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A07609 A treatise of the holy sacrifice of the masse, and excellencies therof. Written in Spanish by the R. F. Ant. de Molina, a Carthusian monke, & translated into English by I.R. of the Society of Iesus. VVith order, hovv to be present at the said Holy Mystery, vvith deuotion & profit Molina, Antonio de, d. 1619?; Floyd, John, 1572-1649, attributed name.; Wilson, John, ca. 1575-ca. 1645? 1623 (1623) STC 18001; ESTC S112780 50,509 307

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in whose name we make this oblation vnto you The same the Priest repeates agayne straight vpon consecration saying wherfore being mindfull we thy seruants and thy holy people We Priests that are peculiarly thy seruants and ministers and thy Christiā people all ioyning togeather do offer this holy sacrifice This also the sacred Councell of Trent declares defining all Masses though priuate and not sayd in publicke are ought to be estemeed common because the Priest as publicke Minister offers them not for himself only but generally for all the faythfull that belong vnto the mysticall body of Christ. In summe is it the most certayne and vniuersall doctrine of the holy Fathers and Deuines that the Masse is sayd in name of the whole Catholicke Church and of the whole Christian people not only the faythfull that liue yet in the world but also the deceased that are detayned in purgatory because they haue their proper part of fruit in the Masse being in so great necessity therof all which the company of the faithfull both liuing and departed send the Priest as Embassadour to deale their affaires with God Yea which is a thing to be pondered the Priest goeth this Embassadge in name not only of the faithfull that are in the Militant Church but besides of the Sayntes that now rest in the triumphant because also to them reacheth part of the fruite of the Masse For though they haue no need to satisfye for their sins from which they are already perfectly cleansed nor to demaund fauours for themselues being in the blisfull possessiō of whatsoeuer they can desire yet the Masse auayles them vnto accidētall glory and helpes them to giue thankes vnto God for the Benefits he hath bestowed and still bestowes vpon them which thing is to them occasion of very speciall contēt because they still acknowledge themselues charged towardes God with an infinite debt of gratitude that they can neuer fully and perfectly discharge themselues therof This is that vvhich the Church signifyes in the seruice of the Masse saying that she offers the Sacrifice to the glory of the most holy Virgin Mary and the Blessed Apostles that the same may auayle vnto the honour of them and all saints So that by the Masse honour and accidentall glory comes to all the Saints and a speciall ioy which they conceaue in regard of the glory that is therin giuen vnto God and of the thankes so effectually presented vnto him The affaires in like manner which the Priest treates in this Embassadge are of highest importance as any eyther be or can be in the world For the busines treated is the acknowledgment of subiection vassallage which all creatures owe to their Creatour and of the Maiesty Dominiō which the same Lord hath ouer all in acknowledgmēt heerof to pay him the great tribute and present him with a gift of inestimable pryce to giue him thākes for benefits that from him they receaue to obtayne pardon of their offences committed against them to request great graces and fauours and reliefe of all necessities and finally to craue ayde and assistance to attayne vnto glory blessednes euerlasting which thinges without any contradction or question are the greatest that are possible Hence we may gather ought much to consider the great authority of a Priest being at the Aultar how great a personage he beares being as it were the Sollicitour general of al human kind and as S. Crysostome sayth like a common Father of the whole world and so it is his duty to haue care of all as God hath whose vicegerent he is or as the same Father saith in another place as a mediatour betwixt God and humane Nature bringing from thence benefit vnto vs conueying from hence our prayers thither S. Hierome affirmes that for this respect the Priest is tearmed The Angell of our Lord because he is the messenger or Embassadour that carryeth mens negotiations vnto God bringes backe againe answers from God vnto men S. Laurence Iustinian confirmes the same auerring that the Priest in the celebration of the Masse hath the office of mediatour and therfore ought to be intercessour for all sinners Which office of Embassadour S. Paul attributes to himself and other Preists saying pro Christo legatione fūgimur we are the Legats or Embassadours in the name place of Christ. For Christ is the principall Embassadour chosen to be the intercessour and mediatour of all mankind to obtayne them pardon of all their offences all other benefits they haue need of which office Priests now exercise in his name And the Fathers note that for this reason that the Priest of the old Testament who was a figure of the Priesthood of the new in his sacerdotall garment did carry pictured the