that the Sacrament in sundry portions consecrated by a bishop shuld be sent a broade among the churches for cause of heretikes that the catholike people of the churches which word here signifieth as the greke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth so as it is not necessarie to vndestand that the sacrament was directed only to the materiall churches but to the people of the parrishes might receiue the catholike communion and not communicate with heretikes Which doubteles must be vndestanded of this priuate and single communion in eche catholike mans house and that where heretikes bare the swea and priestes might not be suffred to consecrate after the catholike vsage Elles if the priestes might with out let or disturbance haue so done then what nede had it ben for Milciades to haue made such a prouision for sending abroade hostes sanctified for that purpose by the cōsecration of a Bishop The place of Damasus hath thus Milciades fecit vt oblationes consecratae per Ecclesias ex consecratu Episcopi propter haereticos dirigerentur Milciades ordeined that consecrated hostes shuld be sent abroade amongest the churches prepared by the consecration of a bishop The two wordes propter haereticos for heretikes added by Ado the writer of Martyrs lyues openeth the meaning and purporte of that decree Here haue I brought much for proufe of priuate and single communion and that it hath not onely ben suffered in tyme of persecution but also allowed in quiet and peaceable tymes euen in the Churche of Rome it selfe where true Religion hath euer ben most exactly obserued aboue all other places of the worlde and from whence all the churches of the West hath taken their light As the Bishops of all Gallia that now is called Fraunce doo acknowledge in an epistle sent to Leo the Pope with these wordes Vnde religionis nostrae propicio Christo Epistola proxima post 51. inter epistolas Leonis fons origo manauit From that Apostolike see by the mercie of Christ the fontaine and spring of our Religion hath come More could I yet bryng for confirmation of the same as th' example of S. Hilaria the virgine in the tyme of Numerianus of S. Lucia in Diocletians tyme done to martyrdom of S. Maria Aegyptiaca and of S. Ambros of which euery one as auncient testimonies of ecclesiasticall histories and of Paulinus doo declare at the houre of their departure hence to God receiued the holy Sacrament of th'aulter for their viage prouision alone But I iudge this is ynough and if any man will not be persuaded with this I doubte whether with such a one a more number of autorities shall any thing priuaile Now that I haue thus proued the single communion I vse their own terme I desire M. Iuell to reason with me soberly a word or two How saye you Syr doo you reproue the Masse or doo you reproue the priuate Masse I thinke what so euer your opinion is herein your answer shall be you allow not the priuate Masse For as touching that the Oblation of the body and bloude of Christ done in the Masse is the sacrifice of the churche and proper to the new testament commaunded by Christ to be frequented according to his institution if you denye this make it so light as you liste all those authorities which you denye vs to haue for proufe of your great number of articles will be fownde against you I meane doctoures general councelles the most aunciēt th' example of the primitiue churche the scriptures I adde further reason consent vniuersall and vncontrolled and tradition If you denye this you must denye all our Religion from the Apostles tyme to this daye and now in the ende of the world when iniquitie aboūdeth and charitie waxeth colde when the sonne of man cōming shall scarcely finde faith in the earth begynne a new And therefore you M. Iuell knowing this well ynough what so euer you doo in dede in worde as it appeareth by the litle booke you haue set foorth in printe you pretende to disallow yea most vehemētly to improue the priuate Masse Vpon this resolution that the Masse as it is taken in generall is to be allowed I enter further in reason with you and make you this argument If priuate Masse in respecte only of that it is priuate after your meaning be reproueable it is for the single communion that is to saye for that the priest receiueth the Sacrament alone But the single communion is laufull yea good and godly ergo the priuate Masse in this respecte that it is priuate is not reproueable but to be allowed holden for good and holy and to be frequēted If you denye the first proposition or maior then must youe shew for what elles you doo reproue priuate Masse in respecte only that it is priuate then for single communion If you shew any thing elles then doo you digresse from our purpose and declare that you reproue the Masse The minor you can not denye seing that you see how sufficiently I haue proued it And so the priuate Masse in that respecte only it is priuate is to be allowed for good as the Masse is Mary I denye not but that it were more commēdable and more godly on the churches parte if many wel disposed and examined would be partakers of the blessed Sacrament with the priest But though the Clergie be worthely blamed for negligence herein through which the people may be thought to haue growen to this slaknes and indeuocion yet that notwithstanding this parte of the catholike Religion remaineth sownde and faultles For as touching the substance of the Masse it selfe by the single communion of the priest in case of the peoples coldenes and negligence it is nothing impaired Elles if the publike sacrifice of the churche might not be offered with out a number of communicantes receiuing with the priest in one place then would the auncient fathers in all their writinges some where haue complained of the ceasing of that which euery where they call quotidianum iuge sacrificium the dayly and cōtinuall sacrifice of which their opinion is that it ought dayly to be sacrificed that the death of our lord and the worke of our Redēption might alwayes be celebrated and had in memorie and we thereby shewe our selues according to our bounden duetie myndefull and thankefull But verely the fathers no where complaine of intermitting the daily sacrifice but very much of the slaknes of the people for that they came not more often vnto this holy and holesome banket and yet they neuer compelled them thereto but exhorting them to frequēt it worthely lefte them to their owne conscience S. Ambros witnesseth that the people of the East had a custome in his tyme to be houseled but once in the yere And he rebuketh sharply such as folowe them after this sorte Si quotidianus est cibus Lib. 6. de sacra ca. 4 cur post annum illum sumis quemadmodum Graeci in Oriente facere
Crosse they worship not the woodde or stone figured but they honour the highest God And whom they can not beholde with senses they reuerēce and worship his image representing him according to auncient Institution not resting or staying them selues in the image but trāsferring the adoration and worship to him that is represented Thus farre S. Gregorie Much might be alleaged out of the fathers concerning the worshipping of Images but this may suffise And of all this one sense redowndeth that what reuerence honour or worship so euer is applyed to Images it is but for remēbrance loue and honour of the primitiues or originalles As when we kysse the gospell booke by that token we honour not the parchement paper and incke wherein it is written but the gospell it selfe And as Iacob Gen. 37. when he kyssed his sonne Iosephes cote embrewed with kyddes bloud holding and embracing it in his armes and making heauy mone ouer it the affection of his loue and sorowe rested not in the cote but was directed to Ioseph him selfe whose infortunat death as he thought that blouddy cote represented So Christen men shewing tokens of reuerence loue and honour before the Image of Christ of an Apostle or Martyr with their inward recognition and deuotion of their hartes they staye not their thoughtes in the very Images but deferre the whole to Christ to the Apostle and to the Martyr geuing to ech one in dewe proportion that which is to be geuen putting difference betwen the almighty Creator and the creatures finally rendring all honour and glory to God alone who is maruelous in his sainctes Such worshipping of Images is neither to be accompted for wicked nor to be dispysed for the which we haue the testimonies of the auncient fathers bothe Grekes and Latines vnto which further auctoritie is added by certaine generall Councelles that haue condemned the brekers and impugners of the same Iuell Or that the laye people was then forbydden to reade the word of God in their owne tonge Of the peoples reading the Bible in theire ovvne tonge ARTICLE XV. THat the laye people was then forbidden to reade the word of God in their owne tonge I fynde it not Neither doo I fynde that the laye people was then or at any other tyme commaunded to reade the word of God in their owne tonge being vulgare and barbarous By vulgare and barbarous tonges I vnderstand as before all other besyde the three learned and principall tonges Hebrewe Greke and Latine Which as they were once natiue and vulgare to those three peoples Three sūdry opinions cōcerning the scriptures to be had in a vulgare tonge so now to none be they natiue and vulgare but common to be atteined by learning for meditation of the scriptures and other knowledge They that treate of this Article concerning the hauing of the scriptures in a vulgare tonge for the laytie to reade bee of three sundry opinions Some iudge it to be vtterly vnlaufull that the Bible be translated into any tonge of the commō people Some thinke it good it be translated so that respecte be had of tyme and of place and of persones Some be of the opinion that the holy scriptures ought to be had in the mother and natiue tonge of euery nation without any regard of tyme place or persones The first opinion is holden of fewe and commonly mysliked The third is maineteined by all the sectes of our tyme the Swenkfeldians excepted who would the scriptures to be in no regard The second is allowed best of those that seme to be of most wisedō and godlynes and to haue most care for the helth of the churche who haue not seuered thē selues frō the faith which hath cōtinewed frō the begynning Here that I saye nothing of the first opinion as they of the third reproue the moderation of the second so they of the second can not allowe the generalitie of the third That the scriptures be not to be set forth in the vulgare tonge to be reade of all sortes of people Fiue cōsiderations vvhy the scriptures are not to be set forth for all sortes of people to read thē vvith out limitation euery parte of them without any limitation of tyme place and persones they seme to be moued with these cōsyderatiōs First that it is not necessary nexte that it is not conuenient thirdly that it is not profitable Fouerthly that it is dangerous and hurtefull And lastly although it were accorded the common people to haue libertie to reade the Bible in their owne tonge yet that the translations of late yeres made by those that haue diuided them selues from the catholike churche be not to be allowed as worthely suspected not to be sownde and assured First that the common people of all sortes and degrees ought of necessitie to reade all the holy scriptures in their owne tonge they saie they could neuer fynde it hytherto in the same scriptures Lib. 3. aduersus haereses ca. 4 Irenaeus writeth that the Apostles preached to the aliātes and barbarous people the faith of Christ euē to those that were aliātes and barbarous in lāguage and sayeth that hauing heard the gospell preached they beleued in Christ and keping the order of tradition which the Apostles delyuered vnto them had their saluatiō and faith written in their hart without prynte penne or ynke and vtterly without letters And further he sheweth that if the Apostles had lefte to vs no scriptures at all yet we shuld be saued by the traditiō which they lefte to thē whō they cōmitted their churches vnto as many natiōs of aliantes be saued by the same Prologo in explationem Psal Hilarius likewise declaring that the mysterie of Gods will and th'expectatiō of the blessed kingdom is most and chiefly preached in the three tonges in which Pilate wrote on the Crosse our lord Iesus Christ to be king of the Iewes confesseth notwithstanding that many barbarous nations haue atteined and goten the true knowledge of God by the preaching of the Apostles and the faith of the churches remayning amongest them to that daie Whereby he doth vs to vnderstand that the vnlearned barbarous peoples had their faith without letters or writing whereof they had no skill by tradition and preaching as well as the other nations who were holpen by the benefite of the learned tonges Hebrewe Greke and Latine That it is not conuenient nor semely all sortes of persons without exception to be admitted to the reading of the holy scriptures I nede to saye nothing euery reasonnable man may easely vnderstand the causes by him selfe This is certaine diuerse chapters and stories of the olde testament conteine such matter as occasion of euill thoughtes is like to be geuen if women maydens and young men be permitted to reade them Gregorie Nazianzene Lib. 1. Theologiae whom the grekes called the diuine sayeth moued with great considerations that it is not the parte of all persons to reason of God and of
Ecce lingua Britanniae quae nil aliud nouerat quà m Barbarum frendere iam dudum in diuinis laudibus Hebraeum coepit Halleluia resonare Beholde our lord almighty hath now pearced the hartes almost of all nations Beholde he hath ioyned the borders of the East and the West in one faith together Beholde the tonge of Britaine that could nothing elles but gnashe barbarously hath begonne now of late in diuine seruice to sownde the Hebrewe Halleluia Bede in the ende of his second booke sheweth that one Iames a deacon of the churche of Yorke a very cunning man in songe sone after the faith had ben spred abroade here as the number of beleuers grewe began to be a maister or teacher of synging in the churche after the maner of the Romaines The like he writeth of one Eddi surnamed Stephanus that taught the people of Northumberland to sing the Seruice after the Romaine maner and of Putta a holy man bishop of Rochester commending him much for his great skille of synging in the churche after the vse and maner of the Romaines which he had learned of the disciples of S. Gregorie These be testimonies playne and euident ynough that at the begynning the churches of England had their diuine Seruice in Latine and not in English One place more I will recite out of Bede most manifest of all other for proufe hereof In the tyme of Agatho the Pope there was a reuerent man called Iohn Archicantor that is chiefe chaunter or synger of S. Peters churche at Rome and Abbot of the monasterie of S. Martin there Benedicte an abbot of Britaine hauīg buylded a monasterie at the mowth of the Riuer Murus Bede so calleth it sued to the Pope for cōfirmations liberties fraunchesies priuileges etc. as in such case hath ben accustomed Among other thinges he obteined this cunning Chaunter Iohn to come with him into Britaine to teache songe Because Bedes ecclesiasticall storye is not very cōmon I haue thought good here to recite his owne wordes thus englished This Abbot Benedicte tooke with him the foresayd Iohn to bring him in to Britaine that he shuld teache in his monastery the course of seruice for the whole yere so as it was done at S. Peters in Rome Iohn dyd as he had commaundement of the Pope both in teaching the synging men of the sayde monastery the order and rite of synging and reading with vtterance of their voice and also of writing and prycking those thinges that the compasse of the whole yere requyred in the celebration and keping of the holy dayes Which be kepte in the same monasterie till this daye and be copied out of many rownde about on euery coste Neither dyd that Iohn teache the brethren of that monastery onely but also many other made all the meanes they could to gete him to other places where they might haue him to teache This farre Bede I trowe no man will thinke that this Romaine taught and wrote the order and maner of synging and pronouncing the Seruice of the churches of this lande in the English tonge If it had ben demed of the learned and godly gouernours of Christen people then a necessary pointe to saluation to haue had the seruice in the english no mā had ben so apte and fitte to haue trāslated it as he who in those dayes had by speciall grace of God a singular gifte to make songes and sonets in english meter to serue religion and deuotion His name was Cednom Cednom of whom Bede writeth merueilouse thinges How he made diuerse songes conteining matter of the holy scripture with such exceding swetenes and with such a grace as many feeling their hartes compuncte and prickte with hearing and reading of thē withdrewe them selues from the loue of the world and were enkēdled with the desyer of the heauenly lyfe Many sayeth Bede of th'english nation attempted after him to make religiouse and godly poetries but none could doo comparably to him For he was not sayeth he alluding to S. Paules wordes taught of men Galat. 1. neither by man that arte of making godly songes but receiued from God that gifte freely And therfore he could make no wanton tryfling or vaine ditties but onely such as perteined to godly Religion and might seme to procede of a head guyded by the holy ghost lib. 4. cap. 24. This diuine poet Cednom though he made many and sundry holy workes hauing their whole argument out of holy scripture as Bede reporteth yet neuer made he any piece of the Seruice to be vsed in the churche Thus the faith hath continewed in this land among the English people from the 14. yere of the reigne of Mauritius the Emperour almost these thousand yeres The first entree of the English Seruice and vntill the late king Edwardes tyme the English Seruice was neuer heard of at least waye neuer in the churche of England by publike auctoritie receiued and vsed Now touching the scripture by M. Iuell and by all them of that syde alleaged for the Seruice to be had in the vulgare tonge In the 14. chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians S. Paul treateth of the vse of tonges so as it was in the primitiue churche a speciall gifte As the faithfull folke came together to pray and to heare gods worde some one man suddeinly stoode vp and spake in the congregation with tonges of many nations Spiritu insusurrante as Chrysostom sayeth that is by inspiration or prompting of the spirite so as neither others that were present neither him selfe after the opinion of Chrysostome vnderstoode what he sayd That gifte the Apostle dyd not forbyd For that euery gifte of God is good and nothing by him done in vaine but dehorted the Corinthians frō the vaine and ambitiouse vse of it and therefore dyd much extenuate the same and preferred prophecying that is the gifte to interprete and expounde scriptures farre before it It was not in the churche but in the Apostles tyme or a very shorte while after them and that all together by miracle the holy ghost being the worker of it The place of S. Paul to the Corinthians maketh not for the Seruice in the English tonge As concernig the order of the common prayers and publike Seruice in such sorte as we haue now and that age had not S. Paul mentioneth nothing neither speaheth one word in that whole chapter but of the vse of the miraculouse gifte as is sayde before And therefore his sayinges out of that chapter be not fittely alleaged of M. Iuell and the reste of our aduersaries against the maner of prayers and Seruice of the churche now receiued and of long tyme vsed which in the West is vttered in the latine tonge not by waye of miracle or peculiar gifte but according to the institution and ordināce of the churche Profectò enim coelū Ecclesia tū fuit In 1. Cor. 14. ho. 37. In very dede sayeth Chrysostome the churche then was a heauen
adoration of christes bodie in them present And thus for the Eleuation or holding vp of the sacrament we haue sayde ynough Or that the people did then fall downe and worship Iuell the Sacrament with godly honour Of the vvorshipping or adoration of the Sacrament ARTICLE VIII IF the blessed SacrameÌ„t of the aulter were no other then M. Iuell and the rest of the Sacramentaries thinke of it then were it not well done the people to bowe downe to it and to worship it with godly honour For then were it but bare bread and wyne how honorably so euer they speake of it calling it symbolicall that is tokening and sacramentall bread and wyne But now this being that very bread which god the father gaue vs from heaueÌ„ as Christ sayeth Ioan. 6. This bread being the fleshe of Christ which he gaue for the life of the world this being that bread and that cuppe 1. Cor. 11. whereof who so euer eateth or drinketh vnworthely shall be gylty of the body and bloud of our lord in this Sacrament being conteined the very reall and substantiall body and bloud of Christ as him selfe sayeth expressely in the three first euangelistes and in S. Paul this being that holy Eucharistia which Ignatius calleth the fleshe of our Sauiour Iesus Christ In epistola quadaÌ„ ad Smyrnenses vt citatur à Theodori to in Polymorph Lib. 4. coÌ„trà haereses ca. 34. that hath suffered for our synnes which the father by his goodnes hath raysed vp to life againe This being not common bread but the Eucharistia after consecration consisting of two thinges earthly and heauenly as Irenaeus sayeth meaning by the one the outward formes by the other the very body and bloud of Christ who partely for the godhed inseparably thereto vnited and partly for that they were conceiued of the holy ghoste in the most holy virgine Mary are worthely called heauenly This being that bread which of our lord geuen to his disciples not in shape but in nature chaunged by the almighty power of the word In Ser. de coena do is made fleshe as S. Cyprian termeth it This being that holy mysterie wherein the inuisible priest tourneth the visible creatures of bread and wyne in to the substaÌ„ce of his body and bloud by his word with secrete power Homil. 5. de Pascha as Eusebiê° Emisenus reporteth This being that holy foode by worthy receiuing whereof Christ dwelleth in vs naturally that is to witte is in vs by truth of nature and not by concorde of will onely Lib. 8. de trinitate as Hilarius affirmeth Againe this being that table whereat in our lordes meate we receiue the worde truly made fleshe of the most holy virgine Mary as the same Hilarie sayeth This being that bread which neither earing nor sowing nor worke of tyllers hath brought forth but that earth which remained vntouched and was full of the same that is the blessed virgine Marye as Gregorie Nyssene describeth Lib. de vita Mosis cap. 48. CoÌ„stitut Apostol li. 8. c. vlt. In Leuit. lib. 1. ca. 4. This being that supper in the which Christ sacrificed him selfe as Clemens Romanus and as Hesychius declareth Who furthermore in an other place writeth most plainely that these mysteries meaning the blessed sacrament of th'aulter are sancta sanctorum the holiest of all holy thinges because it is the body of him selfe of whom Gabriel sayd to the virgine Luc. 1. the holy ghost shall come vpon the and the power of the highest shall ouershaddowe the therefore that holy thing which shall be borne of the shall be called the sonne of God and of whom also Esaie spake Holy is our lord and dwelleth on high verely euen in the bosome of the father On the holy table where these mysteries are celebrated the lambe of God being layed and sacrificed of priestes vnbloudely as that most auncient and worthy councell of Nice reporteth Briefly in this highest SacrameÌ„t vnder visible shape inuisible thinges soothly the very true reall liuely natural and substantiall body and bloude of our Sauiour Christ being conteined as the scriptures doctoures councelles yea and the best learned of Martin Lutheres schoole doo most plainely and assuredly affirme This I saye in conclusion being so as it is vndoubtedly so we that remaine in the catholike churche and can by no persecution be remoued from the catholike faith whom it liketh M. Iuell and his felowes to call papistes beleue verely that it is our bownden duetie to adore the Sacrament and to worship it with all godly honour By which word Sacrament notwithstanding in this respect we meane not the outward formes that properly are called the sacrament but the thing of the sacrameÌ„t the inuisible grace and vertue therein conteined euen the very body and bloud of Christ And when we adore and worship this blessed Sacrament we doo not adore and worship the substance it selfe of bread and wine because after consecratioÌ„ none at all remaineth Neither doo we adore the outward shapes and formes of bread and wine which remaine for they be but creatures that ought not to be adored What Christen people adore in the Sacrament but the body it selfe and bloud of Christ vnder those formes verely and really conteined lowly and deuoutly doo we adore And therefore to speake more properly and according to skill least our aduersaries might take aduaÌ„tage against vs through occasion of termes where right sense onely is meant we proteste and saye that we doo and ought to adore and worship the body and bloud of Christ in the Sacrament And here this much is further to be sayde that in the Sacrament of the aulter the body of Christ is not adored by thought of mynde sundred from the word but being inseparably vnited to the word For this is specially to be considered that in this most holy Sacrament the body and bloud of Christ are not present by them selues alone as being separated from his soule and from the godhed but that there is here his true and lyuing fleshe and bloud ioyned together with his godhed inseparably and that they be as him selfe is perfite whole and inseparable Which is sufficiently confirmed by sundry his owne wordes in S. Iohn I am sayeth he the bread of lyfe Againe this is bread comming downe from heauen that if any eate of it he dye not I am the liuely bread that came downe from heauen if any eate of this bread he shall lyue euerlastingly And to shewe what bread he meant he coÌ„cludeth with these wordes And the bread which I shall geue is my fleshe which I shall geue for the life of the world By which wordes he assureth vs plainely that his fleshe which he geueth vs to eate is full of lyfe and ioyned with his godhed which bringeth to the worthy receiuers thereof immortalitie as well of body as of soule Which thing fleshe and bloud of it selfe could not performe as our lord him selfe declareth plainely where he
