the mainteinaunce of the treuth of the catholique faithe and the repression of the false errours of the Aduersaries and maliciouse reproches And first wher he saieth that Chryst taught a newe oblacion yt confowndeth all the expositions of the Aduersaries so plainlie that anie childe maie see that they are confownded For wher they saie that by the pure sacrifice that Malachie speaketh of ys vnderstanded the sacrifice of praise and thankes geuing mercy to the poor obedience to gods will and soche other this Authour sainge that Chryst taught a newe oblacion of the whiche Malachie did speake doth clean ouerthrowe them For these sacrifices of the whiche the Aduersaries make mencion be not newe but soche as haue ben vsed of godlie men from the beginning as ys before touched But Chryste taught a newe oblacion that was aunswerable to the newe testament of the whiche yt was by Chryst ordeined and appointed to be the oblacion Nowe the newe Testament was so newe that yt was neuer before in manifest form or maner Wherfore the newe oblacion or sacrifice was so like wise and in like sorte newe that yt was newer before in verie dede but in figure as manie other thinges were The seconde document ys wher he saieth that Chryst taught a newe oblacion of the newe testament Wherin he dothe deliuer vs frō the maliouse slaunders of the Aduersaries whiche saie that yt ys an Idoll a mere inuencion of the papistes to make merchandies to emptie poour mens purseis and soche like railing slaunders But nowe reader iudge thowe whether yt be so or no nowe that thow hauest heard the sainges of these auncient holy Fathers who saie that this newe sacrifice of the newe testament was of the doctrine of Chryste was commaunded by him to be don was receaued by the Church at the handes of the Apostles and by and in the same Church ys offred throughout the wholl worlde THE FIVE AND THIRTITH CHAP. PROceadeth in the exposition of the same Prophet by sainct Augustin and Eusebius YE haue hearde one cople of the auncient Fathers of Chrystes Parliament house reporting what the true vnderstanding of the Prophecie of Malachie ys Yt shall not be I trust withoute profett to heare the reporte of an other coople to the entente the reader maie see some plentie of good matter to be satisfied withall forsomoche as the Aduersaries haue powred oute aboute this prophecie so moche false and naughtie matter to deceaue him withall And therfore me will procead to sett oute the trueth and heare sainct Augustine what he saieth therin Dominus omnipotens dicit Non est mihi voluntas in vobis sacrificium non suscipiam de manibus vestris Certè hoc negare non Augustin li. aduersus Iudaeos potestis o Iudaei non solùm non sacrificium non accipere de manibus vestris locus enim vnus est loco Domini constitutus vbi manibus vestris sacrificia iussit offerri praeter quem locum omnino prohibnit Hunc ergo locum quoniam pro meritis vestris amisistis etiam sacrificium quod ibi tantùm licebat offerri in locis offerre alijs non audetis Et impletum est omnino quod ait Propheta Et sacrificium non accipiam de manibus vestris Nam si in terrena Hierusalem maneret vobis templum altare possetis dicere in eis hoc esse completum quorum iniquorum inter vos constitutorum sacrificia Dominus non acceptat Aliorum verò ex vobis atque in vobis acceptare sacrificia qui Dei praecepta custodiunt hoc non est cur possit dici vbi nullus omnino vestrum est qui secundùm legem quae de monte Synai processit manibus suis sacrificium posset offerre Neque hoc itae praedictum impletum est vt vos prophetica sententia respondere permittat quiae manibus non offerimus carnem corde ore offerimus laudem secundùm illud in psalmo Immola Deo sacrificium laudis etiam hinc contradicit vobis qui dicit Non est mihi voluntas in vobis c. Deinde ne existimetis non offerentibus vobis nec illo accipiente de manibus vestris Deo sacrificium non offerri quo quidem ille non eget qui bonorum nostrorum nullius indiget tamen quia sine sacrificio non est quod non illi sed nobis vtile est adiungit dicit Quia ab oriente sole vsque in occidentem nomen meum clarum factum est in omnibus gentibus in omni loco sacrificium offertur nomini meo sacrificium mundum quoniam magnum nomen meum in gentibus dicit Dominus omnipotens Quid ad haec respondetis Aperite oculos tandem aliquando videte ab oriente sole vsque in occidentem non in vno sicut in vobis erat constitutum sed in omni loco offerri sacrificium Christianorum non cuilibet Deo sed ei qui ista praedixit Deo Israël Vnde alibi dicit Ecclesiae suae Et qui eruit te ipse Deus Israël vniuersae terrae vocabitur Scrutamini scripturas in quibus putatis vos vitam habere aeternam profectò haberetis si Christum in eis intelligeretis teneretis Sed perscrutamini eas ipsae testimonium perhibent de hoc sacrificio mundo quod offertur Deo Israël non ab vna gente vestra de cuius manibus non se suscepturum praedixit sed ab omnibus gentibus quae dicunt Venite ascendamus in montem Domini nec in vno loco sicut praeceptum erat in terrena Hierusalem sed in omni loco vsque in ipsam Hierusalem nec secundùm ordinem Aaron sed secundùm ordinem Melchisedech I haue no pleasure in yowe saieth the Almightie Lorde And sacrifice I will none accepte at yow handes Certenly this ye can not denie o yowe Iewes that not onely he doth not take sacrifice of your handes for ther ys one place in the place of God appointed wher he hath comaunded sacrifice to be offred with your handes beside the which he hath forbodden euery place This place therfor for somoche as for your desertes ye haue lost that which was laufull ther onely to be offred in other places ye dare not offre Beholde yt ys fulfilled that the Prophet saied And sacrisice I will not accept at your handes Yf in the earthlie Hierusalem ther were remaining a temple and an Altar for yow ye might saie yt were fulfilled in wicked men of the whiche wicked men being among yow God dothe not accept sacrifice But of other whiche be of yow and among yowe whiche kepe the commaundementes of God he accepteth the sacrifice But this can not be saied forasmoche as ther ys not one of yowe all whiche according to the lawe that proceaded from mounte Synai maye offre sacrifice with hys handes Neither ys this so forespoken and fullsilled that the sentence of the Prophet will suffer yow to aunswer that though with our handes
example of godlie liuing that God bothe in his pastours and people maie be glorified As cōcerning the second that the scriptures haue doubtes and difficulties Scriptures ful of doubres Yt appeareth by the expresse woorde of God when he saieth Yf ther rise a matter to hard for thee in iudgemēt c. Thow shalt get thee vppe to the preistes the Leuites But forsomoch as this matter ys allready sufficiētlie treacted of and proued yt ys enough here nowe to haue touched yt and so to passe to the third Which ys that the people must be taught and learn the lawes of god of the preistes Which thīg ys so manifestlie declared ād in so plain woordes Doubtes in the lawe of God must be dissolued by the preistes opened in the scriptures alleaged that I shal not nede to make any further declaraciō therof forasmuche as yt ys plainlie ther saied that the doubtes of the people in the lawe of God must be dissolued bi the preistes to whose sentēce and iudgemēt they must in any wise stande and not decline frō yt neither on the right hand nor on the left and that on the pain of deathe In the which saing of God yt ys euidēt howe moche God wolde that the determinaciō of his church in the doubtes of his lawe should be estemed ād reuerēced and his preistes in that respecte obeid Which howe moche yt ys nowe disdained and contēned and gods ordre and cōmaūdemēt neclected his holie faith and religion infringed and violated yt ys more with Sithes and teares to be lamented then beinge so manifest as yt ys nedefull to be opened and declared Of whose mouthe the people should learn the lawe AlmightieGod by his prophete Malachie telleth Likewise that of the preistes the people should aske People must learn of the preistes the lawe God by the Prophete Aggaeus cōmaundeth Who shoulde teach the people the newe Testamēt he also prescribeth Appointing some Apostles some Prophetes some Doctours or teachers who to theise offices are appointed to rule and instruct the people In ijs quae ad Deū pertinēt in those thinges that appertein to God But nowe al this ordre ys inuerted in manie places The people teache the preistes and not the preistes the people The people dissolue the doubts of the lawe the preistes not being asked for The people God his ordre inuerted speake the preistes holde their peace The people make lawes in religion the preistes are cōpelled to obeie The people take in hande the thinges that appertain to God the preistes are put to scilence A moch like state we finde in the time of Moyses emōge the children of Israel in the time when Moyses was in the moūt with God For they perceiuing him to be lōg absent and thinking that he wolde no more come they began to take the rule vpō thēselues And wheras Aarō before cōmaūded and taught thē the religiō of the true God nowe they taking the rule and inuerting the ordre cōmaunded Aaron and taught him soche Religion as lyked them of a false God When the people sawe saieth the booke of Exodus that yt was long er Moyses came downe oute of the Mountain they gathered themselfes togeather Exod 32. vnto Aaron and saied vnto him Vppe make vs Gods to go before vs. For of this Moises the felowe that brought vs oute of the lande of Aegypte we wote not what ys become Hereby maie yt be perceiued what religion shall be when the ordre that God appointed being broken they will teache and commaunde which in matters to godwarde shoulde be taught and commaunded But with all yt ys to be remembred that for this wickednes the wrathe of God waxed hote against the people and notwithstanding that ther was immediatelie Plaguesfor breaking Gods appoincted ordre in religiō and mynisterie a greate slaughter of the people aboute the nōbre of three thousand and that Moyses made intercession to God for the people Yet allmightie God in the ende saied Neuer the latter in the daie when I viset I will viset their sinne vpon them and the Lorde plagued the people bicause of the calfe whiche Aaron made Wherfore seinge that the moche like trangression ys committed emonge the Chrystian people yt ys to be feared that the wrathe of God will waxe hote against vs. But God graūte vs a Moyses that by earnest intercessiō maie yet mittigate the plague of God that shall come for this wickednesse The plague I feare me will be sore vpon Corah Dathan and Abiron and vpon the capitanes of the multitude whiche be the great and famouse mē in the Num. 16. congregacion which haue gathered thē selues together against Moyses and Aaron and cā not contēt thē selues with soche ordre as God hath put in his Church and which by hys pleasure hath so long continued But yet they come to Moyses and Aaron and saie ye make muche to doo seing all the multitude are holie euery one of them and the Lorde ys emonge them Whieheaue ye your selues vppe aboue the Congregacion of the Lorde I must staie my hand I shall ells be to tediouse to the reader in this matter in the whiche I thought not to haue writtē the fourth parte of that that ys written and for expedicion leaue vnto him to reade the strory in the booke of Nombres and so further to consider yt And wher ther be manie stories declaring the displeasures of God to haue commed vppon the people bicause they wolde not submitte them selues to the ordeinaunce of him and his ministres but wolde vsurpe vpon them both Yet I will speake but of one in the first booke of the kinges which ys that where God appointed Samuel his beloued and holie Prophet to be the ruler of the people they being a stiffnecked and disobedient people to gods 1. Reg. 8. ordre so long before vsed al the elders gathered themselues together and came to Samuel and saied vnto him Beholde thowe arte olde and thy Sonnes walke not in thy waies Nowe therfore make vs a king to iudge vs as al other nacions haue See their phantasticall prouidence and therwith their disobediēce They take in hande to prouide for their common wealth as though God coulde not prouide them as good a ruler after Samuel as he did in prouiding of Samuel And therfore the ruler whiche God appointed reiected make vs saie they a kinge But what saied Almightie God to Samuel Heare the voice of the people for they haue not cast thee awaye but me that I shoulde not reign ouer them 1. Reg. 12. And after that they had a kinge Samuel to cause them to vnderstand that their offence was great saied I will call vnto the Lorde and he shall send thunder and rain that ye maie perceaue and see howe that yower wickednesse ys great which ye haue doen in thee seight of the Lorde in asking yowe a king And they saied Praye for vs thy seruauntes vnto the Lorde thy God that
offertur nomini meo oblatio munda quia magnum est nomen meum in gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum I haue no pleasure in yowe saieth the Lorde of hostes And as for meat offring I will not accept yt as your handes For from the rising vppe of the sunne vnto the going downe of the same my name ys great emong the gentiles yea in euery place shall ther be sacrifice doen and a clean meat offring offred vppe vnto my name For my name ys great emong the Gentiles saeth the Lorde of hostes This prophecie hath moche tormented the Aduersaries and therfore all Protestantes tormented with the propheâ—… 〈◊〉 howe â—…ey wrest yt their ingines hookes and all their fetches haue be sett vpon this place to drawe yt to their sense and pourpose but yt will not be all will not serue that they can doo for trueth will shewe yt self and preuaill This prophecie in dede inuinciblie proueth the Sacrifice of Chrystes Churche as hereafter shall be shewed But first let vs see howe the Aduersaries wolde wrest this place and let vs make yt plain to the reader that the sence whiche they wolde haue the scripture vnderstanded in ys not the right and full sence but a distorted sence a wrong sense and soche a sense as the place can not beare a sense disagreing from the expositions of all the holie Fathers bothe of the latin churche and of the greke churche Occolampadius in a booke that he did write of the Masse vnto the Senate of Basille saieth that by this prophecie of the Prophet Malachie was Prophecied Occolamp that the ministres of the newe testament shoulde make a faithfull people oute of all nacions as a pure and an holie oblacion and sacrifice to God And this saieth he ys the minde of the Prophet Martin Bucer not moche differing from him in his aunswer that he made to Latomus saieh that hy this Prophecie ys cheiflie promised the preaching of the Gospell by the whiche God shall be euery whear acknowleged and Bucer the fruicte also of the same preaching that ys faithe and the confessing of the same faithe And he saieth also that by the incense and oblacion are to be vnderstanded the sacrifices of chrysten men whiche be saieth he the praising and calling on the name of God wherunto ys allwaies annexed the geuing vppe of our selues to the will of God and the declaracion of our thaÌ„kefull minde towardes God by the doing and shewing of loue and mercie to the poore And thus dothe he expownde the Prophete Bullinger an other of the same secte and sorte saieth that the lawde and prayse of God his name ys the pure sacrifice that the Prophete speaketh of Bullinger Vrbanus Rhegius But Vrbanus Rhegius writing against Eckius his master in his firstbooke saieth thus The sacrifice that Malachias prophecied of ys the mortificacion of the flesh and the calling on the name of God with godlie prayer And this was his phantasie whiche so I terme as I might the rest for that eche of theÌ„ hath vnderstanded the prophecie as him listeth and not as the full mening of the same hathe required And although other haue vttered their conceptes and coniecturs vpon this prophecie Yet these being the standarde bearers of that wicked armie that hath so maliciouslie fowght against Gods truthe maie fuffice to be rehersed for this time presupposing that the rest do folowe their standerd bearers But let vs nowe examin and weigh their expositions Yf ye marke they do all agree in this that this prophecie ys to be vnderstanded of the sacrifice of praise and thanks geuing which thei call the pure sacrifice Yt ys to be considered here that Allmightie God by his Prophet declaring that the sacrifice of the Iewes which was onelie doen in Hierusalem shoulde be reiected abolished and lefte signified also that an other sacrifice shoulde be substituted in the place of the same whiche shoulde be a pure and clean sacrifice whiche shoulde not be doen onlie in Hierusalem as the other was But in euery place Nowe as for the sacrifice of a contrite heart of lawde praise and thankes geuing who doubteh but that they were vsed and offred of diuerse holie Psal 50. and vertuouse men in the olde lawe and well accepted whiche thing Dauid was not ignorant of when he saied Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus Psalm 49. cor contritum humiliatum Deus non despicies A troobled spirit ys a sacrifice to God a contrite and humble heart o God shalt thowe not despice Of the sacrifice of lawde Dauid also speaketh Immola Deo sacrificium laudis Offer to God the sacrifie of lawde c. praise And in the same Psalm Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me Who so offreth me thankes and praise he honoureth me The hereticall expositions of the prophecie of Malachie cannot stand Therfore wher the Aduersarie wolde that these kinde of Sacrifices shoulde be they of the whiche the prophet Malachie spake that shoulde come into the place of the sacrifice of the Iewes whiche God wolde abolisshe their exposition can not stande For these can not nowe be placed as newe sacrifices whiche were placed and vsed from the beginning of the first good man that offred sacrifice to God Abel who withe the sacrifice of the fruictes of the earth whiche he offred offred also praise and thankes geuing to God These sacrifices then be not newe placed but being of olde time vsed God wolde haue them so continued Neither doo I meen that these be separated from that sacrifice that God wolde place in stead of the sacrifice of the Iewes For their ys no extern sacrifice Sacrifice of laude separated from the extern sacrifice but yf yt be rightlie and duely offred yt bringeth with yt the sacrifice of lawde and praise and of other also But that the Prophet dothe meen of these onelie and not raither of some extern sacrifice to be vsed offred and frequented among the Chrystians and that he ment not cheiflie and principallie of an extern sacrifice to be placed in the place of the Iewes extern sacrifices that ys most vntrue And that maie be perceaued by the difference of the newe sacrifice from the olde What ys that That yt shall be a pure sacrifice Why were not theirs pure sacrifices before in the olde lawe Was ther not a sacrifice of expiacion and a daie of expiacion assigned in the whiche the clensing sacrifice shoulde be offred Read the xvi chapter of Leuiticus and ther shall ye finde that Allmightie God saeth thus In hac die expiatio vestri erit Leuit. 16. atque mundatio ab omnibus peccatis vestris coram Domino mundabimini In this daie shall be your expiacion and cleÌ„sing and ye shall be made clean from all your sinnes before the Lorde Was not this then a pure sacrifice that purified and clensed the people from all their sinnes before God Ys yt not a pure sacrifice that ys
but that her deuocion humble seruice and obedience in doing that sacrifice maie be soche that yt maie be accepted as was the seruice of Abel of Melchisedec and of Abraham in the offring of their In this same sense praied the Apostolique and primitiue Churche S. Iames Jacob. in Miss in this maner Respice in nos o Deus ad nostrum hoc rationabile obsequium in tuere idue accipe vt Abel dona accepisti Noē sacrificia Moysis Aaronis sacerdocia Samuelis pacifica Dauidis poenitētiā Zachariae incensum Looke vpō vs o Lord and be hold this our resonable seruice ād receaue the same as thowe didest receaue the gifts of Abel the sacrifices of Noe the preistlie oblaciōs of Moyses ād Aarō the peace offrings of Samuel the penance of Dauid the inceuse of Zacharie S. Basill in his Masse praied almost with same woordes Respice in nos Deus vide super seruitutem nostram hanc suscipe eam sicut susepisti Abel munera Noe Basil in Miss sacrificium Abrahae horocaustum Moyses Aronis sacrationes Samuelis hostias pacificus sicut susepisti de sanctis tuis Apostolis verum istud mysterium sic ex manibus nostris peccatorum suscipe munera ista in benignitate tua Domine c. Looke vpon vs o God and looke vpon this our seruice and receaue yt as thow didest receaue the presentes of Abel the sacrifice of Noē the burnt offring of Abraham the oblaciōs of Moyses and Aaron the peace offrings of Samuel euen as thowe hauest receaued this true misterie of thie holie Apostles so o Lord receaue these sacrifices of oure hands being sinners in thy benignitie S. Ambrose and the auncient latin Churche that he liued in as ye haue heard yt allreadie testified vsed a moche like phrase We beseche thee o Lorde saieth he vouchsafe to receaue this sacrifice as thowe hauest vouchedsafe to receaue the gists of thy childe Abel the iust the sacrifice of our Patriarche Abraham and that whiche thy high preist Melchisedec did offre vnto thee Thus haue ye nowe seen the praiers for acceptacion of sacrifice that were praied by the Apostles vsed of the greke Church receaued of the auncient The seruice in doing of sacrifice ys desierd to be accepted not the sacrifice yt self latin Churche and cōtinued by the catholique Churche euē to this our time Nowe did S. Iames ād the Apostles praie for the acceptaciō of Chryste their sacrifice Did S. Basill and the greeke Churche desire that the bodie of Chryste might no otherwise be accepted thē the sacrifices of Abel Noē Abrahā c. Did S. Ambrose ād the fathers of the latin Church for these xii hūdreth years so basely think of the woorthinesse of Chrysts bodie and sacrifice that they thought a shepe an oxe or breadād wine as acceptable as the bodie of Christ No they thought nothing so but thei desiered as ys saied that their seruice in offring this sacrifice might be accōpted as the seruice of those other was accepted This acceptiō thē hath respect to the offrers ād not the sacrifice off And that the Proclamer shall not saie that this exposition ys feigned by me let him vnderstād that this same expositiō hath ben made by diuerse learned fathers some hundreth years agon of the whiche for profe I will alleage the saing of one whiche shall be Hugo de S. victore who expownding the canon of the Masse vpō this praier which the Proclamer by his mooking so blasphemouslie Lib. 2. de eccl off ca. 33. abuseth and derided saieth thus Quasi per gradus scalae ascēdens cōme morat munus Abel pueri sacrificiū Abrahae Patriarchae oblationē Melchisedec sacerdotis qui in pane vino speciē veri sacrificii elegāter expressit sicut Abrahā veritatē in filio et Abel inuocentiae munus in agno Quod dicit Sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera c. non optat similiter acceptari oblationes haec enim multo est acceptabilitor sed offerentes As one going vppe by the steppes of a ladder he maketh mencion of the gifte of Abel his childe of the sacrifice of Abraham the Patriarch and of the oblacion of Melchisedec the preist who in bread and wine did well setfurth the figure of the true sacrifice as Abraham the veritie in his Sonne and Abel the gift of innocentie in a lambe That he saieth As thowe hauest vouched safe to accept the gifts of thy childe Abel c. he desireth not the oblacions or sacrifices to be in like accepted for this sacrifice ys moche more acceptable but the offerers Yf of this vnderstanding the Proclamer wolde see more he maie read Gabriell and other whiche treacte of the Canon of the Masse and The mening of the Churche in the secōde poinct he shal see so moch that he maie haue iust cause to be ashamed of his vain ād wicked saings and false imaginacions against the godlie doings of Chrysts catholique Churche To conclude then this seconde parte also yt ys euidēt that the Churche desiereth not the sacrifice of Chryste to be equallie taken with the sacrifices of Abel Abraham Melchisedec but raither the offerers of these sacrifices that ys that the preist and people offring this sacrifice maie so do yt as bothe they and their seruice in so doing maie please God and be accepted as were Abel Abraham Melchisedec and their seruice in offring their sacrifices to God Answere to the thirde fault The third faulte that the Proclamer falselie I wil not saie folishlie pretēdeth to be in the Canon ys that as he fableth desire ys made that an Angel maie come and carie Chrystes bodie awaie into heauen Ys not this a fonde deuised toie of a man pretending grauitie Did euer man as moche as dreame anie soche phantasie that had his witts not intoxicated with the poison of heresie and his heart not fiered with the furiouse flames of malice Ah good Lord who wolde haue thought that euer soche time wolde haue comed that a Chrystian man shoulde be so depelie drowned in heresie that by force of malice therof he shoulde blowe oute soch blasts of contempt of honorable antiquities and soche horrible blasphemie against Gods blessed sacrrfice and ministerie and that in so honorable audience and not so to ceasse but afterward in printe to publish the same to the notice of the worlde or that chrystian people coulde euer haue patientlie heard soche vain inuēted toies so farre vide from all good reason and learning soche wicked vntrueths so farre abhorring from all godlie pitie and religion or that euer they shoulde like to read them So farre hath this Proclamer presumed so clean hath he cast awaie all reuerence and semelie iudgement of all holie forefathers and their doinges folowing therin Melhoserus Zuin glius and soche like that he iudgeth them insensate men and verie fooles and thinkes him self onelie wise But that thowe gentle reader maie not
scriptures haue Scripture ys full of hardnesse and diuerse senscis manie senses and in some places require Tropes and figures in some none in some place they beare one sense in some other place they wil not beare the same And the vnframed capacitie of the vnlearned can not therunto atteign shall yt not be better for them to learn the true vnderstanding of the scriptures by hearing then by reading to fall into misunderstanding Maruaill not Reader at this that I saie For the learned yf they be rassh fall into this daunger For the Arrians the Macedonians the Nestorians the Eutichians the Pelagians the Lutherans the Oecolampadians of the which secte this proclamer ys were learned men and yet folowing their owne arrogaunt phantasie fell in to the misunderstandind of the scriptures and by misunderstanding into heresie Moche sooner the vnlearned maye thus fall knowledge of misteries not common to all Hierō prafa in Ezech Yt hathe ben vsed emong most people of sundrie sortes not to make the knowledge of their high thinges common of all to be handeled The Iewes were forbidden to read Genesis and the Balletts of Salamon before they were thirtie yeares of age Among the Romans the Bookes of the Sibells were red but of certain selected and speciall choosen men Emong the Philosophers Morall philosophie and speciallie Metaphisick was not to be handeled of all men but of soche as were thought mete for that studie Howe moche more then ys the scripture of God with reuerence and fear to be handeled of the chrystians not that I wolde yt should not be knowen of all as yt aught to be knowen but that yt shoulde not be red of all and therbie through misunderstanding God to be dishonoured the scripture abused and not onelie they that read but other also by them deceaued And thus Reader I wish thee to perceaue the godlie meening of the Churche to see the shaunder of this proclamer against yt and with all to vnderstand that the scriptures be hard Whiche meenyng ys not to be imagined nowe to be in theise latter daies inuented as this Proclamer semeth to charge the Churche but the weightie consideracion of this matter that the people shoulde raither learn then read them selues was not onelie in the latin churche as it appeareth by sainct Hierom but also in the greke churche as yt appeareth by Chrysostom For he declaring the causes of the obscurities of the scriptures and alleaging this for the first saieth Primum quia voluit Deus alios esse doctores alios discipulos Si autem omnes omnia scirent doctor necessarius non erat ideò esset rerum ordo confusus Nam ad eos quidē Chrystomel 44. in Matth. Esay 40. Deutr. 32. quos voluit esse doctores sic Deus dicit per Esaiam prophetam Loquimini sacerdotes in cordibus populi Ad eos autem quos voluit discendo cognoscere mysteria veritatis sic dicit in Cantico Interroga patrem tuum dicet tibi presbyteros tuos annunciabunt tibi Et sicut sacerdotes ne si omnem veritatem manifestauerint in populo dabunt rationem in die Iudicij sicut dicit Dominus ad Ezechielem Ecce speculatorem te posui domni Israel si non dixeris impio vt à vijs suis prauis discedat ipse quidem in peccatis suis morietur animam autem eius de manu tua requiram sic populus nisi à sacerdotibus didicerit cognouerit veritatem dabit rationem in die Iudicij Sic enim dicit Sapientia ad populum Et extendebam sermones meos non audiebatis Ideò ego in vestra perditione ridebo Sicut enim paterfamilias cellarium aut vestiarium suū non habet cunctis expositum sed alios habet in domo qui dant alios autem qui accipiunt sic in domo Dei alij sunt qui docent alij qui discunt First bicause God wolde some shoulde why God wolde the scriptures to be obscure be teachers some learners Yf all men should knowe all thinges a teacher were not necessarie and therfor shoulde the ordre of thinges be confownded For vnto them whome he wolde shoulde be doctours or teachers God saieth thus by Esaye the Prophete Speake ye preistes in the heartes of the people But vnto them whom he wolde to haue knowledge of the misteries of trueth by learning of other he saieth thus in the Canticle Aske thy father and he shall tell thee thy elders and they shall shewe thee And euen as the preistes except they open all treuth to the people they shall make an accompte in the daie of Iugement as our Lorde saieth to Ezechiell Beholde I haue sett thee a watch man to the house of Israel Yf thow saie not to the wicked that he maie departe from his naughtie waies he shall die in his sinnes but I shall require his sowle at thy hande So also the people except they learn of the prestes and shall know the trueth they shall make an accompte in the daie of iudgement So saieth Sapience vnto The store-house of God not comon to all the people I did sette furth my wordes and ye did not heare Therfor shall I also laugh in your perdicion As the housholder dothe not make his store-house or his wardrobbe common to all men but he hath in his house some that deliuer some that receaue So in the howse of God ther be some that teache some that learn Thus moche Chrysostome Whose saieng I nede not to expownde yt ys so plain of yt self Ye perceaue that he teacheth yowe that God hath sette this ordre that the preistes shoulde be teachers and the people learners and that for this cause God hath willed the scriptures shoulde be obscure Whiche in the ende of his saing he cōmendeth vnto vs to be remembred by à goodlie Similitude that the housholder maketh not his storehouse and wardrobbe cōmon to Scripture the store-house of God all but certain do deliuer and other do receaue no more thē ys deliuered The Storehouse ys the scripture wher in for the feading and cloathing of mans sowle ys reposed great plentie of knowledge whiche yet God hath not made common to all men to take at their owne pleasures But he hath appointed officiers to be kepers of this store which be his preistes to geue yt furthe to the people in due tyme and in due maner and forme As all men haue not discrecion to vse plentie well but some will wast yt some will abuse yt and turne yt to other vses then yt was made or appointed for therfore they haue not accesse vnto yt So all men hauing not grace and discrecion to vse the plentie of Gods knowledge in the scriptures well they wast yt that ys they sett litle by yt they do but bable and talke of yt yt runneth aboute their lippes as the meate doth aboute the childes mouthe bosom and cloathes and ys wasted but yt
