of Monasticall discipline in the East S. Antony I meane who taught his Schollers that the Scriptures were sufficient for doctrine and S. Basil who unto the question Whether it were expedient that novices should presently learne those things that are in the Scripture returneth this answere It is fit and necessarie that every one should learne out of the holy Scripture that which is for his use both for his full settlement in godlinesse and that hee may not be accustomed unto humane traditions Marke here the difference betwixt the Monkes of Saint Basil and Pope Hildebrands breeding The Novices of the former were trayned in the Scriptures to the end they might not be accustomed unto humane traditions those of the latter to the cleane contrarie intent were kept back from the studie of the Scriptures that they might be accustomed unto humane traditions For this by the foresaid author is expressely noted of those Hildebrandine Monkes that they permitted not yong men in their Monasteries to studie this saving knowledge to the end that their rude wit might be nourished with the huskes of divels which are the customes of humane traditions that being accustomed to such filth they might not taste how sweet the Lord was And even thus in the times following from Monkes to Friars and from them to secular Priests and Prelates as it were by tradition from hand to hand the like ungodly policie was continued of keeping the common people from the knowledge of the Scriptures as for other reasons so likewise that by this meanes they might be drawne to humane traditions Which was not onely observed by Erasmus before ever Luther stirred against the Pope but openly in a maner confessed afterwards by a bitter adversarie of his Petrus Sutor a Carthusian Monke who among other inconveniences for which he would have the people debarred from reading the Scripture alledgeth this also for one Whereas manie things are openly taught to be observed which are not to be expressely had in the holy Scriptures will not the simple people observing these things quickly murmure and complaine that so great burdens should be imposed upon them whereby the libertie of the Gospell is so greatly impaired Will not they also easily be drawne away from the observation of the ordinances of the Church when they shall observe that they are not contained in the Law of Christ Having thus therefore discovered unto these Deuterotae for so S. Hierome useth to style such Tradition-mongers both their grandfathers and their more immediat progenitors I passe now forward unto the second point OF THE REAL PRESENCE HOw farre the real presence of the bodie of Christ in the Sacrament is allowed or disallowed by us I have at large declared in an other place The summe is this That in the receiving of the blessed Sacrament we are to distinguish betweene the outward and the inward action of the Communicant In the outward with our bodily mouth wee receive really the visible elements of Bread and Wine in the inward wee doe by faith really receive the bodie and bloud of our Lord that is to say wee are truely and indeed made partakers of Christ crucified to the spirituall strengthning of our inward man They of the adverse part have made such a confusion of these things that for the first they do utterly denie that after the words of consecration there remaineth anie Bread or Wine at all to be received and for the second do affirme that the bodie and bloud of Christ is in such a maner present under the outward shewes of bread and wine that whosoever receiveth the one be he good or bad beleever or unbeleever doth therewith really receive the other We are therfore here put to prove that Bread is bread and Wine is wine a matter one would thinke that easily might be determined by common sense That which you see saith S. Augustine is the Bread and the Cup which your very eyes doe declare unto you But because we have to deale with men that will needs herein be senselesse wee will for this time referre them to Tertullians discourse of the five senses wishing they may be restored to the use of their five witts againe and ponder the testimonies of our Saviour Christ in the sixt of Iohn and in the words of the Institution which they oppose against all sense but in the end shall finde to be as opposit to this phantasticall conceit of theirs as anie thing can be Touching our Saviours speech of the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his bloud in the sixth of Iohn these five things specially may be observed First that the question betwixt our Adversaries us being not Whether Christs bodie be turned into bread but whether bread be turned into Christs bodie the words in S. Iohn if they be pressed literally serve more strongly to prove the former then the latter Secondly that this Sermon was uttered by our Saviour above a yeare before the celebration of his last Supper wherein the Sacrament of his bodie and bloud was instituted at which time none of his hearers could possibly have understood him to have spoken of the externall eating of him in the Sacrament Thirdly that by the eating of the flesh of Christ and the drinking of his bloud there is not here meant an externall eating or drinking with the mouth and throate of the bodie as the Iewes then and the Romanists farre more grossely then they have since imagined but an internall and a spirituall effected by a lively faith and the quickning spirit of Christ in the soule of the beleever For there is a spirituall mouth of the inner man as S. Basil noteth wherewith hee is nourished that is made partaker of the Word of life which is the bread that commeth downe from heaven Fourthly that this spirituall feeding upon the bodie and blood of Christ is not to be found in the Sacrament onely but also out of the Sacrament Fiftly that the eating of the flesh and the drinking of the bâ—ood here mentioned is of such excellent vertue that the receiver is thereby made to remaine in Christ and Christ in him and by that meanes certainly freed from dâ—ath and assured of everlasting life Which seeing it cannot be verified of the eating of the Sacrament whereof both the godly the wicked are partakers it proveth not onely that our Saviour did not here speake of the Sacramentall eating but further also that the thing which is delivered in the externall part of the Sacrament cannot be conceived to be really but sacramentally onely the flesh and blood of Christ. The first of these may be plainly seene in the Text where our Saviour doth not onely say I am the bread of life vers 48. and I am the living bread that came downe from heaven vers 51. but addeth also in the 55. verse For my flesh is meate indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed Which words being the
