and indiuiduall vnity I meane as it is a sacrifice an oblation and offering with that of the crosse but who would not scorne this who would not contemne such ignorant folly the absurdity of the paradox ouerthroweth it selfe for there Christ was truly and naturallie borne by a substantiall generation from his mother here by an imagined substantiall action and fieri of their owne which maketh nothing which was not before and that which is already made in one place by one substantiall action it is impossible that it should be made often by many other substantiall actions in other places vnlesse we will make many things substantially to be one and one to be many substantially which insoldeth contradiction as all Philosophers will easily grant There Christs blood was truly and really shed here in imagination and seeming onely as themselues confesse there his body was truly rent here onely in shew there Christ truly died and so really that in triduo in those three daies whilest his body lay in the graue he was not man for such a dissolution such a separation of the soule of Christ from his body which true death requireth was necessary for our redemption here he only ceaseth to be as they vnintelligibly teach by an imaginary cessation in their boxes pixes stomackes when their species their formes of bread and wine as whitenesse roundnesse sauour relish doe cease are corrupted and changed Some others therefore pretending more learning than wisedome or Christian pietie grant indeed that there is not the same indiuiduall and numerall oblation of Christ vpon their Altars with that of the Crosse which their answere indeed is most true according to their owne principles both in Philosophie and Diuinitie but discouereth the ignominie of their abhomination in setting vp and teaching a new daily reall sacrificing and oblation of their imagined Christ vpon their Altars against that infinitely valuable offering and sacrificing of Christ Iesus vpon the Crosse by which once only really truly corporally carnally offered all faithfull beleeuers are iustified and sanctified are consummated by the eternall might and neuer dying energie of his bloud I pretermit here to stand to demand of them why they doe so vainly require a reall and truly Propitiatorie sacrifice of Christ in Person and Substance vpon their Altars to apply the vertue of Christ sacrificed vpon the Crosse for how vaine is it to imagine that the same cannot be applied by a liuely faith and the vse of a holy Sacrament of Bread and Wine as it is applied by Faith and Water in Baptisme I pretermit to charge them that they are not yet accorded what to affirme or how to teach in what action of their Masse this their sacrifice doth consist whether in their making of Christ by their Priests fiue mightie wordes or by their Eleuation of their Christ vp or by their laying downe of their Christ vppon their Altars these thinges I omit with much more to like purpose because the out-running of time causeth me to be briefe But you know Christian and Catholike Auditors that they not without cause contend for this their reall and vnbloudy sacrificing of their Christ as for the very liuelyhood and soule of their religion you are not ignorant how many zelouse and renowned Professors of the only bloud of the Crosse haue and doe daily shed their blouds for the denying of their prophane sacrifice doubtlesse then they doe greatly magnifie it they doe greatly extoll it Heare me how and first touching the expiation and remission of sinne I will deliuer vnto you a position or rather a Paradoxe of theirs for so I am assured it will seeme vnto you Notwithstanding this their faith of their Christ truly and really sacrificed in their Masse yet they doe denie power valour and efficacie to this their sacrifice to take away the sinnes of such as doe offer it or of such for whom it is offered what said I that they denie this their sacrifice to expiate the sinnes of the offerers or for whom it is offered I so said indeede and it is most true but yet they grant vnto it forsooth force and energie to abolish to wipe away smaller sinnes veniall sinnes such as are also taken away by their holy Bread by their sprinkling of ashes vpon Ashwednesday by their daily lustrall prophane holy water by their knocking of their breasts by their Priests blessings by their signing of themselues with the signe of the Crosse by bearing of Palmes vpon Palme-Sunday and Candells vpon Candle-masse-day and by innumerable such their sacramentalls deuised by humane presumption as themselues teach and confesse Whereby it is manifest that they doe equalize the sprinkling of their lustrall water of their prophane ashes in the effect of taking away of veniall smaller sinners with the true and reall offering of their Christ their God and Man sacrificed offered vpon their Altars O most prophane most ignorant folly of these men their Christ and God truly offered as a propitiatorie sacrifice for sinnes by them and being the very same with that of the Crosse for expiating of sinnes doth no more worketh effecteth no more than the base seruile contemptible ashes of a few Palmes magically by them consecrated vpon