my bodie which is giuen for you And yet it ceaseth not considered in some sorte to bee in manner of a sacrifice in as much as this is a remembrance of this propitiatorie sacrifice of our Lord on the Crosse according to that which is said Doe this in remembrance of mee shew forth the Lordes death vnto his comming In such sort that as the lambe was after a certaine manner a propitiatorie Sacrifice in that it did prefigure him so the holy Supper in like manner in as much as it bringeth him vnto our remembrances in that it representeth him vnto vs before the eyes of our faith And yet furthermore of this remembrance there proceedeth an other sacrifice euen the true sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing which the Church hath called by the name of Eucharist That is that when we call to mind that God hath so loued the worlde or rather the Church hated of the worlde as that hee hath giuen his dearely beloued Sonne the eternall and euerliuing for the mortall the iust for the vniust to the ignominious and reproachfull death of the Crosse to redeeme them from their sinnes wee adore the bowelles of his mercies wee are lifted vppe with a holy rauishment euen into the heauens farre from our our selues wee vtter our cries in a certaine feruencie of faith from all in generall saying praised bee thou O Lorde for that thy grace hath appeared in the worlde for that it hath superabounded in loue for the sauing of sinners and afterward let vs say with Saint Paule being humbled in our infirmities but imboldened in his grace to the appropriating and particular applying of this benefite vnto our selues Euen the sinners Lord whereof I am the chiefe I a blasphemer a persecutor and oppressor c. And this faith applyeth this sacrifice vnto our selues it maketh it seuerall and peculiar vnto euery one of vs it maketh vs then to say with confidence No more He that eateth the flesh and drinketh the blood of Christ hath eternall life No more I say God so loued the worlde as that he hath sent his sonne c. For what good doth this serue vs vnto but to increase our sorrowe and griefe if wee bee not the parties our selues But more boldly with the Apostle I am crucified with Christ I liue and yet not I now but Christ in mee Galath 2.20 in that I liue in the flesh I liue in the faith of the Sonne of God who hath loued mee and who hath giuen himselfe for me c. Thus in remembring this sacrifice the shamefull death of the Lord wee acknowledge our selues lost in our selues yea vtterly lost seeing that for to saue mankind it was requisite that the Sonne of God should be made man and expose himselfe to the reuilinges and slaunderous speeches of men And this knowledge begetteth in vs an acknowledgement of the free mercie of God which hath giuen vs his onely begotten Sonne yea who hath giuen vs himselfe in his Sonne How can we then do lesse then offer vp then sacrifice our selues to him To offer vp vnto him as saith the Apostle Rom. 12.1 Our bodies a liuing sacrifine holy acceptable a reasonable seruice In such sort as that in the holy Supper wee communicate really and effectually in the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ euen to the sucking of life nourishment to our soules from the same and this is that which proceedeth from it as a Sacrament Wee celebrate likewise his death from whom as out of a fountaine wee drawe life and that the rather because this his death is our life in as much as wee haue the propitiation for our sinnes in his blood and the celebrating of the remembrance of this propitiatorie sacrifice although somewhat improperly may be called a Sacrifice Seeing that consequently vpon the deepe meditation of this high mysterie and vnspeakable benefit receiued by the faithfull adored of the Angels we enter into a serious thanksgiuing in which we resolue to renounce and forsake our selues that so we may offer vp our selues the more freely vnto God ceasing from thenceforth to fashion our selues any more according to this present world seeking rather to transforme and chaunge our selues by the renewing of our vnderstanding c. And here we haue another sacrifice euen a sacrifice of peace in as much as there is a peace concluded betwixt God and the faithfull man a sacrifice of praise in as much as all increase and prosperitie are giuen vnto vs by God and God in this peace Finally a sacrificing of our selues in the offering vp of our thankfull heartes and resoluing therewithall to liue and die in him and vnto him who hath giuen himselfe for vs who hath vouchsafed to offer vp his body and to shed his blood for to purchase vs life who giueth vs them in ordinary bread and wine to nourish our soules vnto eternall life Amen And it is not for any other consideration Wherfore the old writers did vse this worde Sacrifice that the olde writers doe sometimes call the holy Supper a sacrifice a Sacrifice of remembrance and thankesgiuing of the faithfull And if our aduersaries doe keepe themselues within these boundes wee shall not neede to reason and dispute about wordes neither yet refuse or reiect the worde Sacrifice But and if that they tell vs that the Masse is a sacrifice propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead wee tell them that wee would haue them to aunswere vs whether they ground it vppon the holy Supper or els borrowe the institution thereof from els where If from else where then wee boldly auouch vnto them that there is no title of the Masse in all the holy scripture neyther of any thing belonging thereto neither yet in the workes of any of the auncient writers and this wee haue alreadie proued and shall bee able further to proue most plentifully if any thing bee wanting therein But if they fetch and deriue it from the holy Supper then wee auouch and say vnto them that it is no propitiatorie sacrifice that the Lord did neuer ordaine it for any such ende that the Apostles did neuer so teach it neyther yet that the fathers did so vnderstande it And this is the matter that wee are to handle and intreate of in this Chapter In the meane time wee will note and obserue by the way that these wordes Sacrifice and Sacrament doe not alwaies keepe the proper limites and boundes but that sometimes they runne in their generall signification and are taken eyther for all holy offices or for all the signes vsed in the Church to signifie any thing August l. 19. contr Faust c. 14. In Psal 141. Psal 65. de peccat meritis Bernard de caena Dom. And to the end that the doubt of this generall vsing of this worde Sacrament may not trouble vs it appeareth in certaine olde writers that they haue giuen this name to the signe of the Crosse to all the ceremonies of baptisme to
them from natural sense and vnderstanding to the spirit from an opinion to faith and from the earth vnto heauen c. And therfore we see not that euer the Scripture doth lead vs to obserue and marke any miracles in the signes of his Mysteries notwithstanding that it is a dutie to be most carefully discharged to publish set forth the maruailous works of the Lord in the church It teacheth vs the famous and worthie passing of the destroying Angell ouer the houses of the Israelits without touching of theÌ„ The lamb was the memoriall therof and that so cleare and euident a one as that it was called by the name of the Passouer it self In this passing ouer then ther is pointed out vnto vs a miracle namely in the difference which the Angel made betwixt the Israelits and the Egyptians and in the lambe it recoÌ„mendeth vnto vs a mysterie So likewise of Manna the rock in that the one was rained the other dissolued into water it is a miracle but in that they feed queÌ„ch the thirst of the true Israelits spiritually there lies a mystery And of the water conuerted into wine in Cana S. Iohn maketh mention vnto vs of a myracle Of Iorden turned dayly into bloud by reason of so many persons as daily confessed their sinnes and were baptised how much more famous had it beene and worthie of renowne And yet this was no myracle but a misterie Verie excellently thereforefore hath a certaine Schooleman said That wee must not looke for myracles Aegyd l. 2. examer c. 13. but where they are That where and so oft as euer we can discharge and free the holy Scriptures by the things that we naturally see that there and so oft wee ought not to haue recourse vnto the power of God nor vnto myracles Now we may free them most easily when wee vnderstand misteries mistically Sacraments Sacramentally figures figuratiuely Chrys in Ioh. c. 6. â—om 46. spiritual things spiritually c. Chrysostome saith What is it to vnderstand things carnally Simply according to the letter without conceiuing and taking any further thing to be meant and contained therein But it is requisite saith hee to consider and looke vpon all misteries with inward eyes that is to say spiritually And as we conceiue them spiritually euen