is partaker being alwayes therewith nourished as it were with heavenly bread shall likewise be made partaker of heavenly life Therefore let not that offend you saith he which I have spoken of the eating of my flesh and of the drinking of my blood neither let the superficiall hearing of those things which were said by me of flesh and blood trouble you For these things sensibly heard profite nothing but the spirit is it which quickneth them that are able to heare spiritually Thus farre Eusebius whose words I have layd down the more largely because they are not vulgar There remaineth the fift and last point which is oftentimes repeated by our Saviour in this Sermon as in the 50. verse This is the bread which commeth downe from heaven that a man may eate thereof and not dye and in the 51 If any man eate of this bread hee shall live for ever and in the 54 Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and in the 56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in mee and I in him and in the 58 This is that bread which came downe from heaven not as your fathers did eate Manna and are dead hee that eateth of this bread shall live for ever Whereupon Origen rightly observeth the difference that is betwixt the eating of the typicall or symbolicall for so he calleth the Sacrament and the true bodie of Christ. Of the former thus he writeth That which is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer doth not of it ownâ— nature sanctifie him that useth it For if that were so it would sanctifie him also which doth eate unworthy of the Lord neither should any one for this eating be weake or sicke or dead For such a thing doth Paul shew when he saith For this cause many are weake and sickly among you and many sleepe Of the latter thus Many things may be spoken of the Word it selfe which was made flesh and true meate which whosoever eateth shall certainly live for ever which no evill person can eate For if it could be that he who continueth evill might eate the Word made flesh seeing hee is the word and the bread of life it should not have beene written Whosoever eateth this bread shall live for ever The like difference doth S. Augustine also upon the same ground make betwixt the eating of Christs bodie sacramentally and really For having affirmed that wicked men may not be said to eate the body of Christ because they are not to be counted among the members of Christ hee afterward addeth Christ himselfe saying He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud remaineth in mee and I in him sheweth what it is not sacramentally but indeed to eate the flesh of Christ and drinke his bloud for this is to remaine in Christ that Christ likewise may remaine in him For hee said this as if he should have said He that remayneth not in me and in whom I do not remaine let not him say or thinke that he eateth my flesh or drinketh my bloud And in another place expounding those words of Christ here alledged hee thereupon inferreth thus This is therefore to eate that meate and drinke that drinke to remaine in Christ and to have Christ remayning in him And by this he that remaineth not in Christ and in whom Christ abideth not without doubt doth neither spiritually eate his flesh nor drinke his bloud although he do carnally and visibly presse with his teeth the Sacrament of the bodie and bloud of Christ and so rather eateth and drinketh the Sacrament of so great a thing for judgement to himselfe because that being uncleane hee did presume to come unto the Sacraments of Christ. Hence it is that we finde so often in him and in other of the Fathers that the bodie and bloud of Christ is communicated only unto those that shall live and not unto those that shall dye for ever He is the bread of life He therefore that eateth life cannot dye For how should he dye whose meat is life how should he fayle who hath a vitall substance saith S. Ambrose And it is a good note of Macarius that as men use to give one kinde of meate to their servants and another to their children so Christ who created all things nourisheth indeed evill and ungratefull persons but the sonnes which he begat of his owne seed and whom he made partakers of his grace in whom the Lord is formed he nourisheth with a peculiar refection and food and meat and drinke beyond other men giving himselfe unto them that have their conversation with his Father as the Lord himselfe saith He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud remayneth in me and I in him and shall not see death Among the sentences collected by Prosper out of S. Augustine this also is one He receiveth the meat of life and drinketh the cup of eternitie who remaineth in Christ and whose inhabiter is Christ. For he that is at discord with Christ doth neither eate his flesh nor drinke his bloud although to the judgement of his presumption he indifferently doth receive everie day the sacrament of so great a thing Which distinction betweene the Sacrament and the thing whereof it is a sacrament and consequently betweene the sacramentall and the reall eating of the bodie of Christ is thus briefely and most excellently expressed by S. Augustine himselfe in his exposition upon the sixt of Iohn The sacrament of this thing is taken from the Lords Table by some unto life by some unto destruction but the thing it selfe whereof it is a sacrament is received by every man unto life and by none unto destruction that is made partaker therof Our conclusion therfore is this The bodie and bloud of Christ is received by all unto life and by none unto condemnation But that substance which is outwardly delivered in the Sacrament is not received by all unto life but by manie unto condemnation Therefore that substance which is outwardly delivered in the Sacrament is not really the bodie and bloud of Christ. The first proposition is plainly proved by the Texts which have been alledged out of the sixth of Iohn The second is manifest both by common experience and by the testimonie of the Apostle 1. Cor. 11. vers 17 27 29. We may therefore well conclude that the sixth of Iohn is so farre from giving anie furtherance to the doctrine of the Romanists in this point that it utterly overthroweth their fond opinion who imagine the bodie and bloud of Christ to be in such a sort present under the visible formes of bread and wine that whosoever receiveth the one must of force also really be made partaker of the other The like are we now to shew in the words of the Institution For the better clearing whereof the Reader may be pleased to consider first that the words are not This shall be my body nor This is
