point from the beginninge which are recorded by Catholike wiyters of our dayes from age to age and one only alleageth thirty and two that wrote heereof before the Councell of Lateran and are ouerlong to be recited in this place only they may be reduced for more perspicuitie to two heads the one of such as deny the substance of bread to remayne after the words of consecration the other of such as do expressely auouch a conuersion of bread into Christs body 27. Of the first sort that deny bread to remaine is S. Cyrill Bishop of Hierusalem whose words are hoc sciens ac pro certissimo habens panem hunc qui videtur à nobis non esse panem etiamsi gusts panem esse sentiat c. Thou knowing and being certayne of this that the bread which we see is not bread not withstanding it tast as bread and the wyne which we see not to be wyne but the bloud of Christ though to the taste still see me to be wyne And S. Gregory Nissen Panis iste panis est in initio communis c. This bread at the beginninge is comon bread but when yt is consecrated yt is called and is indeed the body of Christ. Againe Eusebius Antequant consecrentur c. Before consecration there is the substance of bread and wyne but after the words of Christ yt is his body and bloud All which do exclude as yow see bread after consecration And to the same effect S. Ambrose Panis hic panis est ante verba Sacramentorum sed vbi accesserit consecratio de pane sit â—aro Christi This bread before the words of the Sacraments is bread but after the consecration of bread is made the flesh of Christ. And S. Chrysostome treating of this mistery asketh this question and aunswereth the same Num â—ides panem num vinum absit ne sic cogites Dost thou see bread dost thou see wyne heere God forbidd thinke no such matter And to this same effect many others might be cyted but yt would grow to ouergreat prolixity 28. The second sort of testimonyes that do affirme conuersion and change of bread into the body of Christ are many more yf we would stand vpon their allegation and in place of all might stand S. Ambrose whose faith was the generall faith of Christendome in his â—ayes he doth not only oftentymes repeat that by the words of Christ vttered by the Priest vpon the bread the nature substance therof is changed into the body and bloud of Christ but proueth the same by examples of all the miraculous mutations conuersions recorded in the old and new Testament Prebemus saith he non hoc esse quod natura formanit sed quod benedictio consecrauit maiorémque vim esse benedictionis quam naturae quia benedictione etiam ipsa natura mutatur Lett vs proue then by all these other miracles that this which is in the Sacrament is not that which nature did frame vsed bread and wyne but that which the blessinge hath consecrated and that the force of blessinge is greater then the force of nature for that nature herselfe is changed by blessinge And againe Si tantum valuit sermo Eliae vt ignem de coelo depoueret non valebit sermo Christi â—t species mutet elementorum Yf the speach of Elyas was of such force as yt could bring downe fire from heauen shall not the words of Christ in the Sacrament be able to change the natures of the elemeÌ„ts videlicet as I said before of bread and wyne And yet further Yow haue read that in the creation of the world God said and thinges were made he commaunded and they were created that speach then of Christ vvhich of nothinge created that which was not before shall yt not be able to exchaunge those thinges that are into other thinges vvhich they vvere not before sor yt is no lesse to giue new natures to things then to chaunge natures but rather more c. 29. Thus reasoneth that graue and holy Doctor to whome we might adioyne many more both before and after him as namely S. Cyprian in his sermon of the supper of our Lord Panis iste quem c. This bread which Christ gaue vnto his disciples being change not in shape but in nature is by the omnipotency of the word made flesh S. Cyrill Bishop of Hierusalem proueth the same by example of the miraculous turning of water into wine at the marriage of Cane in Galeley aquam mutauit in vinum saith he c. Christ turned water into wyne by his only will and is he not worthy to be beleeued quod vinum in sanguinem transmutauit that he did chaunge wyne into his bloud For yf at bodily marriages he did worke so wonderfull a miracle why shall not we confesse that he gaue his body and bloud in the Sacrament to the children of the spouse wherfore with all certainty let vs receaue the body and bloud of Christ for vnder the forme of bread is giuen vnto vs his body and vnder the forme of wyne his bloud Thus hee of this miraculous chaunge wherof Saint Chrysostome treatinge also vpon S. Mathew wryteth thus Nos ministrorum locum tenemus qui verò sanctificat immutat