so wee receiue them in like manner namely by faith For saith he Idem in c. 11. ad Hetr hom 21 Theophyl ibid. Theod. dial 1. Thoâ—â— 3. part summ q. 78. art 2. We thinke that the things that rest in hope are without substance but faith giueth them a substance and yet not as though it gaue them any thing more but because it becommeth vnto them their verie essence and being c. Theodoret The things that are misticall are spoken mistically and the things which are not knowne vnto all are openly declared Thomas likewise The word of Christ worketh effectually and Sacramentally Sacramentally that is to say saith hee according to the force of the signification CHAP. II. That the doctrine of the holy Supper must be examined by the rules aboue handled as also all that which is deliuered of all other the Sacraments as well of the old as of the new Testament NOw wee are for the most part of this mind that the rules aboue named may be practised and vsed in other Sacraments but our Aduersaries wil not agree that they are so in the explication and vnfoulding of the doctrine of the holy supper and therefore wee are consequently to see if the holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers doe tolerate and admit yea or rather necessarily presse and vrge that the doctrine of the holy supper be examined and tried by these same rules which wee reduce into a few words in these manner of tearmes That a Sacrament is a visible signe of a thing that is to say of an inuisible grace That the signe and the thing are Correlatiues and that therefore the one is not the other That the signe is giuen by the Minister or Pastour but the thing by God alone That the signe is receiued by the hand both of true belieuers and hypocrites but the thing by faith of the belieuers onely That the likenesse that is betwixt the signe and the thing hath caused the name of the one to be attributed vnto the other that is to say the name of the thing to the signe but that thereis not therfore any changing of the one into the other neither by way of myracle nor yet of any supernaturall worke c. but onely of names the more plainely to point out the mysterie That Sacraments and misteries haue one proper stile which must bee vnderstood mistically and Sacramentally c. which hath beene verified and approued in all the other Sacraments as well of the old Testament wherof the Apostle saith That our Fathers did eate the same meare and drinke the same drinke as also in Baptisme a Sacrament of the new Testament Let vs come therefore vnto the holy supper of our Lord. We belieue that in it In what sort aâ—d manner the faithfull communicate and receiue the Lordes supper the belieuer receiueth drinketh eateth not only bread and wine but also the verie flesh of Christ and the true verie bloud of Christ the flesh giuen for the life of the world the bloud shed for the remission of our sinnes That it is not more true that the bread is broken and the wine powred out or that they become nourishment vnto our bodies for the sustaining of this fraile and brittle life then it is true that the flesh of our Lord is broken and his bloud shed for vs and that they become nourishment for our soules drie and barren that they are of themselues but watered and altered by his righteousnesse to nourish them vnto eternall life Much more then whereas the bread and wine are turned into our substance by the operation of our naturall heate to bee incorporated into vs doe the flesh and bloud of our Lord by the operation of the holy Ghost incorporate vs more and more into him wee communicate his substance and in the same his life and all his benefits as members of Christ bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh to be crucified iustified sanctified and glorified in him insomuch that our heat being more strong then the bread and wine doth turne and alter them into our substance the holie Ghost being stronger and more mightier then we doth conuert and turne vs both to him and into him And by that meanes wee receiue not onely Christ really and substantially in the holy Supper celebrated according to his institution but we are wrought into one bodie more and more amongst our selues of which body he is the head and we the members the faithfull I meane that draw their spirituall life the sense motion and spirituall action of their soules from him a liuely and quickened body by his spirit one togither by him one
yeeld him thanks calling to mind the shedding of his blood And in the second Apologie Idem in Apol 2. after he hath described the whole ceremony of the holy supper This meat saith he is called the Eucharist wherof no man is to be permitted to be partaker but those which belieue that which we teach c. For we receiue not these things as common bread and drinke c. But as our sauiour hauing taken flesh by the word of God hath both flesh bloud for our saluation so we are taught that this meate sanctified of him by the word of prayer wherewith our bloud our flesh are nourished by changing alteration is the flesh and bloud of the same Iesus Christ made flesh c. But Bellarmine doth arme and fortifie himselfe with this place and let vs see how This is not saith he bread nor common drinke And who doubteth thereof seeing it is sanctified by the institution of the Lord But so it is that it is bread drinke which is not become an accident but continueth a substance and therefore hath only changed his vse and not his nature It is sanctified from God by the word of praier This is not then by the fiue pretended words of transubstantiues but by the ordinary common maner of praying made vnto God according to his institution thereto all the people answered Amen And with this meat sanctified Our flesh bloud are nourished by mutatioÌ„ change Now it must needs follow that this is either really or sacramentally Really dare they say so of the flesh bloud of our Lord And that sith Bellarmine himselfe denieth it For thereupon saith he it would follow that the Eucharist should be the nourishment of the body not of the spirit theÌ„ which there is nothing more absurd It remaineth then that it is sacramentally to giue place to his similitude That as our flesh bloud are nourished by the alteration of sanctified bread wine turned into our substance so are our soules by the flesh bloud of Christ made flesh and bloud for vs communicated vnto vs vnto a spirituall life by the operation of the holy Ghost Idem expurg p. 75. at the same instant that the signes are coÌ„municated Note that the Index hath not forgotten to note that whatsoeuer Langus hath writteÌ„ vpon these places must be raced because that he doth not therein acknowledge the doctrine of transubstantiation And yet hee is a professed Romish Catholike Ireneus Iren. l. 4. contr haeres c. 34. The earthly bread receiuing the name whereby God calleth it is not any longer common bread but the Eucharist composed of two things an earthly and a heauenly and thus our bodies receiuing the Eucharist are not any longer corruptible hauing the hope of the resurrection Let vs ponder and weigh all these wordes The bread taketh his calling of God that is to say by his institution of common is made sacred it is made the Eucharist the same compounded of two things an earthly and a heauenly Not then of the accidents of one earthly thing and one heauenly thing but both the two must remaine the earthly that is the sanctified bread appointed to a holy vse and the heauenly that is the bread of heauen the liuing breade c. that liuing breade which of corruptible ones maketh vs incorruptible by the faith of the resurrection notwithstanding we as yet creepe vpon the earth here below subiect to corruption after the same sort verily that the earthly bread becommeth heauenly becommeth liuing vnto vs not by any reall change that is made in his nature but by the faith in which wee receiue it and by the vocation which it hath receiued of the institution Whereupon Ireneus doth not doubt to say speaking of the Marcionites heretickes of his time Idem l. 4. c. 34â— 57. How should our Lord haue iustly confessed that is to say declared the bread huius conditionis quae est secundum nos of this earthly nature and condition his body temperamentum caliâ—is that which was in the cup his bloud Namely if our Lord were not verie man Againe Taking the bread which is a creature the Lord said that it was his body the cup his bloud c. And we say the same also that is sacramentally And as for our aduersaries Thom. p. 3. q. 75. art 8. if they will haue it to be really let them remember themselues of Thomas his Maxime That it cannot be auouched in sound Diuinitie That the bread is the reall bodie of Christ but that it is an assertion of their owne That the Catholike Church did neuer speak so c. For as concerning that which Bellarmine alleadgeth out of Ireneus against vs How will they say Râ—latm l. 2. c. 5. 