handled in the first booke Of the Second Booke 1 OF Churches and Altars their first beginning and proceeding 2 Of Images that olde and auncient Christians had not anie 3 VVhat manner of increase and proceeding Images had amongst Christians and of the licentious abuse thereof after they were once brought into the Church of Rome 4 Of vnleauened bread wine mixt with water and of such thinges as serued in the administration of the Sacraments 5 That the old worship and auncient manner of seruing God was altogether performed done in such a language as the common people knew and vnderstood and by what degrees it was altered and changed 6 That in the Primitiue Church and a long time after the holie Scriptures were read amongst the people in all tongues and languages 7 Wherein is intreated of the Ministers of the Church and of their charge and vocation in the same 8 That the Bishops and Ministers of the old Christian Church were maried 9 How a sole and vnmaried estate of life grew and got increase and strength in the church of Rome vnto the publishing of the decree made by Calixtus 10 The reestablishing of abstinencie from mariage and the continuing of the same euen vnto our dayes A briefe rehearsall of the matters handled in the second booke Of the Third Booke 1 THat the propitatorie Sacrifice of Christ is not reiterated in the holie Supper and in what sence the old Church did vse this phrase and manner of speech 2 Answeres vnto the aduersaries their obiections which they pretend to draw from the holie Scriptures for the prouing of their sacrifice 3 That the pretended propitiatorie sacrifice of the Masse hath no ground or foundation in the new Testament 4 That the olde VVriters haue not â—â—knowledged anie other propitiatory sacrifice then that onelie one made vpon the crosse 5 How and by what degrees the Sacrament of the holie Supper was turned into a propitiatorie Sacrifice 6 That there is not anie Purgatorie the foundation and ground pillar of their Masses for the dead and first how that it was not knowne vnto the Church of Israell or vnto those that liued vnder the olde Testament 7 That Purgatorie hath no ground or foundation in the new Testament 8 That neither the Primitiue Church nor the Fathers liuing in the same for the space of many ages did euer acknowledge the Purgatorie of the Church of Rome 9 Wherein are answered the aduersaries their obiections endeuouring to proue their Purgatorie by the olde VVriters 10 In what manner Purgatorie hath proceeded in the Church of Rome and by what degrees 11 That praying vnto Saintes hath no foundation in the holie Scriptures of the olde Testament 12 That praying vnto Saintes hath no ground in the holie Scriptures of the newe Testament 13 That praying vnto Saintes was not taught in the Primitiue Church and how it sprung vp and grew 14 The continuing of the puritie of doctrine in the matter of Inuocation and of the springing vp of the corruption of the same in the Latine Church 15 The springing vp of the corruption of inuocation aswell in the Greeke as in the Latine Church 16 That a man eannot merite or deserue eternall life for himselfe and much lesse for an other wherein he is considered first as he is before his regeneration 17 That a man regenerate cannot merite eternall life for himselfe or for any other 18 That the law was giuen vnto man to conuince him of sinne and to cause him to looke for his saluation from grace through faith in Christ according to the Scriptures and the Fathers 19 That good workes are the gift of God and therefore cannot merite and to what vse they serue according to the holy Scriptures and fathers 20 How the doctrine of merite first set foote into the Church how it proceeded and how it hath beene oppugned and set against in all ages yea euen vnto S. Bernard his time 21 How merite proceeded and went on euer since S. Bernard his time vntill thâ—se our daies and what oppositions haue beene made against it euen vnto the time of the full light of the Gospell breaking forth againe A Recapitulation of the third Booke Of the fourth Booke 1 WHat a Sacrament is and wherein it consisteth and of the difference of the Sacraments of the old and new testament where are likewise laide downe certaine rules by the old writers for the better vnderstanding of their writings 2 That the doctrine of the holy Supper must be examined by the rules before deliuered as all other doctrine whatsoeuer touching any other Sacraments eyther of the old or of the new Testament 3 That the exposition which our aduersaries giue vpon the wordes of the holy Supper destroyeth all the foundations of the Christian faith as also the nature of Christ and of his sacramentes 4 That the fathers knew not Transubstantiation nor the reall presence in the signes and that which is touched of the times euen to the first Nicene Councell is also included therein 5 The continuing of the beliefe and faith of the fathers of the Church in the matter of the holy Supper from the first Nicene Councell vnto the time of Gregorie the great 6 Likewise that a long time after Gregorie Transubstantiation was not knowne and in like manner that all the most famous Liturgies amongst our aduersaries are repugnant to the same 7 That the old Church did not belieue nor teach Transubstantiation seeing it neither did nor obserued in respect of the kindes or Sacramentes that which is done and practised at this day 8 In what manner the opinion of Transubstantiation was begun increased and finished vntill the yeare 1215. and that it was ratified and confirmed by a Decree made in the Councell of Lateran 9 What manner of increase and proceeding befell the opinion of Transubstantiation from the Councell of Lateran vntill the Councell of Trent and the absurdities and contradictions rising from the same A comparing of the holy Supper with the Masse A briefe rehearsall of the chiefe matters contained in the whole worke THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE MASSE AND of the partes thereof CHAP. I. After what manner the Supper of the Lord was first instituted and ordained and that the Masse hath no good ground eyther from the Scriptures or from the practise of the Apostles OVr aduersaries for the laying of a surer foundation for the Masse out of the holy Scriptures haue attempted to driue and draw the same from the institution of the holy Supper of our Lord ordinarily now a daies do vse to set downe as a note and marke of the same vppon all such places as concerne the holy Supper Heere is the institution of the Masse whereas their predecessors namely the ordinary Glose was wont to note such places thus Heere is the institution of the Supper or Eucharist Wherefore the better to know how like and how vnlike they be as likewise to see so much the more cleerely how farre the one
diuine power and vertue cannot bee in the Sacrament in any other manner then by turning of the bread into him c. For this is a harde and harsh speech and may seeme to derogate from the Almightinesse of God c. And what nowe will they haue to say vnto vs which alleadge nothing for themselues but his omnipotencie On the contrarie sayeth hee it being granted and set downe that the substances of breade and wine doe remaine there can not but a difficultie must needes arise namely that two bodies are together but yet not too great or such a one as is vnaunswerable But the contrarie being graunted there followe manie namelie howe the Accidentes can nourish bee corrupted howe there can any thing bee ingendred in them seeing that there is nothing made but there is presupposed or thought to bee a matter and therefore it seemeth that men should rather holde them to this former c. And yet notwithstanding these Patrons of transubstantiation do not let to shuffle vs vp together two bodies in one and the same place in the stone of the graue Holcor in 4. sent q. 3. in the dores that were shut c. and consequently one bodie in a thousand places according to Holcot If there had beene saith he a thousand hostes in a thousand places at the same time that Christ did hang vpon the crosse Christ had beene crucified in a thousand places c. In the end whereas Scotus did shift out himselfe by the Church this man will come to the scripture We may not saith he here heape one difficultie vpon another Idem in d. l 4. d. 11. q. 3. num 5. but rather according to the doctrine of the scripture doe our indeuoure to cleare and make plaine the thinges that are obscure and darke And therefore when there is found out one course and meanes that is euidently possible and that may be vnderstood and another that cannot be conceiued or vnderstood it seemeth that the former in all likelihood should be chosen and retained c. As for example It is most clearely to be vnderstood and in all probabilitie possible that the substances doe abide and continue and contrarily for the contrarie The Cardinall of Alliaco told vs Card. de All. in 4. Sent. q. 6. Biel. in Can. lect 40. This opinion which setteth downe and graunteth that the substance of bread remaineth is not repugnant vnto reason or the scriptures but is both more easie and also more reasonable Gabriel Biel more boldly Whether it be by changing or without changing there is nothing expressely found in the Canon of the Bible To be briefe in the Canon of Lateran Pope Innocentius the third did not curse those that held the contrarie opinion namely That the substances of bread of wine do still remaine although he make mention there all along that it is the stile and ordinarie course of Councels to set downe and allow of the one and to curse the other And if Wicklife in England about the yeare 1370. had kept himselfe onely to that point without seeking to remoue the Popes power and authoritie he should neuer haue beene molested notwithstanding he died in peace in his owne parish and his bones were not burnt till a long time after Concil Flor. Sess Vit. But yet there is more behind for in the Councell of Florence which was held in the yeare 1439. vnder Eugenius the fourth where the Pope and the Emperour of Constantinople were in person as the Grecians Latines could not agree vpon the matter of transubstantiation as it is recorded at large in the Actes of the said Councell this controuersie did not let or hinder why there should not bee an vnitie signed betweene the said Greeke and Latine Churches which beganne Exultent coeli c. That Transubstantiation was no Article of faith vntill the Councell of Trent a most euident signe that the opinion of transubstantiation remained as yet disputable and that the contraie was not held for heresie So farre was it off from holding the place of an article of faith as it doeth at this day and that by vertue of the Councell of Trent which did first pronounce and ordaine it so to be If any man say that the substances of bread and wine doe still continue c. let him bee accursed So young and new is that pretended antiquitie of transubstantiation And therefore a daughter begotten not of the Apostles nor yet in the ages next following them not of the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares or of the second or yet of the third but to speake properly of those Fathers which we dayly see whose fathers also we haue beene able to behold and looke vpon begotten in the verie declining extreame old age of the Romish Church and borne in a most corrupt age whether you take it for doctrine or for manners For if Saint Ierome said of his time as bewailing it that it was as the lees dregs in respect of the purenesse of the former times what would he haue said of the present but haue called it Ex faece Tartarum the verie grossest parte of the lees euen the Tartar it selfe Now as concerning that scruple which remained from time to time amongst the most learned as a thing that they cold neither disgest nor conceale The Popes their decrees for the honering of Transubstantiation as we haue found out by their writinges The Popes according to their pretended omnipotencie in the Church for therein lyeth the foundation thereof and not in the diuine omnipotencie doe not make any bones at all to leape ouer it letting it alone for it did so much import them to see the stablishing of it for the authorizing of the sacrifice of the Masse and the making of the same to be worshipped of the people from whom the ordinarie communicating of the holy Supper had beene taken and restrained to one onely priest from whom likewise at such time as it came there to be receiued but once a yeare they had also taken the cup. Now therefore the question is of honouring of this new doctrine and behold how it hath proceeded In stead that it had beene accustomed to hold vp the offerings which were consecrated to God for the poore The eleuation of the bread or host whether it were done in the imitating of the Iewes or for the stirring vp of the people vnto the like charitie the priest beginneth to eleuate the host that is to say the bread which of a great one which it was wont to bee able to haue fedde many persons and by consequent to haue beene distributed in the holy Supper to a great multitude is brought downe and rebated by little and little as it were to nothing seruing in deed but for one alone that is to say to that which they call a singing bread Durand in Rational l. 4. at the least saith Durandus of the greatnes of a pennie
patre satus nam tunc id iura sinebant Pastorale pedum gessit post funera patris Sozom. l. 3. c 44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Gangrens c. 4. Epipha l. 2. t. 1 haeres 59. contra Cathar all Bbs. and great men in their time But this Nicene Councell was not better executed in any place then in Armenia by the diligent endeuour of the fathers of the Councell of Gangres Now Sozomene saith that a certain Bb. in those countries called Eustathius brought in new deuises amongst other did forbid the mariage of the Elder of the Church commanding all men to abstaine and refraine the praiers and Sacraments administred by such as were maried as prophane and polluted and vnder the shadowe of holinesse this abuse preuailed in certaine countries the neighbour Bishops not daring to make head against it Those then who had beene present at the Councell of Nice being returned condemned his Monkerie and sutable to that of Nice they make the Canon vnder mentioned If any man put difference betwixt a maried Priest and another let him be accursed About some 40 yeares after Iouinianus was not thought to speake highly enough in the commendation of virginity S. Ierome maketh himselfe an aduersary partie in the matter and taketh him vp very roughly as it was his manner to doe in all other things And Epiphanius in the Greeke Church becommeth of a strong opinion that the Church ought not to receiue into the priesthood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such persons as yet did beget children These were the remainders of the old leauen that had beene cast out in the Councell of Nice And these men did not thinke themselues to haue praised virginitie sufficiently if they had not detracted from the married estate and yet both of them the gifts of God as Iustine and Clement doe both of them teach verie well Of this controuersie did rise hyperbolicall and improper kinds of speech about this doctrine which by reason of the reputation of the persons deliuering them did proue to be of great moment in the Church and yet notwithstanding to signifie that the vse and practise of the church was contrary to their opinion Hieronym l. 1. contr Iouinia S. Ierome teacheth vs in the example of Bb. Carterius who had had two wiues that without contrarying of the precept of S. Paul 1. Tim. 3. that the Bbs. of his time might be maried Against Iouinian he vseth these words If Samuel brought vp in the temple was maried what maketh that against virginity Are there not at this day priests enough maried and that so far as that in some places he would break forth into some signes of anger that there was choice made rather of such as were maried then others And against Vigilantius hee saith That in his time the Deacons were maried before they were made Deacons Sacerdotes Idem contra Vigil to the end that they might afterward be promoted preferred to higher dignities orders very contrary to that which he would seeme to conclude out of S. Paul namely that those which had been maried might be made Bbs. prouided that they were not so any more But wee haue shewed before that he letteth not to be contrary to himselfe And as for Epiphanius how hard soeuer he be yet he praiseth a Bb. of Cōstantinop for that he was descended frō a priestly race teacheth vs that in his time it was an vsual thing for priests Deacons Subdeacons to haue wiues and children He addeth that it is against the Canons But what Canons considering what we haue shewed out of the scriptures and pretended canons of the Apostles out of Ignatius Clemēt Tertul. al the old writers Chrysost contra heretic yea frō the generall Councel it self which was held at Nice And therfore Chrysost himselfe in that point vnto him and that roundly maintaining that mariage is no impeachment vnto pietie seeing that Moyses Peter and the Centurion were maried and that S. Paule hath freed and set the Church at libertie from such heresies Idem in 1. Tim. 3. when he placed mariage in the Episcopall chaire and seate of the Bishops themselues And although that these disputes had left some doubt and scruple in some places of the East as in Thessalia where hee that was married after hee had taken orders in the Church was put out of his place yet Socrates telleth vs that this was against the custome of other Churches Socrat. l. 5. c. 22. Nicephor and that as many famous Bishops in the East did abstain from mariage of their owne voluntarie inclinations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not compelled thereto by any law so also very many during the time of their exercising of their Bishoprickes had did beget children of their lawfull wiues and that in the houses belonging to their Bishoprickes In the end notwithstanding the authoritie of the scriptures of the old Church of this famous worthy Councell the Church of Rome Syricius his law about the yeare 400. made a firme stable law of these particular opinions And in deed from whence could it rise or spring but from the mother of fornications seeing that according to the prophecie of Paphnutius she was to broach and set abroad Sodomitrie throughout the whole world And whereas this law is fathered vpon Syricius it may be that he hath wrong Syricius ep 4. c. 9. Innoc. 3. c. 1. ep 3. D. 27. 32. 81. 82. in like manner as certaine decretal Epistles written concerning the same matter may seeme falsly to be attributed to Vrbanus the first Lucius the first and Calixtus the first for thus they haue delighted and pleased themselues to abuse the people vnder the colour of antiquitie Wherefore it saith Suademus sacerdotib Leuitis c. Our aduice councell is to priests and Deacons not to lie any more with their wiues because they are occupied in the ordinarie Ministerie then it fowlloweth that they were married as yet at that time D. 14. c. Is qui C. Christiano But this milde aduice ended in a fierce and furious commination in these words If anie man carie himselfe contrarie to this Canon be it knowen to him that he is not to be partaker of our Communion and furthermore that he is to indure the paines of the infernal Lake 1. Cor. 7. And by the Consuls concerning the date it appeareth that this Epistle was written in the yeare 405. But that which the Apostle calleth The bed vndefiled it there calleth Carnall concupiscence And whereas the Apostle hath tearmed him blamelesse that is the husband of one onely woman it interpreteth it that it is vpon condition that he shall forsake her cease to keep any company with her adding this reason Because that they which are in the flesh cannot please God And shall God then haue commanded a man to displease him for he hath ordained and appointed That they shal be two one
to take it well and rightlie Idem l. 2 de Misla c. 2. 4. it is not so but onely impetratorie for say they Christ a mortall man might merite and satisfie and this is the cause why his sacrifice is truly propitiatorie aswell as meritorious and satisfactorie but Christ immortall cannot anie more merite or satisfie so neither can his sacrifice be meritorious nor satisfactorie but onelie is called so inasmuch as hee obtaineth remission for vs whether it bee of the punishment or of the fault or otherwise Grace to doe wel and to merite c. and thereuppon wee saye If that of Christes in the supper bee propitiatorie and yours but impetratorie or auailable to obtaine fauour by intreatie that then your sacrifice is not the same with Christes but and if this bee that of Christes then you vtter open blasphemie because you should make that of Christes not to bee propitiatorie Let vs yet goe further wee haue by this account lesse to doe with your Masse for shall hee bee excluded from obtaining being immortall which hath power being mortall to merite and satisfie by the offering of himselfe a sacrifice And againe this contrarietie is suted with an other That the sacrifice of the Crosse is by consequent more excellent then that of the Masse as sayeth Vega and Bellarmine also Veg. Thes 8 124. de Missa Bellarm. l. 1. de Missa c. 6. That the sacrifice of the Masse non est perfectum neque absolutum neque redemptionis perse consummatiuum c. And how then can it bee as they woulde haue it Idem subiecto numero And what will become of that which they say else where namelie that it is Vere propitiatorium pro peccatis and certaine Schoolemen Caietan tract 2. de cele r. Miss c. 2. q. 1. Bellarm. l. 2. d◠Miss c. 4. That that of the Crosse doth not wash away anie other then originall sinne and that of the Altar actuall sinnes Againe If the Masse as sayeth Caietan bee of infinite valew and worth because it is the power of Iesus Christ in himselfe and by consequent his infinite effect as of the passion of Christ what shall become then of Bellarmine who sayeth that the vertue and operation of the sacrifice of the Masse is infinite That otherwise as hee sayeth so manie Masses should bee vnprofitable as likewise for one and the same effect c. Some saye vnto them what then Iesus Christ in respect of you is hee not reallie sacrificed in the one and in the other and in that his bodie is glorified should that diminish and detract anie thing from the price and worth of this sacrifice Idem l. 2. c. 24. 27. But here they are worse intangled then before for sometimes Bellarmine saith If there bee not in the Masse a true and reall slaying of Christ that then there is not a true and reall sacrifice for a true sacrifice which consisteth in killing requireth of necessitie to haue it reall and indeede Sometimes when this sacrifice is offered of thinges without life as breade and wine there is no need of killing Veg. Thes 12 l 8. De Missa but onelie of eating c. And of these contrary opinions there do also rise contrary corollaries Of some as saith Vega That Christ dieth mystically in figure vpon the Altar but is offered vpon the same aliue Of Others That Christ is as truely slain and killed in the sacrament of the Eucharist as he is truly existing being in the sacrament is offered in the same either dead or as it were dead Again sometimes they say that the sacrament is truely really offered when the bread wine are consecrated by the words Gulielm Alanus de Sacrif Miss l. 2. c. 9. not before sometimes that it is offered really at such time as the bread and wine are set vpon the Altar before the words of consecratiō If the first be true then the offering of the kinds and the offering of the thing it selfe are offered at seueral times so the bond of relation is broken If the second what followeth then but that they sacrifice nothing but bread and wine For what other thing are they else according to their iudgement before the words of consecration Now of this contradiction followeth an other Of some which say that the sacrifice is properlie accomplished by the oblation Vega. Thes 107. Turrian tract 2. c. 22. Bellard 1. de Miss c. 27. Biel. lect 81. of others by the eating of the same by the priest And Vega and Bellarmine are at controuersie one with an other To bee shorte if they square and differ aboute the point de opere operantis neither can they better agree in that de opere operato by what meanes the benefite of this operation is applyed to those that are present whereas the common opinion adiudgeth according to Biel that the onely being present at the consecration and oblation maketh a man capable of saluation without anie looking for of a spirituall life as requisite thereunto And at the Councell of Trent hee may seeme to holde on this side The Cardinall Caietan on the contrarie Anno 1518. who did his endeuour at Ausbourg to cause Luther to retract this proposition That faith was necessarie for the receiuing of the sacrament commeth so farre namelie to say That it is a common receiued error that this sactifice Ex opere operato Caiet in quod libel de vsu Spirit q. 3. should haue a certaine kinde of merite or bee able to make application of some certaine kinde of satisfaction vnto this or that person c. Doctrines as newlie come out of the minte as the wordes themselues which are such as none of them that haue written twelue yea thirteene hundred yeares after Christ did euer heare of And thus you see that these doe nothing at all agree together amongst themselues howsoeuer they would make men belieue that they are all as one either in the matter or in the forme of this pretended sacrifice neither yet aboute his effect or ende no nor in the substance or circumstances thereof Wherefore how farre more commend able had it beene for them and nearer to the purpose to haue kepte themselues to the institution of Christ in the alone propitiatorie sacrifice accomplished on the Crosse for the declaration and remembrance which is to be vsed according to the institution of the Lord in the holy supper And furthermore it is certaine that as by the grace of God the light beganne to rise and spring againe in the Church notwithstanding the terror and torment of the fire which was kindled and blowne vppe against it in all nations so the Doctors of Papistrie grewe ashamed of this doctrine Whereuppon wee see that Sidonius Faber Zwifaltensis and others who writte in the time of Luther did contente themselues to call it the Sacrifice of remembrance although vnder these wordes they doe not laye
