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A02630 An ansvvere to Maister Iuelles chalenge, by Doctor Harding Harding, Thomas, 1516-1572. 1564 (1564) STC 12758; ESTC S103740 230,710 411

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them safest of all And in an other place Ad Enodiū epist 102. Si propter eos solos Christus mortuus est qui certa intelligentia possunt ista discernere penè frustrà in Ecclesia laboramus If Christ sayeth he dyed onely for them which can with certaine or suer vnderstanding discerne these thinges concerning God then is the labour we take in the churche in maner in vayne God requyreth not so much of vs how much we vnderstād as how much we beleue and through belefe how much we loue And when we shall all appeare before Christ in that dredfull daye of iudgement whe shall not be requyred to geue an accompte of our vnderstanding but faith presupposed of our charitie Now though the people knowe not the Latine tonge and albeit it were better The benefite of prayer vttered in a tonge not vnderstāded they had the Seruice in their owne vulgare tonge for the better vnderstanding of it yet as it is for as muche as it cōsisteth in maner all together of the scriptures that great profite cometh bothe to the reader and to the hearer of it Origen sheweth at large in the twētith homilie vpon Iosue Because it were ouer long to bring all that he sayeth there to this purpose the summe of the whole may thus be abbridged First that the heauenly powers and angelles of God which be with vs haue great lyking in our vtterāce of the wordes of the scripture Though we vnderstād not the wordes we vtter with our mowth yet those powers sayeth he vnderstand them and thereby be inuited and that with delite to helpe vs. And speaking of the powers that be within vs to whom charge of our soules and bodies is committed he sayeth that if the scriptures be read of vs they haue pleasure therein and be made the stronger toward taking heede to vs yea and that if we speake with tonges and our spirite praye and our sense be with out fruite And there he alleageth to that purpose the cōmon place of S. Paul to the Corinthiās calling it merueilouse and in maner a mysterie shewing how the spirite prayeth the sense being with out fruite After this he declareth the euill powers and our ghostly ennemies the deuill by our reading and hearing of the scriptures to be dryuen from vs. As by enchauntements sayeth he snakes be stayed from doing hurte with their venyme so if there be in vs any serpent of contrary power or if any snake waite priuely to mischiefe vs by vertue of the holy scripture rehearsed so that for wearynesse thou tourne not awaye thy hearing he is put awaye S. Augustine confirmeth the same doctrine where he sayeth In prologo Psalmorum psalmus daemones fugat angelos in adiutorium inuitat The psalme read deuoutly or heard putteth deuilles to flight and prouoketh angels to helpe At lenght Origen shewing how by meate or drynke we fynde remedie for sore eyes though we feele no benefite forthwith in eating or drynking he concludeth his speciall parte of the comparison with these wordes In this wise we must beleue also of the holy scripture that it is profitable and doth good to the soule etiamsi sensus noster ad praesens intelligentiam non capit although presently our sense doo not atteine the meaning or vnderstanding because our good powers by these wordes be refreshed and fedde and the cōtrary that is our aduersarie powers are weakned and put to flight At lenght making obiection to him selfe on the behalfe of his hearers as though they shuld laye this doctrine to his charge for excuse of taking further paynes in preaching and expounding the scriptures to them therto he answereth and sayeth No no we haue not sayd these to you for that cause neither haue we vttered these thinges to you for excuse but to shewe you in Scripturis sanctis esse vim quandam quae legenti etiam sine explanatione sufficiat that in the holy scriptures there is a certaine power or strength which is sufficient for one that readeth it yea without any expounding of it This sufficiencie he referreth I thinke to the procuring of the good powers to helpe vs and to the dryuing awaye the malice of the euill powers our ghostly enemies that they hurte vs not I trust wise godly and stedfast men who be not caryed about with euery wynde of doctrine will be moued more with the auctoritie of Origen a man allwayes in the iudgemēt of all the christē worlde accōpted most excellētly learned thē with the scorning of Caluine who speaking of the auncient latine Seruice vsed in England and Fraunce sayeth In Institutionib ad Ecclesiā ex sono non intellecto nullus penitus fructus redit that of the sownde not vnderstanded no fruite at all retourneth to the churche vsing that word of dispite that might better be spoken by a mynstrell of his pype and taburrette then by a preacher of the diuine Seruice Neither hereof with any milder spirite speaketh his disciple and subminister Theodore Beza the hote minister of the deformed churches of Fraunce Confessionis ca. 4. Sectiōe 16 Quaecunque preces ab aliquo concipiuntur eo idiomate quod ipse non intelligat pro Dei ludibrio sunt habendae What prayers so euer be made sayeth he of any man in a tonge that he vnderstādeth not they be to be taken for a mockery of God Who so euer here alloweth Caluine and Beza condemned of the churche must condemne Origen for this point neuer reproued nor touched of any that haue not spared him where so euer they could charge him with any errour If all prayers made in an vnknowen tonge be a mocking of God as Beza sayeth then were the prayers vttered by miracle in the primitiue churche with tonges which the vtterers them selues vnderstoode not after the mynde of Chrysostome a mocking of god for I see nothing whereby they are excluded from his