Palme-Sunday and sprinkled vpon their counterfeit humiliats vpon Ashwednesday But to proceede heare yet somewhat as prodigious as the former if not more If either Priest or Lay person wanting oportunitie of a Ghostly Father to confesse their secret sinnes vnto shall with a most contrite heart lamenting bewailing their sinnes acknowledging them confessing them to God offer or receiue this their sacrifice with such a liuing faith and humble deuotion as they require yet this their Christ and God there so offered as a sacrifice Propitiatorie there so receiued as their diuine Sacrament doth not sanctifie the conscience doth not expiate the sinne of the consciences of such Offerers of such Receiuers of it as it is a sacrifice or as it is a Sacrament but as it is ioyned withall with an implicite and vertuall purpose and resolution of the offerers of the receiuers to confesse their sinnes to some approued Priest some Ghostly Father and if there be any Papall or Episcopall reseruation a custome a most detestable custome very frequent amongst them then forsooth the vertuall and implicit vow must bee to confesse to such Bishops to the holy Father and haue accordingly absolution from them or else this their Christ as a propitiatorie Sacrifice expiateth not their sinnes as a diuine Sacrament sanctifieth not their consciences O most blasphemous doctrine eneruating the bloud of Christ deuised only to set vp the Papall Soueraigntie and their Antichristian pride to the horrible ruine and inconsolable affliction of innumerable soules O most blasphemous doctrine and damnable follie rather than heresie The bloud of Christ truly offered truly receiued by soules confessing sinne to God lamenting sinne for the loue of God cannot doth not abolish sinne without implicite relation to a Papall absolution if it
shall please his Holinesse to restrain such sinnes to reserue such cases for his owne absolution and not without some pecuniarie mulcts as the practise Romanae Curiae taxe Apostolicae Cancellariae Of the Roman Court and the taxe of the Apostolicall Chancerie do euince Catholike and religious Hearers what can bee accounted impious doctrine against the only sacrifice of the Crosse if this be not to be esteemed to bee accounted for such To proceede As touching the satisfaction for punishment of sinne Good God! their Altar-sacrifice is weaker than their fatuouse Purgatorie-fire than their vaine Chimerian Indulgences in the founding the tresurie whereof although Christ be the principall yet he hath his consorts and fellowes Saint Stephens Saint Laurences c. to set vp and inrich their vaine checker for these forsooth can take away and satisfie by the way of Iustice of perfect requital and repaiment for all punishment remaining and due to sinne Yea further the profession and solemne vow of a Monasticall life in the handes and presence of the Superiours of such houses Monasteries Nunries is a compleate and perfect expiating of all punishment for sinne as absolute as Baptisme it selfe But their Christ offered in their Masse as it is a sacrifice doth not this effecteth not this neither in the offerers nor in them for whome it is offered nor in the receiuers What said I doth it not so yes but it doth I haue forgotten my selfe I confesse it it doth satisfie for punishment but when but when Marry when this their Christ is offered and sacrificed vpon priuiledged Altars as at Loretto at Sichem at S. Laurences at S. Sebastians without the Gates of Rome then then and vpon such Altars by the holy Father of Rome priuiledged for such ends Christ sacrificed doth and can satisfie for all punishment of sinne then he can worke a plenarie Indulgence and deliuerie of soule vpon soule out of Purgatorie Further when this their Christ is offered and sacrificed by English Priests in this Kingdome vpon Wednesdaies and Fridaies prouided they haue a sanctified Medall or Crosse for that purpose blessed by their holy Father either with them or lying vpon their Altar then forsooth vpon such an indulgent Indulgence from the most prophane Baron of the Roman Checker Christ can and doth satisfie for the punishment and paine due to sin how poore how weak how contemptible is their altar Christ their masse sacrifice which needeth the addition of such an Indulgencer to satisfie for the paine and punishment of sinne weaker and feebler is this sacrifice then their Ordinarie Priests with their blessed Graines of which some bring into this Kingdome Decades of thousands for so many thousands of soules to deliuer them from all paine of sinne inioyned or to bee inioyned by ghostly Fathers or to bee endured in Purgatorie But as for the powerfull Friers Monkes and Ignatians called Iesuites but haue not a dramme of Iesus his spirit in them they forsooth in their very Persons and knotted girdels surpasse this their Christ this their Propitiatorie Sacrifice for whosoeuer shall make a first confession Plenarie Indulgence and a generall pardon annexed to the very persons of Ignatians and Monkes at the first reconcilement of any man by them to the Roman Church of all his sinnes which they call a reconcilement from heresie to the Church of Rome to any of them shall