Crosse they worship not the woodde or stone figured but they honour the highest God And whom they can not beholde with senses they reuerēce and worship his image representing him according to auncient Institution not resting or staying them selues in the image but trāsferring the adoration and worship to him that is represented Thus farre S. Gregorie Much might be alleaged out of the fathers concerning the worshipping of Images but this may suffise And of all this one sense redowndeth that what reuerence honour or worship so euer is applyed to Images it is but for remēbrance loue and honour of the primitiues or originalles As when we kysse the gospell booke by that token we honour not the parchement paper and incke wherein it is written but the gospell it selfe And as Iacob Gen. 37. when he kyssed his sonne Iosephes cote embrewed with kyddes bloud holding and embracing it in his armes and making heauy mone ouer it the affection of his loue and sorowe rested not in the cote but was directed to Ioseph him selfe whose infortunat death as he thought that blouddy cote represented So Christen men shewing tokens of reuerence loue and honour before the Image of Christ of an Apostle or Martyr with their inward recognition and deuotion of their hartes they staye not their thoughtes in the very Images but deferre the whole to Christ to the Apostle and to the Martyr geuing to ech one in dewe proportion that which is to be geuen putting difference betwen the almighty Creator and the creatures finally rendring all honour and glory to God alone who is maruelous in his sainctes Such worshipping of Images is neither to be accompted for wicked nor to be dispysed for the which we haue the testimonies of the auncient fathers bothe Grekes and Latines vnto which further auctoritie is added by certaine generall Councelles that haue condemned the brekers and impugners of the same Iuell Or that the laye people was then forbydden to reade the word of God in their owne tonge Of the peoples reading the Bible in theire ovvne tonge ARTICLE XV. THat the laye people was then forbidden to reade the word of God in their owne tonge I fynde it not Neither doo I fynde that the laye people was then or at any other tyme commaunded to reade the word of God in their owne tonge being vulgare and barbarous By vulgare and barbarous tonges I vnderstand as before all other besyde the three learned and principall tonges Hebrewe Greke and Latine Which as they were once natiue and vulgare to those three peoples Three sūdry opinions cōcerning the scriptures to be had in a vulgare tonge so now to none be they natiue and vulgare but common to be atteined by learning for meditation of the scriptures and other knowledge They that treate of this Article concerning the hauing of the scriptures in a vulgare tonge for the laytie to reade bee of three sundry opinions Some iudge it to be vtterly vnlaufull that the Bible be translated into any tonge of the commō people Some thinke it good it be translated so that respecte be had of tyme and of place and of persones Some be of the opinion that the holy scriptures ought to be had in the mother and natiue tonge of euery nation without any regard of tyme place or persones The first opinion is holden of fewe and commonly mysliked The third is maineteined by all the sectes of our tyme the Swenkfeldians excepted who would the scriptures to be in no regard The second is allowed best of those that seme to be of most wisedō and godlynes and to haue most care for the helth of the churche who haue not seuered thē selues frō the faith which hath cōtinewed frō the begynning Here that I saye nothing of the first opinion as they of the third reproue the moderation of the second so they of the second can not allowe the generalitie of the third That the scriptures be not to be set forth in the vulgare tonge to be reade of all sortes of people Fiue cōsiderations vvhy the scriptures are not to be set forth for all sortes of people to read thē vvith out limitation euery parte of them without any limitation of tyme place and persones they seme to be moued with these cōsyderatiōs First that it is not necessary nexte that it is not conuenient thirdly that it is not profitable Fouerthly that it is dangerous and hurtefull And lastly although it were accorded the common people to haue libertie to reade the Bible in their owne tonge yet that the translations of late yeres made by those that haue diuided them selues from the catholike churche be not to be allowed as worthely suspected not to be sownde and assured First that the common people of all sortes and degrees ought of necessitie to reade all the holy scriptures in their owne tonge they saie they could neuer fynde it hytherto in the same scriptures Lib. 3. aduersus haereses ca. 4 Irenaeus writeth that the Apostles preached to the aliātes and barbarous people the faith of Christ euē to those that were aliātes and barbarous in lāguage and sayeth that hauing heard the gospell preached they beleued in Christ and keping the order