it he hath perfected for euer those that are sanctified and hee euidently and plainely teacheth elsewhere that we are perfect and compleat in him but that which in euery respect is perfect needes not ought to make it more absolute Neither will I passe ouer in silence that I haue oftentimes-ruminated with my self viz. that this their doctrine of humane satisfaction vtterly ouerthrowes their Indulgences and Masses together with their Churches treasurie as they so call it for the bolsterers and maintainers of this opinion teach that of necessitie satisfaction must be made to the diuine iustice of Almightie God euen to the vtmost farthing and hereupon they would faine ground their Purgatorie where insufferable flames of fire are prouided and attend for all that depart this life according to their doctrine from whence there is no redemption vntill Gods wrath be fully appeased by their condigne punishments On this foundation I erect this edifice If of necessitie satisfaction must be made to the iustice of Almighty God in deserued punishments euen to the vttermost farthing then it is impossible to shunne or auoide these but of necessitie they must be vndergone euen to the vttermost farthing If this inference be true that we must needs satisfie the iustice of God in condigne punishments to the vttermost farthing how then can Masses Indulgences and the merits of Saints haue any vertue in them to extinguish the flames of Purgatorie But the very truth is howsoeuer the Papists denie in words that there is a necessitie imposed on vs to suffer condigne punishments as well in this life as the next for our demerits yet they make it good in their practises For according to the Cannons of the Church of Rome all those penances imposed by a confessor on petenciaries may be exchanged and conuerted into pecuniarie mulcts yea as Tolet in his summes auerres these penances may be deferred and put ouer heare to be vndergone in Purgatorie yea they may purchase their deliuerance from thence also for money For although a man deserue to remaine in that same fiery furnace vntill the day of the Lord that last generall Audit yet at one only Masse said at any allowed and priuiledged Altar which may be purchased for two or at the most three groates hath power and vertue enough to set the prisoner at libertie and to transport and carry him into heauen yea in that instant when he is rendring vp his body as due debt to nature hauing a pasport which they call bulla cruciata which is sold in Spaine for two groates any petty Priest hath power not onely to absolue him from the guilt but a so to free him from the punishment he hath deserued What are become then of Popish satisfactions when the most hainous offender may be discharged and acquitted for two groates Where wee may note by the way how that euer in the Church of Rome retribution is not made to any to his workes as he hath done in this life as the tenour of the Scripture runnes but according to his estate in the goods of this life For put the case that it should so fall out that two men of equall merit and desert to speak in their owne language so that if they were waighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary they would euenly poise should in one instant of time surrender vp their interest and title in this life and both of them should be adiudged to remaine in the fire of Purgatory vntill doomes-day if so in the behalfe of one of them one onely Masse be celebrated at a priuiledged and allowed Altar his partner that cannot be so befriended as to haue one saide for him hee poore soule must lie still by it there to receiue the recompence of his sinnes without the least hope of remission vntill the generall Iayle-deliuery whereas the former is forthwith loosed from his Fetters and carryed by Angels into Abrahams bosome alwayes prouided the Priest haue his money for the Masse for otherwise it hath not any vertue at all A third motiue perswading me to abandon Popery was their Doctrine of Transubstantiation affirming that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament is really conuerted and transubstantiated into the very Body and Bloud of Christ First because it is not grounded on the Word of God as in a manner Thomas Auio sometimes a Cardinall in the Church of Rome the Popes Legate and President at one of their Councels ingeniously acknowledgeth in these words Caictan super 3. partem S. Thomae in quaest 75. art 50. Alterum autem quod Euangelium non explicauit ab ecclesia expresse accepimus scilicet conuersionem panis in corpus Christi but the other point is not plainely set downe in the Gospell but wee haue receiued it by tradition expresly from the Church to wit the conuersion of the bread in the Sacrament into the very body of Christ Iohannes Douns-Scotus fauours this opinion Super l. 4. sentent quaest 11. Fides saith he de hoc Sacramento est propter solam ecclesiae determinationem The ground of our beliefe concerning this Sacrament is onely the sentence and determination of the Church Occanus and Durandus de Sancto Porciano