when with the coldnesse of the winter that went before their Vines were killed I conceive with humble submission to the judgement of the Church that rather then we of England should generally want the Sacrament untill new Vines had brought forth new increase wee might well receive the Sacrament in some of the better sort of our usuall drinks but not in water onely though that were mingled in the sacred Cup at the consecration as g Neque aliud fiat a nobis quam quod pro nobis dominus prior feceret ut calix qui in illius commemorationem offertur mixtus vino offeratur Cypr. Epist 63. pag. 85. col 1. aqua p. 86. col 1. Cyprian confidently affirmeth and h Probabiliter creditur quod dominus Sacramentum hoc instituerit in vino aqua permisto Aquin. part 3. Quest 74. art corp Artic. so also Chemnit saith verisimile est Christum vinum non merum sed temperatum bibisse Chemnit exam Trid. part 2. pag. 170. col 1. others more warilie deliver upon probable conjecture and that for these two reasons First because as i Calix tuus inebriat Ps. 22. aqua non inebriat Cyp. ep 63. p. 86. c. 1. St. Cyprian sheweth the drinke of the Sacrament must be a drinke of some vigour as able as water is not to inebriate though not in so small a quantitie as is commonly taken by every single receiver Secondly our Saviour consecrated the Sacrament not simply in wine as it was wine but in wine and water as the usuall drink of that Country as Beere or Ale is with us as k Dominus Sacramentum hoc instituebat in vino aqua permista secundum morem istius terrae Aquin. part 3. Q. 74. Art 6. Corp. Artic. Aquinas conceiveth and no man contradicteth him in it nor doe I know any reason why any one should doe so And upon these reasons it might if the Church gave way unto it be warantable enough rather to make a supply where there is an unexpected fayling of wine at a great Communion with some other liquor analogicall to it then to send many away with halfe the Sacrament If it be said that in case of want of wine Object to take common drinke would bring the Sacrament down to a common and contemptible conceit as by dealing the Sacramentall bread out of a common Basket some people tooke a loathing of the communion as was objected against the Vicar of Ratsdale in the l Conference at Hampton Court p. 95. Answ conference at Hampton Court It may be answered first that no such ill effect hath been observed in the places where wine is by custome the common drinke of the Countrey as in Judea France c. Secondly That the Sacrament of Baptisme Answ 2 is received in a more ordinary and common element by farre for what is more common then water whereof every beast may drinke and wherein he may set his foot and yet is Baptisme generally received as an holy and honorable ordinance Thirdly Answ 3 for that scandall at distribution of the bread of the Sacrament out of a basket I say It consisted chiefly in this that the Minister m Ibid. suffered as in the Conference is said each man to put his hand into the basket and to take his own part of the bread In that being but a private Minister he made an Innovation for the worse and withall a kinde of schisme from other Churches But if there had been Authoritie for carrying the bread in such a basket it had been no prejudice to the dignitie of the Sacrament nor to his discretion that so used it nor had such scandall ensued upon it Saint Hierome highly commendeth m Sanctus Exuperius Tholosae Episcopus viduae saraptensis imitator Esuriens pascit alios ore pallente Jejunijs fame torquetur aliorum omnemque Substantiam Christi pauperibus erogavit nihil illo ditius qui corpus domini Canistro vimineo sanguinem portat in vitro Hieron ad Rustic Monach. de vivendi fama tom 1 pag. 49. prope finem Epist pag. Exuperius Bishop of Tholouse for his great charitie and mortification and for his great estate also and yet saith he hee carried the Lords body in a wicker basket and his blood in a glasse Meaning the materialls of the sacrament bread and wine The reason why this good man carried the Sacrament in such meane vessells whereof the Reader may have some scruple by the way was not out of any contempt or disrespect of it but that thereby he might the better drive the sinne of covetousnesse out of the Church as Hierom implyeth when he o Sanguinem portat in vitro qui avaritiam ejecit è templo Hieron Ibid. saith in the same place and the next words after that he excommunicated avarice out of the Church but this but by the way Yet I confesse though I thus plead when I was once unhappily put to a Non plus for Wine in the administration of the Sacrament by the Church-wardens default I durst not piece up the defect with any ordinary drinke because I wanted the direction of Authoritie to induce me unto it so that I incline to conforme to a third opinion which is a kinde of Medium