of tradition which the Apostles delyuered vnto them had their saluatiō and faith written in their hart without prynte penne or ynke and vtterly without letters And further he sheweth that if the Apostles had lefte to vs no scriptures at all yet we shuld be saued by the traditiō which they lefte to thē whō they cōmitted their churches vnto as many natiōs of aliantes be saued by the same Prologo in explationem Psal Hilarius likewise declaring that the mysterie of Gods will and th'expectatiō of the blessed kingdom is most and chiefly preached in the three tonges in which Pilate wrote on the Crosse our lord Iesus Christ to be king of the Iewes confesseth notwithstanding that many barbarous nations haue atteined and goten the true knowledge of God by the preaching of the Apostles and the faith of the churches remayning amongest them to that daie Whereby he doth vs to vnderstand that the vnlearned barbarous peoples had their faith without letters or writing whereof they had no skill by tradition and preaching as well as the other nations who were holpen by the benefite of the learned tonges Hebrewe Greke and Latine That it is not conuenient nor semely all sortes of persons without exception to be admitted to the reading of the holy scriptures I nede to saye nothing euery reasonnable man may easely vnderstand the causes by him selfe This is certaine diuerse chapters and stories of the olde testament conteine such matter as occasion of euill thoughtes is like to be geuen if women maydens and young men be permitted to reade them Gregorie Nazianzene Lib. 1. Theologiae whom the grekes called the diuine sayeth moued with great considerations that it is not the parte of all persons to reason of God and of
To conclude the being of Christes body in the Sacrament is to vs certaine the maner of his being there to vs vncertaine and to God onely certaine Iuell Or that Ignoraunce is the mother and cause of true deuotion and obedience MAister Iuell had great nede of Articles for some shewe to be made against the catholike churche when he aduised him selfe to put this in for an Article Verely this is none of the highest mysteries nor none of the greatest keyes of our Religion as he sayeth it is but vntruly and knoweth that for an vntruth For him selfe imputeth it to D. Cole Fol. 77. in his replyes to him as a straunge saying by him vttered in the disputation at Westminster to the wondering of the most parte of the honorable and worshipfull of this realme If it were one of the highest mysteries and greatest keyes of the catholike religion I trust the most parte of the honorable and worshipfull of the realme would not wonder at it Concerning the matter it selfe I leaue it to D. Cole He is of age to answere for him selfe Whether he sayde it or no I knowe not As he is learned wise and godly so I doubte not but if he sayde it therein he had a good meaning and can shewe good reason for the same if he may be admitted to declare his saying as wise men would the lawes to be declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as the mynde be taken and the word spoken not alwayes rigorously exacted August de Trinit lib. 1. cap. 4. Haec mea fides est quoniam haec est catholica fides This is my faith for as much as this is the catholike faith THE CONCLVSION EXHORting M. Iuell to stande to his promise THus your Chalenge M. Iuell is answered Thus your negatiues be auouched Thus the pointes you went about to improue by good auctoritie be proued and many others by you ouer rashely affirmed clearly improued Thus the catholike Religion with all your forces layd at and impugned is sufficiently defended The places of prouses which we haue here vsed are such as your selfe allowe for good and lawfull The scriptures examples of the Primitiue church aunciēt Councelles and the fathers of syx hundred yeres after Christ You might and ought likewise to haue allowed Reason Traditiō Custome and auctoritie of the Church without limitation of tyme. The maner of this dealing with you is gentle sober and charitable Put awaye all mystes of blynde selfe loue you shall perceiue the same to be so The purpose and intent towardes you right good and louing in regard of the truth no lesse then due for behoofe of Christen people no lesse then necessary That you hereby might be enduced to bethinke your selfe of that wherein you haue done vnaduisedly and stayde from hasty running forth prickte with vaine fauour and praise of the world to euerlasting damnation appointed to be the reward at the ende of your game that truth might thus be tryed set forth and defended and that our brethren be leadde as it were by the hāde from perilous erroures and dāger of their soules to a right sense and to suertie Now it remaineth that you performe your promise Which is that if any one cleare sentēce or clause be brought for proufe of any one of all your negatiue Articles you would yelde and subscribe What hath ben brought euery one that wilfully will not blindefold him selfe may plainely see If some happely who will