26. their haÌ„des yf yt had not ben his will to haue suffred In further argument wherof also when Peter drewe his sworde and cutte of the eare of Malchus Iesus saied vnto him Putte vppe thy sworde into the sheath Shall I not drinke of the cuppe which my Father hath geuen me And as S. Matthew testifieth saied further to Peter Thinkest thowe that I can not now praie to my Father and he shall geue me by and by more then twelue legioÌ„s of Angels But howe then shall the scriptures be fulfilled for thus must yt be By all whiche processe yt dothe most euidentlie appeare that willinglie he suffred his passion So did God by his Prophet foresaie that he shoulde doo Oblatus est quia voluit He was offred vppe bicause he wolde Iudas betraied him with a kisse Iuda osculo filium hominis tradis Iudas be Esay 53. traiest thowe the Sonne of man with a kisse The prophecie saied loÌ„g before that yt shoulde so be Homo pacis mea in quo sperani qui edebat panes meos magnificauit super me supplantationem My owne familiar frende whom I trusted which did also eate of my bread hath laied great wait for me Psal 40. That this prophecie was spoken of Iudas Chryste him self ys wittnesse who speakinge of Iudas in the Gospell alleageth this same scripture Qui manducat mecum panem leuabit coÌ„tra me caleaneum suum He that eateth bread with Joan. 13. me shall lifte vppe his hele against me To procead in the story of the passion when the Iewes laied handes vpon him and apprehended him Discipuli omnes relicto co fugerunt All his disciples Matth. 26 fledde and forsooke him Whiche thing allmightie God had spoken by hys Prophet Zacharie that so yt shoulde come to passe Percutiam pastorem disper gentur oues gregis I will smite the sheaperd and the shepe of the flocke shall be scatered That this prophecie ys thus to be vnderstanded Christe ys witnesse Zach. 14. who in the Gospell of saincte Marke applieth yt to the same pourpose In the house of Caiphas they entreacted our Sauiour very euell For emongest other thinges Expuerunt in faciem eius They did spitte in his face Of the whiche the Prophete Esaie spake as though yt had ben doen to hys own Mat. h. 26 Esay 50. person Faciem non auerti ab increpantibus conspuentibus in me I turned not my face from shame and spitting on me That in the morninge the cheif preistes and the elders of the people had a councell against Iesus to putte him to deathe yt was not ouerpassed withoute prophecie For the Prophete Dauid speaketh thus of yt in the person Mat. 21. of Chryste Circumdederunt me canâ—s multi concilium malignantium obsedit me Manie dogges compased me rownde aboute the councell of the wicked laied siege Psal 21. against me When Iudas as yt foloweth in the storie seing Chryste condemned brought the moncie again sainge I haue offended betrayeng an innocent Mat. 27 bloode and that the cheif preistes wolde not putte these siluer plates into the treasurie bicause yt was the price of blood but tooke couÌ„sell and bought with them a potters fielde to burie straungers the Euangelist himself affirmeth the prophecie therby to be fulfilled saing Then was that fulfilled whiche was spoken of by the Prophet Hieremie sainge And they tooke thirtie siluer peices the price of him that was valued whom they bought of the children of Israell and gaue them for the potters feilde Theise woordes be not fownde in Hieremie after the translation of the Bibles that nowe be comonly vsed yet this prophecie maie well be alleaged oute of Hieremie For saincte Hierom saieth that he hath red a booke of Hieremie in the Hebrue tounge in the whiche this sentence ys conteined woord for woorde But emoÌ„ge the prophetes that we haue in vse nowe Zacharie hath yt most plainlie wher we read yt thus Yf ye thinke yt good bring hether my price Zachar. 11 Yf no then leaue So they weighed down thirtie siluer peices the value that I was priced at And the Lorde said vnto me Castyt vnto the potter a goodlie price for me to be valued at of them And I tooke the thirtie siluer peices Matt. 27 and cast them vnto the potter Thus moche Zacharie In whose woordes ye perceaue the price of him that was solde which was thirtie siluer plates for the whiche summe our sauiour was solde Ye perceaue further more what was doen with those thirtie plates In the prophecie they were cast to the potter And the cheif preistes cast theÌ„ likewise to the potter for they bought a porters feilde with theÌ„ to burie strangers in Thus maie ye se how agreable thinges doen in the Gospell be with the prophecie and how liuelie and well the one aunswereth the other Pilate hearing that Iesus was a man of Galilie which belonged to the iurisdiction of Herode he sent him to Herode before whom the high preistes and Scribes accused him straitlie But Herode with his men of warre when they had despised him they sent him again cloathed in a white garment vnto Pilate Wherby the prophecie was fulfilled which saied Quare fremuerunt geÌ„tes populi meditati sunt inania Astiterunt reges terrae principes conuenerunt in Psal 2. vnum aduersus Dominum et aduersus Christum eius Whie do the heatheÌ„ so furiouslie rage together and why dothe the people ymagen vain thinges The kinges of the earthe stand vppe and the rulers take counsell together against the Lorde and against hys enointed That this prophecie of Dauid was herefullfilled the holie Goste by the holie multitude testifieth in the actes of the Apostles which in their praier to God praied thus Domine tu es qui fecisti caelum et terram etc. Lorde thow arte God which hast made heaueÌ„ and earthe the Sea aÌ„d all that in theÌ„ ys Which Act. 4. in the holie Gost by the mouth of thy seruauÌ„t Dauid our father hauest saied why did the heatheÌ„ rage and the people ymagen vain thinges The Kinges of the earth stoode vppe and the rulers came together against the Lorde aÌ„d against his enointed And of trueth against thy holie childe Iesus whom thow hauest enointed both Herode and also Ponce Pilate with the gentiles aÌ„d the people of Israell gathered theÌ„ selfs together in this Citie to doo what soeuer thy haÌ„des and thy counseil determined before to be doen. Thus ye se not onelie the Gospel aunswereth the prophecie but also by meÌ„ full of the holie Goste yt ys so taken vnderstaÌ„ded and applied To procead in the storie When Chryst was before Herode who questioned withe him manie woordes he aunswered nothing as S. Luke testifieth Luc. 23. Matth. 27. So being before Pilate when he was accused of the cheif preistes and elders as S. Mathew wittnesseth he aunswered nothinge And wheÌ„ Pilate also saied to him doest thowe not
maner of presences of Chryst. two maner of beinges of Chryst the one ys in the Sacrament wher he saieth Chryste ys as in a sign token or figure but not in veritie The other maner of being ys not in the Sacramēt but in the receauer of yt in whom he saieth Chryst ys spirituallie As for this seconde maner of being euerie good Chrystian will graunte that euerie wourthie receauer of the Sacrament receaueth Chryste spirituallie but not onelie spirituallie as the Aduersarie teacheth but he also receaueth Chrystes verie real ād substācial bodie So that in this secōd maner he dissenteth in part from the catholike faith But in the first maner of beinge he dissenteth whollie for ther he denieth Chrystes bodie to be verilie in the Sacrament which the catholique faith doth affirme and teache Nowe gentle reader thowe hauest hearde this figure of the Paschall Lambe both by great auncient Authours that were aboue a thousand yeyears agon or within the compasse of sixe hundreth years after Chryst and also by Authours that were within the compasse of these nine hundreth years applied to the thing figured Whiche thing figured by one consent and by one mouth as yt were and by consonante and vniforme testimonie they haue testified and taught not onelie to be Chrystes bodie vpon the crosse for that in that parte yt aunswereth the death and bloode sheding of the lambe but also the bodie of Chryst being in the Sacrament not as in a shaddowe signe or token but verilie substanciallie and reallie and so not spirituallie onelie eaten and receaued But of all good christians both spirituallie with the mouth of the soule and also reallie with the mouthe of the bodie taken eaten and reccaued herin also aunsweringe the figure that as the lambe was eaten in the remembrance of the sauing of the first born and of their deliuerance from the tirannie of Pharao and of their passing oute of Aegipte by the mightie hand of God So the true faithfull of Chryst shoulde eate the verie Paschall lambe of the newe Testament whiche ys the verie bodie of that immaculate Lambe our Sauiour Iesus Chryst reallie and substanciallie in the Sacrament and so receaue yt in the remembrance of our deliueraunce from our cruell Pharao the Deuell and from the miserable seruitude of Aegipt whiche ys sinne Whiche benefittes as they haue happened to vs by the death of that blessed Lambe aught by the eating of him in the Sacramēt to be remēbred And thus moche for the figure of the Paschall Lambe THE TWO AND TWENTETH CHAPITER BEginneth the applicacion of the shewe bread to the Sacrament as of the figure to the veritie by sainct Hierom and Damascen NOwe ther remaineth three other figures to be treacted of which be Manna the water flowing oute of the Rocke and the shewe bread But for somoche as sainct Paule maketh mencion of two of them that ys of Manna and of the water and I wolde not gladlie grieue the reader with reading of one matter twice I shall disfer theise two vntill we come to treacte of the sainges of sainct Paule whiche shall be in the third booke Wherfore nowe I will passe them ouer and treacte here of the figure of the shewe bread Of this shewe bread we first read thus Thowe shalt sett vpon the table shewe breade before me allwaie These woordes Allmightie God spake vnto Moyses after he had tolde him the maner and Exod. 25. fashion of the table howe yt shoulde be made and granished vpon the which table this shewe breades shoulde allway be sett But of the making of the breads and the ordre of them we reade in Leuit. 24. Leuiticus thus And thowe shalt take fine flowre and bake twelue wassells therof two tenth deals shall be in one wassell And thowe shalt sett them in two rowes that they maie be bread of remembrance and an offring vnto thy Lord God euery Sabboth He shall put them in rowes before thy Load God euermore Of the children of Israël shall they be offred for an euerlasting couenante And they shall be Aarons and his Sonnes whiche shall eate them in the holie place For they are most holie vnto him of the offringes of the Lorde by a perpetuall statute In the whiche saing of God ye first perceaue the place of theise breades whiche ys vpon the table in the tabernacle Ye vnderstande also the continuance of them whiche ys that they must be before the Lorde allwaie Further this bread was made of fine flowre and yt was the bread of remembrance and an offring vnto the Lord. Yt was no common bread but an holie bread wherof the preistes onelie might eate and no defiled person Wherfore when Dauid and his men were verie hungrie and came to Abimelech the preist and desired him to geue them some bread he 2. Reg. 21. aunswered him that he hadd no common bread vnder his hand but hallowed bread neuerthelesse he considering their necessitie asked Dauid if the men had kept them selues from vnclaen thinges especiallie from womē And when Dauid had aunswered that they werie clean from womē aboute three daies the preist gaue them of the bread Nowe all the Ceremonialls of the lawe of Moyses were figures of Chryst and his Churche as by sainct Augustine before ys declared And for so moche as the Shewe bread was a sollemne offring in the olde lawe Yt must nedes be a figure of some thing in the newe lawe For no iotte nor title of the olde lawe shall escape saieth Chryst vntill yt be fullfilled in the newe lawe Ther ys therfor something in the newe lawe that aunswereth and fulfilleth this figure of the olde lawe And that ys vndoubtedlie that most blessed Shew bread a figure of the Sacrament and heauenlie bread of life the verie bodie of our Sauiour Christ in the Sacrament vnder the forme of bread Whiche blessed bread aunswereth the figure the Shewe bread verie aptelie and iustilie as by comparison in discourse and applicacion of them we shall perceaue The Shewe bread was placed vpon the table in the tabernacle This bread ys placed on the Altar in the Churche That bread neuer failed Shew bread applied to the Sacrament but was allwaies reserued This bread allwaies remaineth and ys reserued That bread was a bread of remembrance This bread ys a bread of remembrance bothe of Chrystes death and of the great benefett pourchased by the same death That bread was an offringe to God This bread ys a most holie oblacion and sacrifice to God That bread might no defiled person eate This bread maie no defiled sinner eate For Quicunque manducauerit panem Domini biberit calicem indignè reus erit corporis sanguinis Domini c. he that eateth the breade of our Lorde and drinketh of his cuppe vnwourthilie shal be giltie of the bodie of our Lorde 1. Cor. 11. Therfor let a man examin himself and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cuppe
for to kepe women the people as sainct HieroÌ„ saieth they should But bicause these high fuÌ„ctioÌ„s and the keping of womeÌ„ caÌ„ notioin together raither theÌ„ they will put awaie ther womeÌ„ they haue deuised to putte awaie the coÌ„secracion of the bodie of Chryst and the sacrifice also whiche they shoulde offer Of whiche matter for that yt ys impertinente to my pourpose I will not speake but ouerpasse yt and not medle withall Nowe haue ye here heard one wittnesse of the one side of the higher house of Parliament reporting the trueth of this matter We will heare one of the other side and of the lower house to reporte the same trueth who shall be Damascen Thus he saieth Hunc panem panes figurabant propositionis This Li. 4. c. 14. de orthodox sid bread mening the bodie of Chryst in the Sacrament did the Shew bread figure That he speake of the bodie of Chryst the learned reader shall sooen perceaue if he will peruse this place in Damascen wher he shall finde that after he moste plainly had affirmed the verie reall presence of Chrystes bodie in the SacrameÌ„t by the woordes of our Sauiour Chryst in the vj. of Iohn and in the other Euangelistes he cometh to exhortacion for the wourthie receauing of the same saing thus Proinde cum omni timore conscientia pura indubitabili fide accedamus veneremur ipsum omni puritate animi corporis Accedamus ei desiderio ardenti manus in modum crucis formantes crucifixi corpus suscipiamus Therfor let vs comme to yt with all feare Dam. ibi and pure conscience and with a sure faith and let vs woorshippe him whith all puritie of minde and bodie Let vs go to him whith burning desire fashioning our handes in maner of a crosse let vs receaue the body of him that was crucified And after a fewe scriptures alleaged he speaketh the woordes whiche I before recited that the Shewe bread did figure this bread Wherby yt ys euident that he meneth that he Shewe bread was a figure not of a figure but of Chryst him self who promised that the bread that he wolde geue shoulde be his flesh whiche flesh he wolde geue for the life of the woorlde Ioan. 6. THE THREE AND TWENTHETH CHAPIT ceadeth in the proof of the same by S. Augustine and Isychius ALthough the Authours alleaged might suffice for the declaracion and proof of this matter nowe entreacted of yet for the ful contentacion of the reader some mo shall be brought to make the thing more plain and the truthe more certen The first of these shall be sainct Augustin who saied thus Dicit cessisse pani pecus tanquam nesciens tunc in Domini mensa panes Propositionis poni solere et nunc Ad Casulanum epist. â—6 se de agni immaculati corpore partem accipere Dicit cessisse poculo sanguine non cogitans et nuncse accipere in poculo sanguineÌ„ Quanto ergo melius et congruentius vetera transisse et noua in Christo facta esse sic diceret vt cederet altare altari gladius gladio ignis igni panis pani pecus pecori sanguis sanguini Videmus in ijs omnibus carnalem vetustatem spiritali cedere nouitati He saieth that the beast hath geuen place to the breade as though he knewe not that euen then the Shew breades were wounte to be putte vpon the table of our lorde and that nowe he dothe take parte of the bodie of that vndefiled lambe He saied that bloode hathe geuen place to the cuppe not remembring that he also nowe doth receaue blood in the cuppe Howe moche better therfor and more agreablie shoulde he saie that the olde are goen and new be made in Chryst so as the Altar gaue place to the Altar the swoord to the swoorde fire to fire breade to breade beast to beast bloode to bloode We doo see in all these the carnall oldenesse to geue place to the spirituall newenesse Thus farre S. Augustin In these woordes S. Augustin correcting the euell saing of one that saied that in the coming of the newe Testament the Sacrifices of the olde lawe whiche were doen in beastes as sheepe laÌ„bes kiddes heckfers oxeÌ„ and soche other did geue place to breade meening the Sacrament dothe declare that these proprelie did not geue place to yt As though he should saie that these beastes wer not figures of the SacrameÌ„t but of the blooddie Sacrifice of Chryst offred vppoÌ„ the cross after the maner of AaroÌ„ But he saieth the shew breads gaue place to our bread And therfore he saieth that the Aduersarie saing that the beastes gaue place to bread he spake yt as though he knew not that the Shewe breades were wount to be putte vpon the table of our Lord mening that the Shew breades were a figure of the Sacrament And therfore when the truth came those breades as the figure must nedes geue place to the true bread which ys Chryst in the blessed Sacrament And therfore S. Augustin teaching this man to make due applicacion of eche figure to the thing figured saieth that he should better haue saied that the Altar gaue place to the Altar signifieng that the Altar of the Iewes was a figure of the Altar of the Chrystians and that bread gaue place to breade signifieng that the Shew bread was a figure of our blessed breade Obiection oute of S. Augustin But here perchaunce the Aduersarie will saie that sainct Augustin calleth the Sacrament but breade mening that the Shew bread was a figure of the Sacramentall breade I wolde to God the Aduersarie who being aduersarie to Gods trueth ys most aduersarie to hys owne sowles health wolde in soche sentences of holie Fathers as narrowlie looke and espie the trueth whiche they do teache as he dothe for some one woorde to make some apparant shew to maintein his heresie and false doctrine Answer Trueth yt ys that S. Augustin doth call yt bread to shewe the iust applicacion of the figure to the thing figured That bread was the figure of bread for outwardlie yt appeareth bread and inwardlie yt ys the true breade that ys the bread of life But marke sainct Augustin well and ye shall haue nede of no expositour to knowe his faith and mening in this saing For in the beginning he saieth that the beast hath geuen place to the bread as though he knewe not that the shewe breades were wount to be sett vpon the table of our Lorde and that nowe he doth take parte of the bodie of the vndefiled lambe to whiche bodie and not to sacramentall bread the Shewe bread gaue place Note well sainct Augustin therefor here that speaking what thing he dothe receaue doth saie not sacramentall breade but the bodie of the vndefiled lambe which ys the lambe that tooke awaie the sinnes of the worlde So that which he first called bread nowe he calleth yt the bodie of the vnde filed lambe who ys the
bread of life And that the Aduersarie shoulde not haue anie place to put in his glosing woorde spirituallie and to saie that he receaueth the bodie of the vndefiled lambe spirituallie S. Augustin maketh a stoppe in the woordes that folowe saing he dothe saie mening vibicus that blood hath geuen place to the cuppe not remeÌ„bring that he also nowe doth receaue blood in the cuppe Which saing of saincte Augustin openeth the true faith of the catholique Churche and wipeth oute the false faithe of the malignant Churche For they well vnderstande that to receaue the bloode of Chryste in the cuppe teacheth a reall presence of the same And as yt ys manifest by S. Augustin that the bloode ys receaued reallie So ys the flesh of the bodie of the immaculate lambe receaued reallie For as the one ys receaued so ys the other Thus ye haue hearde sainct Augustine his wittnesse of the trueth of this matter Nowe shall be ioined to him Isychius who beareth full testimonie of the same trueth Thys man as the learned knowe applieng the leuiticall Sacrifices and Ceremonies to the thinges which they figured in the euangelicall lawe dothe at large expownd this place and figure of the Shewe breads Whose exposition though yt be long yet forasmoche as yt ys fructfull my trust ys that yt shall not be tediouse but euen as I for the readers commoditie did with good will transcribe yt So I trust that he wil with like good wil reade yt And that the wholl matter maie be knowen to the Reader I will alleadge aÌ„d bringe the wholl text of the scripture as this Authour hath yt aÌ„d then putto his expositioÌ„ wherby yt shal be seen how euerie parte of the text ys applied Thus alleageth he the text Accipies quoque similam coques ex ea duodecim panes qui singuli habebunt duas Decimas quorum senos altrinsecus super mensam purissimam coram Domino statues pones super eos thus lucidissimum vt sit Isychius li. 7. ca. 24. panis in monimentum oblationis Domini Per singula Sabbata mutabuntur coram Domino suscepti à filijs Israël foedere sempiterno Eruntque Aaron et filiorum eius vt comedant eos in loco sancto quia Sanctum Sanctorum est de sacrificio Domini iure perpetuo And thowe shalt take fine flowre and bake twelue loaues therof two tenth deales shall be in one loaff And thowe shallt sett them in two rowes sixe on a rowe vpon the pure table of thy Lorde And putte pure frankencense vpon the rowes that they maye be breades of remembrance and an offring to thy Lorde Euery Sabboth shall he putte them in rowes before thy Lorde for euermore Of the children of Israell shall they be offred for an euerlasting couenaunte And they be Aarons and his sonnes whiche shall eate them in the holie place For they are most holie to him of the offringes of thy Lorde by a perpetuall statute Vpon this text thus writeth Isychius Vocat ad contemplationem mandati nos ipse panum numeras sed propositio quia non ipsos quemadmodum ea quae suâ—t de sartagine craticula clibano holocaustum fieri praecipit sed poni quidem in mensa altrinsecus solis eos licere sacerdotibus non Leuitis edere vt tamen ab ipsis in loco sancto comedantur Sed quia SanctuÌ„ sanctorum appellati sunt intellige quae dicuntur dabit enim tibi Dominus intellectum memento mysticae mensae de qua nulli praesumere praeceptum est excepto intelligibili Aaron id est Christo Ipse enim eam primus initiauit sed filijs eius qui ab eo facti sunt Christi induti sunt eo quam tamen comedere in loco sancto iussi sunt Est verò et Sanctum sanctorum vt sanctificationem habeant praecipuam et indespicabilem Illi panes ex duabus decimis Dei enim et hominis sunt eiusdem in vtroque perfecti ponuntur seni altrinsecus Mystica mensa ponitur quidem hic ponitur etiam in futuro scculo Sex autem panes propositio vna quiae perfectus numerus sicut mysterium ipsum perfectum est perfectos facit eos qui hoc fruuntur In sex autem diebus haec visibilis facta est creatura sextaue die homo productus est propter quem Christus mysticam praeparauit mensam Veruntamen omnes simul rectè duodecim panes sunt quia primi dominicam coenauerunt Apostoli qui erant duodecim numero The verie nombre of the loaues doth call vs to the contemplacion or deligent beholding of the commaundement So doth also the setting furthe of them and that he doth not commaunde them to be made a burnt sacrifice as those thinges whiche be of the frieng panne of the gridiron and fornace but that they shall be put vpon the table on the one parte and to be laufull to the preistes alone and not to the Leuites to eate them and yet they maie not be eaten of them but in the holie place But also bicause they be called most holie vnderstande these thinges that be saied Owre Lorde shall geue thee vnderstanding Remembre the mysticall table of whiche yt ys commaunded no man to eate except the intelligible Aaron that ys to saie Chryst he first began this table except also his children whiche of him were made Chrystes and were cloathed with him whiche table yet they were commaunded to eate in the holie place Yt ys also most holie that they shoulde haue a principall and reuerente holinesse Those loaues are of two tenth deales that ys of God and man perfecte in both Six loaues are sett on a rowe For the mysticall table ys sett here and ys sett also in the worlde to come Sixe loaues ys one rowe for yt ys a perfect nombre as the mysterie ys also perfect and maketh them perfecte that do vse yt In sixe daies the visible creature was made the sixte daie also man was created for whom Chryste prepared the mysticall table And yet for all that all the loaues together are verie well twelue For the Apostoles that first supped at the Supper of our Lorde were in nombre twelue Thus moche Isychius Of whome we learne a full applicacion of the figure to the thing of the Shew bread to Chryst For beginning to open the figure and to sett furthe Shewbread applied to the Sacrament the thing figured by the Shew bread he saieth MemeÌ„to mysticae mensae RemeÌ„bre the mystical table Wherbie he meeneth the blessed bread of the table of Christ which after he openeth with verie plain woordes wheÌ„ he saieth The Shew breades were made of two teÌ„ths deales Chryst the verie bread ys made of the Godhead and the manhead in both perfecte perfect God and perfecte man Yf this applicacion were not plain enough I wolde tarie longer vpon yt But yt ys easie to perceaue that by the Shew bread ys figured that
yt he beleueth not yt to be that bread that yt ys saied to be Hitherto Tertul Whose litle sentence although yt doth ouerthrowe three or foure assertions of the Auersaries in this matter of the Sacrament Yet we shall here touche but two that be to the pourpose here The first ys that good deuoute godlie people had the Sacrament reserued in their houses oftē to receaue as their deuotiō to God moued thē secretly by them selfs For at that time the churche was not so settled nor had The Sacrament reserued in priuate houses in the Primitiue church soche peace that the chrysten people might frelie come together and receaue openlie Wherfor for the excercising of their faith and deuociō and doing of their duetie to God they had the Sacrament home to their houses and ther reserued yt to receaue when they thought good And this maie ye verie well gather of this that Tertullian saieh Shall not thy housband knowe what thowe secret he doest receaue before all meat For the better vnderstāding of whiche saing yowe must suppose and knowe that Tertulian writeth to this woman as though she had an insidell to her housbande and she a Chrystian Vnto whom she wolde not haue her doinges knowē in this behalf Nowe to couer this matter frō soche an ynfidel good people wolde secretlie by thē selues receaue that they for soche pourpose reserued and so yt appeareth that for soche cause reseruacion of the Sacrament might be and was moche vsed in the primitiue churche The seconde note ys for the presence whiche ys wher he saieth And yf he knoweth yt yet he beleueth not yt to be the bread that yt yssaid to be Wherby Ioan. De lapsis serm 5. A miracle wrought in the Sacrament reserued we are taught that yt ys an other maner of bread then yt appeareth For yt appeareth to be but earthlie bread but in dede yt ys heauenly bread the bread of life euen that bread yt self that saied The bread which I will geue ys my flesh which I will geue for the life of the worlde But to return to the matter of reseruacion we haue plain testimonie ther os in sainct Cyprian who reporteth thus Cùm quaedam arcam suam in qua Domini Sanctum erat manibus indignis tentasset aperire igne inde surgente deterrita est ne auderet contingere When a certain woman did attempte with vnwourthie handes to open her coafer in whiche was the holie thing of our Lorde ther arose thence a fire and so feared her that she durst not touche yt Thus sainct Ciprian Do ye not heare that this woman had the Sacrament kept in her coafer Perceaue ye not the great power of yt that wher she wolde but opē the coafer with vncleā handes she was feared awaie with a fire that rose frō thence Ys ther anie mean for the Aduersarie to auoid this Perchaunce he will cauille and saie that Ciprian speaketh not of the Sacrament but of some other thing whiche he calleth the holie thing of our Lorde But yf he wolde so seke to auoide he shoulde shewe him self to vain For Ciprian speaketh ther alltogether of the Sacrament in somoche as he reporteth foure miracles together which God had wrought aboute the Sacrament And albeit in this sentence he dothe not by expresse woordes call yt the bodie of our Lorde as he dothe in manie other places yet he so termeth yt Oecolamp and Cranmers doctrine reproued by S. Cipr. Vide sup cap. 23. as he reproueth the doctrine of Oecolampadius and Cranmer and very likly of this Proclamer also For he calleth yt the holie thing of our Lorde and they saie ther ys no holinesse yn yt For yt ys a dumme creature Thus though in woordes they pretende tofolowe the olde Fathers yet in very dede they slatlie against saie them But to proceade in the prooff of reseruaciō yt maketh moche for yt that sainct Ambrose reporteth of his bother Satyrus who as he saieth being a singular mā in godlinesse and affiānce toward God and being in dānger vpō the Ambr. in oratione funebr de obi tu sratris sui sea yet not fearing death but desierouse not to be destitute of that blessed Sacramēt yf yt should so please God to call him went to the christians that were ther in the shippe ād desired to haue that Godlie Sacramēt of the faith full not that he wolde please his curiouse eies in loking vpō soche a mistery Satyr had part of the Sacrament reserued in the shippe and was saued ther by from drowning but that by soche a Sacramēt he might obtein the helpe of his faith Whiche whē yt was geuē him he caused yt to bownde in a stole ād so hāged yt aboute his necke ād whē shippwracke happened he sought not for a loose boorde of the shippe to swimme vpon and so to helpe him self but for that he had sought the armour of faith alone he did so committe him self to the sea and thinking him self safe enough by the helpe of the Sacrament he desiered no other helpe and as sainct Ambrose saieth his hope did not forsake him nor deceaue him For he was the first that eschaped oute of the sea ād came to the land Thus moche in effect reporteth sainct Ambrose In whiche his reporte yt ys more thē manifest that the Sacramēt was reserued and as yt maie be supposed for a good time Yf yt maie be reserued three or foure daies why maie yt not be reserued longer As the wholl reporte for that yt ys made by so holie and woorthie a man ys woorthie to be remembred So be two or three things wourthie of speciall note The first ys that this good man the Brother of saincte Ambrose wēt to the chrystians in the shippe ād obteined of thē to haue ād to carie the Sacramēt with him Yf to reserue the Sacrament had ben so heinouse a matter as this Proclamer and his complices make yt wolde they trowe ye haue cōmitted soche an offēce as to haue yt reserued in the shippe ād to deliuer yt to Satirus to be so reserued And further yf the reseruing of this Sacrament Sacrament reserued in the shippe had ben against the ordre of the churche wolde Saincte Ambrose to the praise of his Brother report yt as a thing well and Godlie doen No trulie yt ys not to be thought in so godlie and so learned a father but raither yt ys to be thought that the Brother of sainct Ambrose doing no other thing but that was by the same sainct Ambrose cōmended did agreable to the maner of the Churche Therfor saincte Ambrose to his Bothers praise and to the example of S. Ambrose cōmēded the doing of his brothe Satyr the posteritie to doo soche like vertuouse workes did write this matter and made a boke to remain to kepe the thing in memorie By this then yt maie appeare that the reseruacion of the Sacrament was in vse in the churche