tooke bread blessed it c. and said Take eate for the remission of your sinnes This is my bodie c. Doe this in remembrance of me as not hauing there any other kind that hee had made choise of neither yet figure wherein his incarnation might be represented Behold then the Image of his quickning bodie which is honourably and gloriously exhibited c. But this Councell was afterward condemned by the second Nicene Councell which established the adoration of images And without all doubt not without the shaking by that meanes of the truth of this Article as it will be seene in that which Theophilact writeth But that second of Nice was also condemned by that of Francford and of Paris as we haue seene before held vnder the authoritie of Charles the great Lewes and Lotharius which may bee the cause that our French Doctors should as yet hold the same firmely Anno 900. Theoph. in Marc. c. 14. in Mat. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for true and sound doctrine Theophilact therefore about the yeare 900. to sute Damascen The bread is not the figure or any kind of paterne of the bodie of our Lord but the bodie of Christ is turned into it Or else in an other place In Ioh. c. 6. The bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned into the body Againe It is not onely a certaine figure of the flesh of our Lord but the verie flesh of our Lord c. Verily no more constant or assured then Damascen seeing that he saith in the same places God stooping downe and applying himselfe to our infirmitie doeth keepe the figure of bread and wine He saith not the accidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He transformeth and chaungeth them into the power and vertue of the flesh and bloud He saith not into thy flesh and bloud And it is not here to be forgotten that in diuers Copies these words are not to be found Againe Wee celebrate an oblation without bloud the remembrance of an oblation which he hath once made c. The remembrance how can that agree with the real presence But when he saith Transformeth or chaungeth from one element to an other who shall better interpret him then Saint Augustine that it is chaunged from an element to a Sacrament by the power of the word that is to say by the institution of Christ Otherwise if a man should goe about to take it literally our aduersaries who allow not of this proposition The bread is or is made the bodie of Christ could they admit of this of Theophilacts The bodie of Christ is turned to vs into bread The bread of the Altar is transformed and chaunged into the bodie of Christ And what exposition will they giue then thereunto except this he is become our spirituall foode and nourishment Seeing that he saith in an other place That there is not any carnall thing In a word that the bread as we say with all the ancient writers is Sacramentally the body of Christ Now in the life time of Charles the great Iohannes Eryngerus Scotus a Monke of the order of Saint Bennet companion to Alcuinus and Schoolemaster to Charles the great had written a booke of the holy Supper wherein hee dealeth against this abuse touching it euen from the conception thereof a certaine argument and proofe of that which the worthie Beda had taught for as much as hee was his Disciple The occasion of which my speech ariseth vpon certaine places in Beda his works which some haue corrupted in like manner vpon Saint Mathew which Auentinus witnesseth that he found out by comparing together the old Copies which are kept in the auncient Monasteries of Germanie In Biblioth Passaulensi Waltfacrens to haue beene falsified by some such like faithfull and vpright Catholike dealing as our fathers of Trent haue vsed in their Index Expurgatorius deuised and ordained in that Councell against all the most notable writers that haue written since the yeare 100. But of this Scotus his workes wee haue nothing for his booke was burnt in the Councell holden at Verseillis by Pope Leo the ninth more then two hundred yeares after his death at such time as Berengarius was there condemned But so it is that we haue Bertram his booke who was a Priest and writ the same to king Charles the bald brother to the Emperour Lotharius how this controuersie grew hotter and hotter in Fraunce and how there were two questions consulted vpon by the said Charles The first was Whether the bread and wine taken by the mouthes of the faithfull be the bodie and bloud of Christ in deed verily or mistically and Sacramentally The second Whether it be the same bodie that was borne of the Virgine Marie c. sitting at the right hand of the father c. And of this booke there is mention made by the Abbot Trithemius Trithem de doctorib eccle Chron. Hirtsaugien who calleth it Opus commendabile a laudable worke As also of his person whose rare gift both in diuine and humane learning as also in soundnesse of life hee much praiseth and commendeth And his resolution which hee gaue to King Charles debated and argued from the testimonies of all the old writers it was this in summe S August S. Hieronym S. Ambros c. That the Fathers vnder the Law in their Sacraments did eate the flesh and drinke the bloud of Christ as wee doe That the eating in the holy supper is accomplished after the same way and maner that regeneration in Baptisme that the visible elements are Sacraments signes mysteries and similitudes or resemblances which are taken by the mouth and hand That the inuisible things that is the flesh and bloud of Christ are receiued into the soule and taken by faith That the sanctified Elements continue and abide still in their first substance and yet exhibite vnto vs by the institution of the Lord that which hee hath promised by his word The fruit whereof is to be ioyned to Christ and made fellow sufferers with him in his sufferings the image and remembrance whereof is celebrated in this mysterie I would intreate the Reader not not to grieue to reade this book because it is learned and setteth forth in verie liuely sort the opinions of the Fathers pressing and vrging the places of Scripture and of the fathers and as it were foreseeing all the cauils of the masters of Transubstantiation But let him that buyeth or readeth it see that it be of those that were Imprinted before the Councell of Trent because that in signe of their perseuering in their honest and faithfull course they ordaine and appoint in their Index Index pag. 11 that whatsoeuer it containeth to their dislike should bee either chaunged or quite raced out that is to say the greatest part of the booke Their maner of correcting and interpreting is no grosser but to turne the affirmatiue into a negatiue so on the contrarie as for example For
according to the Scriptures appeareth by that which he said before That Dauid that the Euangelists that the Apostles doe teach vs c. Cyp. in Epi. 74 Saint Cyprian If it be commaunded in the Gospel if it be contained in the Epistles or acts of the Apostles let vs obserue it as diuine and holie But if it be not there then what followeth but the contrarie Saint Basil VVe must learne the Scriptures Basil regul 95 as concerning that which is to be practised in them as well to replenish our spirit with pietie as to leaue of to accustome humane constitutions Saint Ierome Hiero. in Esas It is no maruell saith he speaking of the Iewes if you follow your traditions seeing that euerie country goeth to seeke counsaile at their Idols but God verely hath giuen vs his scriptures and darknesse shall ouerwhelme you if you follow them not As also vnto Christians for euen in his time saith he it was come to the lees In. Matth. 23. VVo be vnto you wretched Christians to whom the sinnes of the Pharisies are translated and come euen that damnable tradition of theirs c. wee swallow downe against the commaundement of God the things that are great and hunt after the opinion of religion in the small and little ones c. And once for all The sworde Ad Laetam saith he of the Lord striketh at all those doctrines which are found bearing the shewe of Apostolicall traditions without the authoritie and testimonie of the Scriptures And this is the verie thing whereof Saint Augustine so greatly complained himselfe in his time that in the Church euery thing was full of presumption S. August in Epi. ad Iouin In S. Ioha tract 96.97 and preiudicate opinion that contrarie to the expresse worde of Christ the yoke of Christians was become more heauie and greeuous then that of the Iewes That men made lesse conscience of the law of God then of the least humane ordinances or rather fansies All this or the most part thereof comming from heretikes and certaine Apocripha bookes vnder the shadow saith he of this worde From the Lord I haue yet many things to say insomuch as that there is not the veriest foole that is that dareth not to abuse the same A place that some obiect against vs euen vnto this day about the same matter But saith he when the Lord hath kept any thing hidden from vs who is he that is so vaine as to goe about to gesse at it or so rash and foole-hardie as to take vpon him to reueale it And this is the cause why Saint Bernard wearie of those insupportable traditions Bern. Epist 91 ad Abba Suissioni congreg said I desire with all my hart to present my selfe as a partie in that Councel wherin traditioÌ„s are not obstinately defended nor suspersticiously obserued but rather the good and perfect will of God with all humilitie and diligence searched after and sought for And againe De precepto dispensat If there be any such as charitie hath beene the inuenter of it is iust that by the same charitie they bee ceased and giuen ouer if it bee so found expedient Againe The precepts which are of the ordinances of God are necessarie but those which are of humane constitution arbitrarie and at discretion c. And in deed the Ecclesiasticall historie doth witnesse vnto vs that the ancient fathers did leaue such things as were meere obseruations indifferent both vnto whole Churches and particular persons not inforcing any thing but what was of the pure and vndefiled commaundement of God as is to be read in Socrates Nicephorus c. Can not the Church then ordaine any thing Socrates Niceph. l. 12. c 14. Wherein or how far the authority of the Church stretcheth And wherein shall the authoritie thereof consist Nay let vs not feare that it hath ouer little to doe It is not a small thing in the blindnesse wherewith man is blinded and in the darknesse of this worlde to keepe it selfe from straying and wandring out of the way of life to keepe it selfe from loosing the heauenlie light through the sight of the eyes and to guide it selfe and others by the same And would to God it would haue contented it selfe to haue knowne this onely and to haue beene ignorant in all the rest Where as hauing toucht the forbidden tree and hauing transgressed this worde Deute 4. 12 Cursed be they which adde thereunto shee hath opened her eyes to these false and deceyuing fiers but shut them at the light and so consequentlie lost her puritie loyaltie and innocencie and leauing the truth of God is further become left vnto herselfe The ancient fathers verily The Fathers made faith the limits of the Church and the Scriptures the bounds limits of faith Colos 2.8 1. Cor. 4.6 Iohn 8.13 Not by succession Iren. l. 3. con heres c. 11. l. 4. c. 43. 44. Tertul. de prescript de pudicit Id verius quod prius Tertul. de virg â—â—land Con. Praxeam Tertul. de prescript Cypr. Ep. 55. De lapsis In tract de simplicit pontif in ep 74. Gregor Nazianz in orat habit ad laudem S. Athanas cont Arrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue not thought it any thing dishonoured when they tyed it to the obedience of her Spouse for they bounded it by faith and faith by the Scriptures And it would haue beene on the contrarie a verie strange doctrine vnto them that it shoulde haue spoken or heard any other language then her owne seeing it is said vnto her by the Apostle See that none spoile you through Philosophie or vaine deceitfulnesse according to the traditions of men Againe Learne of vs not to be wise aboue that which is written And in vs saith the Apostle that is to say by our example And by her Spouse himselfe If you abide in my worde you shall be truly my disciples Irenaeus saith The Gospel is the pillar and foundation of the Church It behoueth it to flie from all those which flie from and forsake the principal succession and cleaue vnto theÌ„ that keepe the doctrine of the Apostles Tertul. The Church is knowne to be apostolical not by nuber not by succession of Bishops but by the consanguinitie of doctrine And this doctrine again In this saith he in that the most ancientis most true that is most ancient which was from the beginning and that which is from the beginning is that which is froÌ„ the Apostles from the Apostles saith he who left the Scriptures for vs vpon whom are come the last ages the Scriptures by which the truth is defended and not by tradition or custome For how saith he could a man be able to speake of the things of faith but by the writings of faith Saint Cyprian Those are the Church saith he which dwell in the house of God But how Verily saith he who so is separated diuided
and so of plaine and euident sentences for the opening of the hidden couert ones But otherwise if vnder the colour of obscuritie thou labor to gather any point of new doctrine Irenaeus will say vnto thee Thou must reason from the cleare places of the Scripture and not from parables Saint Basil The things that may seeme darkly spoken in one place are most cleare in another Saint Augustine Who is so impudent as to expound anie place of Scripture for himselfe by an Allegorie if he haue not an other verie cleare place in the Scripture which may make it plaine Seeing likewise saith he in another place That of all that which is obscure therein Lomb. l. 3. d. 5 there riseth not any thing almost but that which is cleare elsewhere Lombard Tho. in Sum. q. 147. art 10. Pet. de Alliac Where as the Scripture is silent it will be good for vs not to affirme any thing Thomas Thou canst not reason from an Allegoricall sense c. To be briefe the Cardinall Alliaco That the scripture is a lampe that giueth light and that wee must haue recourse thither to haue saluation Gerson That an idiot a woman yea a childe Gers de Script de exa doct Pic. in Quest an Papa sup Concil are better to be beleeued alledging the Scripture then the Pope and a whole Councell And the Counte Iohannes Picus Mirandula after the same manner So farre off were these men who yet were the lights of their time from this darke opinion sprung no doubt out of the pit of vtter darknesse That the Scriptures were not any thing but darknesse But in a word the mischiefe is for that we will finde it difficult because that in the clearnesse thereof it is impossible for vs to finde out our inuentions obscure because that our traditions cannot stand before this light and imperfect because that neither by it nor before it we are able to defend our imperfections Yet so it is that our aduersaries replie that there are controuersies amongst vs that wee cannot agree of the expounding of the places which are alledged respectiuely How they must be expounded and therefore who shall expound them vnto vs who shall cause vs to admit of one exposition more then of another Let vs striue thitherward hauing Gods grace to assist vs let vs come thereto with the Zeale of his glorie the loue of the truth and the desire of saluation and then a meane knowledge ioyned with a good conscience would speedily attaine the ende And for some small taste thereof may it please the reader to examine certaine rules that follow being those which the auncient fathers doe teach vs. The first is That we be agreed vpon the Canonicall Scriptures thereby to auoyde the confounding of them with the Apocrypha that is To agree of the bookes called Canonical of the setting downe of the spirit of God for iudge rightlie discerned and distinguished from euerie spirit of man for humane scripture after the maner of monie is so much the more hurtfull and damnable by how much the coine that it hath counterfeited is the better and hereof the olde Church hath had a speciall regard I call this the first because that by this doore it did perceiue both vanities and heresies to enter into the Church vnder a fained name of our Lord and his Apostles They tell vs that the Scripture is the ballance the rule and the squire c. Hieronym ad Laetam And therefore to render to things their weight measure and streightnesse it is necessarie that it should be iust And this is that which S. Ierome telleth vs Let vs looke vnto our selues to beware of the Apocrypha bookes and if we will reade them c. let vs know that they are not theirs by whose names they are called that many faultie things are mingled there amongst that it craueth a singular prudencie in him that looketh to gather golde out of mud and in a worde that we must not reade them ad dogmatum veritatem for the confirming of doctrines So farre off is he from beeing of iudgement that wee shoulde rake togither the dregges of all manner of such Authours from all parts therewith to defile the Church And in another place In Symb. Ruf. in Praefat in Prou. in Reg. in prolog Galeato Hiberas naemas Certaine peruerse men to strengthen their opinions haue inserted vnder the name of holie personages things that they neuer writ and notwithstanding there are some which preferre these Hiberian fables before the Authētike bookes And this is the cause why S. August doth presse the heretikes continually with the Canonicall Bookes and refuseth the Apocrypha wherin they did their whole indeuour to ground themselues Let vs lay aside both on the one part the other that which we produce frō elswhere then out of the Canonicall bookes let vs shewe forth the holy Church by the holy Oracles let vs search for it in the holie Canonicall Scriptures c. To them I yeeld this honour that their Authour could not erre any maner of way the others I read in such sort how holy or lerned soeuer they might be as that I beleeue them not in that which they say because they say it but because they perswade me either by the Canonicall bookes or else by probable reason c. And therefore he saith further Ep. 19. ad Hieronym l. 2. con Dona. c. 3. con Faust l. 11. c. 5. The aduised searcher of the holy Scriptures shall reade them first all ouer but those onely which are called Canonicall for then he shall be able to reade the others more safely being alreadie instructed in the faith of the truth for feare that otherwise they might forestall and get the aduantage of a weake spirit abuse it with dangerous lies infect it with some preiudicate opinion cōtrarie to sound vnderstanding Lib. de Ciuit. Dei c. 15.23 For although therin be found some truth notwithstanding because of many vntruthes they are vtterly without all Canonicall authoritie And in the meane time what impudencie is it to go about to make him to giue credit to the decree by committing the offence of a most notorious lie D. 9. c. in Canonicis acknowledged also by Alphonsus of Castres to haue said That the Decretall Epistles of the Bishops of Rome are of the same authoritie Cyril Hierosol Catech. 4. that the Canonicall Scriptures Cyrill Patriarke of Ierusalem Studie these Scriptures onely which wee boldly and confidently reade in the Church but haue not any thing to doe with the Apocrypha Nazian de veris Scripturae libris Nazianzene In them wee see the light c. But to the ende that the bookes that are excluded from thence may not deceiue thee learne to know the true and legitimate number c. If you find any other then those holde them for base and bastardlie ones Yea and this was one of
