reputed for the seede There is question then about this faith In controuersies we must haue recourse to the Scriptures and euerie man saith that he hath it To know of what side Christ is and euery man betaketh himselfe to him as his ayde and thereupon all Christendome liueth in suspence and doubt or in trouble But my brethren let vs not beleeue men Men saith our Lord himselfe who know not of their owne vnderstanding either from whence he commeth or whether he goeth The spirits of men saith the spirit of God which are not able to comprehend his wayes In a Sea so vnknowne to man in these gulfes so perillous we cannot attaine to the deliuering of any sure and certaine speech from other where then God himselfe from the father who hath spoken from heauen shewed vs the sonne Matth. 17.5 Iohn 5.3 9. Psal 19. 2. Tim. 3. and said vnto vs heare him from the son who crieth vnto vs in the midst of the Temple in the heate of the Pharisies and all these great doctors their disputations Search you the Scriptures diligently and from the holie Ghost who hath said to vs They cause the eyes to see they giue vnderstanding to children by the Apostles they are inspired of God they make the man of God euen the Euangelist and teacher himselfe instructed vnto euerie good worke and wise vnto saluation Our fathers say some vnto you beleeued as well liued as well whereto serue these alterations Verily if you vnderstand this of your carnall fathers then what other thing doe you say S. Bern. Epi. 91 besides that which the Iewes said to our Lord or which the Turkes or Iewes may not yet say vnto vs How farre better saith Saint Bernard speaking of the reformation necessarie in the Church Let them be cast behinde both me and you which say we will not liue better then our fathers If of the spirituall as of those that haue begotten vs to Christ then who are they but the Apostles and the holie fathers that followed them And what say we herein but by their mouthes And who is there to leade vs more from customes to the lawe from traditions to the holie Scriptures Irenaeus saith The Apostles preached the Gospel Iren. l. 3. c. 1. 11. con h. ret Tradiderunt Iust Mart in Dialog cum Tryphon in exposit fid and afterward by the will of God deliuered it vs in the Scriptures that so it might be the foundation and pillar of our faith Iustinus Martyr We must fixe our faith vpon God and his onlie instructions not vpon mans Traditions we must haue recourse to the Scriptures to the ende we may finde assurednesse in all things c. That Dauid that the Euangelists that the Epistles of the Apostles doe teach vs Tert. con Hermog Cum Apostolis senti c. Tertullian I doe not receiue or admit of that which thou bringest of thine owne without any Scripture If thou bee an Apostolicall writer be furnished with the doctrine of the Apostles c. Bring backe the heretikes to the Scriptures and so saieth hee they will not bee able to maintaine themselues What would he haue said then at this day of our pretended Catholikes who abhorre nothing more then to bee drawne backe to the Scriptures Verilie and without all doubt the same which he saith of these heretikes Heretici sunt lucifugae Scripturarum Like Owles they flie from the light of the Scriptures Wherefore if that which thou speakest be not written beware of that Vae that curse which is pronounced by the spirit of God against them which adde vnto the Scriptures S. Cyprian Cypr. de laps in Epist 74. Doe the Martyrs commaund any thing to be done But what if it bee not written in the law of the Lord. c That saith he must bee done which is written for so God appointed Iosua wee must haue good regard to see if it bee written in the Gospel in the Epistles of the Apostles or their acts for if it be then such holy traditions must be obserued and kept Traditions as we see contained in the Scriptures for so did the fathers vse this worde and not for all that which may be imagined in mans braine prouided that it be of continuance and toleration Origen Orig. in Ierem. in 25. in Matth. Wee must call the holie Scriptures to witnesse without these witnesses the sence and expositions which we giue them worke no beleefe VVhatsoeuer the golde bee which is without the Temple yet it is not sanctified and as litle that sense which is besides the Scripture Athanasius Athan. contr Idol ad Iouinian in 2. orat contra Arrios de interpret Psalm in Synopsi Theodor. l. 1. Socrat. l. 1. 5 Basi de ver fid in Mora◠Regu 26. 80 The holy Scriptures are sufficient of thēselues for the demonstrating of the truth The stones wherewith the heretikes are to be stoned are fetcht from hence they are the Mistresses of the true faith the anchors and props of our c. And this is the cause why in the disputation against the Arrians Constantine the Emperor breaking the array vnto the Councell of Nice appointeth not any other weapons The Euangelicall bookes saith he as also those of the Apostles and Prophets doe teach vs euidently whatsoeuer wee must beleeue Let vs gather from thence the deciding of our controuersies Saint Basil It is a most euident signe of infidelitie and pride to go about to bring in any vnwritten thing for the Lord hath said My sheepe heare my voyce and follow not the voice of any other c. Whatsoeuer we doe or speake must bee confirmed from thence for the beleefe of the good cōfusion of the wicked Euery faithful man hath this proper to him not to adde any thing thereto neither yet to ordaine any new thing for whatsoeuer it is that is besides the Scripture is not of faith Ambros de vocat Gent. l. 2. c. 3. in lib de Parad. c. 12. and therefore is sinne Saint Ambrose VVhere the Scriptures speake not who shal speake VVe must adde nothing to the commaundement howe good soeuer it be who so addeth thereto any thing of his owne argueth it of imperfection c. Saint Hierome The Church of Christ which dwelleth well Hieronym in Mich. l. 1. in ps 98. in Ezeen c. 3. in Agg. c. 1 in Mat. c. 23. in Esa c. 8. and all ouer the world c hath her townes the law the Prophets the Gospel the Apostles It goeth not beyond her limits that is to say the holy Scriptures VVhatsoeuer we say must be auouched from thence The Scriptures are our true meate and our true drinke of this wood is the house of wisdome built whatsoeuer is not authorized by them should be contemptible to vs is likewise striken with the sword of God who so is desirous to deliuer himself out of any doubt let him go thither but
ad Pammach Oceanum de Origen we should likewise speake doubtfullie of the Deitie of the holie Ghost with Saint Hillarie we should condemne children dying without Baptisme with Saint Augustine we should giue them the Eucharist with Saint Cyprian and the greatest part vntill the time of Charles the great euen vnto the mouthes of the dead as certaine Councels doe beare vs witnesse In a word we should haue made with lesse then nothing of the Church of Christ Augeas his Oxehouse Canus l. 7. de locis Theol. c. 3. Gen. Cent. 3. seq ad finem c. 4. VillavinceÌ„tius de ratione studiâ—â— Theolo l. 4 c. 6 obseru 1. 2. Baron annal tom 2. of Noes Arke a sinke of all superstitions and errours Which thing our greatest aduersaries themselues at this time not being able to dissemble doe say All the Saints such onely excepted as haue written the Canonicall bookes haue spoken by the Spirit of man and haue sometimes erred euen in the matters of faith both in worde and writing what profoundnesse of learning or innocencie of life soeuer that we can obserue and marke in them And they come so farre as to set downe their errors and that both by their names as also by their kinds concluding that the Scriptures are onely without error and exempted from lies As therefore there are rules for the expounding of the Scripture by the Scripture The Fathers must be admitted as expounders but not as law-giuers so there are also for the expounding of them by the Fathers the first whereof is alwayes this That they be receyued and read as expounders not as law-giuers and that they referre their expositions to the rule of faith and the articles thereof and not to make any new faith any new articles according to that which Saint Ierome saith vnto vs Hieron cont Iouinian August de Bono viduitat As oft as I expound not the Scriptures but speake freely of mine owne sense reprooue me who will And Saint Augustine The holie Scripture hath set vs a rule not to dare to knowe more then it behoueth My teaching of thee then may not be any other thing then to expound vnto thee the words of the Teacher that is of the Lord. Vincentius c. 2 22 41. And this is the same that Vincentius Lyrinensis saith vnto vs The Canon of the Scriptures saith he is perfect and superaboundantly sufficient in it selfe for all things Wee are not then to make any addition of the Fathers to make by them any supplie vnto the doctrine of the Scriptures but rather saith he seeing that they may bee interpreted in diuerse senses it is meete to ioine therewithall the authoritie of the Ecclesiasticall vnderstanding Not to adde vnto or alter any thing that is written but onely to make for the vnderstanding of it For saith he elswhere It is written Depositum serua That which hath beene committed of trust vnto thee not what thou shalt haue inuented That which thou hast receiued not what thou hast found out wherein thou must not be an authour but whereof thou art a gardiant not an ordiner but a disciple not a guide but a follower What thou hast receiued in golde redeliuer the same in golde c. And in the person of Timothie this is spoken vnto all Teachers it is spoken to the whole Church c. And what we say of one of the Fathers we take it as spoken of all togither for although all the men of the world could bee assembled and called togither and that euerie one of them were worth an Augustine they could not make or cause to be made one article of faith to binde