mysterium corporis ejus continetur quanto magis vasa corporis nostri quae sibi Deus ad habitaculum praeparavit non debemus locum dare Diabolo agendi in eis quod vult If therefore it be so dangerous a matter to transferre unto private uses those holy vessels in which the true body of Christ is not but the mysterie of his body is contained how much more for the vessels of our body which God hath prepared for himselfe to dwell in ought not wee to give way unto the Divell to doe in them what he pleaseth Those words in quibus non est verum corpus Christi sed mysterium corporis ejus continetur in which the true body of Christ is not but the mysterie of his body is contained did threaten to cut the very throat of the Papists real presence and therefore in good policie they thought it fit to cut their throat first for doing any further hurt Whereupon in the Editions of this Worke printed at Antwerpe apud Ioannem Steelsium anno 1537 at Paris apud Ioannem Roigny anno 1543 and at Paris again apud Audoenum Parvum anno 1557. not one syllable of them is to be seene though extant in the ancienter editions one whereof is as olde as the yere 1487. And to the same purpose in the 19 Homily in stead of Sacrificium panis vini the sacrifice of bread and vvine which we find in the old impressions these latter editions have chopt in Sacrificium corporis sanguinis Christi the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ. In the yeare 1608. there were published at Paris certaine workes of Fulbertus Bishop of Chartres pertayning as well to the refuting of the heresies of this time for so saith the inscription as to the cleering of the History of the French Among those things that appertaine to the confutation of the Heresies of this time there is one especially fol. 168. laid downe in these words Nisi manducaveritis inquit carnem filij hominis sanguinem biberitis non habebitis vitam in vobis Facinus vel flagitium videtur jubere Figura ergo est dicet haereticus praecipiens Passioni Domini esse coÌ„municandum tantùm suaviter atque utiliter recondendum in memoria quòd pro nobis caro ejus crucifixa vulnerata sit Vnlesse saith Christ ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood yee shall not haue life in you He seemeth to command an outrage or wickednesse It is therefore a figure will the hereticke say requiring us only to communicate with the Lords Passion and sweetly and profitably to lay up in our memory that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us He that put in those words dicet haereticus thought hee had notably met with the heretickes of this time but was not aware that thereby he made S. Augustine an Hereticke for company For the Hereticke that speaketh thus is even S. Augustine himselfe whose very words these are in his third booke de Doctrinâ Christianâ the 16. chapter Which some belike having put the publisher in minde of he was glad to put this among his Errata and to confesse that these two words were not to be found in the Manuscript copie which hee had from Petavius but telleth us not what we are to thinke of him that for the countenancing of the Popish cause ventured so shamefully to abuse S. Augustine In the yeare 1616. a Tome of ancient Writers that never saw the light before was set forth at Ingolstad by Petrus Steuartius where among other Tractates a certaine Penitentiall written by Rabanus that famous Archbishop of Mentz is to be seene In rhe 33. chapter of that booke Rabanus making answer unto an idle question moved by Bishop Heribaldus concerning the Eucharist what should become of it after it was consumed and sent into the draught after the maner of other meats hath these words initio pag. 669. Nam quidam nuper de ipso sacramento corporÃs sanguinis Domini non ritè sentientes dixerunt hoc ipsum corpus sanguinem Domini quod de Mariâ Virgine natum est in quo ipse Dominus passus est in cruce resurrexit de sepulcro* cui errori quantum potuimus ad Egilum Abbatem scribentes de corpore ipso quid veré credendum sit aperuimus For some of late not holding rightly of the Sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord have said that the very body and blood of our Lord which was borne of the Virgin Mary and in which our Lord himselfe suffered on the Crosse and rose againe from the grave * Against which error writing unto Abbot Egilus according to our ability we have declared what is truly to be beleeved coÌ„cerning Christs body You see Rabanus tongue is clipt here for telling tales but how this came to passe were worth the learning Steuartius freeth himselfe from the fact telling us in his margent that here there was a blanke in the manuscript copy and we doe easily beleeve him for Possevine the Iesuite hath given us to understand that Manuscript bookes also are to be purged as well as printed But whence was this Manuscript fetcht thinke you Out of the famous Monastery of Weingart saith Steuartius The Monkes of Weingart then belike must answer the matter and they I dare say upon examination will take their oathes that it was no part of their intention to give any furtherance unto the cause of the Protestants hereby If hereunto we adde that Heribaldus and Rabanus both are ranked among heretickes by Thomas Walden for holding the Eucharist to be subject to digestion and voidance like other meates the suspition will be more vehement whereunto yet I will adjoine one evidence more that shall leave the matter past suspition In the Libraries of my worthy friends S r. Rob. Cotton that noble Baronett so renowmed for his great care in collecting preserving all antiquities D r. Ward the learned Mast r of Sidney Colledge in Cambridge I met with an ancient Treatise of the Sacrament beginning thus Sicut ante nos quidam sapiens dixit cujus sententiam probamus licèt nomen ignoremus which is the same with that in the Iesuites Colledge at Lovaine blindely fathered upon Berengarius The author of this Treatise having first twited Heribaldus for propounding Rabanus for resolving this question of the voidance of the Eucharist layeth downe afterward the opinion of Paschasius Ratbertus whose writing is yet extant quòd non alia plané sit caro quae sumitur de altari quà m quae nata est de Mariâ Virgine passa in cruce quae resurrexit de sepulcro quaeqúe pro mundi vitâ adhuc hodie offeratur That the flesh which is received at the altar is no other then that which was borne of the Virgin Mary suffered on the Crosse rose again from the grave and as