in those daies An other thing woorthie of note in this reporte of saincte Ambrose ys that he with cōmēdaciō declareth the affiāce that his brother had in the Sacrament Whiche was soche that seing imminēt perill and remēbring what he had aboute him did not seke earthlie or worldly helpe but reposing his trust in the Sacramēt that he had aboute him he perswaded him self to haue helpe enough and nothing distrusting rested onelie vpon that helpe and in that hope committed him self to the fearfull and terrible vaiues of the sea I praie thee good Reader weigh this well ād iudge whether this good mā the brother of sainct Ambrose did thinke or beleue the Sacramēt to be but a peice of bread a figure or sign of Chryst onelie Wolde he thinke yowe in that great daūger perill haue cōmitted the sauing of his life all other helpes sett a parte te a poour dūme creature a litle peice of bread And aboue this wold that good mā in that agonie so endaūgered his soule as to cōmitte so horrible ydolatrie in placing and putting that his great trust in a peice of bread whiche aught onelie to haue ben reposed in God No yt ys not to be thought but this raither that he being a faithfull and godlie man folowed the example of faithfull Peter who being in a shippe and hearing Chryst whom he sawe walking on the sea saing to them that were in the Matth. 14 shippe be of good trust yt ys I be not afraied saied to him yf yt be thowe lorde cōmaunde me to come to thee vpon the waters And he went out of the shippe and walked vpon the sea toward Chryst Euen so this man by faith knowing his master Chryst to be at hand with him presentlie in the sacrament he cōmitted him self with Peter to the sea and was the first that was saued Adde vnto this that whiche ys an other thing to be noted that sainct Ambrose cōmending this brother for the great faith trust and affiance that he had in the Sacrament well declareth also his owne faithe that he also beleued the verie presence of Chryst in the Sacrament Holie men commēde not the misbeleif of mē to the worlde no not by mouthe moche lesse by bookes whiche must remain For that then that sainct Ambrose hath written this no dowbte aswell to our Imitaciō as to the cōmendaciō of his brother bothe the faith of the Churche beleuing Chrystes presence in the Sacrament ys to be approued and the reseruacion of the same Sacrament for the comforth of vs being seke or wholl ys not to be dissalowed And yet ys ther a more euident testimonie of this matter of reseruacion in an epistle of Chrisostom to Innocentius wherin he maketh complainte of the calamitie that happened in his churche of Constantinople by wicked Soldiers and emong other thinges reporteth thus Ipso magno Sabbato Chrysost epist. ad Jnnocent collecta manus militum ad vesperam diei in ecclesias ingressa clerum omnem qui nobiscum erat vi eiecit armis gradum vndique muniuit Mulieres quoque quae per illud tēpus se exuerant vt baptisarentur metu grauiorum insidiarum nudae aufugerunt neque enim concedebatur vt se velarent sicut mulieres honestas decet multae etiam acceptis vulneribus eijciebanttur sanguine implebantur natatoria sancto cruore rubescebant sluenta Neque hic rerum finis erat Nam sanctuaria ingressi sunt milites quorum aliquos scimus nullis initiatos mysteris viderunt omnia quae intus erant quin sanctissimus Christi sanguis sicut in tali tumultu contingit in praedictorum militum vestes effusus est Euen vpon the great Sabboth daie meaning Easter daie at the euentide an Armie of Soldiers entred the churche and by violence cast oute all soche as were with vs of the cleargie And kept with strēght the entrie The womē also whiche at that time had put of their cloathes to be baptised for feare of more daūger fled naked awaie Nether were they suffred to couer thē selues as becometh honest women manie of them also being wounded were cast oute and the fontes prepared to baptise them in were full of bloode and the waters of the fontes were made red with bloode But this was not the ende of the businesse For the Soldiers also went into the holie places of the whiche Chrystes blood in the Sacr. shed vpon the soldiers cloathes we knowe some to haue receaued no parte of the chrystian religion and they sawe all the thinges that were within And besides that the most holie bloode of Chryst as yt doth happen in soche tumulte was shedde vpon the garmēts of the Soldiers Thus facre Chrisostom In this complaint first note when these wycked soldiers entred vpon the churche they entred in the euening At whiche time they entring into the Sanctuarie Ye perceaue they fownde the Sacrament ther for he saieth that yt was shedde vpō the cloathes of the Soldiars In the time of Chrisostō yt was not in vse to cōsecrate the Sacramēt in the after noone but onely in the morning This then being kept in the Sanctuarie and shed vpon the garmēt of the Soldiers in the euening yt proueth inuinciblie and most plainly that the Sacrament was reserued Presence of Chrystes blood in the Sacra and reseruation auouched by Chrysost Yf ye will also knowe what the Sacrament was whether yt was a figure onely or the thing yt self Christostom by as plain woordes teacheth vs that yt was the bloode of Christ And that we should perceaue yt was so in dede he cōtented not him felf onelie to cal yt the blood of Chryst but the most holie blood of Chryst By Chrisostom then the reseruacion of the Sacrament ys so plainly wittnessed that the Proclamer can not denie yt the very presence of Christes bloode in the same ys so auouched that the Sacramentary ys confounded Yt ys with moche reuerence termed and called the most holie blood of Chryst wherby the vureuerent and spitefull railing and raiging of the blasphemer ys reproued and rebuked But let vs yet proceade further maie we not finde the reseruacion of the Sacrament in S. Hieromes time Yes verilie For he wittnesseth yt Reseruatiō in S. Hieroms time him self declaring to one Rusticus the godlie life and great libertie of Exuperius Bishoppe of Tolosse and signifieng the great contempt of worldelie thinges the same had and his great pleasure in heauenly thinges writeth thus Nihil illo ditius qui corpus Domini in canistro vimineo sanguinem portat in vitro Ther ys no man richer then he who beareth the bodie of our Lorde in a wicker basket and his bloode in a glasse As who might saie So litle regardeth this good Bisshoppe Exuperius the riches of the worlde that geuing awaie all his substance and bearing aboute him the bodie of our Lord but in a litle wicker baskett and the blood of
simplicitie he iugleth with craft and subtletie For the better perceiuing of this sleight yf ye do not remembre what ys alleaged oute of Tertullian and saincte Ciprian in the xxiiij chapiter of this booke haue recourse thither and reade them This Proclamer being pressed with those places for they make mightilie and directlie against him in this matter enombring diuerse and sondrie abuses of the Sacramentes of Baptisme of the bodie and bloode of Chryst yt liked him to putte that that Tertullian and Ciprian spake of the Sacrament reserued and receaued of good women among his abuses wherin in dede he moche abuseth himself His woordes be these A sleight of the Proclamer to abuse Tertul. and S. Cyprian In the time of Tertullian and saincte Cyprian whiche was a thousande and foure hundreth yeares agon women commonly tooke the Sacrament home with them in their napkins and laied yt in their chestes and receaued a porcion of yt in the morning before other meates See ye not howe by this sleight he wolde dasell the eyes and iudgement of the reader that when he shoulde happe to read these places he shoulde repute and esteem thē not as good examples but as abuses and so shaddowe the matter of reseruacion whiche they proue But dothe he finde this spoken of Tertullian as an abuse Dothe Tertullian so terme yt Naie I am sure he doth not Yf Tertulliā doo not so accōpt yt whie dothe this newe maker of abuses so terme yt Tertulian speaketh of yt as a thing well doen what commission then aboue Tertullian had this man to saie yt ys euell doen. As for saincte Ciprian the Aduersarie perhappe wolde glose yt a litle and proue yt an abuse bycause the woman whē she opened her coafer wher the holie Sacrament laie ther sprang oute a fire that feared her that she durst not touch yt But let the Proclamer veiue that place of saincte Cyprian well and he shall finde none other abuse mencioned ther of him but that the woman wolde haue presumed to touche the holie thinge of our Lorde as he termeth yt with vnwoorthie hādes This ys the abuse that S. Cyprian reherseth ther. But that she reserued yt he accompteth yt no abuse For ther ys no soche woorde in saincte Cyprian Wherfore Reader be ware of soche sleightes and by this perceaue that all ys not trewth that this man so gloriouslie setteth furth And yf he accompt yt an abuse bycause they caried yt home what will he saie to the vse of the Churche in the time of Iustinus Martyr was not then the Sacrament caried home to soche as were absent This holie man so testifieth saing thus Cùm autem is qui praeest gratias egerit totus populus Just. in Apologia approbauerit hi qui vocantur apud nos Diaconi distribuunt vnicuique praesentium vt participent de pane in quo gratiae actae sunt et de vino et aqua et ijs qui non sunt praessentes deferūt domū Whē he that ys cheif hath geuē thankes and all the people hath cōsented to yt these that with vs be called Deacons do distribute of the cōsecrated The Sacramēt caried home to thē that were absent bread and of the wine and water to euery one that ys present to receaue and to those that be absent they carie yt home Thus Iustinus Sainct Basill also wittnesseth that holie men liuing in wildernesse did reserue the Sacrament in their Cells and as deuocion moued them receaued yt Thus he saieth Epist. ad Caesariam Patriciam Omnes in eremis solitariam vitam agentes vbi non est sacerdos Cōmunionem domi seruantes à seipsis communicant All that lead solitarie liues in the wildernesse wher ther ys no preist keping the Sacrament in their houses receaue yt by them selues Thus sainct Basill The Sacr. reserued in Rome in S. Hieroms time Saincte Hierom also in his Apologie against Iouinian testifieth that the people of Rome in his time vsed to kepe the Sacrament in their houses and receaued yt by them selues Nowe yf the Sacrament were caried to the houses of soche as were absent as appareth by Iustinus and of diuerse kept to be receaued as deuocion serued as ys wittnessed by saincte Basill and saincte Hierom And so to doo was thē the vse of the Churche yt doth well appeare that for soche godlie pourposes to carie yt home and to reserue yt ys no abuse Wherfor in this that the Proclamer accompted yt an abuse bycause yt was caried from the Churche and receaued at home as before ys saied in making that accompte he moche abuseth him self And here Reader beside that good vse to carie the Sacrament to soche as neaded yt ys ther not in Iustine a good argument for reseruacion was not the Sacrament when all the Communion was doen in the Churche reserued to be caried to them that were absent Nowe yf yt maie be reserued but so long time why maie yt not be kept a longer time Yf not a longer time let the Proclamer bring furthe the iust prescript time oute of the Scriptures the Doctours or Councells and we shall regarde the prescription yf he can not as I am sure that he can not let him ceasse with these his vain inuēted trifles to vexe disturbe diuide molest and slaunder the catholike Churche and let him acknowledge that the Churche in these our daies cariēg the Sacrament to soche as be sicke and to soche as cā not come to the Church offendeth not neither abuseth the Sacrament in so doing but foloweth the godlie example of the auncient catholique Churche as nowe ye haue heard to the full testified And wher the Churchc kepeth and reserued the Sacrament on the altar or ells wher let him knowe by saincte Basill and saincte Hierom that so yt The church nowe reseruing the Sacr and sending yt to the sick offendeth not was in their time and from the beginning likewise reserued and kept so that the Churche neither in sending the Sacrament to sicke folkes or other absent in their necessitie neither in keping yt in the churche dothe other wise then was doen in the primitiue Churche Wherfor I wishe thee gentle Reader to staie thy self and not to suffer thy self to be caried awaie with soche vain diuerse and straunge Doctrines but consider well the practise of the Churche declared vnto thee in this matter Consider the vse of reseruacion through oute all the Churche vntill this time of Scisme and heresie to be doen not onelie in Englonde but in all Realms Chrystened whiche being so vniuersallie receaued maie not be thought to be euell doen or anie abuse to be therin committed but yt aught with all humblenesse to be obeied receaued and folowed For two thinges by the doctrine of saincte Augustine must we obserue the one ys what so euer ys taught vs of the Scripture the other what we finde obserued throughoute all the Churche Soche rule gaue he to Ianuarius Si
quid diuinae scripturae praescribit autoritas non est dubitandum quin ita facere Ad Ianua Epist 118. What soeuer the Churche vseth throughout the worlde yt ys to be obserued debeamus vt legimus Similiter etiam si quid per orbem frequentat Ecclesia Nam hoc quin ita faciendum sit disputare insolentissimae insaniae est What soeuer the authoritie of the diuine scripture prescribeth vnto vs ther ys no doubte but we aught euen so to doo as we read likewise what soeuer the Churche vsith throughoute the worlde For to dispute whether this shoulde be so doen or no yt ys a most presumptuouse madnesse Thus sainct Augustin Seing then reseruacion ys and hath ben vsed through oute all the Churche And yet nowe this Proclamer withoute anie authoritie maketh his proclamacion against yt ys not he conuinced by the sentence of saincte Augustine to be a presumtuouse madde man or presumptuouslie madde For although the scripture geueth no cōmaundement for reseruacion as yt doth not also for receauing in the morning and before meate yet the vse and custome of the people of God and the commaundement of the elders are to be holden for a lawe as saincte Augustine saieth in an other place In his rebus Ad Casulanum Epist 86. Oordinaunces of the elders to be holden for lawes wher scripture prescribeth not de quibus nihil certi statuit scriptura diuina mos populi Dei vel instituta maiorum prolege tenenda sunt Et sicut praeuaricatores Diuinarnm legum ita contemptores ecclesiasticarum consuetudinum coercendi sunt Si quis autem videtur contentiosus esse nos talem consuetudinem non habemus neque Ecclesia Dei In these thinges of the whiche the scripture of God hath determined nothing certen the custome of the people of God or the ordinances of the elders are to be holden for a lawe And as the breakers of the lawe of God so the contemners of the ecclesiasticall ordinaunces or customes of the Churche are to be punished But yf anie man seem to be contenciouse we haue no soche custome nor yet the Churche of God Thus ye see what be saincte Augustines rules in soche matters as be not expressedlie determined by the scriptures Ye heare howe the decrees commaundementes and the customes of the people of God howe soeuer yt liketh this newe reformer to mocke and skorn them by the minde of saincte Augustine are to be holden for hawes and the contemners of them are to be punished These matters with me seeme to haue weight but with soche as can swallowe a Camell and choke with a gnatte perchaunce they seem light enough But yet howe a priuate person maie breake a common ordre vniuersalie receaued whiche is not against the scriptures I knowe not But of this matter for aunswer to this Proclamer I trust ther ys sufficientlie saied Wherfore leauing yt I will proceade further in the order of my matter cheifly pourposed and intended THE EIGHT AND TWENTETH CHAP. BEGINNETH to speake of the prophecies and first of the prophecie of the preisthead of Chryst after the ordre of Melchisedech NOwe after the figures whiche in a darke maner did as yt were painte the mysteries of Chryste being applied to the same by ordre folowe the prophecies whiche also spake before of the same mysteries Among the whiche that Prophecie shall be first spoken of that aunswereth the first figure Whiche figure was of Melchisedech answerablie to whiche the Prophet Dauid prophecied thus Iurauit Dominus non poenitebit eum tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundùm ordinem Melchisedech Owre lorde hath sworn and yt shall not forthinke him Thowe Psal 109. arte a preist for euer after the ordre of Melchisedech That this prophecie ys spoken of Chryste he himself proueth in the Gospell wher we read that the Phariseis being gathered to gether Chryst asketh them a quiestion saing Quid vobis videtur de Christo Cuius filius est Dicunt ei Mat. 22. Dauid Quomodò ergo Dauid in spiritu vocat eum Dominum dicens Dixit Dominus Domino meo sede à dextris meis c. Si ergo Dauid in spiritu vocat eum Dominum quomodo filius eius est What thinke ye of Chryst Whose Sonne ys he They saied vnto him The Sonne of Dauid Howe then dothe Dauid in spirit call him Lorde sainge The Lord saied vnto my Lorde sitte thowe on my right hand c. Yf then Dauid in spirit call him Lorde howe ys he then his Sonne By which allegacion of our sauiour Chryste yt ys manifest that this psalme ys to be vnderstanded of him whiche also hath some proofe of the Phariseis so to be For when they heard Chryst alleadge this psalme and being learned in the lawe knewe that yt was prophecied of Messias though they were so confounded that they coulde not answer a woorde yet they saied not that this psalme ys not vnderstand of Chryst whiche they wolde not haue spared to doo yf in the common opinion of learned men yt had ben so vnderstanded raither then they wolde haue susteined soche confusion as to be put to silence Wherfor by this yt maie appeare that the common opinion of the Iewes was also that this psalme was a prophecie of Chryste Among the whiche Iewes one Rabbi Ionathas a man of great authoritie among them an Rabbi Barachias being writers bothe do expownd this Psalme of Christe But what neadeth me seke for proof so farre of seing that saincte Peter in the Actes and saincte Paule in his first epistle to the Corinthians and to the Hebrues maie suffice to proue this matter Saincte Peter in the Actes doth alleage the same psalme vnderstanding Act. 2. yt of Chryst Sainct Paule to the Corinthians applieth the same psalme to Chryste saing Oportes illum regnare donec ponat omnes inimicos sub pedibus eius 1. Cor. 15. He must reign till he hath putte all his enemies vnder his feete But to the Hebrues he most fullie and plainlie teacheth the same prouing first therby the excellency of Chryst aboue the Angells and saieth Ad quem autem Angelorum dixit aliquando Sede à dextris meis donec ponam inimicos Hebr. 1. tuos scabellum pedum tuorum Vnto whiche of the Angels hath he saied at anie time Sitt thowe on my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footestoole All these alleadged do well proue this psalme to be a prophecie of Chryste But yet sainct Paule proceading commeth somwhat nearer to the pourpose and applieth the verse of this psalme first aboue alleaged vnto Chryste in mo places then one prouinge therby the ceassing of the legall preisthead for that Chryst was nowe commed the preiste after the order of Mechisedech And first declaring that Chryst did not vsurpe his preistheade but that he was appointed to yt by God he saied Sic Christus non semetipsum glorificauit vt Pontifex fieret sed qui locutus
est ad eum c. Tu es sacerdos Hebr. 5. in aeternum secundùm ordinem Melchisedech Euen so Chryste also glorified not him self to be made the high pteist but he that said vnto him c. Thowe arte a preist for euer after the order of Melchisedech And declaring the great benefitte that came by him being the high preist to all beleuers he saieth again Et consummatus factus est omnibus obtemperantibus sibi causa salutis aeternae appellatus à Deo Pontifex iuxta ordinem Melchisedech And Ibid. he being perfight was the cause of eternall saluacion vnto all them that obeied him and ys called of God an high preist after the ordre of Melchisedech Likewise he calleth him in the VI. chapiter And the wholl VII chap. he occupieth in applieng Melchisedech to Chryst prouing by this prophecie the abrogacion of the preisthead of the lawe and so consequētlie of the lawe yt self Wherfore he saied Yf nowe therfore perfection came by the preistheade Hebr. 7. of the Leuites for vnder that preisthead the people receaued the lawe what neadeth further that an other preist shoulde rise to be called after the ordre of Melchisedech and not after the order of Aaron For yf the preisthead be translated then of necessitie must the lawe be translated also c. For after this maner dothe he testifie Thowe arte a preist for euer after the order of Melchisedech Then the commaundement that went before ys disanulled bycause of weakenesse and vnprofitablenesse And further declaring the excellencie of Chrystes preisthead aboue the preisthead of Aaron he saieth For these preistes were made withoute an othe but this preist with an othe by him that saied to him The Lorde sware and will not repent him Thowe art a preist for euer after the order of Melchisedech Thus as the lawe of nature hath in Melchisedech figured Chryste And the lawe of Moyses by prophecie forespoken yt So hath the lawe of the Gospell as ye haue nowe learned by sainct Paule fullfilled the same and most plainlie and euidentlie proued yt so to be Yf then Chryste be a preist after the order of Melchisedech we must seke what the order of the preistheade of Melchisedech ys and wherin yt consisteth And therbie shall we knowe the preistheade of Chryste wherin yt consisteth Sainct Paule generallie declareth the order of a preist when he saieth Omnis namque Pontifex ex hominibus assumptus pro hominibus constituitur in ijs Hebr. 5. quae sunt ad Deum vt offerat dona sacrificia pro peccatis Euery high preist that ys taken from amonge men ys ordeined for men in thinges perteining to God to offer giftes and Sacrifices for sinne By whiche description of saincte Paule yt dothe appeare that the order of preisthead standeth in two partes The first he teacheth when he saieth Ordre of preisthead standeth in two partes Pro hominibus constituitur in ijs quae sunt ad Deum He ys ordeined for men in thinges perteining to God Wherby ys ment the preaching to the people and teaching them the lawes of God and ministring the Sacramentes to them as yt was saied vnto Moyses Esto tu populo in ijs quae ad Exod. 18. Deum pertinent vt referas quae dicuntur ad eum ostendasue populo ceremonias ritum colendi viam per quam ingredi debeant opus facere Be thowe vnto the people to Godward that thowe maist bringe the causes vnto God And thowe shalt teache them ordinaunces and lawes and shewe them the waie wherin they must walke and the worke that they must doo The seconde parte of the order of preistheade standeth in offring giftes and sacrifices for the sinnes of the people Then they that be called of God as was Aaron and doo preach and teache one faith of God vnto the people and offer vnto God one maner of sacrifice they be one order of preistheade So that these two must concurre or ells yt ys not a perfight order For Elias the prophet of God and the 3. Reg. 18. preistes of Baall did offer one maner of thinge in sacrifice for they both offred oxen yet they differed in preisthead For Helias was the preist of God the other the preistes of Baall And why was this difference bycause they taught not one faithe in one God Melchisedech and Aaron taught one God and were bothe preistes of Gen. 14. Leuit. 8. Heb 5. God For Melchisedech was the preist of the most high God as the booke of Genesis wittnesseth and Aaron was called of God as the booke of Leuiticus and saincte Paule to the Hebrues testifie And yet they were not of one order of preisthead bycause their sacrifices were not of one maner By this then yt maie be taken for a trueth that Chryst not being a preist after the order of Aaron but after the order of Melchidech whiche two orders differed not in faith but in maner of sacrifice ys so called a preist after the order of Melchisedech for the maner of the sacrifice For he must agree with Melchisedech in that thing that maketh the difference betwixt the order of Aaron and the order of Melchisedech and that was and ys in the maner of sacrifice For Aaron offred in blood the other in bread and wine But here the Aduersarie will saie that Chryst ys not likened to Melchisedech for anie sacrifice by all the processe of saincte Paule But for Obiection that Melchisedech was Rex Salem kinge of Salem and withall the preist of God and for that he was with oute Father withoute Mother hauing neither beginning of daies nor ending in these pointes he ys the figure of Chryste who ys both king and preist hauing no Father in earth nor mother in heauen neither as concerning his Godhead anie beginning and as touching his Godhead and Manhead no endinge And so ys he a preist for euer To this I saie that the thing that saincte Paule principallie intended ys to be considered And then yt shall easilie be perceaued why he did not Principall entent of S. Paule in his epist to the Hebrues make rehersall of the maner of the sacrifice of Melchisedech nor mencion of the doing of the same in Chryste The principall entent of saincte Paule in this place was to proue and make manifest the excellencie of Chryst and his preisthead aboue Aaron and his preisthead Whiche excellencie in nothing more appeared then in that that Chryst was an euerlasting preist and his preisthead euerlasting and not in the maner of sacrifice For yf he had alleaged that Melchisedech did sacrifice in bread and wine The Hebrues wolde quickly haue saied that their sacrifices in that respecte moche excelled and had a moche more gloriouse shewe and cowntenance then the sacrifice of Melchisedech being but bread and wine And therfor saincte Paule omitted to make mencion VVhie S. Paule spake nothing of she sacrifice of Melchisedech in his epist
de illo cuius nostis sacrisicium Ther were before the sacrifices of the Iewes after the ordre of Aaron in the offringe of beastes and that in mysterie The Sacrifice of the body and blood Sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech ys nowe diffused troughout the worlde of our Lorde the whiche the faithfull and they that haue red the gospell knowe was not yet Whiche Sacrifice ys nowe diffused throughoute all the woorlde Sette before your eyes therfor the twoo sacrifices both that after the order of Aarō and this after the ordre of Melchisedech For yt ys written The Lord hathe sworne and yt shall not repent him Thowe arte a preist for euer after the ordre of Melchisedech Of whom ys yt saied Thowe arte a preist after the ordre of Melchisedech Of our Lorde Iesus Chryste who was this Melchisedech King of Salem Salem was before time that same Cittie which as the learned haue declared was afterwarde called Hierusalem Therfor before the Iewes reigned ther the preist Melchisedech who ys written in Genesis the preist of the high God was ther. He mett with Abraham when he had deliuered Loth from the hand of them that did persecute him and he ouerthrewe them of whom he was holden and deliuered his brother And after the deliuerance of his brother Melchisedech mette him So great a man was Melchisedech of whō Abrahā was blessed he brought furth bread and wine and blessed Abrahā and Abraham gaue him tithes Beholde what he brought and whom he blessed And yt ys saied afterwarde Thowe arte a preist for euer after the ordre of Melchisedech Dauid spake this in spirit long after Abraham Melchisedech was in the time of Abraham Of whom in an other place saieth he Thowe arte a preist For euer after the ordre of Melchisedech But of him whose sacrisice ye knowe Thus farre saincte Augustine Ye haue here heard the distinction of the two orders of preisthead of Aaron and of Melchisedech Ye haue heard also the distinction of the two sacrifices the one according to the order of Aaron the other after the order of Melchisedech What this sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech ys sainct Augustin hathe declared wher he saied The sacrifice of the bodie and Sacrifice auouched blood of our Lorde was not yet whiche sacrifice ys nowe diffused throughoute all the worlde What he meeneth when he saieth as yet the sacrifice of the bodie and bloode of our Lord was not and also whether this sacrifice be after the ordre of Melchisedech in a breif sentence of fewe woordes he doth verie plainlie in an other place open and declare Sublatum est sacrificium Aaron caepit esse sacrificium secundùm ordinem Melchisedech The sacrifice of Aaron was taken awaie And the sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedcch beganne By the which sentence yt ys manifest that while the sacrifice of Aarō endured this sacrifice was not vsed But whē that was taken awaie this sacrifice began Likewise he hath taught also that the sacrifice of the bodie and blood of Chryste ys the sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech For wher before Sacrifice of the bodie and blood of Chryst in the Sacr. ys after the order of Melchisedech he saied that the bodie and blood of our Lord was not yet And nowe he saieth that the sacrifice of Melchisedech began when Aarons sacrifice was taken awaie What doth he ells fignifie but that they be all one thing that ys that the bodie and blood of Chryste be the sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech And so conuertiblie that the sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech ys the bodie and blood of Chryste Which bodie and bloode be no wher ells offred in sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech but in the sacrifice of the Altar wher bread and wine be turned into the same bodie and bloode For the bodie of Chryste vpon the crosse was a bloodie sacrifice perfected with bloodshedding after the maner of Aarō Therfore the holie sacrifice of the Altar which as sainct Austen saieth ys nowe diffused and spredde through all the world ys the verie bodie and blood of Chryste Although this that ys alleaged oute of sainct Augustin ys so plain that the Aduersaries can not but see the trueth and so strong that they can not against saie yt Yet that they maie see all this that ys spoken confirmed and made more plain and that so being confownded by the euident trueth they maie geue ouer their erroure and yelde vnto trueth we will heare the sentence of the same saincte Augustine treating of this same matter in an other place Thus yt ys Coram regno patris sui mutauit vultum suum dimisit eum et abijt quia erat ibi sacrificium secundùm ordinem Aaron et postea ipse corpore et sanguine suo instituit sacrificium secundùm ordinem Melchisedech Mutauit ergo vultum suum in In Psalm 33. Cōcion 3. sacerdotio et dimisit gentem Iudaeorum et venit ad gentes Before the kingdom of his Father he hath chaunged his cowntennce and lefte him and went awaie bicause ther was ther the sacrifice after the ordre of Aaron And after ward of his bodie and blood he instituted the sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech He chaūged therfor his contenaunce in preisthead and left the people of the Iewes and came to the Gentiles Thus sainct Augustin Dooye marke what ys here saied Yf ye doo ye must nedes vnderstand yt yt ys so plain For what can be more breiflie and more plainlie saied then that Chryste did institute a sacrifice of his bodie and blood after the ordre of Melchisedech By this breif sentence manie thinges be aunswered First where the Aduersaries most slaunderouslie haue saied to bring the thing in hatred emongethe people that the Pope made the holie Sacrament a sacrifice to obscure the glorie of Chryste and to diminish the woorthinesse and merit of Chrystes sacrifices vpon the crosse and therwithall to bring the people into beleiff that the Sacrifice of Chryste vpon the crosse was not sufficient withoute this And that without authoritie as this Proclamer saieth we offer vppe Chryst vnto his Father And thus with a nombre of like lies The Pope and the Papistes were made Authours and founders of this sacrifice Not the Pope nor the Papistes made the sacrament a sacrifice but Chryst himself after S. Augustin But basshe and be ashamed thowe slaunderouse mā thowe Enemie of the trueth and open thine eies to see and thine eares to heare what saincte Augustine that holie Father and learned doctour here teacheth that ys that Chryste did of his owne bodie and blood institute a sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech So that Chryst euen by this bolie Fathers testimonie ys the institutour and founder of this blessed Sacrifice and not the Pope neither the papistes as thowe termest them But they be the humble receauers of this same institucion of
furth or sacrifice Chrystes reall bodie The churche nowe teacheth that we offer the reall bodie of Chryst on the altar This holy man teacheth that we offre the bodie and blood of Chryst vnto euerlasting life And that we shoulde knowe that this ys a sure doctrine grownded Chryst cōmaunded his bodie and blood to be offred vpon a sure fundacion he endeth hys sentence thus Hoc enim ipse Dominus Iesus iussit nos agere in sui commemorationem Thys saieth he hath our Lorde Iesus commaunded vs to doo in the commemoracion or remembrance of him Weigh this saing with me I besech thee gentle Reader Manie of the wicked teachers haue wounderfullie deceaued the simple people with this sentence A fond obiection of the Aduersaries answered by the holie Martyr Martialis of Chryste which this Father here alleageth saing that Chryst instituted this Sacrament for a memoriall or a remembrance of him But a memoriall saie they ys of a thing that ys absent and not of a thing that ys present wherfore Chryste ys not present in the Sacrament Yf he were what neadeth anie other memoriall but hys presence A more full aunswer shall be made to this by the helpe of Gods grace in the thirde booke wher this matter shall be treacted of more at large But at this present this holy man onely shall aunswer Whose aunswer his grauitie Cap. 41. holinesse and auncientie ys soche that they that flee not from gods grace to their owne singular affection and opinion shall perceaue that in yt ys soche pith and substance that they maie well staie them selues vpon the same For when the holie Father had declared the reall presence of Chryste in the Sacrament and that he ys offred in sacrifice then he added that our Lorde Iesus commaunded vs so to doo Wherby what ells dothe he meen but that as our Lord Iesus did consecrate and sacrifice his own bodie and gaue the same also to hys Apostles to eate in his last Supper as ys allreadie declared So doo we nowe consecrate and offre the same bodie and receaue yt according to his commaundement and that in the remembrancece of his death This I saie maie serue and suffice for an aunswer to a man that ys not contenciouse nor listeth to make euery parte of his faith a doubte and call yt Let master Iuell conferre this with hys priuate glose vpon the same text in his sermō fol. 34. into question Thys man I saie his auncientie in the Parliament house of Chryst considered ys of authoritie more sufficient and better to be beleued then Lutherus Oecolampadius Zuinglius Caluimus or our owne contrie men Cranmer Ridley Latimer or ther complices dead or liuing whose saings hauing no grownde of auncient trueth and so of congruence none authoritie yet haue they ben the more ys the pitie to rashlie beleued to the casting awaie of manie a soule and to then crease of the damnacion of the speakers But further to proceade to learn the enacted trueth of this matter I meen the true vnderstanding of the Prophet Malachie we haue an other auncient elder of the same house Irenaeus the disciple of Polycarpus whiche Polycarpus was disciple of S. Iohn the Euangelist as Eusebius wittnesseth in the ecclesiasticall historie And therfore ys this auncient Father not to be suspected of hys trueth nor distredited Thus he writeth Sed et suis Discipulis dans consilium primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti sed vt ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingratisint eum qui ex creatura panis est accepit gratias egit dicens Hoc est corpus meum Et Li. 5. ca. 5. Irenaeus Li 4. c. 32. calicem similiter qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundùm nos suum sanguinem confessus est noui testamenti nouam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in vniuerso mundo offert Deo ei qui alimenta nobis praestat primitias suorum munerum in nouo testamento de quo in duodecim Prophetis Malachias sic praesignauit Non est mihi voluntas in vobis dicit Dominus omnipotens sacrificium non accipiam de manibus vestris c. But also geuing instruction to hys disciples to offre the first fruites of the creatures to God not as to one hauing nede but that they shoulde neither be vnfruictfull nor vnthankfull he tooke that bread whiche ys a creature and gaue thankes saing Thys ys my bodie And the cuppe likewise whiche ys a creature as we he confessed to be hys bloode And of the newe testament he taught the newe oblacion the whiche the churche receauing of the Apostles Chryst taught the newe sacrifice of the newe Testament the Church receaued yt of the Apostles offreth to God in all the woorlde euen vnto him who geueth vs foode being the first fruictes of his sacrifices in the newe testament Of the whiche emong the twelue Prophetes Malachie did this speake before hand I haue no pleasure in yowe saieth the Lorde omnipotent and I will take no sacrifice of your handes And so furth he reherseth the wholl sentence of the Prophet In the saing of this holie Elder of Chrystes house ye se a goodlie agreement with the other Elder before recited For thys Elder teacheth that Chryst of the creatures of bread and wine made hys bodie and bloode and therwith all instituted and taught the newe sacrifice of the newe testament the whiche sacrifice the Churche receauing of the Apostles doth offre throughoute all the worlde of the whiche the Prophet Malachie saieth he spake before Make nowe then comparison betwen Martialis and Irenaeus Martialis teacheth the presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament Irenaeus teacheth the S. Martialis and Irenaeus cōpared together in their doctrine of the Sacrament same saing that Chryst confessed the bread and cuppe to be hys bodie and bloode The other saied that the bodie and bloode of Chryst were offred in sacrifice Thys man saieth that Chryst confessing his bodie and blood to be present taught a newe oblacion of the newe testament The other saied that Chryst commaunded vs so to doo This man saieth that Chryst taught the newe sacrifice of the newe testament to the Apostles and that the Church receauing the same of the Apostes dothe offre yt to God troughoute all the worlde The other alleaging Malachie treacteth of the sacrifice of Chrystes bodie and bloode This man treating of the bodie and blood of Christ the newe sacrifice of the newe testament offred of the Churche throughout all the worlde alleageth Malachie saing that he spake of the same Aboue these goodlie notes of agreement betwē these two great aunciēt Two notable documentes out of Iren. wherby the gloses of the Aduersaries are reproued ād ouerthrowen Fathers this ys in Irenaeus speciallie to be obserued that in saing that Chryst taught the newe oblacion of the newe Testament he geueth vs two goodly documentes for