whole world as the holy Ghost doth clearly signify in the book of Wisedome Because as S. Hierome and others note by the colour matter and fashion of the Priestly garment were signifyed the fower Elements of which this inferiour world doth consist as also the celestiall Globes the starres and planets euen vnto the Caelum Empireū which is the Court and Hall where the Blessed assist By the leafe of Gold which he wore on his forhead wherin was ingrauē the ineffable name of God was represented the Lord himself and Creatour of all who as Monarche standes and rules ouer the whole Hierarchy of creatures All this doth declare the maiesty of a Priest adorned in his Sacerdotall Robes when he celebrates the most holy Mysteries as the messenger or sollicitour Generall of all mankind which considerations are deduced from the first signification of the word Masse which signifyes a message or a thing sent That the Masse is a liuely representation of the Mysteries of our Sauiour which are renewed and mystically performed againe therin CHAP. IIII. LET this be another definition of the Masse The Masse is a liuely and perfect representatiō of the Mysteries of Christ Iesus our Lord his Incarnation Natiuity most holy life his Passion Death glorious Resurrection and admirable Ascension into Heauen Al which is done with so much truth life propriety and perfection that Christ Iesus himselfe really is there present and by himself acteth his owne person and part performing by himself the most Diuine and sacred mysteries a thing worthy of all veneration and reuerence and of most high attent consideration That this may be better vnderstood we must call to minde a point of most certaine Christian Theology to wit that Christ our Lord is the supreme and principall Priest who by himself really properly and efficiently worketh the effect of all Sacraments Thus though the Priest say I baptize thee yet Christ is the person that as principall efficient cause washeth the soule cleansing it from the stayne of sinnes and though the Priest in the Sacramēt of Pennāce say I absolue thee yet Christ is he that absolueth releaseth men freeing them
A TREATISE OF THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASSE And Excellencies therof Written in Spanish by the R. F. Ant. de Molina a Carthusian Monke translated into English by I. R. of the Society of IESVS VVith Order hovv to be present at the said Holy Mystery vvith Deuotion Profit IHS Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XXIII TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND MOST VERTVOVS Gentlewoman Mrs MARY PETRE c. THE CONstant report of your Deuotion to the most holy Mystery of the Masse hath emboldened me to present vnto your Seruice this Infant of a Spanish Descent clad in English Attyre to attend vpō you in your Chappell at such publicke or priuate Solemnities Not doubting but that he shall receaue such Entertainment at your deuout Hands as his Educatiō deserueth especially at this Tyme when so happy a Vnion firme Friendship is novv most happily concluded between two so mighty Kingdomes by so Fortunate and Hopefull a Mariage Wherto if I should adde my commendacions of his worth I might therby rather do him Wronge then Honour knowing his Tallents and other good parts to be such as may beseeme his Seruice though perhaps not so familiarly acquainted with the fashions of your English Court as is required yet because I know your Disposition to be Noble and your Minde greatly addicted to Piety Deuotion and also that the Present cannot be but acceptable I do in the best manner I can commend him to your Honourable Custody Protection my selfe to your vertuous Prayers resting Your assured Seruāt in Christ Iesus I. VV. THE TABLE Of the Contents of the Ensuing Booke CHAP. I. THat in the Catholike Church there is a true and proper Sacrifice which is that of the Holy Masse pag. 1. CHAP. II. That the name of Masse was giuē vnto this sacrifice by the Apostles euer vsed in the Church And the signification therof pag. 18 CHAP. III. That the Masse is an Embassage vnto the most holy Trinity in the behalfe of humane kind about the most important affaires in the World pag. 32 CHAP. IIII. That the Masse is a liuely representation of the Mysteries of our Sauiour which are renewed and mystically performed againe therin pag. 49 CHAP. V. That the Masse is a true and proper Sacrifice the same and of the same value as that which Christ offered on the Crosse. p. 76 CHAP. VI. That the Sacrifice of the Masse hath all the titles and reasons for which sacrifices are offered vnto God pag. 100 CHAP. VII That the Masse is a most perfect Holocauste pag. 113 CHAP. VIII That the Masse is a most perfect Sacrifice of Thanks-giuing pag. 123 CHAP. IX That the Masse is a most perfect Sacrifice of Propitiation for sinnes pag. 129 CHAP. X. That the Masse is a most efficacious Sacrifice to obtayne whatsoeuer we demand pag. 139 CHAP. XI That the Masse is the thing most Venerable which is in the Church pag. 152 CHAP. XII That the Masse is a thing of greatest honour vnto God p. 167 CHAP. XIII That the Masse is a Present most gratefull vnto our Sauiours Humanity vnto the most Blessed Virgin pag. 187 CHAP. XIIII