c. 4. l. 3 c 5. saith Saint Augustine hath beene gathered togither whatsoeuer was dispersed throughout the diuine Scriptures to the end that the memorie of the most dull and slow of conceipt might not be ouerlaboured And whereof Beda after him leaueth vs this lesson That we must beware that Secundum fidem fit Sacramenti diuini expositio That the exposition of the diuine mysteries be according to faith In such sort as that we haue two Canons but the one neuerthelesse an abridgement of the other the Canonicall Scripture and the Canon of faith that is the Creede that to stay our spirits so that they may not search for in substance any thing in faith Tertul. de praescript saith Tertullian anie where else then in the doctrines of faith This to direct them in the expounding of that that is of the Scriptures and doctrines of faith to the ende that they may not admit of any sense how plausible soeuer it might be which is gone be it neuer so little from the articles of faith For example 〈◊〉 wee haue to deale with an Arrian we shall say vnto him after the maner of Saint Augustine let vs pitch our selues without any shifting vpon the Canonicall Scriptures we haue no other titles whereby we may learne the right but them But if from these Scriptures he alledge vnto vs The father is greater then I c. we shall call to mind that it is also written I and the father are one and the Scripture cannot be contrarie To the ende then that the one and the other may proue true we shall distinguish referring the first vnto the humane nature and the other vnto his diuine that so we may not conclude against that which is said I beleeue in Iesus Christ for Cursed be hee that putteth his cōfidence in any thing but God c. And let vs further obserue here that as hath bin said there is no societie since that of the Apostles that can make that Canonicall Scripture which is not as in like maner there is not any that can make an article of the faith of that which of it selfe is not one This power saith the Cardinall Caietan himselfe did ende there and there is not any either succession or discent which can attribute it vnto it selfe or which can pretend the same What then How we are to receiue and intertaine the Fathers And shall the Fathers that haue so highly deserued of the Church that haue so much and so well trauelled in the Scriptures serue vs for no vse Yes but marke the place due vnto them and the which no other can bee attributed vnto them they could not be called any sooner It is for God in his word to giue vs his law he is our onely Lawgiuer to whom alone it appertaineth saith the Apostle to saue and to destroy Iames. 4.12 Expounders not lawgiuers The greatest honour that man can haue giuen him in the Church is to be an expounder To take vpon him to make any lawes therein of himselfe this is to coine money this is to incroch vpon the Prince he cannot doe it without committing of treason yea without the incurring of blasphemie Here therefore we admit of the Fathers as expounders of the law word and diuine Scriptures we receiue their interpretations with reuerence admiring their pietie doctrine and zeale but alwayes with this exception most reasonable That they be but expounders not law-giuers dispensers of the mysteries of godlinesse and not authours In whom we must consider what they haue said not in that they haue said it but in that they haue said it by the way of expounding of the Scripture not speaking of their owne heades but according to their capacitie of the sense and meaning thereof As for example we reason of purgatorie The question here is not to know if it be to be found in Origen Augustine or S. Gregorie this rule abideth alwayes firme That if there be one it must needes bee that God hath made it for there is not any Doctor that hath power abilitie to make it If it belong to vs to know it let God haue reuealed and disclosed it vnto vs for it is not to be learned at the gesse of any of the Fathers let vs then haue found it in the Church her treasurie the Scripture Now there will be some to shew vs some places out of it from which they would collect and gather it and accordingly they will that they should be vnderstood on this sort and we on the contrarie In this controuersie we shall reade ouer the Text verie carefully as also that which goeth before and that which followeth we shall examine it to see if it be faithfully translated we shall make comparison of the like places All this hitherto is nothing else but to call vpon the Spirit of God to be our aide so much the more to inlarge and open our spirits according to that which the Apostle saith vnto vs. 1. Cor. 14◠Let the spirits of the Prophets that is of such as haue the gift of interpretation be subiect to the Prophets We shall here consult with the olde Fathers we shall compare their expositions both with the Text and amongst themselues we shall marke if they haue vsed a good translation whether they handle the place by the way or of set purpose affirmatiuelie or doubtfully and where they differ as ordinarily it falleth out we shall weigh them both according to the age wherein they shal haue liued for it importeth infinitely and according to the testimonie that the Church shall haue giuen of their doctrine for they are not all of one weight And in the ende caeteris paribus We shall not despise the consent and agreement of many against a few But God forbid that we should receiue them for Law-giuers or yet for Authours of opinions in the Church either contrarie vnto or without the scriptures And as farre off must it be that we should make them correctors or iudges ouer that ballance which iudgeth them and wherin themselues will be weighed For this should be blasphemie against God treason against the Church and an iniurie to themselues We wholie yeeld vnto them in thus doing the honour which they haue giuen to their predecessours as whereby they haue set a law and giuen an example for their successors practised by them against those by these against themselues If they had done otherwise where had we beene long agoe Seeing there is not so much as one of them that hath not erred in some thing many of them in the points of faith and certaine of them so farre as that they haue fallen into heresie Verily wee had beene Chiliasts with Irenaeus Montanists with Tertullian Anabaptists with Saint Cyprian Arrians with Theophilus Pelagians with Faustus the originals of all errours yea euen of Arrianisme with Origen we should wound the bodie of Christ not being subiect to paine Zonar de Ori. in Constant S. Hie
of the obseruations of the Primitiue church seeing that a verie strong preiudicate opinion hath seazed the spirites of the greatest part that nothing is done now a dayes in the church of Rome but after that sort maner that to require any reformatiō therin is nothing else but a longing after nouelties and a remouing of the ancients their markes and limittes and lastlie seeing that they which make their aduantage of such abuses are not without store of colours thereby corrupting and disguising the olde and auncient monumentes and writinges and besmoking the new and latter ones that so they may carrie the greater shew of antiquitie amongst which that of making as to receiue the thinges for olde and auncient which haue meerelie regarded the succeeding times of the church is verie newe and latelie hatched This I say is the taske and text which we are now to finish and make plaine by the grace of God that so wee may prouide helpes for the strengthning and supporting of some simple men and preuent the malice of the contrarie minded to the end that antiquitie may shew it selfe antiquitie and noueltie may appeare to bee but noueltie and also to the end that the superstitious and long obseruation of some ill established noueltie may not carrie away the title of antiquitie from olde and auncient veritie That truth which is of all other most ancient may not grow out of date by reason of the antiquitie thereof That the disagreements in religion are for the most parte aboute traditions established without the warrant of the word carelesly and negligentlie looked vnto Ne inquam antiquissima illa veritas vel ipsa antiquitate antiquari videatur Certainelie hee that shall weigh and consider with sound and vpright iudgement the controuersies which are at this day in christian religion shall not finde them to be anie such things for the most part as are founded vpon any doctrine that is trulie auncient vpon anie doctrine I say that is taught or mentioned in the holie Scriptures notwithstanding that the Scriptures bee the true and proper boundes of whatsoeuer may fall into mens fansies and the olde and authentike Registers and Maisters of the church to line and square out whatsoeuer is the proper due and true possession of any one And further we doo freelie declare testifie that whosoeuer shall dare to remoue the same though neuer so little shall worthilie fall into the curse pronounced by the Prophet against them which remoue auncient boundes and markes But the question is of Traditions which haue insinuated themselues and are sprung vppe together with the time by the industrie of men and that to the choaking of the true plantes of Christes fielde Of Traditions which by the reading of Antiquities wee see and behold first in the bare and naked seede then in the bud putting forth growing and rising vp into a stalke bearing fruite ouergrowing in the end the good corne ouerspreading the earth watred with the vanitie and ordinarie curiositie of men manured and fed with the ignorance of the most darke and ouershadowed ages Of Traditions one marke or step whereof for the most part we cannot espie or finde out eyther in the holie Scriptures or in the Primitiue church but which from age to age we finde and see to haue sprung vp of some crosse or ouertwhart word or else of some vnexpected action as hearbes cōming by chance wherof there is no great regard or reckoning made or else to grow by a priuation or negatiuelie in some doubtfull question from thence proceeding into some affirmatiue not well and firmelie grounded and finally ending in a full and absolute conclusion from whence is drawne within some space of time after and so throughout euerie age such strange increase and ouerrunning measure such consequences so far differing from the first steps and footinges as that they which first cast the seede into the grounde not thinking of any such haruest would not bee able as it falleth out with the fowles of the aire letting fall some nut or acorn euer to auouch the same for theirs if they should returne to beholde them yea which would rather haue smothered and stifled them in the birth if they had foreseen anie shew of such monstrousnes to haue eusued And finallie of Traditions which smoothlie conuey themselues vnder the habite of indifferencie and a certaine kinde of pretended seemlines into thercome and place of profite of necessitie of subiection yea and that greater then any Iudaicall seruitude and of the Articles of faith Articles I call them seeing that men now a dayes such as are our aduersaries are farre more tenderlie affected and deeplier doting vpon their owne inuentions then vpon faith it selfe And for the which they let not to stand and contend a great deale more in the church of Rome to maintain the same then they do striue and seeke to root out Atheisme notwithstanding it iet vp and downe like a Lord and spreade it selfe into euerie coast and quarter vnder the name of Philosophie priuilie vndermining and thereupon forciblie ouerturning the foundations of the church of Christ the holie Scriptures and the holie Sacramentes Articles againe for the strengthning whereof they are not ashamed to weaken so much as lieth in them the force and authoritie of Gods word and for the procuring of authority thereunto they defend the sufficiencie integritie and simplicitie of the same they make no conscience to call the ministerie of death the ministery of our life and to pronounce as imperfect and vnsufficient vnto Saluation the Scriptures whereof the essentiall worde did say vnto the Iewes and then by a stronger reason to vs Examine the Scriptures diligentlie and carefullie for you thinke to haue eternall life by them and they are those that beare witnes of me Now it were no hard or difficult matter to demonstrate and shew foorth the same throughout all the Articles which are in controuersie and indeede the matter hath beene performed by diuerse alreadie But I will rest my selfe for this time in shewing the truth thereof in the matter of the Masse and the appendances thereof because at this day it occupieth the principall place of Diuine Seruice in the church of Rome because it seemeth vnto them the badge cognizance to distinguish betwixt the good and euill Christian because that in not going thereunto or in going thereunto is as they hold in their opinion to worke a mans damnation or saluation And lastly because that it containing comprising in it eyther the doctrine or the practise of the principall pointes which are in controuersie betwixt vs it shall stand for a full reuew of the whole bodie of their religion or not want much thereof if it bee throughlie examined and sifted If then it be of such moment and importance vnto saluation as they would make vs belieue we need not to doubt anie thing at all but that we shall finde it so most clearelie and euidentlie by the holy Scriptures
catechised NOw in the time of Constantine his rule and gouernment in the Empire A notable alteration vnder Constantine afterward we see and behold the estate of the Christian Church to change from persecution to peace from seruitude and slauerie to principality rule and dominion by remouing out of the deserts to dwell in Citties and from keeping in caues and holes to sit in faire and stately palaces Here we see it imbraced of the multitude entertained of Emperors and those the most famous and worthiest of all the rest namely the Emperours of Rome and receiued of whole nations and those such as bare away the pricke and price from the whole world for pride and riotousnes Let vs not find it strange if in this great change we see it altogether changed euen at one blow if the Church embracing the world into her lappe become sweld and puffed vp with the same in a moment if the worlde enter into the Church with the worlde being brought thereinto by the entrance it obtained I meane the vanities superfluities affections and imperfections together with all the rest of the infections of the world The Church had beene nourished in mountaines and deserts she came forth of such places clothed with Camels haire in all so brietie simplicitie and innocencie The Bishops for the most part bringing her forth into the world were ashamed to shew her in such sort vnto the Gentils to them which newly came or else were willing to come out of Paganisme These good Emperours likewise desirous to haue her receiued of these people becomming more curious in setting out of the vtter partes then of the inner of the shew and appearance then of the truth and of the ceremonie then of the substance did not make conscience or spare to decke her vp after the manner of Paganisme to prepare her the glorious ornaments vsed amongst the Gentiles and to accommodate and fit thereunto as farre as they thought possiblie they might without preiudicing of their holy faith the seruice and ceremonies of the Christians to those vsed amongst the Pagans And this their course and manner of proceeding was called amongst them zeale and prudencie which Tertullian a precise and seuere obseruer and challenger of the first puritie had called sacriledge Wherein againe they thought it meet to keep such a tempering because that hauing at the same time to care for the satisfying of them of the circumcision euen the Iewes which embraced Christianitie furthered and helped forward thereto for the most part vpon a conceited opinion that they had dreamed of of the greatnes of the Messias they thought they might thereby be able to shew them the accomplishment of their expected hope in the outward gorgeousnes of the Christian Church and where they thought they ought to beautifie her simplicitie and nakednesse there they borrowed willingly all they could either of wordes or ceremonies from the Iewes Seeing then the whole outward seruice both of the Iewes and Gentiles did consist principally in sacrifices those of the Gentiles hauing no certaine scope or marke to ayme at and those of the Iewes looking all forward vnto Iesus Christ vpon and in whom they were all founded and finished it seemed hard and harsh vnto them and like to giue much offence if they should wholly abolish all sacrifices because these proselites newly conuerted to Christianitie did not belieue that religion could stande without sacrifices not conceiuing the truth how that all sacrifices are nothing further then they are applied vnto the onely true sacrifice of the Son of God fulfilled vpon the crosse Least therefore they might exasperate and prouoke either the one or the other the Christians applyed themselues to heare and speake both of altars and sacrifices And because that the Apostles had taken paine to beate it into their heads and harts that all sacrifices tooke their end in Christ they tooke pleasure in calling their seruices offeringes and oblations sacrifices the table of the Lord his Altar the remembrance of his death in his holy supper the sacrifice of the Altar a holy host the Bishops and Pastors Sacrificers and the Deacons Leuites c. These kindes of speeches being easily to bee vnderstoode of euerie one amongst them and such as at that time were not hurtfull howsoeuer in the ages following falling out to bee fuller of ignoraunce and further swaruing from the clearenes of the light they became causes of great abuses because they would aduenture further go from the figure and signe to the thing from the spirit to the letter from an improper manner of speech into an errour of doctrine The Gentiles likewise had a multitude of Gods vnto euery one of which they had builded churches raysed altars and made sacrifices Now to restraine such a people at once to the seruice of one onely God and that God altogether a spirit to a seruice altogether spirituall being a carnall people a people brutishly enamoured with their pompous manner and ceremonies with their images of wood and stone the wisedome of man found to be scandalous full of offence and without the bounds of discretion and therefore would haue regard of the saide Gentiles in such sort as that they might build them vp and not pull them downe and feede them first with milke as they called it and afterwarde with strong meate for so this place was then abused 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas then the first ages had sharpely and couragiously contested that to haue many Gods was not to haue any at all It was found pleasing and plausible to turne their Gods into Saintes and their Goddesses into she saintes and to place our Apostles and Martyrs in their roomes to dedicate vnto them their temples and Altars to allow them sacrificing priestes and high priestes to ordaine feastes and seruices in honour of them But this matter is handled hereafter more at large Where before that we come thereto let vs consider seeing the spirite of man is blinde in the thinges belonging to God how that these good men vnder a shadowe of drawing Iewes and Gentiles vnto Christ in course of time did faire and softly bring into the Church both Iudaisme and Paganisme I meane their ceremonies and outwarde pompes superstitions and vanities yea and that is worse many of their presumptions and preiudicate opinions in the matter of doctrine and how also it followed thereupon that the people did euerie day apply and ioyne themselues more more to the outwarde parte and put vs in daunger to bee rather Iewes and Gentiles then true Christians abusing the example of Saint Paule who became as hee saith a Iew to the Iewes a Gentile vnto the Gentiles and euery thing to euerie man to winne them vnto Christ and that without any manner of consideration how that the spirit of God is not giuen to all in one measure or how that euerie man is not capable to stand fast and keepe his hold in such tickle and slipperie places
owne saluation of the participating and communicating of the bodie and blood of our Lord vnder the Sacramentes of bread and wine distributed and deliuered into the handes of the faithfull during which action the Christian assemblie was occupied in singing of Psalmes and finally there was the dissoluing or breaking vppe of the whole assemblie concluded and finished by a post-communion that is by a solemne thanksgiuing for the benefites receiued in Christ and recorded and sealed in the holy Supper All this seruice was in a language vnderstood of all common both to the Ministers of the Church whom they call Clearkes and also to the rest of the people whom they call lay men or the layetie all and euery one of which euen to the simplest amongst them did aunswere Amen that is to say did ratifie all the whole action so much as lay in them and put to their vowes and requestes vnto all that which was said and done as vnto thinges by them well vnderstood Now let vs in order looke vpon see that which was added thereunto afterward and let vs iudge without all partialitie of affection whether this seruice be amended or impaired by such addition and inlargement Certainly if the Mileuitane and Africane Councels had beene well obayed The chaunge and cause thereof wee should not haue had this trouble for the auncient godly learned fathers that were present thereat seeing the licentious scope and libertie that euerie one gaue vnto his owne conceite and fancie one sort vnder the shadow of tradition and an other vnder the colour of good intention had verie excellently ordained prouided that no man should dare to take vpon him the placing or putting in of any thing without the aduise of the most graue-wise and the authority of the Councels But bold ignorance which is neuer without presumption did quickly ouerskip all these boundes and that so much the more daungerously by how much it was ioyned with preuayling authoritie which then grew vp to his height the authoritie I say of the Romish Church which then succeeded the authoritie of the Emperours and by little and little inthronised her selfe in their seates of more then royall estate thereby growing mightie in power and credite nothing lesse or inferior in being followed in euery thing as a most perfect patterne and example Then the Gothes the Hunnes and the Vandales c more then a whole hundred yeares spoiled and made hauocke of the Westerne Empire and the Persians and Parthians of the Easterne whereupon it followed that all good literature lay raked vp in the dust and in no lesse wise did they weaken the flourishing estates of all good and naturall policie The great and worthie personages both in the East and Westerne partes were taken away by death hauing beene in their life time the lightes of the Church and the scourges of heretikes and hereticall opinions their successors borne and brought vp in barbarousnesse did go before them in power and authoritie but they did not succeed them in like measure of sufficiencie And this caused that the seedes of Pelagianisme and other heresies hauing laine a long time rather couered then quenched did reuiue and found more carefull husbanding then the good plantes because they had more affinitie with common sence and the proud aspiring driftes of our corrupt nature So then those which could not so well make their part good by sound learning would yet beare the bell away with setting a good face on it such as could not feed their flocke with the worde of God would fill them full with superstitions ceremonies and for want of milke like vnto drie nurses they would serue them with the first licour that they met withall and for lacke of bread they would set before them huskes So then in this time and age we see all these nouelties and innouations to flow in with full streame without any barre without any manner of let or bridle Now became the computation of the shepheards Calender to be accompted of for a worthie peece of historie and the dreame of men for sacred Gospell And the Church likewise doth then come forth vpon the stage all masked and disguised with the Pagane and Iewish guise and that in a moment and that not by shifting her robes onely but which is the worst of all the rest by shaking off all the commendable parts of gesture and matter Let vs begin at the Greeke Church Additions in the Churches of the Grecians We haue spoken heretofore of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brought in by Proclus a Patriarch of Constantinople and receiued into the Church vpon the naked report of a certaine child who being extraordinarily rapt and caried vp into heauen said that hee heard it sung there We haue likewise handled the point how in the Councell of Ephesus as a thing following vpon the disallowing condemning of the heresies held by Nestorius and Eutyches it was said That the holy virgine might bee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the mother of God And now further behold a certaine man Petrus Gnapheus who started vp in Antioch and thought to make his aduantage thereof for the establishing of heresie and superstition this fellow was a priest of Chalcedonie and of the secte of Eutyches who through the fauour of Zeno Isaurus afterward Emperour shufled himselfe into the Bishopricke of Antiochia by discarding Martyrius the true and lawfull Bishop of the same and being receiued then it was ordained in his Church which was of very large precinctes Theodor. Anagnostes in Collecta that at the end of Trisagium the hymne so called because it contained these wordes Sanctus Deus sanctus fortis sanctus immortalis miserere nobis there was added Qui crucifixus es pro nobis which wast crucified for vs applying the same to God the father whom in the vnsoundnesse of his hereticall assertions hee held to haue suffered for mankind confounding both the persons and the natures and Nycephorus saith Nyceph lib. 16 that the same continued euen vntill his time And moreouer that in all the prayers made in his church the name of the virgine the mother of God was called vpon with an intent and purpose to make this doctrine plausible and well liked of the Councell of Ephesus and as a baite for the giuing of free passage to the swallow of the rest of his heresies Now it followed presently hereupon that the Emperour Leo the great being aduertised of these nouelties condemned him into banishment vntill such time as he promised to disclaime and giue them ouer which in deed he did and made not shew to the contrarie vntill such time as that false and forsworne Basilicus went about to seize vpon the Empire by the meanes whereof he recouered his libertie and licence to worke mischiefe both at one time his doctrine likewise being afterward supported and borne out by Anastasius the Emperor being himselfe an Eutychian Iustinian the Emperour added