ipse est We that are Priests should but the place of his ministers in this great chaunge for he who doth sanctifie all and maketh the chaunge is Christ himselfe To like effect wryteth Eusebius Emissenus quando benedicendae c. When the creatures of bread and wyne are layd vpon the Altar to be blessed before they are consecrated by the inuocation of the holy Ghost there is present the substance of bread and wyne but after the words of Christ there is Christs body and bloud And what maruayle yf he that could create all by his word posset creata conuertere could conuert and chaunge those thinges that he had created into other natures 30. I might alleage many other Fathers to this effect but my purpose in this place doth not permitt yt this shal be sufficient for a tast that the doctrine of conuersion or chaunge of bread and wyne into the body and bloud of Christ which is the doctrine of Transubstantiation was not new at the tyme of the Councell of Lateran but was vnderstood and held euer before by the cheefe Fathers of the Catholike Church yea and determined also by two Councells at Rome and the first therof generall wherin was present our Lansrancus vpon the yeare of Christ 1060. vnder Pope Nicolas the second and the other 19. yeares after vnder Pope Gregory the seauenth both of them aboue an hundred yeares before the Councell of Lateran wherin notwithstanding is declared expressely this doctrine of the chaunge of bread wyne into the body and bloud of our Sauiour albeit not vnder the name of Transubstantiation and yt is proued expressely out of the words of
Altar of the Crosse as more largely shal be shewed so S. Chrysostome hom 17. ad Haebr 2. â—â— 2. ad Tim. Greg. lib. 4. dial c. 58. Nissenus orat 1. â—â— pascha c. All these considerations I say and many others that may be taken out of the Fathers wrytinges I do for breuityes sake lett passe in this place though most euidently they do declare the said Fathers plaine meaninge and beleefe in this article and cannot any way be applyed to the new Communion of Protestants but by manifest impropriety and deâ—ortion 23. And therfore I will end only with one consideration more very ordinary with the said Fathers which is the diuine reuerence honour and adoration that in all ages the said Fathers haue giuen vnto the blessed SacrameÌ„t whose authorityes were ouerlong heere to recyte in particular The sayinge of S. Austen is knowne Nemo manducat nisi prius adorauerit no man eateth the Sacrament but first adoreth the same and S. Chrysostome Adora manduca adore yt and receaue yt And Theodoret to the same effect Et creduntur adorantur quòd easint quae creduntur They are beleeued and adored the flesh and bloud of Christ for that they are in deed the things they are beleeued to be And to speake nothinge of many other Fathers sayings to this effect S. Chrysostome his large discourses about this matter may serue for all who wryteth that at the tyme of consecration and sacrifice the very Angells come downe and vvith tremblinge do adore Christ their Lord therin present vvhich he vvould neuer haue vvrytten yâ— bread and wyne were only there present 24. By all these wayes meanes then may easily be seene what the auncient Fathers in their ages did thinke speake and beleeue of this high admirable mistery of Christs real presence in the Sacrament And albeit ther were no Councells about this matter for the space of a thousand yeares after Christ the cause therof was that in all that space no on man euer openly contradicted the same atleast after the tyme of S. Ignatius vntill Berengaâ—rius for yf any man had done yt we may seâ— by the foresaid Fathers speaches who must haue byn the chiefe in these Councells what their determination would haue byn against them and when the said Berengarius had once broached this Sacramentary heresy the whole Christian world rose vp presently against the same as against a blasphemous nouelty and ten seuerall Councells condemned the same as in the former Chapter hath byn declared 25. Wherfore the Catholikes hauinge with them all these warrants of truth by scriptures fathers councells tradition of antiquity vniforme consent of all Christian nations both Greeke Latyn Asian African other countreyes embracing the name faith of Christ and that no beginninge or entrance can be shewed of this doctrine in the said Church nor any contradiction against yt when yt first entred as on the coÌ„trary side the first of spring of the other togeather with the place author tyme manner occasion resistance condemnation and other like circumstances are and may be authentically shewed prooued and conuinced yea that the very face of Christendome from tyme out of mynd by their â—hurches altars offerings adoration and manner of diuine seruice admittted euery where without