppose set a tale made for sport and in a word the whole shepheardes Calender against the institution of Christ the vse and custome of the whole Church the constitutions of Emperours and the testimonie of all the Fathers Yea and therewithall our aduersaries are not ashamed at this day to say that who so doth vse them otherwise Harding doth fulfill the saying of our Lord In giuing pearles vnto swine and casting
slaine for his sinnes Saint Augustine farre exceedeth and surpasseth all This true God and high priest Idem de fide ad Petrum Diacon c. 2. saith he which hath once entred for vs into the sanctuarie not with the blood of goates but with his owne blood c. Euen this is hee who in himselfe alone hath accomplished all that which he knew to bee needfull for the worke of our redemption himselfe being both the Priest and the sacrifice himselfe being both God and the Temple Per quem Quo. In quo Idem de Trinit l. 4. c. 41. 14. the Priest by whome wee are reconciled the Temple in which wee are reconciled God to whome wee are reconciled and notwithstanding the alone priest sacrifice and Temple and all this God in the forme and shape of a seruant Againe Christ by his death which is the onely true sacrifice offered for vs hath purged abolished and vtterly quenched the heate of whatsoeuer sinne that was in vs whereby the principalities and powers had power to seize vppon vs by due desert and to hold vs that so they might take vengeance on vs for the same and by this release hath called vs vs I say predestinated vnto a new life hee hath called vs Nos praedestinatos vocauit vocatos iustificat it iustificatos glorificauit he hath iustified vs hee hath sanctified vs hee hath glorified vs c. And how that to the end it may bee so in euerie sacrifice there are foure thinges to bee considered To whom it is to be offered by whome what and wherefore He himselfe the onely true mediator reconciling vs to God by the sacrifice of peace continueth and abideth one with him to whome hee offered hath performed that in himselfe alone which was to be accomplished for them for whom hee offered he alone was both the partie that offered and that which hee offered Againe Where there is a sacrifice there is an abolishment of sinnes interemptio peccatorum there also is wrought re conciliation with God the altar of this sacrifice is verie new euen the height of the Crosse alluding ab Altari ad altitudinem from the Altar to the height himselfe was the sacrifice and the Priest and the crosse was his Altar c. What then Idem in psal 94. doth there remaine no more sacrifices for Christians Offer saith the Psalmist vnto God the sacrifice of praise the old sacrifices are changed God requireth now of his seruants the sacrifice of praise We set a sacrifice vpon the altar when we praise God and if thou seeke the Priest hee is higher then the heauens making intercession for thee hauing first died the death here vpon earth for thee Haue I any sacrifice to offer saith he elsewhere Idem de ciuit Dei l. 10. c. 4. 6. I will returne home into my selfe there I shall find what to slay and sacrifice there I cannot faile to finde cause to offer the sacrifice of praise The man dedicate and consecrate to the name of God dying in the world to liue vnto God is a true sacrifice The whole Church that ransomed cittie that congregation and societie of the Saintes is an vniuersall sacrifice which is offered vnto God which is offered vnto him by this great Priest Idem de Temp. which offered himselfe in his passion for vs to the end that we might bee the bodie to so glorious a head c. But rather saith hee there are two Altars in vs the bodie and the heart and God requireth of vs a double sacrifice that wee should haue our bodies chaste and our heartes pure c. What then The holy Supper the Eucharist is not it a sacrifice vnto him yes but properly two manner of wayes The one Idem de ciuit Dei l. 10. c. 6. in as much as this is a consecrate and hallowed action by the which Christians are linked and knit together according to the definition which hee giueth of a Sacrifice saying Euerie worke performed to the end that we may cleaue vnto God in a holy fellowship referred to him that is our chiefe felicitie is a true sacrifice The other in as much as therin is renewed the remembrance of the death of Christ Idem contr aduers leg prophet l. 1. c. 18. and a solemne thanksgiuing for the benefites proceeding from the same And therefore he saith The sacrifice of praise shall honour mee Psal 50. But where is this sacrifice better set forth then in thankesgiuing And for what do we rather giue thankes then for the grace and fauour which we haue receiued and is purchased for vs by Iesus Christ Idem aduers Faustum l. 20. c. 21. which the faithfull practise in the sacrifice of the Church c. Againe The sacrifice of praise shall glorifie mee How Before the comming of Christ the flesh and blood of this sacrifice was promised by the sacrifices of resemblance In the passion of Christ they are giuen in truth after his ascension Idem de fide ad Petrum c. 19. they are celebrated by the Sacrament of the remembring of him Againe The onely word of God being made flesh hath offered himselfe to God for vs in sacrifice and for a smell of a sweete sauour Loe here the reall sacrifice of the Church To whome saith he with the father and the holy Ghost the whole vniuersall Church ceaseth not to offer in faith and charitie the sacrifice of bread and wine For the figure of the flesh of Christ which he was to offer for vs was shadowed out in the carnall sacrifices but in this sacrifice thanksgiuing Idem ep 23. and the renewing of the remembrance of the flesh of Christ which was offered for our sins And in another place there is an obiection made Iesus Christ hath he not beene once offered in himselfe and notwithstanding behold how that in the sacrifice he is daily not onely in the daies of the celebration of the feast of the Passeouer but vpon all other daies sacrificed and offered vp by the people Note how it is said by the people and not by God as S. Ierome said before by the faithful It is answered And yet saith he he lyeth not which when he is asked shal answer that he is truely sacrificed for if the sacraments had not any resemblance with the things whereof they are sacraments they shold not be sacraments at all c. So saith he let vs say we celebrate the feast of the Passeouer to morrow to day the Lord rose againe c. And no man findeth fault with our sayings although these thinges were ended manie yeares since seeing that by the courses of times wee come againe and againe to the like dayes and seasons c. But hee acknowledgeth but one real sacrificing or offering vppe of him for he saieth elsewhere That which Dauid offered to God to the end that it might please him to spare the people was a shadowe of that
