as partly will be more manifest in the next Chapter CHAP. XIII Transubstantiation proved in all the ages of the Church THis terrible word Transubstantiation is much baited at by this learned Doctor even as the word homousion declared and determined by two General Councils was impugned by the Arians because it was new and not found in the Scripture even so this word approved by two general Councils was rayled at by hereticks when they could not disprove what was specified thereby I will not contend for the word but for what is signified thereby the Councils of Trent indeed approves the word sess 13. cap. 4. and explicates it to be the Conversion of the whole substance of the bread and wine into the substance of the body and bloud of Christ so also defines it can 2. In this sence I shall produce Fathers and Doctors of all ages and times since Christ and so confirm what the Doctor jeeringly yet most ignorantly affirms when he says that the Masse began with Transubstantiation as indeed it did for the Mass was never without it when the conversion of bread and wine is the essential part of the Masse as it has been fully declared I let passe his plain contradiction when forgetful of what he had said before admitting the Masse to have been in the Roman Church for near 1200. years past he now says that it began with Transubstantiation which he will have to have been begun from the Lateran Council held in the year 1215. where this matter was declared to be of Faith not as if it was then newly invented but as the common Faith of the Church wherein the whole Christian world agreed for there were present besides the Pope Innocent the 3d 412 Bishops the two Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem the Legates of Antioch and Alexandria Archbishops Primates and Metropolitans 75. Abbots and Priors 800. Legats and Procurators of Bishops and others without number The Embassadours of both the Emperours Roman and Grecian of the King of France England Hungary Jerusalem Cyprus Aragon and many other Princes who all consented to this declaration in opposition to some heresies of those times Now that such was the doctrine of the Roman Church before that Council is manifest by the opposition that was made against Berengarius who for the contrary opinion was condemned in three several provincial Councils several learned men of those times did write against him as Lanfransus Archbishop of Canterbury I. de sacram Eucharist The Church spread in the whole world acknowledges bread and wine set on the Altar to be consecrated and in the consecration to be changed incomprehensibly and ineffably into the substance of the flesh and bloud of Christ In like manner Algerus Guitmans and Petrus Cluniacen who lib. 1. Epist 2. Let them see what foolish incredulity what blinde doubting it is either not to see or doubt that bread is changed into the flesh of Christ and wine into his bloud by divine power when by the same many things are changed into another even in the nature of things which he proves by many examples and concludes It is far more as the holy Fathers of the Church say to create things that have no being than to form other and other things of those things which have a being all these above a 100. years before that Council But nothing more clearly convinces it then the Recantation which Berengarius made in a Roman synod held anno 1079. above a 130. years before the same Council in this form I Berengarius do from my heart believe and by mouth professe the bread and wine placed on the Altar by the Mystery of prayers and words of our Redeemer to be substantially converted into the true and proper and life-giving flesh and bloud of Jesus Christ our Lord and to be the true Body which was born of the Virgin which offered for the worlds salvation did hang on the Crosse which sits at the right hand of the Father and Christs true bloud which did flow from his side not only by signe and vertue of the sacrament but in propriety of Nature and verity of substance In this faith and belief he died A little before this time lived Theophilact Archbishop of Bulgary a Grecian in Joan. 6. Bread by the sacred words and Mystical benediction with the comming of the holy Ghost is transformed into our Lords flesh He has the same in Marc. 14. adding Our merciful God condescending to our infirmity did keep the species of bread and wine but trans-elementated it into the vertue of flesh and bloud And in cap. 26. Mat. He said not This is a figure but This is my body for it is by an ineffable operation transformed as bread in appearance but in very deed flesh Of the Latins about the year 730. Venerable Bede in 6. Joan. Christ dayly washes us from our sins in his bloud when the memory of his Passion is represented on the Altar when the Creatures of bread and wine are by the sanctification of the ineffable spirit transformed into the sacred Meat of his flesh and bloud and about the same time the famous Grecian Father S. John Damascene l. 4. de fide Orthod c. 24. As the holy Ghost working all