the faith of a Christian to beleeue anie other thing necessarie vnto saluation then that which is in the holy Scripture Gaâ—â— following that which Saint Paule saith Though I my selfe or an Angel from heauen should preach vnto you any other thing then that which wee haue alreadie preached vnto you let him be accursed And a little after he setteth downe the reason For I haue not receiued or learned it of any man but by the reuelation of Iesus Christ c. And this hath beene renued by all the olde Fathers though but ill fauouredly kept by them which were their successours and whereupon notwithstanding our maister Gerson and Cardinall Caietan after him haue framed this conclusion That the Church of this time cannot any more neither hath bin able besides that which the Primitiue Church could to canonize any booke establish any article of faith c. The second is That we discerne in the workes of the Fathers the true and legitimate bookes from the faigned ones not to attribute them vnto them and by consequent sucke out of them an other mans errors in stead of their sound opinions not to receiue any doctrine for old when as the same shall be either new or else verie sparingly commended vnto vs of the ancients For it cannot be denied but that there are many such and those easily found out either by the stile being otherwise in one age then it is in another yea differing in some one time of some one father from that of another or by some apparance of contrarietie and that either in doctrine or exposition a thing hardly befalling any one authour or by the alledging of Authours which are notoriously knowne not to haue liued till after them or by the vsing of some tearmes and speeches not as yet practised in the Church in their time c. Of all which sorts the malice of men hath furnished vs with sufficient store of examples For the stile of the Epistles attributed to the first Bishops of Rome is meerely barbarous and Gottish in the times of the greatest flourishing of the Latine tongue and when there could not bee found in all Italie nor in all the Romane Empire either learned or idiot that could speake this language The stile of Denys the pretended Areoopagite is nothing like to Saint Pauls containing nothing of Apostolicall note or marke nothing of the spoiling of Ceremonies so oft repeated by the Apostle The treatise of Sina and Sion against the Iewes c. nothing of that vigor which was in Saint Cyprian his other writings against the very same but farre lesse of his elegancie zeale and doctrine The pretended Canons also of the Apostles how should they proceed from them when they forbid that which the others approue and command that which they do openly disproue and disallow And therefore by so much the more daungerous and poisonfull for hauing purloined the name of so soueraigne a drug And in such sort we are likewise to say of Saint Clement his reuises and Saint Peter his peregrination Hieronym in Apolog. cont Ruff in Epiph. haeres 27. which Saint Ierome and Epiphanius do witnesse vnto vs wittingly to hold and take part with the heresie of Eunomius and Ebion the most pernicious ones that haue been in the Church
were first instituted in the Church of God and after what manner they were obserued by antiquitie what new inuentions and deprauations haue ensued thereupon and at what times as also by what waies and pathes Wee haue seene the Church nowe shrowding her selfe into some pitte or caue of the earth and afterward to haue seated and assembled her selfe in faire and comely Temples and that such temples as haue neither altars nor images then wee haue seene altars vsurping the places of the tables for the holy Supper and after some long tract of time imploied about the offering vp of a pretended sacrifice and we haue seene how images being admitted for remembrances at length grew to be worshipped and adored And in the end both the one and the other to haue so increased prospered as that they haue brought the true altar Christ vnto nothing to the offending of the Iewes and to the scorne and reproch of the Turks through the madnes of silly miserable Christians We haue seene the vessels of the Church changed from decencie and comelinesse to great charge costlines from costlines to be honoured from honoring to adoration In like maner the apparrell and habites of the priests from common ones into peculiar and speciall ones from indifferent ones to certaine and vnchangeable ones from simple ones by degrees into comely ones yea into a ceremony into holines and into necessity the whole seruice in the vulgar tong such as was vnderstood of all euen vnto the infants common both to priestes and people in all the Churches of Christendome afterward by the corruptnes partly of languages and partly of men to become vnknown not vnderstood of al the people no not by those which were of best vnderstanding to the bringing of men thereby to dispute against the scriptures against the fathers against reason against cōmon sence how that it shold be both more profitable holy for the same to continue so We haue seen the Bbs. Ministers of the Church ordained to preach and to administer the sacramentes and afterward in succession of time both the seruants and their seruice banished and driuen quite out of place the bright burning lampe of Gods word altogether quenched in the Church the whole seruice turned to a Masse and all the charge and office of the Priestes to the saying of Masses and that for the most part with their harts and eares at home when their tongues are pronouncing the same And in the ende that they might be thought and seeme rather then bee holy in deede from married ones they become vnmaried and promising abstinence from mariage for euer And by what degrees Surely virginitie chastity in mariage hauing been praised as a wel matching paire at the first and as the singular gifts of God and recommended both the one and the other vnto the church were afterward in steed of this seemely and louing yoking together acording to the Apostle opposed and set the one against the other and the praise of the one was neuer thought sufficient without the dispraise disgrace of the other whervpon it followed that the Bbs. ecclesiastical persons who first were maried began to put more holines in an vnmaried estate and so in things that were free and indifferent men haue not let to place both difference and the prerogatiue of excellencie and therevpon exhortations to ecclesiasticall persons to embrace abstinence from marriage then to binde them to it with faire speeches and after to compell them thereto by law and to force it vppon them by seuere punishments and penalties and in the end by the depriuing of them of their Offices and Benefices and by shamefullie disgrading of them Whereupon so much vncleannesse ensued as that the world stinketh thereof as whereby the name of a Church-man is euill spoken of all ouer the world Now it followeth that we come to the third part which entreth into the handling of the doctrine of the holy Supper and consequently into the doctrine of the Masse And here I desire the Reader to be yet both more attentiue and more feruently affected that so he may be the better able to iudge both where the abuse is crept in as also where the true vse is retained as also where prophanenes hath entred and where the holy Ministerie true mystery is kept and obserued The end of the second Booke The Third Booke WHEREIN IS INTREATED OF THE SACRIFICE OF IESVS CHRIST and of the pretended sacrifice of the Masse CHAP. I. That the propitiatorie sacrifice of Iesus Christ is not reiterated in the holy Supper and in what sence the old Church did vse this phrase and manner of speech THe Lord our God hauing vouchsafed through his infinite mercie to chuse vnto himselfe before all worldes a people from amongst men which we call the Church which he hath by the same grace continued against all the changes and mutations which haue happened thereunto and amidst all the broiles confusions falling out in the world was purposed to bind and tie the same vnto himselfe by certaine holy and consecrated ceremonies full of instruction and efficacie by which it is continually aduertised of the dutie which it oweth vnto God and of the grace of God towards it euen that grace of God wherein it pleased him according to the purpose of his good pleasure to giue himselfe to his Church namely to his faithfull and that dutie of man which in the acknowledging of this grace he is bound to offer and consecrate himselfe wholly vnto God and that so much the more because he could not finde any thing in his owne nature that could merite euen the least thing that possiblie could or should allure and draw on this grace nothing yea on the contrarie not any thing but that which ought to prouoke the wrath curse of God vpon him But for as much as the iustice of God and the sinne of man were as it were two extreames there was requisite a Mediator to ioyne them together and that for the same cause he should hold of the said two extreames that is that hee should bee God and man this is that Iesus Christ our Lord begotten from euerlasting before all time borne notwithstanding and giuen in his due time And therefore in this Mediator all the holy ceremonies of the Church of God doe take their roote and foundation whether they bee those which are ordained for to offer vp our holy seruice vnto God in for if our works be not considered in the perfection of this Mediator the naturall imperfections cleauing thereunto will cast them out of his presence cause them to be taken for trespasses offences so far will it be off that they should merite and deserue grace or those which are ordained to assure vs of the grace of God for where is the conscience which being informed and roused vp be it neuer so little by the law of the most mighty yea if it haue neuer so