contradiction doubt or question do testifie the same the truth moreouer therof being confirmed by so infinite conâ—ourse of manifest miracles recorded by such authors as no man with piety can doubt of their creditt the Catholiks I say hauinge all his mayne cloud of wittnesses to vse the Apostles â—ords for the testimony of this truth and being practized and accustomed in the beleefe â—â—erof for so many ages togeather without â—â—terruption and seing moreouer that Luther â—â—mselfe and all the learned of his side that were open professed enemyes in other things to the Catholike beleefe yet in this protested the truth to be so euident as they durst not impugne it nay held the first impugners therof for damnable heretiks addinge also heerevnto that Zuinglius the first chiefe author confesseth himselfe to haue byn moued thervnto by a certayne extrauagant spiritt which he saith he knew not whether yt was blacke or white All these things I say laid togeather and the liues and manners considered of them that haue held the one the other faith that is to say the infinite Saints of the one side whome the Protestants themselues do not deny to haue byn Saints and the qualityes and conditions of the others that first began or since haue defended the new Sacramentary opinions lett the discreet reader iudge whether the Catholiks of England had reason to stand fast in their old beleefe against the innouations of our new Sacramentary Protestants in K. Edwards dayes And the like shall yow see in the other articles that ensue of Transubstantiation and Sacrifice dependinge of this first of the reall presence as before yow haue heard But much more will yow be confirmed in all this when yow shall haue read ouer the disputations followinge and seene the triflinge arguments of the Sacramentaryes in these so weighty important articles of our beleefe and the ridiculous euasions where with they seeke to auovd or delude the graue tistimonyes of scriptures and Fathers before mentioned For therby wil be seene that they seeke not truth in deed with a good and sincere conscience feare of Gods iudgements but only to escape and entertayne talke for continuaunce of their faction which ought to be marked by the reader yf he loue his soule And thus much for the grounds of the reall-presence Groundes of Transubstantiation §. 2. 26. Touchinge the second question about Transubstantiation though yt be lesse principall then the former of the reall-presence for that yt conteyneth but the particular manner how Christ is really in the Sacrament consequently not so necessary to be disputed of with Sacramentaryes that deny Christ to be there really at all as before hath byn noted â—et shall we briefely discouer the principall â—rounds wheron Catholiks do stand in this â—eceaued doctrine of the Church against Lutherans especially who grauntinge the said â—â—all presence do hold that bread is there togeather with our Sauiours body which Catholiks for many reasons do hould to be absurd â—nd albeit the word Transubstantiation particular declaration therof was not so expresseâ— sett downe in the Church vntill some 400. â—cares gone in the generall Councell of Lateran vnder Pope Innocentius the third as the word Trinity Homousion or Consubstantiality and cleere exposition therof was not vntill the Councell of Nice 300. yeares after Christ yet was the truth of this doctrine held euer before in effect and substance though in different words to witt mutation transinutation conuersion of bread into the body of Christ transelementation and the like which is proued by the perpetuall consent of doctrine vttered by the ancient Fathers in this
Christs institution This is my body which can haue no other probable exposition but that the bread is chaunged into his body And so yt is expounded by all the forsaid Fathers and others that before this controuersie fell out interpreted the same words of our Sauiour 31. These grounds then had the English Catholiks in K. Edwards dayes to stand in the defence of this doctrine that is to say the cleere words of scripture so vnderstood by all antiquity togeather with the assertions and asseuerations of all the Fathers the determination of Councells presently vpon the controuersie first moued and namely of that great famous Lateran Councell wherin concurred both the Greeke and Latyn Church there being present the Greeke patriarks of Constantinople and Hierusalem 70. metropolitan Archbishops and aboue a thousand and two hundred other Fathers of diuers states degrees compare this with a meeting of some twenty or thirty ministers impugninge the same All which hauinge disputed the matter and considered as well by scripture and by ancient tradition of the Fathers and vniuersall Cath. Church what had byn held before did with full agreement