generall saying and vniuersall propositiō Verely this teaching of Beza is not sownde I wene if he were out of the protection of his deformed churches and cōuented before a catholike bishop to geue an accompte of this doctrine he would steppe backe and reuoke that rashe saying agayne For els he shuld seme to graunt that God gaue at the begynning of the church the gifte of tonges to be mokte withall which were very absurde and blasphemouse S. Paul wisheth that all the Corinthians spake with tonges but rather that they prophecied If our newe maisters condemne the Latine Seruice in the Latine churche for that the people vnderstand it not thereof must it folowe that the English seruice so much of it as consisteth of Dauides psalmes which is the most parte be also cōdemned The like may besayde of other nations For how many shall we fynde not of the people onely but also of the best learned mē that vnderstand the meaning of them in what tōge so euer they be set forth S. Hilarie cōpareth the booke of psalmes to a
Iuell requireth or no it shall not greatly force The credite of the catholike faith dependeth not of olde proufes of a fewe newe cōtrouersed pointes that ben of lesse importaunce As for the people they were taught the truth plainely when no heretike had assaulted their faith craftely The doctrine of the churche The doctrine of the churche is this The body of Christ after due consecration remayneth so long in the Sacrament as the Sacrament endureth The Sacrament endureth so long as the formes of breade and wine continewe Those formes continewe in their integritie vntill the other accidentes be corrupted ad perishe As if the colour weight sauour taste smell and other qualities of bread and wine be corrupted and quite altered then is the forme also of the same annichilated and vndone And to speake of this more particularly sith that the substance of bread and wine is tourned into the substance of the body and bloud of Christ as the scriptures auncient doctours the necessary consequent of truth and determination of holy churche leadeth vs to beleue if such chaunge of the accidentes be made which shuld not haue suffised to the corruption of bread and wine in case of their remaindre for such a chaunge the body and bloud of Christ ceaseth not to be in this Sacrament whether the chaunge be in qualitie as if the colour sauour and smell of bread and wine be a litle altered or in quantitie as if thereof diuision be made into such portions in which the nature of bread and wine might be reserued But if there be made so great a chaunge as the nature of bread and wine shuld be corrupted if they were present then the body and bloud of Christ doo not remaine in this Sacrament as when the colour and sauour and other qualities of bread and wine are so farre chaunged as the nature of bread and wine might not bear it or on the quātities syde as if the bread be so small crōmed into dust and the wine dispersed into so small portiōs as their formes remaine no lenger thē remaineth no more the body and bloud in this Sacramēt Thus the body and bloud of Christ remayneth in this sacrament so long as the formes of bread and wine remaine And when they faile and cease to be any more then also ceaseth the body and bloud of Christ to be in the Sacrament For there must be a conuenience and resemblaunce betwen the Sacraments and the thinges whereof they be sacraments which done awaie and loste at the corruption of the formes and accidents the sacraments also be vndone and perishe and consequently the inward thing and the heauenly thing in them conteined leaueth to be in them Here because many of them which haue cutte them selues from the churche condemne the reseruation of the Sacrament Of reseruation of the Sacrament and affirme that the body of Christ remayneth not in the same no longer then during the tyme whiles it is receiued alleaging against reseruation the example of the Paschall lambe in the olde lawe Exod. 12. wherein nothing ought to haue remained vntill the morning and likewise of manna I will rehearse that notable and knowen place of Cyrillus Alexandrinus Ad Colosyriū Arsenoiten Episcopū citat Thomas parte 3. q. 76. his wordes be these Audio quòd dicant mysticam benedictionem si ex ea remonserint in sequentem diem reliquiae ad sanctificationem inutilem esse Sed insaniunt haec dicentes Non enim alius fit Christus neque sanctum eius corpus immutabitur Sed virtus benedictionis viuifica gratia manet in illo It is tolde me they saye that the mysticall blessing so he calleth the blessed Sacrament in case portions of it be kepte vntill the nexte daie is of no vertue to sanctification But they be madde that thus saye For Christ becōmeth not an other neither his holy body is chaunged but the vertue of the consecration and the quickening or lyfe geuing grace abydeth still in it By this saying of Cyrillus we see that he accompteth the errour of our aduersaries in this Article no other then a mere madnes The body of Christ sayeth he which he termeth the mysticall blessing because it is a most holy mysterie done by consecration once consecrated is not chaunged but the vertue of the consecration and the grace that geueth lyfe whereby he meaneth that fleshe assumpted of the word remayneth in this sacrament also when it is kepte verely euen so long as the outward formes continewe not corrupte Or that a Mouse or any other worme or beaste maye eate the body of Christ Iuell for so some of our aduersaries haue sayd and taught What is that the Mouse or vvorme eateth ARTICLE XXIII VVhereas M. Iuell imputeth this vile asseueratiō but to some of the aduersaries of his syde he semeth to acknowledge Iuell cōtrarieth him selfe that it is not a doctrine vniuersally taught and receiued The like may be sayde for his nexte Article And if it hath ben sayd of some onely and not taught vniuersally of all