out the efficacie thereof so fullie and largelie as they might But beholde the Councell of Trent assembled and called together not to reforme the Church of Rome as the Christian Princes had hope they woulde but rather to authorize and establish euen the most ill fauoured and deformed things that were therein for so they prouided and brought to passe therein If anie man holde and maintaine sayeth it that the Masse is not a true and proper sacrifice but rather a sacrifice of representation and praise and not propitiatorie for the liuing and the deade for sinnes punishmentes satisfactions and all other necessities let him bee accursed Cursing thereby in a fewe wordes the whole Scripture and all the olde Church And Pope Pius the fourth in whose time it was helde thrust into the oath which Bishoppes were to take this Article in expresse wordes I belieue that there is offered vnto God in the Masse Onuph in vita Pii 4. a true proper and propitiatorie Sacrifice for the quick and the dead c. But what And is there such abhomination in the Masse Let vs make a plaine and simple rehearsall of the principall errors therein without anie making of them more heinous and grieuous then they are indeede The first This pretended Sacrifice hath no institution or warrant in the worde of God but hath it on the contrarie directlie against it What audacious boldenes was this in man to dare to inuent of his owne braine a sacrifice by which God might bee appeased and made at one with vs And what other thing is it but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Seruice deuised of our owne carnall and corrupte sense and by consequent condemned of God who hath saide vnto vs In vaine doe you worshippe mee according to the Traditions of men c. The seconde This Sacrifice is a cleare and euident wresting and corrupting of the holy Supper and of the vse thereof whereby of a Sacrament ordained of God to assure vs of his good grace in Iesus Christ there is framed a Sacrifice whereby wee pretende to merite the same yea and that not hee onelie which doeth offer the same but those also that doe but stande by and beholde the same and that by their meere presence though they haue neuer a good thought or motion within them What is this then but to abolish the holie Supper of the Lorde vnder the colour of offering of it And who is hee that will any longer care to come to the Lordes Supper in the straight examining of his conscience if by the onelie hearing of a Masse hee may bee assured of eternall life And againe what presumption to dare thus to transforme the Will and Testament of the Sonne of God made and set downe in his holie Supper a thing not to bee endured in the Will and Testament of anie meane or base person The thirde The Masse is derogatorie to the onelie Sacrifice of the Sonne of God made vppon the Crosse and that not onelie by putting it selfe in place thereof but also by aduancing and setting forth of the power and efficacie thereof farre aboue the other It is saide There is but one oblation the Sonne of God giuen for the sinnes of the worlde this oblation the Masse will needes bee and yet renued and reiterated euerie howre Whereas there is pardon and remission of sinnes sayeth the Apostle there is no more anie oblation to bee offered And what should followe of this continuall and ordinarie repeating of this Sacrifice but that as yet there is no remission And that the sacrifice of Christ is either vnprofitable or imperfect And who doubteth but that this is the same which the Apostle called the frustrating and making of the Crosse of Christ of no effect and what more woulde hee haue made of it if hee had hearde the rest of their blasphemies as that the sacrifice of the Crosse hath not purged and done awaye anie but originall sinne but that the Masse hath taken awaye actuall sinnes c. and by consequent to become fellowe-worker with the same What can this bee tearmed but to declare the Sacrifice of Christ insufficient to renounce the power as also the benefite therof both together The fourth The Masse taketh awaye asmuch as lyeth in it the onelie Priesthoode of Iesus Christ whereof no other creature is capable for seeing it was requisite that the Priest shoulde bee eternall and the sacrifice infinite followeth it not that one and the same was to bee both the Priest and the Sacrifice And what other then but the Sonne of God offering vppe himselfe once to God by the holie Ghost and alwaies by his infinite merite making intercession for the infinite multitude of our sinnes vnto the infinite iustice and mercie of God And what a blasphemie is it then to say that anie man yea or that anie creature is able to performe the same And these are the abhominations which wee finde in the Masse as they make it the pretended sacrifice of the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ propitiatorie for the quicke and the deade for such a one our aduersaries doe teach it to bee the rest rising of the deprauing and corrupte wresting of the sacrament shall bee spoken of hereafter And now wee are to goe about the finding out of the originall and first beginning as also of the growth and proceeding of this applying of the benefite thereof to the deade deriued and fetcht as one error from an other from the opinion or rather imagination of Purgatorie CHAP. VI. That Purgatorie the foundation of Masses for the deade is not at all and first that it was not knowne in the Church of Israell or vnder the olde Testament ONe of the great imployments of the Masse That Purgatorie should haue had place in the church of the Iewes if there be any such thing is about the deade such deade as are not in Paradice for such haue no need of anie neither yet for such as are in hell for they all agree that it wold not any whit auaile them but rather for a certain number whome they pretend to be in a certain third place which they call Purgatory wherein they are to purge and make satisfaction for their sins of which when they went out of this worlde they were not acquited cleansed for the purging whereof there is no other helpe but that which may bee procured and supplied by a number of Masses Surelie man was a sinner and mortall from the beginning of the world yea man I say was subiect to dye in sinne being indebted by sinne and by consequent to incurre this penaltie of Purgatorie God likewise from all eternitie both iust mercifull iust in hauing appointed this punishment for sinne from the first creation of mankinde and mercifull as hauing taught him from the beginning the meanes of mitigating and remedying the same Which doctrine proueth Purgatorie to bee no newe fiction if so bee it may haue place but to haue beene
Hell by all the old writers But yet they fall to worke vpon the words contained in the same Chapter Luk. 16.9 Make you friends of the vnrighteous Mammon to the end that when you shallwant they may receiue you into euerlasting tabernacles In so much as that here Bellarmine taketh vppon him to crie victorie on their side because that Peter Martyr hath past this place without answere Our Lord warneth vs by the example of the vniust Steward to make vs friends of our riches to the end that as hee did make him friends that did receiue him when he was out of office and credite so likewise we should doe the same by our Almes that so when we shall be called from our stewardship for wee are no better then Stewards they may receiue vs into euerlasting Tabernacles And this is according to that which is said in an other place That euen a cup of cold water giuen in the name of Christ is not without his reward These friends they are the poore but together therewithall honest and vertuous These Tabernacles are eternall life These friends they themselues doe vnderstand that they are to die before vs and there is not any one of the Fathers that haue expounded it otherwise this is verie farre from staying behind to helpe vs with their suffrages Or that it resteth for them to gather vs to heauen and therefore also farre enough off from being able to draw vs out of Purgatorie But and if we must allegorize to whome shall we cleaue and sticke Tertullian saith Tertull. de fuga in persecut that our Lord exhorted the Iewes who had not plaid the good Stewards with the goods that God had committed vnto them to make them friends therewithall De Mammonae hominibus with the men of Mammon that is of the Gentiles saith he by raysing them from the debt of sinne that so grace wasting they should receiue them into the Christian faith S. Augustine and S. Ambrose doe vnderstand it Ambros in Luc. August de Ciuit Dei l. 21. cap. 27. That wee must giue vnto the Saints in this world that they maey pray for vs in the other Who doubteth of their charitie who liue with him that is charitie it selfe or that they doe desire the kingdome of God and the saluation of the elect and chosen But what is there of all this that hath bene said Hieronim ad Algas quaest 6 that agreeth with Purgatorie As for S. Ierome who handleth this question of purpose in writing vnto Algasia after that he hath examined all the words in particular he alleadgeth likewise a certaine Allegorie of Theophilus Bb. of Antiochia who of this steward maketh S. Paul begetting and winning Christians with the learning which he had got vnder the Law that they might receiue him into their houses c. that is to say into heauen And in the end he commeth to this point That wee must make vs friends of our goods and those not of all sorts of poore but such as may receiue vs into heauen that is such as are honest and godly to the end that hauing giuen them a little we may receiue much and giuing to an other may enioy the things that are ours sowing blessedly and bountifully Chrysost in Ep. ad Hebr. Bernard in de clam Ecce nos rellquimus omnia that wee may also reape blessedly and bountifully c. Chrisostome also who toucheth this place sundrie