c. Theophilact about the yeare 1000. The medicines which are effectuall and forcible doe heale euen at the first time being administred but those which neede to bee taken againe and againe doe argue their weakenes sufficiently euen by that onely note euen so it fareth betwixt the Legall sacrifices and the sacrifices of Christ But here riseth a question whether that we also doe offer sacrifices and oblations without shedding of blood vnto which wee aunswere affirmatiuelie but it is in that wee renue the memorie of the death of the Lorde and yet in the meane time it is but one sacrifice not manie because is hath beene offered but onelie once wee offer then daylie himselfe or rather the remembrance of this oblation by which hee did offer himselfe c. In place else where hee giueth vs these generall rules Where there is remission of sinnes there needeth not anie more sacrifices but Christ hath offered a sacrifice seruing and standing sufficient for euer and therefore wee haue no neede of anie other seconde sacrifice c. Anselmus in like maner Ansel in Ep. ad Heb. c. 10 Howbeit we offer sacrifices euerie day yet it is no other then the recording renewing of the memory of the death of Christ therby we offer but one sacrifice not manie for hee was onelie once offered c. Againe All that we doe is but the renuing of the remembrance of his death Againe Our Lordsaide Take eate and sacrifice offer vnto God And S. Paule to the same ende That the Saintes were perfected by one onely oblation And this hath come to passe within this thousand yeares so hard and difficult a thing it is to bring the learned to speake the language of the Masse though the abuse and mischiefe be alreadie brought in And indeede we shall see hereafter that it doth not speake it it selfe But now since the yeare fiue hundred vntill this time it hath ouerrunne great large Dominions and yet by certaine degrees and by the concurring of diuerse causes During the feruent and deuoute zeale of the Christian Church the holie supper was celebrated euerie Lordes day Carol. Mag. l 7. c. 138.182 167. yea in some Churches euerie daye and the number of Communicantes was ordinarilie verie great whereby wee haue seene herefofore that in populous Churches and congregations there haue beene distributed at one time diuerse great loaues and diuerse great cuppes of wine This zeale together with the time grew luke-warme whereupon wee see that S. Ambrose and S. Chrysostome are greatlie grieued to see That it was their dutie to attend at the Lordes Table and that no man hasted to come thereto c. Insomuch also as that exhortations manie and diuerse being vsed to draw the people thereunto but profiting nothing there were diuerse Canons made to binde and inforce the people thereunto as also ciuill lawes Let all the faithfull communicate and staye the Masse without anie more bidding L. 2. c. 45. yea at the least let them not faile to communicate on the Lordes daye c. But whether it were the obstinacie or carelesnes of the Pastors or both that were the cause these Canons profited little In the ende there was a lawe made That such Laye people as did not communicate at the least euerie feast of the Natiuitie Easter Whitsontide Add. 3.38 should bee held for infidels and ratified afterward in the Actes and Statutes set forth by Charles the great thus the Table of the Supper stoode solitary and as a reiected and forlorne thing for the most part at least in respect of the Laitie The ecclesiasticall persons continued their communicating for some time and so there still remained a certaine forme of Communion or Eucharist But shortlie after loosenes laide holde vpon them also as it had done before of others Whereupon we see that the Church is constrained to make Canons That at the least three or foure should alwaies communicate with the Priestes The printes whereof are as yet in the Abbye of Clugny where the Deacon and Subdeacon doe receiue the Communion as yet vnto this day together with the Priests But afterward these three were shufled vppe into one this one was hee that rung the bell whome they called the Sexten Camp nariū And this coldnes did still so encrease that Charles the great is constrained to make a lawe L. 5. c. 93. l. 6. c. 118. Add. 2. c 7. by which the Priest after hee hath consecrated is bound to communicate because that euen hee himselfe did oftentimes abstaine and there are manie olde Canons to that purpose Thus the vse of the Communion was lost by degrees this Communion I say wherin Christians were admonished and put in minde of practising true charitie by the substance of the bread which consisted of manie cornes wrought vppe into one loaf seeing thy bee manie members of one bodie liuing vnder one heade euen Iesus Christ our Lord and so proportionablie the sacramentes themselues fell into a consumption as namelie the bread from manie loaues to one and from a great one to a little one no bigger then would serue being deuided onelie for three persons and in the ende as wee now see to breade no bigger then a penie And the wine consequentlie so as it might fit the other from great vessels vnto little pots such as serue at the Masse from manie cups to one from a great one to a little one And it is notwithstanding to bee noted that this abuse had his abode onelie in the Church of Rome all other Churches as those amongst the Abissines Armenians Syrians Grecians Muscouites c. hauing retained and retayning the Communion as yet vnto this daye Now it fell out also that the people no longer communicating in the holy supper became negligent in other partes of their accustomed seruice and particularlie in that of bringing of offeringes which consisted according to the Canons in breade and wine from which was taken what was necessarie to bee imployed in the Communion for those offerings ceasing it was a cause that the Communion also ceased Carol. l. 1.5.94 152. And indeede we see that this law is oftentimes renued by Charles the Great namelie That the people should be warned to communicate and bring their offeringes euerie Lordes daye For that the one did cease to bee because of the other and thereupon also the requesting of the one was with the more honestie by reason of the other Wherefore to cherish them vppe both in deuotion as also in liberalitie they were giuen to vnderstand that the Masse did not onely benefite and serue them by their communicating in the Sacrament in it but that the principall point of comforte vnto them thereby was yet behinde namelie the sacrifice in the merite whereof they had part inasmuch onelie as that they were present thereat prouided euermore that they for their partes brought their sacrifices that is to say their offeringes with them There was