most forcible of all the rest those wherewith the simpler sort are coÌ„monly most deluded might carry some shew of proofe that Christs flesh blood should be turned into bread wine but have no maner of colour to prove that bread and wine are turned into the flesh and blood of Christ. The truth of the second appeareth by the fourâ—h verse in which we finde that this fell out not long before the Passeover and consequently a yeare at least before that last Passeover wherein our Saviour instituted the Sacrament of his Supper Wee willingly indeed do acknowledge that that which is inwardly presented in the Lords Supper and spiritually received by the soule of the faithfull is that verie thing which is treated of in the sixth of Iohn but wee denie that it was our Saviours intention in this place to speake of that which is externally delivered in the Sacrament and orally received by the Communicant And for our warrant herein wee need looke no further then to that earnest asseveration of our Saviour in the 53. verse Verily verily I say unto you Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood ye have no life in you Wherin there is not onely an obligation laid upon them for doing of this which in no likelyhood could be intended of the externall eating of the Sacrament that was not as yet in being but also an absolute necessitie imposed non praecepti solùm ratione sed etiaÌ„ medij Now to hold that all they are excluded from life which have not had the meanes to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is as untrue as it is uncharitable And therefore manie of the Papists themselves as Biel Cusanus Cajelan Tapper Hessels Iansenius and others confesse that our Saviour in the sixth of Iohn did not properly treat of the Sacrament The third of the points proposed may be collected out of the first part of Christs speech in the 35. and 36. verses I am the bread of life hee that commeth to mee shall never hunger and he that beleeveth on me shall never thirst But I said unto you that yee also have seene me and beleeve not But especially out of the last from the 61. verse forward When Iesus knew in himselfe that his Disciples murmured at it hee said unto them Doeth this offend you What then if you should see the Sonne of man ascend up where hee was before It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speake unto you are spirit and life But there are some of you that beleeve not Which words Athanasius or whosoever was the author of the Tractate upon that place Quicunque dixerit verbum in filium homiâ—is noteth our Saviour to have used that his hearers might learne that those things which hee spake were not carnall but spirituall For how many could his bodie have sufficed for meat that it should be made the food of the whole world But therefore it was that he made mention of the Sonne of mans ascension into heaven that he might draw them from this corporall conceit and that hereafter they might learne that the flesh which he spake of was celestiall meat from above and spirituall nourishment to be given by him For the words which I have spoken unto you saith he are spirit and life So likewise Tertullian Although he saith that the flesh profiteth nothing the meaning of the speech must be directed according to the intent of the matter in hand For because they thought it to be a hard and an intolerable speech as if he had determined that his flesh should be truly eaten by them that hee might dispose the state of salvation by the spirit hee premised It is the spirit that quÃckneth and so subjoyned The flesh profiteth nothing namely to quicken c. And because the Word was made flesh it therefore was to be desired for causing of life and to be devoured by hearing and to be chewed by understanding and to be digested by faith For a little before he had also affirmed that his flesh was heavenly bread urging still by the Allegory of necessary food the remembrance of the fathers who preferred the bread and the flesh of the Egyptians before Gods calling Adde hereunto the sentence of Origen There is in the New Testament also a letter which killeth him that doth not spiritually conceive the things that be spoken For if according to the letter you do follow this same which is said Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood this letter killeth And those sayings which everie where occurre in S. Augustines Tractates upon Iohn How shall I send up my hand unto heaven to take hold on Christ sitting there Send thy faith and thou hast hold of him Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy belly Beleâ—ve and thou hast eaten For this is to eate the living bread to beleeve in him He that beleeveth in him eateth He is invisibly fedd because he is invisibly regenerated He is inwardly a bâ—be inwardly renewed where he is renewed there is he nourished The fourth proposition doth necessarily follow upon the third For if the eating and drinking here spoken of be not an externall eating and drinking but an inward participation of Christ by the communion of his quickning spirit it is evident that this blessing is to be found in the soule not onely in the use of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but at other times also It is no wayes to be doubted by anie one saith S. Augustine that every one of the faithfull is made partaker of the body and bloud of our Lord when he is made a member of Christ in Baptisme and that hee is not estranged from the communion of that bread and cup although before he eate that bread and drinke that cup hee depart out of this world being setled in the unitie of the body of Christ. For he is not deprived of the participation and the benefite of that Sacrament when hee hath found that which this Sacrament doth signifie And hereupon wee see that diverse of the Fathers doe apply the sixth of Iohn to the hearing of the Word also as Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Eusebius Caesareensis and others We are said to drinke the blood of Christ saith Origen not onely by way of the Sacraments but also when we receive his word wherein consisteth life even as hee himselfe saith· The words which I have spoken are spirit and life Vpon which words of Christ Eusebius paraphraseth after this maner Doe not thinke that I speake of that flesh wherewith I am compassed as if you must eate of that neither imagine that I command you to drinke my sensible and bodily blood but understand well that the vvords which I have spoken unto you are spirit and life So that those very words and speeches of his are his flesh and blood whereof who