determine declare this matter accursinge whosoeuer should from that tyme foreward deny that doctrine of Transubstantiation Which decree of that Councell being receaued generally vvithout contradiction throughout the Christian world hath byn confirmed by seauen other Councells since that tyme as before we haue shewed And let the discreet reader vveigh vvith himselfe vvhich party hath more security for yt selfe eyther the Catholike that followed all this authority consent of antiquity or our new Protestants that vpon fresh imaginations of their owne heads diuised a new doctrine contrary to all this antiquity And thus much of this article for a tast of that which may be alleaged for yt Groundes for the sacrifice of the masse §. 2. 32. The third question proposed to be handled in the foresaid disputations was about the sacrifice of the masse to witt whether the selfe-same body of our Lord whose reall presence is proued in the first question be not only a Sacrament in the Christian Church as yt is receaued vnder a signe of bread and wyne by the Priest and communicants but a sacrifice also as yt is offered to God the Father by the Priest vpon the Altar and whether this externall and visible sacrifice be appointed by Christ to be iterated and dayly frequented in the Church vnto the worlds end and this both for an externall worshipp peculiar to Christians whereby they are distinguished from all other people as also for propitiation of sinnes by applyinge the meritt and vertue of the other bloudy sacrifice of our Sauiour on the Crosse once offered for all and euer auayleable as S. Paul at large declareth in his epistle to the Hebrewes for sanctifyinge the redeemed this then being the question and this being a doctrine so generally receaued throughout the Christian world both in the Greeke Latin AEthiopian Armenian and other Christian Churches as there was no doubt or question therof when Luther and his ofspring began yt fell out in England that vnder the child King Edward his raigne name authority that the L. Seymour protect our and his followers with some few Priests that were weary of massinge and desirous of marriage but cheefly Cranmer and Ridley Hooper Latymer and others bad heads of the cleargy in those dayes tooke vpon them to pull downe this publike vse of sacrifice and afterward to examine and call in question the doctrine therof At which chaunge and suddayne innouation neuer seene in England before from the first day that Christian Religion entred vnder the Apostles as all the realiues and contreyes round about remayned astonished so diuers notwithstanding of the lighter sort enclyned to noueltyes applauded to them followed their diuise others more prudent and respectiue to their owne saluation consideringe that there went more in this matter then the pleasure and fancyes of a few particular men stood constant in that which before they had receaued and that which generally they saw and knew to be in vse throughout all Christendome without cōtradiction which could not be by S. Austens rule but that yt must needs come downe from the Apostles themselues for so much as all opposite doctrine to that which was first planted by them receaued from them could neuer be so generally admitted without contradiction 33. Wherfore entringe into due consideration of this matter whilst all the ruffe ran the other way for 5. or 6. yeares space vnder that King Child and those other little tyrants that bare sway and one destroyed the other by Gods iust iudgement vnder him These good men the Catholikes I meane fell to search what grounds they had or might find out for this so receaued a doctrine practise as this of the masse and sacrifice was And first they found that wheras the first insult of heretiks was against the very name of the masse as a new diuised thinge without reason or signification they found I say that it was a very ancient and vsuall word for the externall sacrifice of Christians vpon the Altar in the Latyn Church for twelue hundred yeares past and downeward in place wherof the Grecians haue vsed the word Liturgie Synaxis and the like and this vse is not only to be shewed by the testimonyes of particular Fathers as Saint Ambrose S. Augustine S. Leo S. Gregory Victor Vticensis Cassianus and other but by whole Councells also as by that of Rome vnder Pope Siluester the first of 275. Bishops held almost 1300. yeares gone the second fourth of Carthage held the next age after and the Councell of Agatha in France the same age the Councell of Ilerdum and Valentia in Spaine and of Orleance in France all aboue 1000. yeares gone which was sufficient matter against the vanyty of heretiks that condemned the name the words for example of S. Ambrose sayinge Missam facere coepi orare in oblatione Deum I began to say masse and