6. that the flesh falleth into corruption and receiueth not life which is nourished of the bodie and bloud of our Lord taking it in such grosse manner hee ought to call to his remembrance that which he said handling the place of Iustine That there is not a fowler errour then to say That the bodie and bloud of our Lorde ordained for the nourishment of our soules do turne and worke to the nourishment of our bodies Clement of Alexandria Clem. Alex. in â—edag l. 1. The flesh and bloud of Christ that is the nourishment of faith of the promise Againe That that which was blessed was wine and not Accidents he sheweth it saying I will not drinke any more of the fruit of this vine c. And againe There is a double bloud of Christ Hoc est bibere c. the one carnall by the which wee are redeemed the other spirituall by the which we are annointed And This is to drinke the blood of Christ to be partakers of the incorruption of the Lord c. Tertullian Tertul. l. 4. aduers Marcion c. 40. He made the bread which he tooke and distributed to his Apostles his bodie saying This is my bodie that is to say the figure of my bodie Where we haue to note that by this Hoc this he vnderstandeth not an Indiuiduum vagum as our aduersaries doe but the bread and not a bread either vanished away of it selfe or transformed into an other nature but a bread of a sacramentall condition and qualitie in that it is the signe of the bodie of Christ yea the signe of a true bodie saith he For there could not possibly bee any figure if there were not a true bodie And from thence he reasoneth against Marcion which denyed the truth of his bodie Againe Come saith Ieremie let vs cast the wood into his bread verily into his bodie for God hath so reuealed it in our Gospell that is to say Idem ibid. l. 3. c. 19. Idem aduers cund l. 1. c. 14. the Gospell of Saint Thomas calling the bread his bodie to the ende that from thence thou mayest know that hee hath giuen
the figure of his bodie in bread c. In breadâ— saith he elsewhere Quo ipsum corpus suum representat whereby he representeth his owne bodie And not In quo as Bellarmine woulde haue it which shoulde bee after his sence Idem de resurrect carn Wherein he giueth his bodie present He obiecteth a place like to that of Ireneus The flesh is nourished of the bodie and blood of Christ to the end that the soule may bee fedde or fatted of God An ordinarie argument amongst the fathers to proue the resurrection That God hath euidently shewed that hee woulde saue the soule and the bodie when as in the principall ceremonies of the Church hee hath alwayes ioyned them together as in the Eucharist giuing the Sacrament to the bodie the grace to the soule and sometimes they speake hyperbolicallie But let him here againe call to minde that which he lately said That to take it so would make a maruellous grosse error And then that he must vnderstande it sacramentally which is as much as to say expounding Tertullian by himselfe by these words contained in the same booke Idem ibid. c. 37. Although our Lorde saide that the flesh profiteth nothing yet wee must bee carefull to make the sence answerable to the matter there spoken of for they accompted his wordes hard as if hee had verily determined to haue giuen them his flesh to eate To the end therefore that he might settle the estate of saluation in the spirit he hath mentioned before how that it is the spirite that quickeneth c. Verily saith Pamelius that is to say rawlie From what place may not a man bee able to escape and defend himselfe from if such figures be receiued in disputations Origen giueth vs these Maximes which doe quite ouerturne transubstantiation Orig. in Mat. c. 15. That which is sanctified by the word of God and prayer doth not sanctifie of it owne nature him that vseth it Againe This meate also thus sanctified as concerning his materiall portion goeth downe into the bellie and from thence into the draught according to that which our Lord hath said That which entreth in at the mouth goeth downe into the bellie and is cast out into the draught c. What can a man imagine that may be spoken more clearely If as some doe a man would say that hee speaketh not of the Eucharist it appeareth to the contrarie by these words taken out of Saint Paule handling this matter against them which did abuse it And therefore many are weake amongst you c. 1. Cor. 11. If any man say with Bellarmine that by the matter which goeth into the draught is vnderstood the accidents what Grammer or what Rhetoricke did euer teach this figure which taketh the matter for the accidents What is it then saith hee that profiteth in this meate Verily not the matter of bread but the word spoken ouer the same to him that eateth it worthily And these thinges are spoken of his figuratiue and symbolicall bodie c. Of this meate which whosoeuer shall eate he shall liue for euer which no wicked man can eate c. Againe Wee drinke the blood of Christ not onely in the ceremonie of the Sacramentes Orig. in Numer hom 16. In Mat. c. 26. but also when we receiue his wordes wherein life consisteth according to that which himselfe hath said The wordes that I haue said vnto you are spirite and life c. And expounding the same wordes of the holy Supper This bread which the worde of God confesseth to bee his bodie is the nursing worde of our soules c. But saith Bellarmine Idem in Exod. hom 13. Idem hom 5. in diuers euang loc So that wee take heede saith he that wee let not any part of the consecrated gift to fall And what is that which wee doe not our selues for the reuerence due vnto the Sacramentes And that receiuing the breade of life and the cuppe wee ought humblie to cast downe our selues and say with the Centurion Lord I am not worthie that thou shouldest enter vnder my roofe c. This roofe I aske them in conscience what it is whether it be our bellie or our soule seeing it is our soule and not our bellie that must be humbled Saint Cyprian The Lord calleth his bodie bread made vp of many cornes and his blood Cypr. l. 1. ep 5. wine pressed out of manie grapes Then Hoc that is to say This bread this wine against our aduersaries And in another place he yeeldeth the reason Idem de vnct Chrismat Idem l. 2. cp 3. Because that in the table of the Lord the thinges signifying and the signified are called by the same name He saith not because that the signe is transformed into the thing or that the thing taketh the place of the signe Againe The bloud of him by whome we are redeemed and quickned can not bee seene seeing the wine is not in the cuppe by the which the blood of Christ ostenditur is shewed A little after he saith Exprimitur is expressed which is declared by the testimony and sacrament of all scriptures Hee disputeth against them which vsed not anie thing but water in the Sacrament contesting and solemnely affirming the necessarie and vnauoidable vse of wine because that the proportion of the life and corporall sustentation compared with the spirituall is not otherwise well signified and represented therein And how then shall the argument bee able to maintaine it selfe if there bee nothing but Accidentes In his sermon of the Supper yet some doubt that it was not his Before these wordes this meate was not commodious for anie other thing then to nourish the bodie but after that the Lorde had sayde Doe this in remembrance of me This is my flesh this is my bloud As oft as it is celebrated with this forme of wordes and substance of faith this substantiall bread and this cup consecrated by a solemne blessing profiteth vnto life and to the saluation of euerie man the whole together being a medicine to heale infirmities and a burnt sacrifice to purge iniquities Note first that he attributeth not the consecration to the fiue wordes but to the institution Secondly That the wordes themselues which they call Sacramentall are not those which they determine of and affirme to bee but Haec est caro mea hic est sanguis meus In the third place That faith is necessarie thereunto Fourthly That it euer continueth to bee bread and the cuppe blessed and consecrated not transubstantiated And fiftly That they doe not chaunge their nature the signes still continuing their power and vertue to nourish the bodie and grace accompanying the same by the operation of the worde to nourish the soule This is that which hee vnfoldeth and layeth open in the same treatise in other wordes which they faine would but can not abuse to make for their purpose The bread saith he which the Lorde set before his