times doth likewise expound it at large vpon the Epistle to the Hebrewes but draweth no other doctrine from it And as for Purgatorie not a word of it Neither yet Saint Bernard Cardinall Hugo Cardinall Caietan nor Ferus himselfe Bellarmine saith Remember me O Lord when thou commest into thy kingdome this good man saith he had neuer spoken this Luk. 23. if he had not belieued that sinnes were forgiuen after this life But yet what maketh this to Purgatorie Seeing it cannot stand with the doctrine of the Schoolemen who affirme that Purgatorie is for such as whose sinnes are alreadie remitted But Bellarmine dooth except the small and pettie sinnes But in this place the question is of the greatest And of whome would he desire to be better assured in that respect then of the good theefe himselfe Who saith Remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome Or of our Sauiour himselfe who aunswereth him To day thou art not in Purgatorie but in Paradice with me And is hee able to name any one of the Fathers euen of the latest who hath gathered this doctrine hence In the Actes 2. Acts. 2.24 Whome God hath raysed againe hauing vnloosed the paines of hell or of death because it was impossible that he should be held of it From hence Bellarmine frameth this conclusion Christ after his death could not suffer paines therefore this place is not to bee vnderstood of his paines but of those of the Fathers and not of those which were in Hell for out of Hell there is no redemption Neither of those in the Lymbes for they suffered not it remaineth then that it must needes bee spoken of those that were in Purgatorie The truth is that this text may bee read two manner of waies in the most part of the Copies there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the paines of death not of hell Epiphan in anchorat in anacephal And if Epiphanius whome Bellarmine alleadgeth haue read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one place in an other he hath read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now this being so he will neuer bee able to find his Purgatorie in this hell Let vs graunt them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifieth both the Graue and Hell but without all doubt in this place the Graue for it is alleadged for the resurrection of our Lord together with the place of Dauid alleadged by Saint Peter Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Graue And whereas he saith that it cannot bee vnderstood of Christ for that he indured no paines after his death I answere that it cannot be vnderstood but of him because it was said that it was not possible for him to bee held either of death or of the Graue which cannot bee said of the Fathers which cannot be spoken but of our Sauiour God and man Seeing also that which followeth For Dauid saith of him I saw the Lord alwates c. But Dauid neuer said this of any of the Fathers So that to deliuer our selues from the doubt and difficultie that is in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may receiue a good Exposition wee fall into such a sence and signification as cannot by any meanes be raised or drawne from it And as concerning that we say that the paines of death are vnloosed not onely in that our Sauiour is risen againe but also in as much as in his resurrection the rule and dominion of death is destroyed and laide waste And here it is not lightly to bee
owne sonnes as in deed they drew lots for two But and if they belieue not vs yet let them at the least belieue their owne writers Cardinall Hugo saith To the end they might haue tribes as the sonnes of Iacob had And in the same sence hee expoundeth this word Esay 4. Lyranus Et inuocetur c. quia vocati sunt because they are called the adopted sonnes of Iacob and are become heades of two tribes after the manner of his owne children The annotation also of their Fonseca vpon Caietan This is a phrase of speech familiarly vsed of the Hebrewes that the name of this man is called vppon by that man when their meaning is that that man is called by this mans name And thereupon he alleadgeth the fourth of Esay and Daniel 9. Let them also remember themselues of their owne doctrine How that the fathers were in the Limbes that in the Limbes they did not see God neither by consequent know the affaires of men whereupon it followeth by their owne sayings that they could not be called vpon And yet notwithstanding Bellarmine in the time of the cleare light of learning is not ashamed to alleadge this place Eliphaz saith to Iob Iob 5. Call now and see if there be any that will answere thee and turne thy selfe vnto some one of the Saintes c. Which place other expositors doe reade with an interrogatiue point And the summe of the text is That no man when he is chastised of God can say that it is any wrong or iniustice seeing hee hath found as hath beene said before matter of reprehension euen in his Angels And how much more saith hee in them which dwell in these houses of clay c. And thereupon hee addeth Cast thine eies round about and see if thou canst find any amongst the most holy who hath beene punished causelesse But and if they will haue it that by Saintes the Angels are vnderstoode besides that it standeth not with the scope and purpose of the text it is as quickly denied as affirmed and such figures doe not proue or conclude any thing But and if they simplie take it to bee vnderstoode of the Sainte then so much the lesse seeing that they in the Limbes could neither heare norse according to their owne doctrine And certainly S. Ierome if he be the author of those commentaries was not aduised of this doctrine notwithstanding that he three handle this verse by name In the Psalmes saith Cocleus it is said Psal 32. Pro hac orab ad te omnis sanctus The Hebrew saith For this shall euerie holy man pray vnto thee c. The Chaldie For this shall euery good man pray vnto thee in time conuenient that is Because thou art readie to forgiue them which confesse their faultes And so S. Paul hir selfe doth expound it Romaines 4. But in euerie place where they find the name Saiâ—t there they will find inuocation or intercession of the Saints August Hieronym Theodor. in Psal 32. But without any longer staying vpon the matter Sant Augustine intreating vpon this place saith Euery holy man shall pray vnto thee because of impietie and for the remission of sinnes because thou fâ—â—giuest them and otherwise no holy man would pray vnto thee And when In due and conenient time when the new Testament shall be come when the grace of Christ shall be manifeted when in the fulnes of time God shal haue sent his Sonne to redeeme them which were vnder the law c. And this is spoken saith he of all Christians of Saint Paule himselfe who being prickt with the sting of the law cryeth vnto God wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the bodie of this death Saint Ierome saith The Saintes doe pray in this life for the remission of their sinnes seeing the most holy are not exempted now is the conuenient time for to obtaine Theodoret in like manner I will not pray vnto thee alone for mine impietie but all those that shall haue the knowledge of thee shall make the same prayers vnto thee Seeing saith he that vnder the new Testament Haimo in Psal 32. Bernard serm 73. in Cant. the faithfull by sea and by land shall praise God by the singing of the Psalmes of Dauid c. Haimo The remission of iniquitie is good and for the obtaining thereof euerie holy man will pray vnto thee in a time conuenient that is to say in this life in which alone prayer can obtaine the same Saint Bernard For this saith he c. Seeing saith he that the Saintes haue need to pray to God for their owne sinnes to bee saued by his mercie they being nothing able to trust and leane to their owne righteousnesse c. And againe Pro hac orabit O misericors c. Idem in ep ad Henric. Senens Archiep. Euerie Saint whosoeuer saith hee shall pray vnto thee O most mercifull father for his iniquitie becomming a humble suter for the sence and feeling of his sinne and miserie and yet notwithstanding a Saint for that he consenteth not vnto it in that be delighteth and taketh pleasure in the law according to the inward man c. And Cardinall Hugo saith For all the Saints and holy men haue need to pray vnto God for the remission of their owne sins c. And in a couenient time that is to say in this present life according to that which is said labour whiles it is day c. Farre enough off then from the exposition of our aduersaries That the saintes deceased doe pray for vs. And Lyranus followeth Saint Ierome Cardinall Caietanus and Arias Montanus translate it Super hac not Pro hac that is saith Caietanus That euerie Saint shall pray vnto God for to obtaine the blessed fauour of his diuine righteousnesse c. Here is no question then of praying for another in an other life And as little proofe is there to bee gathered out of Psalme 121. Psalm 121. I haue lifted saith Dauid mine eies towardes the mountaines from whence succour shall come vnto me c. By the hils they will vnderstand the Saintes This is a figure And by these hils some vnderstood the scriptures as Saint Augustine others the heauens as Euthymius some the Saintes as Caâ—siodorus Of such sortes of speaking there followeth no good argument But let vs take them in whatsoeuer sence they will If it bee to the Saintes they were according to their owne doctrine in the Limbes and therefore in vaine for that purpose they had more need to haue cast downe then to haue lifted vp their eyes But they should at the least haue considered what followeth My succour commeth from the Lord who hath made heauen and earth And then not from all or any of these creatures bee they neuer so high and eminent And this is that which Saint Augustine saith No man can vnderstand by these mountaines great personages August in psal 121.