yet in respect of himselfe you may perceiue what his iudgement was by these words Though it may seeme to receiue but one kinde notwithstanding to receiue both is of greater merite and desert Againe Whole Christ is not sacramentallie contained vnder either of the kindes but the flesh vnder the kinde of bread the blood vnder the kinde of wine Againe it appeareth that the rule was not generally receiued in his time when hee sayeth Jtafere vbique fit á Laicis in Ecclesia fere vbiua non vbiue it is almost thus practised in euerie Church by the Laitie almost euerie where sayeth hee Linwold de sum Trinit fide Cathol but not euerie where As likewise when Linwoldus sayeth That in the lesse and inferiour Churches it is not permitted saue onelie to the Priestes to receiue the blood vnder the kinde of consecrated wine for in that hee sayeth In the lesse or inferiour churches hee meaneth the Countrie Churches thereby excepting those that were in the Citties presuming that Cittizens had more knowledge then Countrie men Insomuch as that this Sacrament instituted by our Lord to signifie in the Cōmunicating of one and the same bread and one and the same wine the vnion and agreement betwixt al the saithfull in one bodie would serue by meanes of this corruption to sunder and separate in manifest and open shew first them of the Cleargie from those of the Laitie and secondlie the Countrie people from those that dwelt in Citties as though forsooth the soules of the one sort were more deare then the other to him who hath purchased all with one and the same blood It springeth likewise out of the same Diuinitie which Thomas Waldensis a white Fryer sayeth in his book which he hath written of the Sacramentes against the Wickleuistes and yet approued by an expresse Bull from Pope Martin the fift for after that hee hath reasoned mightilie for the maintaining of the Communicating of the Laitie vnder one kind hee commeth in with this exception vz. That it is notwithstanding permitted the Pastors if they haue not made an end of the Sacraments but onelie receiued the same in part that is if they haue not drunke all that then they should distribute the remainder vnto those of their Parishioners which are strong in faith and discreete persons Euen as sayeth hee the Pope is wont to deale with the Deacons and Ministers and with other persons famous for their faith or aduanced in dignitie and worthines with Doctors with Kinges or as the Church dealeth at this day with religious persons or men of great place c. And againe wee doe not allow it them sayeth he generallie neither doe we generally forbid it them for wee know that it is reserued of purpose for the Church and Prelates to communicate and distribute the cuppe vnto such persons c. And yet in the meane time it hath thriuen so well in their fingers as that indeed Kinges hauing kept the Charter and priuiledge of this libertie all others haue by one meanes or other lost and forfeyted the same and yet Kinges hold not this tenure say they as they are Laye-men but as they are sacred persons whereuppon we reade that the great king Frauncis demaunding the reasons of his Diuines Because said they that kings are annointed as the Priests be Which thing S. Ambrose as it may seeme by this reckoning did not vnderstand aright when hee caused the Emperour Theodosius to come out of the Queare of the Temple as a meere Laye-man Thomas Aquinas sheweth vs plainelie that it was in his time Thomas de sacram altar that this abuse was brought into the Church for in the place where Lombard had made this question Wherfore the Sacrament was receiued vnder both kindes Thomas did propound the contrarie why doe not the people receiue the blood vnder the wine And there is some difference betwixt them in respect of some certaine yeares during which distance this sufferance crept into the Church Now these are his reasons first That as there is neede of a more speciall vessell to put the wine in then to put the bread in so it is meet and requisite that it should bee a more speciall and sacred person for the receiuing of the blood then for the receiuing of the bodie which must bee expounded of the holie Priestes onelie and not of any of the vnholie Laitie But how shall those wordes of Chrysostome then take place where hee sayeth That in the receyuing of the Eucharist there is no difference betwixt the Priest and the people The second That there is danger therein least the people should shed the bloode which was not to bee feared in receyuing of the bodie And then what place shoulde bee found for the prudencie of the old Church to abide and rest in how hath shee maimed and wounded herselfe for these manie ages at such time as the people flockt and ran to the receiuing of the Sacrament by millions that shee did not foresee yea remedie and helpe this inconuenience but onelie because that new opinions haue begotten new prouisoes The third For feare least the common people which is giuen to bee wilfullie rude and ignorant hauing taken the blood vnder the kinde of wine could not afterward belieue the receiuing of it vnder the kinde of bread how true notwithstanding soeuer it bee that it is therein truelie and verilie What other thing is this but to reach vs that Transubstantiation hath begotten concomitancie and concomitancie the communicating vnder one kinde and by consequent that the Communion vnder both practised by the space of twelue hundred yeares in the Church did presuppose and take for granted a farre other kinde of doctrine then that of Transubstantiation or concomitancie But this saide Thomas did acknowledge in an other place that both the kindes are the institution of the Lord for hee sayeth expresly Thomas aduers Gentes l. 4. c. 51. Because that the working of our saluation was accomplished by the passion of Christ by the which his blood was separated from his bodie the Sacrament of his bodie is giuen vs apart and by it selfe and the Sacrament of bloode vnder the wine by it selfe to the end that vnder this Sacrament may bee contained the remembrance and representation of the death of our Lord and that so it may be fulfilled which hee sayth My flesh is verilie meat and my blood verilie drinke c. And there hee speaketh expresly not of the pretended Sacrifice of the Priest Iodoc. Clitho in Elucidario Theologico but of the distribution of the Sacramentes vnto the faithfull Likewise in the Office appointed for the feast of the Sacrament ordayned by him this Hymne doth testifie the same vnto vs Dedit fragilibus c. Again in the Hymne Verbum supernum prodiens he sayeth Quibus sub bina specie Carnem dedit sanguinem Vt duplicis substantiae Totum cibaret hominem Where hee acknowledgeth the institution of Christ
Thom. in 1. ad Cor. 11. lect 5. But vpon the Epistle to the Corinthians This Sacrament sayeth hee is giuen vnder a double kinde for three reasons The first for the perfection therof for seeing it is a spirituall sustenance it must needes haue a spirituall meate as also a sprituall drinke wherefore it is saide in the tenth Chapter that all haue eaten one spirituall meate and all haue drunke one and the same spirituall drinke The second by reason of the signification thereof for this is a remembrance of the death and passion of our Lord wherein the blood was separated from the bodie and therefore is giuen alone and by it selfe in this Sacrament And the third reason is this because of the sauing effect that is in this Sacrament for it serueth to the saluation of the bodie therefore the bodie is giuen it serueth to the saluation of the soule and therefore the blood is giuen But tell mee I pray you how farre more fit these three reasons are for to proue that it ought to bee giuen then the other three are to proue that it ought to bee taken away And what followeth hereof then but that to cut off the same is to depriue men of their spirituall food to weaken the remembrance of the passion of our Lord yea and to frustrate his people so much as in them lyeth of their saluation But see how time carrieth thinges away Thom. in Summa par 3. q. 8. art 12. for after that hee had saide To the perfection of this Sacrament there is required manducatio potatio eating of the bodie and drinking of the blood by consequent he that shall take the bodie without the blood shoulde haue but a lame and imperfect Sacrament hee addeth vnto this truth the error of the time carrying him away Notwithstanding there had great care reuerence need to bee vsed of them which receiue the same that so nothing may bee committed which might turne to the misprision contempt of so great a mystery which is most chiefly like to happen by shedding of the bloode if it should bee vndiscreetlie handled this is that which they call periculum effusionis because the Christians encreasing in number that there are amongst them old men young men children all which cannot bring such discretion as were requisite to so bolie a Sacrament it is obserued in some Churches not to offer the blood vnto the people to bee taken of them but the Priest taketh it himselfe alone hee sayeth that it is obserued wherein wee way well picke out this construction Thom. Opusc 58. c. 13. vz. that it is not a law but a custome in some churches that is that as yet in his time this custome had not preuailed euerie where And his reason of the great number of Christians is not to the purpose for the question is not of the daunger of spilling or of the number of Christians but of the number of Communicantes Now wee haue shewed before that the zeale of the Primitiue Church in frequenting the Sacramentes did farre exceede and goe beyonde the zeale of this time In brief for the vpholding of this opinion it is resolued vppon and concluded by him that the blood vnder the signe of bread is ioyned with the bodie per connexienem Scotus in Rep. dist 10. q. 3. as all the rest of the humors which is one branch of his Transubstantiation But Scotus disputeth against him both in the stocke and in the branches in these wordes Non est certum nam vtrumque potest sustineri noutrum probari This is not certaine for the one and the other may bee argued and reasoned but neyther the one nor the other can be proued Richardus de Media villa and Petrus de Tarentasia who liued since Innocent the fourth doe witnes that in their time the Sacrament was distributed vnder both kindes not onely to the ministers of the Altar but also to the best of the parish being such as by reason of their discretion were not to be feared of committing this matter of daunger Petrus de Palude sayeth Petrus de Palude in 4 Sent. d. 11. q. 1. That in certaine Churches this was done vnto all manner of persons in his time by the good order that was taken to auoide shedding also It is meete and of necessitie that there should be a twofold matter in this Sacrament meate and drinke D. 11. art 1. because the effect of the Sacrament must be perfectly represented by the figure now the effect of the sacrament is the perfect nourishing of the soule c. Cassander out of Gulielmus de Monte-landuno Idem in 4. Sent. d. 11. q. 12. art 1. q. 1. Qui recipit corpus Christi totam veritatem recipit sed non totum sacramentum ideo multis in locis cōmunicatur pane vino i. toto sacramento He that receiueth the bodie of Christ receiueth the whole truth but not the whole sacrament and therfore in many places they communicate with bread and wine that is to say in the whole sacrament c. Bonauentura a gray Frier famous amongst the schoolemen In the sacrament two things are to be considered the efficacie the signification Bonauent in lib. 4. Ser. t. d. 11. and therefore to be of the perfection or soundnesse of the sacrament is ment two manner of waies either according to the efficacie and power fuluesse thereof and so euery part is the whole or as concerning the signification and in this sort and manner the two kinds are of the perfection and intirenesse of the sacrament in as much as this sacrament is not sufficient in one of them but in both Also Of the two signes there riseth a perfect sacrament of the integritie and perfection whereof the dispositiue reason riseth naturally because neither the bread nor the wine doe either of them apart refresh and feede mā but rather both together The reason completiue riseth also of the holy institution which hath ordained these two signs to represent a perfect nourishment And he neuer speaketh otherwise In so much as that yet euen in these latter ages and times men were not come so farre as to denie that the Communion vnder both kinds was the institution of Christ or the obseruation of the auncient Church Lyran. in 1. ad Cor. c. 11. Proucrb 9. Sup. haec verba bibite vinum quod miscui vobis Dionys in 1. ad Cor. c. 11. 2. part serm In die caenae Dom. or else to alleadge any other cause of the taking away of the cup then the daunger of shedding for Lyranus saith plainly expounding the place of the first to the Corinthians He speaketh here of two kinds because that in the primitiue Church they were both giuen vnto the faithfull but for feare of spilling there is nothing giuen now a daies vnto the laitie but onely the kind of bread And a long time after him Dionys
reproued Marcellina because she burned incense to the Image of Christ what would hee haue saide to them which burne incense euerie day vnto the Images of the Saintes And hereupon also it came that the Spaniard Peresius found fault with this distinction And as for the other namelie That they doe not worship the Image but the thing whereof it is a signe can they deny that the Pagans said not asmuch vnto S. Augustine Lactantius Arnobius and Tertullian who yet did not therefore surcease or giue ouer to reproue and condemne them And if they coulde not tell how to excuse the matter or defende themselues against those Fathers Idem l. 3. de doctr Christi c. 7.8 9. what hope is there left that our Idolaters can speed any better in the same cause and matter But S. Augustine cutteth off al excuse by a generall proposition saying The signes of the Iewes are profitable because they are ordained of God but those of the Gentiles vnprofitable as their Images pictures c. notwithstanding that in them they bee properlie giuen to honour their Gods Afterwarde hee speaking of the one and the other saith If thou honour the signes in stead of the thing signified intending the honour vnto these and not to them yet this is notwithstanding a carnal scruitude wheras Christian libertie hath euen deliuered the Iewes And so by this meanes this respectiue kinde of worship goeth downe the streame Cassand in consultatione which Cassander likewise sincerelie acknowledgeth neuer to haue had anie place nor yet to haue found any reason to pleade for it in the olde Church But after this they speake a great deale more plainelie The growth proceeding of Idolatrie and Idolatrie beginneth to lift vp her Maske Theodore Bishoppe of Myra had said in the second Councell of Nice There are not two sorts of worshipping Latria and Dulia there is but one There is likewise no question to bee made of relation or respectiue regard the resembling thing and the thing resembled are worshipped both the one and the other in one and the same degree and measure But this proposition was not wel and equallie liked of all Thom. in 3. sent D. 2. Idem Scoâ—us But beholde the Schoolemen haue now found out the meanes to remoue the blocke out of the way by vertue of a place out of Aristotle but what hath he to do with our Diuinitie saying The thought that is bent vpon the Image and that which is bent vpon the thing signified by the Image are both alike and therefore the worship of the one and the other is alike And therfore they con clude and resolue that the Crosse and Image of Christ must be worshipped with Latria And therefore they vse to sing to the Crosse in the Church of Rome Behold the wood of the Crosse we worship it O holie Crosse graunt that Iustice may grow and increase in good men and pardon thou the transgressors and the sinners c. And of this opinion are likewise Thomas Iacob Nancl. Clugiens Epis Anno 1557. Scotus and Bonauentura c. so long as till that Iacobus Nanclantus Bb. of Chioggia in Italie did sharplie reproue them which said that Images ought to be worshipped and would haue had the wordes to worship Images to bee cut out But what increase insued there vpon these goodlie principles Surely thus much that eueÌ„ as they held their Images by the tenure of imitation counterfeyting therein the Pagans so they borrowed of them all the fashions which they vsed to worship their Gods withall as to offer offringes vnto them to make vowes Temples Altars and Sacrifices to say also their Masses that is to say to sacrifice the Sonne of God Tertul. in lib. de Idololatria Germanus in Ep. ad Thom. in Nice conc 2 so far as in them laye vnto them and afterward gorgeous apparrell garlandes of flowers burning of incense wax-candles burning lampes fastinges solemne feastes in honour of them the carrying about of their pictures and a worshipping of their bones What one thing is there of al these that was euer practised in the Church of Israel or in the Primitiue Christian church Or on the contrarie what one is there amongst them al which is not coÌ„firmed both by testimony example in the stories of the Pagans And what then can they haue reserued as proper and peculiar vnto God himselfe vnder the name Latria Or what becommeth of Lyranus with his distinction That we are not to bow or kneele vpon both our knees to any but to God alone when as it is in this seruice done vnto the creatures made by God and the workes of mens hands But neither haue they yet contented themselues and stayed here for after the manner of the Pagans they haue likewise so consecrated these Images in such blasphemous sort as that Paganisme it selfe would haue been ashamed and blusht to haue done the like a thing as appeareth by the Councell of Francford vtterlie vnknowne at such time as it was held and kept For in consecrating of the Crosse they pray vnto God That all such as shall kneele downe vnto the same may haue remorse and compunction of heart and remission of their sinnes Now what remaineth besides this for the true Crosse that is for the mysterie of our redemption accomplished in that death vpon the Crosse suffered by Christ Againe That this wood of the Crosse so they call it may besaluation vnto the soule health to the bodie and a remedie vnto mankinde for the strengthning of faith the increase of good works the ransome of soules and for a defensatiue against the Diuell What shall now bee left behinde for the power of the holy Ghost to effect and work for the spirit of Christ which regenerateth vs sanctifieth and strengthneth vs making vs inheritors of eternall saluation c Pope Iohn the 22. In Antidotar Animae ordained a prayer to bee said that to the Veronique that pretended Image of Christ which was imprinted in a handkerchife Salue sancta facies Redemptoris nostri c. And in the same place it is praied vnto To cleanse and wipe away all the staines of whatsoeuer vices to vouchsafe to infuse light into the heart to increase and adde vnto the merites of such as doe belieue therein to destroye heretikes to defende the Christian faith to conduct and guide those which pray vnto it to the fruition of eternall life to the beholding of God to their coniunction and ioyning with Christ who of bread is made God c. And the Pope last aboue named granteth in the same place ten thousand dayes indulgences to him that obserueth the same And what doe they reserue more for Christ himselfe Or who shall alledge and say that this is but some particular mans deuotion when the pope himselfe is author thereof Pius 2. comment l 8. And when as likewise Pius the second ordained that vpon Easter day it should be