labouâ—ed in vaine 1. Thessal 2.19 For what is our hope or joy or crowne of rejoycing are not even yee in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his comming 1. Pet. 1. â— Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation readie to be revealed in the last time 1. Corinth 5.5 That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iâ—sus Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby yee are sealed unto the day of redemption Luk. 21.28 When these things beginne to come to passe then looke up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh 2. Timoth. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righâ—eousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and Luk. 14.14 Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just And that the Church in her Offices for the dead had speciall respect unto this time of the Resurrection appeareth plainly both by the portions of Scripture appointed to be read therein and by diverse particulars in the prayers themselves that manifestly discover this intention For there the ministers as the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy reporteth read those undoubted promises vvhich are recorded in the divine Scriptures of our holy ResurrectioÌ„ and then devoutly sang such of the sacred Psalmes as were of the same subject and argument And so accordingly in the Romane Missall the lessons ordained to be read for that time are taken from 1. Corinth 15. Behold I tell you a mysterie Wee shall all rise againe c. Ioh. 5. The houre commeth wherein all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life c. 1. Thessal 4. Brethren we would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleepe that yee sorrow not as others which have no hope Ioh. 11. I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in me although he were dead shall live 2. Maccab. 12. Iudas caused a sacrifice to be offered for the sinnes of the dead justly and religiously thinking of the Resurrection Ioh. 6. This is the will of my Father that sent me that every one that seeth the Sonne and beleeveth in him may have life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and lastly Apocal. 14. I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth now saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours for their workes follow them Wherewith the Sequence also doth agree beginning Dies irae dies illa Solvet saeclum in favillâ Teste David cum Sibyllâ and ending Lacrymosa dies illa Quâ resurget ex favillâ Iudicandus homo reus Huic ergo parce Deus Pie Iesu Domine Dona eis requiem Tertullian in his booke de Monogamiâ which hee wrote after hee had beene infected with the heresie of the Montanists speaking of the prayer of a widow for the soule of her deceased husband saith that she requesteth refreshing for him and a portion in the first resurrection Which seemeth to have some tang of the error of the Millenaries whereunto not Tertullian onely with his Prophet Montanus but Nepos also and Lactantius and diverse other Doctors of the Church did fall who misunderstanding the prophecie in the 20. of the Revelation imagined that there should be a first resurrection of the just that should raigne here a thousand yeares upon earth and after that a second resurrection of the wicked at the day of the general judgement Yet in a certaine Gotthicke Missall I meet with two severall exhortations made unto the people to pray after the selfe same forme the one that God would vouchsafe to place in the bosome of Abraham the soules of those that be at rest and admit them unto the part of the first resurrectioÌ„ the other which I find elsewhere also repeated in particular that he would place in rest the spirits of their friends which were gone before them in the Lords peace and rayse them up in the part of the first resurrection Which how it may be excused otherwise then by saying that at the generall resurrection the dead in Christ shall rise fiâ—st and then the wicked shall be raysed after them and by referring the first resurrection unto the resurrection of the just which shall be at that day I cannot well resolve For certaine it is that the first râ—surrection spoken of in the 20. chapter of the Revelation of S. Iohn is the resuâ—rection of the soule from the death of sinne and error in this world as the second is the resurrection of the bodie out of the dust of the earth in the world to come both whiâ—h be distinctly layd down by our Saviour in the fift chapter of the Gospell of S. Iohn the first in the 25. verse The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live the second in the 28. and 29. Marveile not at this for the houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation And to this generall resurrection and to the judgement of the last day had the Church relation in her prayers some patternes whereof it will not be amisse to exhibit here in these examples following Although the condition of death brought in upon mankinde doth make our hearts and mindes heavy yet by the gift of thy clemencie we are raised up with the hope of future immortalitie and being mindfull of eternall salvation are not afraid to sustaine the losse of this light For by the benefite of thy grace life is not taken away to the faithful but changed and the soules being freed from the prison of the body abhorre things mortall when they attaine unto things eternall Wherefore we beseech thee that thy servant N. being placed in the tabernacles of the blessed may rejoyce that he hath escaped the straytes of the flesh and in the desire of glorification expect with confidence the day of Iudgement Through Iesus Christ our Lord. whose holy passion we celebrate without doubt for immortall and well resting soules for them especially upon whom thou hast bestowed the grace of the second birth who by the example of the same Iesus Christ our Lord have begunne to be secure of the resurrection For thou vvho hast made the things that were not art able to repaire the things that were and hast given unto us evidences of the resurrection to come not onely by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles but also by the