say in the Sacrament but in the reading of the scriptures for the true meat the true drinke which is receiued of the worde of God is the knowledge of the Scriptures And therefore sayth S. Augustine That Iesus Christ is preached by tongues by Epistles and by the Sacraments of his bodie and blood c. That is to say that the Sacrament is a dumme worde or as hee himselfe calleth it a visible worde the worde a speaking Sacrament a Sacrament receyued by hearing that is to say Christ and life by Christ in them both The third that euerie Sacrament consisteth in three things in the signe A sacrament consisteth of the signe of the thing and of the word in the thing signified and in the worde and institution of God The signe giuen by the Pastor and receiued by the hand of the faithfull which goeth into the stomacke the thing giuen of God and receiued by the faith of the faithful which goeth vnto the soule and that by the mediation of the worde and working of the holy Ghost which accompanieth it which goeth together with the thing signified in the signe and yet not changing it in his nature but rather making it of a bare Element a Sacrament of a common creature a sacred and of an earthly an heauenly one to be short the instrument of our regeneration coniunction and vnion with Christ wherein lieth our life The signe which is visible the thing that is to say grace which is inuisible the operation of the worde and of the spirit incomprehensible And againe the signe which hath properly his analogie and proportionall relation to the outward man Grace that is to say the thing signified to the inward man inasmuch as he is renued nourished and fostered by the spirit in his spirit vnto which the Sacrament is properly offered vnto the soule I meane not vnto the bodie vnto the inward spirit August in serm ad Infant ad alt de sacram Idem de cruit 〈◊〉 10. c. 5. Idem in Quaest super Leuit. q 84. Idem de Corp. Christ Chrysost hom 83. in Mat. Anno 900. Raban l. de Sacr. Euchar. c 9. Pach. de Corp. Sang. Christ Lombard l. 4. d. 1. Bernard in Serm. de Caen. Dom. The signe called of the Fathers by the name of the Sacrament Tertul. cont Marc. l. 4. Hilar de consecr d. 2. Chrysost in Mat. hom 83. August in Ioh tract 26. Idem apud Grat. exsenten Prosper Rom. 2. and not to the outward senses And this thing also we shall be throughly instructed in by the fathers S. Augustine saith A Sacrament is a visible signe of an inuisible grace a signe of a sacred thing wherein is seene one thing with the outward sense and an other thing is vnderstood of the spirit Againe The Lord sanctifieth by an inuisible grace by the holie Ghost and there lieth the whole fruit of the visible Sacraments without this what are men able to profit c. Againe A Sacrament is a ceremonie wherein vnder the couert of visible things the diuine power worketh more secretly and priuily our saluation Chrysostome Christ hath giuen vs insensible things insensible ones Rabanus A sacrament is called all that which by the ordinance of God is giuen vnto vs for a pledge of our saluation when the thing visibly done doth inuisibly worke within vs all maner of other things c. And Paschasius Lombard in the verie same tearmes And Saint Bernard intreating vpon this matter giueth vs an example A Sacrament saith he is a sacred signe A Iewell may be giuen onely for a Iewell but it may bee giuen also to inuest and set a man in possession of an inheritance And then we say the Iewell is of small value and that it is the inheritance that we looke and seeke for And thus saith he our Lord drawing neere his death had care to inuest his elect and put them in possession of his grace for which cause this inuisible grace was giuen vnto them by some visible signe c. Where we are to obserue that the worde pledge and the similitude of the Iewell or ring are of antiquitie And this for our definition That which we call the signe the fathers do sometimes call the Sacrament how soeuer ordinarily this whole holy action is so called As wheÌ„ they say That the Sacrament is diuerse and differing from the thing of the Sacrament that is to say that the thing is one and the Sacrament of the same another that is to say again that the signe is one thing and the grace which is the thing signified is an other The figure is one thing saith Tertullian but the thing of the figure another The figure is one thing saith Saint Hillarie and the truth another The figure that which is seene without the truth is that which is belieued within The sensible thing saith Saint Chrysostome is one thing and the intelligible another The Sacrament saith saint Augustine is one thing and the power of the Sacrament another The Sacrament of the thing saith he is that which some take receiue to life others to destruction The thing that is to say grace whereof the Sacrament becommeth a Sacrament that is to say a signe that no man doth communicate to his ruine and destruction but euerie man to life and saluation And hereof we haue examples In Circumcision vnder which many had the signe and not the thing wherupon we see that the Prophets call the Israelites Of vncircumcised hearts And saint Paule saith That Circumcision became to them vncircumcision And in the Manna wherein some saith saint Augustine did eat nothing but Manna alone but others did tast and feed vpon the bodie of Christ In Baptisme which he saith that Simon the Magitian receiued without thâ— iâ—uisible grace the signe without the thing The signe and the thing notwithstanding The neare coÌ„iunction betwixt the sign and the thing for asmuch as they cannot be considered the one without the other being correlatiues and so the one presupposing the other are so conioyned and coupled togither that the one is oftentimes named for the other wherein the fathers do solemnly forewarne vs to take good heed that wee take not the signe for the thing nor the thing for the signe For the signe is the signe of the thing signified for but in regard thereof it cannot be a signe and on the contrarie it cannot be both the signe the thing togither neither in whole nor in part no more then a sonne is not a sonne but in respect of a father and cannot notwithstanding be a sonne and a father at once in one and the same respect so Circumcision the signe of the couenant is called the Couenant and the Passage or Pascal Lambe the Passeouer or Passage the rocke Christ and the water of Baptisme Regeneration c. All of them being but signes or remembrances of the couenant Circumcision of the heart communion with Christ Regeneration of man
Mathew S. Marke and S. Luke doe all of them make mention how our Lord tooke the bread blessed it gaue it to his disciples saying vnto them Take eate this is my bodie how commeth it that S. Iohn maketh no mention thereof in this place that is to say in the rehearsing of that which goeth before the passion of our Lord Verily saith he It is a testimonie that our Lord hath spoken of that point a great deale more largely elswhere and where then but in this sermon of Capernaum Chrysost in Mat. hom 83. And Chrysostome saith How came it to passe that his disciples were not much troubled when they heard this Namely these words This is my bodie c. Verily saith he Because he had handled the great and waightie points of this thing before hand he laboured not to confirme that which they did alreadie vnderstand c. And againe And he drurke saith he himselfe least the hearing these words should haue said what then Doe we drinke blood and eate we flesh c. For when he first spake of these things manie were offended onely for the wordes sake to the end therefore that this might not come to passe againe he first performed the action himselfe that so he might take away whatsoeuer might trouble their spirits or perplexe their mindes in the communicating of the misteries Whereby it appeareth that those excellent olde fathers haue referred the place of S. Iohn to the interpretation of the holy supper instituted afterward that is to say that the eating which is ordained in the vse of the sacrament in the holy supper is the same that without the sacrament is declared in that place If then it bee spirituall here let it bee so likewise there And therefore let vs heare what the fathers say vpon the same Tertullian Notwithstanding that he saith That the flesh profiteth nothing Tertul. de resurrect carn wee must gather the sence from the matter of that which is spoken For in as much as they accounted his speeches to be harsh and intollerable as if he had determined in deed to haue giuen them his flesh to eate to direct and bring the state of their saluation to the spirite hee did set downe aforehand It is the spirit that quickeneth Marke that he saith Verily which cannot be expounded and taken there for Visiblie but for Carnally c. Athanasius â—pon this place Whosoeuer shal haue spoken a word against the Son of man De peccat contr spirit whereunto by consequent we haue to oppose Spirituallie Athanasius The Lord disputing in S. Iohn of the eating of his bodie and seeing that many were offended said vnto them what will this bee then if you see the Sonne of man ascend and go where he was before c. It is the spirit which quickneth c. For be hath spoken there both of the one and the other of the flesh and of the spirit and hath distinguished the spirit from the flesh to the end that belieuing not in that onely which appeareth to the eyes but also in the inuisible nature wee may learne that those thinges which hee spake are not carnall but spirituall For to how many men should his bodie bee able to be sufficient meate that so it might bee the foode and nourishment of the whole worlde But to draw them from vnderst anding of him carnally he made mention of his ascention and to make them to vnderstand afterward that the flesh whereof he had spoken was a spirituall