as a true doctrine for Christen people to beleue how agreeth he with him selfe saying after the rehearsall of his number of Articles the same none excepted to be the highest mysteries and greatest keyes of our religion For if that were true as it is not true for the greatest parte then shuld this Article haue ben affirmed and taught of all For the highest and greatest pointes of the catholike Religion be not of particular but of vniuersall teaching Concerning the matter of this Article what so euer a mouse worme or beaste eateth the body of Christ now being impassible and immortall susteineth no violence iniurie no villanie As for that which is gnawen bytten or eaten of worme or beaste whether it be the substaunce of bread as appeareth to sense which is denyed because it ceaseth through vertue of consecration or the outward forme onely of the Sacrament as many holde opinion which also onely is broken and chawed of the receiuer the accidentes by miracle remayning without substance In such cases happening contrary to the intent and ende the sacrament is ordeined and kepte for it ought not to seme vnto vs incredible the power of God consydered that God taketh awaie his body from those outward formes and permitteth either the nature of breade to retourne as before consecration or the accidentes to supplye the effectes of the substance of breade As he commaunded the nature of the rodde which became a serpēt to retourne to that it was before when God would haue it serue no more to the vses it was by him appointed vnto The graue autoritie of S. Cyprian addeth great weight to the balance for this iudgemēt in weighing this matter who in his sermon de lapsis by the reporte of certaine miracles sheweth that our lordes body made it selfe awaye from some that being defyled with the sacrifices of idols presumed to come to the communion er they
To conclude the being of Christes body in the Sacrament is to vs certaine the maner of his being there to vs vncertaine and to God onely certaine Iuell Or that Ignoraunce is the mother and cause of true deuotion and obedience MAister Iuell had great nede of Articles for some shewe to be made against the catholike churche when he aduised him selfe to put this in for an Article Verely this is none of the highest mysteries nor none of the greatest keyes of our Religion as he sayeth it is but vntruly and knoweth that for an vntruth For him selfe imputeth it to D. Cole Fol. 77. in his replyes to him as a straunge saying by him vttered in the disputation at Westminster to the wondering of the most parte of the honorable and worshipfull of this realme If it were one of the highest mysteries and greatest keyes of the catholike religion I trust the most parte of the honorable and worshipfull of the realme would not wonder at it Concerning the matter it selfe I leaue it to D. Cole He is of age to answere for him selfe Whether he sayde it or no I knowe not As he is learned wise and godly so I doubte not but if he sayde it therein he had a good meaning and can shewe good reason for the same if he may be admitted to declare his saying as wise men would the lawes to be declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as the mynde be taken and the word spoken not alwayes rigorously exacted August de Trinit lib. 1. cap. 4. Haec mea fides est quoniam haec est catholica fides This is my faith for as much as this is the catholike faith THE CONCLVSION EXHORting M. Iuell to stande to his promise THus your Chalenge M. Iuell is answered Thus your negatiues be auouched Thus the pointes you went about to improue by good auctoritie be proued and many others by you ouer rashely affirmed clearly improued Thus the catholike Religion with all your forces layd at and impugned is sufficiently defended The places of prouses which we haue here vsed are such as your selfe allowe for good and lawfull The scriptures examples of the Primitiue church aunciēt Councelles and the fathers of syx hundred yeres after Christ You might and ought likewise to haue allowed Reason Traditiō Custome and auctoritie of the Church without limitation of tyme. The maner of this dealing with you is gentle sober and charitable Put awaye all mystes of blynde selfe loue you shall perceiue the same to be so The purpose and intent towardes you right good and louing in regard of the truth no lesse then due for behoofe of Christen people no lesse then necessary That you hereby might be enduced to bethinke your selfe of that wherein you haue done vnaduisedly and stayde from hasty running forth prickte with vaine fauour and praise of the world to euerlasting damnation appointed to be the reward at the ende of your game that truth might thus be tryed set forth and defended and that our brethren be leadde as it were by the hāde from perilous erroures and dāger of their soules to a right sense and to suertie Now it remaineth that you performe your promise Which is that if any one cleare sentēce or clause be brought for proufe of any one of all your negatiue Articles you would yelde and subscribe What hath ben brought euery one that wilfully will not blindefold him selfe may plainely see If some happely who will seme to haue both eyes and eares and to be right learned will saye hereof they seene heare nothing no marueill The fauour of the parte whereto they cleaue hauing cutte of them selues from the body the dispite of the catholike religion and hatred of the church hath so blinded their hartes as places alleaged to the disproufe of their false doctrine being neuer so euident they see not ne heare not or rather they seing see not Matt. 13. ne hearing heare not Verely you must either refuse the balance which your selfe haue offred and required for triall of these Articles which be the scriptures examples councelles and doctours of antiquitie or the better weight of auctoritie sweaing to