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
our aduersaries Iuell or if all the learned men that be alyue be hable to bring any one sufficient sentence out of any olde catholike doctour or father or out of any olde generall councell or out of the holy scriptures of God or any one example of the primitiue Churche whereby it may clearely and playnely be proued that there was any priuate Masse in the whole world at that tyme for the space of syx hundred yeres after Christ etc. The conclusion is this as I sayde before so saye I now agayne I am content to yelde and to subscribe Of Masse vvith out a number of others receiuing the Communion vvith the priest at the same tyme and place vvhich the gospellers call priuate Masse ARTICLE I. EVERY Masse is publike No Masse priuate in it self but in respecte of circūstāces concerning bothe the Oblation and also the communion and none priuate For no man offereth that dredfull Sacrifice priuately for him selfe alone but for the whole Churche of Christ in common The Communion likewise of the Sacrament is a publike feast by Christ through the ministerie of the priest in the same prepared for euery faithfull person from partaking whereof none is excluded that with due examinatiō hauing before made him selfe ready demaundeth the same And so being common by order of the first Institution and by will of the ministers it ought to be reputed for common not priuate That others doo so commonly forebeare to communicate with the priest it is through their owne defaulte and negligence not regarding their owne saluation Whereof the godly and carefull rulers of faithfull people haue sithens the tyme of the primitiue Churche alwayes much complayned Therefore in this respecte we doo not acknowledge any priuate Masse but leaue that terme to Luthers schoole where it was first deuysed and so termed by Sathan him selfe seeking how to withdraw his nouice Luther from the loue and estimation of that most blessed Sacrifice by reasoning with him against the same in a night vision as him selfe recordeth in a litle booke which he made De Missa angulari vnctione sacerdotali Yet we denye not but that the a Concil Vasen c. 4 Cōcil Triburiē Decretal li. 3. tit 41. c. 2. De consecrat dist 1 ex Augusti quod quidā Gregorio tribuunt Gregor ex Regist li. 2. ad Casteriū c. 9. fathers of some auncient Councelles and sithens likewise b 3. parte summae q. 83. respōsione ad 12. argumentu articuli 5. What the Lutheranes call priuate Masse S. Thomas and certaine other schoole doctours haue called it sometymes a priuate Masse but not after the sense of Luther and his scolers but onely as it is cōtrary to publike and solemne in consideration of place tyme audience purpose rites and other circumstances The varietie and chaunge of which being thinges accidentarie can not varie or chaunge the substance or essentiall nature of the Masse Maister Iuell an earnest professour of the new doctrine of Luther and of the Sacramentaries calleth as they doo that a priuate Masse whereat the priest hauing no cōpanie to communicate with him receiueth the Sacrament alone Against this priuate Masse as he termeth it he inueigheth sore in his prīted Sermō which he preached at Poules Crosse the second Sundaye before Easter in the yere of our lord 1560. as he entituleth it shunning the accustomed name of Passion Sundaye least as it semeth by vsing the terme of the catholike churche he shuld seme to fauer any thing that is catholike In which Sermon he hath gathered together as it were in to one heape all that euer he could fynde written in derogation of it in their bookes by whom it hath ben impugned And though he pretende enemitie against priuate Masse in word yet in dede who so euer readeth his Sermon and discerneth his sprite shall easely perceiue that he extēdeth his whole witte and cunning vtterly to abolishe the vnbloudy and daily Sacrifice of the Churche commonly called the Masse Which as the Apostles them selues affirme in * Pro sacrificio cruēto rationale incruētū ac mysticum sacrificiū instituit quod in mortē domini per symbola corporis sanguinis ipsius celebratur Clemens cōstitutionū Apostolicarū lib. 6 cap. 23. Proufes for the Masse briefly touched Clemēt their scoler and felow being vnbloudy hath succeded in place of the bloudy sacrifices of the olde lawe and is by Christes commaundemēt frequented and offered in remembraunce of his passiō and death and to be vsed all tymes vntill his coming But what so euer he or all other the forerunners of Antichrist speake or worke against it all that ought not to ouerthrowe the faith of good and true Christen men hauing for proufe thereof besyde many other places of holy scripture the figure of Melchisedech that was before the law the prophecie of Malachie in the law and lastly and most plainely the Institution of Christ in the new testamēt Which he lefte to the Apostles the Apostles to the Churche and the Churche hath cōtinually kepte and vsed through the whole world vntill this daye Touching doctours they haue with one consent in all ages in all partes of the world from the Apostles tyme foreward bothe with their example and also testimonie of writing confirmed the same faith They that haue ben brought vp in learning and yet through corruption of the tyme stand doubtefull in this point let them take paines to trauaile in studie and they shall fynde by good auncient witnes of the priestes and deacons of Achaia that Saint Androw the Apostle touching the substance of the Masse worshipped God euery daye with the same seruice as priestes now doo in celebrating the externall Sacrifice of the Churche They shall fynd by witnes of Abdias first bishop of Babylō Abdiae li. 7. historiae Apostol who was the Apostles scoler and saw our Sauiour in fleshe and was present at the passion and martyrdom of S. Androw that S. Matthew the Apostle celebrated Masse in Aethiopia a litle before his Martyrdom They shall fynde by reporte of an aunciēt Councell generall Conciliū Constantinopol in Trullo cap. 32. Epistol ad Burdega Lib cōstitut apostolicarū 8. cap. vlt. that S. Iames wrote a liturgie or a forme of the Masse They shall fynde that Martialis one of the lxxij disciples of Christ and Bishop of Bourdeaulx in Fraunce sent thyther by S. Peter serued God in like sorte They shall fynde in Clement the whole order and forme of the Masse set forth by the Apostles them selues and the same celebrated by them after our lord was assumpted before they went to the ordering of bisshops priestes and the vij deacons according to his Institution and the same right so declared by Cyrillus bishop of Ierusalem In mystagogicis orationibus They shall fynde the same most plainely treated of and a forme of the Masse much agreable to that is vsed in these dayes in wryting set forth by S. Dionyse In
of the Sacrament being the Institution of Christ and the maner number and other rites of the receiuing not fixed nor determined by the same but ordered by the Churches disposition whether many or fewe or but one in one place receiue for that respecte the ministration of the priest is not made vnlaufull But if they alleage against vs the exāple of Christ saying that he receiued it not alone but did communicate with his twelue Apostles and that we ought to folow the same I answer that we are bounde to folow this example quo ad substantiam nō quo ad externam ceremoniam for the substance not for the outward ceremonie to the which perteineth the number and other rites as is a fore sayde Christes exāple importeth necessitie of receiuing onely the other rites as number place tyme etc. be of congruence and order In which thinges the churche hath taken order willing and charging that all shall communicate that be worthy and disposed And so it were to be wished as oftentymes as the priest doth celebrate this high sacrifice that there were some who worthely disposed might receiue their rightes with him and be partakers sacramētally of the body and bloude of Christ with him But in case such do lacke as we haue sene that lacke commonly in our tyme yet therefore the cōtinuall and dayly sacrifice ought not to be intermitted For sith this is done in remembraunce of Christes oblation once made on the Crosse for the Redemption of all mankinde therefore it ought dayly to be celebrated thorough out the whole churche of Christ for the better keping of that great benefite in remembraunce and that though none receiue with the priest And it is sufficient in that case if they that be present be partakers of those holy mysteries spiritually and communicate with him in prayer and thankes geuing in faith and deuotion hauing their mynde and will to communicate with him also facramentally when tyme shall serue M. Iuell and many other of that syde thinke to haue an argument against priuate Masse of the word Communio as though the sacramēt were called a communion in cōsyderation of many receiuers together So he calleth that a Communion In his sermō fo 41. which is for the whole congregation to receiue together And therefore in his sermon oftentymes he maketh an opposition betwen priuate Masse and communion and alleaging diuerse places where mention is of a communion inferreth of eche of them an argument against priuate Masse But this argument is weake and vtterly vnlearned as that which procedeth of ignorance For it is not so called because many Why the sacramēt is called a cōmuniō or as M. Iuell teacheth the whole congregation communicateth to gether in one place but because of the effecte of the Sacrament for that by the same we are ioyned to God and many that be diuerse be vnited together and made one mysticall body of Christ which is the churche of which body by vertue and effecte of this holy Sacrament all the faithfuls be membres one of an other and Christ is the head Thus diuerse auncient doctoures doo expounde it and specially Dionysius Areopagita Ecclesias hierarch cap. 3. where speaking of this sacrament he sayeth Dignissimum hoc Sacramentum sua praestantia reliquis sacramentis longè antecellit atque ea causa illud meritò singulariter communio appellatur Nam quanuis vnumquodque sacramentum id agat vt nostras vitas in plura diuisas in vnicum illum statum quo Deo iungimur colligat attamen huic Sacramento Communionis vocabulum praecipuè ac peculiariter congruit This most worthy Sacrament is of such excellencie that it passeth farre all other sacramentes And for that cause it is alonely called the communion For albe it euery Sacrament be such as gathereth our lyues that be diuided a sunder many wayes in to that one state whereby we are ioyned to God yet the name of cōmunion is fitte and conuenient for this sacrament specially and peculiarly more then for any other By which wordes and by the whole place of that holy father we vnderstand that this sacramēt is specially called the communion for the speciall effecte it worketh in vs which is to ioyne vs nearely to God so as we be in him and he in vs and all we that beleue in him one body in Christ And for this in dede we doo not communicate alone For in asmuch as the whole churche of God is but one house De coena domini as Saint Cyprian sayeth Vna est domus ecclesiae in qua agnus editur There is one house of the church wherein the lambe is eaten and S. Paul sayeth to Timothe ◠Tim. 3. that this house of God is the churche of the lyuing God who so euer doth eate this lambe worthely doth cōmunicate with al christen men of all places and countries that be in this house and doo the like And therefore S. Hierom a priest shewing him selfe loth to contend in writing with S. Augustine a bishop calleth him a bishop of his communion Inter epistolas Augustini epist 14. His wordes be these Non enim conuenit vt ab adolescentia vsque ad hanc aetatem in monasteriolo cum sanctis fratribus labore desudans aliquid contrà Episcopum communionis meae scribere audeam eum Episcopū quem ante coepi amare quâm nosse It is not meete sayeth he that I occupied in labour from my yowth vntil this age in a poore monasterie with holy brethren shuld be so bolde as to write any thing against a bishop of my communion yea and that bishop whom I beganne to loue er that I knewe him Thus we see that S. Hierom and S. Augustine were of one communion and dyd comunicate together though they were farre a sunder the one at Bethlehem in Palestina the other at Hippo in Aphrica Thus there may be a Communion though the communicantes be not together in one place What if foure or fyue of sundry houses in a sicknes tyme being at the pointe of death in a parrish requyre to haue their rightes er they departe The priest after that he hath receiued the sacrament in the church taketh his naturall sustenaunce and dyneth and then being called vpon carieth the reste a mile or two to the sicke in eche house none being disposed to receiue with the sicke he doth that he is requyred Doth he not in this case communicate with them and doo not they cōmunicate one with an other rather hauing a will to communicate together in one place also if oportunitie serued Elles if this might not be accōpted as a lawfull and good communion and therfore not to be vsed th' one of these great inconueniences shuld wittingly be committed That either they shuld be denyed that necessarie vitayle of lyfe at their departing hence which were a cruel iniurie and a thing contrary to the examples and godly ordināces of the primitiue
churche Or the priest rather for companies sake then of deuotion shuld receiue that holy meate after that he had serued his stomake with coÌ„mon meates which likewise is against the auncieÌ„t decrees of the churche Euen so the priest that receiueth alone at Masse doth communicate with all them that doo the like in other places and countries Now if either the priest Necessitie of many coÌ„municants together contrarie to the libertie of the gospell or euery other christen man or woman might at no tyme receiue this blessed Sacrament but with mo together in one place then for the enioying of this great and necessary benefite we were bounde to condition of a place And so the churche delyuered from all bondage by christ and set at libertie shuld yet for all that be in seruitute and subiection vnder those outward thinges which S. Paul calleth infirma egena elementa Galat. 4. weake and beggarly ceremonies after the English Bibles translation Then where S. Paul blamyng the Galathians sayeth Ye obserue dayes and monethes and tymes For this bondage he might likewise blame vs and saye ye obserue places But S. Paul would not we shuld retourne againe to these which he calleth elemeÌ„tes for that were Iewishe And to the Colossians he sayeth we be dead with Christ from the elementes of this worlde Colos 2. Now if we excepte those thinges which be necessaryly requyred to this Sacrament by Christes institution either declared by writteÌ„ scriptures or taught by the holy ghost Similiter calicem misceÌ„s ex vino aqua sanctificaÌ„s tradidit eis diceÌ„s bibite etc. ClemeÌ„s in Canone Liturgiae lib. 8. apostol coÌ„sti c. 17 1. Cor. 3. as bread and wyne mingled with water for the matter the due wordes of Consecration for the forme and the priest rightely ordered hauing intention to doo as the churche doth for the ministerie all these elementes and all outward thinges be subiecte to vs and serue vs being members of Christes churche In consideration whereof S. Paul saveth to the Corinthians Omnia enim vestra sunt etc. All thinges are yours whether it be Paul either Apollo either Cephas whether it be the worlde either lyfe either death whether they be present thinges or thinges to come all are yours and ye Christes and Christ is Gods Againe where as the auncient and great learned Bishop Cyrillus teacheth plainely and at large the meruelouse vniting and ioyning together of vs with Christ and of our selues in to one bodie by this sacrament seing that all so vnited and made one body be not for all that brought together in to one place for they be dispersed abroade in all the worlde thereof we may well conclude that to this effecte the being together of communicantes in one place is not of necessitie His wordes be these much agreable to Dionysius Areopagita a fore mentioned In Ioan. lib. 11. c. 16 Vt igitur inter nos Deum singulos vniret quanuis corpore simul anima distemus modum tamen adinuenit consilio patris sapientiae suae conuenieÌ„tem Suo enim corpore credentes per communionem mysticam benedicens secum inter nos vnum nos corpus efficit Quis enim eos qui vnius sancti corporis vnione in vno Christo vniti sunt ab hac naturali vnione alienos putabit Nam si omnes vnum panem manducamus vnum omnes corpus efficimur diuidi enim atque seiungi Christus non patitur That Christ might vnite euery one of vs within our selues and with God although we be distant both in body and also in soule yet he hath deuised a meane conuenable to the counsell of the father and to his own wisedom For in that he blesseth them that beleue with his own body through the mysticall Communion he maketh vs one body both with him selfe and also betwen our selues For who will thinke them not to be of this natural vnion which with the vnion of that one holy body be vnited in one Christ For if we eate all of one bread then are we made all one body for Christ may not be diuided nor done asunder Thus we see after this auncient fathers learning grounded vpon the scriptures that all the faithfulles blessed with the body of Christ through the mysticall communion bee made one body with Christ and one body betwen them selues Which good blessing of Christ is of more vertue and also of more necessitie then that it may be made frustrate by condition of place specially where as is no wylfull breache nor contempte of most semely and conuenable order Many maye coÌ„municate together not being in one place together Sermon fol. 51. And therefore that one may communicate with an other though they be not together in one place which M. Iuell denyeth with as peeuish an argument of the vse of excommunication as any of all those ys that he scoffeth at some catholike writers for and that it was thought lawfull and godly by the fathers of the auncient churche neare to the Apostles tyme it may be well proued by diuerse good auctorities Irenaeus writing to Victor Bishop of Rome concerning the keping of Easter Ecclesias hist lib. 5. cap. 24. As Eusebius Caesariensis reciteth to the intent Victor shuld not refrayne from their coÌ„munioÌ„ which kepte Easter after the custome of the churches in Asia fownded by S. Iohn th'Euangeliste sheweth that when bishoppes came from forreine parties to Rome the bishoppes of that see vsed to send to them if they had ben of the catholike faith the Sacrament to receiue whereby mutuall communion betwen them was declared Irenaeus his wordes be these Graeca sic habeÌ„t aliter quà m Rufini versio vulgata Qui fuerunt ante te presbyteri etiam cum non ita obseruarent presbyteris ecclesiarum cum Romam accâ—derent Eucharistiam mittebant The priestes by which name in this place bishoppes are vnderstanded that were a fore thy tyme though they kepte not Easter as they of Asia dyd yet when the bishoppes of the churches there came to Rome dyd sende them the sacrament Thus those bishoppes dyd communicate together before their meeting in one place Iustinus the Martyr likewise describing the maner and â—â—der of christen Religion of his tyme touching the vse of the Sacrament sayeth thus Finitis ab eo Apolog. 2. qui praefâ—ctus est gratijs orationibus ab vniuerso populo facta â—cclâ—matione Diaconi quoâ— ita vocamus vnicuique tum temporis prasenti paâ—is et aquae vini coÌ„secrati daÌ„t participationem adeos qui non adsunt deferunt When the priest hath made an lende of thankes and prayers and all the people therto haue sayde amen They which we call deacons geue to euery one then present bread and water and wyne consecrated to take parte of it for their housell and for those that be not present they beare it home to them Thus in that tyme they
wyne in his house then for as much as Egesippus who was not long after him witnesseth of him that he neuer dranke wyne but at our lordes supper But because perhappes oure aduersaries will caste some myste ouer these allegations to darken the truth with theire clowdy gloses which be cleare ynough to quiet and sobre wittes that geue eare to the holy ghost speaking to vs by the mowth of the churche I will bring forth such witnesses and proufes for this purpose out of auncient fathers as by no reason or Sophisticall shifte they shall be hable to auoyde Many of the places that I alleged in the article before this for priuate communion may serue to his purpose very well and therfore I will not lette to recite some of them here also Milciades that constant martyr of Christ and bishop of Rome ordeined that sundry hostes prepared by the consecrating of a bishop shuld be sent abroade among the churches and parishes that christen folke who remayned in the catholike faith might not through heretikes be defrauded of the holy SacrameÌ„t Which can none other wise be taken then for the forme of breade onlye because the wine can not conueniently be so caryed abroade froÌ„ place to place in small quantitie for such vse much lesse any long tyme be kepte with out corruption The councell of Nice decreed Can. 14. that in churches where neither bishop nor priest were present the deacons them selues bringe forth and eate the holy communion Which lykewise can not be referred to the forme of wine for cause of sowring and corruption if it be long kepte Where oftentymes we finde it recorded of the fathers that christen people in tyme of persecution receiued of the priestes at church in fyne linnen clothes the sacrament in sundry portioÌ„s to beare with them and to receiue it secretly in the morninge before other meate as their deuotion serued theÌ„ for the same cause and in respectes of other circumstances it must of necessitie be taken onely for the kynde or forme of breade The places of Tertullian and saint Cyprian be knowen Lib. 2. ad vxorem Tertullian writing to his wife exhorteth her not to marye agayne specially to an infidell if he dye before her for that if she doo she shall not be hable at all tymes for her husband to doo as a christen womaÌ„ ought to doo Will not thy husband know sayeth he what thou eatest secretly before all other meate and in case he doo know it he will beleue it to be bread not him who it is called-Saint Cyprian writeth in his sermon de lapsis that when a woman had gonne aboute with vnworthy handes to open her cofer wher the holy thing of oure lord was layde vp she was made affrayde with fyre that rose vp from thence as she durst not touch it Which doubteles must be taken for that one kynde of the Sacrament The examples of keping the holy Sacrament vnder the forme of bread onely to be in a redines for the sycke and for others in tyme of danger that they might haue their necessarie vitaile of lyfe or viage prouision with them at their departure hence be in maner infinite Here one or two may serue in stede of a number For though M. Iuell maketh his vaunt that we haue not one sentence or clause for proufe of these articles which he so defaceth with his negatiue yet I will not accumulat this treatise with tediouse allegation of auctorities S. Ambrose at the houre of death receiued the communion vnder one kynde kepte for that purpose as it appeareth by this testimonie of Paulinus who wrote his life And because it may be a good instruction to others to dye well I will here recite his wordes At the same tyme as he departed from vs to oure lorde from about the eleueÌ„th howre of the day vntill the howre that he gaue vp the ghost stretching abroade his handes in maner of a crosse he prayed We sawe his lippes moue but voice we heard none Horatus a priest of the churche of Vercelles being gonne vp to bedde heard a voice three tymes of one calling him and saying to him aryse and haste the for he will departe hence by and by Who going downe gaue to the sainte oure lordes bodye which taken and swalowed downe he gaue vp the ghost hauing with him a good voiage prouision so as the soule being the better refreshed by the vertue of that meate maye now reioyse with the companie of Angelles whose life he leade in the earth and with the felowship of Elias Ecclesias hist lib. 6. cap. 44. Dionysius Alexandrinus aboute the yere of oure lord 200. as Eusebius Caesariensis reciteth manifestly declareth how that an olde man called Serapion was houseled vnder one kinde at his ende This Serapion after that he had layen speacheles three dayes sent for the Sacrament The priest for sickenes not hable to come him selfe gaue to the ladde that came of that errant a litle of the sacrament commaunding him to weate it and so being moisted to powre it in to the oldes mannes mowth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this much is expressed by the wordes there as the greke is to be constrewed The ladde being retourned home moisted with some liquour that diuine meate to serue the olde man with all lying now panting for desyre to be dimissed hence and to haste him awaye to heauen and powred it in to his mowth For that this old mannes mowth and throte had long ben drye by force of his sikenes the priest who had experience in that case prouidently gaue warning to moyste the Sacrament with some liquoure and so together to powre it in to his mowth Which was so done by the ladde as Dionysius expresseth Now if the forme of wine had then also ben brought by the ladde to be ministred there had ben no nede of such circumstance to procure the olde man a moisture to swallowe downe that holy foode And that this was the maner of ministring the Sacrament to old men at their departing it appeareth by record of Theodoritus who wryteth in his ecclesiastical storye how one Bassus an archepriest ministred vnto an olde maÌ„ called Simeones of great fâ—me for his holynes Bassus sayeth he as he visited his churches chaunced vpoÌ„ holy Simeones that woonder of the world lying sicke who through feblenes was not hable to speake nor moue When Bassus sawe he shuld dye he geueth him his rightes before But after what sorte it is to be marked Spongia petita Simeoni os humectat atque eluit ac tum ei diuinum obtulit Sacramentum He calleth for a sponge sayeth Theodoritus and therewith moysteth and washeth Simeones mowth and then geueth him the holye Sacrament If at that tyme the receiuing of the sacred cuppe had ben in vse such procuring of moisture for the better swallowing downe of the SacrameÌ„t vnder the one kynde had ben needles Amphilochius that worthy bishop of Iconium in Lycaonia of