meate and heauenly food that he was to giue it them from aboue For the thinges saith he which I haue told you are spirit and life As if he said My bodie which is shewed and giuen for the world is giuen for meate to the ende that it may be giuen spiritually to euerie one and that it may become a defensatiue and preseruatiue to all in the resurrection vnto eternall life S. Augustine expounding these wordes August in psal 98. The wordes which I speake vnto you are spirit and life bringeth in our Lord expounding those of the holy Supper in these tearmes Vnderstand saith he spiritually that which J haue said You shal not eate this bodie which you see you shall not drinke that blood which they shall shed that shall crucifie mee I haue recommended vnto you a certaine Sacrament which spiritually vnderstood will quicken and make you aliue Idem tract 27. in Ioh. and if necessitie require that it be visiblie celebrated yet it must be vnderstood inuisiblie Againe What meaneth this saying They are spirite and life that wee may vnderstande them spirituallie they are spirite and life hast thou vnderstoode them carnally they are notwithstanding spirite and life but not to thee And spiritually that is to say figuratiuely mistically Carnally is as much as to say literally really For saith he Thou hast to obserue this rule Idem de doct Christ l. 3. c. 16 If in the scripture a word or phrase of speech doe for bid thee some vile and wicked thing or command thee some honest and good worke that then it is not figuratiue but if on the contrarie c. thou must then make account of it to be figuratiue If you eate not the flesh c. it may seeme to command a trespasse c. it must needes then be a figuratiue speech a phrase and manner of speech commanding vs to be partakers of the death and passion of our Lord Cyril Cateches mystag Idem in Leuit. l. 7. and sweetly and profitablie to call to our remembrance that his flesh was crucified and pearced through for vs. S. Cyril Bishop of Ierusalem If you eate not c. Not vnderstanding these things according to the spirit they went away offended supposing that he had inuited them to a banket of mans flesh Saint Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria If you eate not c. But if you bee the children of the Church and instructed in the mysteries of the Gospell If the word which is made flesh dwell in you c. know that the thinges which are written in diuine bookes are figures c. For there is also in the new Testament and Gospels the killing letter c. as he shall find that doth not spiritually apprehend the thinges that are there spoken c. and hee bringeth forth this place for an example Theoph. in Ioh. c. 6. Whereupon also Theophilact though he were of that time wherein transubstantiation was set vp saith vpon this place In as much as we vnderstand it spiritually wee are no prophane deuourers of flesh but rather we are sanctified by this meate Againe For that they vnderstood it carnally he saith vnto them That which I tell you must be vnderstood spiritually and that is the way to profite thereby But to expound and take them carnally that profiteth nothing but turneth into matter of grosse offence Therefore he addeth The words that I say are spirit that is to say spirituall and life that is
deed elsewhere he saith plainly That Iudas did not sup with our Lord For saith he he could not drink there with him which should not drinke with him in his kingdome seeing that he promised to al theÌ„ that drunk then of the fruit of this vine that they should drinke afterward with him The same that S. Clement hath said vnto vs before from the report of the Apostles Note of the fruit of this Vine not of the accidents of wine not of the bloud of Christ really but Sacramentally But they obiect a place vnto vs wherein I heartily wish more conscience in them and vnto the Reader that he would take the pains to reade it through for the better obseruing of the rule of this same Doctor therein That the things which are said must bee vnderstood by the causes that moued and procured such things to be said So saith he the word was truely made flesh Idem ibid. and we as verily and truly doe receiue the word flesh by the meate of the Lord How can we but iudge that he abideth naturally in vs Where they vnderstand by Cibum Dominiâ— The meate of the Lord the Eucharist and by abiding or dwelling naturally in vs to receiue the bodie of Christ really at our mouthes And these are the points which we are to examine Saint Hillarie dealeth here against the Arrians The Father saith S. Hillarie and the Sonne are one Euen so said they but yet so one as we are one with Christ Now that we are one with Christ it is of his free will not of our nature and in will not in nature the Father and the Sonne are also one Saint Hillarie then to proue vnto them that the Father and the Sonne were one in nature proueth vnto them that we are one in nature with Christ and he handleth it after this sort First that there is the same humane nature in Christ and in vs by the incarnation of the Sonne of God which he calleth the Sacrament of perfect vnitie the Sacrament of flesh and bloud and by which Naturalis communionis propriet as nobis indulgetur The propertie of the naturall communion is giuen vnto vs by our Lord Vsing the word Sacrament for the Mysterie in the worke of the incarnation as it is his ordinarie vse to doe a manner of speech verie familiar at that time as we reade in the conference betwixt the Catholiks and Donatists where Marcelline who did sit as President and chiefe Iudge for the Emperour Honorius doth sweare By the misterie of the Trinitie and by the Sacrament of the Lords incarnation c. In the second place that besides this nature which the faithfull and vnfaithfull are alike partakers of with our Lord there is a special and more particular coniunction which is wrought by the spirit of Christ dwelling in the faithfull which regenerateth quickneth sanctifieth maketh them conformable vnto him and transformeth them into him for proofe whereof he alleadgeth the 6.14 and 17. of S. Iohn which our aduersaries will not denie to belong to the spirituall eating of the faithfull onely And this he maketh more cleare when hee addeth that the cause of our life is by Christ dwelling naturally in vs by his fleshe vniting vs vnto himselfe and by himselfe vnto God the father That Christ is in vs by the truth of his nature that hee dwelleth in vs naturally we being made by this most strait bond of vnion flesh of his flesh sucking our life from his spirit And this he further declareth by sundrie sorts of speeches tending all to one sence and meaning That we communicate his flesh To mingle in vs the nature of his flesh To be naturally in vs and we in him And this our aduersaries themselues wil confesse that it cannot be said of the vngodly and by consequent that it cannot appertaine to the Sacramentall or orall eating that is to say to the eating of the mouth Ad hereunto that he which saith that he is naturally in vs saith also Hilar. de Trinit l. 8. That we are naturally in him But naturally we are not in him as being in him carnally or really but as grafted by faith into his body so neither is Christ by this argument carnally and corporally in vs. Thirdly he alleadgeth vnto vs as a testimonie of his holy vnion the supper of our Lord when he saith that we receiue verily and truely the word flesh Cibo Dominico By the meate of the Lord that is to say the flesh of the word the word incarnate the flesh of the Sonne of God by the instrument of the bread of the Eucharist that is because it is a Sacrament exhibiting this flesh exhibiting the grace represented by the signe which consisteth in this vniting of vs with Christ The same which he calleth Sub mysterio Christi carnem sumere To receiue the flesh of Christ in a misterie that is to say signified in this misticall pledge And thus all this maketh nothing for the matter of bread or the Indiuiduum vagum transubstantiated into the body For otherwise it would fall out that throughout all Saint Hillarie his discourse Christ should be auouched and taught to abide in the bread naturally and corporally And if corporally and naturally then verily contrarie to the nature and properties of a body yea contrarie to the coÌ„dition of those which S. Hillarie acknowledgeth to be in the body of Christ For saith he in an other place He taketh away the foolish sottish rashnesse of some who contend that our Lord was seene in the flesh Idem in Psal 137. in the shape of a counterfeit body c. Not remembring themselues that after the Resurrection of the body it was said to the Apostles who thought it had beene a spirit See my hands my feet c. And by a false or counterfeit body he meaneth one that hath not all the ordinarie conditions of a body For in an other place expounding these words The Sonne of man which is in heauen c. hee euidently putteth difference betwixt the natures in Christ Idem de Trinit l. 10. Idem in Psal 1â—4 l. 8. de Trinit by finite and infinite being in one place and being euerie where c. That he is the Sonne of man saith he it is of the birth and bringing forth of that flesh which he tooke of the Virgine That he is in heauen and yet neuerthelesse vpon earth it is through the power of that nature which abideth for euer Againe Hee is present to them which call vpon him faithfully but by his diuine nature and spirit that pearceth and containeth all things He is in vs but we haue to vnderstand that this is by the holy Ghost c. And after the same manner hee expoundeth the place I am with you vnto the end of the world c. And thus wee are come without any Transubstantiation or doctrine comming neere therunto euen to the time of the first generall