our syde that is the truth founde in the auncient doctrine of the catholike church and not in the mangled dissensions of the Gospellers aduisedly retourne frō whence vnaduisedly you haue departed humbly yelde to that you haue stubbernly kickte against and imbrace holesomly that which you haue hated damnably Touching the daily Sacrifice of the Church commaunded by Christ to be done in remembrance of his death that it hath ben and may be well and godly celebrated without a number of communicantes with the priest together in one place which you call priuate Masse within the compasse of your syx hundred yeres after Christ That the communion was then sometymes as now also it is and may be ministred vnder one kynde Of the publike Seruice of the church or commō prayers in a tonge not knowen to all the people That the Bishop of Rome was sometyme called vniuersall bishop and both called and holden for head of the vniuersall church That by auncient doctoures it hath ben taught Christes body to be really substantially corporally carnally or naturally in the blessed Sacramēt of the aulter Of the wonderous but true being of Christes body in mo places at one tyme and of the Adoration of the Sacrament or rather of the body of Christ in the Sacrament we haue brought good and sufficient proufes alleaging for the more parte of these Articles the scriptures and for all right good euidence out of auncient examples councelles or fathers Concerning Eleuation Reseruatiō Remayning of the Accidentes without substance Diuiding the hoste in three partes the termes of figure signe token etc. applyed to the Sacrament many Masses in one church in one daye the reuerent vse of Images the scriptures to be had in vulgar tonges for the common people to reade which are matters not specially treated of in the scriptures by expresse termes all these haue ben sufficiently auouched and proued either by proufes by your selfe allowed or by the doctrine and common sense of the churche As for your twelue last Articles which you put in by addition to the former for shewe of your courage and confidence of the cause and to seme to the ignorāt to haue much matter to charge vs withall as it appeareth they reporte matter certaine excepted of lesse importance Some of them conteine doctrine true I graunt but ouer curiouse and not most necessary for the simple people Some others be through the maner of your vtterance peruerted and in termes drawen from the sense they haue ben vttered in by the church Which by you being denyed might of vs also be denyed in regard of the termes they be expressed in were not a sleight of falsehed which might redounde to the preiudice of the truth therein worthely suspected Verely to them all we haue sayde so much as to sober quiet and godly
only but as one suer of the victory before proufe of fight cast your gloue as it were and with straunge defyaunce prouoke all learned mē that be a lyue to campe with you Now if this matter shall so fall out as thouerthrowe appeare euidently on our syde and the victory on youres that is to witte if we can not bring one sentence for proufe of any one of all these articles out of the scriptures aunciēt councelles doctours or example of the primitiue churche yet wise and graue men I suppose would haue lyked you better if you had meekely and soberly reported the truth For truth as it is playne and simple so it needeth not to be set forth with bragge of high wordes You remember that old saying of the wise Simplex veritatis oratio the vtteraunce of truth ought to be simple But if the victory loth I am to vse this insolēt word were it not to folow the metaphore which your chalenge hath dryuen me vnto fall to our syde that is to saye if we shalle be hable to alleage some one sufficient sentēce for proufe of some one of all these articles yea if we shall be hable to alleage diuerse and sundry sentences places and authorities for confirmation of sundry these articles In this case I wene you shall hardly escape amōg sober mē the reproche of rashnes among humble men of presumptiō among godly men of wickednes Of rashnes for what can be more rashe then in so weighty matters as some of these articles import so boldly to affirme that the contrary where of may sufficiētly be proued of presumption for what can be more presumptuouse then in matters by you not thoroughly sene and weighed to impute ignoraunce and vnablenes to auouche thinges approued and receiued by the churche to all learned men a lyue Of wickednes for what is more wicked then the former case standing so to remoue the hartes of the people from deuotion so to bring the churche in to contempte so to set at nought the ordinances of the holy ghost As you folow the new and straunge doctrine of Theodorus Beza and Peter Martyr the prolocutours of the Caluinian churches in Fraunce whose scolar a long tyme you haue ben so you diuerte farre from that prudencie sobrietie and modestie which in their owtward demeanour they shewed in that solemne and honorable assemble at Poyssi in September 1561. as it appareth by the oration which Beza pronunced there in the name of all the Caluinistes In which oration with humble and often protestation they submitte them selues if cause shall so appeare to better aduise and iudgement as thoug they might be deceiued vttering these and the like wordes in sundry places If we be deceiued we would be gladde to know it Item For the small measure of knowledge that it hath pleased God to impart vnto vs it semeth that this transubstantiation etc. Item if we be not deceiued Item In case we be deciued we would be gladde to vnderstād it etc. But you Maister Iuell as though you had readde all that euer hath ben writtē in these pointes and had borne a waye all that euer-hath ben taught and were ignorant of nothing touching the same and none other besyde you had sene ought and were