The externall Reuerence and Worship to be vsed in the holy Masse pag. 206 CHAP. XV. Of the Reuerence due vnto Churches holy Places p. 233 CHAP. XVI Of being present and hearing the Holy Office of Masse which hath alwayes byn in most high esteeme publickely celebrated euery where both among the Syrians the Grecians and the Latines euer since the tyme of the Apostles pag. 259 Approbatio HVNC pium Tractatum in Anglicanum Sermonem ex Hispanico versum magnam legentibus Consolationē afferre posse iudico Io. Floydus Soc. Iesu Theol. A TREATISE OF THE Holy Sacrifice of the Masse and the excellencyes thereof That in the Catholicke Church where is a true proper Sacrifice which is that of the Holy Masse CHAP. I. IN the first place we must lay for foundation That in the Christian Church there is some speciall and proper Sacrifice to be offered vnto God which is a truth so certayne and so cleere that no doubt can be made therof but by men impertinent and without iudgment wherof the Heretickes of our tyme may seeme destitute For amōgst diuers absurdities vnto which through rashnes and pertinacity they are fallen this is one That there is no true and proper Sacrifice in the Christian Church Wherin they stand not only against the venerable antiquity of the Fathers and Doctours of the Church against the definitions of the sacred Coūcels against the manifest testimonies of the Scriptures which can be vnderstood in no other sense but also against the very light of reason For it is a thing necessary and essentiall to euery well ordered Common-wealth to be furnished with Sacrifices wherby to honour God as euen heathē Philosophers acknowledge Plato Aristotle Xenophon others Neyther was there euer in the world any Cōmon-wealth howsoeuer rude and barbarous that had not some kind of Sacrifice for the worship of God or of that thinge which they were perswaded to bee God How then can any man with reason imagine that Christ our Lord hath left his Church which is the most perfect of all Cōmō-wealths imperfect defectuous in a matter so much importing and essentiall Specially the Doctrine of S. Thomas receaued by the consent of Deuines being most true that men are bound to offer sacrifice vnto God euē by the law of Nature why shoud our Sauiour leaue no meanes to his faithfull how to comply with this Law Seing also according to true Theology Grace destroyes not nature but addes perfection thereunto And seeing these three thinges Law Priest-hood Sacrifice are so ioyned and combined togeather that change or innouatiō being made in ony one of them the same must needs redoūd to both the other as the Apostle proueth effectually writing vnto the Hebrews That the Priest-hood being translated the translatiō of the Law must also needes be consequent therevpon It is cleare that Christ our Sauiour as he changed the old Law into another new and better the auncient Priest-hood into another new and more perfect so likewyse in the same measure and proportion he ordayned another Sacrifice to succeed the elder by so much more excellent then those were by how much the new Law surpasseth the old It being also a thing so certayne that in the Law of the Ghospell there be Priests that euen Heretikes cannot deny it though they vnderstand the same amisse peruert the meaning therof certayne also it is there must be a Sacrifice which these Priests are to offer otherwise what neede or vse should there be of Priests The lyke argumēt is drawn from the Aultar which to be found in the Christian Church is a thing most certaine being affirmed by S. Paul by the third Canon of the Apostles and vniformely by all the Saints it is most vndoubted that there is a sacrifice to be offered on this Aultar because
of all which it is sufficiently proued that this one Sacrifice of the new Testament contaynes in it most excellētly with great excesse all the perfection sanctity and efficacy of all the Sacrifices of the old as the same afornamed Saint doth elegātly briefly set down in these words It is cleere that no Sacrifice can be offered more acceptable vnto God eyther to giue him honour or to render him thankes or to obtayne pardon or to deserue glory then the most holy Sacrifice of the Body and Bloud of Christ. The Masse is the thing most Venerable that is in the Church CHAP. XI OVT of that which hath byn sayd we may cōclude that the Masse is a thing of greater reuerence grauity and sanctity then any other in the Catholicke Church there being nothing eyther equall or comparable to it So that neyther the Benediction of the Agnus Dei which the Pope doth with so great solemnity nor the Consecration of a Bishop which with so many graue and solemne ceremonyes is performed all which of necessity three Bishops are to present besides him that is consecrated nor the Dedicatiō of a Church nor any other thing done with the greatest and solemnest Rites none of these thinges are comparable for Reuerence Grauity Sanctity with the Masse This is the reason that the Saints adorne this Sacrifice with so many choice exquisite Epiphets and tearmes calling it a Mystery Dreadfull Terrible Diuine Deificall Sacro-saynt full of Diuinity Honorable Supreme Singular and other such Names that euery where