to pray to God in the oblation of the sacrifice and those of S. Austen In lectione quae nobis ad missas legenda est audituri sumus We shall heare or this matter more in the lesson which is to be read vnto vs at masse These speaches I say this practise of so ould learned holy Priests as these and their fellowes were did preuayle more with the grauer sort of English people then the lightnesse inconstancy of Cranmer Ridley and such other licentious Priests as for liberty fell to Apostasie 34. And this for the name of the masse But for the nature and substance therof which conteyneth the externall true and proper sacrifice of the Christian Church they found such store of euident proofes and most graue authorityes as might stay confirme and satisfie any mans mynd that were not willfully bent to the
true throughout England wherein concurred also the vvhole Christian vvorld abroad from the tyme before by me prefixed of our first conuersion and more euen from the Apostles dayes neyther could any tyme be appointed or memory brought forth when how or by whome the said doctrines had their beginnings in England or els where which accordinge to S. Augustines rule and diuers particular demonstrations layd downe by vs before in the first part of the Treatise of three Conuersions doth euidently couuince that they came from Christ and his Apostles themselues vvhich ought to be sufficient though no other proofes of Scriptures Fathers Doctors and Councells could be shewed in particular for the same as may be almost infinite and some yow shall heare a little after in this Chapter 4. And as for the second question of Transubstantiation though yt be but a certayne appendix of the first about the manner how Christ is really in the Sacrament as before hath byn shewed was not so particularly declared and defined by the Church in this very tearme of Transubstantiation vntill some 400. yeares gone in the generall Councell of Lateran as neyther the doctrine of homusion or consubstantiality was vntill 300. yeares after Christ in the Councell of Nice neyther the dignity of theotoces wherby the blessed Virgin is called the Mother of God vntill the Councell of Ephesus aboue 400. yeares after Christ yet was the same doctrine euer true before from the beginninge and vttered by the Fathers in other equiualent words speaches of changes and Transmutations of natures conuersions of substances and the like and when there had not byn such other euident proofes extant for the truth therof yet the consent and agreement of so great and vniuersall a Councell of Christendome as the said Lateran was wherin both the Greeke and Latyn Church agreed and after great and longe searche by readinge disputinge prayinge conferringe of Scriptures and Fathers and other such meanes concluded this doctrine to be truth Yf there had byn I say nothinge els for English Catholiks to rest vpon in this point but the generall consent and agreement of so learned holy and venerable an assembly yt might iustly seeme sufficient in the sight of an indifferent or reasonable man to weygh and ouerweygh against the particular iudgements of all the innouators of any age to the contrary and so no maruayle though they stood so earnest against that innouation this being the state of the controuersie on their part 5. But now for the Protestants the state of their question was farre different For first wheras Martyn Luther about the 9. or 10. yeare of K. Henryes raigne had begon some noueltyes about the second and third question of Transubstantiation and Sacrifice holding still the first of the reall presence for firme and that three of his first schollers Oecolampadius Carolstadius and Zuinglius full sore against his will takinge occasion of his innouations had added others of their owne about the said first question denyinge the reall presnce though in different sorts and that after them againe Iohn Caluyn a French-man had diuised a third manner of beleefe therin not a little different from them all about the said doctrine both affirminge denyinge the reall presence in different manner and sound of words yt seemed good to our English Protestants at that tyme or the more part therof to choose the last and newest opinion of all and to establish yt by parlament banishinge ther vpon the ould faith that euer vntill that day had byn held and beleeued in our countrey as well by themselues as others 6. And thus came in the first new Religion â—nto England by some shew of publike authority which being sett forth with so great applause and ostentation both of publike disputations colloquyes conferences lectures preachings exposition of scriptures and consent of Parlament as yow haue heard did partly by this outward shew and ostentation of authority partly by the pleasinge face of â—ouelty yt selfe