hable to saye ought saye meruelouse confidently and that in the most honorable and frequent audience of this Realme that you are well assured that none of your learned aduersaries no nore all the learned men a lyue shall euer be hable to alleage one sentence for any one of these Articles In the sermō fol. 49 and that because you know it therefor you speake it least happely your hearers shuld be deceiued Likewise in your answere to Doctour Coles first letter you saye speaking of these Articles you thought it best to make your entre in your preaching with such thinges Fol 6. as where in you were well assured we shuld be hable to fynde not so much as any colour or shadow of Doctours at all Where in you withdraw your self from plainenesse so much as you doo in your presumptuouse chalenge from modestie For being demaunded of D. Cole why you treate not rather of matters of more importāce then these Articles be of which yet lye in question betwixt the churche of Rome and the protestantes as of the presence of Christes body and bloud in the Sacrament of Iustification of the valew of good workes of the sacrifice of the Masse and of such other not vnwitting how much and how sufficient authoritie maye be brought against your syde for proufe of the catholike doctrine there in least all the world shuld espye your weakenes in these pointes you answer that you thought it better to begynne with smaller matters as these Articles be because you assure your self we haue nothing for cōfirmation of them Thus craftely you shifte your handes of those greater pointes wherin you know scriptures councelles doctours and examples of the primitiue churche to be of our syde and cast vnto vs as a bone to gnaw vpō this number of Articles of lesse weight a fewe excepted to occupie vs withall Which be partly concerning order rather then doctrine and partly sequeles of former and cōfessed truthes rather thē principall pointes of faith in th'exact treatie of which the aunciēt doctours of the churche haue not imployed their studie and trauaile of writing For many of thē being sequeles depending of a confessed truth they thought it needelesse to treate of them For as much as a principall point of truth graunted the graunting of all the necessarie sequeles is implyed As in a chayne Epist ad Gregoriū fratrem which comparison S. Basile maketh in the like case he that draweth the first lynk after him draweth also the last lynke And for this cause in dede the lesse number and weight of such auncient auctorities may be brought for th'auouching of thē And yet the thinges in them expressed be not iustly improued by any clause or sentence you haue sayde or vttered hytherto Verely M. Iuell if you had not bē more desyrouse to deface the catholike churche then to set forth the truth you would neuer haue rehearced such a long rolle of articles which for the more part be of lesse importance whereby you go about to discredite vs and to make the world beleue we haue nothing to shew for vs in a great part of our Religion and that you be to be taken for zelouse men right reformers of the churche and vndoubted restorers of the gospell As touching the other weighty pointes whereupon almost only your scoolemaisters of Germanie Suityerland and Geneua bothe in their preachinges and also in their writinges treate you will not yet aduenture the triall of them with making your matche with learned men and in the meane tyme set them forth by sermōs busyly among the vnlearned and simple people vntill such tyme as you haue wonne your purpose in these smaller matters Thus you seme to folow a sleight
which king Alexander the great vsed to further the course of his conquestes In vita Alexādri Magni Who as Plutarche writeth where as he thought verely that he was begoten of a God shewed him self toward the Barbarians very haute and proude Yet among the Grekes he vsed a more modestie and spake litle of his godhead For they being rude and of small vnderstanding he doubted not but by wayes and meanes to bring them to such beleue But the Grekes whom he knew to be men of excellent knowledge and learning of them he iudged as it proued in dede the matter shuld be more subtyly skanned then symply beleued Right so you M. Iuell persuading your self to haue singular skille in diuinitie among the simple people you vtter the weighty and high pointes of Christen Religion that be now in question in such wise as the protestantes haue written of them and with vehement affirmations with misconstrewed and falsefied allegations and with pitifull exclamations you leade the seely soules in to dangerouse errours But in your writinges which you knew shuld passe the iudgement of learned men the pointes of greater importaunce you coouer with silence and vtter a number of Articles of lesse weight for the more part in respect of the chiefe though for good cause receiued and vsed in the churche I speake of them as they be rightly taken denying them all and requyring the catholikes your aduersaries to prooue them Where in you shew your self not to feare controlment of the ignorant but to mistrust the triall of the learned Likewise in the holy Canon of the Masse you fynde faultes where none are as it may easely be proued thinking for defence thereof we had litle to saye But of the prayer there made to the virgine Mary the Apostles and martyrs of the suffrages for the departed in the faith of Christ in your whole booke you vtter neuer a worde though you mislike it and otherwheres speake against it as all your secte doth And why Forsooth because you know right well we haue store of good authorities for proufe thereof And by your will you will not yet stryue with vs in matters wherein by the iudgement of the people to whom you lene much you shuld seme ouermatched And therefore you serch out small matters in comparison of the greatest such as the old doctours