who was sometimes the Popes Penitentiarius Priest the Bishop of Melda and Prior generall of the order of Preachers all concurre herein in their iudgements as also some of the learnedst Doctors of the Romish Church adhere vnto them Secondly also it implies a contradiction that the body of Christ should be at one and the same instant of time both in heauen and in the consecrated hoast which these reasons I shal now produce seeme to me impregnably to proue First The Heauens containe our Lord and Sauiour Christs body is in heauen circumscriptiuely therefore he cannot be in any place without the heauen The Antecedent needes no proofe the inference is thus strengthened because as Thomas Aquinas Bonauentura Capreolus teach to whose opinion Vasquez also subscribes concerning the definition of circumscription Apud Suarem tom 3. part 3. viz. Circumscribi loco est corpus ita esse in hoc loco vt non sit extra illum To be circumscribed in place is for a body to be so in his place that it cannot bee without his place Therefore it is impossible that the Body of Christ should be circumscribed or contained in heauen and be also without the heauen The antecedent is acknowledged of all Thomists and is a principle in philosophy onely the Iesuites exccept against it who had rather oppugne and euen wage warre with truth it selfe then not humour the Pope but sith there is no contending with such as deny principles I haue done with those glosing parasites of Antichrist and come to the Thomists who that they may not fall into the danger of the Inquisition inuent certaine shifts to auoide the consequence affirming that circumscription or circumscriptiue being in place doth imply a denyall of any other circumscription or circumscriptiue being in place
Circumscription in one place doth as well exclude definitiue being in any other place at the same time as a circumscriptiue being for that that is circumscribed in a place can no way be without that place nor definitiuely nor circumscriptiuely as the Schooles speake but not of a definition or definitiue being in place and therefore that Christ may be in heauen circumscriptiuely and yet in the hoast definitiuely But thus I reply this answere is altogether groundlesse for what reason can be giuen why one circumscriptiue being in place should bee more repugnant to another circumscriptiue being in place then to a definitiue And therefore this answere of the Thomists as Suarez saith is a very poore shift and cousen German to a petitio principij or begging the poynt in question Nay it s a harder thing to conceiue how a body should be in one place definitiuely in another circumscriptiuely at the same time then to be in two places circumscriptiuely because to be definitiuely in place is a manner of existence in place no way agreeing to a body Secondly it implies a contradiction that the body should be distant and seuered from it selfe But should it be in many places at once it must needes be seuered and distant from it selfe Therefore it cannot possibly exist in many places at once The proposition is infallible because distance necessarily implies a distinction but no body is distinguished from it selfe The assumption is thus strengthened The distance of bodies is taken from the distance of the places wherein they exist therefore if the places are distant wherein Christs body exists Christs body necessarily must needs be distant from it self Neither could I euer admit or approue of the answere of the Papists hereunto viz. that indeed the body of Christ is not distant or seuered from it selfe but onely that it hath distant vbities or different being in place from the which the body is not simply denominated distant but onely it is said as it exists in the place to be distant from it selfe as being existant elsewhere For who perceiues not apparantly that this answere of them is a meare illusion and cauill As for example Peter is not distant from Iohn but as Iohn exists in another place and yet neuerthelesse he is absolutely and simply said to be distant from him Nay he cannot be distant and seuered from him but onely in this consideration as Iohn exists in another place and existing or hauing his being elsewhere he cannot but be distant from Iohn neither can Christs body haue distant vbities or a different being in place and not be distant from it selfe Thirdly if Christs body should in one instant of time be both in heauen in the consecrated Hoast then it might be questionlesse in innumerable places at once and so by consequence should be infinite All of them grant the first consequence but denie the second because as they define immensitie it is praesentiam naturâ suâ constituentem rem in omnibus spatijs possibilibus c. A present setting or placing a thing of its owne nature in all possible places But admitting Christs body should be placed or set in all such places yet it hath not this propertie from its essence But to wound them with their own weapon I retort their answere backe vpon them Immensitie is a present setting or placing a thing of its owne