Sacrificamus nouo modo secundùm nouum testamentum hostiam mundam c. The Mosaicall sacrifices being reiected he doth by the reuelacioÌ„ of God shewe our ordeinaunce that was to come saing From the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same my name ys glorified among the gentiles and in euery place incense ys offred vnto my name and a pure Sacrifice of the Christians a full Sacrifice and most holy sacrifice We doo sacrifice therfore vnto the high God the sacrifice of lawde We do sacrifice to God a full and most holie sacrifice bringing horroure We doo sacrifice a pure sacrifice in a newe maner after the newe testament Thus Eusebius Do ye not see this auncieÌ„t Father howe he expowndeth the Prophet and declareth that we sacrifice to God a pure sacrifice in a newe maner after the newe testament And declaring what sacrifice yt ys he saieth yt ys a full and most holie sacrifice bringing horroure What sacrifice ys that that ys a full sacrifice but the sacrifice of Chrystes bodie that ys a full sacrifice in yt self All other sacrifices that euer were or shall be are not full but all they must take their fulnesse of this And what sacrifice ys most holy but this which maketh all other holie In so moche as holie Dionyse the disciple of S. Paule who was a man full of the spirit of God saeth Neque enim fermè fasest sacerdotalis muneris mysteriuÌ„ aliquod peragi nisi diuinum istud Eucharistiae augustissimumue sacramentum compleat Dionys Ecclesias Hierar parte 1 ca. 3. Neither ys yt almost lawfull for anie misterie of the preistlie office to be doen except this diuine and most noble Sacrament of Chryste do fullfill or ende yt And what sacrifice ys yt that bringeth horroure with yt but the Sacrifice that conteineth the high Maiestie of Chryst whiche ys to be feared of all Li. 6. de Sacerdocio men of the whiche speaketh Chrisostome saing Quando autem ille SpirituÌ„ sanctum inuocauerit sacrificiumue illud horrore reuerentia plenissimum perfecerit communi omnium Domino aâ—siduè manibus pertractato Quaero ex te quorum illum in ordine collocabimus When he hath called vpon the holie Gost saieth Cbrisostom speaking of the preist that consecrateth and hath perfected that Sacrifice most full of horroure and reuerence the commune or vniuersall Lorde of all thinges being felt Sacrifice full of horrour bicause the Lord of all ys ther handled with handes I aske of thee in the order of whome shall we place him Thus Chrysostom Ye see here that he calleth the sacrifice of the Altar the sacrifice most full of horroure and. Reuerence and whie he dothe so he geueth cause for that the vniuersall Lorde being in the Sacrifice ys so present that he ys handeled with handes Who ys this Lorde in this sacrifice in an other place he dothe expressedlie declare Ad sanctum terribile sacrificium properas erubesce oblationis arcana De prodition Iudae homil 30. occisus propositus Christus est Thowe comest saieth Chrisostom vnto an holie and terrible sacrifice Basshe at the secrete thing of the oblacioÌ„ Chryst that was slain ys set furth Marke reader that in both sainges he calleth yt a sacrifice but in the first sainge a sacrifice full of horrour and reuerence in the second an holie and a terrible sacrifice The cause why yt ys full of horrour and reuerence ys by cause the vniuersall Lord of all ys ther in handling Who ys this Lorde in the second sentence he openeth saing Chryst that was slain ys sett furth in sacrifice And therfor no meruaill though Eusebius did call yt a sacrifice bringing horroure wher the maiestie of Chryste ys as Chrisostom hath wittnessed In that he saied we sacrifice after the newe maner of the newe TestameÌ„t what dothe he saie but as Irenaeus saied that Chryst taught yt that we doo sacrifice to be the newe sacrifice of the newe Testament And the sacrifice of the newe testament ys that the high preist of the newe testament being a preist after the ordre of Melchisedech doth sett furth after that same ordre Whiche sacrifice ys as S. Hierom saieth his bodie and blood the verie true bread and true wine Thus haue ye heard the wittnesse of S. Augustine and Eusebius coÌ„sonnaÌ„t and agreeing both the one to the other and also to those that were before them alleadged and brought for the declaracioÌ„ of the true meening of the prophecie of Malachie THE SIXT AND THIRTITH CHAP. ENDETH the exposition of Malachie by saincte Hierom and Damascen TO ende this processe in the exposition of the prophecie of Malachie nowe in hande leest I might be tediouse to the Reader I will onelie adde the testimonie of S. Hierom and Damascen and of no mo at this present trusting that these with thother before alleaged shall satisfie thee gentle Reader and fullie instructe thee in the trueth of this matter S. Hierom vpon the Prophet Malachie saieth thus Propriè nunc ad sacerdotes Hieron in Malach. Iudeorum sermo sit Domini qui offerunt caecum claudum languidum ad immolandum vt sciant carnalibus victimis spirituales victimas successuras Et nequaquam taurorum hircorumue sanguinem thyn iama hoc est sanctorum orationes Domino offerendas non in vna orbis Prouincia Iudaea nec in vna Iudeae vrbe Hierusalem sed in omni loco offerri oblationem nequaqnam immandam vt à populo Israel sed mundam vt in ceremonus Christianorum Nowe the woorde of our Lorde ys proprely spoken to the preistes of the Iewes whiche bringe the blinde the lame and the sicke to be offred in sacrifice that they shoulde knowe that spirituall sacrifices shall folowe their carnall sacrifices and that not the blood of bulls and of goattes but insence or swete perfume that ys the praiers of the holie men shall be offred and that not in Iewrie being one Prouince of the woorlde neither in Hierusalem alone the Cittie of Iewrie but in euery place shall be offred not an vnclean sacrifice as of the people of Israell but a clean oblacion as in the Ceremonies of the Chrystians Thus moche of saincte Hierom in the exposition of the Prophecie of Malachie nowe in hand In the whiche prophecie ye maie perceaue two thinges that shall be offred vnto God in euery place that ys incense and the meate offring Incense saieth S. Hierom ys the praiers of the holie whiche shall not be offred to God in Hierusalem alone but in euery place shall the faithfull offre that sacrifice as the sacrifice of thankes lawdes and praise So that kinde of sacrifice by S. Hierom ys conteined vnder this woordo incense The other that ys meat offring whiche ys the pure and clean sacrifice shall be doÌ„ as S. Hierom saieth in the Ceremonies of the Chrystians Whiche Ceremonies Sacrifice of the christians Chrystes bodie and blood contain the
euery place God vsing preoccupacion wittnesseth theÌ„ to be acceptable vnto him Thus Iustinus of whom we maie learn that the Sacrifices of the SacrameÌ„t are deliuered to vs by Iesus Chryst So that the authoritie of this maner of sacrificing cometh froÌ„ him aÌ„d ys not of our selues S. Hierom ouer and aboue that that ys allreadie alleaged of him saieth thus Quòd autem ait Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundùm ordinem Melchisedech mysterium in Li. quest Hebraic verbo ordinis significatur nequaquam per Aaron irrationabilibus victimis immolandis sed oblato pane vino id est corpore sanguine Domini Iesu Wheras he saieth Thow arte a preist for euer after the ordre of Melchisedech our mystery in the woorde of order ys signified not by Aaron in offring brutish sacrifices But in offring bread and wine that ys to saie the bodie and bloode of our Lorde Iesus Thus sainct Hierom. Of Iustinus we learned that the sacrifices of the Chrystians wer deliuered vnto vs by Iesus Chryst Of S. Hierom we learn that these sacrifices be the bodie and blood of our Lord Iesus So by these two in most manifest aÌ„d plain woords we be taught that Iesus Chryst deliuered vnto vs the authoritie to offre in sacrifice hys bodie and bloode S. Ambrose also teacheth vs the same lesson saing thus Ego enim Domine memor In prima oratione prepar ad Missam venerandae passionis tuae accedo ad altare tuum licet peccator vt offeraÌ„ tibi sacrificium quod tu instituisti offerri praecepisti in commemorationeÌ„ tui pro salute nostra For I o Lord being mindefull of thy passion come vnto thine Altar although I be a sinner that I maie offre vnto thee the sacrifice that thowe didest institute and commaunde Chryst instituted and commaunded the Sacrifice of the Churche to be offred in the remembrance of thee for our health Thus holie Ambrose who maketh the matter oute of all coÌ„trouersie that a preist hath authoritie to offre Chryste in sacrifice And to declare what sacrifice he saieth the same sacrifice that Chryst did institute And to lett yow vnderstand by what authoritie he wolde offre yt he saieth by that that Chryst commaunded yt to be offred in the remembrance of him As this maie well instructe the reader what ys the plain and verie trueth of this matter So yt maie verie well compell the Proclamer to confesse that this ys a plain sentence impugning his false doctrine and acknowleging other his ignorance or malice submitte him self to the trueth But yet let vs descend a degree lower towardes our time and see what was then taught Isidorus who liued aboue nine hundreth years agon in Isydorus li. 1. de off ca. 18. this matter geueth this testimonie Sacrificium quod à Christianis offertur Deo primum Christus Dominus noster magister instituit quando commendauit Apostolis corpus sanguinem suum priusquam traderetur sicut legitur in Euangelio Accepit Iesus panem calicem benedicens dedit eis The sacrifice that ys offred of the Chrystians vnto God first our Lord and master Iesus Chryst did institute When he gaue his bodie and blood to his Apostles before he was betraied as yt ys readde in the Gospell Iesus tooke bread and the cuppe and blessing them gaue the same vnto them In these fewe woordes of this Authour we maie learn that Chryst did institute the sacrifice of the christians We maie learn that the thing that ys offred in sacrifice ys the bodie and bloode of Chryst We maie learn to whoÌ„ yt ys offred that ys vnto God We maie also learn what time yt was instituted euen at that time when Chryst tooke the bread and the cuppe and when he had blessed them gaue them to his Apostles Whiche was in his last Supper All these ioined to gether doo well beare the contrary proposition to this mans proclamacion that ys that Chryst gaue authoritie to offre his bodie and bloode vnto God A Consonante testimonie haue we also of Haymo who as he ys of good auncientie So ys he accompted a learned Authour This man expownding Haymo in 5. ad Heb. the epistle of sainct Paule to the Hebrues and declaring Chryst to be a preist after the ordre of Melchisedech saieth thus In cuius ordine sacerdotij Christus factus est sacerdos non temporalis sed aeternus nec offerens victimas legales sed instar illius panem vinum carnem videlicet sanguinem suum de quibus ipse dixir Caro mea verè est cibus sanguis meus verè est potus Ista quoque duo munera panem videlicet vinum commisit Ecclesiae suae in memoriam sui offerenda Vnde patet sacrificium pecudum perijsse quod fuit ordinis Aaron illud manere potius quod fuit ordinis Melchisedech quia Christus illud corroborauit Ecclesiae suae tenendum reliquit In the ordre of the preisthead of Melchisedech Chryst being made not a temporall but an euerlasting preist neither offring legall sacrifices but like vnto him meening Melchisedech bread and wine that ys to saie his bodie and his bloode of the whiche he saieth My flesh ys verilie meat and my bloode ys verilie drinke These two giftes that ys to saie bread and wine he hath committed to this Churche to be offred in the remembrance of him Thus Haimo Wherby yt yt manifest that the Sacrâ—… of beastes ys vanished awaie whiche was of the ordre of Aaron and thaâ—â—…at raither remaineth which ys of the ordre of Melchisedech bycause Chryst also hath confirmed yt and left yt to his Churche to be kept and vsed From whence the authoritie comet that the Church offreth the sacrifice after the ordre of Melchisedech this Authour like as the other before alleaged hath declared that yt coÌ„meth from Chryste And opening what the Churche doth offer he saieth that Chryst did offre bread and wine that ys saieth he his bodie and bloode whiche bread and wine he committetd to the Churche to be offred in the remenbrance of him Plain sentences for master Juell Eycept that the calling of a man a man or an oxe an oxe be no plain speaches these sentences of these Authours in this matter be plain speaches and plain senteÌ„ces Yet to coÌ„clude this matter we will heare a greciaÌ„ speaking as plain as anye of these whiche ys Nicolaus Cabasila who although he be long yet for hys plainesse he ys pleasaunt And for that he ys a grecian we shall learn of him the faith that ys yet receaued in that Church Nich. Cabasila c. 27 as before of long tyme yt hath ben This authour shewing howe the blessed Sacrament ys consecrated sacrificed and ministred ther saieth thus Cùm venerandam illam coenam narrauit quomodò ante passionem ipsam dedit sanctis suis Discipulis quòd accepit calicem quòd accepit panem actis
mutabatur similis fiebat sanctae eius carni in augmentum sustentationem conferebat iuxta humanum morem Igitur nunc panis in carneÌ„ Domini mutatur Et quomodò inquit non apparet nobis caro sect panis Vt non abhorreamus ab eius esu Nam si qui dem caro apparuisset insuauiter affecti fuissemus erga communionem Nanc autem condesâ—eÌ„deÌ„te domino nostrae infirmitati talis apparet nobis mysticus cibus qualibus aliquando asue Chrystes verie flesh in the Sacrament not the figure ti sumus Take hede that the bread whiche ys eaten of vs in the mysteries ys not onelie a certain figuring of the bodie of our Lord but the verie flesh of our Lord. For he did not saie The bread which I wil geue ys a figure of my flesh but yt ys my flesh For the bread ys tranfoarmed by the secret woords of the my sticall benedictioÌ„ and coming of the holie Goste into the slesh of our Lord. And let yt not trooble any maÌ„ that the bread ys to be beleued flesh For our Lord walking in the flesh aÌ„d receauing foode of bread that bread which was eateÌ„ was chaunged into his bodie aÌ„d was made like to his holie flesh and yt went to the augmentacioÌ„ and susteÌ„tacioÌ„ of him according to the maner of man How the bread ys turned into slâ—sh and why flesh ys not seen in the Sacrament Therfore also now the bread ys chauÌ„ged into the flesh of our Lord And how saieth he doth yt not appeare flesh but bread â–ª that we should not abhorre froÌ„ eating of yt For yf yt had appeared flesh we should not haue ben well affected towards the CoÌ„munion But now our Lorde condescending to our infirmitie the mysticall meat appeareth soche to vs as we haue ben otherwise accustomed vnto Thus Theophilacte By whom yt ys moste manifest that this texte of S. Iohn yet in hand ys vnderstanded of the blessed Sacrament And further he most plainly auoucheth the reall presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament when he saieth that the bread by the work of the holy goste ys transfourmed into the flesh of Chryste wherby ye are not onelie taught withoute all obscuritie and darknesse of speache that the verie flesh of Chryste ys verilie and reallie present in the SacrameÌ„t TransubstanciacioÌ„ auouched But ye are also taught the maner how the flesh ys made present that ys by transubstanciation which although he vtter by an other woorde yet in effecte yt ys all one For wher as he saieth yt ys transformed and euery creature hath two formes an outward forme and an inwarde and he affirmeth and declareth that the outward forme remaineth when he saieth yt Forme nature esseÌ„ce substance all one appeareth bread whiche also our senses iudge and perceaue then yt must nedes be that this transformacion must be of the inwarde forme whiche inuarde forme as learned men do knowe for somoch as forma natura essentia and substantia be all one ys the nature and substance of the thing whiche forme nature or substance being chaunged that chaunge maie aswell be called transubstanciacion for the chaunge of substance as transformacion for the chaunge of forme forme and substance being all one verie thing And that he ment of the chaunge of the verie substance of the bread into Bread in the Sacra chaunged into flesh aplain saiÌ„g for the Proclamer the flesh of Chryst he declareth by that he saieth that as when our Sauiour walked here vpon the earth and being a naturall man did for his natural sustentacion eate hread which bread was chaunged into the substance of hys flesh aÌ„nd was so chaunged that yt was made like to his holie flesh as Theophilactes woordes be EueÌ„ so now saieth he the bread ys chaunged into his flesh By which similitude he most plainlie teacheth that as the substance of the bread which Chryste did eate by natural dispositioÌ„ was substaÌ„ciallie chauÌ„ged into the substance of Chrystes flesh So ys now the substance of bread by the operacioÌ„ of the holie Gost chaunged into the substaÌ„ce of Chrystes flesh And to proue this he vseth the woordes of scripture noting to vs that Chryst did not saie The bread which I will geue ys a figure of my flesh but my slesh Yf then yt be not the figure of Chrystes flesh and yet ys flesh yt must nedes be hys verie naturall and substanciall flesh Neither ys this to be ouerpassed and left vnnoted to the reader that thys Oecolampadius falsifieth Theophilacte authour by a plain negatiue denieth the false affirmatiue of the Aduersarie For wher the Aduersarie saieth yt ys but a figure This authour saieth yt ys not onely a figure And yet this woorde onely did OecolaÌ„padius put to of hys owne in the traÌ„slating For the greke hath not that woorde as the learned in that tounge haue noted And wher the Aduersarie saieth by the negatiue yt ys not flesh This authour boldlie vsing the woorde and trueth of his master Chryst saieth the affirmatiue that yt ys flesh And thus reader thowe maist perceaue the great impudencie and shamelessnes of these Professours of heresie that what the holie writers and auncient authours do expressedly affirme that do they denie and that that the auncient Fathers doo manifestlie denie that doo they affirme what now ys to be iudged of these I leaue to thee Reader The other whose testimonie shall finish the expositioÌ„ of this text shall be Lyra one of the other side of Chrysts ParliameÌ„t house who albeit in time he be not auncieÌ„t yet in treuth he ys auncient in the which he coÌ„cordeth and agreeth euen with the most auncieÌ„t as yt shal appeare Vpon this same text Nico Lyra in 6. IoaÌ„ of S Iohn so often repeated without all maner of high speache he writeth thus plainlie Sciendum quòd in sacramento Eucharistiae continetur ipsum Verbum incarnatum Et ideo ostendens qualitate huius sacramenti quatuor tangit Primum est illud quod est ibi sacramentuÌ„tantùm scilicet species panis cùm dicit Et panis c. Secundum est author huius sacramenti qui est ipse Christus summus sacerdos Sacerdos auteÌ„ qui est minister huius sacramenti tantuÌ„modo profert verba non in propria persona sed in persona Christi In aliis autem sacramentis vtitur minister verbis suis vel verbis Ecclesiae quibus exprimitur actus quem facit vt in Baptismo cum dicitur Ego baptisote c. Sed in Sacramento refert solùm verba Christi cùm dicit Qui pridie quà m pateretur c. et sequuÌ„tur postea verba Christi coÌ„secrationeÌ„ efficientia hoc notatur cùm dicitur Ego dabo c. Tertium est res significata coÌ„tenta scilicet verum Christi corpus cùm dicitur Caro mea est QuartuÌ„ est res signata sed non contenta scilicet corpus Christi mysticum quod coniungitur capiti
thus moche to conclude with saincte Ambrose let vs not seke the ordre of nature in Chrystes bodie but let vs seke the ordre of faithe and cleaue to that But this proclamer wolde haue some one scripture doctour or Councell that shoulde declare that Chryststes bodie ys or maie be in a thousand places or mo at one time In dede to auÌ„swer trulie I must coÌ„fesse I finde neither scripture nor doctour nor Councell teaching this matter in soche maner For ther ys not one of these that speaketh so fondlie aÌ„d so vnreuerentlie to prescribe the omnipotencie of God a certen limitacion and a stinted noÌ„bre aÌ„d that with soch a diffidencie vttered as this Proclamer saieth in a thousand places or mo signifieng therby an impossibilitie that yt ys vnpossible for Chryste to be in a thousand places at one time so in dede I finde not But I finde theÌ„ with reuerence and faith withoute prescription of nombre of places for that they leaue to Gods wil saieng and teaching that the bodie of Chryste ys in diuerse or in manie places And this gentle reader for thy satisfaction shall I by the testimonie of diuerse and manie of the most auncient Fathers laie before thee And here I confesse that this matter by learned Fathers hath ben so well laboured that I can not bring in moche more then they haue before me gathered together but that their confession of this treuth and their faith therin maie not be vnknowen to thee I will not sticke hitherto asscribe that I find collected in other raither then thowe shouldest be defrauded of so moche good knowledge and this fonde membre of this Proclamers proclamacion not fullie aunswered And first to declare and proue this matter by the scripture I saie that our sauiour Chryste taking the bread and blessing yt made yt his bodie Mat. 26. Mare 14. Luc. 22. sainge Hoc est corpus meum This ys my bodie Whiche being doen his bodie was at that time present in diuerse places as in his owne handes in the handes also of euery of his Apostles That at that time he did beare or holde him self in his owne handes saincte Augustin ys a notable wittnesse speaking of king Dauid and applieng yt to Chryste saing Et ferebatur manibus suis Hoc verò fratres quomodò August in Psalm 33. possit fieri in homine quis intelligat Quis enim portatur in manibus suis Manibus altorum potest portari homo manibus suis nemo portatur Quomodò intelligatur in ipso Dauid secundùm literam non inuenimus In Christo autem inuenimus Ferebatur enim Christus in manibus suis quando commendans ipsum corpus ait Hoc est corpus meum And he was borne in his owne handes But bretheren howe this maie be doen Chryst in his supper bare himself in his own handes in man who can vnderstand Who ys borne or caried in his owne handes A man maie be caried in the handes of other men in his owne handes no man ys borne Howe yt maie be vnderstanded in Dauid himself accordinge to the letter we finde not But that yt maie be vnderstanded in Chryste we finde For Chryst was borne in his owne handes when he geuing furth the self same bodie saied This ys my bodie Ye haue here heard sainct Augustin affirming that Chryste caried him self in his owne handes Then this must nedes folowe that the self same bodie that did bear or carie and the self same bodie that was born or caried being but the verie one bodie of Chryste was then at one time in diuerse places And the same one bodie of Chryste being geuen furth to eche of his Apostles and they sitting in diuerfe places argueth that the same one bodie of Chryste was at one time in twelue sundrie places at the least And as yt was then in so manie So maie yt be nowe in fewer or mo according to the omnipoteÌ„t pleasure of him that ys Lorde of nature and naturall ordre and ys subiecte to neither of them but ruleth and altereth them as to his wisdome semeth conuenient for the setting furth of his honour and glorie This was so well knowen and so firmelie beleued of Saincte Basill that holie Father that hereunto agreablie he praieth in his Masse thus Respice Domine Basil in sua Liturgia Plain places for the Proclamer Iesu Christe Deus noster de sancto habitaculo tuo veni ad sanctificandum nos qui sursum Patri consides hic nobiscum inuisibiliter coes Dignare manu tua sorti dare nobis sanctum intaminatum corpus tuum preciosum sanguinem per nos peccatores populo tuo Looke o Lorde Iesu Chryst our God from thy holie tabernacle and come to sanctifie vs. Which sittest aboue with thie Father and arte with vs here inuisiblie vouchesafe with thie mightie hand to geue vnto vs thy holie and vndefiled bodie and preciouse bloode and by vs sinners to thy people Chrysostome in his masse hath almost the same woordes that he praieth Respice Domine Iesu Christe Deus noster de sancto habitaculo tuo de sede gloriae regnitui Chrysâ—in sua Liturg. veni ad sanctificandum nos qui sursum cum Patre sedes deorsum nobis inuisibiliter assistis Dignare tua potenti manu tribuere nobis immaculatum corpus tuum preciosum sanguinem per nos omni populo O Lord Iesu Chryste our God looke from thy holie tabernacle and from the seat of the glorie of thy kingdom and come to sanctifie vs whiche sittest aboue with the Father and standest by vs beneath inuisiblie vouchsaif with thy mightie hande to geue vnto vs thy vndefiled bodie and preciouse bloode and by vs to all thy people These two holie Fathers what soeuer naturall reason or ordre wolde not withstanding they praied according to the ordre of faithe and therunto according they confessed and acknowledged Chryste both to be aboue with the Father and also present with vs in the Sacrament Although Chrysostom dothe so plainlie with Basill testifie the presence of Chryste both with the Father in heauen and with vs here in earth yet more plainlie he dothe wittnesse the same in an other place speaking of the sacrifice of Chrystes bodie offred in the Churche and saieth Hoc autem sacrificium Chrysost in 10. ad â—c hom 17. exemplar est illius Idipsum semper offerimus nec nunc quidem alium agnum crastma alium sed semper eundem ipsum Proinde vnum est hoc sacrificium hac ratione Alioquin quoniam in multis locis offertur multi Christi sunt Nequaquam Sed vnus vbique est Christus hic plenus existens illic plenus vnum corpus Sicut enim qui vbique offertur vnum corpus est non multa corpora ita etiam vnum sacrificium This sacrifice ys an exemplar of that that Chryste offred Euen the self same do we allwaies offer
Neither do we nowe offer one lambe and to morowe an other but allwais euen the self same Therfore ys this one sacrifice by this reason Otherwise for that The sacrifice offred in manie places ys but one Chryst yt ys offred in manie places ther be manie Chrystes Not so But ther ys one Chryste euery wher bothe here being full and ther full euen one bodie And as he that ys euery wher offred ys one bodie and not manie bodies Euen so also ys the sacrifice one Weigh well this testimonie of Chrysostom gentle Reader and first this that he saieth That the sacrifice of Christes bodie ys but one For otherwise bycause yt ys offred in manie places ther shoulde be manie Christes In whiche woordes howe plainlie dothe he saie that Chryste ys offered in manie places and yet not manie Chrystes but one Chryste This Father teacheth not like a naturall Philosopher but like a diuine Philosopher a louer of the wisdom of Chrystes faith according to the whiche and contrarie to Philosophie he confesseth Chrystes bodie to be in manie places at once and that with reuerence and not with doubtfull admiracion and exclamacion as this Proclamer doth to be in a thousand places at once Althouh in his reuerent woordes ther ys as moche implied as the woordes folowing do well declare Whiche also good reader note For he saieth vbique offertur he ys euery wher offred and that ys more then in a thousand places And although this mans heresie hath fretted and eaten in manie places moche like a deadlie cankre yet I beleue Chryste ys not so forsaken but he ys yet offred in mo then a thousand places and shall be except our sinnes shall deserue that he be taken awaie from vs. As for that that he saieth that Chryste ys our sacrifice and therfore present I will leaue yt withoute note to be considered in a place more conuenient As before ye haue heard S. Basill and Chrysostom vttering almost all one and the same woordes of this matter So shall ye heare Saincte Ambrose speaking almost the same woordes that Chrysostome did So be these good Fathers linked together in one trueth that they oftentimes speake all one and the same woordes in one and the same matter Thus writeth saincte Ambrose Proinde vnum est hoc sacrificium Alioquin hac ratione quoniam Ambr. in 10. Heb. multis in locis offertur multi Christi sunt Nequà quam Sed vnus vbique est Christus hic plenus existens illic plenus vnum corpus Sicut enim qui vbique offertur vnum corpus est non multa corpora ita etiam vnum sacrificium Therfore this sacrisice ys Chryst offred euerie wher ys but one bodie and one sacrifice one or ells by this reason for that yt ys offred in manie places ther be manie Chrystes Not so but euerie wher one Chryst both here being full and ther full euen onē bodie For euen as he that ys offred euerie wher ys one bodie and not manie bodies Euen so also ys the sacrifice one I will not trouble yow with noting sainct Ambrose woordes but what ys geuen yow to note vpon Chrysostom note the same euen here likewise and I will hast me to heare an other place of S. Ambrose wher he saieth thus Vidimus Principem sacerdotum ad nos venientem Vidimus audiuimus offerentem pro nobis sanguinem suum Sequamur vt possumus sacerdotes vt offeramus pro populo sacrificium Amb. in Psalm 38. etsi infirmi merito honorabiles tamen sacrificio quia etsi nunc Christus non videtur offerre tamen ipse offertur in terris quādo Christi corpus offertur We haue seen the high preist coming to vs. We haue seen and heard him offring for vs his bloode Let vs priestes as we maie folowe that we maie offre sacrifice for the people although by merite we are weake yet are we by the sacrifice honorable For although Chryste ys not nowe seen to offrer Yet ys he offred in earth when the bodie of Chryste ys offered Leuing all other thinges that maie be here noted this ys not to be ouerpassed that saincte Ambrose saieth that Christe ys offred in earthe But when Chryst ys offred in earth whē his bodie ys offred ys he offred When his bodie ys offred Wherbie yt ys manifest that as we maie confesse Chryste verilie to be in glorie So maie we also confesse that he ys verilie in earth for somoche as he ys ther offred in sacrifice And so being verilie both in heauen and earth that ys true that we trauaill here to proue But that that ys yet remaining to be saied in this matter will not suffer me to tarie to note and saie what might be noted and saied here For besides other thinges we haue yet to heare the goodly testimonie of S. Bernarde who so plainlie teacheth this matter and so godly that yt were pitie the reader shoulde be defrauded of the reading of so notable a sentence Thus he writeth Sed vnde hoc nobis pijssime Domine vt nos vermiculi reptantes super faciem terrae nos inquam qui puluis cinis sumus te praesentem habere mereamur Bernard sermone de coena Dom. prae manibus prae oculis qui totus integer sedes ad dextram Patris qui etiam vnius horae momento ab ortu solis vsque ad occasum ab Aquilone vsque ad Austrum praestò es omnibus vnus in multis idem in diuersis locis vnde hoc inquam Certè non ex debito neque ex merito nostro sed ex voluntate tua dulcedinis tuae beneplacito But howe happeneth this vnto vs O most mercifull Lorde that we litle woormes creping vpon the face of the earthe maie haue thee present before our handes before our eyes whiche all and wholle sittest at the right hand of the Father Which also in the minute of an howre from the East to the West from the North to the South Chryst being one ys at one time in manie places arte present to all Thowe being one arte in manie and being the self same arte in diuerse places from whence cometh this I saie Trulie not of anie duetie neither of our desert but of thy will and the pleasure of thy gentlenesse Thus saincte Bernard See ye not howe this holie Bernard not with woordes of skoffes and doubtfullnesse but with godlie simplicitie and reuerence confessing the veritie of Christes presence both at the right hand of God the Father and also in the Sacrament before our handes before our eyes and therof nothing doubting woundereth at the great goodnesse and mercie of our Sauiour Chryste howe he doth vouchsaif so moche to do for vs poour litle woormes creping vpon the earth Suche was the simplicitie of faith the humblenesse of minde in good Fathers that beleuing the thing they did agnise the great benefitt of God wher this Proclamer puffed vppe