precisely in that respect not because they are Priests for so euery Priest should haue it for confessing first to them and hauing absolution from them haue and obtaine a full Plenarie most full most plenarie Indulgence of all paines and punishment due to sinne How ambitious is this humour of Ignatians of Benedictine but vnbenedict Monks for Precedencie before their Secular Priests in so high a priuiledge and preeminencie of their Persons but rather how impious and detestable a practise is this of the Roman Sinagogue not to equalize only but to preferre the Persons of weake men before and aboue the Person of their Christ of their God of Maiestie offered sacrificed vpon their Propitiatorie Altars how mysticall euery knot of their Saint Francis his powerfull girdells are it is superuacaneous to deliuer Weare it next your skinne or shirt you haue such a pardon weare it longer greater is your pardon pray vpon all the knots maruailous are your pardons you shal die no sodain death O fopperies Concerning reconcilement to God mediation to God Alas neither Christ in their Masse nor vpon the crosse is with them sufficiēt Hear the Remists the deprauers Annotat. in 1. ad Tim. 2. of al youth in their deprauations vpon the first of Timothie Opus est Mediatore ad Mediatorem nec nobis alia est vtilior Maria We haue neede of a Mediator to our Mediator and none more profitable then Marie I acknowledge that they cite these words as out of deuout Bernard but considering what I haue related out of him here aboue and how contrarie this their vaine position is to his doctrine I cannot but thinke that the workes of that learned man are corrupted and depraued but howsoeuer Bernardus non vidit omnia especially in that corrupt and most ignorant age And the doctrine is so impious so hereticall that if all Austens all Bernards all Gregories all Angells from heauen should affirme it we were to denounce vnto them the Anatheme of S. Paul in his Epistle to the Galathians For if they vnderstand this their position of supposed and absolute necessitie because so appointed by God that we must needes haue a Mediatour to our Mediatour or else that in respect of our owne vnworthinesse and sinnes wee must needes haue a Mediatour to our Mediatour it is the most blasphemous heresie that euer was maintained worthy to be persecuted with fire and fagot for it ouerthroweth the whole worke of our Redemption and I doe boldly here pronounce agreeing to sacred Scriptures and doctrine of all ancient Churches that whosoeuer defendeth such necessitie of a Mediatour to our Mediatour he is fallen from Christ he is fallen from Grace and ought not to bee esteemed named or called a Christian As for you Catholike Auditors it is sufficient and abundantly sufficient that you haue an Aduocate a Redeemer a Sauiour An Aduocate of their Aduocates and Aduocatesses a Sauiour of their Sauiours and Sauiouresses a Redeemer of their Redeemeresses who inuiteth exhorteth yea commandeth All that are heauy loaden and labour vnder the burthen of sinne to come vnto him promising that hee will refresh them comfort them c. But as for such as are diffident in his promises doubtfull of his mercies distrustfull of his gratious admittance let them keep themselues still to their Sauiouresses and Aduocatesses which as is manifest cannot heare them but by the appointment power and authoritie of him who commandeth vs with all confidence to approch to him with a firme faith a full trust to enter into Ad Heb. 10. 19. the holies euen vnto himselfe our high
side with a launce and by these chinkes it is lawfull for me to sncke honnis from the rocke and oyle from the most hard stone and taste that the Lord is most sweet The secrets of the heart are opened by the holes of the body that great Sacrament of pietie is opened The bowels of mercie of our God in which the Orient from aboue hath visited vs are opened And why may not bowels appeare and shewe themselues by and through wounds In what more cleerely then in thy wounds doth it appeare O Lord that thou art sweete meeke and of much mercy for greater mercy no man hath then that hee giue his life for his friend but thou O Lord hast had greater charitie who hast giuen thy selfe for off-casts and damned persons Therefore my merit is the mercie of the Lord I am not altogether voyd of merit so long as he shall not be voyd of mercie and miserations But if the mercies of our Lord be many euen so am I much in merits for what if I am guiltie to my soule of many sinnes truely where sinnes haue abounded grace hath ouer-abounded And if the mercies of the Lord be from eternitie to eternitie I also wil for all eternities sing his mercies And a little after How great in the holes of the rocke is the multitude of weetnesse the fulnesse of grace the perfection of vertues Thus farre deuout Bernard Truely great and very delectable is the sweetnesse of these woundes honie in the mouth melodie in the eares and exultation in the heart from discoursing whereof I am most loath to surcease but my Text calleth mee away As for vse and application of this Doctrine I make no other then that which your religious hearts haue made already by your constant faith