betwixt those two Viz. neither to substitute other elements as Calvine Beza Polanus and others would have it nor wholly to forbeare or debarre others from the receipt of the Sacrament as p Indeed some Doctors of the reformed Churches have conceived that such as cannot receive so much as a drop of wine by their Antipathy to wine should altogether abstaine from the orall receiving of the Sacrament because they cannot receive it in both kinds Dr. Featly in his conference with Mr. Everard pag. 268. marg out of Jacob Rhemig some other Protestants have conceived most convenient when bread and wine or either of them cannot be had but if there be either an Antipathy against either kinde or want of either to be content with that which may be had and taken and this is the Judgement not only of Papists as of q Multi abhorrent a vino vel natura abstemij sunt vel educatione in calidioribus regionibus assuescunt enim pueri puellae etiam nobiles aquae potui unde multipostea etiam in matura aetate non possunt absque nauseâ vinum gustare Quid ergo isti facturi sunt abstinebunt a communione perpetuo at id non licet per divinas leges Bellar. tom 3. l. 4. de Euchar. chap. 24. pag. 295. Bellarmine besides many more concluding so in the case of such as are abstemious cannot abide the taste of wine but of many Protestants also of whom he nameth r Brent in confessione Wittenburge 2. part 2. pericopes apud Bellar. Ibid. Brentius only and blameth s Quis dedit Philippo authoritatem mutandi Sacramentorum materiam Bellar. ubi supra Melancton for too much
A CASE OF CONSCIENCE CONCERNING THE SACRAMENT OF THE Lords Supper WHEN EITHER THE BREAD OR WINE IS wanting or when there is a desire yet with an Antipathy to them or debilitie to receive them Proposed to JOHN LEY Pastor of Great Budworth and by him resolved LONDON Printed by R. H. for GEORGE LATHUM at the Bishops head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1641. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL AND WORTHILY HONOURED Gentleman PHILIP MAINWARING ESQUIRE RIGHT WORTHY SIR THis short discourse ensuing though long enough I hope to resolve the Question proposed is Yours by right of Dedication now it is publick since it was Yours before by causality of production as a private manuscript for your letter to your Reverend Vncle my honoured Friend and his to me have been unto it as a Grandfather and father from whose motion and sollicitation it is lineally descended Accept it then good Sir as your owne and me with it whom Your immanent merit in your self and transient benignity to me have long and deeply obliged to remaine Yours to love and serve You with affection and fidelity JOHN LEY From my lodging at the Fountaine in S. Pauls Church-yard Febr. 24. 1640. A Case of Conscience Resolved touching the Sacramentall Elements when both cannot be had or not Received Or a discussion of the doubt in severall cases what is to be done when either of the Elements of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper cannot be had or through infirmitie or Antipathy cannot be taken occasioned by the particular case ensuing Dr. EDMUND MAINWARING the Chancellor of Chester his Letter concerning the Case Mr. LEY I Intreat your opinion and resolution in case of necessitie what is to be done where a Person is so weake and infirme as not able to swallow a crum of bread and yet with much earnestnesse desires to receive the Communion 12º Jan. 1636. Your true friend to serve you EDM. MAINWARING SIR The case of conscience as in your Nephews Letter it is put to you and in yours to me concerning the young woman I conceive to be this A young woman hath forborne to eate bread for these two or three yeeres and now being of age shee hath a great desire to receive the Sacrament but cannot swallow the least crum of bread as tryall hath been made of her for a whole weeke together whereupon she desired to receive in somthing else her Minist was advised to deliver it to her in a thing called Manus Christi but did not Hereupon you require my resolution what is to be done concerning which I say First it is a very rare thing for one borne and bread where bread is daily food not by infirmitie but by Antipathy to be so indisposed to make use of that fundamentall nourishment as not to be able to take so much as a crumme though it were to receive the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord I have read only of a Ego profiteor vidisse puerum annorum cireiter 10 cui nunquam quicquam gustatum panis nec carnium Chamier de Euchar. lib. 8. cap. 3. tom 4. pag. 422. col 2.56 one before now whose dislike of bread was like unto hers Secondly taking the case as it is deliberation is requisite concerning three opinions especially The first of those who hold that if the Sacrament cannot be administred and received in