possibilia sunt Deo Si enim potuit ante passionem clarificare illud sicut splendorem Solis quare non potuit post passionem ad quantam vellet subtilitatem in temporis momēto redigere vt per clausa ostia posset intrare Neither let vs geue eare to them that denie the same bodie to haue risen Christes bodie against the nature of a bodie entred through the shett doores that was putte in the graue Neither let yt moue vs that yt ys written that sodenlie he appeared to his disciples the doores being shett that therfore we shoulde denie yt to be a mans bodie bycause we see yt against the nature of this bodie to entre in through the shette doores For all thinges are possible to God For yf he coulde before his passion make yt as clear as the brightnesse of the Sunne why might he not after his passion also in a moment of time bring yt to asmoche a subtilitie as he wolde that he might entre in through the shett doores Note here in saincte Augustine that where the Aduersarie wolde not that the bodie of Chryste shoulde be in diuerse places for offending the lawe of naturall ordre he saieth that Chryst against the nature of this bodie entred in through the shett doores so that the bodie of Chryste maie not be bownde to the lawe or ordre of nature for that he ys the lord of nature not an onelie man but a person that ys God and man as Cirill saieth Clausis Cyrill in Joan. li. 12. cap. 53. foribus repentè Dominus omnipotentia sua natura rerum superata ingressus ad Discipulos est Nullus igitur querat quomodò corpus Domini ianuis clausis penetrauit cùm intelligat non de homine nudo vt modò nos sumus sed de omnipotente filio Dei haec ab Euangelista describi Nam cùm Deus verus sit rerum naturae non subiacet quod in caeteris quoque miraculis patuit The gates being shett our lorde through his omnipotencie the nature of thinges beinge ouercomed sodenly went in to his disciples Let no man therfore aske howe the bodie of our Lorde went through the gates beinge shett forasmoche Chryst ys not subiect to lawe of nature as he maie vnderstand these thinges to be described of the Euangelist not of a bare man as we be nowe but of the Allmightie Sonne of God Who forasmoche as he ys verie God ys not subiecte to the lawe of nature Whiche thing did appeare in other his miracles also Thus Cyrill Nowe ye haue heard a sufficient nombre of holy learned Fathers auouching this great miracle of Chryste not as some of the Aduersaries saie that he came into his disciples after the doores were shett after the maner of other men neither as some other of them do saie that he caused the doores or walls to open and so came in neither that an Angell did open the doores to him as to the Apostles that were in prison but that he being verie God gaue vnto that his manhead that singular subtilitie aboue all other that yt was not subiect to nature as Cirill saieth but aboue nature so farre and in soche excellent degree that yt might passe through those doores the doores not broken as saincte Ambrose saied In this matter thus moch haue I laboured both that the miraculouse worke of Chryst might not be obscured nor shadowed by the malignitie of men and also that yt might be perceaued that in the workes of Chryste we maie not so looke to the ordre of nature to naturall reason or naturall philosophie that for the mainteinaunce therof we shall denie the worke of Chryste Naturall philosophie hath manie propositions that will not stande with oure faith For naturall philosophie teacheth that mundus est perpetuus the worlde ys perpetuall or ouerlasting Faith teacheth that In principio creauit Gen. 1. Deus coelum terram In the beginninge God created heauen and earth and Psal 191. that therfore the worlde had a beginninge And yt teacheth also that yt shall haue an ende For coelum terra transibunt heauen and earth shall passe awaie Of the whiche both the Prophete saieth In principio Domine terram creasti et opera manuum tuarum sunt coelitipsi peribunt tu autem permanes c. Thowe in the beginning O Lorde didest laie the fundacion of the earthe and the heauens are the workes of thy hand They shall perish but thowe doest abide Of the whiche matter also saincte Peter maketh plain declaracion Likewise naturall philosophie teacheth quod vnum corpus non potest esse simul semel in diuersis locis that one bodie can not be at one time in diuerse places But faith teacheth vs as yt ys declared in the last chapiter that Chrystes bodie ys and maie be in diuerse places Naturall philosophie teacheth that duo corpora non possunt simul esse in vno eodem loco Two bodies can not be together in one place Yet the Scripture teacheth as ye haue heard the holie learned Fathers vnderstand them that Chrystes bodie entred in through the doore and so ther were two bodies at one time in one place Nowe therfore forasmoch as these two that ys that the bodie of Chryste ys in diuerse places and that the bodie of Chryste and the doore that he entred through were in one place be the workes of God let vs in the consideracion of them forgett naturall philosophie and remembre faith That these appertein to faith yt ys proued by a nombre of the holie Fathers and both these be acknowledged of them to be miraculouse workes of Chryste aboue nature And as these workes were verilie doen by Chryste So ys the other mencioned in the chapiter before doen by Chryste Wherfore chrystian reader weigh well what in these two chapiters ys saied howe many holie and learned Fathers be alleaged howe plainlie they testifie the matter and haue regarde to them staie thy self by them and be not caried awaie with them that haue nothing to confirme their doctrine but naturall philosophie For as touching the matter spoken of in this chapiter let the Aduersatie bring anie one sufficient Authour that shall by expresse woordes teache the contrarie and I will ioin with him THE TWELVETH CHAPITER AVNSWERETH certain obiections that seme to impugne the catholique doctrine of this matter THere ys nothing so true in all our holie faith but some heresie Nothing so true but he resie maie impugne yt Deut. 6. Heresies against God and euerie person in the trinitie maie be fownde to against saie yt and argumētes deuised to impugne yt Yt ys a most a certen trueth that ther ys but one God the scripture saieng Deus noster Deus vnus est Owre God ys one God Yet ther were that taught that ther̄ were two Gods as Apelles and Manichaeus Who taught that ther was a good God and an euell And for the mainteinaunce of this their heresie had
Yet for the full satisfieng of the humble spirited reader and the like confutacion of the arrogaunt I will not refuse the paines to asscribe their iudgementes both of this text and of the rest that folowe The first of this companie that shall be brought furth to wittnesse ys sainct Cyprian who alleaging this same text doth declare howe he vnderstandeth Cyprian serm de oratione Do. yt saing thus Quando ergo dicit in aeternum viuere si quis ederit de eius pane vt manifestum est eos viuere qui corpus eius attingunt Eucharistiam iure communicationis accipiunt ita contrà timendum est orandum ne dum quis abstentus separatur à corpore Christi procul remaneat à salute comminante illo dicente Nisi ederitis carnem filij hominis biberitis sanguinem eius non babebitis vitam in vobis Et ideò panem nostrum id est Christum dari nobis quotidie perimus vt qui in Christo manemus viuimus à sanctificatione corpore eius non recedamus Therfore when he saieth him to liue for euer whosoeuer shall eate of his breade As yt ys manifest that they do liue whiche do touche this bodie and according to the right of partaking do receaue the Sacrament Euen so contrarie wise yt ys to be feared and praied for lest while any man being accursed ys separated frō the bodie of Chryst he maie abide and remain farre from health he threatninge and sainge Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloode ye shall haue no life in yowe And therfore we dailie desire our bread that ys to saie Chryste to be geuen to vs that we whiche do abide and liue in Chryste maie not departe from his sanctification and bodie Thus moche S. Cyprian In which sainge first he manifestlie sheweth that this text ys to be vnderstanded of the Sacrament For by expresse woordes he saieth that they haue life whiche by right of partaking do receaue-the Eucharist or Sacrament as I terme yt for that the english toung hath none apter terme for yt And all men vse the woord Sacrament to that signification in comon speache And as we do oftentimes by this tearm the Sacrament vnderstand both the Sacrament and the thing signified by the Sacrament So dothe saincte Cyprian likewise in this place vnderstand and meen both For as when he had saied that we shall haue life by partaking of the Sacrament Euen so saieth he yt ys to be feared that when we be separated from the bodie of Chryste that then we shall be farre frō health Wherby yt ys plain that he speaketh not onelie of the Sacrament as of the sacramentall signes but he speaketh raither of the Sacrament as of the thinge signified and conteined in and vnder the sacramentall signes whiche by expresse woordes he calleth the bodie of Chryste But that ye maie the better creditte the matter not for my saing but for his ye shall heare him expownde him self that by this woorde Eucharistia he Cyprian Li. 3. Epist. 15 meneth the bodie of Chryste Illi contra euangelij legè vestrā quoque honorificā petitionem ante actam poenitentiam ante exomologesin grauissimi atque extremi delicti factam ante manum ab Episcopo Clero in poenitentiam impositam offerre pro illis Eucharistiam dare id est sanctum Domini corpus prophanare audent They against the lawe of the gospell and also your honorable peticiō before the penaunce Eucharist called the holie bodie of our Lord by S. Ciprian was doē before the cōfessiō of the most greuouse and extreme fawte made before the hand was put on by the Bishoppe and the cleargie vnto penannce dare offer for them and geue the Sacrament that ys to prophane the holie bodie of our Lorde Thus Ciprian In these woordes he plainly interpreteth him self and sheweth that he taketh this woorde Eucharistia for the bodie of Chryste and therwithall teacheth the reall presence of Chrystes bodie to be in the Sacrament for yf yt be not in the Sacrament yt can not by receauinge of the Sacrament be prophaned This then being preceaued that saincte Ciprian vnderstandeth this texte of the Sacrament I will also call one of the greke churche to geue vs knowledge howe he expowndeth the same who shal be Theophilacte thus he writeth Iudaei cùm audiuissent de esu carnis illius discredunt Ideò verbum incredulitatis dicunt quomodò Nam quando cogitationes incredulitatis ingrediuntur animam ingreditur simul quomodò Propterea iple volens ostendere quòd non sit impossibile sed etiam The ophilact in 6. Joan. valde necessarium non potest haberi vita nisi eius carnem comedamus c. Oportet igitur nos cùm audiuerimus Nisi comederitis carnem filij hominis non habebitis vitam in sumptionibus diuinorum mysteriorum indubitatam retinere fidem non quaerere quo pacto The Iewes when they had hearde of the eatinge of Chrystes flesh they do not beleue And therfor they saie the woorde of vnbeleif Howe For Howe the woorde of incredulitie when the thoughtes of incredulitie do entre the soule ther entreth withall Howe Therfore he willing to shewe that yt was not impossible but euen very necessarie and that other wise life can not be had except we eate his flesh c. Therfore we must when we heare Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man ye shall haue no life in the receauinge the Diuine misteries retein an vndoubted faith and not aske Howe or by what mean Thus moche Theophilacte Capite 7. Marke that he wolde when we heare this texte Except ye eate the flesh c. we shoulde haue an vndoubted faith what vndoubted faith he meneth he opened in his saing alleaged for the text before declared wher he saied that the bread whiche Chryst wolde geue ys not a figure of his flesh but his verie flesh For the bread saieth he yt transformed into the flesh of oure Lorde This ys that vndoubted faithe whiche Theophilacte wolde that we shoulde haue when we heare these woordes Except ye eate the flesh c. to beleue that in the Sacrament we must eate the flesh of Chryste or ells we shall not haue life Neuerthelesse this necessitie ys not soche that all that doo not receaue the holie Sacrament actuallie shall not haue life but all that do not in acte or pourpose beinge of age agreable or doo contemne the receipte of yt actuallie they shall not haue life But soche as be of mature age and doe of good deuocion pourpose to receaue it though they do not receaue yt actuallie yet hauing a godlie faith and not contemning the thing they shall by Gods mercie haue life As Baptisme ys a sacrament of great necessitie yet al that haue obteined life I meen life euerlasting were not baptised in water according to Chrystes lawe but some in
Lorde Wherfore yt ys manifest that as the woorthie or vnwoorthie receauing ys referred to the Sacrament so ys the honour or dishonour doen by the same referred also to the Sacrament Wherfor then S. Paule teaching the chrystian people to examen them selues and to prepare them selues that they maie be woorthie receauers of so woorthie a Sacrament taught them in that to honoure the Sacrament Vnto all this this maie be added that forasmoch as S. Paule taught the Corynthians and by them all Chrystian people the presende of Chryst in the Sacrament that he might well teache them to honour him in the Sacrament For wher Chryst ys verilie present ther ys no daunger but the chrystian maie their honoure him That S. Paule teacheth the presence yt shall be made manifest to yow in the thirde booke wher the scriptures of S. Paule shall be more at large handled Wherfor to auoide prolixitie I leaue to speake anie more of them here But this maie be saied here that forasmoche as the woordes of Chryste whiche we haue nowe in hande do teache vs the presence of Chryst in the Sacrament that we maie also honour Chryst in the Sacrament And to conclude against this Proclamer ye maie perceaue by that that ys saied that S. Paule taught vs to honoure the Sacrament THE FIVE AND FOVRTETH CHAP. PROVETH BY the same doctours that the Proclamer nameth that the Sacrament ys to be honoured AFter this man had abused the scriptures to makesome shewe of his wicked pourpose he vsed his like synceritie in naming certain doctours whiche doctours as he saieth neuer make mencion in anie of their bookes of adoring or woourshipping of the Sacrament To declare the trueth of this man we will first produce them whome he hath named as making for him and afterwarde some other Among those whome he nameth Chrysostom ys one A merueillouse thing to see the impudencie or ignorance of this man He nameth Chrysostome as one who in his bookes maketh no mencion of the honouring of Chryst in the Sacrament and yet among all the learned Fathers that writte ther ys none that maketh more often and more plain mencion of that matter then he doth To bring manie of his testimonies the condicion of this rude booke will not suffer for yt wolde therby growe to great ▪ Wherfore one or two places shal be brought whiche shal so clerelie opē this matter that I beleue Reader thowe wi lt merueill that this Proclamer durst for shame name Chrysostome as one that maketh no mencion of the honouring of Chryst in the Sacrament In one place thus he saieth Cùm autem ille Spiritum sanctum inuocauerit Chrys de sacerd li. 6. sacrisiciumue illud horrore ac reuerentia plenissimum perfecerit communi omnium Domino manibus assiduè pertractato quaero ex te quorum illum in ordine collocabimus Quantam verò ab co integritatem exigemus quantam religionem Consideraenim quales manus illas administrantes esse oporteat qualem linguam quae verba illa effandat Denique quae anima non puriorem sanctioremue conueniat esse animam quae tantum illum tamue dignum spiritum reoeperit Per id tempus Angeli sacerdoti assident caelestium potestatum vniuersus ordo elamores excitat locus Altari vicinus in illius honorem qui immolatur Angelorum choris plenus est Id quod credere abundè licet vel ex tanto illo sacrificio quod tum peragitur Ego verò commemorantem olim quendam audiui qui diceret senem quendam virum admirabilem ac cui reuelationum mysteria multa diuinitus fuissent detecta sibi narrasse se tali olim visione dignum a Deo habitum esse ac per illud quidem tempus derepentè Angelorum multitudinem conspexisse quatenus aspectus humanus ferre poterat fulgentibus vestibus indutorum Altare ipsum circundantium Denique sic capitc inclinatorum vt si quis milites praesente Rege stantes videat id quod mihi ipse facilè persuadeo When he mening the preist hath called vpon the holie Gost and hath perfected that sacrifice most full of horrour and reuerēce when the vniuersall Lorde of all thinges ys in his handes handeled I aske of thee in what order of men shall we place him howe great integritie shall we require of him howe great religion or godlinesse Consider also what hands those aught to be that doe ministre What maner of tounge that speaketh those woordes mening the woordes of consecraciō last of al that it ys meet that that soule be purer and holier then anie other soule that receaueth him so great Angells attende vpon the preist in the time of oblacion and a visiō therof shewed to an olde man and so woorthie a spirit At that time the Angells also geue attendance to the preist and all the wholl order of the heauenlie powers singpraises and the place nighe to the Aultar in the honour of him that ys then offred in sacrifice ys full of Angells which thing a man maie fullie beleue for that great sacrifice that then ys doen. Trulie I also did once heare a certain man reporting that an olde woorshippefull man vnto whome manie secretes were by Gods pleasure reueiled declared vnto him that God did vouchefaif to shewe him soche a vision and that at that time as farre as the sieght of man might beare yt he sawe sodenlie a multitude of Angells cloathed in bright garmentes compassing the Aultar aboute and afterwarde so bowing downe their heads as yf a man shoulde see soldiours stand when the king ys present Whiche thing I easely beleue Thus Chrysostome In this saing easie yt ys to perceaue howe honorably he thinketh of the Sacrament and what honoure he thinketh yt of For that the Sacrament ys so honourable he knoweth not wher to place the preist that dothe consecrate yt He questioned what hands they aught to be that handle the vniuersall The vniuersall Lorde of all handled by the preist Lorde of all thinges What toung that aught to be that speaketh the mightie woordes of consecracion howe pure that soule aught to be that receaueth so woorthie a thing yea he acknowlegeth the Sacrament to be so honourable that he saieth that the Angells in the time of the ministracion of yt doe assist the preist and attend and for confirmacion of this he bringeth in a vision of an holie man who sawe Angells in bright garmentes Angells honoure the Sacram. stand aboute the Aultar and bowing downe their heades to honour the Sacrament Whiche thing Chrysostom saieth he did beleue Yf man for the ministracion of the Sacrament be so honourable yf yt be soche as Angells do honour yt howe moche aught man to honoure yt That man aught to honour yt the same Chrysostome in the ordre of the Masse by him sethfurth by his owne practise declareth wher we finde his praier and after his praier his rule for the honouring of this Sacrament Thus
and wine in sacrifice as a figure Wherfore if this sacrifice be but bread and wine a bare figure then yt ys no newe oblacion In the leuiticall lawe also we finde bread and wine offred in the sacrifice The shewe bread also was offred in sacrifice Wherfor of necessitie yt must be vnderstand of an oblacion and sacrifice not hertofore accustomed to be offred whiche by that reason maie be called a newe oblacion which ys none other but the verie bodie and bloode our Sauiour Chryste Which although yt were figuratiuelie offred before of Melchisedech in materiall breade and wine yet nowe in the newe testament yt ys offred as neuer before not in figure but in verie dede the verie bodie and blood of Chryst him self the heauenly breade and heauenlie wine answering the bread and wine of Melchisedech as the thing the figure And so yt ys a newe oblaciō instituted to be offred in the newe Testamēt Wherfor also Chryst to shewe the adaptaciō of the figure to the thing and the figure therin to be fullfilled tooke bread and wine and consecrating them into his bodie and bloode confessed them as this authour saieth to be his bodie and bloode that the figure might be manifestlie shewed ther to be termined in that heauenly bread and wine the verie thing figurated by that figure Yf the malice of the aduersarie will go aboute to peruerte this plain sainge and testimonie of his authour sainge that allthough Chryst did confesse the bread and wine to be his bodie and bloode yet yt foloweth not that they were so in dede This were a merueilouse saing that Chryst shoulde confesse a thing to be in plain maner of speache withoute anie circunstance leading vs to an other sense and yet in deed not to be so But that he shall not so wickedly auoide the trueth vttered here by this authour he shal heare an other testimonie of the same in the whiche as before he saied that Chryst confessed the bread and wine to be his body and bloode so here the authour affirmeth them to be the bodie and blode Thus he saieth Quomodò constabit cum panem in quo gratiae actae sunt corpus esse Domini sui calicē sanguinis eius si non ipsum fabricatoris mundi filium dicant c. Quomodò autem rursum Irenaus li. 5. cont Heresie dicunt carnem in corruptionem deuenire non percipere vitam quae à corpore Domini sanguine alitur Howe shall yt be manifest that bread in the whiche than kes be geuen to be the bodie of their Lorde and the cuppe of his bloode yf A plain saing of Irenaeus for the Proclamer they saie that he ys not the sonne of the maker of the worlde c. And again howe saie they the flesh to come into corruption and not to receaue life whiche ys nourished of the bodie and bloode of our Lorde Ther be here in this testimonie twoo notes wherby as the aduersarie ys aunswered and conuinced so ys the trueth notablie settfurth and confirmed The first ys that he saieth that the bread in the whiche thankes are geuen ys the bodie of our Lorde and the cuppe ys the cuppe of his bloode The bread in the which Chryst gaue thinkes was the bread which the Euangelistes saie that Chryst tooke in his handes and gaue thankes saing This ys my bodie Chryst then might verie well confeffe yt to be his bodie seing as Irenaeus saieth yt ys his bodie So that of this authour we learn yt not onely to be called and confessed the bodie of Chryst but also to be and that not in obscure woordes but in plain and euident sentence The other note ys that our flesh ys nourished of the bodie and bloode of Oure flesh ys nourished of the bodie and blood of our Lord. our Lorde Wherby the erroure of the Aduersarie teaching that Chryst ys onely spiritually and not reallie receaued in the Sacramēt ys ouerthrowen and fownde false For by that spirituall maner our flesh ys not nourished wherfor of necessitie the other maner that ys Chrystes verie reall bodie must be in the Sacrament receaued Yt shal helpe yowe the better to perceaue the minde of this authour as concerning the reall presence of Chryst in the Sacrament if ye doe vnderstande wherfore he wrote this that ys here alleaged Vnderstand therfore that by this place last alleaged he impugneth two heresies the one was that Chryst was not the Sonne of God that made the worlde but that he was a man liuing in Iewrie who did not onelie dissolue Two heresies cōfuted by one argument grownded vpon the Sacr. the lawe and the Prophetes but also all the workes of that God that made the worlde The other taught that the soule onely shall be saued and liue euerlastinglie and not the bodie for that yt being a grosse thing made of the earth yt ys not possible that yt shoulde atteing to euerlasting life To confute these two heresies Irenaeus growndeth him self vpon the Sacrament as a matter certen euident plain and knowen aswell of the heretiques against whom he disputed as of the true catholique Chrystians Nowe against the first heresie he proueth Chryst to be the Sonne of God by that that they confessed the bodie of their Lorde to be in the Sacrament For yf he whose bodie ys in the Sacrament were not the Sonne of him that made the worlde but a bare naturall man howe coulde a man of hys owne powre compasse that his bodie should so be and howe coulde yt be the bodie of their Lorde yf he were not the Sonne of God So all the weight of this argument standeth and resteth vpon the presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament Nowe denie the presence with thys Proclamer and then the argument maketh nothing against the heresie and so the argument which this holie Father thought to be stronge shall be but weake But who can doubte of the true knowledge of this auncient Father When he grownded hys argument vpon the presence of Chryst in the Sacrament he was sure that hys grownde was fast and good Yf the Sacrament were nothing but a figure what more proofe coulde be grownded vpon yt then vpon anie other figure of the olde lawe The second heresie he also impugneth by the receipt of the bodie and bloode of Chryst in the Sacrament For wher that heresie denied the bodie of man to be able or like to atteign to life euerlasting this holie man proueth that yt shall For howe can yt saieth he but receaue life seing yt ys nourished by the bodie and bloode of Chryst as though he might Cyrill in 6. Ioan. ca 14 haue saied as sainct Cyrill saieth Quoniam Saluatoris caro Verbo Dei quod naturaliter vita est coniuncta viuifica effecta est quando eam comedimus tunc vitam habemus in nobis illi coniuncti quae viuifica effecta est Bycause the flesh of our Sauiour ioined to the Sonne of God
of S. Iohn Panis quem ego dabo caro mea est quam dabo pro mundi vita The breade that I will geue yowe ys my flesh whiche I will geue for the life of the worlde And that which foloweth in the same chapter concerning the Sacrament The commaundement we finde in the three other Euangelistes and in S. Paule Accipite comedite hoc est corpus meum Bibite ex hoc omnes Hic est calix sanguinis mei Take and eate This ys my bodie drinke ye all of this This ys the Matth. 26 Mar. 14. Luc. 22. 1. Cor. 11. cuppe of my bloode Cyprian saieth that Chryst first taught that men shoulde drinke bloode and that the schoole of the Gospell did first sett yt furth and also the Gospell did commaunde yt But in all the Gospell we finde no soche coÌ„maundement but this that ys nowe saied Wherfor these woordes doe commaunde vs to drinke the verie bloode of Chryst and not the onely figure of yt Whiche being so yt prooueth the verie reall presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode in the Sacrament and these commaundements in the woordes of Chrystes supper to be literall and not tropicall Nowe foloweth Athanasius whome for that he was not long after Cyprian I haue coopled with the same as a famouse auncient father of the greke churche with an holie famouse martir of the Latin church Thus writeth Athanasius Corpus est ergo cui dicit Sede à dextris meis Cuius etiam fuit inimicus Diabolus Athanasius li. de fide vt â—iÌ„tatur à Theodoret Dialogo 2. Inconfusus cum malis potestatibus Iudaei Greci per quod corpus Pontifex Apostolus fuit dictus est per id quod tradidit nobis mysterium dicens Hoc est corpus meum quod pro Vobis frangitur Et sanguis noui testamenti non veteris qui pro vobis effunditur c. Yt ys therfore a bodie to the which he saied Sitte on my right hande whose enemie was the Deuell with the euell powers and the Iewes and the grekes By whiche bodie he both was in dede and was called an high preist and an Apostle by that misterie that he deliuered vs saing This ys my bodie which ys broken for yowe and the bloode of the newe Testament not of the olde whiche ys shed for yowe The Godheade hath neither bodie nor bloode but man which he did take of the virgen Mary Theodorete who in his second dialoge laboureth to prooue two distincted natures without confufion that ys the nature of God and the nature of man eche of them full and perfight ioined but not commixed in vnitie of person in Chryst owre sauiour alleageth this saing of Athanasius wher in Athanasius touching both natures doth most abide to prooue the nature of man to remain in Chryst And to prooue that he proueth that Chryst had a verie mans bodie and that by two argumentes The first ys that where Dauid in the psalme prophecied that Chryst shoulde be exalted to sitte on the right hand of God the Father and therfor saied The Lorde saied to my Lorde sute thowe on my right hand This coulde not be saied but to a bodie But Chryst as God had neither bodie nor bloode Wherfore yt ys spoken to Chryst as man The other argument ys after this sorte Chryst by that that he deliuered vnto vs the misterie of his bodie and bloode was in dede and so also was called an high preist But in the deliuering of this misterie he saied This ys my bodie This ys my bloode And the Godhead of Chryst hath neither bodie nor bloode Wherfor he spake hy his verie maÌ„heade which had both bodie and bloode This ys my bodie This ys my bloode In both these argumentes this ys principallie entended to prooue Chryst a verie man by that that he had a verie bodie Nowe to our pourpose in the seconde argument to proue that he had a bodie by that that Chryst saied This ys my bodie doth yt not proue that this authour vnderstaÌ„deth Chryste to haue spoken this by his very bodie yf the shoulde not so doe what shoulde yt helpe his matter that he entendeth to prooue to bring in this saing of Chryst This ys my bodie yf yt be not spoken of his bodie To prooue that this auhour dothe so vnderstande this place of Chryst as spoken of his verie bodie this maketh yt most certen and yt maie not be against Scriptures must be alleaged in their literal sense in matters of faith saied S. Augustine saieth and yt ys a rule among all the learned diuines that in the disputacion of matters of faithe all scriptures must be alleaged in their literall sense Forasmoche then as this scripture ys alleaged in the disputacion of an highe matter of faithe as ye haue hearde yt must be taken aÌ„d vnderstaÌ„ded in the literal sense The woords are takeÌ„ to prooue that Chryst had a verie bodie Wherfore in the literall sense they are spoken and vnderstand of his verie bodie Thus ye maie perceaue that figures signes tokens and tropes are not admitted by this authour to geue vs the true sense and mening of these woordes And thus moche maie we here note as I haue before touched that the beleif of the presence of Chrystes verie bodie in the Sacrament was in the auncient churche of Chryste so faithfullie receaued so generallie accepted so highlie esteemed that the learned Fathers grownded their argumetes against heretikes vpon the matter of the Sacrament as vpon a principle of faith This haue yowe seen in Irenaeus This haue yowe seen in Tertullian This same ye see in Athanasius Whiche as yt aught to be an occasion of an assured staie and confirmacion of our faithe in the same matter in the Sacrament so wishe I that yt maie be a reuocacion of the Proclamer and all other walking in erroure with him to the verie faith of the Sacrament that Chryst maie by the mouthe of all that professe his name be in his Sacramentes praised and magnified euen according to his holie will and pleasure THE ONE AND FITITETH CHAP. SHEWETH the minde of Iuuencus and Euseb Emisen vpon the woordes of Chryst. AMonge the Latines that doe open vnto vs the vnderstanding of the woordes of Chrystes supper the next that I finde to S. Ciprian ys Juuencus lib. 4. Euangelice histor Iuuencus the preist a chrystian Poete in Spain who in Verse geueth a notable and a plain vnderstandinge of Chrystes woordes He ys verie auncient he did write a good nombre of yeares aboue xii hundreth yeares agone Thus saieth he Haec vbi dicta dedit palmis sibi frangere panem Diuisumue dehinc tradit sanctumue precatus Discipulos docuit proprium se tradere corpus Hinc calicem sumit Dominus vinoue repletum Gratis sanctificat verbis potumue ministrat Edocuitue suum se diuisisse cruorem Atque ait hic sanguis populi delicta remittet Hunc potate meum c.
vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes and beleue that the bread and wine be Chrystes bodie and bloode And therfor looking for no soche worldlie kingdom nor kinglie palace of Chryst here vpon the earth Ascendamus cum Domino caenaculum magnum strastum atque mundatum accipiamus ab eo sursum calicem noui testamenti ibiue cum eo Pascha celebrantes inebriemur ab eo vino sobrietatis Let vs saieth S. Hierom go vppe with our Lorde into the great dining chambre allreadie prepared and made clean and ther let vs receaue of him aboue the cuppe of the newe testament and ther with him celebrating the Passouer let vs be satisfied with the wine of sobrietie I can not here withoute sorowe and greif passe these last woordes of S. Hierom but note to thee gentle reader the maliciouse doing of the Proclamer who impugning the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode The Proclaemer cutteth of the woordes of Sain Hierom to deceaue his auditorie in the Sacrament trauaileth to prooue that his wicked doctrine by some of the holie fathers whome he wolde wrest to make them saie that Chryst ys onelie to be adored and honoured in heauen as wherbie yt might appeare that his presence were onelie ther. Among the whiche full euell fauoredlie he bringeth in these last woordes of S. Hierom cuttinge them of from the middest of the sentence and leauing oute that that goeth before whiche as ye haue heard maketh alltogether against him and also that that soloweth whiche as ye shall heare doeth make against him likewise And suatcheth truncatelie these fewe woordes and maketh a false shew with them as well as he can to deceaue his Auditorie Thus yt foloweth in S. Hierom ymmediately woorde for woorde Non enim est regnū Dei cibus potus sed iusticia gaudium pax in Spiritu sancto Nec Moyses dedit Hierō ibid nobis panē verū sed Dominus Iesus ipse conuiua conuinium ipse comedens qui comeditur Illius bibimus sanguinem sine ipso potare non possumus quotidie in sacrificiis eius de genimine vitis verae viueae Sorec quae interpretatur electa rubentia musta calcamus nouum ex iis vinum bibimus de regno Patris ne quaquam in vetustate literae sed in nouitate spiritus cantantes canticum nouum quod nemo potest cantare nisi in regno Ecclesiae quod regnum Patris est For the kingdom of God ys not meat and Chryst ys the feaster ād the feast whose blood we drinke in his sacrifices drinke but righteousnesse ād ioie and peace in the holie Gost Neither did Moyses geue vs the true bread but our lorde Iesus for he ys both the feaster and the feast he ys he that eateth and ys eaten His bloode drinke we and withoute him we can not drinke and dailie in his sacrifices of the generacion of the true Vine and of the wine of Sorec whiche by interpretacion ys called chosen doe we presse ruddie newe wines and oute of these we drinke the newe wine of the kingdom of the Father not in the oldenesse of the letter but in the newenesse of the spiritte singing a newe song which no mācan singe but in the kingdom of the church which ys the kingdom of the Father Thus moche S. Hierom. Who in refelling of the Iewish fables declareth that in the kingdom of Chryst shall be no matter of wordlie cheering For saieth he the kingdom of God ys not meate and drinke And returning to the right cheer of Chrystes kingdom he compareth yt with the cheer of Moyses and saieth that Moyses gaue vs not the true bread but our Lorde Iesus Whie did not Moyses geue the true bread seing that the bread that he gaue was a miraculouse bread a bread that came from heauen and the bread that Chryst gaue was no miraculouse bread but yt was common vsuall bread made here by the hand of man vpon earth Yf ye saie that the bread of Chryst was a figure of Chryst so was the other also and more liuely thē this for manie causes whiche in the thirde booke shall be declared But if ye will learn the true cause why our Lorde Chryst gaue the true breade and Moyses did not learn of S. Hierom who teacheth vs that yt ys Cap. 12. bicause Chryst geueth vnto vs not an onelie figure of him self but bothe the figure and him self also For in the feast that Chryst maketh he ys he that both maketh the feast as S. Hierom saieth and also the meat of the feast So thē he geueth him self who in dede ys the verie bread of life he geueth vs the true bread that Moyses coulde not geue For Moyses gaue the figure of yt but he gaue not the thing And therfore he gaue not the true bread Note then that Chryste ys the feaster for he biddeth vs to the feast and saieth Take and eate He ys the meate also of the feast for appoincting the A saing of S. Hierom. opened meat he saieth This ys my bodie And thus ye maie perceaue that S. Hierom ioineth with the woords of Chryst And farder he saieth by expresse woordes comminge to the poinct of the drinking of Chrystes wine in the kingdome of his Father Illius bibimus sanguinem We drinke his bloode But where drinke we yt In sacrificiis eius In his sacrifices Howe come we by this wine Joan. 15. of his whiche ys his bloode In sacrificiis eius de geminine vitis verae rubentia musta calcamus In his sacrifices we presse oute of the true vine the ruddie new wine Who ys the true vine Chryst who saied Ego sum vitis vera I am the true wine Howe presse we oute this newe ruddie wine oute of the generacion of this true wine By speaking the woordes of Chryst as he hath cōmaunded by which as S. Ambrose saieth that that ys in the cuppe ys made the bloode that redemed the people But in what place muste we drinke this newe wine Amb. li. 4 de Sa. ca. 5 Nouum bibimus vinum in regno Patris We drinke this newe wine in the kingdom of the Father For soche as be in this kingdom maie be partakers of Chrystes wine dronken in his sacrifices Other maie not Habemus altare de quo edere non habent potestatem qui tabernaculo deseruiunt We haue an aultar of whiche they maie not eate that serue the tabernacle For they singe not a newe song but remain in the olde letter None can sing this newe sōg but they that be in the kingdom of the Churche whiche ys the kingdom of Hcb. 13. the Father saieth S. Hierom. By this then ye maie perceaue not onelie the answer of S. Hierom to the questiō of Hedibia but also his assertion for the presēce of Chryst in the Sacrament For he saieth not in all this discourse that Chryst geueth vs a figure of the true bread but the true bread
healthe in the remembrance of our Lordes passion suffred for vs. Whiche thing when yt ys brought by the handes of men to that visible forme yt ys not sanctified that yt maie be so great a Sacrament but by the Spirite of God woorking inuisiblie Hitherto sainct Augustin Of whome ye see that we are taught that thoug Chryst be by diuerse meanes settfurth and preached as by scriptures preachinges and by the Sacrament yet these thinges be not all of like degree For ther ys none of these called the bodie of Chryst but onelie the bread that ys consecrated by the mysticall praier that ys by the woordes of Chryst Thys ys my bodie that onelie ys called the bodie of Chryste Oecolamp craftilie abuseth S. Augustin Nowe Oecolampadius wolde that bicause sainct Augustin saieth that Chryst ys preached by scripture woorde and Sacrament that these three be of one sorte no more being in the Sacrament then in the other two But note I praie thee gentle reader howe he abuseth sainct Augustin to proue that hys wicked sainge Of this place of sainct Augustin nowe alleadged he taketh onely thus moche Paule might by signifieng preache our Lorde Iesus Chryst otherwise by hys toung otherwise by epistle otherwise by the Sacrament of his bodie and blood And vpon thys he growndeth hys argument and wolde be seen well to haue confirmed Not toung nor writing nor soche other shewing furth Chryst be called his bodie but bread and wine consetrated hys doctrine But all the rest of sainct Augustines woordes whiche folowe whiche ouerthrowe all his building he craftelie lefte oute For yt foloweth Yet doe we call neither his toung neither his epistle nor his writinges the bodie of Chryste but onely we call that the bodie of Chryste that ys taken of the fruictes of the earth and ys by the mysticall prayer consecrated that doe we call the bodie of Chryst All thys doth he leaue oute Soche was the synceritie of the man in alleaging the holie Fathers So good ys the cause that he defended that the doctours muste be mutilated and brought oute in peice meall or ells yt coulde not stand Ys yt not merueilouse that he coulde bring this place of sainct Augustin whiche although the first peice taken alone seemeth somwhat to sownde to his pourpose yet the wholl taken together ys alltogether against him Alas that euer anie man wolde so deceaue the people of God and by soche frawde and abuse of the holie writers make them to embrace erroure in stead of trueth weigh the place throughlie and yowe shall perceaue howe yt mainteineth the catholique trueth of the presence of Chrystes boin the Sacrament verie moch Ye haue nowe heard that neither the worde written nor the woorde spoken though Chryst be preached by them be called the bodie of Chryst but onely the Sacrament ys called the bodie of Chryst And why yt ys called the bodie of Chryste he declareth Not bicause saieth he by the handes of man yt ys brought to be a visible forme but bicause yt ys sanctified and made so great a Sacrament by the inuisible woorking of the holie Goste Note these two poinctes that S. Augustine saieth that the bread ys sanctified and made so great a Sacrament And again that he saieth yt ys so sanctified and made by the inuisible worke of the holie Goste Ther ys great difference betwixt the sanctificacion of the Sacrament yt self and the soule of man that receaueth the Sacrament Now Oecolampadius and Cranmer saie that the Sacramentes being dumbe Oecolamp and Cranmer their heresies creatures receaue no sanctificacion but onely the sowles of men They saie also that the holie Gost woorketh not in the thinges that be the Sacramentes but in the men that receaue the SacrameÌ„tes Thys they saie bicause they wolde auoid the presence of Chryste in the Sacrament which ys made ther present by sanctificacion of the bread But against these their saings S. Augustin saieth that the same bread that ys made by the handes of men ys sanctified S. Augustin plain against Oecolamp aÌ„d Cranmer and receauing sanctitie ys made so great a Sacrament Against them also he saieth that the holie Goste woorketh inuisiblie in the bread I wolde now learn of the Aduersaries what S. Augustine meneth by calling the SacrameÌ„t so great a Sacrament and what worke yt ys that the holie Goste woorketh inuisiblie in the bread The woorkes of the holy Gost be no trifles Yt ys great and miraculouse that he woorketh And what he woorketh S. Iames in his Masse S. Basill also and Chrysostom in their Masses by their humble praiers doe declare S. Iames thus Spiritum tuum sanctissimum demitte nunc Domine in nos in haec sancta dona proposita vt superueniens sancta bona gloriosa sua praesentia sanctificet Diuus Iac. in Missa efficiat hunc panem corpus sanctum Christi tui calicem hunc preciosum sanguinem Christi tui Sende downe now o Lord thy most holie Spirit vpon vs and vpon these holie giftes settfurth that he coming ouer them maie with his holy good and gloriouse presence sanctifie and make this bread the holie bodie of thy Chryst aÌ„d this cuppe the preciouse blood of thy Chryst Thus S. Iames. S. Basill and Chrysostome haue the like woordes See ye not nowe then howe the bread ys sanctiâ—ied See ye not what ys the worke of the holie Goste Perceaue ye not howe that S. Augustine vpoÌ„ good cause called the Sacrament so great a Sacrament ys yt not a great Sacrament Bread sanctified contrarie to Cranmers assertion aÌ„d Oecolamp in which by worke of the holie Gost ys made present the bodie of Chryst To haue hidden this trueth Oecolampadius by peice meall brought in S. Augustine But now ye haue seen the catholique faith well testified the falshead of the Aduersaries detected and to return to oure matter and to conclude ye perceaue this Sacrament by mystical praier which ys by Chrystes woordes to be consecrated the effecte of which consecracion being the bodie of Chryste as ys saied the woordes must nedes be taken without figuratiue sense Thus if my iudgement faill me not ye haue hearde two other noble men of Chrystes schoole and Parliament house very plainlie testifieng the enacted trueth of the vnderstanding of Chrystes wordes yea so plainly that yt caÌ„not but moch confirme the good Chrystian and confute the Pheudochristian But to go forwarde I will ende with these two and call other two THE FIVE AND FIFTETH CHAPITER tarieth in the exposition of the same woordes by Chrysostom and Sedulius NOw among the learned Fathers of the greke church we are descended to Chrysostome of whome I maie saie as besore ys saied of S. Ambrose that he ys so full of godlie testimonies testisieng to vs the true vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes that as I knowe not whiche of them first to take so doe I merueill that they being so manie the Proclamer coulde for shame saie
flesh appeareth not causes of the goodnesse of God towarde vs and shewed in this Sacrament the one ys that though yt be flesh in dede yet as Euthymius and Theophilact also doe saie God considering or condescending to our infirmities maketh yt not to appeare vnto vs that that yt ys in dede but yt appeareth still to vs as yt was before as bread and wine The other cause whie we receaue the verie flesh of Chryst though not in the forme of flesh ys saieth Cyrill that the bodie of Chryst whiche in an other place he calleth the bodie of life might be in our bodies as the seede of life to communicate life vnto vs and so make vs by vertue therof to liue euerlastinglie Nowe if the Sacrament were but a figure and not the bodie of Chryst as the Aduersarie saieth howe coulde Cyrills saing be true that God turneth the offred thinges into his flesh Again if in the Sacrament we receaue The flesh of Chryst receaued in the Sacr. ys the seed of euerlasting life not the bodie of Chryste howe then standeth Cyrills sainge that the bodie of Chryst to the intent yt maie be the seed of life ys fownde in vs Yt maie then well be perceaued that the doctrine of the Aduersarie teaching that Chrystes bodie and bloode be not in the Sacrament ys pestilent perniciouse and vntrue not onely in that yt ys repugnant to the doctrine of this holie Father and others before alleadged but also to the verie woorde of Chryst who plainlie saieth This ys my bodie and the Aduersarie saieth yt ys not his bodie But a figure of his bodie But yt ys time that we heare S. Grogorie whom we haue appoincted to ioin with S. Cyrill to declare what was the faith of the latin church in his daies Thus he writeth Debemus itaque praesens seculum vel quia iam conspicimus de fluxisse tota mente contemnere quotidiana Deo lachrimarum sacrisicia quotidianas carnis Grog li. 4 dialog ca. 58. sanguinis eius hostias immolare Haec namque singulariter victima ab aeterno interitu animam saluat quae illam nobis mortem Vnigeniti per mysterium reparat Qui licet resurgeÌ„s ex mortuis iam non moritur mors ei vltrà non dominabitur tamen in seipso immortaliter atque incorruptibiliter viuens pro nobis iterum in boc mysterio sacrae oblationis immolatur Eius quippe ibi corpus sumitur eius caro in populi salutem partitur eius sanguis non iam in manus infidelium sed in ora fidelium funditur Hinc ergo pensemus quale sit pro nobis hoc sacrificium quod pro absolutionè nostra passionem Vnigeniti filii sui imitatur Quis enim fidelium haberè dubium possit in ipsa immolationis hora ad sacerdotis vocem caelos aperiri Dailie sacrifice of Chrystes bodie and blode ys to be ofred in illo Iesu Christi mysterio Angelorum Choros adesse summis ima sociari terrena coele stibus iungi vnum quoque ex visibilibus inuisibilibus fieri We aught therfor forasmoche as we see this present worlde to haue comed to nothing with all owre minde to contemne yt and to offre vnto God the dailie sacrifices of teares the dailie sacrifices of his flesh and bloode This singular sacrifice saueth the soule from euerlasting destruction whiche reneweth vnto vs by misterie the death of the onelie begotten Sonne Who allthough rising from death dieth no more and death shall neuer more haue lord shippe ouer him yet in himself liuing immortallie and in corruptiblie he ys offred again in this misterie of the holie oblacion for vs. Ther trulie his bodie ys receaued his flesh to the health of the people ys geuen abroede his not bloode ys nowe shedde not into the handes of the vnfaithfull but into the mouthes of the faithfull By this theÌ„ let vs weigh what maner of sacrifice this ys for vs whiche for our deliuerance dothe allwais folowe the passion of the onely begotten Sonne What faith full man can doubte in the time of that sacrificing at the woorde of the preist the heauens to be opened in that misterie of Iesus Chryste companies of Angells to be present vnto high thinges lowe thinges to be coopled to heauenlie thinges earthlie thinges to be ioined one thing also of inuisible and visible thinges to be made Thus moche S. Gregorie Yt maie perchaunce be saied that though this place of S. Gregorie doeth moche prooue the verie presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament yet yt teacheth not the vnderstanding of Chrystes woordes This ys my body whiche ys the matter that I nowe take in hande to declare Trueth yt ys that the woordes of Chryst be not here recited by expresse woordes but they are heare vnderstanded and the true vnderstanding of them ys also here settfurth for the vnderstanding wherof I first note vnto yowe this sentence of Gregories authoritie What faithfull man saieth he can doubte in that time of immolacion at the voice of the preist the heauens to be opened c. what voice of the preist yt ys at whiche the heauens be opened the companies of angells be present high thinges are coopled to lowe thinges but that voice of the woordes of Chryst spoken by the preist in the person of Chryst This ys my bodie This ys my blood For vnto that time saieth S. Ambrose the preist vseth The heaueÌ„lie bodie of Christ ys ioâ—ned to the earthlie formes of bread and wire at the pronouincing of the woordes of Chryst his owne woordes but then he vseth not his owne woordes but the woordes of Chryst at the whiche voice all these wonderfull thinges are doen. S. Gregorie then by this voice of the preist vnderstandeth these woordes of Chryst vttered by the preist The true vnderstanding of whiche woordes he teacheth when he saieth that at the speaking and pronunciacion of them vnto high thinges lowe thinges are coopled vnto heauenly thinges earthlie thinges are ioined What be these high thinges and heauenly thinges coopled and ioined to lowe thinges and eartlie thinges but the heauenly and gloriouse hodie and bloode of our Sauiour Chryst whiche by his diuine power turning the substances of bread and wine into the substance of the same his bodie and bloode and being in the Sacrament vnder the earthlie formes of bread and wine he being high and heauenly ys ioined and coopled to lowe and earth lie thinges Jrenaeus li. 4. ca. 34. After this maner the holie martir Irenaeus did settfurth the holie SacrameÌ„t for he saieth Qui est à terra panis precipiens vocationem Dei iam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus constans rebus terrena coelesti The bread whiche ys of the earth receauing the vocacion of God that ys the woordes of consecracion ys nowe not common bread but Eucharistia a good grace of God being Amb. ora prepar ad Missam compact of two thinges
almost S. Ambrose sentence and woordes S. Ambr. li. de myst c. 9. Ambrose saieth Quid hic queris naturae ordinem in Christi corpore cùm preter naturam sit ipse Dominus Iesus partus virgine What doest thowe here seke the order of nature in the bodie of Chryst sith the same Lorde Iesus Chryste was beside nature conceaued of a virgen This authour saieth what doest thowe seke the cause or ordre of the transmutacion of the nature of breade into the bodie of Chryst and of the wine and water into his bloode sith he aboue nature and reason was born of a virgen So farre wide was yt from the mening of this authour to varie from the mindes of the auncient fathers that he vseth their woordes To end yt ys easie to perceaue that this man teaching transmutacion or transubstancion and soche creditte to be geuen to the plain woorde of Chryst for the verie presence of his bodie in the Sacrament vnderstandeth Chrystes woordes withoute figure as also Rupertus did THE THREE AND SIXTITH CHAP. TARIETH IN the exposition of the same wordes by Innocentius and Germanus IN this proceasse we are descended to Innocētius the thirde who liued the yeare of our Lorde 1300. and therfor about 362 years agon In this matter he writeth thus Agnus Paschalis siue dubio figurabat Jnnocen de offic Miss Dominicum corpus sed panis azimus sincerum opus Sicut autem Ioannes Baptista qui dixerat Eccè agnus Dei per adiunctum determinauit Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Sic Christus qui dixerat Hoc est corpus meum per adiunctum determinauit quod pro vobis tradetur Sicut ergo corpus Christi veraciter tradebatur sic verè demonstrabatur non in figura quaeiam cessauerat sed in veritate quae iam aduenerat The paschall lambe without doubte was a figure of our Lordes bodie but the vnleauened breade signified a sincere worke As Iohn the Baptist The bodie of Chryst both deliuered and demonstrated not in figur but in trueth who saied Behold the lambe of God by a clause adioined did determine yt saing Behold him that taketh awaie the sinnes of the worlde So Chryste who had saied This ys my bodie by a clause adioned determined the same saing which shall be deliuered for yowe Therfor as the bodie of Chryst was verilie deliuered so was yt verilie demonstrated not in a figure whiche nowe had ceassed but in trueth which nowe was comed This authour minding to expownde Chrystes woodes doeth first declare that the Paschall lambe wherof we haue at large spoaken in the first booke was vndoubtedlie a figure of Chrystes bodie wherbie the geueth vs to vnderstand that nowe the figure being taken awaie which can not other wise be ceassed but by the cominge of the veritie that nowe the bodie of Chryst ys not onelie as in a figure as yt was in the paschall lambe but yt ys nowe in veritie He prooueth yt by Chrystes owne woorde who saied and spake nothing but trueth This ys my bodie That he spake yt by his owne naturall and substanciall bodie he prooueth by the determinacion that he put to yt which was this Which shall be deliuered for yowe This particle added determineth his sainge to be of his naturall bodie For he deliuered not his siguratiue bodie neither his spirituall bodie nor his misticall bodie Wherfor yt was spoaken of that bodie whiche might be deliuered for the sinnes of the worlde whiche was onelie his owne naturall bodie Then he concludeth vpon these two partes that as Chrystes bodie was verilie deliuered to deathe so was yt verilie spokē of Chryst in the supper not in a figure which ys nowe past and hoen but in veritie which ys comed To be shorte as he breislie concludeth the trueth so with asmoche breuitie Figure of the Sacramentaries flatlie denied he excludeth the vntrueth He sendeth the emptie figure to the olde Lawe he appointeth the fullnesse of the veritie in the newe Lawe Thus the Aduersaries figure being also denied by this authour as yt hath ben by manie other the conclusion maie be made that Chrystes woordes are to be vnderstanded not figuratiuely but in their propre sense simplie and literallie Nowe on the other side shall geue testimonie the holie man Germanus Germanus epis Constantin Bishoppe of Constantinople who did write an exposition vpon the Masse of the greke church wher in he writeth thus Ipse dixit Hoc est corpus meum hic est sanguis meus Ipse Apostolis iussit illos vniuersae Ecclesiae hoc facere Hoc enim ait facite in meam commemorationem Non sanè id facere iussisset nisi vim inditurus fuisset vt id facere liceret He saieth This ys my bodie this ys my blood He also commaunded the Apostles and by them the wholl Church this to doe For saieth he This doe ye in the remembrance of me Trulie he wolde not haue commaunded them so to doe except he had geuen them powr that thei might doe yt What ys their power afterwarde he declareth saing Spiritus sanctus qui semel egressus est in posterum non dereliquit nos sed est nobiscum erit in perpetuum aeuum haec per manum sacerdotum linguam mysteria conficit Ac non sanctum Spiritum dumtaxat misit Dominus noster vt maneat nobiscum sed ipse policitus est se mansurum nobiscum vsque ad consummationem seculi At Paracletus inconspicuus adest quia ipse corpus non gestauit Dominus verò conspicitur tangi se patitur per tremenda sacra mysteria vt quinostrā naturā acceperit eamue gestet in secula The holie Gost The holie Gost consccrateth the Sacr. by the hand and toung of the preistes who once came furth to vs and neuer hereafter doeth forsake vs but shal be with vs for euer to the worldes ende dothe consecrate these misteries by the hand and tounge of the preistes And our Lorde hath not sent his holie Spiritte that he onelie shoulde abide with vs But he himself also hath promised to dwell with vs vnto the ende of the worlde The holie Gost ys with vs but not seen bicause he had no bodie But our Lord ys both seen and suffreth himself by the fearfull and holie misteries to be touched as one that hath taken our nature vpon him and will beare yt for euer The power thē of the ministres of Chryst ys that they be the instrumētes of holie Gost by whose hād ād toung these mysteries be cōsecrated In that he saieth the holie Gost doeth woork this great work by the toūg of the preist he meneth at the pronunciacion of Chrystes woordes by the mouthe of the preistes at the whiche the holie God inuisiblie woorketh the presence of Chrystes bodie and bloode agreablie to the woordes of Chryst Li. 4. de Sacr. spoken by the preist in the person of Chryst saing
For not onelie that ys geueÌ„ that ys seen but also that that ys vnderstanded Then yt ys laufull to cast of the sanctified bread to beastes and to geue of yt to infidels bicause yt doth not sanctifie the receauer But if that which ys taken of the hand of the preist were soche a thing as that that ys eaten of the boorde all wolde eate of the boorde and no man wolde receaue of the preistes hand Wherfor our Lorde also did not onelie blesse the breade in the waie but gaue with his owne hand to Cleophas and his felowe And Paule sailing did not onelie blesse the bread but also with his hand gaue to Luke and his other Disciples Thus farre he In this place of Chrysostome three thinges are as concerning the matter of the Sacrament to be noted The first ys that he saieth that yt that the preist A plin place for reall presence against M. Iuell geueth with his hand ys not onelie a sanctified thing but also sanctificacion yt self that ys both a thing made holie and also the thing yt self that doeth make holie In that he saieth that the thing that the preist geueth with his hand ys yt that sanctifieth other thinges or maketh other thinges holie what ells can be vnderstanded but Chrystes blessed bodie who ys our sanctificacion iustificacion and redemption as saieth S. Paule who being ther sanctifieth the woorthie receruers Forasmoche nowe as Chrysostome saieth that this sanctificacion this thing that maketh other thinges holie ys geuen by the preistes handes and yt can not be vnderstanded of Chryst spirituallie receaued for that ys not geuen by the preistes hand I wolde the Aduersarie wolde answere directlie wher this sanctificacion resteth wher yt ys whether yt be in the bread or in the preist For sith he saieth that yt ys geuen by the hand of the preist yt must be either in the preist that geueth yt or in the thing that ys geuen No man will saie that that great power to sanctifie other ys in the preist for yt ys the propre acte of God as he himself withnesseth Exod. 31. saing Ego Dominus qui sanctifico vos Yt ys I yower Lord whiche doe sanctisie yowe So that the preist doeth not the acte he sanctifieth not but he deliuereth the sanctificacion Yf in the Sacrament were nothing but bread as the aduersarie teacheth this sanctificacion coulde not by his owne doctrine be in yt For the bread beinge a dumbe creature ys not apte to receaue sanctificacion as he saieth Then yt remaineth that the Aduersarie must of force confesse that sith ther ys a thing geuen by the hand of the preist in whiche resteth this sanctificacion and yt ys prooued that yt neither can be the preiste nor the bread yt can be none other but the bodie of Chryst in the Sacrament whiche neuer being separated from the God head ys euen he that sanctifieth vs. And this ys not to be ouerpassed that Chrisostom saieth that that whiche the preist geueth ys both a sanctified thing and the sanctificacion also wherby Bothe partes of the â–ª Sacr. opened he doth fullie open both partes of the Sacrament namely what yt was as bread and wine whiche nowe being sanctified are therby turned into sanctificacion yt self that ys into the bodie and blood of Chryste Of the whiche thing in effect S. Augustine saieth Qui cùm per manus hominum ad illam visibilem speciem perducïtur non sanctificatur vt fiat tam magnum sacramentum nisi in visibiliter operante Spiritu Dei WheÌ„ the bread by the handes of men ys brought to that visibile forme yt ys not sanctified that yt maie be made so great a Sacrament but by the inuisible worke of the holie Gost In that he saieth yt ys sanctified he openeth the first woorde of Chrysostom who calleth yt sanctificatum a thinge made holie In that he saieth that yt ys made so great a Sacrament by the inuisible worke of the holie Gost he openeeh the other woorde of Chrysostome calling yt sanctificacion For by the worke of the holie Gost yt ys sanctified to be the bodie of Chryste who as ys saied ys our sanctificacion that ys he that sanctifieth vs. And for affirmacion of the geuing of this sanctifieng thing by the hand of the But yf yt be laufull for vs to folowe euerie acte of Chryst doen for our example and instruction then we maie receaue vnder both kindes and we maie lausullie receaue vnder one kinde but diuersely For as Chryst when he did institute yt did yt as a solemne action of or for the memoriall of his passion and death whiche by his ministers shoulde be srequented in his Churche vntill he came again and therfor though the nombre that beleued Preistes doing the solemne action of the memoriall of Chrystes passion in their masses aught to receaue vnder both kindes both men and women was great yet he called none to this maner of ministracion but the XII Apostles who were preistes signifieng therby that all preistes that shoulde in his Church doe this solemne action before his people for the memoriall of his passion and death shoulde doe yt vnder both kindes as therby to signifie vnto the faithfull that in the passion of Chryst the blood of that blessed bodie was separated and diuided from that bodie and ran oute plentifull to wash awaie our filthie sinnes Euen so they that be preistes and accordinge to the office of preistes doe this publike ministerie in the setting furth of this memoriall of Chrystes death must according to Chrystes institucion haue and receaue the blessed Sacramentes vnder both kindes Whiche thing the catholique Churche neuer hath nor doeth pretermitte but inuiolablie obserueth hauing ther in as yt ys meit a speciall reâ—arde to Chrystes institucion In the other time of Chrystes ministracion of the Sacrament of his bodie to the twoo disciples as the Gospell maketh no mencion that yt was doen as a solemne action of or for the remembrance of Chrystes passion or death but raither as a mean to woorke them a benefit to remoue the impediment of Sathan whiche letteth them to knowe Chryst and so to open their eies that they might knowe him and therfor receaued the Sacrament but vnder Priuate psons sor their spirituall cosort maie laufullie receaue vnder one kinde as the disciples did in Emans Bishoppes preistes and all of the clergie not doing the publique action receaue vnder one kinde one kinde Euen so priuate persons that for their spirituall coÌ„forte in Chryst for the enkendling of the fire of Gods loue in them for the godlie exercise of their faith for their incorporacion into Chryst for their strenght and defence against the assaultes and temptacions of the enemie or in extreames for their voiage meate the better to walke ther iourneie doe receaue the blessed Sacrament maie verie well according to Chrystes example receaue yt vnder one kinde as those disciples did Wherfor all Bishoppes all preistes and