take the name of the things signified the Doue of the holy Ghost the rocke of Christ c. He also giueth vs now the holy supper for an example As saith hee secundam quendam modum After a certaine manner the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the bodie of Christ and the Sacrament of his bloud the bloud so the Sacrament of faith is saith Note After a certaine manner that is to saye Per modum Sacramenti suo modo sub mysterio in manner of a Sacrament sacramentally vnder a mysterie If it had beene reallie hee would not haue so spoken And this is according to that which he saith in another place That in the sacraments men are to regard not what they are Idem cont Maxim Ep. l. 3 c. 22. but what they demonstrate and signifie because they are one thing and do signifie another Then they are alwaies the same that they are for to signifie another thing that which they are doth not vanish neither become any other thing And hereof hee taketh for example in S. Iohn The spirit water bloud 1. Ioh. 5.8 And this is the cause why he admonisheth vs heretofore to look wel to our selues beware that we take not the signes for the things signified that in the matter of Baptisme of the Lords Supper which he toucheth expressely by name saying Wherein we must obserue what they haue relation vnto August de doctr Christ l. 3 c. 5. 9. the more to reuerence them not with a carnall seruice but with a spirituall libertie But seeing that we could alleadge bring to this purpose all S. Augustine we will content our selues to stand vpon those places that seeme most proper comming neerest to the purpose Idem cont Admi. c. 12. in Psal 3. In senten Prosper aswell for the one part as for the other The Lord saith he hath not doubted to say This is my bodie in giuing the signe of his bodie He admitteth Iudas to the feast wherein he recommēdeth to his disciples the figure of his bodie and bloud The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ is called suo modo after his maner the bodie of Christ although in deed it be but the sacrament of that bodie which was nailed vpon the crosse c. Not saith he by the truth of the truth of the thing but by a signifying mysterie And to children August in ser ad infantes That which you haue seene is the bread the cup your eies declare the same but that which your faith which is to be instructed demandeth the bread is the bodie of Christ the cup is his bloud And this notwithstanding is the Proposition which our aduersaries do so deeply condemne You wil say yea but we know wel enough from whence he tooke his flesh c. He was crucified c. He sitteth now at the right hand of the father c. How thē is the bread his bodie the wine his blood These things brethrē are called sacraments because that in them one thing is seene another vnderstood that which is seen hath a corporal figure that which is vnderstood hath a spiritual fruite c. Wilt thou vnderstand what this bodie of Christ is Listen giue eare to the Apostle saying to the faithfull you are the bodie and members of Christ c. And to communicate thereat Idem de doctr Christ l. 3. c. 26. Idem in Ioh. tract 25. 26. to eate the same what shall we prepare for our selues Not the teeth saith he the bellie Prepare the hart not the mouth beleeue and thou hast eaten To beleeue in him that is to eate the bread of life that is to eate with the hart not to grinde with the teeth He that beleeueth in him eateth him he is inuisiblie fatted seeing also that he is inuisibly borne again let vs alwaies note how he compareth eating with regeneration then is the bodie and bloud of Christ life vnto euery one Idem de verb. Domini in Luc. Serm. 33. Idem de verb. Apostol Scrm. 2. Idem de Trin. l. 3. c. 10. when that which is taken visiblie in the sacrament is eaten drunk spiritually in the truth of the thing c. To eate that is to be made againe but thou art made againe by making that againe which is not wanting in thee Eate life drinke life thou shalt haue life euē that life which ceaseth not to be wholly vpright And yet he saith in another place That the bread that is ordained for this action is consumed in the receiuing of the Sacrament This bread then that is receiued in the holy Supper is not that life this bread is nothing els but the Sacrament And again This bread is eaten of many which do not eat life Life then lieth not in this bread it is from elsewhere according to that which he saith He in whom Christ dwelleth not eateth him not Idem in Iohn tract 26. notwithstanding that he do shut vp within his teeth the sacrament c. but rather he eateth his owne iudgement because of his rash presuming to approch vnto the Sacraments of Christ being vncleane Which thing we haue sufficiently handled before Thus saith he That the Christian soule heareth not in vain Sursum corda Idem Ep. 1 56. let your harts beset on high neither doth it answere in vaine That it hath it in the Lord. These were the words vsual in the seruice preparatiues to the receiuing of the Sacrament Idem Serm. 152. de Temp. contr Faust l. 33. c. 8. Idem in Ioh. tract 50. Idem de verb. Domin in Luc. Serm. 18. 33. 64. Hee toucheth Christ that beleeueth in Christ He is come neere vnto not with the flesh but with the hart not by anie bodily presence but by the power of faith send faith thou hast hold of him Thou canst not look for him any more at hand for he is in heauen look for him by faith c. It is not that which is seene that nourisheth but that which is beleeued This is not that bread which goeth into the body but the bread of eternal life that sustaineth our soule Our eies are fed with the light the eye of our hart with God neither can the multitude of eies diminish or make him lesse In like maner of Christ in the supper If ther were great prouisiō store of meat allowed thee for thy dinner thou wouldest prepare and make readie thy bellie Thou art allowed thou art esteemed of God prepare thy soule Now so many places so plaine and many more in the places from whence these are taken shall they be deluded and defeated by some pettie and friuolous distinction They obiect these words in S. Augustine Christ was caried in his owne hand when hee saith recommending his body vnto his Disciples This is my body Let them put thereto that which is said afterward
the Apostle commaunded that in the sanctification and preparation going before the distribution thereof there should be certain prayers made S. August Ep. 118. et 1. Tim. 2. Hee calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the vow as the Apostle sayeth to Timothie wherein this vow of vnion and agreement was witnessed as furthermore the scope and drift of the Sacrament is that wee should grow to bee one with Christ and one amongst our selues Of the Lordes prayer Saint Augustine sayth Of the Lords praier August serm 237. de temp Item Epist ad Paulinum c. Ambrose l. 5. de sacr c 4. Hieron l. 3. aduers Pelag. Concil Tolet. 4. The kisse of peace Chrysost in l. 1 de compunct cord After the Sermon we will come to the Prayer you know whether we must come namely to the holie Table and that which you shall haue first to demaund of God Dimitte nobis debita c. forgiue vs our trespasses and debtes as we forgiue them that are indebted to vs. And in an other place All the Church almost concludeth this whole prayer with the Lordes prayer c. And S. Ambrose and S. Ierome in like manner That this Prayer was said Post verba Christi that is after the wordes of institution and it was followed by all the faithfull and there are also certaine councels which reproue the Priestes of Spaine for that they did not say it but vppon the Lordes day And as for the kisse of peace Chrysostome sayeth The Lord commandeth to leaue thy gift before the Altar and first to be reconciled vnto thy brother c. We retaine the shadow of this commandement and let goe the substance and the trueth thereof for it is a common custome to be present at the kisse of peace at such time as the gifts are offered to God but J feare me that it doth come from a number of you from no further than the lips c. And in an other place hee putteth it presently after the Lords praier We do all of vs saith he fall downe together namely the Ministers and the people and when we are to come to the dutie of the kisse of peace we doe euerie one mutually salute one another c. Ierome Is there any that communicateth against their wils or which in the administration of the holie food doe put out their hande to take it but turne away their face and offer the kisse of Iudas Saint Augustine more plainely After the Lordes prayer sayeth hee there is saide Pax vobiscum peace be with you S. August Serm. de vigil Pasch In Ambrosiana In Graecis and the Christians doe euerie one mutually kisse each other with a holie kisse but let the signe of the peace of Christ which the lips doe testifie be rooted inward◠lie in the conscience that so the harts may ioyn and be vnited as close together as the lips And it is the verie same which is read in the Lithurgies Offerte vobis pacem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Offer to your selues peace Let vs salute one another with a holy kisse c. The peace of Christ and of the church be alwaies with vs c. Now after that they had prayed vnto God to vnite knit them more