things whatsoever were made so what then shall hinder but that of bread he may make his body and of wine and water his bloud and even as whatsoever God did make that he did by the work of the holy Ghost in the same manner now also the operation of the holy Ghost does that which exceeds nature and which tannot be taken or understood unless it be by faith only And a little after Verily the body is truly united to the divinity that body which came from the holy Virgin not that the body assumed descends from heaven but because the bread and wine it self is changed into Christs body and bloud If thou ask how is this done it is enough for thee to hear that it is done by the holy Ghost even as from the holy Mother of God our Lord by the holy Ghost did make to himself and in himself flesh there is nothing more manifest or perceptible to us then that the word of God is truly efficacious and omnipotent for the manner of it is such that it cannot be searched or found out by any reason A little after Bread and wine are not figures of Christs body far be it but the very body of our Lord joyned to the Divinity for sith our Lord himself said this is not a signe of body but body nor the sign of bloud but bloud And again If some have called the bread and wine the figure of our Lords body and bloud they did not say it after the Consecration but usurped this word before the oblation was consecrated to be brief In that place the Saint uses these phrases Christ made his body of bread and wine he made these things his body and bloud the bread and wine are changed into
MISSALE ROMANVM VINDICATVM OR The MASS Vindicated from D. Daniel Brevents calumnious and Scandalous Tract S. Augustine lib. 2. contra Julianum Pelagium cap. 10. The Catholick Fathers and Doctors have held what they found in the Church have taught what they learned and delivered to their Sons what they received from their Fathers as yet we did not deal with you before these Judges and our cause is judged by them neither we nor you were known to them yet we recite their sentences or Judgments made against you Printed in the Year 1674 TO THE Right Worshipful Grave and Reverend Doctours of the Famous University of OXFORD Health and Salvation THe whole Vniverse worthily admires the Oxonian Academie for its Antiquity and Learning for the great multitude of famous Doctors which have flourished in its bosome Structures in its Colledges rare Library compleatly stored with books of all sorts but principally Manuscripts which if not diminished by the destiny of Funus Scoti et Scotistarum would have far exceeded most of Christendome and now may contend for equality except only the Vatican It s present glory is in no mean way augmented by that magnificent Theater which the late Archbishop of Canterbury to his eternal Glory has erected wherein all may depredicate his Munificence and other Universities envy Oxfords Glory This indeed is Sheldons Trophy and Triumph Vpon reflection of this unparaleld Theater I cannot but deplore that such an excellent and so magnificent a structure should be abused and defiled by such an unseemly Imp as the late Doctour Daniel Brevent has hatched under its roof I mean his Missale Romanum Printed in that Theatre without any license or approbation wherein there is very little appears which may beseem a Doctour of Oxford He begins indeed very briskly acknowledging the Roman Church to have been a true Church in the first five hundred years after Christ but afterwards to have decayed principally for that from that time the Church allowed and approved the holy sacrifice of the Masse which he chiefly labours to reject by Railleries scoffs and jeerings amongst others he grounds himself on two manifestly false impositions the first is that Roman Priests do sacrifice their God imitating the primitive Infidels who imputed it to the Christians that they did eat their God whereas our faith teaches us that Christs body and bloud is sacrificed to God The second is that the Priests at the Altar do work all the Miracles which are wrought in the Eucharist which Miracles by Catholicks are attributed to Christ himself who instituted the holy Sacrament To make his raillery more compleat he spares not to call all Roman Catholicks Adulterers Adorers of vile creatures Idol-worshipers invaders of sacred offices sacrilegiously reproaching them of untruths impieties fearfull and barbarous cruelty Priesthood a most sacrilegious function which in plain terms he admits for almost twelve hundred years the whole Christian world were no better then Idolaters nay as he says worse then all Pagans and Infidels So that the whole Church all Christian Emperours Kings and Princes all Christian Empires Kingdoms Nations and Provinces were enslaved to Idolatry all Popes Primats Archbishops Bishops and Clergy-men were liable to his censures No Church either universal or particular truly Christian no Conversion of any Nation in particular England to the true faith of Christ for those who were converted in those times were most