Gelasius went about to spredde their heresie in Rome and in the parties of Italie Their hereticall opinion was that Christ tooke not oure fleshe and bloude but that he had a phaÌ„tasticall bodye and dyed not ne rose agayne trulye and in dede but by waye of phantasie And therefore at the communion they absteined from the cuppe and the better to cloke their heresie came to receiue the Sacrament in the forme of breade with other catholike people Against whom Leo sayeth thus Serm. 4. de quadra gesima Abdicant enim se sacramento salutis nostrae etc. They dryue theÌ„ selues awaye from the Sacrament of oure saluation And as they denye that Christ oure lorde was borne in truth of oure fleshe so they beleue not that he dyed and rose agayne truly And for this cause they condemne the daye of oure saluation and gladnes that is the sunnedaye to be their sadde fastinge daye And where as to cloke theire infidelitie they dare to be at oure mysteries they temper them selues so in the communion of the Sacramentes as in the meane tyme they may the more safely kepe them priuye With vnworthy mowth they receiue Christes bodye but to drinke the bloude of oure redemption vtterly they will none of it Which thing we would aduertise your holynes of that bothe such men maye be manifested by these tokens vnto you and also that they whose deuilish simulatioÌ„ and fayning is fownde being brought to light and bewrayed of the felowship of saintes maye be thrust out of the churche by priestly auctoritie Thus farre be Leo his wordes Gelasius that succeded fourty yeres after Leo imployed no lesse diligence then he dyd vtterly to vanquish and abolish that horrible heresie of whom Platina wryteth that he banished so many maniches as were fownde at Rome and there openlye burned their bookes And because this heresie shuld none elles where take roote and springe he wrote an epistle to Maiâ—ricus and Ioannes two bisshops amongest other thinges warning them of the same Out of which epistle this fragment onely is taken whereby he doth bothe briefly shewe what the Maniches dyd for cloking of their infidelitie as Leo sayeth and also in as muche as their opinion was that Christes bodye had not verye bloude as being phantasticall onely and therefore superstitiously absteined froÌ„ the cuppe of that holy bloude geueth charge and commaundement that either forsaking their heresie they receiue the whole Sacramentes to witte vnder bothe kyndes or that they be kepte from them wholy Here the wordes of Leo afore mentioned and this canon of Gelasius conferred together specially the storye of that tyme knowen it may sone appeare to any Iuell Or that the people had their commen prayers then in a straunge tonge that they vnderstoode not Of the Church Seruice in learned tonges vvhich the vnlearned people in olde tyme in sundry places vnderstoode not ARTICLE III. IF you meane Maister Iuell by the peoples common prayers such as at that tyme they commonly made to God in priuate deuotion I thinke they vttered them in that tonge which they vnderstoode and so doo Christen people now for the most parte and it hath neuer ben reproued by any catholike doctour But if by the common prayers you meane the publike Seruice of the churche whereof the most parte hath ben pronounced by the bishops priestes deacoÌ„s and other ecclesiasticall ministres the people to sundry partes of it saying Amen or otherwise geuing their assent I graunt some vnderstoode the language thereof and some vnderstoode it not I meane for the tyme you referre vs vnto euen of syx hundred yeres after Christes conuersation here in earth For about nyne hundred yeres past it is certaine the people in some countries had their Seruice in an vnknowen tonge as it shall be proued of our owne countrie of England But to speake first of antiquitie and of the compasse of your first syx hundred yeres it is euident by sundry auncient recordes bothe of doctours and of councelles specially of the councell Laodicene in Phrygia Pacatiana holden by the bishops of the lesser Asia about the yere of our lord 364. that the Greke churches had solemne Seruice in due order and forme set forth with exacte distinction of psalmes and lessons of houres dayes feastes and tymes of the yere of silence and open pronouncing of geuing the kisse of peace to the bishop first by the priestes then by the laye people of offering the Sacrifice of the only ministers coÌ„ming to the aulter to receiue the communion with diuerse other semely obseruations As for the Latine churches they had their prayers and Seruice also but in such fixed order long after the Grekes For Damasus the Pope first ordeyned that psalmes shuld be longe in the churche of Rome alternatim enterchaungeably or by course so as now we sing them in the quyere and that in the ende of euery psalme shuld be sayde Gloria Patri Filio Spiritui sancto sicut erat etc. Which he caused to be done by counsell of S. Hierome In rescripto Hieronymi ad 2. epist Damasi Papae ad HieronymuÌ„ presbyterum that the faith of the 318. bishops of the Nicene councell might with like felowship be declared in the mowthes of the Latines To whom Damasus wrote by Bonifacius the priest to Ierusalem that Hierom would send vnto him psallentiam Graecorum the maner of synging of the Grekes so as he had learned the same of Alexander the bishop in the East In that epistle complayning of the simplicitie of the Romaine churche he sayeth that there was in the Sunnedaye but one epistle of the Apostle and one chapter of the Gospell rehearsed and that there was no synging with the voice hearde nor the comelynes of hymnes knowen among them About the same tyme S. Ambrose also tooke order for the Seruice of his churche of Millane and made holy hymnes him selfe Lib. ConfessionuÌ„ In whose tyme as S. Augustine writeth when Iustina the young Emperour Valentinians mother for cause of her heresie wherewith she was seduced by the Arianes persecuted the catholike faith and the people thereof occupied them selues in deuoute watches more then before tyme ready to dye with their bishop in that quarell it was ordeyned that hymnes and psalmes shuld be song in the churche of Millane after the maner of the east parties that the good folke thereby might haue some comfort and spirituall reliefe in that lamentable state and continuall sorowes Thereof the churches of the West forthwith tooke example and in euery countrie they folowed the same In his seconde booke of Retractations Cap. 11. he sheweth that in his tyme such maner of synging began to be receiued in Aphrica Before this tyme had Hilarius also the bishop of Poiters in Fraunce made hymnes for that purpose of which S. Hierom maketh mention In 2. prooemio coÌ„mentariorum epist ad Galat. Much might be alleaged for proufe of hauing Seruice in the Greke and in the
the same tonge as Gennadius recordeth But what shall we speake of all the East neither all the lesser Asia and the countries there adioyning spake not greke one generation before the cōming of Christ For if all had spokē greke Mithridates that renoumed king of Pontus had not neded to haue learned two and twenty languages of so many nations he was king ouer to make answere to suters to appoint them orders and lawes and in open audience to speake to them in so many languages with out an interpreter as Plinie writeth Natural hist lib. 7. cap. 24. Here if these 22. nations of 22. sundry tonges had also besyde their owne language spoken greke and vnderstanded the same Plinie would not haue vttered that word sine interprete without an interpreter And likewise that king had taken vaine labour in learning those tonges where one might haue serued his tourne Neare to this kinges dominiō in the shore of the sea Euxinus in the lāde of Colchis Li. 6. nat hist ca. 5. there stoode a citie named Dioscurias so much haunted of straungers that as Plinie writeth by recorde of Timosthenes it was resorted vnto of three hundred nations of distincte languages and that the Romaines for the better expeditiō of their affaires there had at lenghth lying in the same cxxx interpreters Now if all the Orient had spoken greke as S. Hieromes wordes seme to importe the Romaines shuld not haue neded to haue maineteyned there to theire great charges so great a number of interpreters to be their agentes there But for proufe that all the Orient spake not greke what nede we alleage prophane wryters the knowen place of the Actes maketh mencion of sundry nations there that had distincte languages the Parthians Medians and Elamites etc. Act. 2. To cōclude they that to maineteine their straunge opinion of the vniuersall vnderstanding of the Seruice vsed of olde tyme in the East Churche saye and affirme that all the Orient spake greke seme much to diminishe the maiestie vtilitie and necessitie of the miraculouse gifte of tonges which the holy ghost gaue in the primitiue churche for the better furtherance of the gospell For if all in those parties had spoken greke the gifte of tonges had ben in that respecte nedeles Hytherto of the greke and of the Seruice in that language Now concerning the Latine tonge which is the learned tonge of the West That the Latine churche or the West churche for so it is called had the Seruice in Latine I graunt The chiefe Regions and countries of the Latine churche with in the forsayd syx hundred yeres were these Italie Aphrike Illyrike bothe Pannonies now called Hungarie and Austria Gallia now Fraunce and Spaine The coūtries of Germanie Pole and Swethen and those north partes receiued the faith long sithens The countries of Britaine here had receiued the faith in most places but were dryuen from the open profession of it agayne by the cruell persecution of Diocletian the Emperour at which persecution S. Albane with many others suffered martyrdom After that these countries had ben instructed in the faith as thinges grewe to perfection they had their Seruice accordingly no doubte such as was vsed in the churches from whence their first Apostles and preachers were sent And because the first preachers of the faith came to these west parties from Rome directed some from S. Peter some from Clement some others afterward from other bishops of that See Apostolike they planted and set vp in the countries by them conuerted the Seruice of the churche of Rome or some other very like and that in the Latine tonge onely for ought that can be shewed to the contrary Wherein I referre me onely to the first syx hundred yeres Now that such Seruice was vnderstanded of those peoples that spake and vnderstoode Latine no man denyeth For to some nations that was a natiue and a mother tonge as the greke was to the Grecians M. Iuell alleaging for the hauing of the prayers and Seruice in a vulgare tonge as for England in the English for Ireland in the Irishe for doucheland in the douche tonge etc authorities and examples of the churches where in the tyme of the primitiue churche the greke and Latine tong was the vsuall and common tonge of the people bringeth nothing for proufe of that which lyeth in controuersie Arnobius sayeth he called the latine tonge M. Iuelles allegatiō◠soluted sermonem Italū S. Ambrose in Millane S. Augustine in Aphrike S. Gregorie in Rome preached in Latine and the people vnderstoode them What then no man denyeth you this Hexaeme rō hom 4 S. Basile also speaketh of a sownde which the men women and children made in their prayers to God like the sownde of a waue stryking the sea bankes What can you conclude of this necessaryly M. Iuell All this may be vnderstanded of the sownding that one worde Amen answered at the prayers ende which is done now by the quyer and may be done by the people also in the lower parte of the churche For S. Hierome leadeth vs so to thinke Who commending the deuotion of the people of Rome In 2. prooemio cōment ad Galatas sayeth in like maner Vbi sic ad similitudinem coelestis tonitrui amen reboat vacua idolorum templa quatiuntur Where elles are the churches and the sepulchres of Martyrs with so feruent deuotion and with so great companie resorted vnto which wordes go before Where doth Amen geue so lowde a sownde like the thunderclappe out of the ayer so as the temples empted of idoles shake with it as at Rome The people speaketh with the priest at the mysticall prayers sayeth Chrysostome alleaged by M. Iuell What then So was it long before euen in the Apostles tyme Cōstitut apostolicarū li. 8. cap. 16. as we reade in Clement and likewise in S. Cyprian in * In orationibus mystagogicis Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus and many others so is it now For he shall fynde in the olde fathers that to Per omnia secula seculorū which Chrysostom speaketh of to Dominus vobiscum so light as they make of it to Sursum corda and to Gratias agamus domino Deo nostro the people answered as now also they answere Amen cum Spiritu tuo hahemus ad dominum dignum iustum est As for the place he alleageth out of S. Augustine vpon the psalmes it maketh nothing for his purpose S. Augustines wordes be these other wise then he reporteth them Quid hoc sit intelligere debemus In Psal 18 in expositione secunda vt humana ratione non quasi auium voce cantemus Nam merulae psittaci corui picae huiuscemodi volucres saepè ab hominibus docentur sonare quod nesciunt Hauing prayed to God sayeth S. August that he make vs cleane of our priuie synnes etc. we ought to vnderstand what this is that we maye singe with mannes reason not with voice as
byrdes doo For owselles popiniayes rauens and pyes and such the like byrdes oftetymes be taughte of men to sownde they knowe not what These wordes are to be taken of th'understanding of the sense not of the tonge which the Seruice is songe in For the people of Hippo where he was bishop vnderstoode the latine tonge meanely Which sense can not rightly and safely be atteined of the common people De ecclesiasticis diuersis capitulis Constitutione 123. Greg. Haloādro interprete Nā in veteri translatione nihil tale habetur but is better and more holesomly taughte by the preaching of the learned bishops and priestes The commaundement of Iustinian the Emperour which M. Iuell alleageth that bishops and priestes shuld celebrate the holy oblation or Sacrifice which we call the Masse not closely * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but with vtterāce and sownde of voice that they might be heard of the people maketh nothing for the Seruice to be had in the Englishe tong in the churche of England or in any other vulgare tonge in the churche of any other nation but requireth onely of the bishops and priestes open pronouncing Iustinianes ordinaunce truly declared vocall not mentall speaking not whispering with the breath onely in the celebration of the holy Sacrifice and other Seruice Wherein he agreeth with S. Augustine who in his booke de Magistro Cap. 1. sayeth that when we praye there is no nede of speaking onlesse perhappes we doo as priestes doo Who when they praye in publike assemble vse speaking for cause of signifying their mynde that is to shewe that they praye not to th'intēt God but menne maye heare and with a certaine consent through putting in mynde by sownde of voice maye be lyfted vp vnto God This much S. Augustine there And this is the right meaning of that Constitution And thus he ordeined for the greke churche onely and thereto only it is to be referred for that some thought the Sacrifice shuld be celebrated rather with silence after the maner of the churche of Rome specially at the consecration And as that constitution perteined to the Grekes and not to the Latines so was it not fownde in the Latine bookes vntill Gregorius Haloander of Germanie of late yeres translated the place And where M. Iuell alleageth this commaundement of Iustinian against the hauing of the Seruice in a learned tonge vnknowen to the common people it is to be noted how he demeaneth him selfe not vprightly but so as euery man may thereby knowe a scholer of Luther Caluine and Peter Martyr For whereas by th'allegation of that ordinance he might seme to bring somewhat that maketh for the blessed Sacrifice of the churche commonly named the Masse he dissembleth the worde of the sacrifice which Iustinian putteth expressely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est diuinam oblationem the diuine or holy oblation and termeth it other wise in his replyes by the name of common prayers and in his Sermon by the name of the wordes of the ministration refusing the worde of the churche no lesse then he refuseth to be a member of the churche Thus through fooysting and coggyng their dye and other false playe these newe perilouse teachers deceiue many poore soules and robbe them of the suer simplicitie of their faith And where was this commaundement geuen In Constantinople the chiefe citie of Grece where the greke tonge was commonly knowen That Emperour had dominion ouer some nations that vnderstoode not the greke commonly Yet no man can tell of any constitution that euer he made for Seruice there to be had in their vulgare and barbarous tonge So many nations hauing ben conuerted to the faith the common people whereof vnderstoode neither greke nor latine if the hauing of the Seruice in their vulgare tonge had bē thought necessary to their saluation the fathers that stickte not to bestowe their bloude for their flockes would not haue spared that small paine and trauaile to put their Seruice in vulgare tonges If it had ben necessary it had ben done if it had ben done it had ben mentioned by one or other Psal 104. Lib. 1 cōtra haeres haeresi 39. It appeareth by Arnobius vpon the Psalmes by Epiphanius writing against heresies and by S. Augustine in his bookes De Doctrina Christiana that by accompte of th'antiquitie there were 72. tonges in the worlde In Tuscul q. Cicero sayeth that they be in number infinite Of them all neither M. Iuell nor any one of his syde is able to shewe that the publike Seruice of the churche in any nation was euer for the space of syx hundred yeres after Christ in any other then in greke and latine For further answere to the auctoritie of Iustinianes ordinance we holde well with it Good men thinke it meete the Seruice be vttered now also with a distincte and audible voice that all sortes of people specially so many as vnderstand it may the more be stirred to deuocion and thereby the rather be moued to saye Amen and geue their assent to it through their obedience and credite they beare to the churche assuring them selues the same to be good and helthfulll and to the glory of God And for that purpose we haue commonly sene the priest when he spedde him to saye his seruice to ring the Sawnce bell and speake out a lowde Pater noster By which token the people were commaunded silence reuerence and deuotion Now to saye somewhat touching the common prayers or Seruice of the curches of Aphrica where S Augustine preached in Latine as you saye and I denye not and thereof you seme to cōclude that the common people of that countrie vnderstoode and spake latine as their vulgare tonge That the Aphricane churches had their Seruice in Latine it is euident by sundry places of S. Augustine in his exposition of the Psalmes in his bookes De Doctrina Christiana and in his sermons and most plainely in an epistle that he wrote to S. Hierome in which he sheweth that the people of a citie in Aphrica was greatly moued and offended with their bishop for that in reciting the scriptures for parte of the seruice to them he read out of the fourth chapter of Ionas the Prophete not cucurbita after the olde texte which they had ben accustomed vnto but hedera after the newe translation of S. Hierome All people of the latine churche vnderstoode not the latine Seruice Lib. 3.2 belli punici Now as I graunt that some vnderstoode it so I haue cause to doubte whether some others vnderstoode it or no. Nay rather I haue great probabilitie to tkinke they vnderstoode it not For the bewraying of Hannibals Ambassadoures to the Romaines by their Punicall language whereof Titus Liuius writeth and likewise the cōference betwixte Sylla the noble man of Rome and Bocchus kinge of Numidia had by meane of interpreters adhibited of bothe parties as Saluste recordeth in bello Iugurthino declareth that the tonge of Aphrica was the