and bastardly writings against the canonicall and manifest bookes of the scriptures As for example a certaine pamphlet of the peregrination of S. Paul Tecla made by a priest the contents therof are that S. Paule hauing found this young maid betrothed to a certain man named Themirus in Iconium Tertul. de baptism Ambros de virginit Hieronym de script Eccesiast did so ouercome her by the praises of virginity as that hee should take her away from her espoused husband drawing and leading her after him throughout the world that he had put a vaile vpon her and giuen her power to do the like to others as also to teach and baptise Now thinke with your selues how answerable this is to the scope of S. Paul his doctrine who teacheth that wiues should cleaue to their husbands who will not haue them to speak in the Church c. S. Iohn who was as yet aliue saw the book caused the priest to come before him coÌ„uinced him of hauing forged it deposed him from his ministerie and for the instruction of the posterity to come condemned the booke which booke notwithstanding the Monks of our time haue absolued set at liberty againe vnder the name of the legend of Tecla for the founding of their Monkery although it haue beene reiected put downe again since the first time by Pope Gelasius And therby we learne how to esteeme think of the traditions which they thrust vpoÌ„ vs vnder the name of the Apostles also of those goodly books wherupon they so build stay theÌ„selues the ProtoeuaÌ„gelion Abdias the Babilonian such like After false and counterfeit scriptures what remained but a forged and false holy Ghost Montanus And here behold starteth out Montanus his Comforter about the yeare 230. who buckleth himselfe with speare and shield to bid mariage the combate He maketh Tertullian holding a hot and fierie pen Tertul. de Monogam his champion especially after that being turned about vpon a certain conceiued spight and stomack he had embraced the heresie of Montanus but yet not being able to purchase the establishing of a single life to be obserued by the Priestes he standeth and striueth that they may not be permitted any moe then one single mariage he presseth I say and vrgeth that against the sincere and Orthodoxe Church falling vpon the same in plaine tearmes with bitter reproaches for the practising of the contrary And in as much as he was a man of great reputatioÌ„ he caused to fall away a great number after him wherby we may see that some thinke that they haue neuer sufficiently praised virginitie if they reproach not and speake euill of the married estate and life others make scruple that maried persons should administer holy thinges Euseb in l. 9. de monst c. 9. Opinions which at the first were amongst some few the seedes whereof we haue in Eusebius Origen vttered in some dumbe and muttering manner and defended as yet in very faint and feeble sorte That it seemeth to them that it would doe better so that the Bishops might bee at more leasure to receiue this great multitude of people which flocke in so fast vnto Christianitie c. And which notwithstanding within a while after had so farre prospered and preuailed Prouincial Synodes c. 10. 2. c. 19. Concil Elibert c. 33. Concil Arelat c. 2. D. 16. Concil Ancyr c. 10. as that in the Prouinciall Synode held at Neocaesarea it is said That the Priest that is married shall bee deposed and hee that shall commit adulterie shall bee reiected of the Church And in the Synode assembled at Rome That he that shall bee married shall bee depriued and put from his charge for tenne or twelue yeares And in that of Elibert in Spaine That Church men shall abstaine from their wiues vppon paine of being degraded And in that of Arles the second somewhat more mildly That married men shall bee no more receiued or admitted vnto the same and all these were held vnder Pope Syluester the first before the Councell of Nice which fell to bee in the time of Pope Iulius the first And in that of Ancyra That the Deacons which shall protest that they cannot contain themselues may marie but with the licence of the Bishop Thus the presumption of man runneth on headlong when once it hath taken liberty to it selfe further then the word of God doth graunt it In the end The generall Councell of Nâ—ce D. 31. C Nicena Synodus the question alreadie forestalled by these Prouinciall Synodes commeth to be debated and examined in the Councell of Nice The writ giuen out the parties heard the holy scripture sitting as Iudge by the report of Paphnutius an old man who had beene alwaies maried and suffered much for the testimony of the truth setting before them the pollutions manifold vncleannes which might spring vp in the Church by this inforcement vnto a single and vnmaried life it falleth out that the libertie of mariage as wee haue seene remaineth whole and entire vnto the Church men And yet so great is the subtiltie and wilinesse of the Deuill and of such power with fraile weak men is a preiudicate opinion when it hath once taken further libertie theÌ„ euer the word of God did giue it as that rather then all shold be lost they wold be content with small pay so they obtain That those which shal haue beene receiued into the ecclesiasticall orders vnmaried shall not be permitted to marry because of the tradition of the Church Euen as it fell out with Montanus his Spirite of Comfort who not being able to obtaine a lawe for the cutting off of second mariages in the laitie did forciblie and violently wrest it out against ecclesiasticall persons Now this generall Councell became a bridle vnto superstition for some time and held backe the execution of the Canons of these Prouinciall Synodes in as much as the most famous notable Bbs. from out of all the nations and prouinces of Christendome were found to be present at the same Hosius Bb. of Corduba did subscribe thereunto for Spaine Mantuan de Hilario Non nocuit tibi progenies non obstitit vxor legitimo coniuncta thoro who carried away with him from thence instructions for the correcting of the Canon of Elibert Hillarius Bb. of Poitiers so renowned much spoken of in auncient writers who without all contradiction was married testifieth likewise that it was obserued and kept amongst the Frenchmen notwithstanding the Synode of Arles And so likewise of other prouinces as appeareth by Oceanus Numidicus Seuerius Restitutus Cheremon Philogonius Apollinaris and Synesius all of all them Bbs. or famous priestes who liued and exercised their charges with great commendation yet were maried Whereunto for an ouerplus we will adde Gregorie Nazianzene his father S. Basil his father and Gregorius Nyssenus his brother Greg. Nazian in Monach. Niceph. de Basil Mantuanus Praesule
in the Councell of Basill Wherefore doe our Doctors vse all this disputation whether a married man chosen to bee Pope bee not bound to giue vnto his wife all due beneuolence but that because a married man may bee receyued and taken into that place For was there neuer anie Popes married Aen. Syl. in Ep. 307. was not Saint Peter himselfe And in his Epistle vnto Iohn Freund who asked his counsell vppon the same he saith It had beene more meete and conuenient that thou haddest thought vpon this matter before thy taking of Orders but seeing thou hast proceeded so far know now that it is better for thee to marrie then to burne But as for the present seeing the Pope will not giue thee anie dispensation being setled and throughlie resolued to continue the strict and seuere course which hee hath begunne thou must stay till some other doe inioye the Apostolike See whome thou maiest finde more tractable and easie to bee wonne Ad Panorm O Cum olim de Cleric coning The authoritie of Panormus first an Abbot and afterwarde an Archbishoppe was great in the Councell of Basill which propounded a question If the Church could not make a statute that the Clearkes might bee married And hee aunswered that it could and his reasons are Because abstinencie is not anie branch of Gods lawe neither yet anie parte of the substance of Orders and that otherwise the Grecians should sin Yea saieth hee I am perswaded that in respect of the saluation of soules it ought to bee made and so much the rather because that wee see that there hath followed vppon it a cleane contrarie effect to that which was pretended for now they let not the greatest parte to pollute themselues with vnlawfull copulation whereas their lying with their owne wiues according to the Councell of Nice is chastitie And would it might please God sayeth hee that there might be a course taken with all those positiue lawes that are so multiplied as that there are not many liuing whome they haue not caused to corrupt their waies And many other Canonistes were of the same iudgement after Panormus Stephan Aufrer Francisâ—n decisionib saying that this Decree serued for no other thing but to intrappe weake soules in the snares of sinne and that they had good hope that the Church would discharge the Cleargie thereof for their saluation And thereuppon it went as it were in a Prouerbe mentioned by Platina and Sabellicus which attribute it vnto Pius the second Marriage was suppressed and put down for certaine reasons it must be restored vpon more waightie and necessarie considerations Polydor. l 6. Index Expurg pag. 2 c 3. Erasm de laud. matrim Idem in 1. Timoth. 3. Index Expurg p. 249. 255. Item 210.211.227 Mantuan l. 1. Fastor de Hilatio Stan. Orich de lege Syricii ad Iul. 3. Oricho Episc Russiens de Celibatu Polydore Virgil after he hath alleadged some reasons and authorities concludeth that it should be restored The Councell of Trent ordained that that should bee raced out and so in like manner of Munster Erasmus also in his booke of marriage did giue aduise that it might not onely bee allowed vnto Priestes but vnto Monkes also for to matrie For sayeth hee let them extoll their single and vnmarried life as much as they please there is no life more holie then a married life chastlie obserued Againe he noteth that this single condition of life was not so much as knowne by his name in the most auncient Fathers But the foresaide Councell hath decreede that this whole treatise and all other places wherein hee speaketh of the same should bee defaced and left out And we neede not to doubt but that they will doe the same by those verses of Mantuan in the life of S. Hillarie Bishoppe of Potiers who was married To bee shorte Stanislaus Orichonius a Bishoppe of Russia put vppe a petition to Pope Iulius the thirde in the yeare 1551. to the ende that it might bee permitted him to bee married shewing vnto him the iniuriousnes of Syricius his law as being contrarie to the whole law of God alleadging vnto him further that Pope Paule the second had condemned it secretlie amongst his friendes hardlie disgesting it that a daughter of his which by Gods law hee knew to bee lawfullie giuen vnto him should bee accounted for a bastarde and that in such sort as that hee was resolued to haue reuoked it if death had not preuented him and reproching him with the children of Paule the thirde worthy sayeth hee of a loyall marriage and not sparing to tell him of his owne dissolute loosenes And Lindanus who elsewhere defendeth the most grosse abuses in Poperie doth yeeld in this point and concludeth with Paphnutius And in the Councell of Trent the greatest parte of the Embassadors for the princes doe require the libertie of marriage as likewise the Emperour Ferdinand by his articles how entirelie affected soeuer he stoode vnto the Church of Rome alleadging the pollutions and vncleannes that alreadie insued thereuppon and the great inconueniences that were yet to come and doe we not iustlie then maruaile at shamelesnes it selfe as also at the mother of fornications why Turrian l. 2. de Dogmatic Character notwithstanding all these warning peales she still persisteth so busilie to bestirre herselfe for the hatching of whoredoms For the Councell of Trent doth pronounce them accursed which say that those of the Cleargie may lawfullie be married and likewise executeth the same with like rigor euen to this day in euerie place where their power and authoritie may extend And as for the Iesuites they are not ashamed since then to teach that continencie is of the essence of the Priesthoode and that the Pope may aswell murder or robbe a man without sinning as dispense with a Priest in the matter of marriage and not sinne thereby condemning all the westerne and Easterne Churches in all ages In the East Church this doctrine was likewise assailed Of the East Church and wee haue heretofore seene how farre Epiphanius his opinion went but it neuer came so farre as to bee made a law but rather gaue an occasion of a law to the contrarie Doubtlesse these two Churches before the diuision of the Empire or rather before the distraction renting away of that of the West remaining as yet vndeuided by the faction of the Popes it could hardlie bee that the euill which had infected the one should not likewise fasten it selfe vpon the other And therefore we reade Iustinian in auth de â—â—nttissima cor 9. col 6. 9. that Iustinian ordained made a law about the yeare 530. that there should not be any Clearkes made which had had concubines or bastardes but either such as had neuer beene maried or els such as had beene and were not or such as yet were with a lawfull wife And hitherto hee was in a good way and went not besides the word of God And
which was to come by which it was signified that by one sacrifice of which that was but a figure the liues of the people shoulde spirituallie bee spared And that one is Iesus Christ Idem de ciuit Dei l. 10. c. 5. who was offered vppe and giuen for our sinnes and is risen againe for our iustification whereupon also the Apostle saieth vnto vs Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus Christ our true Passeouer was slaine and sacrificed c. And this is that which hee sayeth elsewhere in one word That which euerie man calleth a sacrifice that same is the signe of the true sacrifice Now all of them vse these wordes Altars Sacrifices and these verbes to Offer to Sacrifice for the considerations hereafter set downe for these manners of speaking did runne verie smoothlie and pleasantlie amongst Christians in those dayes comming either newlie from amongst the Iewes or else the Gentiles whose principall seruice consisted in sacrifices and yet notwithstanding they put thereunto continuallie if wee giue good heede thereto such corrections as are necessarie Whereby wee may iudge if they had but a little foreseene in what diuerse sortes they are now abused the Sacrament being drawne by little and little to a Sacrifice and then the worde Sacrifice drawne from his Metaphoricall sence to a simple and proper sence and from a sacrifice of thankesgiuing to a sacrifice propitiatorie what restrainte and limits they would haue closed them in withall CHAP. V. How and by what Degrees the sacrament of the holy Supper was turned into a propitiatorie sacrifice SOme there are which aske how this did happen vnto the Church Truelie not all at once For wee see in euerie dayes successe that when Sunne is set there is a twilight before that darknes it selfe doe come to hide and couer all thinges So after that those great lightes of the church which tooke their brightnes from the true light of the Gospel had runne their course yet there remained some glimses of that their brightnes a long time after notwithstanding that they were smothered and stifled with the palpable fogs of blinde superstition and although they were violently forced by a contrary seÌ„ce to do the thing they were neuer ordained for And this we see in Beda Beda in Leui. c. 1. the grand Disciple of S. Augustine who sayeth Christ is offered for vs both the Priest and Sacrifice together and hath eaten and destroyed our sinnes inasmuch as hee is our Priest according to the order of Melchisedech and in like manner the true Ministers of the Church doe eate the sins of the people by attributing vnto them the remission of their sinnes in the Church wherein sinnes are forgiuen If hee had beene of the same opinion with our aduersaries hee shoulde haue concluded And therefore the true Priestes do eate the sinnes of the people when they say the Masse for them c. Again We are commaunded to celebrate the feast of the Passeouer euerie daye Our aduersaries would saye here To say the Masse euerie daye But hee Idem in Exod. that is asmuch as to saye Let vs daylie goe from euill to good and from good to better and let vs consecrate our first borne vnto God euen our good workes seeing hee hath ouercome the Diuels for our sakes Again The high Priest entred into the forepart of the Tabernacle euerie day for to sacrifice And this is to put vs in minde to offer dailie vnto God the sacrifices of praise of humilitie and of a contrite spirite c. Thus turning euen the propitiatorie Sacrifices of the law into the Sacrifices of praise those which were offered by the hand and ministerie of the Priest to those which were offered by euerie Christian Albinus sayeth the same as also Charles the great And as for the Sacrament of the Eucharist The sacrament of the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ saith Charles the great was giuen vs thereby to renew the memory of his passion and our saluation And this was about the yeare eight hundred Bertram in the time of Charles the bald about the yeare 900. Bertram de corpore sanâ—uine Domini Heb. 7. Our Lord hath done this at once euen in offering vp himselfe that is to say sacrificing himselfe for vs For he was once offered for the sinnes of the people and this oblation notwithstanding is daily celebrated by the faithfull but in a mysterie to the end that what our Lord Iesus hath accomplished in offering himselfe once might be handled euerie day by the celebrating of the misteries of the renewing of the memorie of his passion Where it is to be noted how he opposeth the mysticall receiuing to the reall receiuing and the daily renewing of the remembrance to the once offering of the sacrifice Againe He hath saith he left vs an example which is daily offered by the faithfull in the mysterie of his bodie and of his blood namely that whosoeuer wil draw neere vnto him may know that he must haue part in his sufferinges the image and representation whereof is exhibited in the holy mysteries that is to say in the breaking of bread the renewing of the memorie of his bodie broken in the powring out of the wine the shedding of his blood for vs. Haimo saith To speake morally Haimo in c. 5 Ose in c. 2 Abac. Malach 1. the sacrifices of the Lord are the praises vttered by the belieuers the penance of sinners the teares of the humble suters whereof it is written The sacrifice of God is a contrite spirite c. Againe Prayer is a speciall sacrifice to be offered to God and so is almes also c. Remig in Psal 55. Remigius If we will sacrifice to God let vs not seeke out of our selues for that which wee are about to offer vnto him we haue in our selues the incense of praise the sacrifice of faith onelie let all that which wee offer be kindled made the more feruent and coupled with charitie Againe Idem in Psal 95. There are not any sacrifices that auaile without faith for there is no place for a true sacrifice out of the Church c. These men howbeit great and renowned for knowledge at this time doe call the sacrament of the holy supper as also the Masse such as it was then celebrated a sacrifice but doubtles with the same mind and in the same sence that Rabanus one of the same time with them did vse it Rabanus de Institu Cleric l. 1. c. 32. Sacrificium saieth he quasisacrum factum a sacrifice as if a man would saye a holy and consecrate worke or action which is consecrated by a mysticall prayer in the remembrance of the passion and suffering of our Lorde c. Which selfe same thing Paschasius calleth otherwise The passion of Christ in a mysterie Pasc de corp Sang. Domini Theophil in Iohan. c. 8. the calling to minde of the passion of the Lorde on the Altar
passed ouer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath beene obserued by the most learned that the Hebrew words which signifie paines and bands doe not any thing differ Psal 18.6 2. Sam. 22.6 but in one small pricke And this might verie well bee referred to that which Saint Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing loosed and made an allusion to these words of Dauid The snares of Hell or of the Graue haue compassed me about Where the Septuagints haue translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the paines of child-birth And the Paraphrast goeth not far from them and it may bee that one and the same word without any let by reason of scruple caused through the prickes doth signifie them both And this might very wel come to passe through the custome they had to binde the bodies of their dead according wherunto we read in the storie of Lazarus Wherupon our Sauiour saith vnto his Apostles Vnloose him c. And it is not to bee forgotten that neuer a one of the Fathers hath found out Purgatorie in this place neither yet any of the late writers Caiet in Act. c. 2. Fcrus Hofmester in Act. c. 2. Caietanus expoundeth it of the penalties for such a word hee vseth which the Soule of Christ suffered being separate from the body Ferus vnderstandeth it of Christ his loosing of the paines of death for the faithfull in so much as that he which belieueth in him tasteth not of death but is alreadie past from death to life Hofmester by these paines of death or Hell all the sufferings that Christ hath indured for vs c. According to that place of the Psalme The paines of death haue compassed me and the daungers of Hell haue enwrapped me c. And these are the most noted and best esteemed Expositors amongst them Now commeth their maine argument No man saith Saint Paul 1. Cor. 3. can laye any other foundation then that which is laid which is Iesus Christ. But if any man build vpon this foundation Gold Siluer c. The worke of euerie man shall be manifest for the day will declare it because it shall bee disclosed by fire and the fire will proue what euerie mans worke is c. But he shall be saued as concerning himselfe as it were by fire This last fire they will haue to bee Purgatorie by which we are to bee saued Here let vs call to mind againe that which hath beene so often spoken of That Symbolicke Diuinitie or that Diuinitie which is deliuered in Similitudes doth not proue that there is no disputation or argument to bee held from Metaphors that no Article of doctrine is established by darke and obscure places For these bee the Maxims of the old writers whereunto we doe willingly subscribe Now the case so standeth as that all this text consisteth of Metaphors as foundation frame building Gold Siluer c. Wood haye strawe c. August de fide opcrib c. 15. 16. Idem in quaest ad Dulcit q. 1. that it is likwise obscure and difficult In so much as that S. Augustine doth accompt it amongst those whereof Saint Peter speaketh saying In the Epistles of Saint Paul there are certaine things that are hard to be vnderstood c. And after that hee hath giuen his aduice and iudgement I desire saith he to heare the wise and learned vpon this place c. This is to make way that wee may come to this that vpon a doubtfull and darke Exposition we ought not to ground any certaine doctrine much lesse an Article of our Christian faith Idem de fide oper c. 16. Ambros in 1. Cor. 3. Hieronym in l. 2. in Ioh. Thom. in 1. Cor. c. 3. Chrysost in 1. Cor. c. 3. Ambros in 1. Cor. 3. Heronym in Esay c. 5. Haim in 1. Cor. 3. Greg. li. 4. dial c. 39. August l. de fid oper c. 16. Greg. l. 4. dial c. 39. This also is the thing that hath begot so many and so diuers interpretations almost vpon euerie word For by builders some vnderstand all Christians as S. Augustine S. Chrysostome Theodoret c. Other some the Doctors and Pastors as S. Ambrose Saint Ierome Thomas and others Againe some by the word foundation do vnderstand true doctrine by Gold Siluer c. good works by wood haye c. mortall sinnes as Chrysostome Theophilact c. Others the preaching of faith wherupon euery man buildeth his expositions some of them being Orthodox and according to sound doctrine and other some heretical as S. Ambrose S. Ierome Haimo c. Others the good workes of one part and the veniall sinnes on the other as S. Gregorie Others the good and euill hearers as Theophilact Oecumenius c. Againe by the day S. Augustine and Saint Gregorie vnderstand this present life or the time of tribulation which causeth the good to be known from the wicked others and those in greater number the day of iudgement yet differing herein that some will haue it to be the great day of the Lord as Theodoret Theophilact Haimo Anselme c. The others that iudgement which passeth vpon euery person so soone as he is dead as Caietanus many of this time Againe this fire which shall trie the worke of euerie man by some is taken for tribulations as S. Augustine and S. Gregorie and by others for euerlasting fire By some for the consuming of the whole world by fire By other for Purgatorie and by others for the fire of the iust iudgement of God c. who examineth and trieth say they but punisheth not And in this opinion may S. Ambros in Psal 118. August in Enchirid. ad Laurent c. 68. Ambrose seeme to be And finally by this fire whereof it is said But be shall be saued as it were by fire Some vnderstand the tribulations of this life as Saint Augustine and S. Gregorie S. Augustine by name who saith that this place darke and obscure in it selfe must bee expounded by diuers others that are cleare and plaine in which fire doth signifie the triall of tribulation Others the euerlasting fire as Chrysostome and Theophilact and certaine also Purgatorie and amongst them some after the manner and fashion of the Church of Rome others after a certaine particular opinion such namely as was then common Which was that in the verie moment of the vniuersall Iudgement euerie one without exception should bee tried and proued by fire By these so variable and differing coniectures euerie one may iudge with what face our aduersaries can take this place and the interpretations thereof for the foundation of their Purgatorie Seeing also that Bellarmine a thing worth the noting is constrained by reason of the absurdities that hee meeteth withall therein to leaue and forsake all and to refute them euerie one for this or that inconuenience that would insue that so hee may lay some one particular and speciall sence and that such as may be sound Now we cannot