nature in all possible places Therfore onely that thing that is infinite may be in all possible places The inference is euident because the proper passion of any thing cannot agree to any other thing vnlesse the thing it selfe also agree thereunto therefore if Immensitie be repugnant to the nature of a body it must also be repugnant to it to be in innumerable places at once Moreouer that which they affirme viz. that a body is not to be accounted infinite although it be set or exist in infinite places because it hath not this from its owne nature is very ridiculous For thus I argue that if God therefore cannot possibly be contained in any bounds because by reason of his greatnesse and immensitie he is euery where and in euery thing most inwardly present therefore by the selfe same reason it followes that neither may a body be present in all places because it is his nature to be circumscribed and contained within the limits of place because as Gods infinite greatnesse makes him vncapable of circumscription so likewise the finite nature of a body makes it vncapable of vbiquitie To conclude this was alwaies my faith that the Bread in the Sacrament after consecration remaines still pure Bread for I my selfe haue seene wormes ingendered in the consecrated hoast which could not haue beene if the substance of bread after the deliuerie of the words of benediction vanished away for then there would not be any pre-existent matter For euery substantiall forme necessarily requires some substantiall matter pre-existent out of which by the vertue of the agent the forme is educed out of which the formes of wormes might be drawne Neither like I that answere of the Papists hereunto who affirme that God miraculously supplies there the first matter for Christs existencie in the hoast is most pleasing and acceptable vnto him as they teach wherefore then would he by working miraculously aboue nature leauing the accidents flye into heauen and especially sith the accidents of bread haue no contrarie to expell and expose them to corruption Besides all men know that there are many vestments amongst the Papists that for many generations if it be not impietie to beleeue them are preserued incorrupted and that onely because they haue touched the bodies of some of the Saints what probable reason then can they render why the body of Christ should not exempt these accidents from corruption with which hee is actually couered This argument is further vrged and pressed because the ingendering of these vermine redounds to the dishonour of Christ and the condemnation of the faithfull for all that enter into the Church adore and doe obeisance to the consecrated hoast included in the Pyxe which if it should be transubstantiated into wormes they should attribute diuine worship vnto them From hence then we may infallibly conclude that this Doctrine concerning the carnall and corporall presence of Christ in the Eucharist which Papists so stifly maintaine is a meere figment of their owne braine Neither euer would it enter into my minde that our blessed Lord and Sauiour should by working miraculously aboue the ordinarie course of nature administer matter for the generation of worms no second cause requiring their production thereby cause that those accidents hauing no cause to corrupt them should yet be corrupted neither haue we reason to beleeue that Christ for no cause should relinquish a place so gratefull and beloued of him as they say and so depriue the faithfull of his healthfull and louing presence especially sith hee must needes foresee that his absence must needes be manifest
and apparant detriment to the faithfull I haue also obserued very many places in the ancient Fathers expresly crossing and oppugning this Doctrine of Transubstantiation some whereof I will here produce In the first place Saint Augustine in whose name the Order of which sometime I was much glorieth confutes this errour saying Contra Adim cap. 12. Non dubitauit dicere hoc est corpus meum cum signum daret corporis sui He doubted not to say This is my body when he deliuered onely the signe of his body and in another place Sicutergo secundùm queÌ„dam modum sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est ita sacramentum fidei fides est Ep. 22. ad Bonifacium Therefore euen as the sacrament of Christs body is after a sort or after a kinde of manner his body and the sacrament of his bloud is his bloud euen so the sacrament of faith is faith Saint Austen vseth the like speech of both From which place I collect this Argument The sacrament of faith is not transubstantiated into faith therefore neither is the symbole of Christs body conuerted into his body and Tertullian in his booke against Marcion in the 19. Chap. saith Panem suum corpus appellat vt iam inde eum corporis sui figuram pani dedisse intelligas He cals Bread his body that from thence thou mightest vnderstand that he gaue the figure of his body to the bread that is made bread a figure of his body and Gelasius in his Booke of two natures Tamen inquit esse non desinit