when as the holy ghost administred all thinges moderated all the headdes of the churche caughte eche one with his inspiration As for now we kepe but the steppes onely of those thinges We speake two or three of vs and that a sundre and one holding his peace an other begynneth But these be but signes onely and memorials of thinges And so when we haue begonne he meaneth Dominus vobiscum cum spiritu tuo the people answereth meaning to signifie thereby that so in olde tyme they spake not of their owne wisedome but of the instincte of the spirite of God This much Chrysostome of the heauēly maner of the primitiue churche in the Apostles tyme. Now if in these dayes the maner were like if it pleased the holy ghost to powre vpon vs the like abundance of grace as to doo all thinges for vs to rule the headdes of all faithfull people to carrie eche one of vs with his diuine inspiratiō and whē we came to churche together for cōforte and edifying to geue in to our hartes and put in to our mowthes by daily miracle what we shuld praye and what we shuld preache and how we shuld hādle the scriptures In this case no catholike christen man would allowe the vnfruitefull speaking with straunge and vnknowen tonges without interpretation to the lette and hinderance of gods word to be declared and to the keping of the people onely in gasing and wondering from saying Amen and geuing their assent to the godly blessing and thankes geuing But the order of the churche now is farre otherwise We haue not those miraculouse giftes and right well maye we doo with out them For the speaking with tonges was in stede of a signe or wonder not to them that beleued but to the vnbeleuers And signes be for the vnfaithfull the faithfull haue no neede of them In churches I meane where aunciēt order is kepte whiles the Seruice is song or sayd the ministers doo not speake with tonges or with a tonge in such sorte as S. Paul vnderstoode but they doo reade and rehearse thinges set forth and appointed to them S. Paul rebuketh them who speaking with tonges letted the preachers so as the people present might not be edifyed The Latine Seruice is not so done in the churche as the exposition of the scriptures be thereby excluded In the Apostles tyme they came to churche to th' intent they might profitably exercise the giftes God gaue them and by the same specially by the gifte of prophecying edifie one an other and teache one an other Now adayes they come not to churche together one to teache an other and to expounde the scriptures in common but to praye and to heare the opening of Gods word not one of an other with out order but of some one to witte the bishop priest curate or other spirituall gouernour and teacher And for as much as all the people can not heare the priestes prayers at th'aulter which hath from the Apostles tyme hytherto euer ben a place to celebrate the holy oblation at tourning him selfe for the most parte to the East according to Apostolike tradition in what tonge so euer they be vttered for distance of the place they remaine in it is no inconuenience such admitted in to the quyer as haue better vnderstanding of that is sayd or song that the reste remaine in semely wise in the neather parte of the churche and there make their humble prayers to God by them selues in silence in that language they best vnderstand conforming them selues to the priestes blessing and thankes geuing through faith and obedience with their brethren in the quyer and geuing assent to the same vnderstanding some good parte of that is done as declared by often preaching and by holy outward ceremonies perceiueable to the senses of the simplest Fol. 15. Where as you M. Iuell alleage S. Paul for your purpose and make him to saye thus otherwise then he wrote 1. Cor. 14. If thou make thy prayer in the congregation with thy Spirite or noise of straunge wordes how shall the vnlearned man thereunto saye amen for he knoweth not what thou sayest you bombaste this texte with your owne counterfeit stuffing The trāslatiō auctorised by king Edward and his counsell is truer and foloweth the greke nearer which hath thus When thou blessest with the spirite how shall he that occupieth the rome of the vnlearned saye amen at thy geuyng of thankes seing he vndestandeth not what thou sayest Here the Apostle saint Paul speaketh of blessing or thankes geuing with the spirite which spirite what it is it is not easy to declare after the iudgement of your owne patriarke Iohn Caluine Saint Ambrose taketh it for the spirite we haue receiued in baptisme that doth incline and moue vs to prayer S. Thomas for the holy ghoste geuen to vs for reason and for the power imaginatiue Erasmus for the voice it selfe Isidorus Clarius for the power of pronouncing or vtterance some for the breath that passeth the throte some for the intention S. Augustine very subtily pro apprehensione quae ideas concipit signa rerum Caluine in his Institutions De Oratione cap. 15. for the sownde of the mowth that is caused of the breath of a mannes throte and rebownding of the ayer Chrysostom for the spirituall gifte or the gifte of the holy ghost to speake with tonges Which Caluine him selfe sytting in iudgement as it were vpon this doubtefull matter alloweth best and condemneth the mynde of all others and also his owne though vnwares as it semeth and so he would condemne your noyse of straunge wordes likewise if he heard it This texte being so doubtefull of it selfe in sense so put out of tune by your noyse of straunge wordes wherewith you descant vpon the worde Spirite so violently applyed by your newe fangled exposition maketh litle to the condemnation of the latine Seruice in the latine churche specially seing that S. Paul meaneth by that miraculouse speaking with tonges vsed or rather abused among the Corinthians a farre different maner of speaking from that speaking whereby the priest vttereth the common Seruice The priest I graunt saying his Seruice to his parish speaketh with a tonge but such maner of speaking is not that which S. Paul meant For the priest vnderstandeth it for the better parte if he be learned and the people be not vtterly ignorant because of often preaching long custome solemne feastes and sundry ceremonies And therefore your argument gathered out of that texte cōcludeth nothing against hauing the Seruice in the learned latine tonge not perfitely vnderstanded of the vnlearned people Verely if you admitte the exacte iudgement of S. Augustine concerning this place of S. Paul vide Aug. lib. 12. de Genesi ad literā c. 7. 8. 9. to 3 then must you seeke for other scriptures and proufes of your English Seruice For as he discusseth this point learnedly by the tonge S. Paul meaneth not the Latine Greke or Hebrewe
amōg the vnlearned people or any other alien or straunge tonge but onely and that by waye of metaphore any maner of vtterāce whereby the signes of thinges are pronounced before they be vnderstanded And by the Spirite he vnderstandeth not a noyse of straunge wordes after your straunge interpretation but as it is here in a certaine proper and peculiar maner taken a power of the soule inferiour to the mynde which conceiueth the similitudes of thinges and vnderstandeth them not And thinges so vttered be vttered with the tonge and spirite whether it be in Englishe or Latine or any other language And Syr although the people vnderstand not in most exacte wise what the priest sayeth in the Latine seruice yet haue they commoditie and profite therby so farre as it pleaseth God to accepte the common prayer of the churche pronounced by the priest for them But S. Paul saye they requyreth that the people geue assent and cōforme them selues vnto the priest by answering Amen to his prayer made in the congregation Verely in the Primitiue churche this was necessary when the faith was a learning And therefore the prayers were made then in a cōmon tonge knowen to the people for cause of their further instruction who being of late conuerted to the faith and of paynimes made christians had nede in all thinges to be taught But after that the faithfull people was multiplied and increaced in great numbers and had ben so well instructed in all pointes of Religion as by their owne accorde they conformed them selues to the ministers at the cōmon prayers in the Latine churche the Seruice was set out in Latine and it was thought sufficiēt parte of the people in the quyer to answere for the whole people And this hath ben estemed for a more expedite and conuenient order then if it were in the vulgare tonge of euery nation I graunt they can not saye Amen to the blessing or thankes-geuing of the priest so well as if they vnderstoode the Latine tōge perfitely Yet they geue assent to it and ratifie it in their hartes and doo conforme them selues vnto the priest though not in speciall yet in generall that is to witte though not in euery particular sentence of praise and thankes-geuing or in euery seuerall petition yet in the whole For if they come to churche with a right and good intent as the simple doo no lesse then the learned their desyre is to render vnto god glorie praise and honour and to thanke him for benefites receiued and with all to obteine of him thinges behofull for them in this life and in the life to come And without doubte this godly affection of their myndes is so acceptable to God as no vnderstanding of wordes may be compared with it This requysite assent and conforming of them selues to the priest they declare by sundry outward tokens and gestures as by standing vp at the gospell and at the preface of the Masse by bowing them selues downe and adoring at the Sacrament by kneeling at other tymes as when pardon and mercie is humbly asked and by other like signes of deuotion in other partes of the Seruice And whereas S. Paul semeth to disallowe praying with tonges in the common assemble because of want of edifying and to esteme the vtterance of fyue wordes or sentences with vnderstāding of his meaning that the reste might be instructed thereby more then ten thousand wordes in a straunge and vnknowen tonge all this is to be referred to the state of that tyme which was much vnlike the state of the churche we be now in The tōge of the prayers which S. Paul speaketh of was vtterly straunge and vnknowen and serued for a signe to the vnbeleuers The latine tonge in the latine churche is not all together straunge and vnknowē For besyde the priest in most places some of the reste haue vnderstanding of it more or lesse and now we haue no nede of any such signe They needed instruction we be not ignorant of the chiefe pointes of Religiō They were to be taught in all thinges we come not to churche specially and chiefly to be thaught at the Seruice but to praye and to be taught by preaching Their prayer was not vaileable for lacke of faith and therefore was it to be made in the vulgare tonge for increace of faith Our faith will stand vs in better stede if we geue our selues to deuout prayer They for lacke of faith had nede of interpretation bothe in prayers and also in preaching and all other spirituall exercises We hauing sufficient instruction in the necessary rudimentes of our faith for the reste haue more nede by earnest and feruent prayer to make sute vnto God for an vpright pure and holy lyfe then to spende much tyme in hearing for knowledge Concerning which thing Chrysostome hath this saying Profectò si orare cum diligentia insuescas Contrà Anomaeo◠homil 3. nihil est quòd doctrinam tui conserui desideres quum ipse Deus sine vllo interprete mentem abundè luce asficiat Verely if thou vse to praye diligently there is nothing why thou shuldest desyre teaching of thy felowe seruant seing God him selfe doth abundantly lighten thy mynde without any interpreter I would not here that any man shuld laye to my charge the defence of ignorance as though I enuyed the people any godly knowledge I wish them to haue all heauenly knowledge and to be ignorant of nothing necessary to their Saluation Yea euen with my very harte I wish with Moses Num. 11. Quis tribunt vt omnis populus prophetet det dominus illis spiritum suum O that all the people could prophecie and were learned in gods holy worde and that our lord would geue them his spirite But all the common people to vnderstand the priest at the Seruice I thinke wise ad godly men iudge it not a thing so necessary as for the which the auncient order of the churche with no litle offence publike and vniuersall auctoritie not consulted shuld be condemned broken and quite abrogated by priuate aduise of a fewe If defaulte were in this befalse iustly fownde it is knowen to whom the redresse perteineth Concerning the state of Religion in all ages the generall Councell representing the vniuersall churche for all sores hath ordeined holesom remedies Where they be not heard Luc. 10. of whom Christ sayde He that heareth you heareth me and he that dispiseth you dispiseth me it is to be feared that cōcerning the seruice the newe learned boldnes is not so acceptable to God as the olde simple humilitie It were good the people hauing humble and reuerent hartes vnderstoode the Seruice I denye not Yet all standeth not in vnderstāding S. Augustine sayeth notably Cōtrà Manichaeos epist Fundamenti cap. 4. turbā non intelligendi viuacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit That as for the cōmon people it is not the quiknesse of vnderstanding but the simplicitie of beleuing that maketh
heape of keyes Praesat in Psalmos that be to open the dores of euery house of a great citie layed together Amōg whō it is hard to fynde which keye serueth which locke and without the right keye no dore can be opened S. Augustine lykeneth the people of Aphrica synging the Psalmes which they vnderstoode not to owselles popiniayes rauens pyes and such other byrdes which be taught to sounde they knowe not what and yet they vnderstoode the tonge they sang them in And therefore he exhorteth them to learne the meaning of them at his preaching least they shuld syng not with humaine reason as is before recited but with voyce onely as byrdes doo The reste of the scriptures whereof the Seruice consisteth is though not all together so obscure as the psalmes yet veryly darker and harder then that the common peoples grosse and simple wittes may pearce the vndestanding of it by hearing the same pronounced of the minister in their mother tonge And by this reason we shuld haue no Seruice at all gathered out of the scriptures for defaulte of vnderstanding And whereas of the Seruice in the vulgare tōge the people will frame lewde and peruerse meanings of their owne lewde senses So of the Latine Seruice they will make no constructions either of false doctrine or of euill lyfe And as the vulgare Seruice pulleth their mindes from priuate deuotion to heare and not to praye to litle benefite of knowledge for the obscuritie of it so the latine geuing them no such motion they occupie them selues whiles the priest prayeth for all and in the person of all in their priuate prayers all for all and euery one for him selfe Such natiōs as vse church Seruice in their ovvne tōge continevve in schismes In epistola ad graecos The nations that haue euer had their Seruice in their vulgare tonge the people thereof haue continewed in schismes errours and certaine Iudaicall obseruances so as they haue not ben reckened in the number of the catholike churche As the Christians of Moschouia of Armenia of Prester Iohn his land in Ethiopia Bessarion asking by waye of a question of the Grekes his countrie men what churche that is against the which hell gates shall neuer preuaile answereth him selfe and sayeth Aut Latina aut Greca est Ecclesia tertia enim dari non potest Siquidem aliae omnes haeresibus sunt plenae quas sancti patres generales Synodi condemnarunt Either it is the Latine or the Greke churche for there is no thyrd that can be graunted For all other churches be full of heresies which the holy fathers and generall councelles haue condemned Wherefore of these churches no example ought to be taken for Seruice in the vulgare tonge as neither of the churches of Russia and Morauia and certaine other to whom aboue syx hundred yeres past it was graunted to haue the Masse in the Sclauons tonge through speciall licence thereto obteined of the See Apostolike by Cyrullus and Methodius that first conuerted them to the faith Which maner of seruice so many of them as be catholike for good causes haue lefte and vse the Latine as other Latine churches doo Concerning the reste yet keping their Sclauon tonge besyde other errours and defaultes for which they are not herein to be estemed worthy to be folowed we maye saye of them the wordes of Gregorie Nazianzene Priuilegia paucorum non faciunt legem communem The priuileges of a fewe make not a thing laufull in common Wherefore to conclude seing in syx hundred yeres after Christ the Seruice of the churche was not in any other then in the Greke and Latine tōge for that any man is able to shewe by good ptoufe and the same not vnderstanded of all people seing the auctorities by M. Iuell alleaged importe no necessary argument nor directe cōmaundement of the vulgare tonge but onely of plaine and open pronouncing and that where the tonge of the Seruice was vnderstanded seing the churche of the Englishe natiō had their Seruice in the Latine tonge to them vnknowen well near a thousand yeres past seing the place of S. Paul to the Corinthians either perteineth not to this purpose or if it be so graunted for the diuersitie of states of that and of this our tyme it permitteth a diuersitie of obseruation in this behalfe though some likenes and resemblance yet reserued seing great profite cometh to the faithfull people hauing it so as they vnderstand it not Finally seing the examples rehearsed herein to be folowed be of small auctoritie in respecte either of antiquitie or of true Religion As the bolde assertion of M. Iuell is plainely disproued so the olde order of the Latine Seruice in the Latine churche whereof England is a prouince is not rashly to be condemned specially whereas being first committed to the churches by the Apostles of our countrie and the first preachers of the faith here it hath ben auctorised by continuance almost of a thousand yeres without controll or gaynesaying to the glory of God the welth of the people and procuring of helpe from heauen alwayes to this land And to adde hereunto this much last of all though it might be graunted that it were good the Seruice were in the vulgare tonge as in Englishe for our countrie of England yet doubteles good men and zelouse kepers of the catholike faith will neuer allowe the Seruice deuysed in king Edwardes tyme now restored agayne not so much for the tonge it is in as for the order it selfe and disposition of it lacking some thinges necessary and hauing some other thinges repugnant to the faith and custome of the catholike churche Or that the bishop of Rome was then called an vniuersal bisshop or the head of the vniuersall churche Of the Popes Primacie ARTICLE 4. BY what name so euer the bishop of Rome was called within syx hundred yeres after Christes ascension this is cleare that his Primacie that is to say supreme power and auctoritie ouer and aboue all bishops and chiefe gouernement of all Christes flocke in matters perteining to faith and Christen religion was then acknowleged and confessed Which thinge beinge so whether then he were called by either of those names that you denye or no it is not of great importance And yet for the one of them somewhat and for the other an infinite number of good authorities may be alleaged But thereof hereafter Now concerninge the chiefe point of this article which is the Primacie of the Pope Peters successour First it hath ben set vp and ordeined by God so as it standeth in force Iure diuino by gods lawe and not onely by mans lawe the scriptures leadinge thereto Nexte cōmended to the worlde by decrees of councelles and confirmed by edictes of Christen emperoures for auoidinge of schismes Furthermore confessed and witnessed by the holy fathers Againe fownde to be necessary by reason Finally vsed and declared by the euente of thinges and practise of the church For proufe of
all this so much might easely be sayde as shuld serue to a whole volume But In this treatise seeking to auoide prolixitie hauing purposed to saye somewhat to this number of the other Articles and knowing this matter of the Primacie to be allready largely and learnedly handeled of others will but trippe as it were lightly ouer at this tyme and not sette my fast footing in the deepe debating and treating of it The Popes Primacie not of Man but of gods ordināce The first proufe of the Popes primacie scripture expoūded Matth. 16. First as concerning the right of the Popes primacie by gods lawe by these auncient autorities it hath ben auouched Anacletus that holy bishop and martyr S. Peters scholer and of him cōsecrated priest in his epistle to the bishops of Italie writeth thus In nouo testamento post Christum etc. In the newe testament the order of priestes beganne after our lord Christ of Peter because to him bishoprike was first geuen in the churche of Christ where as our lord saide vnto him Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I will buylde my church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it and vnto thee I will geue the keies of the kingdome of heauen Wherfore this Peter receiued of our lord first of all power to binde and to lowse and first of all he brought people to the faith by vertue of his preaching As for the other Apostles they receiued honour and power in like felowship with him and willed him to be their prince or chiefe gouernour In an other epistle to all bishoppes alleaging the same texte for the Primacie of the See of Rome speaking of the disposition of churches committed to Patriarkes and Primates saith thus most plainely This holy ad Apostolike church of Rome hath obteined the Primacie not of the Apostles but of our lord Sauiour him selfe and hath gotten the preeminence of power ouer all churches and ouer the whole flocke of Christen people euen so as he saide to blessed Peter th'Apostle Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke etc. S. Gregorie writing to Mauritius the Emperoure against Iohn the bishop of Constantinople ambitiously claiming and vsurping the name of an vniuersall bishop proueth the bishop of Rome succeding in Peters chaier to be Primate and to haue charge ouer all the church of Christ by scriptures thus Cunctis euangelium scientibus liquet etc. Epist 32. It is euident to all that knowe the gospell that the cure and charge of the whole church hath ben committed by the worde of our lord to the holy Apostle Peter prince of all the Apostles for to him it is sayde Peter Ioan. 21. Luc. 22. louest thou me feede my sheepe to him it is sayd Beholde Sathan hath desyred to syfte you as it were wheate and I haue prayed for thee Peter that thy faith faile not And thou being once conuerted strengthen thy brethren To him it is saide Thou art Peter Matth. 26 and vpon this rocke I will buylde my church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it And vnto the I will geue the keies of the kingdom of heauen And what so euer thou byndest vpon earth shal be bounde also in heauen and what so euer thou lowsest on earth shable lovvsed also in heauen Beholde he receiueth the keies of the heauenly kingdome Cura ei totius Ecclesiae principatus committitur the power of bynding and lowsing is geuen to him the charge of the whole church and principalitie is committed to him Thus farre Gregorie But because our aduersaries though without iuste cause refuse the witnes of the Bishops of Rome in this article as vnlawfull witnesses in their owne cause were thei neuer so holy martyrs or learned confessours they may vnderstand we are able to alleage sundry other authorities to the confirmation hereof that be aboue all exception S. Cyprian declaring the contempte of the high Priest Christes Vicarie in earth to be cause of schismes and heresies writeth thus to Cornelius Pope and Martyr Neque enim aliunde haereses obortae sunt etc. Neither haue heresies or schismes rysen of any other occasiō then of that the Priest of God is not obeied and that one Priest for the tyme in the church and one iudge for the tyme in stede of Christ is not thoughte vpon To whom if the whole brotherhed that is the whole number of Christē people which be brethren together and were so called in the primatiue church would be obedient according to gods teachinges Secūdum magisteria diuina then no man would make adoo against the colledge of priestes no mā woulde make him selfe iudge not of the bishop nowe but of God after gods iudgement after the fauour of the people declared by theire voices at the Election after the consent of his felowbishops no man through breach of vnitie and strife would diuide the church of Christ no man standing in his owne conceite and swelling with pride would sette vp by him selfe abroade without the church a newe heresie Of all other authorities that of Athanasius and of the bishops of Egypte and Libya gathered together in a Synode at Alexandria is to be regarded Who making humble sute to Felix then bishop of Rome for aide and succour against the Arianes through the whole epistle confessing the supreme auctoritie of that Apostolike See vtter these very wordes Vestrae apostolicae sedis imploramus auxilium etc. In primo tomo Cōciliorum We humbly besech you of the helpe of your Apostolike See Because as verely we beleue God hath not despised the praiers of his seruantes offered vp to him with teares but hath constituted and placed you your predecessours who were Apostolike Prelates in the highest tower or supreme state In summitatis arce constituit and commaunded them to haue cure and charge of all churches to th' intent you helpe and succour vs and that defending vs as to whom iudgemēt of bishops is committed you forslowe not through negligence to delyuer vs from our enemies Now if the Apostolike church of Rome hath obteined the Primacie and preeminence of power ouer all churches and ouer the whole flocke of Christen people of our lord Sauiour him selfe as Anacletus saith If it be euident to all that knowe the gospell that the cure and charge of the whole church hath ben committed to the holy Apostle Peter Prince of all the Apostles by the worde of our lord as Gregorie witnesseth If the whole brotherhed that is to say all christen folke ought to obeye the one hygh Priest or bishop of God and the one Iudge that is Christes Vicare or in the steede of Christ for the tyme according to the preceptes and teachinges of God as Cyprian writeth If it be God that hath placed and ordeined the bishop of Rome in the highest state of the church as Athanasius with all the fathers of that Alexandrine councell recordeth If this I say be true then is