and sweet freedome that yt brought from all former Ecclesiasticall discipline so infect and enchaunt the harts iudgements affections of diuers of the common people and some also of the learned but the â—ighter and more licentious sort as afterward vvhen Q. Mary came to take accoumpt and vvould recall them againe to the station vvhich they had forsaken they chose rather of â—ride and obstinacy to suffer any thinge yea â—o dye and go to the fire then to renounce these new fancyes once fastened vpon them â—nto which pertinacity the fame of the forsaid Protestants disputations did not a little animate them for that yt was giuen out generally and so doth Fox stand stiffely in the same that the Sacramentaryes had the vpper hand in all as well against the Lutherans in the first question of reall presence as against the Catholiks in that and all the rest vvhich bragg how vayne yt was will appeare after when we come to examine their arguments in particular 7. But yet before we come to that two other points seeme expedient to be performed for better direction of the readers vnderstandinge in these high misteryes of our faith the first to see what sure grounds the Catholiks had and haue at this day to stand firme and immoueable in their old beleefe about these articles notwithstandinge any plausible or deceytfull arguments of sense and reason that may be brought against them secondly certayne obseruations wherby the force or rather fraud of hereticall obiections may be discouered which so beguyled many simple people in Q. Maryes dayes and made them runne headlonge to their perdition the first of these points I shall handle in this Chapter the second in the next that followeth Catholike groundes of these three articles and first of the reall presence §. 1. 8. The first ground that Catholike men haue of these and all other misteryes of Christian faith that are aboue the reach of common sense and reason is the authority of the Catholike Church by which they were taught the same as points of faith reuealed from God And this is such a ground as we see by experience that the most part of people of what Religion soeuer being yonge or vnlearned can yeld no other reason in effect why they beleeue this or that article of theire faith but for that they receaued the same from their Church and teachers therof being not able themselues to searche out any other grounde therof yea the most learned of all from their infancy tooke all vpon this assurance only of their Church which Church yf they held to be of infallible authority so as she can neither be deceaued nor deceaue as we do of the Catholike then should they rest firme sure in their opinion vpon this ground but yf they hould that all Churches may erre and bringe into error both in doctrine and manners as yow haue heard Martyn Bucer hold before in his Cambridge conclusions and most
sectaryes of our tyme do follow him in that assertion then can they haue no ground or certainty this way but each man and woman must seeke other grounds and proofes and stand vpon their owne iudgements for triall of the same which how well the most part of people can do being eyther yonge simple vnlearned or otherwayes so busyed in other matters as they cannot attend thervnto euery man of meane discretion will consider and consequently they must needs be said both to liue and dye vvithout any ground of their faith at all but proper opinion and so perish euerlastingely 9. The famous Doctor S. Augustine handleth this matter in a speciall booke to his frend Honoratus deceaued by the Manichies as himselfe also sometymes had byn and he intituleth his booke De vtilitate credendi of the profitt that commeth to a man by beleeuing the Church and points of faith therin taught without demaundinge reason or proofe therof which the Manichies derided and said that they required nothinge to be beleeued of their followers but that which first should be proued to them by good proofe and reason and not depend only of mens creditt but the holy Father scorneth this hereticall bragg and oftentation of theirs and commendeth highly the contrary custome of simple beleeuinge vpon the creditt of the Catholike Church for that otherwise infinite people should haue no faith at all and exhorteth his frend Honoratus to take the same course first to beleeue and after to seeke the reason His discourse is this Fac nos nunc primum quaerere cuinam Religioni animas nostras c. Suppose that we now first of all did seeke vnto what Religion we should commit our soules to be purged and rectified without all doubt we must begin with the Catholike Church for that she is the most eminent now in the world there being more Christians in her at this day then in any other Church of Iewes and Gentills put togeather And albeit amongst these Christians