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
they know likewise not to bee his c. But S. Augustine did neuer thinke to winne heauen by any other meanes then the merite of the onely Christ for his Maxim is vniuersall August ad Hieronym de natura origi animarum Idem in quaest veter Nou. test q 73. That there is not any one soule in all mankind thus hee writ vnto S. Ierome for the deliuerance whereof the Mediator of God and men Iesus Christ the man is not requisite and necessarie Not so much as the Virgine Marie excepted seeing that he saith after many of the fathers going before That the Virgine in whome was wrought the mysterie of the incarnation of Christ did doubt as much in the death of our Sauiour Christ as shee was confirmed by his resurrection What doe we get by this discourse Verily that vnto the time of S. Chrysostome and S. Augustine that is to say neere hand fine hundred yeares after the death of our Lord there was no Inuocation of Saints in the Christian Church nor any mention of the same in the seruice of the Church that it was practised onely by the particular deuotions of some few which they had learned for the most part out of the Schoole of the Gentiles and that there were great personages at those times that laboured to represse them by the opposing and setting of the pure doctrine against them as wee haue seene by their disputations And if that they did speake so at such time as those myracles which it pleased God to worke for the confirmation of the faith and the approuing of his Martyrs were most fresh and new what would they haue said of that which we see at this day when wee pray not vnto God as then in the burying places of the Martyrs but vnto the Martyrs themselues yea and to all the sorts of pretended Saints both directly as the authors of good things and without any mention made of God and in their images And whereas they scrape together here and there some places that seeme to make for them some of them being true but ill translated some manifestly fained and deuised and some drawne from Rhetoricke to make proofes and reasons in Diuinitie what other thing may they seeme to be hereby but Spiders which out of most wholesome hearbs doe sucke poyson whereas the Bees doe gather sweetnesse out of the most bitter And here withall let vs not forget to obserue and note that at this time and manie ages after it was indifferent in the Church whether the faithfull departing out of this world were by and by gathered vnto God and inioyed his presence or else that they continued expecting the day of the resurrection in the bosome of Abraham in a place of most blessed rest from thence to bee receiued into heauen all together Which is more Ireneus Iustine Tertullian Origen Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine Saint Chrysostome Bernard Serm. 4. in sest omnium Sanct. Idem Serm. 3. Theodoret c. yea Saint Barnard no lesse then all the rest doe incline to belieue rather that they are reserued vnto the resurrection without the inioying of the presence of God Now the case so standeth that the Inuocation of Saints is grounded vpon intercession and their intercession vpon the sight and presence of God according to our Aduersaries their owne doctrine Whereupon it followeth that the Inuocation of Saints could not haue any ground to grow vpon in the Church all this time neither yet shall hereafter in any sure or certaine sort according to Saint Barnard his iudgement who liued not aboue three hundred yeares since seeing he stood more vppon this opinion then any other the Inuocation of Saints beeing such as could not match with this doctrine CHAP. XV. Of the growth and proceeding of the corruption of Inuocation both in the Greeke and Latine Churches NOw when these great lights of the Church S. Ierome S. Augustine S. Chrysostome Epiphanius and such like were put out there is no cause why we should maruaile if the Prince of darknesse The proceeding of the abuse in the Greeke church did thriue prosper mightily in a short time as also by the assistance of the ignorance which was brought into Europe at such time as the barbarous nations did ouerrunne and swarme in the same In the East Church they had beene drencht with the Apostrophes of Basill Nazianzene Ephrem and others but the Inuocation of Saints was not yet entred into their seruice onely they had receiued the Commemoration of them the prints and footesteps whereof remaine to be seene in these words In Liturg. Iacobo Basilio Chrysost attribut In calling to our minds the holy Virgine Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Martyrs c. We recommend them and our selues and our whole life vnto God c. Speeches so farre from bearing any inuocating of them as that they comprehend and include them in the same recommendation as also in the same worke of the grace of God with our selues following that opinion which they had currant amongst them that they were not as yet receiued into perfect blisse Likewise we haue a Church rule in S. Basill Basil in asceti c. 40. free from the fierie heate of his boyling Rehetoricke When saith he the Christians come to the Sepulchers of the Martyrs or into the adioyning places it must be looked vnto that it bee to no other end but to pray Idem hom 19 and to bee stirred vp to the imitating of their constancie by the recording and calling of them to mind For saith he in an other place by the calling to mind of their good deedes there ariseth profit vnto vs as of the vsing of an excellent parfume a good smel Anno. 500. Niceph. l. 15. c 18. But now one Petrus Gnapheus Bishop of Antioch ordaineth that in all publike praiers in his Church and note that his Patriarchall prerogatiue extended verie farre the inuocating of the Virgine Marie should bee vsed And this Peter was a most pernicious hereticke condemned in the fift generall Councell held at Constantinople for the heresie of the Theopaschites whereof hee was the Author teaching that God himselfe euen as hee was God was crucified and did suffer vppon the Crosse The mischiefe whose nature is neuer to bee idle went forward with speed The second Councell of Nice about the yeare eight hundred establishing the worshipping of Images ordained the Inuocation of Saints And it is likewise much about the same time that Euagrius the Monke brought in the King of Persia praying vnto Saint Sergius in these words That he and Syra his loue did hope in his power and belieue in him Damascen about the yeare eight hundred praieth himselfe vnto the Virgine Marie I shall saith he be saued by hoping in thee and hauing thee for my defence J will not feare any thing In thy Almightie helpe I shall put mine enemies to flight thou art the saluation of mankind open vs the doore of mercie c. And