both kindes according to the institution of our Saviour it is wholie to be b Bish Lake in his Serm. on Mat. 26. v. 26 27. par 3.165 So hold also some of the Doctors of the reformed Churches forborn the learned Bishop of Bath and Wells expresseth his opinion to that purpose thus Seeing the Sacraments have necessitatem non medij sed praecepti as it is a foule fault to contemne the Elements when they may be had So when they may not be had it were better to want the Sacrament then to use Elements of our owne choice God can supply to our use saith he rem Sacramenti sine Sacramento in case of necessitie who happily will not be so gratious if wee be so presumptuous as to prescribe The second opinion is of those who think that in defect of the Elements prescribed and used by our Saviour at his last Supper others which are analogical to them may be taken as for bread which they would have to be rather c Panis triticeus conveniens est Sacramenti Eucharistiae materia Aquin 3. part 974. art 3. conclus of Wheate then d Non panis ordeaceus Ibid. Barley or of any other graine but by no meane of e Cur non meminit in Scotia plebem avena victitare ex qua non liceat consecrandum panem fieri Chamier tom 4. lib. 9. cap. 12. pag. 524. col 2. Oates against which there is an especial prohibition that with bread of Oates there be no Consecration they allow not only that which is made of corne but of other materialls of which in divers Authors wee meet with many sorts of f Panis ex Amygdalis Saccâ—are Cel. Rhodiginus Antique lect l. 9. cap. 15. col 408. bread made of Almonds and sugar g Panis ex melle Vvis passis alijs aromatices confect Ibid. bread made of honey and raysons and of aromaticall ingredients h Bread of millet and Turnepseede pounded is the bread of the Alarbians and Cammells and Ostrages their meat Lud. Regius in Arist Polit. l. 1. chap. 5. pag. 40. bread of Turneps bread of i Purch Pil. l. 5. c. 13. pag. 436. Battara roots used in the Ilands of Moratay k Tho. Walsingh hist Hen. 5. pag. 438. bread of Wall-nuts but the most of these for necessitie where bread of corne is either not at all or not in a competent quantitie to be had and if this opinion admit of other materialls as farre as necessitie suggesteth supplie it may proceed to the approbation of Arcadian l Arcades glandibus vesci docuit eorum Rex Pelasgus caelius Rhodig Antiq. Lart l. 16. c. 13. col 716. lib. 18. col 836. bread made of Acorns which would little beseeme the Lords Table for as Pearles must not be cast before Swine as our Saviour saith so of that which is fittest to be cast before them as Acorns none should as I conceive offer to make such pearles as is the bread of that holy banquet The like we say of the poore and miserable bread at the m Serres French Invent in Charles the 9. pag. 799. siege of Sancerre in France made of flax-seed nut-shells and straw so much more unmeet for such a service as it is more unworthy then the other And as for bread so if there be no wine to be had they hold it lawfull to use other liquor as Methegline so n Philippus Melanct. in libro de usu integri Sacramenti Soripsit Ruthenos ob vini inopiam recte facturos si pro vino uterentur aqua mellita seu medone Bellar. de Eucharist
boldnesse in resolving on the contrary part for the Russians that wanting wine they might have the Communion in Methegline asking who gave him Authoritie to change the matter of the Sacrament But it would be a harder question able to pose the learnedst Pope to aske who gave him or the Councell of Constance or Trent authoritie to rob all the Laitie of the Christian world of halfe their right in the holy Sacrament But besides Brentius there be many more that so resolve for as the reformed Churches in France in twenty severall Synods have confirmed this Canon for the Communion t So in the Ecclesiasticall Discipline of the Reformed Churchches Ch. 12. Art 7. Ms. Pastors ought to Administer the bread of the holy Supper unto them that are not able to drinkwine they having made a Protestation that they doe it not in contempt and framing themselves to drinke so farre as they shall be able Namely they shall take the cup in their hand to prevent scandall Which Constitution I account of more weight because it is not like they did either not know or not consider the decisions of Geneva before mentioned and it is worthy our observation in two points especially That the Communion may be received in one kinde in case of necessitie when both cannot be had or not received for then to take the one in deed the other in desire may suffice which seemeth to be the Judgment of Bishop Andrewes who since his death hath been stiled a stupendious oracle in his Answere to Cardinall Bellarmine as u Doctor Feately in his conference with M. Evarard pag. 268. Doctor Feately understandeth him though to