benefittes shewed and doen saieth thus And the readde Sea didest thowe diuide before them 2. Esd 9. in sundre so that they went through the middest of the Sea drie shooed and their persecutours threwest thowe in to the depth as a stone in mightie waters and leddest them on the daie time in a clowdie piller and on the night season in a piller of fire to shewe them light in the waie that they went Thowe gauest them bread from heauen when they were hongrie and broughtest furth water for them oute of the rocke when they were thirstie The diuision of the read sea wherof Esdras first maketh mencion The read Sea shall be perceaued to be a great wonderfull worke of God and a great benefitt to the Israelites yf the historie of the same be considered In the booke of Exodus we read that when Pharao king of Egypt Exod. 14. had according to gods commaundement sent vnto him by Moyses permitted the children of Israell to departe oute of Egypte he being a man of wicked heart when they were goen with might and force prepared to folowe them and to persecute them Whose mighttie armie and great nombre of horses and chariettes when the Israelites sawe poursewing them and with all considering the great strait that they were in hauing Pharao and his hoste behind them at their backe and the readd sea before them So that ther appeared vnto them nothing but wofull distresse and ineuitable perill of death they were sore afraied and caried oute to God And Moyses stretched oute his hand ouer the read Sea and God caried awaie the Sea by a verie strong east winde all that night and made the Sea drie land so that the children of Israell went through the middest of the Sea with drie feet hauing the waters as a wall vnto them bothe on the right hand and on the leste And the Egyptians folowed after them into the middest of the Sea and God caused the waters to return vpon them and drowned them with their horses and chariettes For whiche great wonder Moyses sange in prayse to God Flauit spiritus tuus operuit cos mare submersi sunt quasi Exod. 15. plumbum in aquis vehementibus The winde blewe and the Sea couered them they sanke like lead in the mightie waters Filij autem Israell ambulauerunt per siccum in medio â—eius But the children of Israell went on drie land in the myddest therof As ye maie perceaue by this what a great worke of God and howe great a benefitt to the Iewes yt was that sainct Paule in these fewe woordes spake The clowde that all passed through the redde Sea So was yt likewise that he saied that all the Fathers were vnder the cloude Of the beginning of this clowd we read also in Exodus that when the children of Israell departed oute of Egypt that theyr iourney should not be vncerten and they wander without Exod. 13. 14. ordre the Lord went before them by daie in a piller of a clowde to lead them the waie and by night in a piller of the fire to geue them light that they might go both by daie and by night The piller of the clowde departed not by daie nor the piller of sire by night oute of the sight of the people Benefites of the Clowde This clowdie piller was not onelie a guide and a leader vnto the people but yt was also a bullwarke of defence For when Pharao with hys armie did persecute the children of Israell the aungell of God whiche went before the hoste of Israell remoued and began to go behinde them And the clowdie piller that was before the face of them began to stand behind theÌ„ and came betwen the host of the Egyptians and the hoste of Israell Yt was also a darke clowde and gaue light by night and all night long the one came Num. 9. not at the other Thys clowde did not onely nowe serue for the commoditie of the Israelites but further on their iourney in the wildernesse yt was a great benefitt vnto them as we read in the booke of Nombres wher we learn that yt couered the Tabernacle allwaie by daie and the similitude of fire by night And yt happened that when the clowde abode vpon the tabernacle from euen vnto the morning and was taken vppe in that morning then they iourneied Or yf the clowde taried two daies or a moneth or a long season vpon the tabernacle and remained theron the children of Israell aboad still and iourneied not And as sooen as the clowde was taken vppe they iourneied Of thys clowde also speaketh the Prophet Dauid in the psalme reck ninge yt amonge other as a great benefitte of God geuen to the Israelites Expandit nubem in protectionem eorum ignem vt luceret eis per noctem Manna He spred oute a clowde to be a couering and fire to geue them light in the night season Exd. 16. Thus this goodlie benefitt somwhat opened and declared we shal do the like aboute the next which ys Manna Of the whiche we read that the xv daie of the seconde moneth after the departing of the children of Israell oute of the lande of Egypte the wholl multitude of the children of Israell murmured against Moyses and Aaron in the wildernesse and the children of Israell saied vnto them wolde to God we had died by the hande of the Lorde in the lande of Egypte when we sett by the flesh pottes and when we did eate bread our bellies full For ye haue brought vs out into this wildernesse to kill this wholl multitude with honger Then saied the Lorde vnto Moyses Be holde I will rain breade from heauen to yowe and the people shall go oute and gather daie by daie And in the same chapiter yt foloweth And in the morning the dewe laie rownde aboute the host And when the dewe was fallen beholde yt laie vpon the grownde in the wildernesse small and rownde and when the children of Israell sawe yt they saied euery one to his neighbour yt ys Manna For they wist not what yt was And Moyses saied vnto them this ys the bread which the Lord hath geuen yowe to eate Thus God fedde the children of Israell in the wildernesse wher they did neither sowe ne reape with this bread from heauen of the whiche they had no lacke This ys the meate that sainct Paule speaketh of that all the fathers did eate of This ys yt that ys spoken of in the Psalme Et Psalm 77. pluit illis Manna ad manducandum panem caeli dedit eis He rained downe Manna also vpon them for to eate and gaue them foode from heauen Of the wounders of this bread more shall be saied in the next chapiter The last benefitt recited of sainct Paule in this place ys that they all dranke Mater of the Rocke of one drinke that came oute of the rocke Of this miraculouse drinke we read that when
also in his saing signifie moche difference whē he saied that Manna was meate in darke maner and nowe the flesh of the Sonne of God ys true meat in a plain maner Yf the balance be in a true mans hand the one will weigh moch more then the other euen as moche as the bodie more then the shadowe Thus ye haue heard the minde of Origen and S. Ambrose in these three pointes that ys that Manna ys a figure of the bodie of Chryste that the bodie of Chryste ys present in the Sacrament and that the thinges of the new Testament are of more excellencie then the thinges of the olde Testament In particular I meen of that thing that they haue spoken of A place shall be had that they shall be spoken of vniuersallie In the mean while as I do passe through the Authours as they do touche yt so yt shall be noted and so likewise of the other two THE SIXTH CHAPITER DECLARETH THAT Manna was a figure by the testimonie of saincte Cyprian and Chrysostom THe holy Martyr S. Cyprian whose faithe ys well to be perceaued in the matter of the Sacrament by hys plain and manifold godlie sainges in the first and second booke alleaged wil also be a notable wittnesse for the same here In the first booke he hath most clerely declared vnto vs the figures that were there spokē of as of Melchisedech and the Paschal lābe so here also as plainly as breiflie he toucheth this figure saing Huius panis figura fuit Manna quod in deserto pluit Sicvbi ad verum panem in terra promissionis ventum est cibus ille defecit Of this bread Māna was a figure which rained in the desert So when we came to the true bread Cyprian de caena Do. in the land of promesse that meat ceassed That the bread which he speaketh of here of the which he saieth that Manna was the figure ys the holie bread of the blessed Sacrament yt ys more manifest than that yt can be denied For this his Sermon wherin these woordes be written being of the supper of our Lorde he onely treacteth of yt This will also be proued not onely by the sentence on the whiche this dependeth Ibid. and hangeth but also very manifestlie where he openeth himself in the ende of the sermon by expresse woordes saing Sed nos ipsi corpus effecti Sacramento re Sacramenti capiti nostro connectimur vnimur Singuli alter alterius membra ministerium dilectionis proinuicc̄ exhibentes communicamus charitate participamur The one meate and drinke that we fead on ys our Lord Iesus Chryste solicitudine eundem cibum manducantes eundem potum bibentes qui de spiritali prosluit petra emanauit Qui cibus potus est Dominus noster Iesus Christus But we our selues also saieth Cyprian being made his bodie by the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament we are connected and vnited to our head euery one being membres one of an other we communicate in charitie we are partakers of one care eating of one meate and drinking of one drinke whiche did flowe oute of the spirituall stone Which meat and drinke ys ower Lord Iesus Chryst. Thus moche S. Cyprian In this saing yt ys manifest that he alludeth to the same text of S. Paul that we haue in hand for he vseth the very woordes of S. Paule saing that we eate all of one meat and drinke all of one drink whiche drinke did flowe oute of the spirituall stone I nede not to conferre the one to the other for he that knoweth the one dothe well perceaue the other But what this one meat ys that we all eate of and what this drinke ys that flowed oute of the spirituall stone of the whiche we all drinke he furth A plain saing for the Procla with expowndeth and saieth Which meat and drinke ys our Lord Iesus Chryst A more plain speache can not be desired As the Iewes did eate of one Manna and dranke of one water flowing out of the stone so all we Chrystians eate one meate and drinke one drinke the bodie and blood of Chryst The bodie of Chryst being the one meat figurated by the one meat of the Iewes whiche was Manna The blood of Chryst being the one drinke of the Chrystians figurated by the one drinke of the Ioan. 19. Iewes whiche did flowe oute of the stone as the bloode flowed oute of the spirituall stone the bodie of our Lord and Sauiour Chryst Iesus For as the Euangelist saieth vnus militum lancea latus eius aperuit continuò exiuit sanguis aqua One Sacramentaries glose of spiritual lie impugned of the soldiers with a spere thrust him into the side and furthwith there came oute blood and water This clere testimonie of S. Cyprian can not be darkned with the comon obscure glose of the Aduersaries as to saie that our Lorde Iesus Chryst ys our meat spirituallie We confesse as before that Chryst ys our spirituall meat and that we fede vpon him spirituallie and we wish and praie that all chrystians will so frame their liues and conuersacions that they maie dailie fede on him spirituallie But with all we confesse and beleue that we recea him reallie and substanciallie in the Sacrament as S. Cyrill saieth whose phrase ys not vnlike this that we haue nowe saied Thus he writeth Non negamus Cyrill in 15 Joan. Chrystes bodie ys receaued both spirituallie and reallie nos recta fide charitateue sincera Christo spiritualiter coniungi sed nullam nobis coniunctionis rationem secumdùm carnem cum illo esse id profectò pernegamus idue à diuinis scripturis omnino alienum dicimus We denie not but that we are ioined to Chryst spirituallie by right faith and sincere charitie But that we haue no maner of coniunction with him after the fleshe that in verie dede we vtterlie denie and saie yt to be farre wide from the scriptures And a litle after An fortassis putat ignotam nobis misticae benedictionis virtutem esse quae cùm in nobis fiat nonne corporalliter quoque facit cōmunicatione carnis Christi Christum in nobis habitare Dothe he thinke peraduenture that the vertue of the misticall benediction ys vnknowen to vs whiche when yt ys doen in vs dothe yt not make also by the cōmunicacion or receauing of Chrystes flesh Chryst corporallie to dwell in vs Nowe therfor with S. Cyrill confessing both maners of receauing and feading of Chryst we do not with the Aduersaries so confesse the one that we denie the other wherfor not denieng but affirming with the holy martir Ciprian we saie that we receaue Chryst verilie and that our lorde Iesus Chryst as Cyprian speaketh yt ys our meate and his bloode our drinke reallie and substanciallie And that S. Cyprian so meneth yt will withoute all scruple appeare manifestlie to the reader yf he will consider and vnderstande where he speaketh these woordes
Chrystes Churhe And for that these Aduersaries when they knewe the trueth wolde not abide in the trueth and when they knewe God wolde not glorifie him as God but they haue vanished awaie in their owne thoughtes and saing them selues to be wise they are become verie fooles So that as their likes the people of the host of Syria were striken with blindnesse so obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum their Rom. 1. foolish heart ys blinded So that nowe blinder then Moll 's they saie light ys darknesse and darknesse light And thus being blinde are contented to be caried in to the handes of their enemies as the Syrians were But God of his mercie woorke mercifullie with them that they perish not in the handes of their enemies in the end but that yt maie please him that they maie be deliuered by the charitable mean of the Prophet of God by the ministerie of the catholique preacher and that for his persecucō they maie sustein no other affliction but that they maie eate in the middest of the cittie the bread of the Israelites the bread of the true chrystians the bodie of Chryste in the holie Sacrament and so ceasse anie more to persequute Israell but to become one with thē in that sorte that Multitudinis credentium fiat cor vnum anima vna in Domino Of the multude of them that beleue Acto 4. ther be but one heart and one soule An ende they shall haue for to continue God will not suffre them and if their demerites so require as nowe ours do to be afflicted with them God will withholde that mercie from them that they maie not come to that ende which before I haue desiered for them Oh Lorde howe miserable then shall be the ende Wherfore Chrysten reader be of good cheer and feare not For though they haue worldlie might and power on their side yet they can not preuaill against vs. For ther be mo on our side then on theirs All the holie writers be with us of which thowe hauest hearde a good nombre and yet thowe shalt heare moo which shall not speake in darke maner so as thowe maist be doubtfull what they meen or howe they be to be taken and vnderstanded thowe shalt heare them in so clere maner testifie the trueth that yt shall be easie to saie this ys their meening and thus they are to be vnderstanded And for triall herof here ys first the testimonie of Oecomenius to be hearde Which ys this vpon the text of S. Paule nowe treacted of Vnus panis vnū corpus sumus Nam ex vno pane omnes participamus Ratiouem addit quomodò corpus Christi efficiamur Quid enim inquit est panis corpus nempe Christi Quid autem efficiciuntur Oecum iudeci 1 Cor. hi qui participant Corpus sanè Christi Nam participantes corpus Christi nos quoque illud efficimur Quoniam vnus panis est Christus Ex multis namue grauis vt exempli gratia loquamur vnus panis factus est nos multi ex ipso vno participantes efficimur Note howe Oecum foloweth the woordes of Chrysostom before alleaged saing what ys the bread and answereth the bodie of Chryste vnum corpus Christi Quontam enim vetus nostra caro corrupta est sub peccato opus nobis fuit noua carne We are one bread and one bodie for we do all partake of one bread He addeth a reason saieth Oecumenius howe we are made the bodie of Chryst What saieth he ys the bread Verilie the bodie of Chryst. And what are they made that do partake truelie the bodie of Chryst For we partaking the bodie of Chryst are also made the same For Chryst ys one bread for of manie granes As for example we maiespeake one bread ys made and we being manie partaking of that one are made one bodie of Chryste forasmoche as our olde flesh was corrupted vnder sinne we had nede of a newe flesh Thus he In my iudgement I nede not anie thinge vpon this exposition to saie as wherby to make yt clere or plain for that yt ys so plain of yt self but yet in consideracion that I write not to the learned but to helpe the vnlearned to whom nothing can be to plain I will somwhat saie therbie at the leest to ministre occasion to the reader the better to note what this authour doth saie S. Paule immediatelie before this text had saied that the bread whiche we breake ys a communicacion of the bodie of our lorde by the whiche woordes as also Chrysost did note S. Paule wolde teach that neer coniunction and vnion of vs to and with Chryst whiche ys no lesse then that we be made the bodie of Chryst Then S. Paule proceading to this text which we haue nowe in hande this authour saieth that wher before he had saied that we be made the bodie of Christ Herehe geueth a reason howe we are made the bodie of Chryst Among philosophers yt ys accompted vnsemelie to affirme anie thing without a reason the scripture also willeth vs to be readie to geue an answere to euerie one that asketh vs a reason of that hope that ys in vs. So when S. Paule as this authour implieth had taught that we be made the bodie of Chryst here he geueth a reason howe we be made the bodie of Chryst And that this reason of S. Paule maie the better appeare vnto vs the authour first openeth the partes of yt to vs. For wher S. Paule in his reason saieth that we do all eate of one breade to open what that bread ys he asketh a question saing what ys the breade he solueth the question furthwith and saieth verilie yt ys the bodie of Chryst 1. Pet. Note this then Reader that the bread whiche S. Paule speaketh of here ys the bodie of Chryste And note farder that he saieth not yt ys a figuratiue bodie but he saieth yt ys the bodie of Chryst verilie Wherbie the Aduersaries signes and figures are cutte of and in this sentence of S. Paule ther ys no place for them For yf yt be verilie the bodie of Chryst yt ys not figuratiuelie his bodie Yf the Aduersarie wolde seke some shifte to helpe to hide and couer his falshoode and wickednesse and saie that the bread whiche this authour asketh this question of and solueth yt to be the bodie of Chryst ys the congregacion of the faith full whiche he will graunt to be the very bodie of Chryst misticall This glosse will not serue him but raither declare him to be The reall bodie of Chryste partaken the misticall bodie the partakers a violent wrester of this authour as he ys of manie other mo For this authour speaketh of the bread that ys partakē and receaued and not of vs which do partake and receaue yt For when he had declared the bread to be the bodie of Chryst then immediatelie he asketh what be they made that dopartake yt
made what should yt offend the Proclamer to hear that S. Peter ād S. Paule did make a certain ordre and certain praiers to be vsed in the Masse and so likewise S. Andrew S. Iames S. Dionyse S. Basil and S. Chrysostō and other by reason of whiche ordeinaunces and praiers by them seuerallie made they should be called S. Peters Masse S. Andrews Masse S. Iames Masse and so furth As S. Peter and S. Paule are testified to haue saied Masse So ys S. Andrew the S. Andre as Apost ad Aegeā brother of S. Peter who after he had with moch trauaill and manie miracles preached Chrystes faith in Scythia in Europe which contrie happened to him when the Apostles diuided thēselues to preach throughout the woorld He came to Patras in Grece wher being resisted by Aegeas the Proconsull and by him apprehēded in geuing an accōpt of his doinges saied thus to the same Aegeas Omnipotenti Deo qui vnus verus est Deus ego omni die sacrifico non S. Andrew offred sacrifice dailie thuris fumū nec taurorū mugientiū carnes nec hircorū sanguinē sed immaculatū agnū qnotidie in altari crucis sacrifico cuius carnes postqaam omnis populus credentiū manducauerit eius sanguinē biberit agnus qui sacrificatus est integer perseuerat vinus Et cūm verè sacrificatus fuerit verè carnes eius manducatae sint à populo verè sanguis eius sit bibitus tamen vt dixi integer permanet vinus Vnto the Allmightie God which ys one and the verie God euery daie do I sacrifice not the smook of franken cense neither the flesh of roaring bulls nor the blood of kiddes but an vndefiled lābe do I dailie offre in sacrifice in the aultar of the crosse whose flesh after that all the beleuing people haue eaten and haue dronken his bloode the lābe that ys sacrificed doth remain wholl and aliue And when he ys verilie sacrificed and his flesh verilie eaten of the people and his blood verilie dronken yet for all as I haue saied he doth remain wholl and vndefiled and aliue Thus he Although in this saing of S. Andrew here ys no menciō made of the woord Masse what yt ys Masse yet he hath reported himself to haue doē that thing that he should haue doē yf he had saied that he saied Masse For call to remēbrance what we haue saied Masse to be yt ys to consecrate the bodie and blood of Chryste to offre the same in sacrifice and to receaue yt These three S. Andrewe reporteth himself dailie to haue doen. For he saieth that in the aultar he sacrificed the immaculate lambe c. Wherbie declaring the blessed and innocēt lambe Chryste to be on the aultar he declareth the consecracion and saing that he did on the aultar sacrifice yt he doth open the sacrifice and expressedlie also confessing the receipt the wholl three parts of the Masse be confessed to haue ben by him doen. Nowe let not the Aduersarie reiect the saing of S. Andrew as of none authoritie for yt hath ben in the Churche receaued manie hundreth years and written in an epistle by the preistes and deacons of Achaia of the passiō of S Andrewe and to this daie of no catholique to my knowlege reproued To these three Apostles we shall adde one other Apostle S. Iames by name whom with the skoff of somsaie this Proclamer wolde haue made his audien ce beleue that he had neuer saied Masse at Hierusalem as he wolde haue persuaded that S. Peter neuer did at Antioche or at Rome But afterward correcting himself as a man waking oute of a sheape or dreame and better aduised perchaunce not knowing when he preached his sermon that the Masse S. Iames Masse allowed and praised by the Proclamer of S. Iames was a broad in print but before he penned yt coming to knowledge he corrected his Some saie spoken in his dreame and vnaduisedlie ād being now waking and better aduised chaungeth his phrase and saieth that yt ys constantlie affirmed that S. Iames saied Masse at Hierusalem And finallie he himself confessing the same and magnifieng and highlie extolling yt by soche comparison as yt liketh him to make he abaseth depresseth and dispraiseth the Masse of the catholique Church that ys nowe vsed but howe well he handleth the matter thowe shalt hereafter vnderstand Let vs nowe examen the Masse of S. Iames and see whether his maner of consecracion agreeth with ours Dominus Iesus ea nocte qua tradebatur vel potius seipsum tradebat pro vita salute mundi accipiens panem in sanctas immaculatas inculpabiles immortales manus suas in coelum suspiciens ac tibi Deo Patri ostendens gratias agens sanctificans frangens dedit nobis Discipulis suis dicens Accipite comedite S. Iames directed his speache in the cōsecracion to God the Father Hoc est corpus meum quod pro vobis frangitur datur in remissionem peccatorum Oure Lord Iesus the same night that he was betraied or raither in the which he deliuered himself for the life and saluacion of the worlde taking bread into his holie vndefiled innocent and immortall handes looking vppe into heauen and shewing yt vnto thee God and Father geuing thankes sanctifieng and breaking gaue yt vnto vs his Disciples saing Take eate this ys my bodie which ys broken for yowe and geuen in the remission of Chryst mixed his cuppe with wyne ād water sinnes Then he tooke the cuppe and saied Similiter postquà m coenauit accipiens calicem permiscens ex vino aqua aspiciens in coelum ac ostendens tibi Deo Patri gratias agens sanctificans benedicens implens Spiritu sancto dedit nobis Discipulis suis dicens Bibite ex hoc omnes Hic est sanguis meus noui Testamenti qui pro vobis multis effunditur datur in remissionem peccatorum Likewise he after he had supped taking the cuppe and mingling yt with wine and water and looking vppe into heauen and shewing yt to thee God and Father geuing thankes sanctifieng blessing filling yt with the holie Gost he gaue yt vnto vs his Disciples saing Drinke ye all of this This ys my bloode of the newe Testament which for yowe and for manie ys shed and geuen in the remission of sinnes This was his maner of consecracion And forasmoche as all the holie Apostles preached one Chryste one faith one religion and did all see Chryste setting furth this one institucion yt ys to be thought in so weightie a matter Chryst before the consecracion of his bodie lifted vppe hiseies and gaue thāks to his Father that they all vsed one forme which maie well be proued to be this for that S. Iames being an Apostle wolde not in this high ministracion varie or dissent from other Apostles but vse the same ordre and maner that they did Nowe then let the Masse
of religioÌ„ to the maner of the Apostles aÌ„d the primitiue Church whie doeth he not obserue this which he can not denie ther to haue ben obserued and by the Councels of Cartage and Constantinople decreed accordinglie to be receaued But yt ys not the primitiue Church that he trauaileth for to be regarded but yt ys his phantasie and will that he seeketh to be receaued God geue him a better minde This also ys not to be ouerpassed that the Councel of Constantinople testifieng that S. Iames did setfurth in writing the holie mynistracion doth call yt by the name of Sacrifice saing that he did setfurth the mysticall sacrifice Masse called a sacrifice by the Counc of ConstaÌ„tin which name the Proclamer abhorreth But what do I tarie so long aboute the settingfurth of these wittnesses seing ther be diuerse other that testifie the same As Nicolaus Metbonen S. Bernard Algerus Bessarion and other whom for breuitie sake I thinke yt sufficient to haue named Nowe Reader wher the Proclamer in the second place that he speaketh of S. Iames saieth that we constantlie affirme that S. Iames saied Masse I praie thee maie we not so doo and doo truelie And yf he and his complices saie the contrarie shall they not saie falselie we haue wittnesse and good authoritie to maintein that we saie He deskanteth voluntarilie with manie discordes all oute of tune For he singeth without his rule hauing nothing well alleaged to maintein what he saieth Thie parte therfore shall be Reader to lean and cleaue to that side that groâ—ndeth yt self vpon substanciall authoritie and not vpon phantasie and willfull affection But yt ys time that we also see the maner of consecracion vsed in the latime Church in time of the auncient Fathers of the same of the whiche one maie nowe suffice for all whiche one shall be S. Ambrose who thus reporteth yt Vis scire quia verbis coelestibus consecratur Accipe quae sunt verba Dicit sacerdos Fac nobis inquit hanc oblationem ascriptam rationabilem acceptabilem quod est Ambr. li. 4 de sac ca. 5 figura corporis sanguinis Domini nostri Iesu Christi Qui pridie quà m pateretur in sanctis manibus suis accepit panem respexit ad coelum ad te sancte Pater omnipotens aeterne Deus gratias agens benedixit fregit fractumue Apostolis suis Discipulis tradidit dicens Accipite edite ex hoc omnes Hoc est enim corpus meuÌ„ quod pro multis confringetur Similiter etiam calicem postquà m coenatum est pridie quà m pateretur accepit respexit ad coelum ad te sancte Pater omnipotens aeterne Deus gratias agens benedixit Apostolis et Discipulis suis tradidit dicens Accipite et bibite ex eo omnes Hic est enim sanguis meus Wilt thow know that the Sacrament ys consecrated with heauenlie woordes Marke what be the woordes The preist saieth Make this oblacion saieth he Conferre this praier with the Masse book and yt agreeth nere conferre yt with the CoÌ„munion aÌ„d yt dissenteth farre alowed reasonable and acceptable which ys a figure of the bodie and blood of our Lord Iesus Chryste Who the daie before he wolde suffer tooke bread in his holie handes and looked vnto heauen to thee holie Father allmightie euerlasting God geuing thankes he blessed yt he brake yt and brokeÌ„ he deliuered yt to his Apostles and Disciples saing Take ye and eate ye of this all For this ys my bodie which shall be broken for manie Likewise also the daie before he wolde suffre he tooke the cuppe after they had supped he looked to heauen vnto thee Father allmightie euerlasting God geuing thankes he blessed yt and gaue yt to his Apostles and Disciples saing Take and drinke ye all of this For this ys my blood Hitherto S. Ambrose hath opened the praier vsed in the Church immediatelie before the consecracion and the consecracion also Which doen he maketh a certain exposition of yt and saieth thus Vide omnia illa verba Euange listae sunt ad Accipite siue corpus siue sanguinem inde verba sunt Christi Vide singula Qui pridie inquit quà m pateretur in sanctis manibus suis accepit panem Antequà m consecretur panis est vbi autem verba Christi accesserint corpus est Christi Denique audi dicentem Accipite edite ex eo omnes hoc est corpus meum Et ante verba Christi calix est vini aquae plenus vbi verba Christi operata fuerint ibi sanguis efficitur qui plebem redemit Marke all those woordes be the woordes of the Euangelist vnto these woordes Take either bodie or blood froÌ„ hencefurth they be the woords of Chryste Note enerie thing Who saieth he the daie before he wolde suffer tooke bread in his holie handes Before yt ys consecrated yt ys bread when the woordes of Chryste haue comed to yt yt ys the bodie of Chryste For hear him saing Take and eate ye all of this This ys my bodie And before the woordes of Chryst yt ys a cuppe full of wine aÌ„d water wheÌ„ the woords of Chryst haue wrought ther ys made the blood that redemed the people Now of S. Ambrose ye haue heard the praier preparatiue to the coÌ„secracion Ye haue heard the coÌ„secracion yt self which be the woords of Chryst Ye haue heard the effect of consecracion as yt was beleued of the holie catholique Church before aÌ„d in the time of S. Ambrose aÌ„d of S. Ambrose him self as his owne woordes not onelie here but in diuerse and sondrie other places do declare Who among other expownding the Pater noster saieth thus Memini sermonis mei cùm de sacrameÌ„tis tractareÌ„ dixi vobis quòd ante verba Christi quod offertur panis dicitur vbi Christi verba deproÌ„pta fuerint iam non panis dicitur sed corpus appellatur Ambr. in oratione dominica I remeÌ„bre my saing wheÌ„ I treacted of the Sacr. I saied vnto yow that before the woords of Chryst the thing that ys offred ys called bread when the woords of Christ be vttered now yt ys not called bread but ys called the bodie of Chryst The like woordes hath S. Augustine Now what the maner of consecracion hath ben among the Fathers of the primitiue and auncient Church as we haue learned yt in the last chapter by All one consecracioÌ„ in the Masse vsed by the Apostles their Disciples the Fathers of the primitiue Church aÌ„d of the Churche nowe foure Apostles and S. Paule so in this we haue learned yt by foure Fathers and S. Dionyse the Disciple of S. Paule all which doe well agree that yt maie well be perceaued that Proclus saied that yt ys all one consecracioÌ„ of one Masse varied in shortnesse or lenght in some praiers or extern ceremonies or gesturs onelie for the variacion of the maners of the people but not in the substanciall parts For proof
and other Disciples did in the Masse make oblacion and offre sacrifice as the Apostles did This man S. Clement I meen euen as S. Iames did immediatelie after the holie consecracion praied thus Memores igitur passionis eius mortis resurrectionis reditus in coelos futuri eius secundi aduentus in quo veniet iudicaturus viuos mortuos redditurusque cuique secundùm opera sua offerimus S. Clemens in Missa vt refert Methon ibi Regi Deo secundùm eius institutionem panem hunc hunc calicem gratias tibi per eum agentes quod nos dignatus fueris astare coram te tibi sacrificare Being therfor mindefull of his passion death resurrection ascension into heauen and of his second coming in the whiche he will iudge both quicke and dead and will geue to euerie one according to his workes We offre vnto the King and God according to his institucion this bread and this cuppe geuing thee thanks by him that thow hauest vouchsafe vs to stand before thee and to offre sacrifice to thee Thus S. Clement Let not the good Chrystian be dismaied nor the Sacramentarie triumphe S. Clement offred Chrysts bodie and blood in sacrifice that he saieth we offre this bread but let them both vnderstand that as our Sauiour Chryste in the vi of S. Iohn and S. Paule in the x of the first to the Corinth whiche ys allreadie declared and in the xi of the same whiche here shall be declared doo call the bodie of Chryste bread So doth S. Clement here For proofe wherof haue recourse to the praier of S. Clement in the last chapter before and see his faith what he beleued to be in the Sacrament wher ye shall finde him desiering that the holie Gost maie be sent who maie make the bread the bodie of Chryste and the wine the blood of Chryste Yf then the bread by the worke of the holie Gost be made the bodie of Chryst then ther ys no other bread there after consecracion to be offred in sacrifice but the bread of the bodie of Chryst and the cuppe of his blood Neither can the Sacramentarie with all his wresting malice vnderstand this of materiall bread For this that ys here offred ys offred according to the institucion of Chryste but as the Sacramentarie can not but confesse Chryste neuer instituted materiall bread to be offred in sacrisice Wherfor yt can not be vnderstanded of materiall bread Yt ys euident then that S. Clement offred Chrysts bodie and blood the verie true bread and true wine in sacrifice This being made plain we shall descende to S. Basill and see what he did whether he offred in his Masse or no. He as S. Clement immediately after S. Basill offred the like sacrifice to S. Ja. ād S Clem. the consecracion continued his holie taulke to God saing on this wise Memores ergo Domine nos salutarium eius passionum viuificae crucis triduanae sepulturae ex mortuis resurrectionis in caelum ascensionis in dextra tua Dei Patris sessionis gloriosae ac terribilis secundae eius praesentiae tua ex tuis tibi offerimus We also therfor o Lorde being mindfull of his holsom passions liuelie crosse three daies buriall his resurrection from the dead his ascension into hauen his sitting at thie right hand God and Father and of his gloriouse and terrible second presence we offre thine to thee oute of thine Thus he See ye not here as in S. Iames and S. Clement an oblacion of the bodie and bloode of Chryste whiche be thinges of God consecrated of his creaturs bread and wine and so offred vnto God Hitherto then ye see the holie Fathers to haue offred Chrystes bodie and blood and therfor in their woordes and writings not to haue abhorred the tearmes of offring or making oblacion and sacrifice as the newe brothers do But for farder proofe of the practise of the Sacrifice we will procede and see what Chrysostom did in his Masse For he keping the order before mencioned immediatelie vpon the consecracion addeth this praier Memores igitur salutaris huius mandati omnium eorum quae pro nobis facta sunt crucis sepulchri Chrysostome offred sacrifice in Masse resurrectionis ad caelos ascensionis sessionis ad dextram secundi gloriosi rursus aduentus tua ex tuis tibi offerimus Remembring therfor this holie commaundement and all those thinges that haue ben doen for vs as the crosse buriall resurrection ascension into heauen sitting at the right hand the seconde and gloriouse coming again we offre thine vnto thee of thine owne Thus ther. Yt can not be that they that so iustlie agree in woordes and sentēce shoulde varie and dysagree in sence and vnderstanding Wherfor Chrysostom as the other did did in his Masse offre sacrisice I labour not here to seke the deapt of this matter for that I haue done allreadie in diuerse places of this worke but I cheiflie seke by the woordes of these Fathers to declare that all S. Ambrose and the church that he liued in offred sacrifice in the Masse they did offre sacrifice What they offred and to what effect yt ys and shal be declared and as yt maie for this place suffice by S. Ambrose yt shall be made euident what he and the auncient Church in his time did offre Wherby also we shall be assured what the former Fathers did offre this being certen that holie Ambrose did nothing contrarie to the holie faith of the primitiue Church Thus he reporteth of the practise of the auncient Church of his time and before Sacerdos dicit Ergo memores gloriosissimae eius passionis ab inferis resurrectionis in coelum ascensionis offerimus tibi hanc immaculatam hostiam rationabilem hostiam incruentam hostiam hunc panem sanctum calicem vitae aeternae Being therfor mindful of thie most gloriouse passion and resurrection frō death ād ascension into heauen we offre vnto thee this vndefiled sacrifice reasonable sacrifice vnbloodie sacrifice this holie bread and cuppe of life euerlasting Note here what maner of sacrifice was offred in the Masse Doo ye not here see by the testimonie of S. Ambrose that the preist did offre sacrifice in the remēbrance of Chrysts passion resurrection and ascension But note and marke well what maner of sacrifice An immaculate or vn defiled sacrifice a pure sacrifice What sacrifice ys yt that man can offre to God that he maie boldlie so tearm and call No pure man dare so farre presume of his owne doings of offrings to God This pure and vndefiled sacrifice then can be none other but that pure and innocent lambe of God that purifieth and clenseth vs by taking awaie the sinnes of the worlde euen Iesus 1. Joan. 1. Ibid. 6. Chryste his verie bodie and blood Which maner of vnderstanding the later woordes of this offring sentence doeth also enforce vs to take determining