Aquitanus moueth a question to this purpose wherefore the iust are called sinners for if they bee iust how are they sinners And if sinners how are they iust Not one of them saith he that liue in this mortall bodie can say that hee is without the contagion of sinne no not those excellent leaders of the flockes of Christes sheepe seèing that he hath enioyned euen them to say Idem in Epigra 46. in Psalme 129. Forgiue vs our trespasses c. Not any one of the Saints how well and commendably so euer hee liue in this world But saith hee in an other place those are called iust because that sinne is dayly taken away and diminished in them that is by the growth and proceeding of regeneration but these are called sinners because that it increaseth in them dayly that is by the increase of the proceeding of their corruption c. As also we alleadged heretofore out of Saint Chrysostome That God to shew that he is only iust and all the rest of the iust and righteous sinners suffered euen the best and most approued to fall c. as Dauid Abraham Peter c. In so much as that the exception would not extend vnto the Virgine Marie Orig. hom in Luc. 17. whome sometimes hee taxeth for her ambition and sometimes for weakenesse of faith c. And Origen goeth further If saith hee shee had not taken offence at the passion of the Lord the Lord hath not died for her sinnes And if all haue sinned and stand in need of the grace of God being iustified and redeemed by his grace then Marie also as who for a time was also offended c. We cease here to repeate many other for that they are before alleadged Wherefore without exception wee are all sinners but from these sinners hauing sinne proceeding and springing from them to the meriting of condemnation can there also proceed workes meriting life and saluation Let vs heare them yet further Origen expounding these words of Saint Paul To him that worketh the reward is not accompted for grace but for a debt c. But I saith he cannot be perswaded that there is any worke that can craue recompence or reward of God as a dew debt c. And hee rendreth a reason Idem in Ep. ad Rom. 4.4 August de verb. Apost Serm. 31. Idem Ep. 54. ad Maced Idem in psalm 142. For the wages of sinne is death but grace is eternall life Saint Augustine Wee are not in this world without sinne but wee shall goe foorth of it without sinne Againe Who so saith that he is without sinne is not in the truth and who so saith that in any worke that is verie well done he is without sinne he deceiueth himselfe For saith hee Neuer did man any good worke with that charitie that he might and ought and therefore euerie man remaineth vniust now the vniust and vnrighteous cannot but sinne in a iust and righteous worke And to be short saith he Charitie is a vertue whereby we loue that which ought to be beloued In some greater in some lesse and in some not at all and in no man growne to such perfection but that it may increase and grow in him as long as he liueth And that lesse measure that any man hath then he should euen that is a vice and such a vice as that it causeth that there is not a iust or righteous man on the earth not one that doth good nay which sinneth not Such a vice as that man whiles he liueth cannot be iustified before God A vice whereof it is said if we say that we haue no sin c. by reason whereof we are to say how well so euer we haue profited Forgiue vs our sins c. Where we see that S. Augustine maintaineth that the want of charity continueth alwaies here being of it selfe sufficient to make insufficient that which we take to be the most sufficient of all our workes Idem Ep. 30. ad Hieronym In a word he cleane cutteth off all Who are they that are blessed Not those in whome God findeth no sinne for hee findeth sinne in all c. Not those that doe good workes for all thy workes saith he are viewed and found to bee wicked And if there should bee giuen and rendred to thee according to that which is due to thy workes without doubt hee should condemne thee for the reward of sinne is death And what is due vnto wicked workes but condemnation But they are blessed whose sinnes are remitted God heapeth not vpon thee the punishment that is due but bestoweth grace fauor vpon thee which is not due or deserued Saint Ambrose saith I hold it for good and sound Ambros de Iacob that we are not iustified by the workes of the Lawe then it must follow that J haue nothing wherefore I should boast my selfe in my workes but rather in Christ. J will not glorifie or boast my selfe as though I were iust but because J am redeemed because I am disburdened and deliuered from sinne but because that my sinnes are forgiuen me not because that I haue helped my selfe therein or yet any other for me Quia profui Idem de vocatione Gent. l. 5. c. 5. but because I haue an aduocate with the Father c. Againe As there is no action so wicked as that it can hinder the gift of grace so there are no workes so excellent as that they may challenge as their due recompence that which is freely giuen For otherwise the redemption of Christ should grow base and contemptible and the prerogatiue of the workes of man should not yeelde and humble it selfe vnder the mercie of God if the iustification which is wrought by his grace were due vnto precedent merites For so it should not be any more the gift of one that giueth but the wages of one which laboureth c. To bee briefe mans merites whether past or to come are not to make vp any part of the price in this purchase Saint Ierome saith What vprightnesse Hieronym in Prou. 20. in Eccle. c. 7. Gregor Nyss l. de orat Bernard Serm. 50. what cleannesse can there be in the liues of the righteous The workes that wee discharge by the ministerie of our bodies are alwayes mingled with some errour Againe We are saith Gregorius Nyssenus taught by the Scripture that there is not any one amongst men to bee found which can passe ouer one day without spot or staine But Saint Barnard though hee liued in an age full of all humane presumptions did notwithstanding hold fast this puritie of doctrine If there be saith hee any righteousnesse in vs it may bee vpright and honest but it can neuer be pure If so be that we will not thinke better of our selues then wee doe of our forefathers all which haue confessed no lesse truely then humbly That all our righteousnesse is as the menstruous clothes of a woman c. For where shall