occurre in the writings of the Holy Fathers Out of whome omitting many very excellent thinges which they say of the dignity of the Masse I will only set down two or three short sentēces which to me seeme most notable S. Chrysostome writes that being present at Masse we must not imagine we are vpon earth but that we are carryed vp into Heauen that we are seated amongst the Quires of Angels and Seraphims His wordes are these When thou doest behold our Lord sacrificed the Priest performing his office therin and the people bedewed and as it were grained and purpled with his pretious Bloud do not thinke that thou art amongst men nor that thou dost abide vpon earth but rather that thou art transtated into Heauen and so casting away all carnall imaginations and earthly thoughts with a pure minde contemplate the things of that Celestiall Court Oh Miracle Oh Benignity of God! who sitting aloft with the Father at the same tyme is taken into the handes of men and giues himselfe vnto such as will receaue him To the same purpose S. Gregory wryteth in this sort What Christian can doubt but that in the tyme of Consecration the Heauens open at the voyce of the Priest and at this very Mysterie of Christ Iesus the Quires of Angels assist Earth is conioyned with Heauen this wale of teares with the pallace of Blisse and that visible and inuisible things meete togeather in one A wonderfull dreadfull venerable thing that at the voyce of a Priest the Heauens should open that the glorious Court should come down vnto earth that with the Faythfull of the Militant Church though poore and sinfull the Triumphant Church should ioyne the King of glory and his Courtiers descēding so that of Heauen and earth is made one Company and Church What thinge of greater veneration or more strange then that when the Priest is at the Aultar many millions of Angells kneele with greate reuerence about the same adoring the most holy Sacrifice the handes of the Priest that holds it acknowledging his dignity in this regard to be greater then theirs seeing to none of them such power and authority was euer giuē praysing our Lord giuing him the thankes which wee through our grosnes do not render vnto him and supplying other defects which we in this duty commit Oh holy Angels how often am I ashamed do I blush to consider that you are present seeing you shall be at the day of Iudgment witnesses of our vngratitude rudenes that God hauing placed vs in so high a state of honour we do neyther know it nor esteeme it nor exercise it with the decency and reuerence that is due In fine that quires of Angells assist at the time that Masse is sayd is a most setled and receaued doctrine of the Saynts namely of S. Ambrose in his Bookes written of the dignity of Priest-hood And S. Chrysost. deposeth to haue heard the same of venerable and holy men to whome God granted the fauour to see this euen with corporall eyes S. Cyrill in the life of S. Euthimius relates of him that at the tyme when he sayd Masse he saw Angels assisting about the Aultar some ministring vnto the Priest some prostrate adoring the Sacrament and all shewing great reuerēce And the Apostle S. Paul may seeme to insinuate this thing making a comparison and differēce betweene the Mysteries of the old Testament and these of the new and betweene the Maiesty wherwith God descended to giue the Law on the Mount Sina that Maiesty wherwith now he comes downe vpon the holy Aultar in an inuisible manner he sayth thus You are come not vnto a Mountayne that is felt with the handes nor vnto a fire which is seene with the eyes nor vnto stormes and mystes tempests the sound of trumpets but you are come to the Mount Sion and the Citty of the liuing God and the Heauenly Ierusalem and vnto the company of many thousand Angels and vnto the Mediatour of the new Testament Iesus and the sprinkling of his Bloud speaking in better manner then that of Abel And without doubt if God should opē our eyes as he did vnto the seruant of Elizeus we might there behold celestiall Armyes and we should learne the veneration and reuerence wherwith they assist vnto their King and Lord perceaue how much they are offēded at our irreuerence and rudenes And to conclude this point omitting many other sayings of the Saints concerning the veneration and reuerence due to the holy Sacrifice of the Masse I will only relate the words of the most deuout learned and elegant Father Saint Laurence Patriarch of Venice who wrytes in this manner There is not any oblation greater none more profitable none more amiable none more gracious in the sight of the Diuine Maiesty then the holy Sacrifice of the Masse which restores honour vnto God company vnto Angels Heauen vnto banished men which causeth the worship of Religion the right of Iustice the rule of Sanctity the obedience of the Law giues Fayth vnto Nations ioy vnto the World comfort vnto Belieuers peace vnto People light vnto the minde hope vnto them that trauayle the sight of God vnto them that runne out their race For by the celebration of these Diuine Mysteries is renewed the memory of the tormēts of our Sauiour the contumelies he endured the scourges he receaued the drafts of vinager and gall the woundes