Christians should not haue anie other meanes to touch Christ but with their handes or to eate him but with their teeth seeing that the virgine is not blessed for hauing conceiued him in her wombe nor Simeon for hauing receiued him into his armes but rather by hauing belieued in him What shall wee say then to these good Fathers Verily the same that they say vnto vs themselues Ambr. in serm 58. de Mar. Magdal in Luc. l. 10. c. 24 Augu. de cognit ver vit c. 40. Wee worshippe Christ as wee touch him And Wee touch him saith Saint Ambrose not with a bodily touching but by faith After the same manner sayeth hee That Saint Stephen on earth saw and touched Christ in heauen Yea saith Saint Augustine Hee saw him being vnder the roofe of the seate of iudgement which hee pearsed through saith hee and the heauens aboue the same and therefore with the eyes of the spirite Wee worshippe him in the mysteries but not the mysteries in the Sacrament but not the Sacrament the Creator in the creature sanctified but not the creature For Saint Ambrose which calleth it a creature Thou hast seene saith he the Sacraments vppon the Altar Chrysost in Marc. hom 14 Ep. 120. c. 21. Psal 21. Thou hast admired this creature howbeit a wonted and well knowne creature c. had neuer counselled vs to worshippe and adore the creature So likewise sayeth Saint Chrysostome That wee worshippe Christ in the Sacrament of Baptisme Saint Ierome That Paula had worshipped him in the cribbe was it euer in these mens mindes to say that they had worshipped the water or the cribbe Or would they haue said therefore that either the water or the cribbe were transubstantiated into Christ But they ought therefore to haue added that which followeth in S. Augustine Worship him for he is holy And who is this that is holy Euen he saith he for whose loue and sake thou worshippest the stoole c. that is to say the flesh of Christ the humanitie of Christ And when thou worshippest it rest not thy thoughtes vppon the flesh least then thou shouldest not bee quickened by the spirite c. And this same good and sound faith is set forth in another place of Saint Augustine which they alleadge and that somewhat more commendablie For in the place where it is saide Rich men were brought to the table of the Lord they tooke the bodie and bloud But they did but onely worship they were not filled full c. that is because they contented themselues to make profession of his name without conforming of themselues vnto Christ And this he declareth by these wordes Non saturati sunt sicut pauperes vsque ad imitationem They were not filled and fedde full as were the poore to the conforming of themselues vnto him They are not ashamed to adde Illud that so they may make him say Hardingus That they worshipped the bodie and the bloud and not simplie They worshipped And some one amongst them hath added as drawing the text to a further length They haue acknowledged that Christ was there present The same impudencie shoulde thrust him forwarde and cause him to adde Reallie corporallie and Per modum transubstantiationis c. They would faine bee beholden to Theodoret and as we haue seene there is not any one more against them for he hath told vs That the signes are not changed that they continue in their nature and substance c. And their greatest Doctors are of iudgement that there cannot be had any adoration without transubstantiation He saith therefore And yet notwithstanding these same signes of breade and wine which retaine their first substance are vnderstoood belieued and worshipped as though they were the things which they are belieued to be Worshipped therefore as they are vnderstoode and as they are belieued that is Vt Antitypa ratione prototypi as signes in respect of that which is signified As the Councell of Nice II. speaketh of images no respect being had to that which they are but to that which they represent For likewise Theodoret calleth them Images in the words next ensuing Compare saith he the patterne with the person and thou shalt see therein the similitude likenes for it is requisite that the figure should resemble the veritie Now the images of any thing whatsoeuer are not worshipped with that worship which is due to God and by consequent to adore or worship in Theodoret can not be any other thing then to honor reuerence receiue with reuerence which we most willingly yeeld vnto the Sacraments Proofes out of the fathers Clem. Constit l. 2. c. 6. August de Trinit l. 3. c. 10 De catechism rud c. 26. Idem de doct Christ l. 3. c. 9 And of a truth this is the same that the fathers teach vs. S. Clement if those be his books That all do take in order the precious body and bloud of our Lord drawing softly thereunto with feare reuerence as to the bodie of a king S. Augustine The sacraments may be honoured as religious things And in another place As visible signes of diuine things wherin the inuisible things are honoured and not as common things seeing they are sanctified by the blessing Againe He that worshippeth a profitable signe instituted of God and whereof hee vnderstandeth the power and signification doth not worship that which is seene and passeth away but rather that vnto which all such things ought to be referred Where it is to be noted that he vseth the words of adoring reuerencing indifferently that he referreth them not to the signes but to the things signified And a little after he giueth for an example the sacrament of Baptisme Idem de bono perseuer l. 2. c. 13. the celebration of the bodie bloud of our Lord and of this by name he saith That that which is said Sursum corda is to admonish vs to pray vnto God that he would lift vp our harts to ascend and taste the things that are on high where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God Not the thinges that are vppon earth God saith hee to whome wee must render thankes for so great a thing c. And when likewise it shall haue at any time escaped any of the fathers to say altogether rawlie which yet hath not at anie time J worshippe the excellencie of the Sacrament What other thing should this bee but of the same sence with that which Tertullian saith I adore the fulnes or sufficiencie of the scriptures Of the scriptures because there God speaketh vnto vs giueth the effectnall working of the spirit c. And yet they are not God neither are they adored or worshipped as God Of the Sacrament then in like manner seeing it pleaseth God therein to giue and in a neere and straite manner to communicate himselfe with vs and yet not therefore God but the instrument of the grace of God to be reuerenced
he would and that because it was his will where he taketh for graunted the thing that is in question Although it bee the figure of bread and wine notwithstanding after the consecration we must altogether belieue that it is the body and bloud of Iesus Christ And al his arguments are drawne from the omnipotencie of God without any proofe of his will But would the masters of Transubstantiation approue and like of these words Paschas ad Prudeg The bread and wine are the flesh and bloud of Christ And yet notwithstanding he is much troubled in himselfe when hee considereth That there must be in the Lords supper the figure and notwithstanding the truth And how the one may bee without the preiudice of the other c. In so much as that he is forced to say That it is no maruaile if this mysterie be a figure and if the wordes thereof bee called figures seeing that Christ himselfe is called an ingrauen forme and figure Ideâ— de Corp. Sang. Dom. l. 4. euen hee which is the truth it selfe That we belieue that that is done spiritually and that we ought so to belieue it to be That he is offered for vs mystically That wee walke by faith and not by sight That our Lord hath left vs these visible figures ascending vp to heauen to feede our spirite and fleshe by faith in spirituall things c. Neuerthelesse notwithstanding the resistances and oppositions of the most learned the abuse ceased not to spread it selfe further into diuers countries abroad because that the ignorant people who haue alwaies the stronger side did perceiue and see that both authoritie and profit would grow vnto them therby We read by name that in England there rise a great schisme betwixt Odo Archbishop of Canterburie assisted by the meaner and inferiour sort of Priestes being the parties affecting Transubstantiation and the most learned of his Cleargie To whose arguments and places alleadged out of the Fathers hee opposeth authoritie and force And secondly to winne the Idiots and simple people he vseth illusions and false myracles whereof these ignorant ages did neuer want good store This was about the yeare nine hundred and fiftie But in Fraunce Berengarius Deane of Saint Maurice of Augiers about the yeare 1050. Anno 1050. Lauâ—ranc con Berengar displaieth againe the ensigne of truth and writeth a Treatise of the Lords Supper whereof wee haue nothing more then it pleased Lanfrancus his aduersarie to cite in his writings against him And yet notwithstanding such as that thereby he doth neither iniurie the truth nor his good name although he make it euident and apparant enough that hee hath not forgotten to weaken and detract from the force of his reasons so much as he possibly could This Berengarius therefore writ priuily to Lanfrancus a Millaner then Abbot of Bec-Heloin in Normandie what hee thought of the holy supper Lanfrancus being absent his Canons did open the letter and sent it to Rome In it he praised the booke of Iohannes Scotus written in the time of Charlemaine The letter is made knowne in a Synod holden at Rome and condemned the Author being neuer heard Lanfrancus is inioyned to refute it if so be he would cleare himselfe of all suspition of hauing any part in that pretended errour which was so much the more because of such intelligences as did in verie familiar sort passe betwixt him and Berengarius Scotus his