of the Deuell molesting the house of a certain mā and moche disquieting his familie and seruants was clean driuen awaie Aug li. 22. De ciuit Dei ca. 1 and the house after wel quieted Howe moche then so euer they crie oute against Masse howe great ab hominacion soeuer they make yt to saie that the sacrifice of Chrystes bodie ys offred by the preist howe moche soeuer Sathan and his disciples wolde extenuate the vertue and power of yt yet in spite of their teeth they must heare S. Austen saie that the preist offred the sacrifice of Chrystes bodie And what ys yt to offre the sacrifice of Chrystes bodie but to saie Masse And to saie Masse ys to offre this sacrifice And wher Sathans Angells troobled the house of this man to great hurt bothe of his seruantes and of his cattaill when Masse was saied in the house the power of Sathan was put to fleight Yowe maie perceaue then that yt ys not without cause that Sathā stirred vppe his ministres so cruellie and fiercely to crie oute to raill and to rage against the blessed and holie Masse For being deuoutlie and godlie doen yt weakeneth his power yt withstandeth his malice yt abateth his tirannie and diminisheth his kingdom And by this ye maie consider howe acceptable a thing the Masse ys that at once saing the Deuel and his Angells were driuē awaie Yf the Masse were so detestable before God as they wolde make yt God wolde at the doing of yt haue caused mo Deuells to come to the house rather than by the doing of yt to putte them to fleight Thus maie yowe perceaue that God commendeth to vs the goodnesse of the Masse by miracle In spirituall thinges yt also abateth the power of the Deuell for yt diminisheth the force of temptacion as saieth S. Bernard Duo enim illud sacramentū operatur in nobis vt videlicet sensum minuat in minimis in grauioribus peceatis tol Sermon de Baptis lat omnino consensum Si quis vestrum non tam sepè modò non tam acerbos sentit iracundiae motus luxuriae aeut caeterorū huiusmodi gratias agat corpori sanguini Domini quoniā virtus sacramenti operatur in eo Two thinges that Sacrament woorketh in vs that in lesser sinnes yt diminisheth the feeling and in greater sinnes yt taketh awaie consent Yf anie of yowe doe not so often nowe feele so bitter mocions of wrathe of enuie of lecherie or soche other let him geue thankes to the bodie and bloode of ower lorde For the vertue of the Sacrament woorketh in him Thus the bodie and blood of Chryst in the Sacramēt with standeth the furie of Sathan and his Angells both in outewarde thinges and inwarde thinges Nowe let not the Aduersarie cauill that bicause S. Bernarde saieth here that the vertue of the Sacramēt woorketh that he vnderstandeth not Chryst Three thin ges to be attended in the bless Sacr. him self to be geuen in the Sacrament but the vertue For S. Bernarde with all catholiques acknowlegeth three thinges in the Sacrament the outwarde formes the bodie and bloode of Chryst and the spirituall grace which three he professeth in a sermon saing Tria in sacramento Altaris attendere debes speciem panis veritatem carnis virtutem gratiae spiritualis vsque ad speciem panis sensus pertingit exterior ad veritatem carnis fides interior ad virtutem gratiae spirituallis charitas Bernardus sermon de Cana Dom superior Three thinges thowe oughtest to attende in the Sacrament of the aultar The outwarde forme of bread The veritie of the flesh the vertue of spirituall grace Vnto the outwarde forme of breade reacheth the outwarde sense Vnto the veritie of the flesh the inwarde faith Vnto the vertue of the spirituall grace perfect charitie So that in the Sacrament ys both the bodie of Chryst vnto whome we must geue thankes and the vertue of the spirituall grace therin receaued for the whiche we aught to geue thankes The pleasure of God being by his miraculouse workes shewed to be other wise yea euen contrarie to that that yt pleased Sathan to perswade Luther as touching the presence of Chryst in the holie Sacrament and the hououringe of him in the same with or seruice and duetie in the holie sacrifice of the Masse we will cease to saie any more vpon the woordes of S. Bernard But if yowe desire to be aduertised of some notable practise call to remēbrance Paul Diacon the historie of the noble matrone of Rome who by Sathans tentaciō encōbred and in faith as manie be now a daies blinded that could not beleue the verie bodie ād blood of Chryste to be in the blessed Sacramēt but coming to the Masse ād ioining in cōpanie with other to receaue whē in the deliuery of the Sacrament to her she heard these woordes The bodie of our Lorde Iesus Chryste awail thee to the remission of sinnes she similed which when S. Gregorie perceaued and by examinaciō vnderstoode her vnbeleue he and the people praied and after praier going again to the aultar and taking the Blessed Sacramēt in his hand to the helpe of the faith of that womā and the confirmacion of the faith of the people yt was of the one and of the other seen as a verie bloodie fleshly litle fingar Wherupon S. Gregorie willed her to remembre the saing of Chryst The bread which I will geue yowe ys my flesh Which so being seen and praier made by S. Greg. and the people that yt might be reduced to the forme that yt might be receaued yt came furthwith so to passe and she thus of an vnfaithfull made a faithfull receaued the blessed Sacrament as other faithfull had doen. Thus she holden captiue in lacke of faith in the forts of Sathan was by the holie mynistracion of Chryst at the Masse deliuered from the same And now that we haue made reporte of one miracle doen in the time of S. Gregorie we will touche one or two mo reported by hym and so ende this matter of proof Thus writeth S. Gregorie Non longè à nostris fertur tempori bus factū quòd quidā ab hostibus captus longè transductus est Cumue diu teneretur in vin Greg. hom 37. culis eum vxor sua cùm ex eadem captiuitate non reciperet extinctum putauit Pro quo iam velut mortuo hostias hebdomadibus singulis curabat offerri Idem ergo vir longo pòst tempore reuersus admirans valdè suae indicauit vxori quod diebus certis hebdomadibus singulis eius vincula soluebantur Quos videlicet dies eius vxor atque horas discutiens tunc eum Aprisoners cheines loosed by vert ue of the Masse recognouit absolutū cùm pro eo sacrificiū meminerat oblatū Yt ys saied to be doen not long before our time that a certain man takē of his enemies was caried into a farre contrie and whē he was lōg kept in prison
holie bloode to an vnwoorthie man signifieth that yt maie be geuen to an vnwoorthie man Yf nothing were deliuered but bread and wine what neded Chrysost for small a matter raither to spend his bodie and bloode thē to deliuer yt Perchaunce some one maie obiect that Origen ys otherwise to be vnderstanded in this place then ys here declared bicause he in an other place by expresse woordes saieth that an euell man can not eate the bodie of Chryst To this obiection answere ys made in the xxx chap. of this booke whether for the auoiding of prolixitie I remitte the Reader and procead to heare moo of the auncient Fathers of Chrystes Parliament house to the entent that we maie perfectlie learn the enacted trueth of the vnderstanding of S. Paule in this place THE SEVEN AND FOVRTETH CHAPT PROCEAdeth in the vnderstanding of the same by sainct Basill and samct Hierom. FOr somoche as nothing doth more declare the trueth of anie matter called in controuersie in matters of our faith then doeth the consonant and accorde testimonie of maie holie learned Fathers of sundrie times places and ages as well of the greke churche as the latin churche Therfor shall I proceade to bring furth mo of the holie auncientes of Chrystes Parliament house that their agreement and concorde maie be perceaued in the vnderstanding of S. Paule In the whiche gentle Reader trust me thowe shalt finde so great consent and so euident matter that this alone shall suffice to bring thee or staic thee in the matter of the blessed Sacrament to beleue Chrystes verie reall presence ther if Gods grace hath not forsaken thee that thowe wi lt willfullie or obstinatelie refuse to see the clear beames of the Sunne Wherfor to go to our matter note well this sainge of S. Basill who asketh this question whether yt be withoute daunger that anie man not beinge clean from all filthinesse of bodie and Soule maie eate the bodie and drinke the bloode of our Lorde wherunto he maketh this answere Quoniam Deus Basil li. de Baptis 2. ques 93. in legè supermam paenam constituerit contra eum qui immundicia audet contingere sancta scriptum est enim figuratè quidem illis ad nostram verò commonefactionem Et locutus est Dominus ad Moysen Dic Aaron filiis eius vt attendant à sanctis filiorum Israel non contaminabunt nomen meum quicunque ipsi sanctificant mihi Ego Dominus Dic ipsis in familias ipsorum Omnis homo qui accesserit ab omni semine vestro ad sancta quaecunque sanctificauerint filis Iraël Domino immundicia ipsius in ipso anima illa exterminabitur à facie mea Ego Dominus Tales minae propositiae sunt cōtra cos qui simpliciter accedunt ad ea quae ab hominibus sanctificata sunt Quid verò quis dixerit contra eum qui in tantum ac tale mysterium audèt Quanto enim plus templo hic est iuxta ipsam Domini vocem tanto grauius horribilius in inquinamento animae audere contingere corpus Christi quà m attingere arietes aut cauros Sic enim Apostolus dixit Quare qui ederit panem biberit poculum Domini indignè reus erit corporis sanguinis Domini Vehementius autem simulue horribilius proponit ac declarat condemnationem per repetitionem dum ait Probet autem vniusquisque seipsum sic ex pane hoc edat ex poculo bibat Quienim edit bibit indignè iudicium sibi ipsi edit ac bibit non diiudicans corpus Domini Si verò qui in sola immundicia est immundiciae autem proprietatem siguratè ex lege discimus adeo horrendum habet iudicium quanto magis qui in peccato est contra corpus Christi audet horrendum attrahet iudicium Forasmoche as God in the lawe hath ordeined so greate a pain against him that in his vncleannesse ys so bolde to touche the holie thinges For yt yt written figuratiuelie to them but for aduertisement to vs. And our Lorde saied vnto Moyses Saie to Aaron and his sonnes that they take heed of the holie thinges of the children of Israëll and whatsoeuer they shall sanctisie vnto me they shall not defile my holie name I am the Lorde Saie to them and to their families A plain place for thr proclamer both for the presence and the excellencie of the bl Sacr. aboue the Sacramets of the olde Lowe Euerie man that ys of yowr seed and cometh to the holie thinges what soeuer they be that the childeren of Israell shall sanctifie to the Lorde and his vnelenesse be vpon him that soule shall be putte awaie from my sace I am the Lorde Soche threatinges are settfurth against them that onelie come to those thinges that be sanctified of mē But what will a man saie against him that ys so bolde to come with his vnclennesse to so greate a misterie Looke howe moche greater this mening Chryst ys then the temple according to the verie saing of our Lorde So moche more greuouse and horrible ys yt in the filthinesse of his soule to be so bolde to touche the bodie of Chryst as to touche rāmes or bulls For so the Apostle hath saied wherfor he that eateth the bread ād drinketh the cuppe of our Lorde vnworthilie shall begiltie of the bodie and blood of owre Lorde But more vehemēlie ād also more horriblie he doeth settfurth and declare the condemnacion by repeticion when he saieth Let euery man examin himself and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cuppe For he that eateth and drinketh vnwoorthilie he eateth and drinketh his condempnacion making no difference of our Lordes bodie Yf then he that ys in vncleannesse onelie the propertie of which sigurated vncleānsse we haue learned of the Lawe hath so horrible iudgement howe moche more he that ys in sinne and dareth to presume vpon the bodie of Chryst shall drawe vnto him self horrible iudgement Thus moche S. Basill Whoso doeth but superficiallie note this saing of his maie easilie perceaue the difference betwixt the lawe and the Gospell Betwixt the vncleannesse so reputed in the lawe and sinne reputed for vncleannesse in the Gospell and figured by the vncleannesse in the lawe But cheiflie the difference betwixt the sacrifice of the olde lawe and the partaking of them and the sacrifice of the newe lawe and the partaking of yt the excellencie also of this aboue that and therunto agreablie and to the solucion of his question the greatnesse of iudgement and cōdempnacion to the euell partaker of the holie sacrifice of the Gospell aboue the pain of the euell partaker of the sacrifice of the lawe But leauing the first twoo differences and to speake of the other twoo for that they appertein directlie to the matter that we haue to speake of ye shall note that they be conteined breiflie in this one sentēce wher he saieth Howe Yf Chryste be
condemnation receaue the same of whiche bothe Sainct Augustine saieth again Sicut enim Cont. donatist lib. 5 cap. 8. Iudas cut buccellam tradidit Dominus non malum accipiendo locum in se Diabolo praebuit sic indignè quisque sumens Dominicum Sacramentum non essicit vt quia ipse malus est malum sit aut quia non ad salutem accipit nihil accipiat Corpus enim Domini sanguis Domini nihilominus erat etiam illis quibus dice bat Apostolus Qui manducat bibit indignè iudicium sibi manducat bibit As Iudas to whome our lorde gaue a morsell not taking an euell thing but euell takinge the thinge gaue place to the deuell in himself So anie man receauinge vnwoorthiely our Lordes Hell gates cā not preuail against these places let the Proclamer well consider them Sacrament causeth not bicause himself ys euell that yt shoulde be euell or bicause he receaueth yt not to saluacion that he receaueth nothinge For yt was neuerthelesse the bodie of our Lorde and the bloode of our Lorde also vnto then to whom the Apostle saied he that eateth and drinketh vnwoorthily eateth and drinketh his owne condemnation Thus moche Sainct Augustine Yt ys nowe to be remembred that the Aduersarie denieng the reall and substanciall praesence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament ys compelled for the mainteinaunce of that his wicked heresie to saie that Chrystes bodie ys receaued spirituallie that ys that the grace the vertue and the meritte of Chrystes passion suffred in the same his bodie ys receaued And for that these benefittes be not receaued of an euell man as beinge an euell man therfor he mainteineth an other wicked heresie against the scripture and the holie Doctours that euell men receaue not the bodie of Chryst For the confutacion of whiche euell doctrine as the liuelie and plain sentences of holie Fathers haue ben produced So nowe speaketh S. Augustine as plainlie against yt For he contented not himself onelie to saie that euell men receaue the Sacrament A◠vnto Iudas yt was the verie bodie and blood of Chryste that he receaued So yt ys to all other yll receauers Angu in Ioan tract 26. of our Lorde Whiche woordes the Aduersarie wolde haue wrested to his pourpose but by expresse woordes he saieth that ys was the bodie of our Lorde and the bloode of our Lorde vnto them also of whom the Apostle saied he that eateth and drinketh vnwoorthilie c. Nowe what they be that receaue vnwoorthilie yt neadeth no declaracion being manifest that they be euell men And thus by S. Augustine yt ys taught that the verie bodie of Chryst beinge in the Sacrament ys receaued of euell men And although this place of S. Augustine ys so euidentlie gainst them yet in an other place he presseth them so strictlie that they haue no refuge and yt ys this Quantum autem pertinet ad illam mortem de qua terret Dominus quia mortut sunt patres eorum Manducauit Manna Moises manducauit Manna Aaron manducauit Manna Phinees manducauerunt multi qui Domino placuerunt mortui non sunt Quare quia visibilem cibum spiritualiter intellexerunt spiritualiter esurierunt spiritualiter gustauernnt vt Spiritualiter satiarenter Nam nos hodie accepimus visibilem cibum Sed aliud est Sacramentum aliud virtus Sacramenti quam multi de altari accipiunt moriuntur accipiendo moriuntur Vnde dicit Apostolus Iudicium sibi manducat bibit As touching that deathe of the whiche our Lorde saieth that their Fathers be dead Moises also did eate Manna and Aaron did eate Manna and Phinees did eate Manna and manie did eate whiche pleased our Lorde and they died not Whie Bicause they vnderstoode a visible meate spirituallie They did spirituallie hungar yt they did spirituallie eate yt that they might be spirituallie satisfied And we also this daie haue taken a visible meate But the Sacrament ys one thinge and the vertue of the Sacrament an other thing whiche vertue manie doe receaue at the Aultar and doe die and in receareceauing yt doe die Wherfor saieth the Apostle He eateth and drinketh his damnacion Thus farre he Note here the distinction that S. Augustine maketh betwixt the Sacrament and the vertue of the Sacrament sainge that the Sacrament ys one thinge and the vertue of the Sacrament an other Then of the vertue of the Sacrament he saieth that manie receaue yt at the Aultar and doe die meaning according to the saing of the Apostle that receauing yt vnwoorthilie they die in the Soule eating and drinking their owne damnacion Nowe wolde yt be learned of the Aduersarie howe he will vnderstand S. Augustine in this woorde Vertue First certen yt ys that yt ys not taken for the Sacramentall Vertue of the blessed Sacr. what yt ys and that euell men reccaue yt bread For that ys the other membre of the distinction Then must yt either be taken for the vertue of the passion of Chryst or for the bodie of Chryst yf self For in the Sacrament be no more but these three to be receaued The Sacrament the bodie of Chryst and the vertue of his passion Yt can not be taken for the vertue of Chrystes passion for that ys not nor can not be death and damnacion to the receauer in the receauing but life and saluacion This vertue that S. Agustine speaketh of ys soche that manie doe die in the receauing of yt Yt remaineth then that by this vertue of the Sacrament ys vnderstanded the bodie of Chryst whiche manie by vnwoorthie receauing doe wickedlie abuse and so receauing kill their soules and die the deathe that Iudas did What shall I tarie in the rehersall of Sainct Augustines sainges that touche this matter They were euough to make a iust volume Wherfor omitting manie I will ende with one whiche also expowndeth this our text Thus he saieth Recordamini vnde sit scriptum Quicunque manducauerit panem aut biberit calicem Domini indignè reus erit corporis sanguinis Domini Et de iss erat sermo cùm Apostolus August in Ioan. tra 6. hoc dicerit qui Domini corpus velut quemlibet alium cibum indiscretè necligenter ue sumehant Remembre from whence yt ys written Whosoeuer shall eate the bread and drinke the cuppe of our Lorde vnwoorthieli shall be giltie of the bodie and bloode of our Lorde For when the Apostle saied this he spake yt of them Whiche receaued the bodie of our Lorde vndiscreetlie and necligentlie as they wolde doe anie other meat Marke this well that Sainct Augustine saieth plainlie that Sainct Paule spake this of them that necligentlie and vndiscreetlie receaued not a peice of Sacramentall bread but the bodie of our Lorde Then yt ys manifest that the bodie of our Lorde ys receaued in the Sacrament and that yt ys also receaued by the testimonie of Sainct Augustine of negligent and vndiscreet persons whiche make no differēce
woorthie this bodie which semeth to be bread ys aboue all creatures For if he had in minde that this bodie ys personallic vnited to the Sonne of God and to be the life and saluacion of them that doe receaue yt woorthilie the vnwoorthie wolde not presume to receaue yt but he wolde prepare himself to be woorthie See ye not that the blessed Sacr. ys neuerthelesse the bodie and blood of our Lord vnto theÌ„ that take yt not to life but to condeÌ„nacion yt ys so plain that I nede to saie no more but to conclude with thys authour and all the rest hitherto alleaged that sainct Paule here speaketh of the bodie of Chryst and teacheth the same to be verilie receaued of euell and vnwoorthie receauers Yt ys not vnknowen to the Proclamer but of the lower house of Chrystes Parliament I might haue brought manie moe both grecians and Latines as Haymo Bede Photius Oecumenius Thomas de aquino Lyra Dionyse Hugo and Erasmus and as manie as haue within the compasse of these nine hundreth yeares either written vpon S. Paules Epistles or alleaged him in the matter of the Sacrament oute of the eleuenth of the first epistle to the Corinthians For they all vnderstand S. Paule both to haue spoken of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament and that the same bodie ys oftentimes receaued of euell men But amonge so manie I can not staie my self but I must heare one of them and the raither for that he ys a grecian and so being no Papist he maie be heard with more indifferent eare Yt ys Oecumenius who vpon the woordes of S. Paule saing that the vnwoorthie receauer shall be giltie of the bodie and bloode of our Lorde saieth thus Quod ait reus erit corporis sanguinis hoc Oecum in 11. 1. Cor. indicat quòd quemadmodum Iudas eum tradidit Iudaei verò in ipsum debacchati sunt Ita ipsum ignominia afficiunt qui sanctissimum ipsius corpus manibus impuris suscipiunt veluti Iudaei tunc eum tenuerunt execrando admouent ori Per hoc quod frequeÌ„ter ait corporis sanguinis Domini manifestat quod non sit nudus homo qui immolatur sed ipse Dominus factor omnium vt videlicet per hoc eos terreat That he saieth he shall be giltie of the bodie and blood of our Lorde he sheweth this that as Iudas betraied him and the Iewes raiged against him euen so doe they dishonour The bodie of our Lord maie be receaued with vn pure hands and execrable mouth him that with vnclean handes as then the Iewes did holde him doo receaue his most holie bodie and put yt to their cursed or detestable mouthe By that that he often saieth the bodie and blood of our Lorde he manifestlie declareth that yt ys not a pure or onelie man that ys offred but euen our Lorde himself the maker of al things that therby he might make theÌ„ afraied What ys in the Sacrament which ys deliuered into the handes and mouthes of men by this authour ye maie perceaue For yt ys saieth he the most holie bodie of our Lorde which most holie bodie ys receaued both with vnclean handes for that the consciences of soch receauers be vnclean and with detestable mouthes for that their mouthes speaking wicked thinges are detestable S. Paule doth often call the bless Sacr. the bodie and blood of our lord before God Yf yowe will see more of the trueth of this matter note that he saieth that S. Paule doeth often call the Sacrament the bodie and bloode of our Lorde but will ye knowe why he doeth so Not to make vs beleue that yt ys not the bodie of Chryst as this Proclamer wolde beare vs in hande but that he wolde as this authour testifieth manifestlie teache vs that yt ys a verie bodie and not the onelie figure of a bodie a bodie which ys not the bodie onelie of a man but the bodie of our Lord God who ys the maker of all thinges Yf the Proclamer desire to haue one that by expresse woordes doeth teach the verie presence of Chrystes bodie in the Sacrament Let him beholde a nombre now brought to expownde S. Paule which al not onelie of their own faith affirme soch presence but also teach that sainct Paule affimed the same And therfor if ther be anie treuth in the same Proclamer let him nowe forsake his wicked heresie and according to his promesse let him subscribe to the veritie For that being nowe oftentimes doen that he required but once to be doen as iustlie I maie so doe I clame the performance of his promesse Well reader whatsoeuer he withoâ—den either with shame or with malice shall doe in this matter against the trueth and most like also against his conscience yet thow hauing regarde to thie duetie before God and to the saluacion of thie soule beholde thow with indifferent eies these so manie plain manifest and expresse places tarie and abide vpon them vieue them and consider them well and yelding to trueth thow shalt by gods grace if thow humblie craue yt come to yt but yet thowe shalt see more of S. Paule THE THREE AND FIFTETH CHAP. BEGINneth the exposition of the next text of S. Paule which ys Let euery man examin himself and so let him eate c. INS Paule yt foloweth Probet seipsum homo sic de pane illo edat de calice hibat Let therfore a man examine himself And so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cuppe The great peril and daunger that shall come to vnwoorthie receauers of that blessed bodie and blood being by S. Paule declared he imediatelie ioineth therunto as a salue to a deadlie sore a godlie admonicion that to auoide soche daunger as maie ensewe or to remedie the hurt if yt be allreadie takeÌ„ euery maÌ„ that will receaue this blessed SacrameÌ„t shoulde first coÌ„sider what yt ys and vpoÌ„ consideracion therof examine him self whether he be a woorthie person to receaue yt or no. But vnto this text we shall geue Toexamin our selues what yt ys and howe yt maie be doen. moche light if we open what yt ys for man to examine himself and when he hath so doen howe he shall knowe when he ys woorthie or vnwoorthie First yt ys expedient that the state of man wherin he aught to be before God be knowen for the state knowen yt shall be easier for man to make examinacion of himself wherher he be in the state nere to yt or farre from yt The state that man aught to be in before God in this fraill life coÌ„sisteth in two partes in vpprightnesse of faithe and in puritie or clenesse of life As Hebr. 11. touching faith the Apostle saieth Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo withoute fatth yt ys vnpossible to please God For as he saieth again Accedentem ad Deum oportet credere He that will come to God must beleue Wherfor Chryst being as touching the
the blessed Sacrament Wherin they ouerthrowe the Satanicall doctrine of Luther who The preparacion that we are commaunded to make for the receipt of the B. Sacr. and the daunger of vnworthie receauing argueth the real presēce wolde haue no examinacion no consession no preparaciō Again they all vnderstand S. Paule to haue spoken of the bodie and bloode of Chryste in this processe Wherfore the heresie of the Proclamer and of the rest of the Sacramentaries whiche they wolde fain grif here vpon S. Paules woordes ys plucked vppe by the rootes for soche wicked plantes maie not growe vpon soche godlie stockes And as touching this matter of the presence of Chrystes bodie if rher were not so plain testimony for yt in S. Paule and the holie writers as ther ys yet the holie and great preparacion that they exhort vs to and the heauie sentence of euerlastinge drmnacion thretened vnto vs for lacke of the same preparaciō if we wolde not shutte vppe the eies of our vnderstandinge wolde cause vs easelie to perceaue a moche greater matter to be in the Sacrmēt thē a poour peice of bread ād a poour bare cuppe of wine Who euer hearde or redd soch spirituall and heauenlie preparaciō for the recept of a simple earthlie and as they themselues tearm yt vnholie peice of bread Whoeuer readd soche preparaciō commaunded for the eatinge of a bare sign or figure Whoeuer readde damnacion appointed for lacke of preparacion to the receipt of anie figure Let all the volumme of the olde testamēt wher all thinges were doen in figures be searched and ye shall neuer finde either soche preparacion or soche pain inflicted for vnsemelie receauing of anie soche figure Vieue the three principall figures as Manna the Paschall lambe and the Exod. 16. shewe bread and see what preparacion ys ther commaunded what pain to the euell receauers ys ther inflicted As for Manna the seconde booke of Moyses declareth that although yt were so miraculouse a figure and that in manie respectes as before ys declared yet ther was no other preparacion required of the people but onelie that they shoulde gett Baskettes and gather yt The pain also inflicted for the abuse of yt as the thinge yt self was temporall so was yt They were commaunded that they shoulde not kepe yt vntill the next daie except yt were the Sabboth daie yet some of them kept yt and therfore they were punished For yt putrified and waxed full of woormes Exod. 12. The Paschall lambe although yt were so liuelie a figure of Chryste yt had no other preparacion But this Of this maner saieth God shall ye eate yt with yowr loines girded and yowr shooes on yowr feet and yowr staues in yowr handes And ye shall eate yt in haste This preparacion was but ciuill and worldlie here ys no spirituall preparacion commaunded here ys no clensinge of the conscience required The Shewe bread also had none other preparacion but that the preistes might when newe were putt vpon the aultar take the olde and eate them Pain for the abuse of them we read none Perchaunce ye will saie that in the offringes of sacrifices and in soche as did take parte of the Sacrifices ther was required a preparacion Trueth yt ys what doeth that helpe the cause of the Sacramentaries who denie the Sacrament to be a sacrifice well yet for that the catholique faith teacheth yt to be the chrystian Sacrifice we will accept the facrifices of the olde lawe as beinge figures of the sacrifice of the newe lawe and the preparacions ther as figures of preparacions in this lawe In the olde lawe in dede we finde preparacion commaunded both for the preistes that did offre soche sacrifice and for them also whiche were partakers of those sacrifices For the preistes Exod. 30. we read this commaundement geuen to Moyses Facies labium aeneum cum basi sua ad lauandum ponesue illud inter Tabernaculum testimonii altarè missa aqua lauabunt in ea Aaron filii eius manus suas pedes quando ingressuri sunt tabernaculum testimonii quando accessuri sunt ad altare vt offerant in eo thymiama Domino ne forte moriantur Thowe shalt make a lauer of brasse and his foote also of brasse to wash with all and shalt putt yt betwen the tabernacle of wittnesse and the aultar and putte water ther in For Aaron and his sonnes shall washe their handes and ther feet ther in euen when they go into the tabernacle of wittnesse or when they go vnto the aultar to ministre and to burne the Lordes offringe they shall washe them selues with water leest they die And again we finde thus ordeined of God Omnis homo qui accesserit de stripè Leuit. 22. vestra ad ea quae consecrata sunt quae obtulerunt filii Israël Domino in quo est immunditia peribit coram Domino Whosoeuer he be of all yower seed that goeth to the holie thinges whiche the children of Israell halowe vnto the Lorde hauinge his vncleannesse vpon him he shall perish Here we sinde a preparacion and a pain also inflicted to them that omitted so to prepare them selues But what were all these preparacions They were as S. Paule termeth worldlie holinesse wasshinges and iustifienges of the flesh whiche clensed not the cōscience In the time of the lawe saieth S. Paule were offred giftes and sacrifices that Hebr. 9. coulde not make the ministre perfect as perteining to the conscience with onelie meates and drinkes and diuerse wasshinges and iustifienges of the flessh whiche were ordeined vntill the time of reformacion For as ther sacrifices that were then offred did not take awaie sinnes and sanctifie the conscience For yt ys vupossible saieth S. Paule with the bloode of goates and calues sinnes to be taken awaie but onelie sanctified men and purified men as touching the purifienge of the flessh as he again saieth no more did those preparacions touche the conscience but onelie were doē for an outwarde cleannesse For reason will geue that that thing that the preparaciō ys doen for should be of more force value and vertue then the preparacion in yt self yf then the sacrifices them selues purified not the consciences of men moche lesse the preparacion The pain also that was inflicted to soche as omitted this preparacion what was yt yt was but deathe tēporall whiche hath no comparison with death eternall Nowe the preparacion required before the offring of the sacrifice of our Lorde and before the partaking of the same in the newe Testament ys an exacte and a pure pourging and cleansinge of our consciences And our pain for our presumption to receaue this sacrifice without due preparacion ys not as yowe hearde deathe temporall but euen soche as Chrysostome and Theodorete saie as they suffre whiche crucified Chryste whiche ys death euerlastinge Nowe as our preparacion whiche consisteth in pourging and clensing of our consciences farre surmounteth the wasshing of the