haue passed ouer with silence and for that can not of our part by aunciet authorities be so amply affirmed at least waye as you thinke your self assured And in this respecte you laye on lode of blame contumelies and sclaunders vpon the churche for mainteining of them Where in the marke you shoote at euery man perceiueth what it is euen that when you haue brought the catholike churche in to contempte and borne the people in hand we are not hable to proue a number of thinges by you denyed for lacke of such proufes as your self shall allow in certaine particular pointes of small force which falsely you report to be the greatest keys and highest mysteries of our Religion then triumphing against vs and despysing the auncient and catholike Religiō in general you may set vp a new Religion of your own forging a new church of your own framing a new gospell of your own deuise Well may I further saye cathedram contra cathedram but not I trowe as S. Augustine termeth such state of Religion altare contrâ alture For what so euer ye set vp if ye set vp any thing at all and pull not downe onlye all maner of aulters must nedes be throwen downe Now being sorye to see the catholike churche by your stoute and bolde bragges thus attempted to be defaced the truth in maner outfaced and the seely people so dangerously seduced Imbarred of libertie to preache by Recognisance and yet not so discharged in conscience of dutie apperteyning to my calling I haue now thought good to set forth this treatise in writing whereby to my power to saue the honour of the churche which is our common mother to defend the truth in whose quarell none aduenture is to be refused and to reduce the people from deceite and errour which by order of charitie we are bownde vnto For the doing here of if you be offended the cōscience of good and right meaning shal sone ease me of that griefe Verely myne intent was not to hurt you but to profite you by declaring vnto you that truth which you seme hytherto not to haue knowen For if you had I wene you would not haue preached and written as you haue Your yeres your maner of studie and the partie you haue ioyned your self vnto consydered it may well be thought you haue not thoroughly sene how much may be sayde in defence of the catholike doctrine touching these Articles which you haue denyed For the maner of doing I am verely persuaded that neither you nor any of your felowes which of all these new sectes by your syde professed so euer he lyketh best shall haue iust cause to complaine The whole treatise is written with out choler with out gaull with out spite What I mislike in you and in them of your syde I could not allow in my self Where truthes cause is treated humaine affections where by the cleare light is dymmed ought to be layd a parte Glykes nyppes and scoffes bittes cuttes and gyrdes become not that stage Yet if I shall perhappes sometymes seme to scarre or lawnce a festered bunche that deserueth to be cut of you will remember I doubte not how the meekest and the holyest of the auncient fathers in reprouing heretikes oftery m●● haue shewed them selues zelouse earnest eager seue●● sharpe and bitter Whose taste so euer lōgeth most after such sawce in this treatise he shall fynde small lyking For it is occupyed more about the fortifying of the Articles denyed then about disprouing of the person who hath denyed them Wherein I haue some deale folowed the latter parte of Chilo the wise man his counsaile which I allow better then the first Ama tanquam osurus oderis tanquam amaturus loue as to hate hate as to loue If any man that shall reade this be of that humour as shall mislike it as being colde lowe flatte and dull and requyre rather such verder of writing as is hote lofty sharp and quycke which pleaseth best the tast of our tyme vnderstand he that before I intended to put this forth in printe I thus tempered my stile for these consyderations First where as a certaine exercise of a learned man of fiue or six sheetes of paper spredde abroade in the Realme in defence of some of these Articles by M. Iuell denyed was fathered vpon me which in dede I neuer made sentence of and therefore a storme imminent was mystrusted that by chaunging the hew which many know me by that know me familiarly in case it shuld come to the handes of many as it was likely I myght escape the danger of being charged with it and neuer the lesse satisfye
suddeine pange cōming vpon him or with some cogitation and conscience of his owne vnworthines suddeinly comming to his mynde If either this or any other let had chaunced in what case had the patriarke ben then He had ben like by M. Iuelles doctrine to haue broken Christes Institution and so Gods cōmaundement through an others defecte which were straunge But I iudge that M. Iuell who harpeth so many iarring argumētes against priuate Masse vpon the very word Communion will not allowe that for a good and lawfull communion where there is but one onely to receiue with the priest Verely it appeareth by his sermon that all the people ought to receiue or to be dryuen out of the churche Now therefore to an other example of the priuate Masse Amphilochius byshop of Iconium the head citie of Lycaonia to whom S. Basile dedicated his booke De Spiritu sancto and an other booke intituled Ascetica writing the lyfe of saint Basile or rather the miracles through Gods power by him wrought which he calleth Memorabilia vera ac magna miracula in praefatione worthy of record true and great miracles specially such as were not by the three most worthy men Gregorie Nazianzene Gregorie Nyssene and holy Ephrem in their Epitaphicall or funerall treatises before mentioned among other thinges reporteth a notable story wherein we haue a cleare testimonie of a priuate Masse And for the thing that the storie sheweth as much as for any other of the same Amphilochius he