bee that pure righteousnesse when transgression and some default cannot bee shut out from it But it seemeth to vs that the iust and righteous dealing of men may be vpright and honest when it yeeldeth not so farre vnto sinne as to suffer it to raigne in the bodie c. Againe The Lord is hee that iudgeth me Idem de verbo Originis for I cannot auoide his righteous sentence yea and if I were iust yet would I not lift vp my head because that all my righteous actions are as a stained cloth seeing that before God no man can be iustified no not one CHAP. XVIII That the Law was giuen man to conuince him of sinne and to cause him to looke for his saluation in that grace which is by faith in Christ according both to the Scriptures and the fathers FOr what vse then will some say doth the Law of God serue vs The end of the law according to the holy Scriptures if we cannot fulfill the same Verily that by it thou maist know the difference that is betwixt the righteousnesse of God and that pretended righteousnesse of thine owne and that thou maist knowe that thou art not able to doe it As certainely also that thou maiest bee conuinced in thy pride condemned in thy righteousnesse and bound and beholden to his mercies And all the Pedagogie thereof Deut. 9. all the discipline and instruction contained in the same if thou consider it is no other thing Moyses saith Say not in thine heart O Israell This is because of my righteousnesse that God hath brought me into this land it is not by reason of the vprightnesse of thy heart for thou art a stif-necked people c. And then how much lesse into the true land Into the heauenly Chanaan The whole seruice of the Lawe consisteth altogether in washings altogether in bloud and in killing which aunswere fitly to our vncleannesse sinnes crimes accidents and happes yea to our verie ignorances to our faults known and vnknowne vnto vs and they were renued Euening and Morning and were continued perpetually and therefore also both an ordinarie and continuall charge and accusation of our whole liues and of all that which is within vs Psalme or that commeth out of vs. Whereupon Dauid saith If thou markest our iniquities O Lord who shall abide it who shall indure thy stroke And whereas he speaketh of his righteous workes he saith Thou art the Lord my goodnesse reacheth not vnto thee The Prophets likewise doe neuer speake vnto vs but of a circumcised heart of a new heart of a hart of flesh in stead of our vncircumcised and stonie harts to the end that wee may know where the disease holdeth vs euen in our most noble part and that it lyeth not in vs to reforme the same that it hath need to be quite framed anew by the operation of the Creator himself by his holy spirit and in the fountaine or spring head are all the waters issuing from thence condemned in the tree all the fruites thereof In the originall of motion all our motions and in the workman all the workes which he hath wrought Whereupon S. Paul also the true interpreter of the Law leadeth vs continually from workes vnto faith and from the Law to grace The Law saith hee giueth knowledge of sinne Rom. 3. the Law maketh it to abound the Law worketh wrath the Law is the ministerie of death by the workes of the Law no man is iustified for no man can fulfill it And yet in the meane time Cursed are they that abide not in all the words of the same And what shall we doe then But saith he the iust shall liue by faith he shall be iustified by faith without the workes of the Law iustified freely by the grace of God by the redemption made in Iesus Christ Rom. 4 That grace which superaboundeth whereas sinne hath abounded That faith which applieth vnto vs this grace which is imputed vnto vs for righteousnesse in as much as we belieue in him that hath raised Christ from the dead slaine for our sinnes and raised for our iustification Rom. 11.5 c. And If it bee of grace saith the Apostle then it is no more by workes otherwise grace were no more grace otherwise workes were no more workes And yet in the meane time faith the gift of God Faith the gift of God and grace that is to say the remission of sinnes the gift also of God and the hand to receiue the bountifull kindnesse and free liberalitie of our God in Christ this free mercy also the gift of God Faith Ephes 2.8 Rom. 5. for you are saued saith the Apostle by grace through faith and that not of your selues it is of God Grace the remission of sinnes in like manner For saith hee also if by the offence of one many die much more the grace of God and the gift by grace c. hath abounded on many Rom. 6. Againe The wages of sinne is death Our aduersaries would say and the wages of good workes is eternall life Nay saith our Apostle But the the gift of God that is to say Rom. 5 the gift of righteousnesse the aboundance of grace is eternall life by Iesus Christ And this gift notwithstanding is called an inheritance the inheritance of Children and not the wages of seruants And yet an inheritance which wee although adopted for children doe loose and forfait euerie day as much as in vs lyeth by our sinnes if God euerie houre in the obedience of his Sonne did not restore it vnto vs againe and that of his free gift Ioh. 1. Rom. 8. For saith Saint Iohn He hath vouchsafed vs the honour to be made the children of God And If saith Saint Paul you bee Sonnes you are also heires yea fellow heires with Christ Such is the paines that the Apostle taketh to weede and destroy out of vs this roote of Pharisaisme of pretended merite sometimes making vs heires sometimes Donatories or rather heires Donatories in as much as it is giuen vnto vs to be children which naturally we were not But what child is hee that can be indured or thought worthie to be maintained if hee say that he deserueth and meriteth at his fathers hands and that of his father of whome hee holdeth and inioyeth but this mortall life and that rather but as the instrument then the author thereof Some in like maner asked the auncient fathers The end and scope of the law according to the olde writers wherefore serueth the law of God if we cannot performe it And behold now what was their answere Saint Ambrose The Law worketh and causeth wrath Adam fell to offend by disobedience and to commit a fault by insolencie But in as much as pride was the cause of the fall and the prerogatiue of innocencie the cause of his pride there was iust cause giuen for the making of a Law which might make him subiect vnto God