seme to haue both eyes and eares and to be right learned will saye hereof they seene heare nothing no marueill The fauour of the parte whereto they cleaue hauing cutte of them selues from the body the dispite of the catholike religion and hatred of the church hath so blinded their hartes as places alleaged to the disproufe of their false doctrine being neuer so euident they see not ne heare not or rather they seing see not Matt. 13. ne hearing heare not Verely you must either refuse the balance which your selfe haue offred and required for triall of these Articles which be the scriptures examples councelles and doctours of antiquitie or the better weight of auctoritie sweaing to our syde that is the truth founde in the auncient doctrine of the catholike church and not in the mangled dissensions of the Gospellers aduisedly retourne frō whence vnaduisedly you haue departed humbly yelde to that you haue stubbernly kickte against and imbrace holesomly that which you haue hated damnably Touching the daily Sacrifice of the Church commaunded by Christ to be done in remembrance of his death that it hath ben and may be well and godly celebrated without a number of communicantes with the priest together in one place which you call priuate Masse within the compasse of your syx hundred yeres after Christ That the communion was then sometymes as now also it is and may be ministred vnder one kynde Of the publike Seruice of the church or commō prayers in a tonge not knowen to all the people That the Bishop of Rome was sometyme called vniuersall bishop and both called and holden for head of the vniuersall church That by auncient doctoures it hath ben taught Christes body to be really substantially corporally carnally or naturally in the blessed Sacramēt of the aulter Of the wonderous but true being of Christes body in mo places at one tyme and of the Adoration of the Sacrament or rather of the body of Christ in the Sacrament we haue brought good and sufficient proufes alleaging for the more parte of these Articles the scriptures and for all right good euidence out of auncient examples councelles or fathers Concerning Eleuation Reseruatiō Remayning of the Accidentes without substance Diuiding the hoste in three partes the termes of figure signe token etc. applyed to the Sacrament many Masses in one church in one daye the reuerent vse of Images the scriptures to be had in vulgar tonges for the common people to reade which are matters not specially treated of in the scriptures by expresse termes all these haue ben sufficiently auouched and proued either by proufes by your selfe allowed or by the doctrine and common sense of the churche As for your twelue last Articles which you put in by addition to the former for shewe of your courage and confidence of the cause and to seme to the ignorāt to haue much matter to charge vs withall as it appeareth they reporte matter certaine excepted of lesse importance Some of them conteine doctrine true I graunt but ouer curiouse and not most necessary for the simple people Some others be through the maner of your vtterance peruerted and in termes drawen from the sense they haue ben vttered in by the church Which by you being denyed might of vs also be denyed in regard of the termes they be expressed in were not a sleight of falsehed which might redounde to the preiudice of the truth therein worthely suspected Verely to them all we haue sayde so much as to sober quiet and godly
in the throne and to the lambe for euer And the fouer and tvventie elders fell dovvne on their faces and adored him that lyueth vntill vvorldes of vvorldes But it shall be more tediouse then nedefull to recite places out of the scriptures for proufe of th'adoratiō of Christ there may of thē be fownde so great plentie Contrarietie in the first diuisers of the nevve gospell Yet because Luther was either so blinde or rather so deuilishe as to denye th'adoration where notwithstāding he cōfessed the presence of Christes true and natural body in the Sacrament I will here recite what the Sacramentaries of Zurich haue written against him therefore What saye they is the bread the true and natural body of Christ and is Christ in the supper as the Pope and Luther doo teache present Wherefore then ought not the lord there to be adored where ye saye him to be present Why shall we be forbydden to adore that which is not onely sacramentally but also corporally the body of Christ Thomas toucheth the true body of Christ raysed vp from the dead and falling downe on his knees adoreth saying My God and my lord The disciples adore the lord as well before as after his Ascension Matth. 