unhappy for they were alwayes taught believed and exercised the sacrifice of the Masse All the Modern Churches as besides the Latin the Grecian Oriental Affrican and Indians in all places of the world except only some of our pretended Reformers in a little Corner thereof have the same and the schoolmen whom he so frequently cites were all Idolaters for they all held maintained and defended the sacrifice of the Masse against all Infidels and hereticks and for the most part were sacrificing Priests Moreover the Glory of your famous Vniversitie is much impeached by this his Calumnie for your Doctors and Professors your Churches Chappels and Schools your Colledges and Chairs were all infected with this pretended Idolatry for within their walls no other doctrine was taught heard or used until these last times the several Comments made on the Master of the sentences on S. Thomas Scotus and other Schoolmen testifies the same nothing can excuse them but grosse ignorance but what shall we say of those famous Doctours who have so learnedly written against Wickliff even on the same score and what of those Reverend and learned Bishops who in Oxford condemned him as an heretick and who were so careful as is manifest in Provinciali veteri reprinted at Oxford in the year 1669. of the Celebration of Mass The Doctor bespatters them all with Idolatry sacriledge and blindness ignorance and blasphemy But he might have considered if malice or Ignorance had not blinded him that under the name of the Roman Church for so many hundred of years he impugns Christs Church within the five hundred years after Christ even as it was established by Christ and his Apostels for the Catholick Church was never without Mass in that time and what Masses or Liturgies were used in succeeding times were delivered from those times as the Roman or Latin Church challenges that of S. Peter as it was declared by S. Clement those of Hierusalem and some other parts that of S. James those of Affirica that of S. Mark or S. Philip The Grecians that of S. Basil who as S. Proclus testifies did not add to any other precedent but contract and abreviate what was formerly used S. Chrysostome did the same to that of S. Basil yet both these liturgies or Masses are in use to this day in all the Grecian Churches if then the Mass be Idolatry and so fond a thing as this Doctor pretends Christ never had a true Church upon earth far as I shall shew in this short Tract the Catholick Church was never without the sacrifice of the Mass if we may believe Tradition practise and custome of all Christian Churches Ecclesiastical or civil histories Councils both General and of several Provinces in the whole world and the unanimous consent of all the holy Fathers and Doctors I dare challenge Doctour Brevent or any of his associates to produce any one Nation that ever roceived the Christian Faith without this sacrifice or publick Divine Service but that which we call Mass or liturgy under the notion of a sacrifice The Grecians as I said before and all those who belong to that Church as Iberians Sclavonians Russians Muscovits and in many parts of Asia and Affrick agree in the sacrifice of the Mass with some difference of Ceremonies The Meridional parts which contain the Nubians the Abissins and greatest parts in Aegypt Arabia and Chaldea under the Patriarkate of Alexandria The Nestorians dispersed in Tartary Persia and the Oriental parts and kingdoms of India the Armenians and Scithians I do not say that all these agree with the Latins
witnesses to be acceptable to him those which are done by you and by your priests he reproves Again Malachy did then speak of our sacrifices which are offered in every place that is of the bread of the Eucharist in like manner of the Eucharistical Cup. Many of our adversaries turn this pure or clean Oblation as if it were nothing but a Sacrifice of praise but first that cannot be said properly a sacrifice of the New testament sith it was as proper to the law of Nature and the written law 2. the Prophet distinguishes between a sacrifice acceptable and unacceptable now it is certain that a sacrifice of praise was and is always acceptable 3. he opposes a new sacrifice to the sacrifice of the Jews as they were external 4. The holy Fathers very frequently do either clearly distinguish between them or make the holy Eucharist to be a sacrifice of praise finally they plainly say that the pure sacrifice was of bread and wine and so called Eucharistical §. 