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
haue not any reward but that which is bestowed vppon vs in our free pardon Saint Barnard saith in one word Bernard in Psal 91. Serm. 9. 15. De Sepulch Idem in Cant. Serm. 22. By faith Christ dwelleth in our harts and as for works they giue testimonie vnto our faith how that it liueth Againe The fruit of the knowledge of God is the strong crie of prayer c. Death being dead life is restored into his place in like manner sinne being taken away righteousnesse succeedeth it c. And how Because saith heâ—e in an other place they that are iustified from their sinnes desire and resolue themselues â—o embrace and follow holinesse without the which no man shall see God For they heare the Lord who cryeth Be holy c. But All these workes saith he all these pretended merits Sunt viâ—â— regni non causa regnandi They are the way to raigne but not the cause thereof But as we said before these two righteousnesses are verie much differing namely that which approueth and iustifieth our faith from that which iustifieth our selues that burning and beeing consumed at the onely appearance of the shining brightâ—nesse of the face of God this beeing of proofe against the Cannon shot of Gods wrath and Hell it selfe that being the worke of the newe man which is renued but slowly in vs this of the eternall God himselfe who hath giuen himselfe wholly and intirely vnto vs. And therefore all that righteousnesse before this is held for nothingâ— by the Apostle himselfe for worse then nothing that is for corruption and filthinesse so farre off is it from meriting any thing And this also euen with the littleâ— goodnesse that it hath in it is the gift of God and the worke of God working in our hearts by his spirit which saith vnto our pride What hast thou that thou hast not receiued That which is most rife in thee is the worke of Adam more weightie ordinarily then the rest and which concludeth against him Who can draw that which is cleane out of that which is foule and filthie c. For how should a perfect worke spring from an imperfect faith A sound fruie from a diseased tree But the case so standeth as that wee dayly crie here on earth Increase our faith strengthen it purge it from all diffidencie and distrust And notwithstanding wee admire heere the goodnesse of the mercifull God in respect of that which hee hath giuen to him whome hee hath iustified by the gift of faith and by the gift of righteousnesse hee will haue it called a reward but verily such a one as groweth due vpon free promise and not by purchase And thereupon our pride hath set in foote to build the matter of merit a word not heard of throughout the whole Scripture a word condemned throughout the whole Analogie of faith which setteth before it no other thing then the merit of Christ according to the free promise of the eternall father In the meane time where so euer there is Merces The abuse of this worde Merit Ierem. 31.16 Thom. l. 2. q. 114. art 2. a hire or reward promised of God the pride of man hath caused them to find out the merit of men Ieremie saith to the Church of the Iewes assuring them of their reestablishing They shall returne from the Countrie of the enemie Thy worke shall haue his reward From thence Thomas maketh an argument to proue their merit notwithstanding that there is properly handled the estate and condition which was to befall them in this world and not in the kingdome of heauen but hee concludeth notwithstanding that reward and merite cannot be but improperly spoken betwixt God and men betwixt whome there is no maner of equal proportion that is saith he That man obtaineth of God as in the nature of a reward it is because that he hath giuen him power and vertue to labour Quasi mercedem Hieronym in Esa l 15. c. 95. Mat. 5.22 Luke 6.23 Ambr. in Luc. l. 5. c. 6. But Saint Ierome hath spoken better alleadging this place That this reward is their inheritance which serue God In the Euangelists oftentimes Reioyce yee for great is your reward in heauen c. Ambrose verily wheresoeuer there is this word Merces interpreteth it praemium he causeth it to be attributed to the mercie of God and to be receiued by a Christian faith and in like manner all the rest as we shall see And as for that which Thomas argueth That that which is giuen according to iustice may seeme to be a condigne and worthy reward But the Apostle saith 2. Timoth. 4. Ambros in 2. Tim. c 4. Amplissima praemia The crowne of righteousnesse is reserued and laid vp in store forme which the Lord the iust Iudge will render vnto me in that day c. Verily he should haue called to mind that Saint Ambrose expounding this place saith Because that God giueth exceeding great gifts to them that loue him that is worthie of his greatnesse and not of our merits And the ordinarie Glose Seeing that faith is grace and eternall life grace it cannot be but that he hath giuen grace But Saint Augustine August in hom 50. Idem hom 14. as we shall see more largely and fully hereafter Nay saith hee Paul if he had giuen thee that which was due vnto thee he should haue bestowed punishment vpon thee c. Pardon me Apostle I doe not see any thing that is properly thine except euill and this is thine owne doctrine that thou hast taught vs That when God crowneth thy merites he crowneth nothing but his owne gifts c. And Thomas himselfe likewise may seeme to come neere to the same Thom. l. 2. q. 114. art 3. when hee saith That our workes considered as proceeding from our free will cannot merite but rather as proceeding from the grace of the holy Ghost giuen vnto vs. And in deed what man shall bee so proud as to dare to say That Abraham merited God by his workes vnder colour of those words which God saith vnto him I am thy reward Abraham saith the Apostle To whome faith was imputed for righteousnesse Now it were to be desired that the old writers had vsed this word more sparingly although their intention and drift be sufficiently cleare and manifest And whence it sprang But the truth is that that which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dignitie or worthinesse the Latines haue translated Merit and consequently that which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be made or reputed worthie they haue expounded mereri for want of an other verbe to expresse it in one word And in deed the old Glosarie saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mereri to bee made worthie is expounded by this word to merit And it may be verified by many places In the disputation that fell betwixt the Orthodoxes and the Donatists in the time of Saint Augustine this word was ordinarily