28. Act. 1. And the lord in S. Iohn sayeth to the blinde man Ioan. 9. beleuest thou in the sonne of God and he answered him saying Lord who is he that I may beleue in him And Iesus sayed to him Thou hast bothe sene him and who speaketh with thee he it is Then he sayeth lord I beleue and he adored him Now if we taught our lordes bread to be the natural body of Christ verely we would adore it also faithfully with the papistes This much the Zuinglians against Luther Whereby they prooue sufficiently th'adoration of Christes body in the Sacrament and so consequently of Christ him selfe God and man because of the inseparable coniunction of his diuine and humaine nature in vnitie of persone so as where his body is there is it ioyned and vnited also vnto his godhed and so there Christ is present perfitely wholly and substantially very god and man For the cleare vnderstanding whereof the better to be atteined the scholastical Diuines haue profitably deuised the terme concomitantia plainely and truly teaching that in this Sacrament after consecration vnder the forme of breade is present the body of Christ and vnder the forme of wine his bloud ex vi sacramenti and with the body vnder forme of bread also the bloud the soule and godhed of Christ and likewise with the bloud vnder the forme of wyne the body soule and godhed ex concomitantia as they terme it in shorter and playner wise vttering the same doctrine of faith which the holy fathers dyd in the Ephesme councell against Nestorius Whereby they meane that where the body of Christ is present by necessary sequell because of the indiuisible copulation of bothe natures in the vnitie of person for as much as the Word made fleshe neuer lefte the humaine nature there is also his bloud his soule his godhed and so whole and perfite Christ God and man And in this respecte the terme is not to be misliked of any godly learned man though some newe Maisters scoffe at it who fill the measure of their predecessours that likewise haue ben offended with termes for the apter declaration of certaine necessary articles of our faith by holy and learned fathers in generall councelles holesomly deuised Of which sorte ben these homousion humanatio incarnatio transubstantiatio etc. Now here is to be noted how the Zuinglians whom M. Iuell foloweth in th'article of adoration confute the Lutherans as on the other syde the Lutherans in th'article of the presence confute the Zuinglians As though it were by gods speciall prouidence for the better staye of his churche so wrought that bothe the truth shuld be confessed by the enemies of truth and also for vttering of vntruth the one shuld be condemned of the other that by the warre of heretikes the peace of the churche might be established and by their discorde the catholike people might the faster grewe together in concorde Now hauing sufficiētly proued by the scriptures and that with the Zuingliās also adoration and godly honour to be due vnto Christes body where so euer it please his diuine maiestie to exhibit the same present let vs see whether we can finde the same doctrine affirmed by the holy and auncient fathers What the Apostles taught in their tyme concerning this Article we may iudge by that we reade in Dionysius that was S. Paules scholer and for that is to beleued He adoreth and worshippeth this holy mysterie with these very wordes Ecclesias hierarch cap. 3. Sed ò diuinum penitus sanctumque mysterium etc. But ô diuine and holy mysterie which vouchesafest to open the cooueringes of signes layd ouer the vtter thy light to vs openly and plainely and fill our spirituall eyes with the singular and euident brightnes of thy light Origen teacheth vs how to adore and worship Christ in the Sacrament before we receiue it after this forme of wordes Hom 5. in diuersos Euangelij locos Quādo sanctum cibum etc. when thou receiuest the holy meate and that vncorrupt banket when thou enioyest the bread and cuppe of lyfe thou eatest and drinkest the body and bloud of our lord then our lord entreth in vnder thy roofe And therefor thou also humbling thy selfe folowe this Cēturion or captaine and saye Lord I am not vvorthy that thou enter vnder my roofe For where he entreth in vnworthely there he entreth in to the condemnation of the receiuer What can be thought of S. Cyprian but that he adored the inuisible thing of this Sacrament which is the body and bloud of Christ seing that he confesseth the godhed to be in the same nolesse then it was in the person of Christ which he vttereth by these wordes In Ser. d◠coena do Panis iste quem dominus discipulis porrigebat etc. This bread which our lord gaue to his disciples chaunged not in shape but in nature by the almighty power of god is made fleshe And as in the person of Christ the manhode was sene and the godhed was hydden euen so the diuine essence hath vnspeakeably infused it selfe into the visible sacramēt Chrysostom hath a notable place for the adoration of Christes body in the Sacrament in his commentaries vpon S. Paul In 10. cap. prioris ad Corinth where he affirmeth also the real presence and the sacrifice Let vs not let vs not sayeth he be willing impudently to kill our selues And when thou seest that body set forth saye with thy selfe for cause of this body I am no lenger earth and ashes no lenger captiue but free This body fastened on the Crosse and beaten was not ouercome with death After this he exhorteth all to adore and worship our lordes body in the Sacrament This body sayeth he the wise men worshipped