that the Saintes liuing in the time of the olde Testament were saued by the law of Moses and the Grecians by Philosophie That Christ and his Apostles did preach the Gospell in hell Origen his purgatory Orig. hom 8. in Leuit. Hom 25. in Numer Hom. 6. in Exod in ep ad Rom. c. 11. In psal 36. hom 3. In Hierem. Bellarm l. 2. de purgat c. 8. ¶ 8. septim Synod 5. c. 11. Synod 7. ex prato spiritualt Iohan. Diacon in vir B. Greg. l. 2. c 45. thereby to conuert the damned and that both in this worlde as also in that to come yea euen in hell there may bee vse and place graunted for repentance c. And the other building vppon this his maisters bad foundation a great deale worse As that all men how holy soeuer are to passe this Purgatorie euery one according to his proportion S. Peter S. Paul c. the one to be purged by fire and the other by water more or lesse c. And again that the most wicked the most miscreants yea the Deuilles themselues are purged are amended yea and saued by the same Now I desire to know of them if they will approue this Purgatorie of Origen And if they doe not approue it that then they would not obiect it any more vnto vs neither yet any of those places which haue relation thereunto seeing also that Bellarmine intreating of Purgatory doth acknowledge that the fift generall Synode condemned and cursed Origen no lesse then Arrius and Nestorius furthermore that the seuenth general Councell maketh mention of a reuelation wherein he was seene in hell amongst others the Arch-heretickes And the same is likewise confirmed by Iohan. Diaconus in the life of Gregorie But it is worth the noting how that Origen had not as yet learned that these punishmentes were mittigated and lightned by suffrages for there is not found any maner of print or note of any such thing in all his purgatorie These pollutions and sinnes go for no better then matter for the fire and torments without any hope of release or ransome And still as these fantasies continued and abode with some curious spirites they were condemned in the fift generall Councell by the East Church The Apologie of the Grecians presented by Michael Bishop of Ephesus Vincent Lyrinensis Lactan. de diuino praemio c. 21. and euen in that which concerneth their false foundation namely that Christ hath purchased the remission of sinnes but not of the punishment And this appeareth to bee so by the Apologie giuen by the Greekes in the Councell of Basill These fantasticall dreames of Origen notwithstanding by reason of the reputation of his learning did leaue their impressions in the Latine Church whereupon Vincentius Lirinensis had iust cause to say That Origen his knowledge and zeale was a great temptation to the Christian Church Lactantius saith That men are not iudged presently after their death but that they are kept in a common prison vntill the day of iudgement in which they are to bee tried by fire This place is ill alleadged by our aduersaries for they do not place together the good the bad the faithfull and vnfaithfull at the time of their departing out of this life neither do they hold that purgatorie sleepeth without doing any thing vnto the day of iudgement for they will haue it occupied about the dead from the day of their death Againe it is apparant that in the time of Lactantius the doctrine of the Church was cleane contrarie For Eusebius as we haue said comparing the opinion of the Platonistes therewith maketh but two estates and conditions after this life whereas they made three But let it be for the making of the comparison the more full that hee did not altogether forget the third But they alleadge vnto vs Saint Ambrose Saint Hillarie Saint Ierome c. The purgatorie spoken of by certaine of the old fathers is not the same with that of the Church of Iâ—ome Ambr. in psal 118. in psal 36. 2. ad Timoth 2. Then let vs see if wee shall be able to find such euidence as may make vs acknowledge this their purgatorie in them Verily there is no man that can bee ignorant how greatly Saint Ambrose did esteeme of Origen when as the most part of his expositions are translated word for word from him And thereupon likewise his opinion touching Purgatorie doth nothing differ and therefore also no lesse worthy to be condemned then his All men saith he which are haue beene or shall be the one onely Christ excepted shall be purged by fire The sonnes of Leui Ezechiel Daniel c. if they be not consumed yet at the least they shal be fired if they be not drowned yet they shall bee wette and dipt in the water for so was Iohn the Euangelist himselfe whom the Lord loued so much so was Saint Peter which receiued the keies of heauen There is not any one but Christ onely which doeth not smel of this fire who is the righteousnesse of God not hauing any sinne so that in him there is nothing found for this fire to consume or burne And this hee amplifieth by two seuerall Allegories the one taken from the glittering sword which was set at the entrance into Paradise the other from the people of Israel which went through the red sea c. He addeth hereto that this triall and proofe by fire shall bee made in the day of iudgement by the vniuersall burning of the world which shall vniuersally purge all men but euery one according to his nature euen as the fire doth melt the lead otherwise then it doth the gold c. S. Hillarie no lesse addicted to Origen Hilar. in comment in psal 118. holdeth the same opinion and proceedeth yet further saying If the virgine Marie the virgin of God must also vndergo the sentence of this iudgement of this fire hee spake before through which wee must all passe who is hee that dare desire to bee iudged of God And in another place hee saith Idem Canon in Mat. 3. Hieronym Amos 3. ex Amo 7.14 Ezech. 46. It remaineth that those which are baptised with the holy Ghost bee made perfect that is to say accomplished and fully refined by the fire of the last iudgement c. Saint Ierome likewise is infected with the like opinions by continuall reading of Origen He will call saith hee the fire vnto iudgement and behold it commeth at his summons and first of all deuoureth the depth that is to say all sortes of sinnes wood baye stubble and afterward it eateth at once the parte and portion that is to say it commeth to the Saintes which the Lorde hath made choice of to belong to him c. Againe Hieronym in vlt. cap. Esa Euerie creature is vncleane and must bee purged by the fire of God for the Sabbath day wherein hee shall haue eternall rest Likewise hee meaneth that euen wicked Christians shall
receiued into eternal happines because of the Son of God made a sacrifice for vs whome they haue participated in the Eucharist But as hee was vrged drawne by the strife contention of the time for there was then much to do about this Article whereas al the former haue made but two orders of the deceased August de cura pro mortuis ad Paul Nol. c. 1.4.18 Ad Dulcit q 2. De Ciuit. Dei l. 21. c. 13. 14 Idem de verb Domini Serm. 32. he hath made three The good saith hee who haue nothing to doe but to make prayers and supplications and these are they whome by name they dayly vsed so to praie for The wicked for whome no prayers or supplications could serue if it be not it may be saith he for the damned for the diminishing and lessening of their punishment And Chrysostome said also that they did ease their paines And the middlemost or those betwist the other two who haue need and accordingly ayde and succour there by whether it bee saith hee that God may not deale with them according to their sinnes or that their soules may be purged before the day of iudgement by temporall punishment that so they may not fall into the eternall Finally the prayers which are made for the good are thankesgiuings for the wicked such as whereby the liuing may be comforted and for those which are betwixt both such as are propitiatorie Now this is the first man that hath set open this way and passage contrarie to all auncient writers and more then foure hundred yeares after our Sauiour Christ there hauing not beene any man before time that had so much as read any thing of prayer for the dead or of a third place which they call Purgatorie and this Purgatorie notwithstanding wherof he saith elswhere in other places That there is some apparance that it is That it may be that there is one That no part of the Scripture speaketh of it That there is not any at all Doubtfull therefore are these prayers and oblations euen for the middle order of the deceased as is also his Purgatorie Or rather none at all absolutely as neither his Purgatorie seeing that by his confession there is none in the Scriptures What doe wee gather out of all this discourse Verily first That these prayers haue no foundation or ground either in the olde or new Testament Secondly that they are proceeded partly from humane affections and partly from the imitation of the Pagans Thirdly that the old Fathers vsed them for those whome they belieued alreadie to enioy eternall life as the Apostles Prophets Martyrs the holy Virgine c. Or we may say better according to the manner wherin they prayed in the Councell of Trent for the Soules of the Popes Paul the third and Iulius the third For those which liue and die in a most holy manner can they possibly according to their owne doctrine abide so long in Purgatorie Fourthly that it was then in regard of their soules a holy desire and to be taken in like sence as when we say liue O Christ liue O God c. whome wee know to raigne eternally In regard of their bodies a prayer vnto God that it would please him to glorifie them in the resurrection c. Fiftly that they were made rather in consideration of the liuing then of the dead to ease them of their griefe and confirme them in their faith instructions that may bee taken at a better hand and warrant from the Apostle Torment not your selues about them which are a sleepe c. Sixtly that they made them not vpon any consideration of Purgatorie seeing that amongst so many reasons of so many Doctors liuing in diuers ages and places not any one before Saint Augustine hath alleadged Purgatorie Seuenthly that these obseruations and reasons so diuers and manifold doe witnesse vnto vs that it was at that time held as an indifferent doctrine as also how that the greater sort doe call it a Custome a Decree an Institution c. Eightly that Saint Augustine himselfe who alone after many other better reasons alleadgeth Purgatorie cannot make any good proofe of the same seeing he himselfe doth not couer or conceale what doubt hee was in whether there were a Purgatorie or not Likewise he deliuereth contrarie assertions whereby there is great apparance and likelyhood that he did not reuoke or vnsay any thing but so farre as hee was wonne and ouerswayed by the headstrong conceipt of men seming in the light of nature to know that which they had neuer heard or seene Finally that the prayers for the dead which haue no foundation in the world ought not to haue any more authoritie in the Church then Baptisme for the dead practised say the ancients but not approued from the time of the Apostles or the Eucharist giuen into the mouth of the dead the one and the other proceeding from the same naturall affections and yet both the one and the other abolished and banished out of the Church Now it is not to be forgotten that that which was to be seene very weake and feeble in S. Augustine for to strengthen this new building withall hath beene since that time vnderpropped by counterfait and fained writings by men willing that way to imploy their vttermost indeauour thus labouring by vntruth to establish a lie and mans deuice and inuention by notorious and hainous crimes And to that end some haue attributed vnto him the Bookes August de ver fals paenit c. 71. De vera falsa paenitentia made in deede by Monkes though they be commonly cited in his name where he saith Let him that deferreth to conuert and turne too long passe through the fire of Purgatorie which is more painefull and grieuous then all the punishment that man can indure in this life A Sermon also of the day of the dead or of the remembrance of all the deceased where they haue made him speake in the same tearmes and manner of speach A booke notwithstanding wherein the Author himselfe alleadged S. Augustine as also the feast not being as yet receiued into the Church in his time but instituted by Odilo Abbot of Clugni more then 500. yeares after And yet which is more there are some that haue deuised an Epistle written from S. Cyril Bb. of Ierusalem to S. Augustine for to confirme him in the opinion of Purgatorie Cyril I say whose life S. Ierome did write whiles he liued writing to S. Augustine of the myracles of Saint Ierome after his death In which Epistle there is mention made How that S. Ierome appeared vnto a certaine man named Eusebius and commaunded him to cast his sacke ouer three dead bodies which should presently therupon rise therby confounding the heresie which denied Purgatory That these three men thus raised againe made their abode amongst men for the space of twentie dayes declared how that S. Ierome had beene the meanes of their seeing of
Hell and Purgatorie That all whatsoeuer miserie all the men in this world had indured from Adam vnto that time did not come any thing neere vnto the paines and punishment that is therein c. And that had not Saint Ierome come in the meane time they had beene neere to haue receiued the sentence of condemnation for not hauing belieued it c. Thus we may see a thing then which nothing is more naturall the doctrine of lyes maintained and nourished by a lie it selfe CHAP. X. What prosperous proceeding Purgatorie attained vnto in the Church of Rome and by what degrees IN the ende after that our aduersaries cannot all this while make choyse of any one of the Fathers to whose opinion they may trust and hold themselues in this matter of Purgatorie for wee freely permit and allow them their choyse out of them all notwithstanding that wee haue runne through the space of those fiue hundred yeares next after our Lord Purgatorie affirmed and avouched by Gregorie Anno. 600. Deut. 18.11 Esay 8.19 August de cura pro mortuis gerend Vpon what foundation he buildeth his doctrine Gregor Magn. in Dialog they are constrained to haue recourse to Gregorie Bb. of Rome liuing about the yeare 600 euen vnto that Gregorie which of the custome of the Gentiles made a Law in the Church of Christ of Origen his curiosities a necessarie deuotion of the speculations of the olde Fathers who had gone before him a grounded principle and firme Maxim and of S. Augustines doubt an affirmatiue doctrine but grounded also altogether vpon other raasons then had bene alleadged by the former as reuelations apparitions of spirits and others such like delusions directly contrarie to that which is said in the Law Who so goeth to aske counsell of the dead is an abhomination vnto the Lord as also against the Maxim which S. Augustine is so carefull for to proue That the soules of the dead intermeddle not with the affaires of those that are aliue The doctrin then of S. Gregorie in brief is That as at the breake of the day and in a browne colour the darke is mingled with the light is called the twylight so the neerer we come to the day of iudgement so much the more inter-course and communitie shall there bee betwixt spirits and men What solide or sound stuffe can hee picke out of this foundation seeing hee presupposeth and setteth downe the end of the world to bee as then And this is the cause why saith hee that men doe attaine speaking of his owne time to know the estate and condition of Soules a thing lesse knowne to such as went before Of Paschasius his soule he learneth how that it indured his Purgatorie amidst the scaldings of hotte waters because that in a certaine schisme falling out amongst the Popes he tooke part with Laurence not with Symmachus And thereupon he inferreth that good soules which halt and come short be it neuer so little in the workes of righteousnesse are detained kept backe for a like proportion of time from the inioying of heauen From the soule of a certaine Lord how that it serued at the bathes to pull off the hose and shoes of all such as came to them vntill the time that a certain Priest to whom it made it selfe knowne had offered two loaues such as had beene accustomed to bee offered for it As also from the soule of a Monke who died hauing in store the summe of three Crownes how when there was a holy day kept in his name it receiued the Communion in Purgatorie c. Hee inferreth that when the trespasses are not vnpardonable there is meanes to procure a remedy and helpe for the same by the offering of a sacrifice c. And his Dialogues are full of such friuolous tales Howsoeuer that Schoolemen doe not admit into Purgatorie any faults or sinnes how sleight so euer but the paines and punishment only he concludeth notwithstanding that there is no way to be followed but to do well so long as we are here without trusting to that which may be done afterward But what manner of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what steadfastnes of faith is there in all this Or rather what hath it but it may giue vs to belieue that these were spirits of deceipt watchfull and painefull in their craft and occupation euen in perswading the world to that which might deceiue them Tertullian saith Tertull. de Anima c. 5.7 These apparitions are but the mockeries and deceits of the euill spirit who carrieth himselfe priuily vnder the shapes of liuing men or masked and disguised after the manner of men deceased c. God hath sufficiently declared vnto vs in the parable of the poore and rich man that Hell is not open for any to come forth c. no not to winne credite to Moyses and the Prophets c. To be short all manner of representation or apparition of soules that is without body is nothing else but a delusion nothing else but witchcraft Chrysostome after the same manner Chrysost hom 29. in Math. hom 13. Idem de Lazaro hom 4. The possessed with Diuels will crie sometimes vnto thee and say I am the soule of such a one but wilt thou belieue it No not so saith hee for this speech commeth of the fraud and deceipt of the Diuell It is not the soule of any dead person that speaketh so but it is the Diuell that counterfeiteth the deepelier to deceiue and abuse the people For of a certaintie the soule seperated from the body goeth not vp and down wandring in these lower regions the soules of the righteous are in the hand of God those of the sinners after this life are quickly by force carried away The historie of Lazarus and the rich man doth proue the same vnto vs. And againe Wouldest thousee that the doctrine of the Scriptures and of the Prophets is of an other manner of weight then that of the dead which rise againe consider and know that whosoeuer the dead partie may be yet he is a seruant but as for the Scriptures it is the Lord which speaketh in them And therefore though a dead man reuine and liue againe though an Angell come downe from heauen yet let vs principally belieue the Scriptures For the Author of them is as wel the Lord of the dead as of the liuing of men and of Angels And therefore what the Scriptures teach vs most clearely let vs not goe about to learne of the dead c. And there is an Article in the auncient Synodes That such visions vnder the colour of soules are of the Diuell But what then may we thinke that Tertullian or Chrysostome would haue said to Gregorie Verily that these visions had beene of the Diuell Verily and his Purgatorie also a doctrine of Diuels And againe some haue doubted of these Dialogues that they were not his because that in the rest of his bookes hee seemeth to be more graue And
Virgine Marie was for his comfort and consolation yea and that amongst the rest vnto Eue her selfe which had sinned in as much as God had chosen this vessell to beare and bring forth the comfort of mankind from the first man euen to the last They abuse in a higher degree of vnfaithfull dealing a place in Iustinus Martyr Iustin Martyr Apol 2. The Gentiles reproach the Christians saying that they were Atheists that is to say without God The Christians answere Yea without Gods whom you take to be Gods but not without the true God For as concerning him we worship him that is the father and the Son which is of him who is come and hath taught vs these things and all the host of good Angels that follow him and the propheticall spirit that is to say we worship the father the sonne and the holy Ghost Now these words which yet are not found in many copies must vpon euident and apparant necessitie be read with a Parenthesis for there he alludeth to that Ephes 3.10 which S. Paul saith to the Ephesians That the mysterie of our Redemption which was hid from all time in God was manifested vnto principalities and powers in heauenly places c. Otherwise what should this meane We worship the father the Sonne the Angels and the holy Ghost And the holy Ghost himselfe after the Angels And by this meanes to saue the Saints they make no conscience to blaspheme the holy Ghost But in the meane time this is the Monke Perion his translation and from thence this errour hath beene dispersed into many bookes in these daies Origen commeth About the yeare 260. Hieronym ad Pammach Ocean Epiphan t. 2. l. 1. haeres 63. hauing a bold spirit Whome I loue saith S. Ierome as hee is a translator but not as he is an author of straunge opinions for his spirit and ingeniousnesse but not for his faith because his writings are venemous without any warrant of Scriptures and offering violence vnto the same c. And of this iudgement is the whole Church After this then to whome may he not iustly be suspected For as heretofore he laid the foundations of Purgatorie vpon the opinions of the Platonists so from the same he gathereth the first stone wherupon afterward was laid the inuocation of Saints The Platonists said that the vpper and higher things must bee ioyned with the inferiour and lower by a middle comming betwixt both God with men by Angels that is by their mediation and comming betwixt But Christians must not lend their eares to this as those that haue a far deeper secret and mysterie reuealed vnto them hauing giuen them his Son God and man and ioyned together in one person for the saluation of mankind that which was farre remooued and set asunder by our sinnes so that the Platonists could not comprehend or conceiue the same Notwithstanding wee see that mans inuentions do commonly please vs better then the reuelations of God and flesh and bloud doth more freely and willingly imbrace them because it smelleth and findeth something of it owne therein Euseb â—e preparat Euang. l. 12. 13. August de Ciuit. Dei l 8. c. 14.18.20 22 23.25.26 Now the summe thereof was that betwixt the greatnesse of God and the infirmitie of man there were two orders of Mediators the blessed spirits or the separated intelligences and the soules of the blessed wee call them in our Christian language Angels and Saints That these Angels offer vp mens suites and petitions to God in reporting them vnto him and obtaining a graunt thereof by their intercession c. That for this cause we must praie vnto and honour them partly as Aduocates partly as more excellent in their merits then men And that such also do the same who for their merits being men whiles they were here vpon earth haue beene exalted and extolled as Gods in heauen such a one was Aesculapius who wrought the same effects in heauen by his Diuinitie which he wrought here below by his Art such a one also was Hermes which succoured and conserued generally all those who directed their praiers vnto him c. Who is hee that cannot behold and clearely perceiue the opinions of the Church of Rome in these points of Paganisme Now they did not all enter with a full sea into the Christian Church but for certaine it is that the Gentils which were receiued into the same being seasoned with this doctrine could not be so little cherished and vpheld either by being winckt at or otherwise by the sufferance of the Pastors but that they by and by tooke great footing and that in a small time What is it then that Origen saith Origen hom 3 in Cant. The Saintes saith he which are departed out of this life bearing stil their wonted loue and charitable affections to such as remaine behind in the world if any man say that they are carefull for their saluation and that they helpe them with their praiers and intercessions towards God he doth not runne into any inconuenience for it is written in the booke of the Machabees This same is Ieremie the prophet of God that prayeth daily for the people c. Marke There is no inconuenience in it And further some are of opinion those also of the learned that these Homelies vpon the Canticles were made by some latin writer and not by Origen Vpon Iosue Ego sic arbitror I am mightilie drawne to be perswaded that all the fathers which haue fallen asleepe before vs doe still in part beare some portion of the combat with vs and doe helpe vs with their praiers thus much I haue heard said of some of our old maisters Vpon the booke of Numbers he groweth more hot for saith he Quis enim dubitat who doubteth but that they helpe vs with their praiers and confirme vs by their examples c. Where it is to bee considered how that he speaketh doubtfully of this opinion that he which had the scriptures at his fingers ends if hee had had in store euer a place to haue confirmed and setled it vpon he would neuer haue had recourse to an Apocrypha place of the second booke of Machabees neither to the report of his old maisters But yet moreouer it appeareth by Origen himselfe that this was but a discourse of his and not the faith of his time If saith he the Saintes that haue left this bodie and are with Christ do any thing for vs after the manner of Angels that take charge of our safetie let it be accompted amongst the secrets that are hidden and kept close by God and are not to be intermedled withall by any writer that is to say in a word inter Apocrypha for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke doeth not signifie any other thing But of this priuate discourse of this pretended secret misterie that the Saints pray for the faithfull gathereth he this consequent it