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
as there can nothing come out of vs that can make God fauourable and mercifull vnto vs. In whose passion iniquitie was remitted and righteousnesse restored all in a day and that not onely vnto iustification but euen to the meriting that is to say to be reputed worthie of the companie of God by them And this is to be vnderstoode so farre forth as we belieue and as his obedience is sufficient for all belieuers vnto eternall life the same being perfectly washed into the remission which is in his bloud But and if you aske to what end then serueth the Law seeing that it doth not iustifie Haimo aunswereth Not to take away sinnes but to shew and point out the same Hincmarus It is because of transgressions and for the hardnesse of the people Adelbertus To teach vs our concupiscence and to learne vs to knowe and vnderstand what is due vnto vs for our sinnes to the end that thereupon wee may seeke for grace Theophilact To conuince vs of sinne and to bring vs to Christ. Anselme To shewe in what Chaines and bandes of sinne such were held as presumed of their power to accomplish and make perfect their righteousnesse by works that so they might perceiue the poyson though thereby they could not take it away and to the increasing and augmenting of sinne not to the cleansing or wiping of it away Radulph in Leuit. l. 20. c. 1. Gysilb in alter But what doe wee not accomplish it then Radulphus saieth What man is he vpon the face of the earth that is able verily not one And Gisilbert So neither hath it brought any thing vnto perfection it hath laid open the woundes but it hath not cured them Theophyliad Rom. c. 3. Anselm in 7 ad Rom. Haimo in Psal 118. in c. 6 ad Rom. passim Otherwise saith Theophilact We had not had neede of Christ And Anselme What is the law but a letter for them that knowe to reade it and cannot accomplish or fulfill it And therefore it hath onely led vs as by the hand vnto grace But againe concerning this grace who hath mooued the Lord to doe so much for vs Verily saith Haimo The onelie goodnesse which is in him and therefore let no man presume of his merits but of the onelie clemencie of our Sauiour who saith the Apostle hath saued vs freelie that is to say without anie precedent merits who saueth vs saith hee by his preuenting grace and iustifieth vs by his subsequent grace Eternall life is giuen to none as a thing of due but by free mercie Remig in psa 19.21 32 70. c. And S. Remigius Adam made the olde people but our Lorde Christ the newe in asmuch as he hath freely iustified the same without anie precedent merits For wee haue made our selues sinners but his onely mercie hath made vs righteous yea saith hee it hath made of vs that were wicked and vngodly godly ones of seruants free men of condemned ones such as are to be receyued into the kingdome of heauen Theophyl in Ep. ad Tit. c. 3 Anselm in c. 5. ad Ephes And Theophilact Hee hath saued vs euerlastinglie not by the workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but by the operation of his onelie clemencie c. And Anselme This hath come to passe through the great and vnspeakeable loue of God that the onely begotten sonne hath deliuered himselfe ouer vnto death the maisler for the seruant Cur Deus homo c. 2. the Creator for the creature that hee hath said vnto man Take my onelie sonne and giue him for thee that the sonne hath said Take me and redeeme thy selfe c. And all the same treatise handleth no other thing And againe howe doe wee receiue this grace Haimo in c. 9. ad Rom in c. 3 ad Galat. super Euang. in Oct. Pasch Remig. in Psa 10. in 18. in 19. Haimo saith Of faith and by faith wee are iustified heires through faith and not through the lawe by grace and not by merit to the ende that the promise made vnto the seede of Abraham may abide and continue firme c. Remigius All my faith is in Christ I belieue my selfe in him onely to be iustified saued This is my mountaine This is my refuge c. The heauens sing of the glorie of God And what manner of glorie verily saith he for that we are not saued by our workes but by his mercie And this is the great glorie of God that all hauing sinned and all hauing need of this glorie namely to be freely iustified euen in the mercie exhibited by the Sonne Gisilb in alt c. 1. 13. c. Gisilbertus Faith went before the law and without the law hath iustified the faithfull Our father Abraham pleased God by faith rather then by circumcision Many haue perished notwithstanding circumcision and many before that it was haue beene iustified by faith alone Christ is the inheritance of the faithfull whome they receiue by faith Theophyl in Abac. c 2. c. Theophylact The righteous man worketh by faith vnto life whether it bee that which is to come or be it righteousnes it selfe Faith iustifieth in as much as it vnlooseth sinnes The law would iustifie men but it hath not the power faith therefore hath done it which iustifieth Idem ad Rom. c 9 Idem in c. 3. ad Gal. Haimo in c. 1. 3. 4. ad Rom. and not workes yea saith he Faith iustifieth onely and not workes The law curseth vs but faith blesseth vs c. But to be iustified is it not to be made righteous And then with what manner of righteousnes Verily saith Haimo with the righteousnes of Christ by the which he maketh the faithfull righteous in bestowing the same vpon them and therefore it is called the righteousnes of God And the same is applied vnto vs by the gift of God that is to say by the redemption which is in Christ and not by the workes of the Law c. Whereby it commeth to passe Idem in Psal 83. Gisibert in alterc c. 8. saith he that to shew mercy is not onely to pardon and forgiue the sinnes but also to gine righteousnes Gisilbertus saith This righteousnes of God is not the same with that by which he is righteous but that wherewith he clotheth the righteous when hee freely iustifieth the wicked And it is to this righteousnesse that the Law and the Prophets beare witnesse The Lawe for in that it commaundeth and threateneth but iustifieth not anye man it sheweth sufficientlye that man is not iustified but by the gifte of GOD by the quickeninge Spirite The Prophetes in asmuch as the comminge of Christ hath fullfilled that which they haue foretolde Anselm in 1. Cor. 11. And Anselme The righteousnesse of God is by fayth by the which wee beleeue in Christ And it is called the faith of Christ after the same manner that righteousnesse is called the