is called Coelestium virtutum collocutor angelicorum ordinum comminister a talker together with the heauenly powers and a felowe seruant with orders of Angelles The story is this This holy bishop Basile besoughte God in his prayers he would geue him grace wisedom and vnderstanding so as he might offer the sacrifice of Christes bloude sheding proprijs sermonibus with prayers and seruice of his owne making and that the better to atcheue that purpose the holy ghost might come vpon him After syx dayes he was in a traunce for cause of the holy ghostes comming When the seuenth daye was come he beganne to minister vnto God that is to witte he sayde Masse euery daye After a certaine tyme thus spent through faith and prayer he begāne to write with his owne hande mysteria ministrationis the Masse or the seruice of the Masse On a night our lord came vnto him in a vision with the Apostles and layde breade to be consecrated on the holy aulter and stirring vp Basile sayd vnto him Secundum postulationem tuam repleatur os tuum laude etc. According to thy request let thy mowth be fylled with praise that with thyne owne wordes thou mayst offer vp to me sacrifice He not able to abide the vision with his eyes rose vp with trembling and goyng to the holy aulter beganne to saye that he had written in paper thus Repleatur os meum laude hymnum dicat gloriae tuae domine Deus qui creasti nos adduxisti in vitam hanc caeteras orationes sancti ministerij Let my mowth be fylled with prayse to vtter an hymne to thy glory Lord God which hast created vs and brought vs in to this lyfe and so foorth the other prayers of the Masse It foloweth in the story Et post finem orationum exaltauit panem sine intermissione orans dicens Respice domine Iesu Christe etc. After that he had done the prayers of Consecration he lyfted vp the bread praying continually and saying Looke vpon vs lord Iesus Christ out of thy holy tabernacle and come to sanctifie vs that sittest aboue with thy father and arte here present inuisibly with vs vouchesafe with thy mighty hand to delyuer to vs and by vs to all thy people Sancta Sanctis thy holy thinges to the holy The people answered one holy one our lord Iesus Christ with the holy ghost in glorie of God the father Amen Now let vs consyder what foloweth perteining most to our purpose Et diuidens panem in tres partes vnam quidem communicauit timore multo alteram autem reseruauit consepelire secum tertiam verò imposuit columbae aureae quae pependit super altare He diuided the bread in to three partes of which be receiued one at his communion with greate feare and reuerence the other he reserued that it might be buried with him and the third parte he caused to be put in a golden pyxe that was hanged vp ouer the aulter made in forme and shape of a dooue After this a litle before the ende of this treatise it foloweth how that S. Basile at the houre that he departed out of this lyfe receiued that parte of the hoste him selfe which he had purposed to haue enterred with him in his graue and immediatly as he laye in his bedde gaue thankes to God and rendred vp the ghost That this was a priuate Masse no man can denye Basile receiued the sacrament alone for there was no earthly creature in that churche with him The people that answered him were such as Christ brought with him And that all this was no dreame but a thing by the will of god done in dede though in a vision as it pleased Christ to exhibite Amphilochius playnely witnesseth declaring how that one Eubulus and others the chiefe of that clergie standing before the gates of the churche whiles this was in dooing sawe lightes with in the churche and men clothed in white and heard a voice of people glorifying god and behelde Basile standing at the aulter and for this cause at his comming foorth fell downe prostrate at his feete Here M. Iuell and his consacramentaries doo staggar I doubte not for graunt to a priuate Masse they will not what so euer be brought for proufe of it and therefore some doubte to auoyd this autoritie must be deuysed But whereof they shuld doubte verely I see not If they doubte any thing of the brīging of the bread and other necessaries to serue for cōsecration of the hoste let thē also doubte of the bread and fleshe that Elias had in the ponde of Carith 3. Reg. 17. 3. Reg. 19. Let them doubte of the bread and potte of water he had vnder the Iuniper tree in Bersabée Let them doubte of the potte of potage brought to Daniel for his dyner Daniel 14 from Iewerie in to the caue of lyons at Babylon by Abacuk the prophete But perhappes they doubte of the auctoritie of Amphilochius that wrote this story It may well be that they would be gladde to discredite that worthy bishop For he was that vigilant pastour and good gouernour of the churche Theodorit in hist eccles lib. 4. cap. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precatores who first with Letoius bishop of Melite and with Flauianus bishop of Antioche ouerthrewe and vtterly vanquished the heretikes called Messaliani otherwise euchitae the first parentes of the Sacramentarie heresie Whose opinion was that the holy Eucharistie that is the blessed