comprised within a great volume The recitall of a fewe shall here geue a taste as it were of the whole and so suffise Lib. 3. c. 3. Irenaeus hauing much praised the church of Rome at length vttereth these wordes by which the souerainetie therof is confessed Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem conuenire ecclesiam hoc est eos qui vndique sunt fideles To this church of Rome it is necessary all the church that is to say all that be faithfull any where to repaire and come together for the mightier principalitie of the same that is to witte for that it is of greater power and auctoritie then other churches and the principallest of all Androw folowed our Sauiour before that Peter dyd tamen primatum non accepit Andreas sed Petrus and yet Androw receiued not the Primacie but Peter In 2. Corinth 12. sayeth Ambrose In the epistle of Athanasius and the bishops of Egipte to Liberius the Pope in which they sue for helpe against the oppressions of the Arianes we fynde these wordes Huius rei gratia vniuersalis vobis à Christo Iesu commissa est ecclesia etc. Euen for this cause the vniuersall church hath ben committed to you of Christ Iesus that you shuld trauaile for all and not be negligent to helpe euery one Luc. 11. for whyles the stronge man being armed kepeth his house all thinges that he possesseth are in peace Hilarius speaking much to th'extolling of Peter and his successour in that See sayeth De Trinita lib. 6. Supereminentem beatae fidei suae confessione locum promeruit Matt. 16. that for the confession of his blessed faith he deserued a place of preeminence aboue all other S. Ambros confessing him selfe to beleue that the largenesse of the Romaine Empire was by gods prouidence prepared that the gospell might haue his course and be spredde abrode the better sayeth thus of Rome De vocatione gētium li. 2. cap. 6. Quae tamen per Apostolici sacerdotij principatum amplior facta est arce religionis quà m solio potestatis Which for all that hath ben aduaunced more by the chieftie of the Apostolike priesthod in the tower of Religion then in the throne of temporall power Saint Augustine in his 162. epistle sayeth In Ecclesia Romana semper apostolicae cathedrae viguit principatus The primacie or principalitie of the Apostolike chaier Lib. 1. cōtra 2. epistolas Pelagianorum ad Bonifaciū cap. 1. Quamuis ipse in eo preemi◠celsiore fastigio speculae pastoralis Lib. 2. de baptismo cōtrà Donatistas hath euermore ben in force in the Romaine church The same saint Augustine speaking to Bonifacius Bishop of Rome this care sayeth he complaining of the Pelagians is common to vs all that haue the office of a bishop albe it therein thou thy selfe hast the preeminence ouer all being on the toppe of the pastorall watchetower In an other place he hath these wordes Caeterum magis vereri debeo ne in Petrum contumeliosus existam Quis enim nescit illum apostolatus principatum cuilibet episcopatui praeferendum But I ought rather to be afraied least I be reprochefull towarde Peter For who is he that knoweth not that that principalitie of Apostleship is to be preferred before any bishoprike that is An other most euidēt place he hath in his booke De vtilitate credendi Cap. 17. ad Honoratum Cum tantum auxilium Dei etc. Whereas sayeth he we see so great helpe of God so great profite and fruite shall we stande in doubte whether we may hide our selues in the lappe of that church which though heretikes barke at it in vaine rownde about condemned partly by the iudgement of the people them selues Culmen auctoritatis obtinuit Cui primas dare nolle vel summae profecto impietatis est vel praecipitis arrogantiae Cōtrà Luciferianos partly by the sadnes of Councelles and partly by the maiestie of miracles euen to the confession of mankynde from the Apostolike See by successions of bishops hath obteined the toppe or highest degree of auctoritie to which church if we will not geue and graunt the Primacie soothly it is a point either of most high wickednes or of hedlong arrogancie The notable saying of S. Hierome may not be let passe Ecclesiae salus à summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes The saftie of the church hangeth of the worship of the high Priest he meaneth the Pope Peters successour to whom if there be not geuen a power peerelesse and surmonting all others in the churches we shall haue so many schismes as there be priestes There is an epistle of Theodoritus bishop of Cyrus extāt in greke written to Leo bishop of Rome Wherein we finde a worthy witnes of the Primacie of the See Apostolike His wordes may thus be englished If Paul sayeth he the preacher of truth and trumpet of the holy ghoste ranne to Peter to bring from him a determination and declaration for them who at Antioche were in argument and contention concerning lyuing after Moyses lawe much more wee who are but small and vile shall runne vnto your throne Apostolike that of you we may haue salue for the sores of the churches there folowe these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est per omnia enim vobis conuenit primas tenere that is to saye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 5 proufe Reason For in all thinges perteining to faith or religion so he meaneth it is meete that you haue the chiefe dooinges or that you haue the Primacie For your high seate or throne is endewed with many prerogatiues and priuileges Now let vs see whether this chiefe auctoritie may be fownde necessary by reason That a multitude which is in it selfe one can not continewe one onlesse it be conteined and holden in by one bothe learned philosophers haue declared and the common nature of thinges teacheth For euery multitude of their owne nature goeth a sunder in to many and from an other it cometh that it is one and that it contineweth one And that whereof it is one and is kepte in vnion or onenesse it is necessary that it be one elles that selfe also shall nede the helpe of an other that it bee one For which cause that saying of Homere was alleaged by Aristotle as most notable It is not good to haue many rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let one be ruler Whereby is meant that pluralitie of soueraine rulers is not fitte to conteine and kepe vnitie of a multitude of subiectes Therefore sith that the churche of Christ is one for as there is one faith one baptisme one calling so there is one churche yea all we are one body and membres one of an other as S. Paul sayeth and in our Crede we all professe to
beleue one holy catholike and Apostolike churche therefore I saye it hath nede of one prince and ruler to be kepte and holden in If it be other wise vnitie must nedes forthwith be sparkled and brokē a sunder And therefore it behoued that the rule and gouernement of the churche shuld be committed to one And whereas these Gospellers saye that Christ is the gouernour of the churche and that he being one kepeth the churche in vnitie we answere that although the churche be first and principally gouerned by Christ as all other thinges are yet gods high goodnes hath so ordeined as eche thing may be prouided for according to his owne condition and nature Therefore whereas mankynde dependeth most of sense and receiueth all learnīg and institutiō of sensible thinges therefor it hath nede of a man to be a gouernour and ruler whom it maye perceiue by outward sense And euen so the Sacramentes by which the grace of God is geuen vnto vs in consideration of mannes nature being so made of God as it is are ordeined in thinges sensible Therefor it was behoofull this gouernement of the churche to be committed to one man which at the first was Peter and afterward eche successour of Peter for his tyme as is afore declared Neither can this one man haue this power of any consent or companie of men but it is necessary he haue it of God For to ordeine and appointe the vicare of Christ it perteineth to none other then to Christ For where as the churche and all that is of the chuch is Christes as well for other causes as specially for that we are bought with a great price euen with his bloude as S. Paul sayeth 1. Cor. 3. how can it perteine to any other then to him to institute and appoint to him selfe a vicare that is one to doe his steede Wherefore to cōclude excepte we would wickedly graunt that gods prouidence hath lacked or doth lacke to his churche for loue of which he hath geuen his onely begotten sonne and which he hath promised neuer to forgete so as the woman can not forgete the chylde she bare in her wombe Reason may sone enduce vs to beleue that to one man one bishop the chiefe and highest of all bishops the successour of Peter the rule and gouernement of the church by God hath ben deferred For elles if God had ordeyned that in in the church shuld be sundry heades and rulers and none constituted to be ouer other but all of equall power ech one among their people then he shuld seme to haue set vp so many churches as he hath appointed gouernours And so he shall appeare to haue brought in among his faithfull people that vnruly confusion the destruction of all common weales so much abhorred of princes which the grekes call Anarchian which is a state for lacke of order in gouernours without any gouernement at all Which thing sith that the wise and politike men of this worlde doo shunne and detest in the gouernemēt of these earthly kingdomes as most perniciouse and hurtfull to attribute to the high wisdome of God and to our lord Christ who is the auctor of the most ordinate disposition of all thinges in earth and in heauen it were heynous and prophane impietie Wherefore if the state of a kingdome can not continew safe onlesse one haue power to rule how shall not the church spredde so farre abroade be in danger of great disorders corruption and vtter destruction if as occasion shal be geuen among so great strifes and debates of men among so many fyerbrandes of discord tossed to and fro by the deuils enemies of vnitie there be not one head and ruler of all to be consulted of all to be hearde of all to be folowed and obeied If strife and contentiō be stirred about matters of faith if controuersie happen to rise about the sense of the scriptures shall it not be necessary there be one supreme iudge to whose sentence the parties may stande If nede require as it hath ben often sene that generall councelles be kepte how can the bishops to whom that matter belongeth be brought together but by commaundement of one head gouernour whom they owe their obediēce vnto For elles being summoned perhappes they will not come Finally how shall the contumacie and pertinacie of mischeuous persones be repressed specially if the bishops be at discension with in them selues if there be not a supreme power who towardes some may vse the rodde towardes other some the spirite of lenitie with such discrete temperament as malice be vanquished right defended and concorde procured least if the small sparkes of strife be not quenched by auctoritie at the beginning at length a great flame of schismes and heresies flashe abrode to the great dāger of a multitude Therefore as there is one body of Christ one flocke one church euen so is there one head of that his mysticall body one shepeherd and one chiefe seruant made steward ouerseer and ruler ouer Christes householde in his absence vntill his comming againe The 6. proufe practise of the churche syxfolde But here perhappes some will saie it can not appeare by the euente of thinges and practise of the church that the Pope had this supreme power and auctoritie ouer all bishops and ouer all Christes flocke in matters touching faith and in causes ecclesiasticall Verely who so euer peruseth the ecclesiasticall stories and vieweth the state of the church of all tymes and ages cā not but cōfesse this to be most euident And here I might alleage first certaine places of the newe testament declaring that Peter practised this preeminence among the disciples at the beginning and that they yelded the same as of right apperteining vnto him Act. 1. As when he first and onely moued them to choose one in the stede of Iudas and demeaned him selfe as the chiefe autctor of all that was done therein when he made answere for all Act. 2. at what time they were gased and wondered at and of some mockte as being dronken with newe wine for that in the fistith day thei spake with tonges of so many nations when he vsed that dredfull seueritie in punishing the falshed Act. 5. and hypocrisie of Ananias and Saphira his wife Act. 15. when variāce being risen about the obseruation of certaine pointes of Moyses lawe he as chiefe and head of the rest saide his mynde before all others Among many other places lefte out for breuitie that is not of least weight that Paul being retourned to Damasco out of Arabia Galat. 1. after three yeres went to Ierusalem to see Peter and abode with him fiften dayes But because our aduersaries doo wreath and wreste the scriptures be they neuer so plaine by there priuate and straunge constructions to an vnderstanding quite contrary to the sense of the catholike church I will referre the reader for further proufe of this matter to the stories bearing faithfull witnes of the
whole state and condition of the church in all ages In which stories the practise of the church is plainely reported to haue ben such as thereby the Primacie of Peters successour may seeme to all men sufficiētly declared For perusing the ecclesiasticall stories with writinges of the fathers besyde many other thinges perteining hereto we finde these practises for declaration of this speciall auctoritie and power First that bishops of euery nation haue made their appeale in their weighty affaires to the Pope and allwayes haue sued to the See Apostolike as well for succour and helpe against violence iniuries oppressions as for redresse of other disorders Also that the malice of wicked persons hath ben repressed and chastised of that auctoritie by excommunication eiection and expulsion out of their dignities and romes and by other censures of the church Furthermore that the ordinations and elections of bishops of all prouinces haue ben confirmed by the Pope Beside this that the approuing and disalowing of councelles haue perteined to him Item that bishops wrongfully cōdemned and depriued by councelles by him haue ben assoiled and restored to their churches againe Lastly that bishops and patriarkes after longe strifes and contentions haue at length vpon better aduise ben reconcilied vnto him againe First Appellations the Pope for the appellation of bishops to the See Apostolike beside many oher we haue the knowen examples of Athanasius that worthy bishop of Alexandria and lighte of the worlde who hauing susteined great and fundry wronges at the Arianes appealed first to Iulius the Pope and after his death to Felix of Chrisostome who appealed to Innocentius against the violence of Theophilus of Theodoritus who appealed to Leo. Neither made bishops onely their appeale to the Pope by their delegates but also in certaine cases being cited appeared before him in their owne persons Which is plainely gathered of Theodoritus his ecclesiasticall storye who writeth thus Eusebius bishop of Nicomedia who was the chiefe pillour of the Arianes and they that ioyned with him in that factiō falsly accused Athanasius to Iulius the B. of Rome Iulius folowing the ecclesiasticall rule commaunded them to come to Rome and caused the reuerent Athanasius to be cited to iudgement regulariter after the order of the canōs He came The false accusers went not to Rome knowing righte well that theire forged lye might easely be deprehended In the cause and defence of Ihon Chrysostome these bishops came from Constantinople to Innocentius the Pope Pansophus B. of Pisidia Pappus of Syria Demetrius of the seconde Galatia and Eugenius of Phrygia These were suters for Chrysostome He him selfe treated his matter with Innocentius by writing In his epistle among other thinges he writeth thus Least this outragious confusion runne ouer all and beare rule euery where write I pray you and determine by your auctoritie such wicked actes done in our absence and when we withdrewe not our selues from iudgement to be of no force as by theire owne nature truly they be voied and vtterly none Furthermore who haue committed these euilles put you them vnder the censure of the church And as for vs sith that we are innocent neither conuicte neither fownde in any defaulte nor proued gyltie of any crime geue commaundement that we be restored to our churches agayne that we may enioye the accustomed charitie and peace with our brethren Innocentius after that he vnderstoode the whole matter pronounced and decreed the iudgement of Theophilus that was against Chrysostome to be voyed and of no force This whole tragedie is at large set forth by Palladius B. of Helenopolis in vita Ioannis Chrysostomi who lyued at that tyme. By this appeale of Chrysostome and by the whole handeling of the matter and specially by the purporte of his epistle to Innocētius the superioritie of the Pope is euidently acknowleged And so is it plainely confessed by Athanasius and the bishops of Egipte Thebais and Libya assembled in councell at Alexandria by these wordes of their epistle to Felix Vestrū est enim nobis manum porrigere etc. It is your parte saie they to stretche forth your helping hāde vnto vs because we are committed vnto you It is your parte to defende vs and deliuer vs it is our parte to seeke helpe of you and to obey your commaundementes And a litle after For we knowe that you beare the cure and charge of the vniuersall church and specially of bishops who in respecte of their cōtemplation and speculation are called the eyes of our lord as alwaies the prelates of your See first the Apostles then theire successours haue done Theodoritus that learned B. of Cyrus besyde the epistle he wrote to Leo for succour and helpe in his troubles in an other that he wrote to Renatus a priest neare about Leo sayeth thus Spoliarunt me sacerdotio etc. They haue violently robbed me of my bishoprike they haue caste me foorth of the cities neither hauing reuerenced myne age spente in religiō nor my hoare heares Wherefore I beseche thee that thou persuade the most holy Archebishop he meaneth Leo to vse his apostolike auctoritie and to commaunde vs to come vnto your councell or consistorie For this holy See holdeth the rudther and hath the gouernement of the churches of the whole worlde partly for other respectes but specially for that it hath euermore cōtinewed cleare frō stintche of heresie and that none euer sate in it who was of contrary opiniō but rather hath euer kepte the apostolike grace vndefyled In which wordes of Theodoritus this is chiefly to be marked that the holy See of Rome as he sayeth hath the gouernement of the churches of all the worlde most for this cause that it was neuer infected with heresie as all other churches fownded by the Apostles were For which cause that See hath euer hitherto of all christen nations and now also ought to be hearde and obeyed in all pointes of faith For that See though it hath failed sometymes in charitie and hath ben in case as it might truly saye the wordes of the gospell spoken by the foolishe virgins Matth. 25. our lampes be without lighte yet it neuer failed in faith as Theodoritus witnesseth and S. Augustine affirmeth the same Which speciall grace and singulare priuiledge is to be imputed vnto the prayer of Christ by which he obteined of God for Peter and his successours Euill lyfe of the B. of Rome ought not to seuer vs frō the faith of the churche of Rome that their faith shuld not fayle Therfore the euill lyfe of the bishops of Rome ought not to withdrawe vs from beleuing and folowing the doctrine preached and taughte in the holy churche of Rome For better credite hereof that is earnestly to be considered which S. Augustine writeth epistola 165. where after that he hath rehearsed in order all the Popes that succeded Peter euen to him that was Pope in his tyme he sayeth thus In illum ordinem episcoporum etc. In to that rewe of
in auncieÌ„t stories haue forsaken the church of Rome twelue tymes and haue ben reconcilied to the same againe Thus hauing declared the supreme auctoritie and primacie of the Pope by the common practise of the churche I nede not to shewe further how in all questions doubtes and controuersies touching faith and religion the See of Rome hath alwayes ben consulted how the decision of all doubtefull cases hath ben referred to the iudgement of that See and to be shorte how all the worlde hath euer fetched light from thence For the proufe whereof because it can not be here declared briefly I remitte the learned reader to the ecclesiasticall storyes where he shal fynde this matter amply treated Now for a briefe answere to M. Iuell who denieth that within six hundred yeres after Christ the bishop of Rome was euer called an vniuersall bishop or the head of the vniuersall church and maketh him selfe very suer of it Although it be a childish thing to sticke at the name any thing is called by the thing by the name signified being sufficiently proued yet to th' intent good folke may vnderstand that all is not truth of the olde gospell which our newe gospellers either affirme or denie The Pope aboue a thousand yeres sithens called vniuersall bishop and head of the vniuersall churthe I will bring good and sufficient witnes that the B. of Rome was then called both vniuersall bisâ—op or oecumenicall patriarke which is one to witte bishop or principall father of the whole world and also head of the church Leo that worthy B. of Rome was called the vniuersall Bishop and vniuersall patriarke of syx hundred and thirty fathers assembled together from all partes of the world in generall councell at Chalcedon Which is both expressed in that councell and also clearly affirmed by S. Gregory in three sundry epistles to Mauricius the Emperour to Eulogius Patriarke of Alexandria and to Anastasius Patriarke of Antioche Thus that name was deferred vnto the Pope by the fathers of that great councell which by them had not ben done had it ben vnlawfull In very dede neither Leo him selfe nor any other his successour euer called or wrote himselfe by that name as S. Gregorie sayeth much lesse presumed they to take it vnto them But rather vsed the name of humilitie calling them selues ech one Seruum seruorum Dei the seruant of the seruantes of God Yet sundry holy martyrs bishops of Rome vsed to calle them selues bishops of the vniuersall church which in effecte is the same as the fathers of Chalcedon vnderstoode So did Sixtus in the tyme of Adrianus the Emperour in his epistle to the bishops of all the world So dyd Victor writing to Theophilus of Alexandria So dyd Pontianus writing to all that beleued in Christ before 1300. yeres past So dyd Stephanus in his epistle to all bishops of all prouinces in the tyme of S. Cyprian And all these were before Constantine the great and before the councell of Nice which times our aduersaries acknowledge and confesse to haue ben without corruption The same title was vsed likewise after the Nicene councell by Felix by Leo and by diuerse others before the first six hundred yeres after Christ were expired Neither did the bishops of Rome vse this title and name onely theÌ„ selues to theire owne aduauncemeÌ„t as the aduersaries of the churche charge theÌ„ but they were honoured therewith also by others as namely InnoceÌ„tius by the fathers assembled in councell at Carthago and Marcus by Athanasius and the bishops of Egypte Head of the churche Concerning the other name Head of the church I meruell not a litle that M. Iuell denyeth that the bishop of Rome was then so called Either he doth contrary to his owne knowledge wherin he must nedes be condemned in his owne iudgement and of his owne coÌ„scieÌ„ce Peter and consequeÌ„tly the Pope Peters successour called head of the church both in termes equiualeÌ„t and also expresly Matth. 10. or he is not so well learned as of that syde he is thoughte to bee For who so euer traueileth in the reading of the auncient fathers findeth that name almost euery where attributed to Peter the first B. of Rome and coÌ„sequeÌ„tly to the successour of Peter that name I saie either in termes equiualeÌ„t or expressely First the scripture calleth Peter primuÌ„ the first among the Apostles The names of the twelue Apostles sayeth Matthew are these Primus Simon qui dicitur Petrus First Simon who is called Peter And yet was not Peter first called of Christ but his brother Androwe before him as is before saide Dionysius that auncient writer calleth Peter sometyme De diuinis nominibus c. 3. supremuÌ„ decus the highest honour for that he was most honorable of all the Apostles sometime summum sometime verticalem the chiefest and the highest Apostle Origen vpon the beginning of Iohn sayeth Let no man thinke that we set Iohn before Peter Who may fo doo for who shuld be higher of the Apostles then he Lib 1. epistola 3. who is and is called the toppe of them Cyprian calleth the church of Rome in consideration of that bishops supreme auctoritie Ecclesiam principaleÌ„ vnde vnitas sacerdotalis exorta est The principall or chiefe church froÌ„ whence the vnitie of priestes is spronge Eusebius Caesariensis speaking of Peter sent to Rome by gods prouidence to vanquish Simon Magus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calleth him potentissimum maximum Apostolorum reliquorum omnium principem the mightìest of power and greatest of the Apostles and prince of all the reste Augustine commonly calleth Peter primum apostolorum first or chiefe of the Apostles Hierome Ambrose Leo and other doctours Prince of the Apostles Chrysostome vpon the place of Iohn cap. 21. sequere me folowe me among other thinges sayeth thus Homil. 87 If any would demaunde of me how Iames tooke the see of Ierusalem that is to saie how he became bisshop there I would answere that this he meaneth Peter Maister of the whole worlde made him gouernour there In Matth. homil 55. Ierem. 1. And in an other place bringing in that God saide to Ieremie I haue set thee like an yron pillour and like a brasen walle But the father sayeth he made him ouer one natioÌ„ but Christ made this man meaning Peter ruler ouer the whole worlde etc. And least these places shuld seme to attribute this supreme auctoritie to Peter onely and not also to his successours it is to be remembred that Irenaeus and Cyprian acknowledge and call the churche of Rome chiefe and principall And Theodoritus in an epistle to Leo calleth the same in coÌ„sideration of the bishop of that See his primacie orbi terrarum praesideÌ„tem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 president or bearing rule ouer the worlde Ambrose vpon that place of Paul 1. Timoth. 3. where the church is called the pillour and staie of the truth saieth thus Cum totus mundus Dei sit ecclesia