more one vnto an other in Christ The Communion and protested their sincere vnion in the Spirite amongst thēselues there followed the communicating and distributing of the holy Sacramentes in this forme and manner The Ministers did communicate amongst them then they distributed them vnto the Deacons and afterward the Ministers and Deacons vnto the faithfull This appeareth by the Canon of the first Councell of Nice ioyned to Ruffinus Let the Deaconreceiue the grace of the holy Communion at the handes of the Bb. Concil Nic. c. 18. Ruff. l. 1. c. 6. or Pastor and let the Deacon likewise distribute it in the absence of the Pastor where we see that this action was not thought to depend vpon the power and effectualnes of the Minister as some afterward would haue had it they did distribute it vnder both kinds the bread and the cuppe Whereby it appeareth that to speake in a word it cannot be noted out of any olde Writer in any one place where the bread was separated from the cuppe or the cuppe from the bread In S. Ambrose also S. Ambrose in 2 ad Cor. who yeeldeth a reason though not altogether so pertinent and fit The Sacrament which wee receiue sayeth hee serueth both for the bodie and the soule the flesh of Christ for the saluation of the bodie and the blood for the saluation of the soule Whereby at the least wee learne with what conscience our aduersaries alledge against vs S. Ambrose his Masse which they haue most lewdly gelded in taking the distribution of the cuppe from it they did deliuer the Sacramentes into the proper handes of the Communicants men or women Euseb l. 6. c. 43 and this is manifest by that which is spoken by Nouatus who gaue vnto euery one his part of the oblation being consecrated and by the hereticall woman who made shew to take the bread at the hand of Chrysostome and by these wordes of S. Niceph. l. 13. c. 7. Ambrose vnto Theodosius Wilt thou take with thy bloodie handes the holie bodie of our Lord c a most euident signe that this opinion had not as then taken place that this operation did change the nature of the thing in such sort as that it might not be touched with the handes of Christians and the bread was giuen in gobbets and the cup went along from hand to hand according to the multitude of the Communicantes The wordes speaking and vttering vnto them in diuerse Churches diuerse wordes As in the Latine Accipe corpus Christi Take the bodie of Christ Take the blood of our Lorde and they aunswered Amen let it bee so vnto me or So be it An other waye The bodie of our Lord the blood of Christ keepe and preserue thee vnto eternall life Also The bodie of Christ And they aunswered Amen The blood of Christ the cuppe of life Aunswere Ambrose lib. 4. de sacr cap. 5. S. Clemens in Lithurg Microlog c. 19. Amen as it is to bee seene in the Latine Lithurgies imitating therein the wordes in the Gospell Take eate this is my bodie c. Where in the meane time wee may note and marke that the wordes which the Priest rehearseth now a dayes for himselfe alone were then by the Minister spoken vnto all the faithfull Communicantes In the Greeke Church I giue thee to communicate sayde the Minister the precious bodie of our Lorde and Sauiour for the remission of thy sinnes and to the assuring of thee of eternall life And so likewise of the cuppe according to the wordes of Saint Paule The bread which wee breake and the cuppe which wee blesse is it not the Communion of the bodie of Christ And all the prayers in
the Monasterie of neuer so little a thing for his purgation hee was put to receiue the Sacrament in these wordes Corpus Domini sit tibi in purgationem Let the bodie of the Lord bee thy purgation that is for a proofe and triall whether thou bee guiltie or no whereas they were wonte to say in the supper To feede thee vnto eternall life Some gaue it vnto the deade whereuppon the Canon in the councell of Auxerre was made De Eucharistia mortuis non danda and all did vse to giue it to young children whereuppon came the constitution and lawe made by Charles the great To haue the Eucharist readie for to giue to children euerie daye Others did weare it at their breast as they vse to doe the Agnus Dei the blessed graines c. at this day The eight practise was the beginning of the consecrating of it in honour of the Saintes the Masse drawing to their profit and aduantage all the abuses and poisonous infections which were sprung vp together in the Church Whereupon we reade that Gregorie the third added these wordes vnto the Canon Quorum festiuitas hodiè celebratur whose feast is solemnized this day About the yere 750. and 800. because that at this time beganne the inuocation of Saintes to be very rife in the Church of Rome To be briefe Adrian the first as we haue seene redoubled and drew out the Offertorie into a far greater length to the end that there might be the more time leasure for the bringing of their offeringes and caused to be receiued so neere as he could the Gregorian office in euerie place So likewise did Stephen his successor and ordained moreouer that in euery Masse said vpon the Lords day there should be sung Gloria in excelsis whereof wee haue a law by Charles the Great lib. 6. c. 170. The saying of Masses for the dead was not yet established by law Ep. 2. Gregor ad Bonifac. in Tom. 2. concil Naucler Ge. 25 so carefull was he to apply himselfe to all their decrees and nouelties And all this fell betwixt the time of Gregorie the first and the thirde which fell about the time of Pipin and Charles toward the yeare 800. And yet this is to be noted that Masses for the dead were not as yet established by law for Boniface the great Apostle of the Romaine ceremonies in Germanie consulting with Gregorie the second about his commission demaunded of him amongst other questions If kinsfolkes shoulde offer for their dead and so thereupon was inioyned by the Pope to see it done and obserued CHAP. IX What was the manner of the proceeding of the Masse and of the making vp of the same as also of the vse thereof after the time of Charlemaine and particularly of the taking away of the cup of the Lord. NOw we haue hitherto seene the setting together and building of the Masse and that for many ages and by many authors and rearers of the same and of the diuers differing peeces whereof it was patcht From henceforward we are to looke vpon and take the view of the rising not so much of the building as of the vse and manner of vsage thereof falling out more pernicious faultie then the former Let vs alwaies call to mind that the holy Supper by hy his first institution was a remembraunce of the death and passion of our Lord and a communicating of the faithfull in the bodie and blood of the same with the creatures of bread and wine as seales and assurances of eternall life and wee haue seene the making of a Supper without any Communion a pretended sacrifice without any remembraunce of the death of Christ But now it becommeth a custome to vse it in remembraunce not any more of the passion of our Lord and of the merite of his crosse but of the Saints Masses in the honour of the Saints and for diuers other vses of their sufferings and of their merites It is made good for all vses for the liuing for the dead for the whole and for the sicke for men and for beasts for the fruits of the earth and the distemperatures of the aire c. This is now from henceforth become a Catholicon and vniuersal remedie good for euerie thing except for that from which it is fallen and degenerate as namely for that for which the holy Supper was instituted and contrariwise there is not left vnto the holy Supper whose place it vsurpeth the least marke or signe of it selfe It is good for the dead Let the remembrance of the dead be made in all Masses Concil Cabilon Can. 33. saith the Councell of Caualion and the reason is added though it bee smally to the purpose For euen so saith it therein is prayer dayly made for the liuing And it was likewise at this time that they were begun to bee ordained by tennes and thirties c. as it appeareth by the Epistles of Sigibaldus Torchelmas Cuthbertus Lullus c. of giuing landes to the Church in these wordes Offero Deo omnes res quae in hac chartula continentur insertae pro remissione peccatorum meorum parentum ad seruiendum Deo ex its in sacrificiis Missarumue solemniis c. I offer vnto God all that which is contained in this scedule for the remission of my sinnes and the sinnes of my forefathers for the seruice of God practised in the offering of sacrifices and saying of Masses a thing neuer heard of to bee vttered and spoken of by any former writers Good against tempestes Call to your mindes saith Lullus and remember to sing the Masses which are accustomed to be sung for tempests Good against sicknes The priests saith Wigbertus at this time haue said euery one of them fiue Masses for the recouerie of Lullus Good for warres Let the Priests saith Charles and Lotharius say the Masses vsed for them that go to wars with vs. Good for to purge offenders If any man in the Monasteries saith the Councell of Wormes be suspected of theft let him be purged by the taking of the Sacrament And Sybicon Bb. of Spire in the councell of Mentz about the yeare 1100. did by it purge himselfe of adultery Good to hallow cities and fortresses Leo the fourth about the yeare 900. did hallow the Cittie Leopolis against the Saracens And finally good against inchanters for the priestes do vse the hallowed linnens wherein the Eucharist is wrapped for to quench and put out fire And it was requisite that the Councell of Schelestat should helpe and remedie the same by an expresse article Concil Selegstad c. 6. But how farre off are all these vses from that which is ordained by the Sonne of God He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood he abideth in me and I in him Againe All we saith the Apostle which doe eate one and the same bread are one bodie c. But let vs proceed if it bee S. Gregories it deliuereth soules out of