substantia vel natura panis et vini et certe imago et similitudo corporis et sanguinis Christi in mysteriorum actione celebrantur yet saith he the substance or the essence of the bread cease not to be and truely the image and similitude of the body and bloud of Christ are celebrated in the action of the mysteries in the sacrament Moreouer I abandoned and renounced Poperie for that it commands praier and inuocation of Saints that hath neither promise nor precept nor president in the sacred Scriptures for its warrant and allowance for we ought to be assured and perswaded in our consciences by some testimonies from the word of God the rule and square of our actions that Almighty God will be pleased to heare and accept of our prayers through him and for his sake in whose name they are tendred vnto him because that praier that is not of faith is not pleasing or acceptable to him but we haue no such promise concerning any of the Saints but onely concerning that holy and iust one Iesus Christ the righteous Ioh. 16. ver 23. Whatsoeuer yee shall aske the Father in my name he will giue it you Neither yet is there any precept extant in sacred writ inioyning vs any such duty but we are excited commanded to flye vnto Christ by prayer in time of distresse according vnto that Come vnto me al ye that are wearie and heauie laden and I wil ease you Math. 11. Neither can any examples be produced out of the Booke of God whose practise might at the least seeme to fauour or countenance this Doctrine concerning the inuocation of Saints there are very many places that expresly teach or necessarily imply that wee owe the deuout affection of our mindes onely to God Their comparison drawne from the manner and fashion in Princes Courts is not of any moment For should the King constitute and appoint one onely Master of Requests doubtlesse he would neuer admit or grant any suits preferred vnto him by any other sith then our blessed Lord and Sauiour is appointed by his Father to be our onely Mediator and Intercessor why then haue we recourse to any other why relye we vpon and preferre a most doubtfull and incertaine course to a most certaine and infallible meanes How are we assured that the Saints heare and vnderstand our grieuances and admit they doe that God approues and accepts of our petitions tendred vnto him in this sort nay wee are certainely assured and expresly taught the contrarie for our Lord and Sauiour saith of himselfe I am the way the truth Ioh. 14. ver 6. and the life no man commeth vnto the Father but by mee If it be his pleasure that wee should vse no other meanes vnto the Father but himselfe doubtlesse it is not his will that wee should vse the mediation of Saints Aug. tract 22. super Ioan. This was Austens opinion when as he said in the person of Christ Non est quò eas nisi ad me non est quà eas nisi per me Thou hast no whither to goe but to me no way but by mee Hereunto also Saint Ambrose assents saying Sedtamen Domine tu solus inuocandus es But thou O Lord onely art to be called vpon Moreouer I detested this their inuocation of Saints because they not onely pray vnto them but equalize and ranke them in an equall degree of honour with Christ I charge them not falsly the thing it selfe is too apparant for when as not onely the vulgar sort but euen their learned Rabbins haue poynted out and as it were giuen in commission especiall charges of administration and gouernement to euery seuerall Saint Christ is not once thought of they all imagine Christ to be more hard and the Saints of a more benigne disposition and easier to be intreated and had rather trust to and throw themselues into the armes of their mercy then relye and depend on him for helpe and leauing Christ they flye vnto the Saints they apprehend and apply vnto themselues the merits of the Saints for the pardon of their sinnes And in the Romish Breuiarie euery where God is intreated that hee would be pleased to bring men into his Kingdome in heauen and that for the merits of his Saints as it is apparant in this Collect appointed for the feast of Saint Martha Almighty and most mercifull God whose Sonne vouchsafed to be feasted in the house of blessed Martha grant wee beseech thee for her merits that so friendly and louingly entertained him wee may be mercifully receiued and entertained in thy Kingdome of glory There are many such curtaild Prayers in their forenamed Breuiarie which euidently declare that the Papists make their Saints not onely their Intercessors but also their Reconcilers and pacifiers of Gods wrath and Gabriell the interpreter of the Cannon of the Masse blusheth not to affirme that we ought euen by the prescription and appointment of God himselfe to flye vnto the Saints for succour that we may through their prayers and merits obtaine saluation Hereunto Pope Innocent the third assents saying Necessarium nobis esse in viâ sanctorum suffragium Whilst we are yet in the way to our Country we need the suffrages of the Saints and Thomas Aquinas peremptorily affirmes 1.2 quest 178. art 1. opera miraculosa quae fiunt Ã