affirmeth the Catholikes to haue nothing for their parte ouer peartly as to sober wittes it semeth egging and prouoking them to bring somewhat in their defence O Mercifull God Iuell In the sermon folio 43. vvho vvould thinke there could be so muche vvilfulnes in the heart of man O Gregorie O Augustine O Hierome O Chrysostome O Leo O Dionise O Anacletus O Sistus O Paule O Christ If vve be deceiued herein ye are they that haue deceiued vs. You haue taught vs those schismes and diuisions ye haue taught vs these heresies Thus ye ordred the holy communion in your tyme the same vve receiued at your hand and haue faithfully delyuered it vnto the people And that ye maye the more meruel at the vvilfulnes of such men they stand this daye against so many old fathers so many Doctoures so many examples of the primitiue churche so manifest and so plaine vvordes of the holy scriptures and yet haue they here in not one father not one Doctour not one allovved example of the primitiue churche to make for them And vvhen I saye not one I speake not this in vehemencie of spirite or heate of talke but euen as before God by the vvaye of simplicitie and truth least any of you should happely be deceiued and thinke there is more vveight in the other syde then in conclusion there shall be fovvnde And therefore once againe I saye of all the vvordes of the holy scriptures of all the examples of the primitiue churche of all the old fathers of all the auncient Doctoures in these causes they haue not one Here the matter it self that I haue novv in hand putteth me in remembraunce of certaine thinges that I vttered vnto you to the same purpose at my last being in this place I remember I layed oâ—â— then here before you a number of things that are nâ—vv in controuerâ—â—e vvhere vnto our aduersaries vvil not yelde And I sayd perhaps boldly as it might then seeme to summe man but as I my self and the learned of our aduersaries theÌ„ selues do vvel knovve syncerely and truly that none of all them that this daye stand against vs are hable or shal euer be hable to proue against vs any one of all these points eyther by the scriptures or by example of the primitiue churche or by the old â—oâ—â—â—â—res or by the auncient generall councelâ—â— Synâ—â— that tyme it hath ben reported in places that I spake then more then I vvas hable to iustifie and make good Hovv be it these reportes vvere onely made in corners and therfore ought the lesse to trouble me Bâ—â— if my sayinges had ben so vveake and might so easely haue than reproued I maruaile that the paâ—ieâ— neuer come to the light to take the aduauntage For my promise vvas and that openly here before you all that if any man vvere able to proue the contrarye I vvould yelde and subscribe to him and he shuld depart vvith the victorieâ— Loth I am to trouble you vvith rehersall of such thinges as I haue spoken afore and yet because the case so requyreth I shall desyre you that haue all ready heard me to beare the more vvith me in this behalf Better it vvere to trouble your eares vvith tvvise hearing of one thing then to betray the truth of God The vvordes that I then spake as neare as I can call them to mynde vvere these If any learned man of all our aduersaries or if all the learned men that be alyue be hable to bring any one sufficient senteÌ„ce out of any olde catholike Doctour or father out of any olde generall councell out of the holy scriptures of God or any one example of the primitiue church vvhereby it may be clearely and plainely proued â–ª Article 1 That there vvas any priuate Masse in the vvorld at that tyme for the space of syxe hundred yeares after Christ Article 2 Or that there vvas then any CoÌ„munion ministred vnto the people vnder one kinde Article 3 Or that the people had theire common prayers then in a straunge tonge that they vnderstoode not Article 4 Or that the Bisshop of Rome vvas then called an vniuersall Bisshop or the head of the vniuersall churche Article 5 Or that the people vvas then taught to beleue that Christes body is really substantially corporalli carnally or-naturally in the Sacrament Article 6 Or that his body is or may be in a thousand places or mo at one tyme Article 7 Or that the priest dyd then hold vp the Sacrament ouer his head Article 8 Or that the people dyd then fall dovvne and vvorship it vvith godly honour Article 9 Or that the Sacrament vvas then or novv ought to be hanged vp vnder a canopie Article 10 Or that in the Sacrament after the vvordes of CoÌ„secration there remayneth onely the accidentes and shevves vvith out the substaunce of bread and vvine Article 11 Or that the priest then diuyded the Sacrament in three partes and aftervvarde receiued him self all alone Article 12 Or that vvho so euer had sayde the Sacrament is a figure a pledge a token or a remembraunce of Christes bodye had therefore been iudged for an heretike Article 13 Or that it vvas lavvfull then to haue xxx xx.xv.x or v. Masses sayd in one