by his grace with him And thus haue both the holy Scriptures as also the olde writers spoken and written Our Lord saith According to the holy scriptures He that commeth to me he that beleeueth in me he that eateth me be that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him he hath eternal life he liueth through me I will raise him vp againe at the last day c. This maner of communication participation ceaseth not spiritually to be performed and effected without the Sacrament but our Lorde as helpes vnto vs against our infirmitie hath prouided and appointed these Sacraments for vs in the eating and drinking whereof it pleaseth him to set out vnto vs the certaintie of this spirituall life which is in his bodie and bloud and that as verely as the corporall consisteth in the bread and wine And as for the bread he hath saide of it Iohn 6. This is my bodie But my bodie saith he which is giuen for you That bodie whereof hee had saide in Saint Iohn My flesh is meate in deed That flesh whereof he had saide The bread which I will giue you is my flesh and this I will giue for the life of the worlde For this bodie this flesh doe nothing auaile vs saue in that they are giuen and deliuered for vs for the remission of our sinnes and for the redemption of our soules And therfore he expoundeth himselfe vnto the Capernaites The flesh profiteth nothing the wordes which I speake vnto you are spirit and life Of the Cuppe also hee hath saide This is my bloud the bloud of the newe Testament c. And in another place This Cup is the new Testament in my bloud Not of his bloud onely but also of the Cup to the ende wee should not stay our selues or rest in the elements of this Cuppe in deede which he was to drinke for vs euen in the elements of that bitter death whereof hee had saide Let this Cup passe from me For this Cup this Passion is the newe Testament the newe couenant of God with vs. And in my bloud saith hee which is shed for you For the bloud of our Lorde entereth not into our stomackes neither yet is it shed or powred into our bowels and entrailes for to what ende should there bee any such thing done and acted in this Sacrament where the question is of the nourishment of our soules and of a feeding vnto eternall life This bloud likewise simplie considered maketh not for the profite of our soules neither as it is bloud neither as yet in that it is the bloud of Christ but herein onely for that it is the bloud of Christ crucified for vs the bloud of the sonne of God shed for the remission of our sinnes and for the saluation of our soules To eate this flesh to drinke this bloud is to draw by faith our spirituall life out of the fountaine of his flesh broken for vs of his blood shed for vs of Christ the sonne of God crucified for vs. This is to liue by him this is to liue in him this is to be with him that is to say to liue by his righteouâ—nesse whereas wee die by our owne sinne by the redemption which hee hath wrought where as wee lay in bondage and thraldome and finallie to bee iustified by him and sanctified in him that so wee may bee quickened and glorified also in him Neither haue the ancient fathers otherwise vnderstoode this communicating of Christ Saint Cyprian Our coniunction with Christ doth not make any mixture of persons According to the old writers Cypr. de Caen. Dom. it vniteth not substances but it effecteth a fellowship and correspondencie in affections it bindeth the willes togither by a firme and faithfull league c. He had said that if wee eate not his flesh c. we shall not haue life in him Teaching vs by a spirituall instruction and opening vnto vs the spirit to the conceyuing of so hidde and secret a thing to the ende that wee might know that our abiding in him is an eating of him and our incorporating into him a drinking of him And all this is wrought by our submitting of our selues in obedience ioyning of our selues vnto him in will and vniting of our selues vnto him in our affections Wherefore the eating of this flesh is a greedinesse or a feruent desire to abide and dwell in him As by eating and drinking the substaunce of the bodie liueth and is nourished euen so the life of the spirit is nourished by this proper nourishment For looke what eating is vnto the bodie the same is faith vnto the soule And looke what meate is vnto the bodie the same is the worde vnto the spirit accomplishing and working for euer and that by a more excellent power and efficacie that which carnall nourishment woorketh but for a time c. And again In the celebrating of these Sacraments wee are taught to haue the Pascion alwayes in our remembrance Again Wee are made of this bodie that is to say of the bodie of Christ in asmuch as by the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament wee are ioyned and knit vnto our head Nowe it is most certaine and true that such doe liue as touch the bodie of Christ Saint Hillarie These thinges taken and drunke Hylar de Trinit that is to say the bread and wine doe cause and bring to passe that Christ is in vs and wee in him Not verilie as he there teacheth that his bodie entereth into ours but by a similitude drawne from nature for that wee are ioyned together as members to the heade to his humaine bodie holie and glorious And this vnion is wrought by the faith of the death and passion of the Lorde in his spirit Saint Augustine August Ep. ad Iren. De Consecr D. 2. Christ is the bread whereof who so eateth liueth eternally and whereof hee hath saide And the bread which I will giue is my flesh which I will giue for the life of the worlde Hee determineth and setteth downe howe hee is bread not onely according to the worde by the which all thinges liue but according to the flesh taken for the life of the worlde For man which was dead in sinne being vnited and made one with the fleshe which is pure and vndefiled and incorporated into the same doth liue by the spirit of Christ as a bodie liueth by his soule but he that is not of the body of Christ doth not liue by his spirit c. Of this body Christ is the head Idem Ep. 57. ad Dardan the vnitie of this bodie is recommended vnto vs by this sacrifice c. By our head we are reconciled vnto God because that in it is the Diuinitie of the onely begotten Sonne made partaker of our mortalitie to the end that we might also become partakers of his immortalitie Again Idem de ciuit Dei l. 21. c 25. Compage He that
much saith the Apostle as That he hath not taken vpon him the Angels that is to say the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham that is to say the nature of man taking part with flesh and bloud c. to destroy the kingdom of death by his death c. For in presupposing without the word of God that this body may be in a thousand places at once they conclude against the word of God that this body hath not that which is of the very nature of a body against that which our Lord said after his resurrection reprouing the vnbeliefe of S. Thomas A spirit hath neither flesh nor bone c. and against that which all antiquitie teacheth That what he once tooke vpon him he neuer leaueth or casteth off That in putting on glorie he did not put off either nature or yet the conditions and qualities of nature c. Christ verily in taking our nature hath taken both our flesh our bloud and this bloud distributed throughout his veines c. What doth then this Transubstantiation which shutteth vp this his body by it selfe vnder the accidents of bread and his bloud by it selfe vnder the accidents of wine He hath taken likewise both our flesh and our soule and shall then a corporall substance bee turned into a spirituall The bread into the soule of our Lord c. Or if it bee not changed thereinto shall it remaine a body without a soule And if this body which was giuen to the Apostles were liuing was not then