there may be sects and heresies and all of them would seeme to be Catholiks and do call others besides themselues heretiks yet all graunt that yf we consider the whole body of the world there is one Church amongst the rest more eminent then all other more plentifull in number as they which know her do affirme more sincere also in truth but as concerninge truth we shall dispute more afterward now yt is sufficient for them that desire to learne that there is a Catholike Church which is one in yt selfe whervnto diuers heretiks do feigne and diuise diuers names wheras they and their sects are called by peculiar names which themselues cannot deny wherby all men that are indifferent not letted by passion may vnderstand vnto what Church the name Catholike which all parts desire pretend is to be giuen 10. Thus S. Augustine teachinge his frend how he might both know and beleeue the Catholike Church and all that shee taught simply and without asking reason or proofe And as for knowing and discerning her from all other Churches that may pretend to be Catholike we heare his marks that she is more eminent vniuersall greater in number and in possession of the name Catholike The second that she may be beleeued securely and cannot deceaue nor be deceaued in matters of faith he proueth elswhere concluding finally in this place Si iam satis tibi iactatus videris c. Yf thou dost seeme to thy selfe now to haue byn sufficiently tossed vp and downe amonge sectaryes and wouldst putt an end to these labours and tormoyles follow the way of Cath. discipline which hath flowen downe vnto vs from Christ by his Apostles and is to flow from vs to our posterity 11. This then is the iudgement and direction of S. Augustine that a man should for his first ground in matters of faith looke vnto the beleefe of the greatest most eminent Church of Christendome that hath endured longest embraceth most people hath come downe from our fore-fathers with the name of Catholike not only among her owne professors but euen among her enemyes Iewes infidells and heretiks and so is termed held by them in their common speach as the said Father in diuers others places declareth at large Which rule of direction yf we will follow about these three articles of faith now proposed the reall presence Transubstantiation and Sacrifice of the masse yt is easily seene what ground we haue for their beleefe in this kind of proofe so highly esteemed by S. Augustine which is the authority of the vniuersall Cath. Church For that when Luther and his followers began to oppose themselues in our dayes no man can deny but that our beleefe in these articles was generally receaued ouer all Christendome as well Asia and Africa where so euer Christians be as Europe and so vpward tyme out of mynd neither can any beginning be assigned to these doctrines in the Cath. Church but only a certayne definition and determination of some Councells about the name of Transubstantiation as after shal be declared 12. Now then hauinge found out this first ground which S. Augustine and other Fathers do make so great accoumpt of which is the authority and beleefe of that Church that generally is called Catholike Yf we passe further and see what grounds this Church had or hath to admytt the same which yet is not needfull or possible to all sortes of men for that only can be done by the learneder sort we shall find that she hath such grounds as may conuince any man that is not obstinate and indurate to the contrary And first to begin with the article of the reall presence what ground proofe or Theologicall demonstration can there bee which the Cath. Church hath not for her beleefe in that high mistery which as it was to be one of the cheefest most sacred and admirable of Christian Religion so was yt meet that yt should be confirmed by all the principall wayes that any article of faith could or can be confirmed that is to say both by scriptures of the ould and new Testament and the true exposition therof by auncient Fathers that liued before this controuersie began with Sacramentaryeâ— by authority and tradition of the Apostles and their successors by testimony of auncient Fathers from age to age by consent and agreement practise and vse of the vniuersall Church by the concourse and approbation of almighty God with euident and infinite miracles by confession of the aduersaryes and other such generall heads of arguments which Catholike diuines do produce for this truth for iustifyinge the Churches faith therin 13. And out of the scriptures their demonstration is not single or of one sort only but in diuers manners as to the height and dignity of so diuine and venerable a mystery was conuenient For that out of the ould Testament they shew how yt was prefigured and prophesied and in the new both promised