churche in one daye Article 14 Or that Images vvere then set vp in the churches to the entent the people might vvorship them Article 15 Or that the laye people vvas then forbydden to reade the vvorde of God in their ovvne tonge If any man a lyue vvere hable to proue any of these Articles by any one cleare or plaine clause or sentence eyther of the scriptures or of the old doctoures or of any old generall councell or by any example of the primitiue churche I promysed then that I vvould geue ouer and subscribe vnto him These vvordes or the very like I remember I spake here openly before you all And these be the thinges that summe men saye I haue spoken and can not iustifie But I for my part vvill not onely not call in any thing that I then sayde being vvell assuted of the truth there in but also vvill laye more matter to the same That if they that seeke occasion haue any thing to the contrary they may haue the larger scope to replye against me VVherefor besyde all that I haue sayde allready I vvil saye farther and yet nothing so much as might be sayde If any one of all our aduersaries be hable clearely and plainely to proue by such authoritie of the scriptures the olde Doctoures and councelles as I sayde before Article 16 That it vvas then lavvfull for the priest to pronounce the vvordes of consecration closely and in silence to him self Article 17 Or that the priest had auctoritie to offer vp Christ vnto his father Article 18 Or to communicat and receiue the Sacrament for an other as they doo Article 19 Or to applye the vertue of Christes death and passion to any man by the meane of the Masse Article 20
our aduersaries Iuell or if all the learned men that be alyue be hable to bring any one sufficient sentence out of any olde catholike doctour or father or out of any olde generall councell or out of the holy scriptures of God or any one example of the primitiue Churche whereby it may clearely and playnely be proued that there was any priuate Masse in the whole world at that tyme for the space of syx hundred yeres after Christ etc. The conclusion is this as I sayde before so saye I now agayne I am content to yelde and to subscribe Of Masse vvith out a number of others receiuing the Communion vvith the priest at the same tyme and place vvhich the gospellers call priuate Masse ARTICLE I. EVERY Masse is publike No Masse priuate in it self but in respecte of circūstāces concerning bothe the Oblation and also the communion and none priuate For no man offereth that dredfull Sacrifice priuately for him selfe alone but for the whole Churche of Christ in common The Communion likewise of the Sacrament is a publike feast by Christ through the ministerie of the priest in the same prepared for euery faithfull person from partaking whereof none is excluded that with due examinatiō hauing before made him selfe ready demaundeth the same And so being common by order of the first Institution and by will of the ministers it ought to be reputed for common not priuate That others doo so commonly forebeare to communicate with the priest it is through their owne defaulte and negligence not regarding their owne saluation Whereof the godly and carefull rulers of faithfull people haue sithens the tyme of the primitiue Churche alwayes much complayned Therefore in this respecte we doo not acknowledge any priuate Masse but leaue that terme to Luthers schoole where it was first deuysed and so termed by Sathan him selfe seeking how to withdraw his nouice Luther from the loue and estimation of that most blessed Sacrifice by reasoning with him against the same in a night vision as him selfe recordeth in a litle booke which he made De Missa angulari vnctione sacerdotali Yet we denye not but that the a Concil Vasen c. 4 Cōcil Triburiē Decretal li. 3. tit 41. c. 2. De consecrat dist 1 ex Augusti quod quidā Gregorio tribuunt Gregor ex Regist li. 2. ad Casteriū c. 9. fathers of some auncient Councelles and sithens likewise b 3. parte summae q. 83. respōsione ad 12. argumentu articuli 5. What the Lutheranes call priuate Masse S. Thomas and certaine other schoole doctours haue called it sometymes a priuate Masse but not after the sense of Luther and his scolers but onely as it is cōtrary to publike and solemne in consideration of place tyme audience purpose rites and other circumstances The varietie and chaunge of which being thinges accidentarie can not varie or chaunge the substance or essentiall nature of the Masse Maister Iuell an earnest professour of the new doctrine of Luther and of the Sacramentaries calleth as they doo that a priuate Masse whereat the priest hauing no cōpanie to communicate with him receiueth the Sacrament alone Against this priuate Masse as he termeth it he inueigheth sore in his prīted Sermō which he preached at Poules Crosse the second Sundaye before Easter in the yere of our lord 1560. as he entituleth it shunning the accustomed name of Passion Sundaye least as it semeth by vsing the terme of the catholike churche he shuld seme to fauer any thing that is