this bread changed into a soule But they denie it And if he were dead then should he not be dead and liuing both at once Dead and inuisible as he was giuen but aliue and visible as he did giue and distribute it And how many are the absurdities begotten of one absurditie And who seeth not how the auncient heretickes which called in question the truth of the humane nature of Christ did not a little ground themselues and their assertions vpon these Maxims Verily Iesus Christ our Lord after his resurrection That Christ is absent according to his humaine nature but euery where present as concerning his diuine nature According to the scriptures Iohn 7 Iohn 3. Mathew 26. Mark 6. Luke 24. Acts 1.3 ascended in his body into heauen and left this world vntill the time of his comming againe to iudge the world according as he did instruct his Apostles as hee had made them visible to behold see and as they in like maner after him did aduertise and teach vs You shall not haue me alwaies with you I am here for a while It is expedient for you that I goe I am come into the world and againe I leaue the world I goe to him that sent me from whome I am also come and if I goe not the comforter will not come You shall seeke me but as I haue said vnto the Jewes whither I goe they cannot come And now also I tell it you that is to say in one word looke not for me any more hereafter in this humane nature And in deed hee blesseth them withdraweth himselfe from them and is taken vp on high into heauen and set at the right hand of his father From whence he shall come againe say the Angels euen as he was seene to goe vp into heauen And it must needes be saith S Peter That the heauens doe containe him vnto the time of the restauration of all things And yet notwithstanding hee saith I will not leaue you orphanes I am with you vnto the end of the world I will send you the comforter which shall teach you c. Likewise whensoeuer you shal be two or three gathered together in my name I will be in the miast of you that is according to my diuine nature And thus haue al the auncient Fathers spoken Origen It is not the man that is euerie where According to the Fathers Orig in Mat. tract 33. where two or three bee gathered together in his name or yet alwaies with vs vnto the end of the world or which is in euerie place where the faithfull are assembled but it is the diuine power which is in Iesus Athanasius I goe to the Father But doth he not fill all things euen heauen earth and hell And did he neuer withdraw him selfe from the Father And to goe and come are not these properties belonging to such as are finite and limited within their lists and bounds of time and place by departing from the place where he was not to the place where he was c. But saith he This is because he speaketh of the humane nature which he tooke vpon him in which it behoueth him to goe vnto the father and come from thence againe to iudge the quicke and the dead c. S. Augustine in an infinite sort of places and that very largely You shall haue the poore alwaies with you c. Let not good men saith he be troubled In respect of his maiestie prouidence grace c. it is fulfilled which he said I am alwaies with you c. In respect of the flesh which the word tooke vpon it August in Ioh. tract â—0 as also in respect that he was borne of the Virgine apprehended of the Iewes fastned to the tree taken from off the Crosse wrapped in linnen laid in the Sepulchre manifested at the resurrection it is the same which is said You shall not haue mee alwaies c. The Church inioyed him but a few daies in respect of his bodily presence but now it possesseth him by faith seeth him no more with these bodily eyes c. Idem ad Dardan Ep. 57. What then Said one vnto him is he not euerie where Yes he is euerie where saith he but as a man is soule and flesh so Christ is the word that is to say God as also man and wee must alwaies distinguish in the Scriptures that which is spoken of the one from that which is spoken of the other By reason of the one he is the Creator and in consideration of the other a creature In the one he was here vpon earth and not in heauen when he said No man ascendeth vp into heauen c. In the other he was in heauen notwithstanding that he was not yet ascended vp into heauen notwithstanding that he was yet conuersant and abiding here vpon earth c. And therefore stand fast and irremoueable in thy Christian confession That hee is ascended vp into heauen That he sitteth at the right hand That from thence and not from elsewhere he shal come to iudge the quicke and the dead and that in the very same forme and substance of flesh whereto for certaine saith he he hath granted and freely giuen immortalitie and yet hath not bereft it of his nature And according to this nature we must not make accompt that hee is shed abroad euerie where but rather beware least we in such sort establish the Diuinitie of the
Councel of Nice including it within the same CHAP. V. The continuance of the beliefe of the Fathers of the Church in the matter of the holy supper from the first Nicene Councell vnto the time of Gregorie the great LEt vs proceede according to the order of time and succession of the Fathers Dionvs Hierarch l. 3. Saint Denis pretended the Areopagite for we haue said that he may seeme to haue liued about this time did not otherwise vnderstand it After saith he that the Bishop hath declared the workes of Iesus for the saluaetion of mankind according to the good pleasure of his father c. and that hee hath preached the reuerend contemplation of the same which is apprehended by the vnderstanding he taketh his way to the Symbolicall administration of the same and that according to the holy institution of God whereupon first crying vnto him Thou hast said it Doe this in remembrance of me he administreth the sacred things and setteth in open sight the things whereof hee hath preached by the pledges presented there in holy sort c. Againe By these venerable and reuerend signes saith he Christ is signified and receiued c. Where we may briefely note That the holy supper is celebrated according to the institution of the Lord and in remembrance of him That this is a Symbolicall that is to say a shadowing and figuratiue administration of the redemption of mankind represented by the signes of bread and wine the tokens of his bodie broken and of his bloud shed for vs That this institution is not tied to the fiue words where to our aduersaries would referre it for hee maketh mention by name of others Thou hast said it c. And that these signes doe signifie Christ vnto vs and neuerthelesse exhibite him vnto vs that is to say his grace Nowe what is there contained in all this tending to prooue any carnall eating They fortifie and beare themselues stout vpon Saint Cyrill Cyril Cateches mystag 4. 5. Bishop of Ierusalem but let vs see vpon what ground If you eate not my flesh c. The Iewes saith hee were offended because they did not vnderstand those things according to the spirit thinking that he had inuited them to a banket of mans flesh This should suffice to raise and lift vp our minds aboue the reall transmutation but this that followeth seemeth to them to proue their opinion very strongly Let vs holde it for a most vndoubted truth that the bread which we see is not bread although the taste thereof bewray it to be but the bodie of Christ and the wine in like manner c. And why do they not call to minde and bethinke themselues well at the least of their owne Maximes That the Catholike Church neuer saide That the bread was the bodie of Christ c. And therfore if they will haue S. Cyril a Catholike they must not haue him taken according to the bare letter But yet let vs admit him to bee the expounder of himselfe Consider it not saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as meere bread for it is the body and bloud of Christ And how Verily saith he according to the words of our Lord c. And how so euer our sences may goe about to informe vs otherwise yet let faith confirme vs therein Iudge not of these things according to the taste c. Then it is bread and wine and not accidents but not naked and meere bread and wine for they are Sacraments and sanctified instrumentes of God indowed clothed with an other qualitie that so they might cloth vs with Christ And what they are more that we receiue by faith and that grounded vpon the words of our Lord Namely that his words are spirit life But haue they then either lost or chaunged their substance Marke him yet further Verily not any more then the water in Baptisme wher of he speaketh in the same tearmes Thinke not of this water as of bare and meere water Namely Because it is not any more wawater for drinke saith Chrysostome But the water of sanctification c. Chryrost in Psal 23. Cyril Catech. 