for feare saith he that veritas abeat in errorē the truth be turned and changed into error that is for as much as that which is performed duely vnto God can not chuse but be misplaced vnduely bestowed when it is performed vnto creatures Now these honors such as is adoration as also inuocation are parts of that which he calleth Latria For so he expresseth his meaning to be by the examples which he mentioneth of them in Ieremie that honour the hoasts Queene of heauen of Noe giuing thanks for his deliuerance by a sacrifice of Iacob crauing aide of the Lord in his necessity in powring the oile vpon the stone c. And whereas the abuse did grow more plausible by reason of the name of the virgine Marie There are some saith he which do not honor her sufficiently there are some that glorifie her too much The Deuil vnder the colour of doing good entreth into the spirits of men deifieth the nature of man to cause thē to worship the dead c. But although the bodie of Marie were holy yet notwithstanding it was not God she was a virgin to be honored and reuerenced but not to be adored worshipped she her selfe falling downe worshipping him that was borne of her according to the flesh whereupon he saith vnto her What haue I to doe with thee O woman for feare that any man admiring too much her excellencie might fall into heresie These are the reasons hee vseth in all this disputation In the first place It is not spoken of in the scriptures Where is saith he the scripture where is the Prophet that hath spoken it And for the second Rom. 1. It is an old error which must not rule ouer vs to forsake the liuing and to worship that which he hath made according to that which is written They haue worshipped the creature more then the Creator c. And therefore neither Helias nor S. Iohn nor Thecla nor Marie For if it be denied the Angels why should it be granted to the daughter of Hanna that is to say Mary And afterward also whole pages to the like purpose Let Ieremie saith he hold in these sillie simple women that they may not trouble the whole world that they may not haue any more to say we honor the Queene of heauen c. What other thing should he heare at this day in the deuotions of the Church of Rome Then he concludeth And this wee haue written for their sakes that are desirous to attaine the truth of the scriptures But if there bee any man that liketh better to heare the contrarie for this superstition did not want Monkes to support it he that heareth let him heare he that is disobedient let him be disobedient c. Chrysostome may seeme to haue taken to taske the pulling downe subuersion of this abuse he taketh such paines by all maner of meanes to vndermine the very foundations thereof Hee saw that the people were more inclined to receiue helpe from the suffrages of another then to amend their owne liues Therefore hee impugneth this opinion Nay saith he We are a great deale more assured certified Chrysost hom 5. in Matth. by our owne suffrages thē by the suffrages of an other neither doth God so soon grant our saluation at the praiers of another as at our owne For by that meanes was he moued to pittie the Cananitish woman by that meanes also he gaue the harlot to belieue thus also did the thief obtaine paradise there being neither aduocate nor mediator to moue him to any of these by intercession But Idem hom 12. in Matth. Thou saist I haue no good works I cannot trust to my good life hereupon it is that we are to betake our selues to his mercie the calme and quiet hauen of sinners where iudgement ceaseth wherein consisteth vnspeakable safety according to the example of the Cananitish woman who neither went to Iames nor Iohn nor Peter c. But in stead of all these she embraced as her dearest companion vnfained and hearty repentance and it was also vnto her as her aduocate going on her behalfe directly vnto the soueraigne head and fountaine And wherefore said she is he come downe to take humane flesh vpon him why is he made man but that I may speake vnto him In another place Idem hom de prof Euang. Wilt thou see saith he what more we do for our selues by our owne praters then by those of an other◠when the Apostles pray for the Cananitish woman they are repelled I am not sent but to the lost sheepe of Israel c. But when shee pleadeth her owne cause by prayer how great a sinner soeuer shee were euen then it was that shee obtained grace euen then it was that the Lord did graunt her petition Yea but the scripture commandeth vs to pray one for another Other mens praiers therefore are not vnprofitable Admit it yet it must be by the Saints that are aliue and not by them that are dead And of this intercession of the Saints it is that he speaketh and not of that of the Church of Rome When we offer saith he altogether vnto God Idem hom 44 in Genes 1. Idem hom 5. in Mat. Idem hom in 1. ad Thes Genes 18. Ierem. 7.16.11.14 that which commeth from our selues and the intercession of the Saints is ioyned therewith it doth greatly profite vs. For saith he in another place the praiers and supplications of the Saints are of great force power on our behalfe and therefore let vs not neglect them but rather let vs pray them to pray for vs and to lend vs their helping hand But what Saintes euen those that are liuing and wee know them by the examples and patternes that he giueth vs of them As of Abraham making intercession for Lot and of Ieremie whom God forbiddeth to pray for the people and many other Where in the meane time wee haue to obserue and note the faithfull and good dealing of the Doctors of the Church of Rome who alleadge the same of the Saints deceased and not of the faithfull liuing which are in all the scipture commonly called Saintes As concerning the Saints deceased he sometimes speaketh of them according to the common opinion Idem in Basil Martyr especially in his Panegyricks That the magnanimitie and vndaunted boldnesse of the Martyrs is a terrour vnto the tyrantes the deuils and the Prince of the deuils That they pray to God with confidence as soldiers are wont to shew their wounds vnto their Prince Idem in Iuuent Maxim That if S. Paule haue loued men here below he hath also in heauen a more feruent loue towards them but that this neuer reacheth either to praying vnto Saintes or vnto Martyrs on the contrarie in all his praiers we doe not heare of any other but onely God But haue they not purchased Paradise by their sufferings and merites
Eunomius the Sonne be not partaker of the substance of the Father how shall he be an intercessor c. And therefore the Saintes by the same accompt no Gods no intercessors CHAP. XIIII Of the continuance of the purenesse of doctrine concerning Inuocation and of the growth and proceeding of the corruption of the same in the Latine Church LEt vs here againe returne to the rest of this doctrine in the West Church proceeding where we left to speake of the same S. Hillarie tooke vp his standing at this point That notwithstanding that the Angels and the Saintes do continue their charitie towardes vs that yet we must call vpon one onely God by Christ it being expected that hee should be alone and onely one which knoweth and can doe all things And now let vs a little looke ouer S. Ambrose S. Augustine and Saint Ierome in the Latine Church and examine their opinions the first of them answering within a little the time of Basil Nazianzene the other two the time of Epiphanius and Chrysostome in the Greeke Church S. Ambros in sunere fratris Satyr Ambrose verily in like manner as S. Basill wanteth no store of Rhetorike such as the time afforded In the funeralles of his brother Satyrus he is vehement Well saith he go thou first into this common house that which now is more desired and wished for of me then any other thing make readie there for vs our bed chamber leaue mee not to languish and mourne any long time after thee Call vpon me if I be too slow and helpe me to make more hast Ambr. in Luc. l. 10. c. And in another place From whence shall I cause thee to come Peter that thou maiest tell me what thou didst thinke when as thine eies distilled teares shal it be from heauen where thou art in the companie of Angels or els from the graue c. Who will not acknowledge in these words the Rhetorical Apostrophes so familiarly vsed of Orators In his booke of widowes he is carried away a great deale further in a Declamation When saith hee Peter his mother in law had a feauer Andrew and Peter praied vnto the Lord for her And thou O widow hast so many neighbours that pray for thee the Apostles the Martyrs and the Angels therefore thou must pray vnto them for they can pray for our sinnes seeing that they are washed from theirs by their owne bloud seeing also that they are beholders of our actions Againe Is she lesse fit to pray because of her sinne or lesse fit for to aske and obtaine let her vse the benefite and helpe of others which doe pray c. Who is hee that may not iustly be offended with these loftie and hyperbolicall speeches with this exceeding ryot lauish laying out of such high mounted speeches directly contrarie to the doctrine of Christ his Apostles Of Christ who calleth the repentant vnto himselfe they being so much the more fit to come vnto him by how much the heauier they feele themselues laden with the burthen of their sinnes Come vnto mee saith he all you that labour are heauie laden c. Of the Apostles who teach vs that the sins of the Apostles themselues were washed away in the blood of Christ As also against the doctrine of his dearely beloued Origen That the virgin Marie hath need to be washed to be sanctified and to haue a part in the redemption purchased by this blood But now let vs heare him like some still brooke or little riuer gliding smoothly along some plaine channell all his heate of Rhetoricke laid aside and expounding the scriptures according to their bare meaning and sence that verily in a far other sence The Gentiles said to him as we haue seene before It is needfull to haue accesse vnto kings by the mediation of great personages so we must looke to approch vnto the high God by inferior and pettie Gods so say our aduersaries by the saints And what answer doth he make them vpon the Romaines Ambr. in epist ad Rom. c. 1. But saith he and that in many words With God thou needest not any other intercessor then a deuout spirit It is high treason against him to make way to come to him by his creatures whereas in deed it is good for kinges who know not whom to trust in their common wealth but not in respect of God who knoweth all things Idâ—â— de Iscac Antma who vnderstandeth the value and worth of euerie man c. But wouldest thou haue a Mediator looke vpon him whom he giueth vnto thee Iesus Christ himselfe saith he is our mouth by which we speake vnto God our eye by which we see the father our right hand by the which we offer vnto the father and if that hee make not intercession for vs neither we nor any of the saintes haue anie part or portion in God And elsewhere Idem l. 3. de Spir. Sanct. c. 12 Wee must not worship saith he any thing but God as the scripture saith Thou shalt worship one onely God The holy Ghost likewise must be worshipped seeing that wee worship him who after the flesh is borne of the holy Ghost But no man must draw or applie this to the virgine Marie she was the temple of God but not the God of the temple c. And if any man reply and say that he speaketh of adoration and not of praier he ouerthroweth the question for in vaine is it to pray where wee put not our affiance But saith hee the Almightie power of Christ was declared and manifested in that we know that it is hee alone in whom wee must haue our affiance c. Coloss 1. In so much that if any man thinke that he ought to frame his deuotion either to some one of the Angels or els to some one of the superiour powers bee it knowne vnto him that he is in an errour for he that humbleth and casteth downe himselfe before the subiectes is altogether out of the way he cleaueth not fast vnto the head he is without a head Truncus est c. And this is according to the scope of the place in the Colossians expounded heretofore by Theodoret of the Canon of the Councell of Laodicea In the time of S. Ierome this inuocation did insinuate it selfe more and more amongst the people in so much as that it was come to an open offence and controuersie And this is proued by the disputation betwixt Saint Ierome and Vigilantius Hieronym contr Vigilant whether it were that on the one side Vigilantius did not speake honorably enough of the Martyrs or that Saint Ierome doth wrongfully so charge him proceeding here as in other places from wholesome admonition and reproofe to hot and distempered choller a man for that cause certainely vnworthy to bee admitted into any disputation concerning religion But of all Vigilantius his Theses because his bookes are not to bee come by
we are onely made acquainted with so much as Saint Ierome maketh mention of It is manifest likewise that the Church of Fraunce did not allow of this superstition in as much as that French Bishoppe of whome Saint Ierome speaketh vnto Ripacius a holy and reuerent man did hold the opinion of Vigilantius according to that which Ireneus saith That the French men and Germaines held and kept so fast what they had first receiued of the Apostolike faith as that they shutte their eares vnto whatsoeuer departed and swarued from the same Vigilantius saith by the report of Saint Ierome That wee must not worship or adore the Martyrs nor the deceased Saintes And who can denie that which hee saith of worship and adoration But for the honour due and of right to bee giuen in the remembring of the Martyrs and Saintes by the acknowledging of the giftes of God in them and the imitation of their constancie who is hee that would contend or striue against it But you say that in this honour inuocation is included which thing Vigilantius denyed Let them shew vs then in all this disputation how hot soeuer S. Ierome be any one word of the inuocation of saints or of Martyrs or any one proofe or allegation that he maketh for the same either out of the scriptures or the fathers the Councels or the Liturgies Greeke or Latine Howsoeuer notwithstanding the case so standeth as that he could not bee ignorant of that goodly Masse of S. Iames at Ierusalem if so be it were at that time for to haue proued thereby the intercession of the virgine Marie and of the Saintes For as concerning that which he saith If any man come to pray ad memorias Martyrum it is well knowne that that was for no other thing but to point the place where had beene accustomed for a long time the meetinges of the Christian assemblies to stirre vp thereby those which were present to the like constancie Origen was the first that said though doubtfully and ambiguously That the blessed soules do pray in the other world for the Church Vpon this stone men haue laboured by degrees to found and settle this inuocation Vigilantius doth take occasion by this foundation and denieth it adding that here we ought to pray one for another that there is not any place for this action elswhere S. Ierome striueth for this proposition of Origens as for an article of faith Vigilant gainsaith it as contrary vnto faith but of them passing beyond their bounds seeing that this proposition if a man stay there and go no further is indifferently to be borne with of the Church But S. Ierome gathereth therevpon this conclusion The Saintes pray vnto God in heauen for the Church therefore the Church here vppon earth must not onely pray vnto God but vnto the Saints also Superstition said But wherefore shal we not pray vnto them seeing that they pray for vs For is there not appearance that they ioyne their praiers vnto ours when we pray vnto them at their graues c. Vigilantius aunswereth No for they doe not meddle any more with humane affaires So far is it off that their soules should keepe about these graues Apocal. 14. S. Ierome thereupon cryeth out Wilt thou chaine vp the Apostles wilt thon make a law for God to keepe Do they not follow the lambe wheresoeuer he goeth c. But the question is not here of the power of God but of the nature which he hath giuen for a law to all thinges Tertullian had said vnto him That it was no good diuinitie Chrysost hom 20. in Mat. Idem de Lazat Diuite August de cu ra pro mort â—erend Idem de G. Virg c. 27. Hieronym in Epitaph Nepotian To reason from the power of God to his will or to the effect And S. Chrysosostome That the soules seperated from the bodies haue not their abode in these regions That the soules of the iust are in the hand of God And S. Augustine had proued it vnto him by scripture That they are not any more dealers in the thinges of this world That in the same place To follow the Lambe is to follow the footsteps of Christ Not saith he in respect that he is the Sonne of God by whom all things were made but the sonne of man who hath shewed vs in himselfe what we ought to doe But S. Ierome doth he say the same vnto vs that they of the Church of Rome say That they know all thinges in the seeing of God Then they reade in God that which is in our hearts in our thoughtes c. No but cleane contrarie In the Epitaph of Nepotian All whatsoeuer I can say to him seemeth to mee to be no more then a dumbe shew because that he heareth not Againe Let vs not wearie our selues with speaking to him with whom we cannot speake any more But he ceaseth not to vse his Rhetoricall figures his Apostrophes as the others do in the Epitaph of Paula whom he had so entirely loued and in his speech of the death of Blessilla wherein hee speaketh vnto them and causeth them to make answere the dead and deceased daughter to comfort her mournefull and sorrowing mother c. But in his Commentaries his choller and languishing mind is laid aside Idem in Ezech. l. 4. c. 14. tom 5 If we be to put our confidence in any let vs trust in the one only God For cursed is the man that putteth his confidence in man though they were Saintes yea and though they were Prophets We must not trust in Principibus ecclesiarum in those which are the chiefe and principall of the Churches who how vpright and righteous soeuer they be shall not deliuer any but their owne soules not so much as the soules of their owne children And to the end wee may not conceiue him to haue spoken of any but such as were liuing writing vpon the Epistle to the Galathians vpon these words Euerte man shal beare his owne burthen Idem in ep ad Galat. l. 2. c. 6. see what he saith vnto vs Wee learne though somewhat darklie by this little sentence a new doctrine which is hid and secrete that so long as wee are in this present world we may be helped by the praiers and counsels one of another but when as we shall be come before the iudgement seat of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can pray for any man but euerie one shall beare his owne burthen c. Which may seeme to bee a retractation of that which he had stifly maintained against Vigilantius For out of this text are gathered two propositions together Gra. Câ—in praesenti 13. q. 2. Hieronym de Assumpt Mariae virg tom 4 that is That the prayers of the liuing serue not to any vse for the dead neither the praiers of the dead for the liuing and this place is inserted into the Decree Of the virgine Mary likewise hee sayeth Thou hast