3. The Sacrifice of the Mass Ordained and Instituted by Christ THe Roman Church as is expressed in the Councel of Trent sess 22. cap. 1. Derives her Authority of celebrating Mass from the Command of Christ Jesus in his last supper when he said Do this in my Commemoration as the Catholick Church has always understood and taught and such I think is the opinion of the Church of England in as much as concerns the Ministery of the Eucharist for a man might ask by what Authority the Ministers alone do celebrate the Communion with exclusion of the lay-people from that office but leaving this let us see what the holy Fathers of those primitive times did teach in this point 420. I shall begin with S. Augustine in his Manual chap. 11. where he makes this prayer Give me I beseech thee O Christ Jesu Contrition of heart c. whilst I unworthy do stand at thy Altar desiring to offer up to thee that admirable and heavenly sacrifice becoming all reverence and devotion which thou my Lord God Immaculate didst institute and command to be offered for a commemoration or remembrance of thy charity that is of thy death and passion for our Salvation and for the daily repairing of our infirmity Again Ser. 14. de Innocent what more reverent what more honourable can be said then to rest under that Altar in which sacrifice is celebrated to God in which hosts are offered in which our Lord is the priest as it is written Thou art a Priest for ever according to the Order of Melchisedech with good reason the Souls of the just do rest under the Altar because the body of our Lord is offered upon the Altar the bloud of the just does not undeservedly there ask for revenge where also the bloud of Christ is shed for sinners Conveniently therfore and as it were for a certain society the Sepulcher of Martyrs is there ordained where the death of our Lord is daily celebrated as he himself said As often as ye shall do these things ye shall shew my death untill I come to wit that those who dyed for his death should rest under the Mystery of his Sacrament 398. S. Chrysostome him 83. in Math. For this cause with desire I have desired saith our Lord to eat this pasche with you that is to deliver to you new things and pasche wherby I may make you spiritual he also drank of it lest hearing these words they should say what do we drink bloud and eat flesh and so should be troubled for when formerly he had made some words of those things many only for the words were scandilized lest then also that should happen he first did this that he might enduce them with a quiet mind to the communication of the Mysteries you will say what then must we make the old Pasche by no means for therefore he said do this that he might withdraw them from the other besides if this do work remission of sins as certainly it doth that is altogether needlesse But as in the old so in the same manner he left for a benefit and gathered together a memory of mysteries even thence bridling the mouths of Hereticks for when they say whence does it appear that Christ was Immolated besides many other things producing also these Mysteries we shut their mouths for if Jesus be not dead whose symbole or sign is this sacrifice thou seest how great care he had that we should keep in memory that he died for us for because Marcion Valentine Manicheus and their followers were went to deny this dispensation by this Mystery he always so reduces us into the memory of his passion Again Hom. 17. in Epist ad Hebraeos He is our Bishop who offered an host cleansing us the same we offer also now what was then offered indeed cannot be consumed but that which we do is done only in commemoration of that which was done for says he Do this in my commemoration Not another Sacrifice but as the Bishop we always do the same but we rather work the remembrance of the Sacrifice 380. S. Gregory of Nice Orat. 1. de Resurrect He who disposes all things by his power doth not expect the violence of the Jews as robbers nor the wicked sentence of Pilate that their malice might be the beginning and cause of the common Salvation of men but he prevented by his counsell and by a secret kind of sacrifice which could not be seen by men he offers himself an host for us and being together priest and lamb of God immolats a victim he that takes away the sin of the World when did he do this when he gave to his Disciples assembled his body to be eaten and his bloud to be drunk then he openly declared the sacrifice of the Lamb to be now perfect wherefore when he exhibited to his Disciples his body to be eaten and his bloud to be drunk now by a secret and invisible Mystery his body was Immolated as it pleased the power of him who performed the Mystery 326. Eusebius l. 1. de Demonst cap. 10. After all things working the salvation of us all he offered a certain wonderfull victim and a most excellent Sacrifice to his Father and ordained that in memory thereof we should offer the same to God for a sacrifice After when we have received the memory of this Sacrifice to be celebrated by certain signs in the table and also of his body and salutarie bloud as an institute of the New testament 230. S. Cyprian Epist 6. ad Cacilium Know that we are admonished that in offering the Chalice the dominicall Tradition is to be observed neither are we to do any thing but what our Lord has first done that the Chalice which is offered in commmemoration of him may be offered mixt with wine and water for when Christ said I am the true vine the vine verily is not the bloud of Christ but the wine neither can his bloud by which we are redeemed and