catholike In which Sermon he hath gathered together as it were in to one heape all that euer he could fynde written in derogation of it in their bookes by whom it hath ben impugned And though he pretende enemitie against priuate Masse in word yet in dede who so euer readeth his Sermon and discerneth his sprite shall easely perceiue that he extēdeth his whole witte and cunning vtterly to abolishe the vnbloudy and daily Sacrifice of the Churche commonly called the Masse Which as the Apostles them selues affirme in * Pro sacrificio cruēto rationale incruētū ac mysticum sacrificiū instituit quod in mortē domini per symbola corporis sanguinis ipsius celebratur Clemens cōstitutionū Apostolicarū lib. 6 cap. 23. Proufes for the Masse briefly touched Clemēt their scoler and felow being vnbloudy hath succeded in place of the bloudy sacrifices of the olde lawe and is by Christes commaundemēt frequented and offered in remembraunce of his passiō and death and to be vsed all tymes vntill his coming But what so euer he or all other the forerunners of Antichrist speake or worke against it all that ought not to ouerthrowe the faith of good and true Christen men hauing for proufe thereof besyde many other places of holy scripture the figure of Melchisedech that was before the law the prophecie of Malachie in the law and lastly and most plainely the Institution of Christ in the new testamēt Which he lefte to the Apostles the Apostles to the Churche and the Churche hath cōtinually kepte and vsed through the whole world vntill this daye Touching doctours they haue with one consent in all ages in all partes of the world from the Apostles tyme foreward bothe with their example and also testimonie of writing confirmed the same faith They that haue ben brought vp in learning and yet through corruption of the tyme stand doubtefull in this point let them take paines to trauaile in studie and they shall fynde by good auncient witnes of the priestes and deacons of Achaia that Saint Androw the Apostle touching the substance of the Masse worshipped God euery daye with the same seruice as priestes now doo in celebrating the externall Sacrifice of the Churche They shall fynd by witnes of Abdias first bishop of Babylō Abdiae li. 7. historiae Apostol who was the Apostles scoler and saw our Sauiour in fleshe and was present at the passion and martyrdom of S. Androw that S. Matthew the Apostle celebrated Masse in Aethiopia a litle before his Martyrdom They shall fynde by reporte of an aunciēt Councell generall Conciliū Constantinopol in Trullo cap. 32. Epistol ad Burdega Lib cōstitut apostolicarū 8. cap. vlt. that S. Iames wrote a liturgie or a forme of the Masse They shall fynde that Martialis one of the lxxij disciples of Christ and Bishop of Bourdeaulx in Fraunce sent thyther by S. Peter serued God in like sorte They shall fynde in Clement the whole order and forme of the Masse set forth by the Apostles them selues and the same celebrated by them after our lord was assumpted before they went to the ordering of bisshops priestes and the vij deacons according to his Institution and the same right so declared by Cyrillus bishop of Ierusalem In mystagogicis orationibus They shall fynde the same most plainely treated of and a forme of the Masse much agreable to that is vsed in these dayes in wryting set forth by S. Dionyse In
that the Sacrament in sundry portions consecrated by a bishop shuld be sent a broade among the churches for cause of heretikes that the catholike people of the churches which word here signifieth as the greke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth so as it is not necessarie to vndestand that the sacrament was directed only to the materiall churches but to the people of the parrishes might receiue the catholike communion and not communicate with heretikes Which doubteles must be vndestanded of this priuate and single communion in eche catholike mans house and that where heretikes bare the swea and priestes might not be suffred to consecrate after the catholike vsage Elles if the priestes might with out let or disturbance haue so done then what nede had it ben for Milciades to haue made such a prouision for sending abroade hostes sanctified for that purpose by the cōsecration of a Bishop The place of Damasus hath thus Milciades fecit vt oblationes consecratae per Ecclesias ex consecratu Episcopi propter haereticos dirigerentur Milciades ordeined that consecrated hostes shuld be sent abroade amongest the churches prepared by the consecration of a bishop The two wordes propter haereticos for heretikes added by Ado the writer of Martyrs lyues openeth the meaning and purporte of that decree Here haue I brought much for proufe of priuate and single communion and that it hath not onely ben suffered in tyme of persecution but also allowed in quiet and peaceable tymes euen in the Churche of Rome it selfe where true Religion hath euer ben most exactly obserued aboue all other places of the worlde and from whence all the churches of the West hath taken