mine apprehension he w Si qui in extremis viaticum petant ab hac autem velilla specie abhorreant quaeri potest porro an eo casu dispensari possit ut altera tantum specie communicent an necessitate id cogente immutari possit quid in Euchar. gratiae divina lonmanum desectum supplente cum sacramentum propter bominem factum sit non homo propter Sacramentum verum casus ille in legem trahendus non est sed Cessante ferreâ necessitate de reliquo redeundum mox ad Christi Institutum Bishop Andrewes respo ad Card. Bellar. cap. 8. pag. 192. carryeth his conceipt indifferently betwixt receiving in one kinde and supplying the defect of one Element with some other thing in case of Antipathy or other extreame necessitie which hee calleth an Iron necessitie In which case he saith the Sacrament was made for man not man for the Sacrament So that when the man cannot yeeld to the Sacrament that should in some sort yeeld to him and that may be meant two wayes Either by supplying one kinde by some other thing analogicall unto it of which we have spoken before Or Secondly by tempering one kinde so with another as to make it fit to be relished and swallowed as by soaking the bread in liquor as in case of old x Euseb Eccles Hist lib. 6. chap. 43. pag. 118. Serapion who could not let downe drie bread which soaking by the Councell of y Bellar. citeth this out of Burchard Bellar. lib. 4. de Euchar. c. 26. tom 3. pag. 300. col 2. though in the Councells I can finde no such Canon Towers was allowed to sick Communicants but afterwards when out of case of necessity it was used by some it was severely cōdemned by a Canon in the 3. z Concil Bracarens 3. fol. 310. princip Concil Councell of Bracara anno 669. and as a Gratian. de consecr di 2. cap. cumomne Crimen fol. 315. pag. 1. col 1. Gratian citeth it by a decree of Pope Julius Anno 340. Or thirdly by taking the one kinde Re the other Voto the one kinde in deed the other in desire which I most approve of for First in such a case hee that receiveth one kinde receiveth Christ and with Christ both his body and blood so that though he have not the Integritie of the Sacrament for the outward Elements he may have the essence and efficacie of it and though it be imperfect in respect of the sensible materialls yet it is better to have it imperfect then not at all as it is better to have a piece of a booke of Canonicall Scripture or but a verse if he can have no more then none at all Besides it seemeth hard measure to debarre any from their participation of both parts of the Sacrament because God hath enabled them to partake but of one especially if they much desire it and be inclined to scruples and discomforts if they be kept without it If it be objected that b Aut integra Sacramenta percipiant aut ab integris arceantur quod divisio unius ejusdemque mysterij sine grandi sacrilegio non potest pervenire Gelas. apud Gratian de consecrat dist 2. cap. comperimus fol. 315. pag. 2. col 1. Gelasius who was one of the better sort of the Bishops of Rome for he lived about the yeer 492 required either an intire Communion in both kinds or a forbearance of both and held the division of the one from the other no lesse then a grand sacreledge I answere he speaketh this of such as by c A calice Sacrati cruoris abstinent nescio qua superstitione docentur astringi Ibid. Superstition refused the Communion of the Cup not of such as would but could not have both or receive both It seemeth rather sacreledge to withhold from them their Sacred right in one part of the Sacrament because they are deprived of meanes to enjoy the other But Saint d Detrabe verbum quid est aqua nisi aqua accedat verbum ad elementum fit Sacramentum Aug. tract 8. in Joh. tom 9. p. 547. Augustine said the word and the element must make up the Sacrament without the element then no Sacrament but he said it not in the Plurall number Elements but in the singular and he speaketh it particularly of the Sacrament of Baptisme in his Eighth tractate upon Saint John The second observable point in that Canon of the French Church is that when it is so received all scandall and offence must be carefully declined for if the partie cannot drinke wine he must yet take the Cup into his hand as before hath been said and professe a willingnesse to doe it and thereby hee professeth his judgement and consent with the Church against severall heresies condemning and denying the lawfull use of wine as the e Alphons de Castr advers heres lib. 14. fol. 173. pag. 6. Severeani who held that Satan and the Earth were the Parents of wine and of the f De hoc loco heres suam Tatianus Encratitarum princeps struere mititur vinum asserens non bibendum Hieron in Amos. 2. the 12. tom 6. pag. 94. col 2. Tatiani who because the Lord findeth fault with the people by the Prophet Amos that gave the Nazarites wine