is the fountaine and welspring of iustification And in an other place Magniloqui dicuntur c. Such saith he are rightly called the greatest brauers who put their trust in themselues as being righteous and thereupon presume of the workes of the Law As on the contrarie those are called and are truely poore which know themselues sinners and perceiue that they can no way be iustified but by the faith of Christ. And therefore saith he it is requisite that this conceitednesse of thinking to be saued by workes should be laid downe Idem in Soph. l. 2. c. 3. Idem l. 2. in Genes c. 3. Idem in Esa c. 8. Without faith it is impossible to please God it is in like manner impossible but by faith Abraham Isaac and Iacob c. were not saued any otherwise For righteousnesse is Ex fide in fidem of faith and vnto faith Of faith that is of him who hath promised who hath sworne Vnto faith that is of him who hath belieued in him that promised and giuen credite to him that swore c. But as for such as are not true Israelites they haue no such faith for in seeking and searching after their owne righteousnesse they could not stoope vnto or vndergoe this of faith but haue toyled themselues by seeking the same from workes to workes as if Abraham had beene iustified by workes when as the Scripture testifieth of him Idem de Victor verb. Dei l. 4. c. 21. that he belieued and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse c. Verie excellently therefore is it said From faith to faith for in that the Sonne of God is come c. this proceedeth of the faith fulnesse of God of whome it is written God is faithfull c. Namely herein that Dauid and others moe haue not pearced him through with their sinnes and that he accomplisheth by his exceeding great faithfulnesse what hee had promised of his exceeding great grace And this righteousnesse tendeth in fidem vnto an other faith because it is not possible that any man should be iustified before him by his workes but by faith Idem in reg l. 2. c. 39. According to that which is said If thou obserue and marke mine iniquities O Lord c. And to be briefe he oftentimes vttereth these words The onely faith of Iesus Christ is able to iustifie c. Lombard likewise Loâ—bard l. 3 d. 19. 25. We are iustified by the death of Christ that is to say cleansed from our sinnes by faith in his death Beholding him by faith after the manner of the brazen Serpent we are deliuered from the bands of sinne and the Diuell in so much as that he is not to demaunde or looke for any thing at our hands Without faith in this Mediatour no man hath beene saued either before or since no man was euer deliuered from that condemnation that came by Adam otherwise then by faith Idem l. 3. d. 26. Rupert in Ioh. c. 1. Impraegnatam mentem Lombard l. 3. d. 23 Honor. in Specul Eccles Richard in Apocal. l. 1. c. And this faith saith he is of God according to that which Saint Augustine saith The mercie of God shall preuent me the mercie of God shall follow me c. That is saith Rupertus Because that to belieue is to haue conceiued the seed of the word of God with loue in his heart as also to haue his mind and spirit conceiued and laden with the same And Lombard To loue God is by belieuing in him to cleaue vnto him and to be incorporated into him by such faith the wicked is iustified inso much as that from thence forward faith worketh in him by loue for there are no good workes but those which are done by the loue of God and this loue is the worke of faith Honorius He is most happie in deede that belieueth rightly and that together with this beliefe liueth well but faith is the foundation and the loue of God and our neighbours is grounded vpon the same And Richard Of faith proceedeth charitie and of charitie doe good workes spring and growe And what is all this but the same which we affirme daily that faith cannot stand without charitie any more then fire can without heate That the life of faith euen as that of trees is knowne because it bringeth forth fruit In a word that wee are iustified by faith onely And yet such a faith as is neuer alone but which containeth in it a certaine heate which is naturall vnto it alwayes acting somewhat neuer idle continually bringing foorth as a fountaine of water the effects of loue which it beareth towards God and the good works it performeth vnto neighbours But Saint Bernard whome we haue so oft heretofore cited goeth further then all the rest For there was in his time a certaine man named Petrus Abailardus a verie Pelagian who durst say That whereas Christ had abased and humbled himselfe euen vnto the death c. that it had not beene but to haue left vs a patterne of liuing well and that our saluation consisteth not in his death and passion but in the growth and proceeding of our good conuersation Whereupon he is not content to giue him to vnderstand that this his assertion is the same which the Apostle calleth the making of the Crosse of Christ of none effect but taketh his occasion and proceedeth further and hauing taken the beasome once into his hand he sweepeth not onely this filth out of the Church that caused him to take it into his hand but withall he applieth himselfe all vnder one to sweepe away whatsoeuer the Iew Gentile Philosopher or superstitious Monke had brought and shuffled thereinto with their vncleane feete or else was negligently looked vnto or tolerated by the sorenamed it hauing fallen out then as it doth oftentimes vnto vs now who are not moued or stirred vp to remoue put away the thing that is euill be it neuer so great And therefore reprouing the waies that S. Augustine did walke in hee dealeth vpon the true iustification in the bloud of Christ by faith more exactly then all the rest Our master saith he knew well that the Law did require more then was in our power Bernard in Serm. 50. super Cant. Idem Serm de verb orig Idem Serm 38 super Cantic Idem Serm. 11 in Annunciat Mariae Idem de milit templ c. 11. Idem Ep. 99. Idem Serm 22 super Can. fusissime but notwithstanding he would giue it vnto vs that we might be admonished of our insufficiencie and that such and so great saith he as that we are neuer able to render vnto God that which we owe him in such sort as that if we should teare and pull our skinnes from off our backes yet are we neuer able to satisfie for our sinnes But wee haue recourse vnto the voice of the bloud of Christ which hath cried farre lowder then the bloud of Abell which proclaimeth in