in it by your inflamed affections of loue to it But before I proceed to my other parts of my Text giue mee leaue to giue a glaunce at the Popish abomination set vp by humane inuention against the most dreadfull sacrifice of this blood of the crosse Let vs pause a little How much more the blood of Christ The Pontificians and Romanists who out of a Pharisaicall pride haue accursed and condemned all the Reformed Churches for the setting forth and extolling the Maiestie and efficacie of this blood and of the infinite energie of the one and onely sacrifice and daily oblation of the Christians haue withall by their most prophane and idolatrous sacrifice of their Masse against which I haue more largely discoursed out of their owne Canons in my Booke of Motiues as much as lieth in them conculcated the blood of the New Testament and prophaned the one and onely sacrifice of the crosse Antiochus was a figure of Antichrist hee tooke away and abolished for his time the daily sacrifice of the Iewes The Romane Antichrist Romane Anticrist I call him for we must vnderstand that there haue beene are and shall bee Antichrists of different kindes hath by might and maine oppugned the onely sacrifice of the crosse although with many faire pretences he would seeme to magnifie the same in his Massing sacrifice but alas how vainely Briefly let vs consider the Christians sacrifice of the crosse either as it is an expiation for sinne or a satisfaction for punishment a meanes of reconcilement a merit of saluation a powerfull deliuerance from Satan and we shall finde that in all these respects and diuers others not now to be stood vpon that the man of Sin and his Disciples haue most abhominably depraued prophaned contemned it The sacrifice of the crosse being of an immense valour and infinite efficacie Christ the high Priest by one onely oblation of it in the consummation of the world appeared for the destruction of sinne saith the Apostle in the ninth Chapter to the Hebrewes and the 26. verse adding in the very next verse thus Et quemadmodum And euen as it is appointed for man once to die and after followeth iudgement so Christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many And so frequent are the passages of holy Scripture for Christs once offering himselfe by once shedding of his blood and for his one oblation onely and once onely to be made that it is altogether needlesse to adde more for the confirmation of so euident a truth The Aduersaries themselues cannot denie it though to their owne confusion for by their new daily consecratings of Christ I should say their daily new makings productions factions creations and fieries of Christ they are confounded In such wordes and phrases they delight and such wordes their Transubstantiation requireth for it is impossible to conceiue a substantiall Transubstantiation without a substantiall production making faction or fierie of that substance into which the other substance which is destroied is transubstantiated substantially conuerted And this is so manifest in the very principles of all Philosophy that the learnedst of them cannot denie it and yet it is impossible and implieth that Christ who was and is substantially subsistent before all their consecrations should be by the same substantially produced made created for a substantiall production and making is the bringing and drawing out of a substance from a no being to a being from a non esse to an esse from a no existence to an existence how then is it conceiueable that Christs substance which was and is before their consecrations should be made and produced by the same Againe it is vnconceiueable that there should be a new production of any substance or Person and perfect supposit without the making of a new subsistence or existence Tell me then O all ye Pontificians what new subsistences what new existencies are made of one Christ by your productiue creatiue and factiue consecrations in your massing fiue words But were these daily and infinitely multiplied consecrations productions reall offerings reall desitions cessations remoouings destructions of Christ vpon your Altars in your stomakes possible as you pretend and beleeue yet by them all it is manifest and as cleare as the Sunne that you rest not in the one and only reall sacrifice of the crosse but that you require daily new reall offerings consecratings of Christ vpon your altars And can any one of them be so impudently ignorant as to affirme that the consecrations oblations consumptions desitions of Christ which they make daily and multiply infinitely vpon their prophane altars and in their stomacks should be the same in number and indiuiduall vnity with the making of Christ in his mothers wombe with that offering of Christ that consumption death of Christ vpon the crosse with that resurrection of Christ from the Sepulcher Beleeue me Christian and Catholike Hearers when it is demanded of them whether their sacrifice oblation making and consumption of Christ be the same in indiuiduall vnity and number with that vpon the crosse they are so pusled to solue the knot that they know not what to answere Sometimes they will say it is the same in number