answer of Ratrannus was directed had then in his Court a famous countrey-man of ours called Iohannes Scotus who wrote a booke of the same argument and to the same effect that the other had done This man for his extraordinarie learning was in England where hee lived in great account with King Alfred surnamed Iohn the wise and had verie lately a roome in the Martyrologe of the Church of Rome though now he be ejected thence Wee finde him indeed censured by the Church of Lyons and others in that time for certaine opinions which he delivered touching Gods foreknowledge and predestination before the beginning of the world Mans freewill and the concurrence thereof with Grace in this present world and the maner of the punishment of reprobate Men Angels in the world to come but we finde not anie where that his book of the Sacrament was condemned before the dayes of x Lanfranc who was the first that leavened that Church of England afterward with this corrupt doctrine of the carnall presence Till then this question of the reall presence continued still in debate and it was as free for anie man to follow the doctrine of Ratrannus or Iohannes Scotus therein as that of Paschasius Radbertus which since the time of Satans loosing obtayned the upper hand Men have often searched and doe yet often search how bread that is gathered of corne and through fires heate baked may be turned to Christs bodie or how wine that is pressed out of manie grapes is turned through one blessing to the Lords blood saith Aelfrick Abbat of Malmesburie in his Saxon Homily written about 650. yeares agoe His resolution is not onely the same with that of Ratrannus but also in manie places directly translated out of him as may appeare by these passages following compared with his Latin layd downe in the margent The bread and the wine which by the Priests ministery is hallowed shew one thing without to mens senses and another thing they call within to beleeving mindes Without they be seene bread wine both in figure and in taste and they be truely after their hallowing Christs body and his blood by spirituall mysterie So the holy font water that is called the well-spring of life is like in shape to other waters and is subject to corruption but the holy Ghosts might commeth to the corruptible water through the Priests blessing and it may after wash the body and soule from all sinne by spirituall vertue Behold now we see two things in this one creature in true nature that water is corruptible moisture and in spirituall mysterie hath healing vertue So also if we behold that holy housel after bodily sense then see wee that it is a creature corruptible and mutable If we acknowledge therein spirituall vertue then understand we that life is therein and that it giveth immortalitie to them that eate it with beleefe Much is betwixt the bodie Christ suffered in and the body that is hallowed to housel The body truely that Christ suffered in was borne of the flesh of Mary with blood and with bone with skin and with sinewes in humane limbs with a reasonable soule living and his spirituall body which we call the housel is gathered of many cornes without blood and bone without lim without soule and therefore nothing is to be understood therein bodily but spiriâ—ually Whatsoever is in that housel which giveth substance of life that is spirituall vertue and invisible doing Certainly Christs body which suffered death and rose from death shall never dye henceforth but is eternall and unpassible That housel is temporall not eternall corruptible dealed into sundry parts chewed betweene teeth and sent into the belly This mysterie is a pledge and a figure Christs bodie is truth it selfe This pledge wee doe keepe mystically untill that we be come to the truth it selfe and then is this pledge ended Christ hallowed bread and wine to housel before his suffering and said This is my body my blood Yet he had not then suffered but so notwithstanding hee turned through invisible vertue the bread to his owne body and that wine to his blood as he before did in the wildernesse before that he was borne to men when he turned that heavenly meate to his flesh and the flowing water from that stone to his owne blood Moses and Aaron and manie other of that people which pleased God did eate that heavenly bread and they died not the everlasting death though they dyed the common They saw that the heavenly meate was visible and corruptible and they spiritually understood by that visible thing and spiritually received it This Homily was appointed publikely to be read to the people in England on Easter day before they did receive the communion The like matter also was delivered to the Clergie by the Bishops at their Synods out of two other writings of the same Aelfrick in the one wherof directed to Wulfsine Bishop of Shyrburne we reade thus That housel is Christs bodie not bodily but spiritually Not the body which he suffered in but the bodie of which he spake when he blessed bread and wine to housel the night before his suffering and said by the blessed bread This is my body and againe by the holy wine This is my blood which is shed for many in forgivenesse of sinnes In the other written to Wulfstane Archbishop of Yorke thus The Lord which hallowed housel before his suffering and saith that the bread was his owne bodie and that the wine vvas truely his blood halloweth daily by the hands of the Priest bread to his body and wine to his blood in spirituall mysterie as wee reade in bookes And yet notwithstanding that lively bread is not bodily so nor the selfe same body that Christ suffered in nor that holy vvine is the Saviours blood which was shed for us in bodily thing but in spirituall understanding Both be truely that bread his body and that wine also his blood as was the heavenly bread which vve call Manna that fedde fortie yeares Gods people and the cleare water which did then runne from the stone in the vvildernesse vvas truely his blood as Paul wrote in one of his Epistles Thus was Priest and people taught to beleeve in the Church of England toward the end of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh age after the Incarnation of our Saviour Christ. And therefore it is not to be wondered that when Berengarius shortly after stood to maintaine this doctrine manie both by word and writing disputed for him and not onely the English but also all the French almost the Italians as Matthew of Westminster reporteth were so readie to entertaine that which hee delivered Who though they were so borne downe by the power of the Pope who now was growne to his height that they durst not make open profession of that which they beleeved yet manie continued even