verely and substantially And by Sacramental vnion the breade is the body of Christ and the breade being geuen the body of Christ is verely present and verely deliuered Though this opinion of Bucer by which he recanted his former Zuinglian heresie be in sundry pointes false and hereticall yet in this he agreeth with the catholike churche against M. Iuelles negatiue assertion that the body and bloud of Christ is present in the sacrameÌ„t verely that is truly and really or in dede and substantially Where in he speaketh as the auncieÌ„t fathers spake long before a thousand yeres past Let Chrysostome for proufe of this be in stede of many that might be alleaged His wordes be these Nos secum in vnaÌ„ vt ita dicam massam reducit In 26. ca. Mat. hom 83. neque id fide solum sed re ipsa nos corpus suum efficit By this sacrament sayeth he Christ reduceth vs as it were in to one loumpe with him selfe and that not by faith onely but he maketh vs his owne body in very dede reipsa which is no other to saye then Really The other aduerbes corporally Carnally Naturally be fownde in the fathers not seldom specially where they dispute against the Arianes And therefore it had be more conuenient for M. Iuell to haue modestly interpreted them then vtterly to haue denyed them The olde fathers of the greke and latine churche denye that faithfull people haue an habitude or disposition vnion or coniunction with Christ onely by faith and charitie or that we are spiritually ioyned and vnited to him onely by hope loue religion obedience and will yea further they affirme that by the vertue and efficacie of this sacrameÌ„t duely and worthely receiued Christ is really and in deede communicated by true coÌ„munication and participation of the nature and substance of his body and bloud and that he is and dwelleth in vs truly because of our receiuing the same in this sacrameÌ„t The benefite whereof is such as we be in Christ and Christ in vs â—oan 6. according to that he sayeth qui manducat meaÌ„ carneÌ„ manet in me ego in illo Who eateth my fleshe he dwelleth in me and I in him The which dwelling vnion and ioinyng together of him with vs and of vs with him that it might the better be expressed and recoÌ„mended vnto vs they thought good in their writinges to vse the aforesayde aduerbes Hilarius writing against the Arianes alleaging the wordes of Christ 17. Iohn Vt omnes vnum sint sicut tu pater in me ego in te vt ipsi in nobis vnum sint that all maye be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in vs going about by those wordes to shewe that the sonne and the father were not one in nature and substance but onely in concord and vnitie of will among other many and long senteÌ„ces for proufe of vnitie in substance bothe betwen Christ and the father and also betwen Christ and vs De Trinitate lib 8. hath these wordes Si enim verè verbum caro factum est nos verè verbum carnem cibo Dominico sumimus quomodo non naturaliter manere in nobis existimandus est qui naturam carnis nostrae iam inseparabilem sibi homo natus assumpsit naturam carnis suae ad naturam aeternitatis sub sacramento nobis communicandae carnis admiscuit If the word be made fleshe verely and we receiue the word being fleshe in our lordes meate verely how is he to be thought not to dwell in vs naturally who bothe hath taken the nature of our fleshe now inseparable to him selfe in that he is borne man and also hath mengled the nature of his owne fleshe to the nature of his euerlastingnesse vnder the sacrament of his fleshe to be receiued of vs in the communion There afterwarde this word naturaliter in this sense that by the sacrament worthely receiued Christ is in vs and we in Christ naturally that is in truth of nature is sundry tymes put and rehearsed Who so listeth to reade further his eight booke de trinitate he shall fynde him agnise manentem in nobis carnaliter filium that the sonne of God through the sacrament dwelleth in vs carnally that is in truth of fleshe and that by the same sacrament we with him and he with vs are vnited and knitte together corporaliter inseperabiliter corporally and inseparably for they be his very wordes Gregorie Nyssene speaking to this purpose sayeth In lib. de vita Mosiâ— Panis qui de coelo descendit non incorporea quaedaÌ„ res est quo enim pacto res incorporea corpori cibus fiet res verò quae incorporea non est corpus omnino est Huius corporis panem non aratio non satio non agricolarum opus effecit sed terra intacta permansit tamen pane plena fuit quo famescentes mysterium virginis perdocti facilè saturaÌ„tur Which wordes reporte so plainely the truth of Christes body in the sacrament as al maner of figure and signification must be excluded And thus they may be englished The bread that came downe from heauen is not a bodilesse thing For by what meane shall a bodilesse thing be made meate to a body And the thing which is not bodylesse is a body without doubte It is not earing not sowing not the worke of tillers that hath brought forth the bread of this body but the earth which remained vntouched and yet was full of the bread whereof they that waxe hungry being thoroughly taught the mysterie of the virgine sone haue their fylle Of these wordes may easely be inferred a conclusion that in the sacrameÌ„t is Christ and that in the same we receiue him corporally that is in veritie and substance of his body for as much as that is there and that is of vs receiued which was brought forth and borne of the virgine Mary Cyrillus that auncient father and worthy bishop of Alexandria for confirmation of the catholike faith in this point In Ioan. lib. 10. cap. 13. sayeth thus Non negamus recta nos fide charitateque syncera Christo spiritaliter coniungi sed nullam nobis coniunctionis rationem secundum carnem cum illo esse id profecto pernegamus idque à diuinis scripturis omnino alienum dicimus We denye not but that we are ioyned spiritually with Christ by right faith and pure charitie but that we haue no maner of ioyning with him according to the fleshe which is one as to saye carnaliter carnally that we denye vtterly and saye that it is not aggreable with the scriptures Againe least any man shuld thinke this ioyning of vs and Christ together to be by other meanes then by the participation of his body in the Sacrament in the same place afterward he sayeth further An fortassis putat ignotam nobis mysticae benedictionis virtutem esse Quae cum in nobis fiat
and bloud as our lord sayde For although thy sense reporte to thee so much that it is bare bread and wyne yet let thy faith staye thee and iudge not thereof by thy taste but rather be right well assured all doubte put a parte that the body and bloud of Christ is geuen to thee Againe he sayeth thus in the same place Haec cum scias pro certo explorato habeas qui videtur esse panis noÌ„ esse sed corpus Christi item quod videtur vinum non esse quanquam id velit sensus sed sanguinem Christi ac de eo prophetam dixisse panis cor hominis confirmat firma ipse cor sumpto hoc pane vtpote spirituali Where as thou knowest this for a very certainetie that that which semeth to be wyne is not wyne albeit the sense maketh that accompte of it but the bloud of Christ and that the prophete therereof sayde bread strengthneth the hart of man strengthen thou thy selfe thy harte by taking this bread as that which is spirituall And in 3. Catechesi this father sayeth Panis Eucharistiae post inuocationem sancti Spiritus non amplius est panis nudus simplex Sed corpus etc. The bread of the Sacrament after prayer made to the holy ghost is not bare and simple bread but the body of Christ Now sith that by this doctours plaine declaratioÌ„ of the catholike faith in this point we ought to beleue and to be verely assured that the bread is no more bread after coÌ„secration but the very body of Christ and the wyne no more wyne but his pretiouse bloud though they seme to the eye otherwise though taste and feeling iudge otherwise and to be shorte though all senses reporte the contrary and all this vpon warrant of our lordes word who sayde these to be his body and bloud and that as he teacheth not in the bread and wyne And further sith we are taught by Eusebius Emisenus in his homilies of Easter to beleue terrena coÌ„mutari transire the earthly thinges to be chaunged and to passe againe creaturas conuerti in substantiam corporis Christi the creatures of bread and wyne to be tourned in to the substaÌ„ce of our lordes body and bloud which is the very traÌ„substantiation Transubstantion In Liturgia And sith Chrysostom sayeth Panem absumi that the bread is consumed awaie by the substance of Christes bodye And Damascen Lib. 4. de orthodoxa fi c. 14. In Mar. 14 bread and wine traÌ„smutari supernaturaliter to be chaunged aboue the course of nature and Theophylact the bread transelementari in carnem domini to be quite tourned by chaunging of the elementes that is the matter or substance it consisteth of into the fleshe of our lorde and in an other place In Matth. 26. ineffabili operatione traÌ„sformari etiamsi panis nobis videatur that the bread is traÌ„sformed or chaunged into an other substantiall forme he meaneth that of our lordes body by vnspeakeable working though it seme to be bread The treatises of these greke vvriters haue ben set forth of late by one Claudius de Sainctes Finally sith that the greke Doctours of late age affirme the same doctrine among whom Samona vseth for persuasion of it the similitude which Gregorie Nyssene and Damascen for declaration of the same vsed before which is that in consecration such maner transubstantiation is made as is the conuersion of the bread in nourrishing in which it is tourned into the substance of the nourrished Methonensis like S. Ambrose would not men in this matter to looke for the order of nature seing that Christ was borne of a virgine besyde all order of nature and sayeth that our lordes bodye in this Sacrament is receiued vnder the forme or shape of an other thing least bloud shuld cause it to be horrible Nicolaus Cabasila sayeth that this bread is no more a figure of our lordes bodye Cap. 27. neither a gifte bearing an image of the true gifte nor bearing any description of the passioÌ„s of our Sauiour him selfe as it were in a table but the true gifte it selfe the most holy bodye of our lord it selfe which hath truly receiued reproches contumelies stripes which was crucified which was kylled Marcus Ephesius though otherwise to be reiected as he that obstinatly resisted the determination of the Councell of Florence concerning the proceding of the holy ghost out of the sonne yet a sufficient witnes of the Greke churches faith in this point affirming the thinges offred to be called of S. Basile antitypa that is the samplers and figures of our lordes bodye because they be not yet perfitely consecrated but as yet bearing the figure and image referreth the chaunge or transubstantiation of them to the holy ghost donec Spiritus sanctus adueniat qui ea muter these giftes offered sayeth he be of S. Basile called figures vntill the holy ghost come vpon them to chaunge them Whereby he sheweth the faith of the Greke church that through the holy ghost in consecration the bread and wine are so chaunged as they maye no more be called figures but the very bodye and bloud of our lord it selfe as into the same chaunged by the comming of the holy ghost Which chaunge is a chaunge in substance and therefore it may rightly be termed traÌ„substaÌ„tiation TransubstaÌ„tiatioÌ„ which is nothing elles but a tourning or chaunging of one substance into an other substance Sith for this point of our religioÌ„ we haue so good auctoritie and being thus assured of the infallible faith of the churche declared by the testimonies of these worthy fathers of diuerse ages and quarters of the worlde we may well saye with the same churche against M. Iuell that in this Sacrament after consecration there remayneth nothing of that which was before but only the accidentes and shewes without the substance of bread and wyne And this is a matter to a Christen man not hard to beleue For if it please God the almightie Creator in the condition and state of thinges thus to ordeine that substaÌ„ces created beare and susteine accideÌ„tes why may not he by his almighty power coÌ„serue and kepe also accideÌ„tes without substaÌ„ce sith that the very hethen philosophers repute it for an absurditie to saye primam causam non posse id praestare solam quod possit cum secunda that is to saye that the first cause whereby they vnderstand God can not doo that alone which he can doo with the secoÌ„d cause where by they meane a creature And that this being of accidentes without substance or subiecte in this SacrameÌ„t vnder which the bread not remaining the bodye of Christ is present maye the rather be beleued it is to be consydered that this thing tooke place at the first creatioÌ„ of the world Basilius hexaemeroÌ„ hom 6 Damas li. 2. cap. 7. Paulê° Burgensis Gene. 1. after the opinion of some Doctoures Who do affirme that that first light which was at
est corpore Christi etc. This is that we saye sayeth he which by all meanes we go about to proue that the Sacrifice of the church is made of two thinges and cōsisteth of two thinges of the visible shape of the elemētes which are breade and wine and the inuisible fleshe and bloude of our lord Iesus Christ of the Sacrament that is the outward signe and the thinge of the sacrament to witte of the body of Christ etc. By this we vnderstand that this word Sacrament is of the fathers two waies taken First for the whole substance of the Sacrament as it consisteth of the outward formes and also with all of the very body of Christ verely present as saint Augustine sayeth the Sacrifice of the Church to cōsist of these two Secondly it is taken so as it is distincte from that hydden and diuine thing of the Sacrament that is to saye for the outward formes onely which are the holy signe of Christes very body present vnder them conteined Hovv the fathers are to be vnderstāded callīg the Sacrament a figure signe token etc. Whereof we must gather that when so euer the fathers doo call this most excellent Sacrament a figure or a signe they would be vnderstanded to meane none otherwise then of those outward formes and not of Christes body it selfe which is there present not typically or figuratiuely but really and substātially onlesse perhaps respecte be had not to the body it selfe present but to the maner of presence as sometymes it happeneth So is Saint Basile to be vnderstanded in Liturgia calling the sacrament antitypon that is a sampler or à figure and that after cōsecration as the copies that be now abroade bee founde to haue So is Eustathius to be taken that great learned father of the Greke churche who so constantly defended the catholike faith against the Arians cited of Epiphanius in 7. Synodo Albe it concerning S. Basile E◠4. c. 14. in caput Matth. 26 Damascen and Euthymius likewise Epiphanius in the second Nicene councell actione 6. and Marcus Ephesius who was present at the councell of Florence would haue that place so to be taken before consecration As S. Ambrose also calling it a figure of our lordes body and bloud lib. 4. de sacram cap. 5. And if it appeare straunge to any man that S. Basile shuld call those holy mysteries antitypa after consecration let him vnderstand that this learned father thought good by that word to note the great secrete of that mysterie and to shewe a distincte condition of present thinges from thinges to come And this consideration the church semeth to haue had which in publike prayer after holy mysteries receiued maketh this humble petitiō vt quae nunc specie gerimus Sabbato 4. tēporū mēsis Septemb certae rerū veritate capiamus that in the lyfe to come we may take that in certaine truth of thinges which now we beare in shape or shewe Neither doo these wordes importe any preiudice against the truth of the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament but they signifie and vtter the most principall truth of the same when as all outward forme shape shewe figure sampler and coouer taken awaie we shall haue the fruitiō of God him selfe in sight face to face not as it were through a glasse but so as he is in truth of his Maiestie So this word antitypon thus taken in S. Basile furthereth nothing at all the Sacramentaries false doctrine against the truth of the presence of Christes body in the Sacrament And because our aduersaries doo much abuse the simplicitie of the vnlearned bearing thē in hand that after the iudgement and doctrine of th' auncient fathers the Sacrament is but a figure a signe a token or a badge and conteineth not the very body it selfe of Christ for proufe of the same alleaging certaine their sayinges vttered with the same termes I thinke good by the recitall of some the chiefe such places to shewe that they be vntruly reported and that touching the veritie of the presence in the Sacrament they taught in their dayes the same faith that is taught now in the catholike churche Holy Ephrem in a booke he wrote to those that will serch the nature of the sonne of God by mannes reason Cap. 4. sayeth thus Inspice diligenter quomodo sumēs in manibus panem benedicit ac frangit in figura immaculati corporis sui calicemque in figura pretiosi sanguinis sui benedicit tribuit discipulis suis Beholde sayeth he diligently how taking bread in his handes he blesseth it and breaketh it in the figure of his vnspotted body and blesseth the cuppe in the figure of his pretiouse bloude and geueth it to his disciples By these wordes he sheweth the partition deuision or breaking of the Sacramēt to be done no otherwise but in the outward formes which be the figure of Christes body present and vnder them conteined Which body now being gloriouse is no more broken nor parted but is indiuisible and subiect no more to any passion and after the Sacrament is broken it remaineth whole and perfite vnder eche portion Agayne by the same wordes he signifieth that outward breaking to be a certaine holy figure and representation of the crucifying of Christ and of his bloude shedding Which thing is with a more clearnes of wordes set forth by saint Augustine in Sententijs Prosperi Dum frangitur hostia De consecrat dist 2 can dum frangitur dum sanguis de calice in ora fidelium funditur quid aliud quám Dominici corporis in cruce immolatio eiusue sanguinis de latere effusio designatur Whiles the hoste is broken whiles the bloud is powred in to the mowthes of the faithfulles what other thing is thereby shewed and set forth then the sacrificing of Christes body on the crosse and the shedding of his bloud out of his syde And by so dooing the commaundement of Christ is fulfylled Doo this in my remembraunce That it may further appeare that these wordes figure signe image token and such other the like sometymes vsed in auncient writers doo not exclude the truth of thinges exhibited in the Sacrament but rather signifie the secrete maner of th'exhibiting amōgest all other the place of Tertullian in his fouerth booke contrâ Marcionem is not to be omitted specially being one of the chiefe and of most appearaunce that the Sacramentaries bring for proufe of their doctrine Tertullianes wordes be these Acceptum panem distributum discipulis suis corpus suum illum fecit hoc esse corpus meum dicēdo id est figura corporis mei The breade that he tooke and gaue to his disciples he made it his body in saying this is my body that is the figure of my body The double taking of the worde Sacrament afore mentioned remembred and consideration had how the sacramentes of the Newe testament comprehend two thinges the outward visible formes that be figures signes and tokens and