booke was burnt two hundred and fiftie yeares after his death Berengarius continueth his vertuous course and had for his Disciples and followers diuers great personages in Fraunce amongst others Freward and Waldus Knights c. A thing verie likely seeing that the Popes otherwise more curious and carefull about worldly complaints then studious in questions of Diuinitie did so much molest and trouble them Leo the ninth therefore called a Councell at Verscillis in Piemont and came thither himselfe in person Berengarius durst not appeare but sent thither onely two of his friends to tender his reasons who were easily made afraid The Councell of Rome thereupon became the more emboldned and gaue order notwithstanding that the French Church should assemble a Councell at Towrs to cause Berengarius to stoope and become subiect This was in the time of Pope Victor the second and there was Hildebrand afterward Gregorie the seuenth on his behalfe the most violent and head-strong Prelate that euer liued There appeared Berengarius who declared vnto them That he did not teach bare and naked signes in the Eucharist but that the bread and wine there vsed were most vndoubted pledges and seales of the reall Communion in the true bodie and bloud of our Lord which all those haue and there receiue which take these signes with a true faith That the bread and wine notwithstanding doe not chaunge their substances but rather of common ones are made holy ones of elements Sacraments c. And that to conclude hee held for other matters as all the auncient Fathers haue written and according also to the sence and meaning of the Lithurgie ordinarily read in the Church c. Thus the Councell rested satisfied at his hands But Pope Nicholas II. perceiuing that this doctrine was on foote againe cited Berengarius to Rome the second time to appeare in the Consistorie of Lateran and thither hee came being drawne and allured by faire and flattering speeches The first argument that was framed against him was that if he did not retract his former opinions he should be burnt and thereupon Humbert the Burgonian afterward Cardinall drew a reuocation such as we reade in the Decree That hee doth confesse C. Ego Berengar de consec d. 2. that after the Consecration the bread and wine are the verie bodie and bloud of Christ That they are there sensibly and in truth handled with the hands of the Priests broken and brused with the teeth of the faithfull c. And that hee curseth all them which doe iudge otherwise c. that is to say the whole Romish Church at this day which holdeth these propositions for hereticall That the bread is the bodie that the bodie is brused with the teeth c. Lanfranc de Sacr. Alger Where it is also to be noted that he saith Of the faithfull not of all those that are partakers thereof a remnant and small parcell of the pure doctrine and a signe of the as yet imperfect deliuerie and teaching of the impure and corrupt And therefore the Glose of the Decree addeth thereunto Beware least thou shouldest not rightly vnderstand that which Berengarius saith here and so shouldest fall into greater and more grosse heresies then euer he did And the Glose vpon the Canon Vtrum hath these words C. Vtrum de consecr d 2. ex August vbi Glos It is not lawfull to eate Christ with the teeth Berengarius saith hee said the contrarie but hee spoke hyberbolically and went beyond the listes of the
neere to his death had care to set vs in possession of his grace to the end that his inuisible grace might be giuen vs by some visible signe And for that are all the Sacraments instituted for that cause also the Eucharist and Baptisme c. What will they here say which blame and are offended with vs for that we call the Sacraments a ring or pledge In an other place he putteth downe this comparatiue speech Idem in Cant. serm 33. Men vse not to take with like chearefulnesse the crust of the Sacrament and the finest of the flower of the Corne faith and riches remembrance and presence eternitie and a stinted time the face and the Glasse the Image of God and the forme of a seruant Againe Idem de S. Martinio ser 21. The true substance of the flesh is exhibited vnto vs in the Sacrament but spiritually not carnally And what is the meaning of this spiritually Verily saith he in an other place expounding these words Noli me tangere This touching from henceforth seeing Christ is gone vp into heauen is done by the affection not with the hand with the desire not with the eye by faith not by feeling Thou shalt touch him with the hand of faith the finger of desire the fierie flames of deuotion and with the eye of the vnderstanding c. To belieue him is to haue found him Hug. erud Theolog. trac 6. c. 7. Summae Senten de sacr l. 2. p. 8. c. 8. 13. The faithfull knowe that Christ dwelleth by faith in their hearts what can there be more neere Hugo of Saint Victor This visible kind is named flesh by the custome of the Scripture which giueth to Sacraments the names of the things whereof they are Sacraments Againe The bread is proposed and set before men that in it may be taken and by it may bee signified the truth of the bodie and bloud of Christ And againe The receiuing of the Eucharist is the Sacrament and image of the participation of Iesus For this his Sacrament which wee take visibly is the signe that we ought to be vnited vnto him spiritually In a word It is better for thee saith he that Christ should enter into thy vnderstanding then into thy belly This meate is for the soule and not for the bodie Which beareth in a word this lessoÌ„ with it as we take it That the bread is the body of Christ Sacramentally in signification and in figure exhibiting notwithstanding vnto our soules the thing in truth spiritually by faith And Berengarius doth interpret it in the same words cited by Lanfrancus Now I am not ignorant that these same Doctors haue in other places spoken altogether as properly but so it is that Barbarisme had not as yet choaked suppressed the old language of the Church notwithstaÌ„ding that persecution was euerie where intended against them that would speake it freely Oppositions Peter de Bruits a famous Doctor at Tholose who taught that the transmutatioÌ„ of the kinds was contrarie to the word of God Petrus Cluniacensis l 2. being followed of a great number of people in the Prouences of Dolphinie Prouence Languedoc and Guien was burned aliue And Henrie his fellow Scholler did not shrinke to take his place vpon him in most couragious sort maner as also diuers others with him An Abbot rose on the other side in Fraunce who preached the verie same doctrine an other in England holding disputation Panem esse Sacramentum non rem Sacramenti That the bread is the Sacrament and not the thing but this man was oppressed by Malachias Bishop of Ireland In Graecia likewise they disputed and reasoned sutably to this doctrine Whether the bodie of Christ Nicetas after it is taken bee corruptible or incorruptible Nicetas taketh the one part and Humbert the Burgonian the other men agreed vpon as contrarie one to the other in all things Thus by these friuolous and fantasticall questions turning into cruell contentions the true body of Christ was rent in peeces and his very bloud contemptuously shed and spoyled whereas it was instituted for the vnion and knitting together of the Church Now come in Gratian and Lombard Friers patrons and protectors the one of the Canonists the other of the Schoolemen the one a compiler of the Decrees the other of the sentences Anno 1200. The Canons the greater part whereof is taken from the Fathers but sometimes not according to their true sence the rather to fit them thereby to their times And hereby we shall still be able to perceiue and see that the truth thereof cannot bee hid or concealed Let vs begin with Gratian The Canon Inquit is verie plaine and manifest Gratian. Câ—nqâ—â—t 80. De Consec d 2 C. Quia passus 3â— â—c Consec c. 2 â— Null◠〈…〉 C. â—um Quid 43 c. oâ—ccrâ— d 2. â—b Gl. C. Non hoc 4â— ibid. That the Fathers of the old Testament did eate the same spirituall meate that wee c. The Canon Quia passus That euerie faithfull person is partaker of the bodie and bloud of Christ of his bread and Cup in Baptisme Maxims altogether contrarie to those of the transubstantiators And as concerning the Eucharist the Canon Prima quidem saith You shall not eate this bodie which you see you shall not drinke the bloud which they shall shed that shall crucifie me I haue recommended vnto you a certaine Sacrament the same spiritually vnderstood doth quicken you And the Glose You shall not eate this bodie c. that is in this sort and greatnesse but in the Sacrament Which is directly against that which they teach That the same body which was crucified is eaten in the Eucharist Now to the end they may loose themselues out of this snare they patch it vp with these words Ipsum non ipsum That is the same and not the same the same inuisible not the same visibly c. But the Canons C. Dupliciter 2◠〈…〉 est quod 4â— d. ead 〈◊〉 Gloss Aâ—â—ust in psa 98. Tâ—om op 58. c 19 C. de hac quidem 75. d. 2 vbi Hieron C. Hoc Corpus 27. de consecr d. 2. Dupliciter and hoc est quod doth quite breake off whatsoeuer hold they might seeme to haue The flesh and the bloud of Christ are taken two waies either as they are spirituall and diuine of which the Lord saith My flesh is truely meate c. Or for the flesh which was crucified and the bloud which was shed with the speare c. Now Saint Augustine meaneth that it is this that is neither eaten nor drunken Againe by the Canon De hac quidem It is not permitted saith he to any man to eate of the host that Christ hath offered vpon the Altar of the Crosse but rather of that other which is admirably done in remembrance of it Then there is nothing left for vs to eate but the remembraunce and memoriall onely