there where Satan had his throne who privately employed both their tongues and their penns in defence of the truth as out of Zacharias Chrysopolitanus Rupertus Tuitiensis and others I have elsewhere shewed Vntill at length in the yeare 1215. Pope Innocent the third in the Councell of Lateran published it to the Church for an oracle that the body and blood of Iesus Christ are truely contayned under the formes â—f bread and wine the bread being transsubstantiated into the bodie and the wine into the blood by the power of God And so are wee now come to the end of this controversie the originall and progresse whereof I have prosecuted the more at large because it is of greatest importance the verie life of the Masse and all massing Priests depending thereupon But this prolixitie shall be some wayes recompensed by the briefer handling of the points following the next whereof is that OF CONFESSION OVr Challenger here telleth us that the Doctors Pastors and Fathers of the primitive Church exhorted the people to confesse their sinnes unto their ghostly fathers And wee tell him againe that by the publike order prescribed in our Church before the administration of the holy Communion the Minister likewise doth exhort the people that if there be any of them which cannot quiet his owne conscience but requireth further comfort or counsell he should come to him or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods word and open his griefe that he may receive such ghostly counsell advice and comfort as his conscience may be relieved and that by the ministery of Gods word hee may receive comfort and the benefite of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and avoyding of all scruple and doubtfulnesse Whereby it appeareth that the exhorting of the people to confesse their sinnes unto their ghostly fathers maketh no such wall of separation betwixt the ancient Doctors and us but we may well for all this be of the same religion that they were of and consequently that this doughtie Champion hath more will then skill to manage controversies who could make no wiser choyce of pointes of differences to bee insisted upon Be it therefore knowne unto him that no kinde of Confession either publick or private is disallowed by us that is anie way requisite for the due execution of that ancient power of the Keyes which Christ bestowed upon his Church the thing which wee reject is that new pick-lock of Sacramentall Confession obtruded upon mens consciences as a matter necessarie to salvation by the Canons of the late Conventicle of Trent where those good Fathers put their curse upon everie one that either shall deny that Sacramentall confession was ordayned by divine right and is by the same right necessary to salvation or shall affirme that in the Sacrament of Penance it is not by the ordinance of God necessarie for the obtayning of the remission of sinnes to confesse all and every one of those mortall sinnes the memory wherof by due and diligent premeditation may be had even such as are hidden and be against the two last Commandements of the Decalogue together with the circumstances which change the kinde of the sinne but that this confession is only profitable to instruct and comfort the penitent and was anciently observed onely for the imposing of Canonicall satisfaction This doctrine I say wee cannot but reject as being repugnant to that which wee have learned both from the Scriptures and from the Fathers For in the Scriptures wee finde that the confession which the penitent sinner maketh to God alone hath the promise of forgivenesse annexed unto it which no Priest upon earth hath power to make voyde upon pretence that himselfe or some of his fellowes were not first particularly acquainted with the businesse I acknowledged my sinne unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquitie of my sinne And lest we should thinke that this was some peculiar priviledge vouchsafed to the man who was raised upon high the Anointed of the God of Iacob the same sweet Psalmist of Israel doth presently enlarge his note and inferreth this generall conclusion thereupon For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found King Salomon in his prayer for the people at the dedication of the Temple treadeth just in his Fathers stepps If they turne saith hee and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity saying Wee have sinned we have done amisse and have dealt wickedly if they returne to thee with all their heart and with all their soule c. forgive thy people which have sinned against thee all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee And the poore Publican putting up his supplication in the Temple accordingly God bee mercifull to me a sinner went back to his house justified without making confession to anie other ghostly Father but onely the Father of Spirits of whom S. Iohn giveth us this assurance that if wee confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Which promise that it appertained to such as did confesse their sinnes unto God the ancient Fathers were so well assured of that they cast in a maner all upon this Confession and left little or nothing to that which was made unto man Nay they doe not onely leave it free for men to confesse or not confesse their sinnes unto others which is the most that we would have but some of them also seeme in words at least to advise men not to doe it at all which is more then we seeke for S. Chrysostome of all others is most copious in this argument some of whose passages to this purpose I will here lay downe It is not necessary saith he that thou shouldest confesse in the presence of witnesses let the inquiry of thy offences bee made in thy thought let this judgement be without a witnesse let God onely see thee confessing Therefore I intreat and beseech and pray you that you would continually make your confession to God For I doe not bring thee into the theater of thy fellow servants neyther doe I constraine thee to discover thy sinnes unto men unclaspe thy conscience before God and shew thy wounds unto him and of him aske a medicine Shew them to him that will not reproach but heale thee For although thou hold thy peace he knoweth all Let us not call our selves sinners onely but let us recount our sinnes and repeate every one of them in speciall I doe not say unto thee Bring thy selfe upon the stage nor Accuse thy selfe unto others but I counsaile thee to obey the Prophet saying Reveale thy way unto the Lord. Confesse them before God confesse thy sinnes before the Iudge praying if not with thy tongue yet at least with thy memory and