their light As the Bishops of all Gallia that now is called Fraunce doo acknowledge in an epistle sent to Leo the Pope with these wordes Vnde religionis nostrae propicio Christo Epistola proxima post 51. inter epistolas Leonis fons origo manauit From that Apostolike see by the mercie of Christ the fontaine and spring of our Religion hath come More could I yet bryng for confirmation of the same as th' example of S. Hilaria the virgine in the tyme of Numerianus of S. Lucia in Diocletians tyme done to martyrdom of S. Maria Aegyptiaca and of S. Ambros of which euery one as auncient testimonies of ecclesiasticall histories and of Paulinus doo declare at the houre of their departure hence to God receiued the holy Sacrament of th'aulter for their viage prouision alone But I iudge this is ynough and if any man will not be persuaded with this I doubte whether with such a one a more number of autorities shall any thing priuaile Now that I haue thus proued the single communion I vse their own terme I desire M. Iuell to reason with me soberly a word or two How saye you Syr doo you reproue the Masse or doo you reproue the priuate Masse I thinke what so euer your opinion is herein your answer shall be you allow not the priuate Masse For as touching that the Oblation of the body and bloude of Christ done in the Masse is the sacrifice of the churche and proper to the new testament commaunded by Christ to be frequented according to his institution if you denye this make it so light as you liste all those authorities which you denye vs to haue for proufe of your great number of articles will be fownde against you I meane doctoures general councelles the most aunciēt th' example of the primitiue churche the scriptures I adde further reason consent vniuersall and vncontrolled and tradition If you denye this you must denye all our Religion from the Apostles tyme to this daye and now in the ende of the world when iniquitie aboūdeth and charitie waxeth colde when the sonne of man cōming shall scarcely finde faith in the earth begynne a new And therefore you M. Iuell knowing this well ynough what so euer you doo in dede in worde as it appeareth by the litle booke you haue set foorth in printe you pretende to disallow yea most vehemētly to improue the priuate Masse Vpon this resolution that the Masse as it is taken in generall is to be allowed I enter further in reason with you and make you this argument If priuate Masse in respecte only of that it is priuate after your meaning be reproueable it is for the single communion that is to saye for that the priest receiueth the Sacrament alone But the single communion is laufull yea good and godly ergo the priuate Masse in this respecte that it is priuate is not reproueable but to be allowed holden for good and holy and to be frequēted If you denye the first proposition or maior then must youe shew for what elles you doo reproue priuate Masse in respecte only that it is priuate then for single communion If you shew any thing elles then doo you digresse from our purpose and declare that you reproue the Masse The minor you can not denye seing that you see how sufficiently I haue proued it And so the priuate Masse in that respecte only it is priuate is to be allowed for good as the Masse is Mary I denye not but that it were more commēdable and more godly on the churches parte if many wel disposed and examined would be partakers of the blessed Sacrament with the priest But though the Clergie be worthely blamed for negligence herein through which the people may be thought to haue growen to this slaknes and indeuocion yet that notwithstanding this parte of the catholike Religion remaineth sownde and faultles For as touching the substance of the Masse it selfe by the single communion of the priest in case of the peoples coldenes and negligence it is nothing impaired Elles if the publike sacrifice of the churche might not be offered with out a number of communicantes receiuing with the priest in one place then would the auncient fathers in all their writinges some where haue complained of the ceasing of that which euery where they call quotidianum iuge sacrificium the dayly and cōtinuall sacrifice of which their opinion is that it ought dayly to be sacrificed that the death of our lord and the worke of our Redēption might alwayes be celebrated and had in memorie and we thereby shewe our selues according to our bounden duetie myndefull and thankefull But verely the fathers no where complaine of intermitting the daily sacrifice but very much of the slaknes of the people for that they came not more often vnto this holy and holesome banket and yet they neuer compelled them thereto but exhorting them to frequēt it worthely lefte them to their owne conscience S. Ambros witnesseth that the people of the East had a custome in his tyme to be houseled but once in the yere And he rebuketh sharply such as folowe them after this sorte Si quotidianus est cibus Lib. 6. de sacra ca. 4 cur post annum illum sumis quemadmodum Graeci in Oriente facere