expounde them to those that came to visite him who comming vnto him with pretence to bring conforte through his heauenly knowledge receiued conforte But among the people how great number is there of lewed loselles gluttoÌ„s and dronckerds whose bealy is theire God who folowe their vnruly lustes is it to be thought this sorte of persones may without meditation and exercise of prayer pearse the vnderstanding of the scriptures and of those holy mysteries which god hath hidden as Christ confesseth from the learned and wise men Matth. 11. The gospellers diuided in to coÌ„trarie sectes And whereas learned men of our tyme be diuided into coÌ„trarie sectes and write bitterly one against an other eche one imputing to other mistaking of the scriptures if amongest them who would seme to be the leaders of the people be controuersies and debates about the vnderstanding of the scriptures how may the common people be thought to be in safe case out of all danger of errours if by reading the Bible in their owne tonge they take the matter in hande If any man thinke I sclaunder them for that I saye they be diuided into coÌ„trary sectes let him vnderstaÌ„d their owne countrie men I meane them of Germanie and speciall setters forth of this newe doctrine report it in their bookes and complaine lamentably of it Namely Nicolaus Amsdorffius in his booke intituled Publica confessio purae doctrinae euangelij etc. Also Nicolaus Gallus in his booke of Theses and Hypotyposes who acknowlegeth the strifes and debates that be amongest them to be not of light matters but of the high articles of christian doctrine For euen so be his wordes in Latine Non sunt leues inter nos concertationes de rebus leuibus sed de sublimibus doctrinae Christianae articulis de lege euangelio etc. The same man in the last leafe of his forsayde booke with great vehemendie reporteth haereses permultas esse prae manibus plerasque etiamnùm hâ—rere in calamo that very many herelies be allready in hande and many as yet sticke in the penne as though he meant they were ready to be set forth Of late there haue ben put out in printe two great bookes one by the Princes of Saxonie the other by the Erles of Mansfeld chiefe maineteiners of the Lutheranes in which be recited eleuen sectes and the same as detestable heresies condemned they are conteined in this cataloge or rolle Anabaptistae Seruetiani Antinomi Iesuitae OsiaÌ„drini MelaÌ„chthonici Maioristae Adiaphoristae Suencfeldiani Sacramentarij Albeit the Iesuites haue wrong to be numbred among them This much is confessed of the sectes and controuersies of our newe gospellers by their owne princes that stande in defence of the confession of Auspurg and by two of the Lutherane superintendentes No man hath so exactly declared to the world the number and diuersitie of the sectes of our tyme Fridericê° Staphylê° which hath sprong of Martin Luther as Fridericus Staphylus a man of excellent learning one of the Emperours counsaile that now is who might well haue knowledge herein for as much as he was a diligent student ten yeres at Wittenberg among the chiefe doctors of them and for that tyme was of their opinion and afterward by consyderation of their manifold disagreeinges and conteÌ„tions within theÌ„ selues induced to discredite theÌ„ and through the grace of God reduced to a whole mynde and to the catholike faith and now remayneth a perfecte member of the churche This learned man in his Apologie sheweth that out of Luther haue sprong three diuerse heresies or sectes the Anabaptistes the Sacramentaries and the Confessionistes Protestantes who made confession of their faith in open diete before the Emperour Charles the princes and states of Germanie at Auspurg anno domini 1530. and for protestation of the same there are called Protestantes Now he proueth further by testimonie of their owne writinges that the Anabaptistes be diuided into syx sectes the Sacramentaries into eight sectes the Confessionistes and they which properly are called protestaÌ„tes Protestantes diuided into tvventy Sectes into twenty sectes euery one hauing his proper and particular name to be called and knowen by This lamentable diuision of learned men into so many sectes in the countries where the gospell as they call it hath these forty yeres and is yet most busely handled may be a warning to the gouernours of Christendome that they take good aduisement how they suffer the rude and rashe people to haue the scriptures common in their owne tonge The perill of it is knowen by sundry examples bothe of tymes past and also of this present age For out of this roote hath sprong the secte of the Valdenses Valdenses otherwise called Pauperes de Lugduno For Valdo a merchant of Lyons their first author of whom they were named Valdenses being an vnlearned laye man procured certaine bookes of the scripture to be traÌ„slated into his owne language which when he vsed to reade and vnderstoode not he fell into many errours Of the same wellspring yssued the fylthie puddels of the sectes called Adamitae or Picardi Begardi and Turelupini and of late yeres besyde the same secte of Adamites newly reuiued also the Anabaptistes and Suenkfeldians Wherfor that edicte or proclamation of the worthy Princes Ferdinando and Elizabeth kyng and Quene of Spayne is of many much commended by which they gaue streight commaundement that vnder great penalties no man shuld traÌ„slate the Bible into the vulgare Spanish toÌ„ge and that no man shuld be fownde to haue the same translated in any wise These and the like be the reasons and consyderations which haue moued many men to thinke the setting forth of the whole Bible and of euery parte of the scripture in the vulgare tonge for all sortes of persons to reade without exception or limitation to be a thing not necessary to saluation nor otherwise conuenient nor profitable but contrarywise dangerous and hurtefull Yet it is not meant by them that the people be kepte wholly from the scripture so as they reade no parte of it at all As the whole in their opinion is too strong a meate for their weake stomakes so much of it they may right holesomely receiue and brooke as that which perteineth to pietie and necessary knowledge of a christen man What partes of the scriptures apperteine to the people to knovve Wherein they would the examples of the olde holy fathers to be folowed S. Augustine hath gathered together into to one booke all that maketh for good lyfe out of the scriptures which booke he intituled SpeculuÌ„ that is to saye a myrrour or a looking glasse as Possidonius witnesseth in his lyfe S. Basile hath set forth the like argument almost in his fouerscore moral rules perteining all together to good manners S. Cyprian also hath done the like in his three bookes ad Quirinum Such godly bookes they thinke to be very profitable for the simple people to reade But how much and what partes
of the scripture the common people may reade for their conforte and necessary instruction and by whom the same may be translated it belongeth to the iudgement of the churche Which church hath already condemned all the vulgare traÌ„slations of the Bible of late yeres for that they be founde in sundry places erroneous and parciall in fauour of the heresies which the translatours maineteine And it hath not onely in our tyme condemned these late translations but also hytherto neuer allowed those fewe of olde tyme. I meane S. Hieromes translation into the Dalmaticall tonge if euer any such was by him made as to some it semeth a thing not sufficiently proued And that which before S. Hierome Vlphilas an Arian bishop made and coÌ„mended to the nation of the Gothes who first inuented letters for them and proponed the scriptures to them translated into their owne tonge and the better to bring his Ambassade to the Emperour Valens to good effecte was persuaded by the heretikes of Constantinople and of the courte there to forsake the catholike faith and to communicate with the Arians making promise also to trauaile in brynging the people of his countrie to the same secte which at length he performed most wickedly As for the church of this land of Britaine the faith hath continewed in it thirten hundred yeres vntill now of late without hauing the Bible translated into the vulgare tonge to be vsed of all in common Our lord graunt we yelde no worse soules to God now hauing the scriptures in our owne tonge and talking so much of the gospell then our auncesters haue done before vs. This Iland sayeth Beda speaking of the estate the church was in at his dayes at this present according to the number of bookes that Gods lawe was written in doth serche and coÌ„fesse one and the selfe same knowlege of the high truth and of the true highte with the tonges of fiue nations of the Englishe the Britons the Scottes the Pightes and the Latines Quae meditatione scripturorum caeteris omnibus est facta coÌ„munis Which tonge of the Latines sayeth he is for the studie and meditation of the scriptures made common to all the other Verely as the Latine tonge was then commoÌ„ to all the nations of this lande being of distincte languages for the studie of the scriptures as Beda reporteth so the same onely hath alwayes vntill our tyme ben common to all the cowntries and nations of the Occidentall or West churche for the same purpose and thereof it hath ben called the Latine churche Wherefore to conclude they that shewe them selues so earnest and zelous for the translation of the scriptures into all vulgare and barbarous tonges it behoueth theÌ„ after the opinioÌ„ of wise meÌ„ to see first that no faultes be fownde in their translations as hytherto many haue ben fownde And a small faulte committed in the handling of Gods worde is to be taken for a great crime Nexte that for as much as such translations perteine to all christen people they be referred to the iudgement of the whole churche of euery language and commended to the layetie by the wisedom and auctoritie of the clergie hauing charge of their soules Furthermore that there be some choise exception and limitation of tyme place and persons and also of partes of the scriptures after the discrete ordinaunce of the Iewes Amongest whom it was not laufull that any man shuld reade certaine partes of the Bible before he had fullfilled the tyme of the priestly ministerie which was the age of thirty yeres Praefatione in Ezechielem as S. Hierome witnesseth Lastly that the setting forth of the scriptures in the common language be not commended to the people as a thing vtterly necessary to saluation least thereby they condemne so many churches that hytherto haue lackt the same and so many learned and godly fathers that haue not procured it for their flockes finally all that haue gonne before vs to whom in all vertue innocencie and holynes of lyfe we are not to be compared As for me in as much as this matter is not yet determined by the church whether the common people ought to haue the scriptures in their owne tonge to reade and to heare or no I defyne nothing As I esteme greatly all godly and holesome knowledge and wishe the people had more of it then they haue with charitie and meekenesse so I would that these hote talkers of gods worde had lesse of that knowledge which maketh a man to swell and to be proude in his owne conceite and that they would depely weigh with them selues whether they be not conteyned within the lystes of the saying of S. Paul to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 8. If any man thinke that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to knowe God graunt all our knowledge be so ioyned with meekenesse humilitie and charitie as that be not iustly sayd of vs which S. Augustine in the like case sayde very drâ—dfully to his dere frende Alipius Surgunt indocti coelum rapiunt Confess lib. 8. ca. 8 nos cum doctrinis nostris sine corde ecce vbi volutamur in carne sanguine The vnlearned and simple aryse vp and catche heauen awaie from vs and we with all our great learning voyed of heart lo where are we wallowing in fleshe and bloude Or that it was then lawfull for the priest Iuell to pronounce the wordes of Consecration closely and in silence to him selfe Of secrete pronouncing the Canon of the Masse ARTICLE XVI THe matter of this article is neither one of the highest mysteries nor one of the greatest keyes of our religion how so euer Maister Iuell pleaseth him selfe with that reporte thinking thereby to impaire the estimation of the catholike churche The diuersitie of obseruation in this behalfe sheweth the indifferencie of the thing For elles if one maner of pronouncing the wordes of consecration had ben thought a necessarie point of religion it had ben euery where vniforme and inuariable That the breade and wyne be consecrated by the wordes of our lord pronounced by the priest as in the person of Christ by vertue of which through the grace of the holy ghoste the breade and wyne are chaunged into our lordes body and bloude this thing hath in all tymes and in all places and with consent of all inuariably ben done and so beleued But the manner of pronouncing the wordes concerning silence or open vtteraunce according to diuersitie of places hath ben diuerse The maner of pronouncing the coÌ„secration in the Greke and latine churches diuers In libello de Sacramento Eucharistiae The grekes in the East churche haue thought it good to pronounce the wordes of consecration clara voce as we finde in Chrysostomes Masse and as Bessarion writeth alta voce that is plainely out alowde or with alowde voice Sacerdos alta voce iuxtà Orientalis Ecclesiae ritum verba illa pronunciat hoc est corpus
meum c. The priest sayeth Bessarion after the rite or maner of the east churche pronounceth with a lowde voice those wordes this is my body c. Which maner of lowde pronouncing was thought good to be vsed in the Greke churche as it may be gathered by that Bessarion writeth who being a Greke borne and brought vp in learning amongest the Grekes knewe rightwell the order of that churche to the intent the people might therby for the better mainetenaunce of their faith be styrred and warned to geue tokē of cōsent and of beleefe thereto when the priest sayeth he pronounceth those wordes with a lowde voice the people standyng by in vtraque parte that is first at the consecration of the body and agayne at the consecration of the bloude answereth amen as though they sayde thus truly so it is as thou sayest For where as Amen is an aduerbe of affirmyng in Hebrue in Greke it signifieth so much as truly And therefore the people answering Amen to those wordes verely saie they these giftes sette forth are the body and bloude of Christ So we beleue so we confesse This farre Bessarion It is declared by Clement lib. 8. constitut Apostolicarum that the people sayde Amen when the wordes of consecration had ben pronounced Whereby we vnderstande that order to haue ben taken by the Apostles The same custome also maye be gathered out of S. Ambrose who sayeth thus Dicit tibi sacerdos corpus Christi tu dicis Amen hoc est verum quod confitetur lingua teneat affectus de sacramētis lib. 4. ca. 5. The priest sayeth the body of Christ and thou sayest amen that is to saye true Holde with thy harte that which thou confessest with thy tonge He sayeth hereof likewise de ijs qui initiantur mysterijs cap. 9. Frustrà ab illis respondetur Amen c. Serm. 6. de ieiunio 7. mensis Amen is answered in vaine by them who dispute against that which is receiued sayeth Leo. And that the people shuld geue their consent and applie their faith to this truth without errour and deceite and that by saying Amen they shuld then beleue and confesse the breade and wine to be made the body and bloude of Christ when it was made in deede and not elles for so were it a great errour De ecclesiasticis diuersis capitulis cōstitut 123. for this cause Iustinian the Emperour made an ordinaunce that the bishoppes and priestes shuld to this intēt pronoūce their seruice plainely distinctly and so as it might be vnderstanded that the people might answere Amen wich is to be referred to eche parte of the seruice but specially to the consecration that they might beleue and confesse it was the body and bloude of Christ when it was in deede and not so confesse when it was not which might happen if they hearde not the wordes of consecratiō plainely pronounced And hereunto specially that Constitution of Iustinian is to be restrayned as perteining onely to the Greke churche wherein he lyued and not to be stretched further to serue for proufe of all the seruice to be had and sayde in the vulgare tonge in the West churche as to that purpose of our newe teachers it is vntruly alleaged Now in this West churche which is the latine churche the people hauing ben sufficiently instructed touching the beleefe of the body and bloude of our lord in the Sacrament it hath ben thought by the fathers conuenient the wordes of consecration to be pronounced by the priest closely and in silence rather then with open voice Wherein they had speciall regarde to the dignitie of that high mysterie And doubteles for this point they vnderstoode Lib. de spiritu sancto ca. 27. as Saint Basile writeth that the Apostles and the fathers which at the begynning made lawes for the order of Ecclesiasticall thinges maineteined the mysteries in their due auctoritie by keping them secrete and in silence For it is not sayeth he any mysterie at all which is brought forth to the popular and vulgar eares whereof he wrote very truly before Ei quod publicatum est per se apprehendi potest imminere contemptum Ei verò quod remotum est ac rarum etiam naturaliter quodammodo esse coniunctam admirationem That what is done openly and made common and of it selfe maye be atteined it is like to come in contempte and be dispysed But what is kepte farre of and is sildom goten that euen naturally in maner is neuer without wondering at it And in such respecte Christ gaue warning that pretiouse stones be not strewed before hogges If in the olde lawe priestes were chosen as Saint Ambrose writeth to coouer the arke of the Testament because it is not lawfull for all persones to see the deapth of mysteries If the sonnes of Caath by Gods appointment dyd onely beare the arke and those other holy thinges of the Tabernacle Nume 4. Vide Origenē homil 5. in Numer cap. 4. on their shulders when so euer the children of Israel remoued and marched foreward in wildernes being closely folded and lapte within vailes courteines and palles by the priestes and might not at no tyme touche nor see the same vpon payne of death which were but figures of this how much more is this high and worthy mysterie to be honoured with secretnes closenes and silence For this cause as they reporte In fragmēto Caroli Mag. de ritib. veteris ecclesiae sayeth Carolus Magnus that noble vertuouse and learned Emperour wryting to his Schoolemaister Alcuinus our cowntrie man and first teacher of Philosophie in Paris it is become a custome in the church that the Canon and consecration be sayde by the priest secretly that those wordes so holy and perteining to so great a mysterie shuld not growe in contēpte whiles all in maner through common vse bearing them awaye would syng them in the high wayes in the stretes and in other places where it were not conuenient Whereof it is tolde that before this custome was receiued shepherdes when they sang them in the fielde were by Gods hande strooken Luther him selfe in praeceptorio is much against them that would haue the Canon of the Masse to be pronounced with a lowde voice for the better vnderstāding vvhat persons the primitiue church excluded frō presence of the sacramēt The fathers of the primitiue churche had this Sacrament in such reuerence and honour that they excluded some sortes of faithfull people from being present at the celebration of it thinking them vnworthy not onely to heare the mysticall wordes of consecration pronounced but also to see the formes of the outward elementes and to be in the churche whiles that most holy Sacrifice was offered They were these Cathechumeni Energumeni and poenitentes The first were learners of our beleefe who as they were daily instructed beleued in Christ and as Saint Augustine writeth Tractatu in Ioan. 11 bare Christes crosse in their forehead
Iuell denyeth Irenaeus receiued the same from Saint Iohn the Euangelist by Polycarpus Saint Iohns scoler He declareth it with these wordes Eum qui ex creatura punis est accepit gratias egit dicens Libro 4. cap. 32. Hoc est corpus meum Et calicem similiter qui est ex creatura quae est secundum nos suum sanguinem confessus est noui testamenti nouam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in vniuerso mundo offert Deo De quo in duodecim prophetis Malachias sic praesignificauit Non est mihi voluntas in vobis dicit Dominus exercituum Malac. 1. munus non suscipiam de manu vestra He tooke that which by creation is bread and gaue thankes saying this is my body And likewise the cuppe full of that creature which is here with vs and confessed it to be his bloud and thus taught the newe oblation of the newe testament which the churche receiuing of the Apostles doth offer to God through the whole worlde whereof Malachie one of the twelue prophetes dyd prophecie thus I haue no lyking in you sayeth our lord almighty neither will I take sacrifice of your handes because from the rysing of the sunne to the going downe of the same my name is glorified among the nations and incense is offered to my name in euery place and pure sacrifice for that my name is great among the nations What can be vnderstanded by this newe oblation of the newe testament other then the oblation of that which he sayde to be his body and confessed to be his bloude And if he had offered bread and wine onely or the figure of his body and bloud in bread and wine it had ben no newe oblation for such had ben made by Melchisedech long before Neither can the prophecie of Malachie be vnderstanded of the oblation of Christ vpon the crosse for as much as that was done but at one tyme onely and in one certaine place of the world in Golgoltha a place without the gates of Ierusalem neare to the walles of that citie Concerning the sacrifice of a contrite and an humbled heart and all other Sacrifices of our deuotion that be mere spirituall they can not be called the newe oblation of the Newe testament for as much as they were done as well in the olde testameÌ„t as in the newe neither be they all together pure Wherefore this place of Irenaeus and also the prophecie of Malachie wherewith it is confirmed must nedes be referred to the sacrifice and oblation of the body and bloud of Christ dayly throughout the whole world offered to God in the Masse which is the externall Sacrifice of the churche and proper to the newe testament which as Irenaeus sayeth the church receiued of the Apostles and the Apostles of Christ Now let vs heare what S. Cyprian hath written to this purpose Because his workes be common Lib. 2. epist 3. to be shorter I will rehearse his wordes in English If in the Sacrifice which is Christ none but Christ is to be folowed soothly it behoueth vs to obey and doo that which Christ dyd and coÌ„maunded to be done For if Iesus Christ our lord and God very he him selfe be the high priest of God the father and him selfe first offered sacrifice to God the father and coÌ„maunded the same to be done in his remeÌ„braunce verely that priest doth occupie the office of Christ truly who doth by imitation the same thing that Christ dyd And then he offereth to God the father in the church a true and a perfite sacrifice if he begynne to offer right so as he seeth Christ him selfe to haue offered This farre S. Cyprian How can this Article be auouched in more plaine wordes he sayeth that Christ offered him selfe to his father in his supper and likewise coÌ„maunded vs to doo the same Here we haue proued that it is lawfull and hath alwaies from the begynning of the newe tâ—stament ben lawfull for the priestes to offer vp Christ vnto his father by the testimonies of three holy martyrs two Grekes and one Latine most notable in sundry respectes of antiquitie of the rome they bare in Christes churche of learning of constancie of faith stedfastly kepte to death suffred in places of fame and knowledge at Paris at Lions at Carthage Our aduersaries crake much of the sealing vp of their newe doctrine with the bloud of such and such who be writteÌ„ in the booke of lyes not in the booke of lyfe whom they will nedes to be called martyrs Verely if those Moonkes and freres Apostates and renegates wedded to wiues or rather to vse their owne terme yoked to sisters be true martyrs then must our newe Gospellers pull these holy fathers and many thousandes mo out of heauen For certainely the faith in defence of which either sorte dyed is vtterly contrary The worst that I wishe to them is that God geue them eyes to see and eares to heare and that he shut not vp their hartes so as they see not the light here vntill they be throwen awaye into the owtward darkenes Matt. 15. where shall be weeping and grynting of teeth Leauing no small number of places that might be recited out of diuerse other doctours I will bring two of two worthy bishops one of Chrysostome the other of S. Ambrose confirmig this truth Chrysostomes wordes be these Pontifex noster ille est qui hostiam mundantem nos obtulit ipsam offerimus nunc Chrysost in epist ad Heb. Homil 17. quae tunc oblata quidem consumi non potest Hoc autem quod nos facimus in commemorationem fit eius quod factum est Hoc enim facite inquit in mei coÌ„memorationem He is our bishop that hath offered vp the hoste which cleanseth vs. The same doo we offer also now which though it were then offered yet can not be consumed But this that we doo is done in remembraunce of that which is done For doo ye this sayeth he in my remembraunce S. Ambrose sayeth thus In Psalm 38. Vidimus principem Sacerdotum ad nos venientem vidimus et audiuimus offerentem pro nobis sanguinem suum sequamur vt possumus Sacerdotes vt offeramus pro populo sacrificium etsi infirmi merito tamen honorabiles sacrificio Quia etsi Christus non videtur offerre tamen ipse offertur in terris quando Christi corpus offertur We haue sene the prince of priestes come to vs we haue sene and heard him offer for vs his bloud Let vs that be priestes folowe him as we maye that we may offer sacrifice for the people being though weake in merite yet honorable for the sacrifice Because albeit Christ be not sene to offer yet he is offered in earth when the body of Christ is offered Of these our lordes wordes which is geuen for you and which is shedde for you and for many Here S. Ambrose exhorteth the priestes to offer