knocke therefore dearely beloved as much as we can because we cannot as much as we ought the future blisse may be acquired but estimated it cannot be Albeit thou hadst good deeds equall in number to the starres saith Agapetus the Deacon to the Emperour Iustinian yet shalt thou never goe beyond the goodnesse of God For whatsoever any man shall bring unto God he doth but offer unto him his owne things out of his owne store and as one cannot outstrip his own shadow in the Sunne which preventeth him alwaies although he make never so much speed so neither can men by their good doings outstrip the unmatchable bountie of God All the righteousnesse of man saith Gregory is convicted to bee unrighteousnesse if it be strictly judged It needeth therefore prayer after righteousnesse that that which being sifted might faile by the meere pitie of the Iudge might stand for good Let him therefore say Although I had any righteous thing I would not answer but I would make supplication to my Iudge Iob 9.15 as if he should more plainly confesse and say Albeit I did grow up unto the worke of vertue I should be enabled unto life not by merits but by pardon But you will say If this blisse of the Saints be mercie and is not obtained by merits how shall that stand which is written And thou shalt render unto every one according to his workes If it be rendred according to workes how shall it be accounted mercie But it is one thing to render according to workes and another thing to render for the works themselves For when it is said According to works the qualitie it selfe of the worke is understood that whose workes appeare good his reward way be glorious For unto that blessed life wherein wee are to live with God and by God no labour can be equalled no workes compared seeing the Apostle saith The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us By the righteousnesse of works no man shall be saved but only by the righteousnesse of faith saith Bede and therefore no man should beleeve that either his freedome of will or his merits are sufficient to bring him unto blisse but understand that he can be saved by the grace of God only The same Author writing upon those words of David Psalm 24.5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation expoundeth the blessing to be this that for the present time he shall merit or worke well and for the future shall be rewarded well and that not by merits but by grace only To the same purpose Elias Cretensis the interpreter of Gregory Nazianzen writeth thus By mercy we ought to understand that reward which God doth repay unto us For wee as servants doe owe vertue that the best things and such as are gratefull wee should pay and offer unto God as a certaine debt considering that wee haue nothing which we have not received from him and God on the other side as our Lord and Master hath pitie on us and doth bestow rather than repay unto us This therefore is true humilitie saith Anastasius Sinaita or Nicaenus to doe good workes but to account ones selfe uncleane and unworthy of Gods favour thinking to be saved by his goodnesse alone For whatsoever good things we doe wee answer not God for the very aire alone which we doe breathe And when we have offered unto him all the things that we have he doth not owe us any reward for all things are his and none receiving the things that are his owne is bound to give a reward unto them that bring the same unto him In the booke set out by the authoritie of Charles the Great against Images the Arke of the Covenant is said to signifie our Lord and Saviour in whom alone we have the Covenant of peace with the Father Over which the Propitiatory is said to be placed because aboue the Commandements either of the Law or of the Gospell which are founded in him the mercy of the said Mediator taketh place by which not by the workes of the Law which we have done neither willing nor running but by his having mercy upon us we are saved So Ambrosius Ansbertus expounding that place Rev. 19.7 Let us be glad and rejoyce and give glory to him for the mariage of the Lambe is come and his wife hath made her selfe readie In this saith he doe we give glory to him when we doe confesse that by no precedent merits of our good deeds but by his mercie only we have attained unto so great a dignitie And Rabanus in his Commentaries upon the Lament of Ieremie Lest they should say Our Fathers were accepted for their merit and therefore they obtained such great things at the hand of the Lord he adjoyneth that this was not given to their merits but because it so pleased God whose free gift is whatsoever he bestoweth Haymo writing upon those words Psalm 132.10 For thy servant Davids sake refuse not the face of thine Anointed saith that For thy servant Davids sake is as much to say as For the merit of Christ himselfe and froâ— thence collecteth this doctrine that none ought to presume of his owne merits but expect all his salvation from the merits of Christ. So in another place When we performe our repentance saith he let us know that we can give nothing that is worthy for the aâ—peasing of God but that only in the bloud of that immaculate and singular Lambe we can be saved And againe Eternall life is rendred to none by debt but given by free mercie It is of necessitie that beleevers should be saved only by the faith of Christ saith Smaragdus the Abbot By grace not by merits are we saved of God saith the Author of the Commentaries upon S. Marke falsely attributed to S. Hierome That this doctrine was by Gods great mercie preserved in the Church the next 500. yeares also as well as in those middle times appeareth most evidently by those Instructions and Consolations which were prescribed to be used unto such as were readie to depart out of this life This forme of preparing men for their death was commonly to be had in all Libraries and particularly was found inserted among the Epistles of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury who was commonly accounted to bee the Author of it The substance thereof may be seene for the copies varie some being shorter and some larger than others in a Tractate written by a Cistercian Monke of the Art of dying well which I have in written hand and have seene also printed in the yeere 1483. and 1504. in the booke called Hortulus animae in Cassanders Appendix to the booke of Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester de fiduciâ misericordiâ Dei edit Colon. An. 1556. Caspar Vlenbergius his Motives caus 14. pag.