had done their due penaunce One as he telleth there thinking to haue that blessed body which he had receiued with others in his hande when he opened the same to put it into his mowth fownde that he helde ashes And thereof S. Cyprian sayeth Documento vnius ostensum est dominum recedere cum negatur By the example of one man it was shewed that our lord departeth awaie when he is denyed It is neither wicked nor a thing vnworthy the maiestie of that holy mysterie to thinke our lordes body likewise done awaie in cases of negligence villanie and prophanation Or that when Christ sayde Hoc est corpus meum Iuell this word Hoc pointeth not the bread but Indiuiduum vagum as some of them saye What this pronoune Hoc pointeth in the vvordes of cōsecration ARTICLE XIIII VVhat so euer hoc pointeth in this saying of Christ after your iudgemēt M. Iuell right meaning and plaine christen people 2. Thes ● who through gods grace haue receiued the loue of truth and not the efficacie of illusion to beleue lying beleue verely that in this sacrament after consecration is the very body of Christ and that vpon credite of his owne wordes The benefite of the Geneuian Cōmuniō Hoc est corpus meum They that appoint them selues to folowe your Geneuian doctrine in this point deceiued by that ye teache them hoc to point the breade and by sundry other vntruthes in stede of the very body of Christ in the Sacrament rightly ministred verely present shall receiue nothing at your communion but a bare piece of bread not worth a point As for your some saye who will haue Hoc to point indiuiduum vagum first learne you well what they meane and if their meaning be naught who so euer they be handle them as you lyste therewith shall we be offended neuer a deale How this word Hoc in that saying of Christ is to be takē and what it pointeth we knowe who haue more learnedly more certainely and more truly treated thereof then Luther Zuinglius Caluin Cranmer Peter Martyr or any their ofspring Iuell Or that the accidentes or formes or shewes of bread and wyne be the Sacramentes of Christes body and bloud and not rather the breade and wyne it selfe Who are the Sacramen●tes of Christes bodye and bloud the accidentes or the bread and vvyne ARTICLE XXV FOr as much as by the almighty power of gods word pronounced by the priest in the consecration of this Sacrament the body and bloud of Christ are made really present the substance of breade tourned into the substance of the body and the substāce of wine into the substance of the bloud the breade which is consumed awaie by the fier of the diuine substance as Chrysostom sayeth In homil Paschali and now is becōme the breade which was formed by the hand of the holy ghost in the wombe of the virgine and decocted with the fyer of the passion in the aulter of the crosse as S. Ambrose sayeth De conse dist 2. ca. omnia can not be the sacrament of the body nor the wine of the bloud Neither can it be sayde that the breade and the wine which were before are the sacramentes for that the breade is becomme the body and the wyne the bloud and so now they are not and if they be not then neither be they sacramentes Therefore that the outward formes of breade and wyne which remaine be the sacramētes of Christes body and bloud and not the very bread and wine it selfe it foloweth by sequell of reason or consequent of vnderstanding deduced out of the first truth which of S. Basile in an epistle ad Sozopolitanos Epist 65. speaking against certaine that went about to raise vp againe the olde heresie of Valentinus is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which sequell of reason in the matter of the Sacrament many conclusions may be deduced in case of wante of expresse scriptures Which waye of reasoning Basile vsed against heretikes as also sundry other fathers where manifest scripture might not be alleaged And whereas there must be a lykenesse betwen the sacrament and the thing of the sacrament for if the sacramētes had not a likenesse of thinges whereof they are sacramentes Aug. epis 22. ad Bonifacium Episcopū properly and rightely they shuld not be called sacramentes as the sacrament of baptisme which is the outward washing of the fleshe hath a likenesse of the inward wasshing of the soule and no likenesse here appeareth to be betwen the formes that remaine and the thing of the Sacrament for they consist not the one of many cornes the other of grapes for thereof cometh not accident but substance hereto may be sayde it is ynough that these sacramētes beare the likenesse of the body and bloud of Christ for as much as the one representeth the likenesse of breade the other the likenesse of wyne De conse dist 2. ca. hoc est quod dicimus which S. Augustine calleth visibilem speciem elementorum the visible forme of the elementes Thus the formes of breade and wine are the sacramentes of the body and bloud of Christ not onely in respecte of the thing signified which is the vnitie of the churche but also of the thing cōteined which is the very fleshe and bloud of Christ whereof the truth it selfe sayde Ioan. 6. The breade that I shall geue is my fleshe for the lyfe of the worlde Iuell Or that the Sacrament is a signe or token of the bodye of Christ that lyeth hydden vnderneathe it Of the vnspeakeable maner of the being of Christes bodye and bloud vnder the formes of breade and vvine ARTICLE XXVI THat the outward forme of bread which is properly the sacrament is the signe of the body of Christ we confesse yea of that body which is couertly in or vnder the same In libro Sentent Prosperi which S. Augustine callet carnem domini forma panis opertam the fleshe of our lord couered with the forme of bread But what is meant by this terme Lyeth we knowe not As through faith grounded vpō gods worde we knowe that Christes body is in the Sacrament so that it lyeth there or vnderneathe it by which terme it may seme a scoffe to be vttered to bring the catholike teaching in contempte or that it sitteth or standeth we denye it For lying sitting and standing noteth situatiō of a body in a place according to distinction of membres and circunscriptiō of place so as it haue his partes in a certaine order correspondent to the partes of the place But after such maner the body of Christ is not in the Sacrament but without circumscription order and habitude of his partes to the partes of the body or place enuironning Which maner of being in is aboue all reache of humaine vnderstanding wonderouse straunge and singular not defined and limited by the lawes or bondes of nature but by the almighty power of God