wittes may seme sufficient Now this being so what you mynde to doo I knowe not what you ought to doo I knowe right well I wishe you to doo that which may be to your owne and to the peoples soule helth that being by you and your felowes deceiued depende of you to the setting forth of the truth to the procuring of a godly concorde in Christes church and finally to the glory of God This may you doo by forsaking that which perhappes semeth to you truth and is not that which semeth to you learning and is but a floorishe or vernishe of learnig that which semeth to you cleare light and is profounde darknes and by retourning to the church where concerning the faith of a christē man is all truth and no deceite right learning Ioan. 1. and the very light euen that which lightneth euery man coming into this worlde which is there to be fownde onely and not elles where for as much as the head is not separated from the body O that you would once mynde this seriously M. Iuell As for me if either speaking writing or expending might further you therto I shuld not spare tonge nor penne nor any portion of my necessary thinges were it neuer so dere I would gladly powre out all together to helpe you to atteine that felicitie But ô lord what lettes see I whereby you are kepte from that good Shame welth of your estate your worldly acquaintance besyde many others But Syr touching shame which alwayes irketh those that be of any generositie of nature if you call your better philosophie to counsell you shall be taught not to accōpte it shamefull to forsake errour for loue of truth but rather willfully to dwell in errour after that it is plainely detected As for the welth of your estate which some assure you of so long as you maineteine that parte I can not iudge so euill of you but that you thinke how fickle and fraile these worldly thinges bee and how litle to be estemed in respecte of the heauenly estate which remaineth to the obedient children of the church as the contrarie to the rebelles Apostates and renegates Touching your acquaintance what shall the familiaritie of a fewe deceiued persons staye you from that felicitie which you shall acheue with the loue and frendship of all good men of whose good opinion onely ryseth fame and renome Luc. 15. and also with the reioising of the Angels in heauen This your happy chaunge the better and wiser sorte of men will impute to grace mightely by gods power in you wrought Genes 1. 2. Cor. 4. which sundreth light from darknes and maketh light shyne out of darknes Neither shall they iudge that inconstancie where is no chaunge in will but onely in vnderstanding Where the will remaining one alwayes bent to the glorie of God the deceiued vnderstanding is by better instruction corrected and righted there is not inconstancie to be noted but amendment to be praysed Neither shall you in this godly enterprise be alone Many both of olde tyme and of our dayes haue gone this waye and haue broken the yse before you Eusebius of Caesarea in Palaestina Beryllus of Bostra in Arabia and Theodoritus of Cyrus in Persie who forsooke haynouse heresies against Christ and by grace retourned to the catholike faith againe So haue done in our tyme Georgius wicelius Fridericus Staphylus Franciscus Balduinus and many mo Thus hauing called to my mynde the consyderations that are like to withholde you from yelding to the catholike faith frō retourning to the church and from performing your promise I fynde no bandes so strong to kepe you fast in the chayer of pestilence which this long tyme you haue sitten in that through Gods grace working humilitie and denyall of your selfe in your hart whereof I spake in my preface you shuld not easely loose and be in libertie where you might clearly see the light spredde abroad ouer the whole Church and espie the darknes of the particuler sectes of your newe gospell which you lyued in before But all this notwithstanding peraduenture your hart serueth you to stande stowtly according to the purport of your chalenge in the defence of the doctrine you haue professed and for which you haue obteined a bishoprike thinking great skorne to be remoued frō the same by any such meanes as these to you may seme And now perhappes you enter into meditation with your selfe and conferēce with your brethren to frame an answere to this treatise and by contrary writing to fortifie your negatiues Well may you so doo But to what purpose I praye you Well may you make a smoke and a smooder to darken the light for a tyme as men of warre are wont to doo to worke a feate secretly against their enemies But that can not long continewe The smoke will sone vanishe awaye the light of the truth will eftesones appeare Well may you shutte the light out of a fewe houses by closing dores and windowes but to kepe awaye the bright sunne frō that great Citie which is set on high vpon a hill doo what ye can Matt. 5. therein all your trauaill your deuises and endeuours shall be vaine and frustrate As iron by scowring is not onely not consumed but kepte frō ruste and canker and is made brighter so the church by the armures and hostilitie of heretikes is not wounded but through occasiō strengthened styrred to defence and made inuincible When it is opressed then it ryseth when it is inuaded then it ouercometh When by the aduersaries obiections it is chekte and controlled then it is acquitted and preuaileth Wherefore talke preache and write against the doctrine of the church whiles ye will ye shall but spurne against the stone where at ye may breake your shynnes and be crushed to pieces Matt. 21. Act. 9. the same not moued Ye shall but kicke against the pricke Ye shall but torment youre owne conscience condemned in your owne iudgement Tit. 3. as witting that ye resist the church and for the lyfe to come encreace the heape of euerlasting damnation All the reward ye shall wynne hereby is the vaine fauour of a fewe light and vnstable persons by you deceiued Whom the blastes of your mutable doctrine shall moue and blowe awaye from Gods floore the church Matt. 3. like chaffe the good and constant people remaining still like weighty and sownde wheate The argumētes and reasons you shall make against the doctrine of the church may happely persuade some of the worldly wise who be fooles in Gods iudgement as the reasons of them that haue commended infamouse matters Phauorinus Synesius Glaucus apud Platonem Cornelius Agrippa Erasmus haue persuaded some Of whom one praised the feuer quartane an other drōkennes an other baldnes an other vnrighteousnes and in our tyme one ignorance and an other foolishnes Which by the authours hath ben done onely for an exercise of wittes and rather to the wondering then corrupting of
the Readers Would God of all the writinges of your sect against the catholike faith which be no lesse besyde reason and truth the intent were no worse the danger ensuing no greater And as for commendation of those vnsemely and vnworthy thinges those Rhetoricians haue not brought good and true reasons but onely a probabilitie of talke right so for confirmation of your negatiue diuinitie and of many newe straunge and false doctrines you haue no suer proufes but shadowes colours and shewes onely that perhappes may dasell bleare eyes and deceiue the vnlearned but the learned wise and by any wayes godly wise will sone contemne the same For they be assured how probably so euer you teach or write that the church allwayes assisted and prompted by the holy Ghoste the spirite of truth in pointes of faith erreth not and that against truth allready by the same spirite in the vniuersall church taught and receiued no truth can be alleaged As he is very simple who being borne in hande by a Sophister and driuen by force of sophisticall arguments to graunt that he hath hornes thinketh so in dede and therfore putteth his hande to his forehed So who so euer through your teaching fall from the catholike Church into the errours of our tyme from the streightnes of Christian lyfe into the carnall libertie of this newe gospell from deuotion into the insensibilitie which we see the people to lyue in from the feare of God to the desperat contempte of all vertue and goodnes hereby they shewe them selues to be such as haue vnstable hartes which be geuen ouer to the lustes of their fleshe which haue no delite ne feeling of God which like Turkes and Epicures seeking onely for the cōmodities and pleasures of this world haue no regard of the lyfe to come But the godly sorte whose hartes be established with grace who pant and labour to lyue after the spirite continually mortifying their fleshe whose delite is to serue God vvho be kepte and holden vvithin the feare of God though they geue you their hearing and that of constraint not of vvill yet vvill not they geue you their lyking nor consenting Wherefore M. Iuell seing we haue performed that which you haue ouer boldly sayde we were not able to doo seing for proufe of these Arcicles we haue brought more then you bare your hearers in hande we had to bring seing you perceiue your selfe herein to haue done more then standeth with learning modestie or good aduise seing in case of any one clause or sentence for our parte brought you haue with so many protestations promysed to yelde and to subscribe vnto vs seing by performing your promise you may do so much good to the people and to your selfe seing nothing can be iustly alleaged for keping of you from satisfying your promise and retourning to the church againe seing so great respectes both of temporall and of heauenly prefermentes inuite you and call you from partes and sectes where you remayne with most certaine danger of your soule to the safe porte of Christes church seing by so dooing you shuld not doo that which were singular but common to you with many others men of right good fame and estimation finally seing if you shall as allwayes for the most parte heretikes haue done continew in the professiō of your vntrue doctrine and trauaill in setting forth erroneouse treatises for defence of the same you shall gaigne thankes of no other but of the lightest and worst sorte of the people and persuade none but such as be of that marke we trust you will vpon mature deliberation in your sadder yeres chaunge the counsell which you lyked in your youth we trust you will examine better by learning the newe doctrine which you with many others were drawen vnto by swea of the tyme when by course of age you wanted iudgement we trust you will call backe your selfe frō errours and heresies aduisedly which you haue maineteined rashly and set forth by word and write busyly and therein assured your selfe of the truth confidently Thus shall your errour seme to procede of ignorance not of malice Thus shall you make some recompence for hurt done thus shall you in some degree discharge your selfe before God and men thus shall you be receiued into the lappe of the church againe out of which is no saluation whether being restored you may from hence forth in certaine expectation of the blessed hope Tit. 2. leade a lyfe more acceptable to God to whom be all prayse honour and glorie Amen A TABLE OF THE ARTICLES VTTERED AFFIRmatiuely against M. Iuelles Negatiues OF Masse vvithout a number of others receiuing the Communion vvith the priest at the same tyme and place vvhich the gospellers call priuate Masse Folio 9. Of Communion vnder one kynde Fol. 31. Of the church Seruice in learned tonges vvhich the vnlearned people in olde tyme in sundry places vnderstoode not Fol. 50. Of the Popes Primacie fol. 75. Of the termes really substantially corporally carnally naturally fovvnde in the Doctours treating of the true being of Christes body in the blessed Sacramēt Fol. 96. Of the being of Christes body in many places at one tyme. fol. 104. Of the Eleuation or lyfting vp of the sacramēt fol. 109. Of the vvorshipping or adoration of the sacramēt fol. 111. Of the reuerent hanging vp of the sacrament vnder a Canopie fol. 121. Of the remaining of the accidentes vvithout their substance in the Sacramen◠fol. 123. Of diuiding the sacrament in three partes fol. 128. Of the termes figure signe token c. by the fathers applyed to the sacrament fol. 129. Of pluralitie of Masses in one church in one daye fol. 138. Of images fol. 145. Of the peoples reading the Bible in their ovvne tonge fol. 153. Of secrete pronouncing of the Canō of the Masse fol. 161. Of the priestes auctoritie to offer vp Christ to his father fol. 164. Of the priestes saying Masse for an other fol. 172. Of applicatiō of the benefites of Christes death to others by meane of prayer in the Masse fol. 173. Of opus operatum vvhat it is and vvhether it remoue synne fol. 174. Of calling the sacrament lord and God fol. 176. Of the remayning of Christes body in the Sacrament so long as the accidentes be entier and vvhole fol. 182. VVhat is that the Mouse or vvorme eateth fol. 184. VVhat this pronoune Hoc pointeth in the vvordes of consecration fol. 185. VVho are the sacramentes of Christes body and bloude the accidentes or the bread and vvyne fol. 185. Of the vnspeakeable maner of the being of Christes body and bloude vnder the formes of bread and vvyne fol. 186. A TABLE OF THE CHIEFE pointes in these Articles vttered The number shevvth the leafe a the first syde b the second syde of the leafe etc noteth the matter further prosecuted in that as folovveth ATTICLE I. NO Masse priuate in it selfe but in respecte of circumstances 9. a. The terme Priuate in respecte of the Masse
after the sense of the Gospellers nevve and vsed by Sathan 9. b. In vvhat sense and consideration the Masse called Priuate of some Doctours 9. b. VVhat the Lutherans call Priuate Masse 9. b. Priuate Masse in vvorde but in dede the sacrifice of the churche impugned by M. Iuell 10. a. Proufes for the Masse briefly touched 10. a. The chiefe cause vvhy the Gospellers storme against priuate Masse 11. b. Three essentials of the Masse 12. b. Number of communicantes place tyme vvith other rites bee not of Christes Institution 12. b. VVhy the Sacrament is called a communion 14. a. There is a communion betvven the faithfull though they be not together 14. b. Necessitie of many communicantes together contrary to the libertie of the gospell 15. a. For mengling vvater vvith the vvyne in the Sacrament a place alleaged out of Clement 15. b. Many maye cōmunicate together not being in one place together 16. a. etc. Proufes for priuate communion and consequently for priuate Masse 17. b. etc. Reseruation of the Sacrament 19. b. Vncleane doinges bevvrayed at Martyrs toumbes 20. b. Light of the vvest churches taken from Rome 21. b. The fathers oftentymes complaine of the peoples forebearing the cōmunion but no vvhere of the priestes ceasing from offering the Sacrifice 23. a. The peoples forebearing the cōmunion is no cause vvhy the priest shuld not saye Masse 24. a. Masse done vvithout a number of communicantes in the same place 24. b. 25. 26. etc. A true declaration of Chysostomes place nullus qui cōmunicetur 30. b. 2. Christes vvordes drynke ye all of this bynde not the laitie to the vse of the cuppe 33. a. Luther and his ofspring doth not necessitate communiō vnder both kyndes 34. a. etc. Lutheres cōferēce vvith the Deuill agaīst the Masse 34. b Causes mouing the church to communicate vnder one kinde 36. b. The exacte streightnes of certaine Gods ordinances may vvhithout offence in cases be omitted 37. a. b. etc. Proufes for Cōmunion vnder one kinde 40. b. 41. etc. Our lordes cuppe onely in certaine cases ministred 46. a. b The administration of the bread styped or dipte in the cuppe vnlavvfull 46. b. The Canon of Gelasius guilefully by M. Iuell alleaged truly examined 47. b. 48. etc. 3. Churche Seruice in due order disposed in the Greke churches before the latine churches 51. a. Vsage of church Seruice in any vulgare barbarouse tonge vvith in 600. yeres after Christ can not be proued 52. a All people of the Greke church vnderstoode not the greke Seruice 53. b. 54. etc. M. Iuelles allegations soluted 57. a. etc. Iustinianes ordinance truly declared 58. b. M. Iuell noted of insinseritie and halting 58. b. 59. a. The nūber of lāguages by accōpte of the antiquitie 59. a. b All people of the Latine churche vnderstoode not the Latine Seruice 60. a. 61. 62. etc. The antiquitie of the Latine Seruice in the church of England 63. a. Cednom the diuine poete of England 65. b. The first entree of the English Seruice 66. a. The place of S. Paule to the Corinthians maketh not for the Seruice in the Englishe tonge 66. b. 67. etc. The vvorde Spirite in s Paul diuersely takē of diuerse 68. a The benefite of prayer vttered in a tonge not vnderstanded 71. a. Such nations as vse church Seruice in their ovvne tonge continevve in schismes 73. b. 4. Of syx grovvndes that the Popes Supreme auctoritie standeth vpon the first and chiefe Gods ordināce according to the scripture expounded 75. b. etc. The 2. Councelles 77. b. The 3. Edictes of Emperoures 79. a. The 4. Doctours 79. b. etc. The 5. Reason 81. a. The 6. practise of the church syxfolde 83. a. etc. 1. Appellations to the Pope 84. a. Euill lyse of the b. of Rome ought not to seuer vs from the faith of the churche of Rome 85. b. The 2. practise corrections from the Pope 87. a. 3. Confirmations by the Pope 78. b. 4. The Popes approuing of Councelles 88. a. 5. Absolutions from the Pope 89. a 6. Reconciliations to the Pope 89. b The Pope aboue a thousand yeres sithens called Vniuersall bishop and head of the vniuersall churche 90. b. Peter and consequētly the Pope Peters successour called head of the church both in termes equiualent and also expressely 91. b. etc. Peter and his successour called head of the churche expressely 93. a. etc. The Popes Primacie acknovvleged and cōfessed by Martin Luther 94. b. 5. VVhat occasioned the fathers to vse these termes really substantially corporally etc. 97. b. Berengatius the first Sacramentarie 98. a. The fleshe and bloud of Christ of double cōsideratiō 98. b. Bucer cōfesseth the body of Christ to be in the Sacramēt in dede and substantially 100. b. 6. Christes being in heauen and in the Sacrament at one tyme implyeth no contradiction 105. a. Christes body in many places at once 105. b. 106. etc. Truth confessed by the enemie of truth 107. b. God vvorking aboue nature distroyeth not nature 108. b Being in a mysterie vvhat it is 109. a. 7. Eleuation of the Sacrament proued 109. b. 110. etc. 8. VVhat Christē people adore in the Sacramēt 112. b. 113. etc. Contrarietie in the first deuysers of the Nevve Gospell 115. a. Adoration proued by the scripture and that according to the Zuinglians against luther 115. a. etc. The terme concomitantia by the Diuines profitably deuysed 115. b. Adoration of Christ in the Sacrament auouched by the fathers 116. b. etc. 9. Sundry maners of keping the blessed Sacrament 121. b. Hanging vp of the Sacrament in a pyxe ouer the aulter is auncient 122. b. 10. The remayning of the onely Accidentes vvithout substāce in the Sacramēt depēdeth of the Article of transubstantiation 124. a. Transubstantiation and the truth of our lordes body and bloud auouched 124. 125. etc. Transubstantiation taught by the olde fathers and by the Doctours of the Greke church of late age 126. 127. Accidentes beleued of some learned fathers to remaine vvithout substance at the begynning 127. b. 11. VVhat the diuiding of the Sacrament in three partes signifieth 128. a. The diuiding of the Sacrament in three partes probably thought to be a Tradition of the Apostles 128. b. 129. a. 12. Hovv the fathers are to be vnderstanded calling the Sacrament a figure signe token etc. 130. a. etc. The vvordes figure signe token remembrance etc. exclude not the truth of being 134. a. 135. etc. 13. Lydford lavve vsed by the Gospellers 139. a. Pluralitie of Masses in one churche in one daye 139. a. etc. This vvord Sacrifice taken for the Masse 143. b. 14. Antiquitie of Images 145. a. The signe of the Crosse commended to men by Gods prouidence 145. b. Literae Hieroglyphicae 146. b. Images from the Apostles tyme. 147. b. Three causes vvhy Images haue ben vsed in the churche 150. a. Pictura loquens poëma tacens 150. b. Hovv Images maye be vvorshipped vvithout offēce 152. a 15. Three sundry opiniōs concerning the scriptures to be had in a vulgare
corpus meum quod comedetur resuscitabo eum Non enim alius ipse est quà m caro sua c. He that eateth the fleshe of Christ hath lyfe euerlasting For this fleshe hath the word of God which naturally is lyfe Therefore sayeth he that I will raise him in the last daie For I quoth he that is to saye my body which shall be eaten shall raise him vp agayne for he is no other then his fleshe c. No man more expressely calleth the Sacramēt by the name of God then S. Bernard in his godly sermon de coena Domini ad Petrum presbyterum where he sayeth thus Comedunt angeli Verbum de Deo natum Comedunt homines Verbum foenum factum The angels eate the Word borne of God men eate the Word made haye meaning hereby the sacramēt which he calleth the Word made haye that is to witte the Word incarnate And in an other place there he sayeth Haec est verè indulgentia coelestis haec est verè cumulata gratia haec est verè superexcellens gloria sacerdotem Deum suū tenere alijs dando porrigere This is verely an heauenly gyfte this is verely a bountifull grace this is verely a passing excellent glorie the priest to holde his God and in geuing to reache him forth to others In the same sermō speaking of the meruelouse sweetnes that good bishopes and holy religiouse men haue experience of by receiuing this blessed Sacrament he sayeth thus Ideo ad mensam altaris frequentius accedunt omni tempore candida facientes vestimenta sua id est corpora prout possunt melius vtpote Deum suum manu ore cōtrectaturi For this cause they come the oftener vnto the bourd of the aulter at all tymes making their garmentes that is to saye their bodyes so white as they can possibly as they who shall handle their God with hand and mowth An other place of the same sermon for that it cōteineth a holesom instruction besyde the affirming of our purpose I can not omitte I remitte the learned to the Latine the English of it is this They are meruelous thinges brethren that be spoken of this Sacrament faith is necessarie knowledge of reason is here superfluous This let faith beleue let not vnderstanding require least that either not being fownde it thinke it incredible or being fownde out it beleue it not to be singuler and alone And therfor it behoueth it to be beleued symply that can not be serched out profitably Wherefore serche not serche not how it maye bee doubte not whether it bee Come not vnto it vnreuerently least it bee to you to death Deus enim est quanquà m panis mysteria habeat mutatur tamen in carnem For it is God and thoug it haue mysteries of bread yet is it chaunged into fleshe God and mā it is that witnesseth bread truly to be made his fleshe The vessell of election it is 1. Cor. 11. that threatneth iudgement to him that putteth no difference in iudging of that so holy fleshe The selfe same thing thinke thou o Christen man of the wyne geue that honour to the wine The creatour of wine it is that promoteth the wine to be the bloud of Christ This farre holy Bernard Here let our aduersaries touching this Article consyder and weigh with them selues whether they be Lutheranes Zuinglianes or Geneuians what english they can make of these wordes vsed by the fathers and applyed to the Sacramēt in the places before alleaged Dominus Christus ▪ Diuina essentia Deus Seipsum Verbum Dei Ego Verbum foenum factum Deum suum The number of the like places that might be alleaged to this purpose be in maner infinite Yet M. Iuell promyseth to geue ouer and subscribe if any one may be fownde Now we shal see what truth is in his word In the weighing of this doctrine of the churche litle occasion of wicked scoffes and blasphemies against this blessed sacrament shall remaine to them that be not blinded with that grosse and fond errour that denyeth the inseparabilitie of Christ but affirmeth in this mysterie to be present his fleshe onely with out bloud soule and godhed Which is confuted by plaine scriptures Christ raysed from the dead now dyeth no more Rom. 6. He suffereth him selfe no more to be diuided 1. Cor. 1. Euery sprite that looseth Iesus this is Antichrist 1. Ioan. 4. Hereof it foloweth that if Christ be verely vnder the forme of bread in the Sacrament as it is other wheres sufficiently proued then is he there entier and whole fleshe bloud and soule whole Christ God and man for the inseparable vnion of bothe natures in one person Which matter is more amply declared in the Article of the adoration of the sacrament Or that the people was then taught to beleue Iuell that the body of Christ remayneth in the Sacrament as long as the Accidētes of the bread remayne there with out corruptiō Of the remayning of Christes bodye in the sacrament so long as the accidentes be entier and vvhole ARTICLE XXII THese fiue articles here folowing are Scoole pointes the discussiō whereof is more curiouse then necessary Whether the faithfull people were then that is to saye for the space of six hundred yeres after Christ taught to beleue concerning this blessed Sacrament precisely according to the purporte of all these articles or no I knowe not Verely I thinke they were taught the truth of this matter simply and plainely yet so as nothing was hydden from them that in those quiet tymes quiet I meane touching this point of faith was thought necessary for them to knowe If sithēs there hath ben more taught or rather if the truth hath in some other forme of wordes ben declared for a more euidence and clearnesse in this behalfe to be had truth it selfe alwaies remayning one this hath proceded of the diligence and earnest care of the churche to represse the pertinacie of heretikes who haue within these last syx hundred yeres impugned the truth herein and to meete with their peruerse and froward obiectiōs as hath ben thought necessary to finde out such wedges as might best serue to ryue such knotty blocket Yet this matter hath not so much ben taught in open audience of the people as debated priuatly betwen learned men in scooles and so of them set forth in their priuate writinges Wherein if some perhappes through contention of wittes haue ben either ouer curiouse or ouer bolde and haue ouershotte the marke or not sufficiently cōfirmed the point they haue taken in hāde to treate of or through ignoraunce or fauour of a parte haue in some thing swarued from reason or that meaning which holy churche holdeth it is great vncourtesie to laye that to our charge to abuse their ouersightes to our discredite and to reproue the whole churche for the insufficiencie of a fewe Now concerning this Article whether we are able to auouche it by such authorities as M.
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