they know likewise not to bee his c. But S. Augustine did neuer thinke to winne heauen by any other meanes then the merite of the onely Christ for his Maxim is vniuersall August ad Hieronym de natura origi animarum Idem in quaest veter Nou. test q 73. That there is not any one soule in all mankind thus hee writ vnto S. Ierome for the deliuerance whereof the Mediator of God and men Iesus Christ the man is not requisite and necessarie Not so much as the Virgine Marie excepted seeing that he saith after many of the fathers going before That the Virgine in whome was wrought the mysterie of the incarnation of Christ did doubt as much in the death of our Sauiour Christ as shee was confirmed by his resurrection What doe we get by this discourse Verily that vnto the time of S. Chrysostome and S. Augustine that is to say neere hand fine hundred yeares after the death of our Lord there was no Inuocation of Saints in the Christian Church nor any mention of the same in the seruice of the Church that it was practised onely by the particular deuotions of some few which they had learned for the most part out of the Schoole of the Gentiles and that there were great personages at those times that laboured to represse them by the opposing and setting of the pure doctrine against them as wee haue seene by their disputations And if that they did speake so at such time as those myracles which it pleased God to worke for the confirmation of the faith and the approuing of his Martyrs were most fresh and new what would they haue said of that which we see at this day when wee pray not vnto God as then in the burying places of the Martyrs but vnto the Martyrs themselues yea and to all the sorts of pretended Saints both directly as the authors of good things and without any mention made of God and in their images And whereas they scrape together here and there some places that seeme to make for them some of them being true but ill translated some manifestly fained and deuised and some drawne from Rhetoricke to make proofes and reasons in Diuinitie what other thing may they seeme to be hereby but Spiders which out of most wholesome hearbs doe sucke poyson whereas the Bees doe gather sweetnesse out of the most bitter And here withall let vs not forget to obserue and note that at this time and manie ages after it was indifferent in the Church whether the faithfull departing out of this world were by and by gathered vnto God and inioyed his presence or else that they continued expecting the day of the resurrection in the bosome of Abraham in a place of most blessed rest from thence to bee receiued into heauen all together Which is more Ireneus Iustine Tertullian Origen Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine Saint Chrysostome Bernard Serm. 4. in sest omnium Sanct. Idem Serm. 3. Theodoret c. yea Saint Barnard no lesse then all the rest doe incline to belieue rather that they are reserued vnto the resurrection without the inioying of the presence of God Now the case so standeth that the Inuocation of Saints is grounded vpon intercession and their intercession vpon the sight and presence of God according to our Aduersaries their owne doctrine Whereupon it followeth that the Inuocation of Saints could not haue any ground to grow vpon in the Church all this time neither yet shall hereafter in any sure or certaine sort according to Saint Barnard his iudgement who liued not aboue three hundred yeares since seeing he stood more vppon this opinion then any other the Inuocation of Saints beeing such as could not match with this doctrine CHAP. XV. Of the growth and proceeding of the corruption of Inuocation both in the Greeke and Latine Churches NOw when these great lights of the Church S. Ierome S. Augustine S. Chrysostome Epiphanius and such like were put out there is no cause why we should maruaile if the Prince of darknesse The proceeding of the abuse in the Greeke church did thriue prosper mightily in a short time as also by the assistance of the ignorance which was brought into Europe at such time as the barbarous nations did ouerrunne and swarme in the same In the East Church they had beene drencht with the Apostrophes of Basill Nazianzene Ephrem and others but the Inuocation of Saints was not yet entred into their seruice onely they had receiued the Commemoration of them the prints and footesteps whereof remaine to be seene in these words In Liturg. Iacobo Basilio Chrysost attribut In calling to our minds the holy Virgine Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Martyrs c. We recommend them and our selues and our whole life vnto God c. Speeches so farre from bearing any inuocating of them as that they comprehend and include them in the same recommendation as also in the same worke of the grace of God with our selues following that opinion which they had currant amongst them that they were not as yet receiued into perfect blisse Likewise we haue a Church rule in S. Basill Basil in asceti c. 40. free from the fierie heate of his boyling Rehetoricke When saith he the Christians come to the Sepulchers of the Martyrs or into the adioyning places it must be looked vnto that it bee to no other end but to pray Idem hom 19 and to bee stirred vp to the imitating of their constancie by the recording and calling of them to mind For saith he in an other place by the calling to mind of their good deedes there ariseth profit vnto vs as of the vsing of an excellent parfume a good smel Anno. 500. Niceph. l. 15. c 18. But now one Petrus Gnapheus Bishop of Antioch ordaineth that in all publike praiers in his Church and note that his Patriarchall prerogatiue extended verie farre the inuocating of the Virgine Marie should bee vsed And this Peter was a most pernicious hereticke condemned in the fift generall Councell held at Constantinople for the heresie of the Theopaschites whereof hee was the Author teaching that God himselfe euen as hee was God was crucified and did suffer vppon the Crosse The mischiefe whose nature is neuer to bee idle went forward with speed The second Councell of Nice about the yeare eight hundred establishing the worshipping of Images ordained the Inuocation of Saints And it is likewise much about the same time that Euagrius the Monke brought in the King of Persia praying vnto Saint Sergius in these words That he and Syra his loue did hope in his power and belieue in him Damascen about the yeare eight hundred praieth himselfe vnto the Virgine Marie I shall saith he be saued by hoping in thee and hauing thee for my defence J will not feare any thing In thy Almightie helpe I shall put mine enemies to flight thou art the saluation of mankind open vs the doore of mercie c. And
III. a great promoter of this monster moueth this monstrous and brutish question What eateth the Mouse when she gnaweth the sacrament Lombard hath answered God knoweth And notwithstanding towards the end It may be safely said that the bodie of Christ is not taken by beastes But the schoole of Sorbone hath noted Hie Magister non tenetur Other follow not the iudgement of the maister of the sentences in this point Iohannes de Burgo verie grossely The Mouse doth take the bodie of Christ Innocentius more subtillie The bread passeth away miraculously when the bodie commeth and the bodie passeth and getteth it selfe away when the Mouse draweth neere Alex. p. 4 q. 45. membr 1. the bread commeth into his place againe Alexander Hales The bodie of Christ is euen in the bellie of the Mouse and yet no disparagement to the bodie of Christ nor yet to the Sacrament in the bodie in like manner of a dogge or hogge c. Bonauenture verily dealeth more honestly The Mouse cannot eate it God forbid it should euer come to that And what would the Fathers say concerning these absurdities which teach vs That no bodie receiueth the bodie of Christ that hath not first worshipped it And that many worship it which doe not receiue it And what vnequall dealing is this here to eleuate and hold vp on high a peece of bread for the bodie of Christ to call it our Lord to adore it and belieue it to be God and after this eleuating of it to debase it so farre as to make it subiect to the filthie vomiting of men and deuouring guttes of greedie beastes And this may serue for a scantling of the goodly diuinitie proceeding from this deuise of transubstantiation and their bookes are full of the like Their contrarying and crossing one of another is a thing no lesse worth the noting The contrarieties which they haue vttered in the deciding of the former questions Gl. in C. Tribus Durand in Rational l 4. c. 41. Aftesa in Sum. 4. part tit 17. Richard 4. d. 9 q. 1. Bonau 4. d. 9. q 1. Thom. 3. q. 80. art 3. C.S. quis per ebrietatem ibi Gloss Caiet tom 2. tr 2. c. 3. 5. Thom. opusc 58. c. 13. The first Is the bodie of Christ taken in at the mouth passeth it into the stomacke To the first they answere yea At the second they are astonished Gratian his Glose saith So soone as the tooth toucheth it it is swiftly conueighed vppe into heauen Durandus From the mouth it passeth and goeth forward vnto the hart that is to say into the soule And then there ceaseth to be any corporall presence the spirituall onely remaining Another Yea it goeth downe into the bellie prouided that the kind haue not beene changed in the mouth Others it passeth downe thither and there abideth vntill the kindes bee consumed How much better had it beene for them to haue held themselues to the Fathers The heauenly bread which nourisheth our soules is not that which goeth downe into the stomacke c. And in deed Cardinall Caietanus was ashamed of the contrarie saying That it is most false to affirme hold that the bodie of Christ is taken corporallie for it is taken spiritually in the Eucharist by beleeuing and not by receiuing Againe He that eateth not cheweth not the bodie of Christ but the kinds but the spirituall eating which is performed by the soule obtaineth the flesh of Christ which is in the Sacrament c. Secondly The bodie of Christ at such time as it is taken in the Eucharist is it in heauen or not Thomas answereth Jt is visiblie in heauen in the shape of a man but his diuinitie his bodie is vpon euerie altar sacramentallie If hee vnderstood this word as Saint Augustine doth we shall agree together but hee vnderstandeth it by an inuisible bodie And what shall then become of that which all the Fathers say vnto vs As he is God he is infinite he is euerie where but as hee is man he is finite limited and abiding in one place Whereunto they bring forth this goodly distinction but let him proue it that can The bodie of Christ is in a place but not locally It is quantū but not after the manner of a qualitie that is to say it is a bodie but not corporally c. Thirdly What becommeth of the substances of bread and wine in this change Gl. in C. species de consecr d. 2. in C. firm ext de Sum. Trinit Caiet in Tho. Thomas saith after Lombard That they are turned into the substance of the bodie and bloud of Christ. Gratian his Glose and the extrauagants That they vanish to nothing And Pope Innocent the third in like manner Scotus thereupon refuteth Thomas and Caietanus refuteth Scotus Likewise they are not agreed vpon their propositions for diuers let not to say after all the Fathers The bread is the bodie of Christ Scotus to the contrarie saith That it cannot be said so and as farre off is that Panis fit corpus Christi The bread is made the bodie of Christ. But rather Of bread the bodie of Christ is made c. C. Non oportet ibi Gloss de Consecr d. 2. C. Cum Martha S. Verū de celebr Miss Thom. 3. q. 14. art 8 Durand l 4. c 42. Scot. in Rep d 2. 3 d. 10 q. 1. And how much shorter had it beene for them to hold themselues to the fathers The bread is the bodie of Christ is made the bodie of Christ Per modum Sacramenti after the manner of a Sacrament Fourthly What becommeth of the water in this change who is it that bringeth it to nothing That transubstantiateth it into bloud with the wine And into Christs vitall humour c. Thomas more subtilly turneth it From water into wine and after from wine into bloud Durandus dealeth more so berlie Who dare bee so bold to decide the question And what shall become then of their Allegorie That the water signifieth the Church the mingling of the water with the wine the coniunction of the Church with Christ But Scotus after all this giueth the crosse blow vnto all these pretended changes The first opinion saith he was that the substance of bread did abide the second that it did not but that it vanisheth into nothing or is resolued into the first matter the thirde that the bread is turned into the bodie of Christ c. But I say that althogh the substāce of bread shal abide yet is shal not take away our worshipping of it yet shall not be any cause of idolatrie and that the substance of bread doth more fitly represent the bloud of Christ then the accidents alone Petr. de Alliaci l. 4. Sent. d. q 6. seeing there is more resemblance betwixt substance substance then betwixt a substance and an accident And the Cardinal of Alliaco hath followed his steps The maner saith he that admitteth that
the vncertaintie of their doctrine as also of the spirite of lying raigning amongst them In the meane time heare them speake They iarre about a controuersie which is betwixt Luther and Caluin thinking to cloake and conceale such a multitude of contrarieties as are amongst themselues And thus when they haue cast about euerie way The Schoolemen shew that they are forced by the authority of the decrees of Lateran Hugo Card. in Mat. c. 26. in Marc. c. 14. in Luc. c. 26 now at the last they breake out and say that it is the Councell of Lateran or rather the tirannie of the Pope that tyeth their tongues like prisoners and not the concluding of their pretended reasons Cardinall Hugo in his perpetuall Postill swimmeth betwixt the truth and the errours of that time as well as hee can Hee blesseth sayeth hee but hee sticketh long in the bringing forth of the wordes of blessing as hauing purposed to accommodate himselfe to the opinion then receiued to which ende hee bringeth forth foure constructions of this texte and those verie diuerse Fregit hee brake that is to say Frangendum in cruce signauit hee signified that his bodie should bee broken vpon the Crosse Accipite take that is said hee by belieuing with the heart and confesting with the mouth Comedite eate that is by ioyning your selues to him in loue and vnitie This is my bodie this is my bloude that is that I haue giuen you for meate which I haue giuen you for drinke according to that sayeth he which hee sayeth in Saint Iohn 6. My flesh is truely meate and my bloud is truely drinke Now it is so that our aduersaries vnderstand it of the spirituall eating And afterwarde saith hee To whome giueth hee it Verily vnto his disciples His disciples and not others haue right to eate and drinke it they which go and sitte downe in his schooles that ruminate his lessons of humilitie of mildnesse gentlenesse charitie c. And yet in the meane time hee letteth not after all this to winde himselfe here and there within the errours of the time Thom. 3. p. Summ q. 76. art 1. Damasc l 4. c. 4. Thomas after hee hath spent all his breath about the prouing of the doctrine of Transubstantiation turneth backe at the last to approue of Damascen his opinion The coale is not of simple woode but it is vnited to the fire so the breade of the Communion is not simple breade but bread vnited to the diuinitie And wee agree to him if hee meane a Sacramentall vnion if hee meane that it is said of the breade This is my bodie which is giuen for you In like manner as it is saide of the cole This hath touched thy lippes therefore thine iniquitie shall go away and propitiation shall bee made for thy sinnes For hee woulde not haue it meant of any hypostaticall thing Bonau in l. 4. Sent. d. 8. d. 1. q. 3. Bonauenture doth flatly deny euerie part of Thomas his exposition That the bread was the bodie of Christ at such time as our Lord vttered these wordes This is my bodie Againe they hold it for an errour That grace is essentially contained in the Sacraments as the medicine in the boxe but they hold that it is in them in as much as they do signifie shadow it out Now the bodie of Christ vpon their consciences is it without grace That grace notwithstanding is in them if the default be not on the behalfe of the party that communicateth Could he deliuer his mind in better tearmes that the bodie of Christ is not receiued but by the faithfull And his conclusion vrgeth the matter yet further Thus vnderstanding saith he that the grace is in the soule and not in the visible signes that is to say that the effect of the Sacrament is wrought in our soules by the operation of the holy Ghost and not any miracle in the substances of the bread and the wine The same vppon the worde Eate Eating saith hee is properly found to haue respect vnto corporall thinges and from thence is translated vnto those that are spirituall And therefore if we will take well the right spirituall eating it is necessarie that wee should go from the proper signification of the word Idem in l. 4. d. 9. q 1. Scot. l. 5. Rep. in 4. Sent. d. 10 q. 1. vnto the borrowed and translated And so by this meanes he acknowledgeth a figure therein And note that hee was both a gray fryer and a Cardinall Iohn Duns saith Scotus neere hand 100. yeares after the Councell of Lateran durst bee so bold as to call the matter in question againe If the bodie of Christ bee really contained vnder the kindes and reasoneth by argument that it is not And his groundes are Idem d. 11. q. 3 That the quantitie cannot suffer it so neither the localnesse and circumscription of place which go inseperablie and naturally with a true and naturall bodie such as is the bodie of our Lord that as a temporall thing cannot bee at diuers times together no more can a locall thing be in diuers places together And therefore that the opinion which holdeth that the bread and wine abide in their substance Idem d. 2. 3 104.20 seemeth vnto him the more probable and no lesse worthie to bee embraced c. Notwithstanding that hee holdeth himselfe to that which the Church ordained in the Councell of Lateran Because it is said that Saint Peters faith shall not faile c. Although saith hee that the wordes of the scripture might bee maintained and defended by a more easie exposition Occam in centilog theol concl 25 26. c. and in all likelihood more true Occam durst propound and set downe That the bodie of Christ is euerie where as God is euerie where and that if there were an host that did fill all the world the bodie of Christ might bee together with euerie part of the same when it should bee consecrated Directly against the Councell of Ephesus which concludeth that euerie nature should retaine such his properties as could not become really communicable from one to another And from him the Vbiquitaries of this time may seeme to haue drawne their fountaine water spring But in another place hee holdeth Idem l. 4. q. 6. that the opinion which setteth downe That the substance of bread abideth and that the bodie of Christ is coexistant with it is most probable and least subiect to inconueniences not repugnant to reason neither to the authoritie of the Bible notwithstanding that hee keepeth himselfe vnto the determination of the Church and such opinion as is most commonly receiued Durand de S. port in l 4. Sent. d. 11. Gulielmus Durandus of Saint Poursain whome the vniuersitie of Sorbone calleth Magister by the way of excellencie and the most resolute Doctor and that more wisely It is rashnesse saith hee to say that the bodie of Christ by the
falshood is as also the right and naturall interpretation of such places as are in controuersie as well as the peruerted and bastardly Yea the Gentile himselfe said Chrysostome will learne by our controuersies Chrysost hom 33. in Acta to what Church he ought to cleaue howbeit that both the one and the other do pretend Scriptures seeing we say not that we belieue in humane reasons that might be able to trouble him but in the Scriptures that are simple and true And how much the rather then the Christian who as one would say should be borne fed and made by the language of the Scriptures And in deed I hope that in this discourse which wee haue vndertaken of the historie and doctrine of the Masse it will appeare from place to place that it is altogether in vaine for the most part that our aduersaries fortifie them selues with the fathers who verily if they were to come amongst 〈◊〉 againe would neuer acknowledge for their children the deceits and abuses that are authorised vnder their names But as S. Augustine said August Epist 166. We haue learned Christ in the Scriptures as also wee haue there learned the Church I dare also here say vnto you my masters therein wee shall take knowledge of Antichrist therein shall we obserue the corruption that hee hath brought into the Church The corruption for it serueth not any more either for seed graine or grasse as sometimes The darnell good Corne alike perhaps vntil the time of earing would be able to deceiue vs a little but growne into flower and being come to their perfection that filleth with the stench of the smell and poysoneth with his vapour all such as should stand a farre off And euen so Antichrist for there is no more any question of a starre to conduct and guide vs to him of seeking of him in a Manger in his swathing band or in his first infancie As at such rime saith S. Paul as iniquitie began but to worke For to make vs all inexcusable the day of the Lord is come to his full height He is seated vpon seuen mountaines incamped in the Temple of God extolling himselfe aboue God extolling himselfe against God working with all the efficacie of Sathan in all powerfulnesse and myracles of lying making drunke with his Cup the Kings and Princes of the earth opening his mouth in blasphemies against the highest against his Christ and vnder the name of Christ All his properties all his circumstances are therein so liuely painted out vnto vs as that there is nothing wanting but the putting to of his name and yet that is also therein giuen vs in Cyphers in a mysterie which succession of time and the euident plainnesse of his effectes hath sith then deciphered To you then my Masters vpon whome the last times are come it belongeth to take knowledge of him either by the pourtraiture which yee haue of him in the Scripture or by his working which you see in the Church or by his words or by his workes For then you shall not haue to say vnto vs any more Who are you that declare him vnto vs Where are your Commissions Where are your Bulles These are the pettifoggeries of the Court of Rome It is said that the Sonne of perdition shall cause a great Apostasie Either we must turne with those of the Apostasie or protest against it But you should giue him thankes that shall haue counsailed you to flie from the plague into your towne from the Wolfe into your sheepefold and from fire into your barne You should ring the alarum Bell your selues to the end that men might runne thereto that men might seeke to succour you Apoc. 18.4 You should come forth for it is said Come out of Babilon my people with great haste and without looking backe for this is the spirituall Sodome And it is said 1. Iohn 5. Apoc. 18. 19 My little children flie from Idols And we all together will goe crying Shee is fallen shee is fallen Yea we shall goe singing Saluation and glorie and honour and power be giuen to our Lord God His iudgements are true and iust He hath reuenged the bloud of his seruants He hath executed iustice vpon her which hath corrupted the whole earth The smoake thereof shall ascend for euer AMEN THE END AND DRIFT OF THE Author in the writing of this Booke IEsus Christ our Lord who is the Truth Ignatius Cyprian Tertullian euerie where Math. 19.8 as auncient writers declare vnto vs not Custome aunswered to the Pharisies and Doctors of the Law In the beginning that is to say at such time as God accomplished the worke of Creation It was not so The question was aboute the law of diuorcement a lawe ordayned by Moses by authoritie giuen him by God a law practised amongst the people for the space of sixteene hundred yeares and more without any checke or controlement euen amongst the people of Israell and Church of God and yet notwithstanding the Sonne of God not waighing eyther the prescription or the continuance of toleration calleth them backe to the consideration of the estate and condition of the thing at the creation and to the first institution of the same God saieth hee made them male and female what God hath ioyned together let not man put asunder Thus likewise let vs learne to aunswere according to the example and commaundement of our Lord but vpon much more vrgent occasion whensoeuer the inuentions and deuises of men shall bee set before vs to the defacing of Gods ordinance and institution yea when any shall goe aboute to foist in humaine fansies to the abrogating and thrusting out of his holie word It was not so from the beginning not from the creation of Christes Church not from the institution of Christ not from his Apostles not from their Disciples not from the obseruation of the Primitiue Church not from any decree or determination concluded by the saide Church her first councels what God hath once appointed and ordayned let not vs cast off and reiect what the Son hath spoken vnto vs by his owne mouth Iohn 14.26 what hee hath taught vs by his Apostles that sonne concerning whome the Father hath giuen this charge heare him Those Apostles of whome the Sonne hath thus saide vnto vs I will sende the holy Ghost which shall teach you all thinges Him let not vs forsake for anie other thing that may come for anie faire goodlie shew or appearance that possibly it can haue for anie authoritie prerogatiue or prescription of time that it may pretend By thus framing our selues we shal be able easilie to agree with euery soule that hath anie taste of godlines and which hath in reuerence God his holy word and ordinances But the question shall bee at this time whether there bee not abuses brought into the Church of Rome to the preiudice of his holie seruice and worshippe and of his holy ordinances contained in his worde