3. No more also then the vnction or oyntment whereof Cyrill saieth You are annoynted with an oynment being made partakers and companions of Christ But beware that thou accompt not of it as of a meere oyntment for as the bread of the Eucharist after inuocating of the holy Ghost is no more common bread but the body of Christ so this holy oyntment is not a bare or common oyntment after that it is consecrated but it is a benefit of Christs which by the comming of the holy Ghost hath a vigour and power of his Diuinitie Doest thou then doubt what this should meane to be no longer bare and meere bread It is as much as not to be any more common bread it is as much as to say consecrated bread Doest thou doubt how farre this chaunge extendeth it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si fiat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The oyntment although it bee an instrument of the grace of Christ is not changed in his nature No more is the bread and the wine of the Eucharist in theirs though instruments sanctified of God and exhibiting his grace Idem Catech. 5. For saith he further in an other place this holy bread is called supersubstantiall in as much as it confirmeth the substance of the soule It descendeth not into the bellie it goeth not into the draught but it is distributed thorough out thee throughout the whole man for the saluation and profit of the body and soule c. that is to say it goeth not in at the mouth of the body but it is receiued by the mouth of the soule distributed through all the veines of the same vnto the resurrection of life And againe Idem Catech. 4. Drinke this wine in thine heart namely this spirituall wine c. Saint Ambrose This oblation is the figure of the body and bloud of our Lord c. This is not the bread that goeth into the body but the bread of eternal life which strengthneth our soules 1. Cor. 11. Againe Seeing we are deliuered by the death of our Lord in remembrance thereof in eating drinking we signified there the flesh bloud of our Lord which haue beene offered for vs. Now what should this be To be a figure to signifie to make mention of or to haue in remembrance but the same which we say That the bread is Sacramentally the body of Christ Ambros de Sacram. l. 4. c. 4. And that which hee saith himselfe In the Sacrament is Christ But some obiect from an other place Peraduenture thou wilt say saith hee my bread is vsuall that is to say common bread know that this bread is bread before the word of the Sacraments but after the consecration of bread it is made the flesh of Christ the body of Christ c. Namely by the consecration of the
Idem Serm. 2. de Baptisme c. 3. lie open to such great and grieuous threatnings what shall we say of him that sheweth himselfe rash and vnaduisedly carying himselfe against so great a misterie Verily wee will say with Saint Paul That he eateth and drinketh his owne condemnation not discerning the Lords body But wee may learne of the said Saint Basill in the same place that such touching is not meant of the body but of the soule For saith he By so much the more as he is greater then the Temple c. so much the more is it to be feared to approach rashly to touch with an impure and filthy soule the body of Christ then to come neere vnto sheepe and Oxen c. Out of Gregorius Nyssenus the brother of Saint Basill they cite a place Gregor de vita Mosis but it maketh nothing at all for them for hee intreating of the Manna saith The bread that came downe from heauen which is the true mâ—ate which is signified in this historie is not a thing without a body For how should a thing without a body become foode and sustenance to a body This would be to purpose against such as should denie the veritie of the body of Christ and further can it not serue But and if they should gather from it that common bread by consecrating may be made the heauenly bread and the heauenly bread a body to nourish our bodies they should sinne many waies against themselues for they will not graunt that either the bread may bee made a body neither yet that it entreth into the nourishment of the body whereupon it remaineth that wee vnderstand this place by the Councell of Nice That the Sacrament to become profitable both to soule and bodie is made vnto vs a seale of the resurrection c. But will wee plainely know this Fathers meaning The bread saith he in the beginning is common Idem de Bapt. but the misterie hauing made it sacred it is called and is the body of Christ and so the wine and beeing things of small accompt before the blessing after the same which proceedeth of the spirit they worke excellently What then is there any transmutation of the substance Thus saith he by the newnesse of the blessing the same power that is to say of the holy Ghost maketh the Minister reuerend and seperated from the vulgar sort for of one of the multitude of the people which he was yesterday he is sudainely become a Master and teacher of pietie and a super-intendent of the hidden and pro found misteries and al this without any maner of change made either in his body or forme Thus againe the Altar is holy and yet it is but a common stone not differing from others that walles are made of but this commeth to passe by the dedicating of it to God Let vs reason from thence therfore neither the bread nor the wine are changed in themselues neither in their bodies or formes but onely in that of common ones they are made sacred and sanctified instruments of God to exhibite vnto vs his grace c. Gregorius Nazianzenus Eate the body and drinke the bloud without beeing confounded and doubting c. and denie not faith vnto the things which are named of the flesh and Passion of our Lord c. that is to say Bee not offended as are the Iewes and Gentiles at the Crosse and infirmities of Christ But say they hee calleth it Eating and drinking c. And who will doubt of that We doe not contend about the thing but the manner Verily saith he let vs become partakers of the Passeouer and yet notwithstanding spiritually Greg. Nazianz in orat 2. de Pasch although this Passeouer bee more manifest then the old For the Passeouer of the Law I speake it boldly was a more obscure figure of a figure c. And then ours also is but a figure but yet a more cleare and plaine figure And in the funerals of his sister Gorgonia Idem in funere Gorg. If said he her hand had in any part clasped and laid close hold vppon any thing of the representations and resemblances of the precious body or bloud of Christ c. Then they continued resemblances that is to say figures after the consecration For otherwise who would belieue that these holy persons more zealous verily and bearing more reuerence vnto sacred things then they of this age would haue permitted these women to touch them thus with their hands and so to carie traile them vp and downe their houses Optatus doth agrauate the furious outrages of the Donatists in these words Optat. aduers Parm. l. 2. You haue broken downe the Altars whereupon heretofore you haue offered whereupon the vowes of the people and the members of Christ haue beene carried from whereof many haue receiued the pledges of eternall saluation the protection of faith and the hope of the resurrection you haue broken the cups the bearers of the bloud of Christ c. The Altar which is the seate of his bodie and of his bloud c. Who seeth not that all this must be figuratiuely taken and that the first figures doe binde vs to the others Verily after the same manner that the members of Christ that is to say the faithfull and their vowes haue beene carried vpon the Altar that is to say in spirit in the same the body and bloud haue beene set there also the Cups haue beene the bearers c. And in like maner when he saith The pledge of eternall life the hope of the resurrection what other thing is this then that which the Councell of Nice said Pledges of our resurrection And at the least of that which he saith afterward What offence hath Christ done you whose body and bloud at certaine moments dwelt in these Altars They should haue learned that this could not bee spoken or vnderstood but of the vse celebration of the holy supper and that at that time they had not kept them in a tabernacle vpon the Altar that they might be there still resident and worshipped continually And as little dooth that proue Ephrem l. de natur Dei nimium scrutanda which they alleadge of Saint Ephrem Why seekest and searchest thou saith he for things that are past finding out Thou wilt leaue off to be faithfull any longer and fall to becurious For whome may this saying better fit then the embracers of transubstantiation for they haue vndertakeÌ„ to examine these misteries by Auerrhoes and Aristotle But rather saith hee be faithfull and innocent be partaker of the immaculate bodie of thy Lord by a most euen faith Assure thy selfe that thou eatest the same Lambe whole and intire c. These things surpasse all admiration he hath giuen vs fire and spirit to eate and drinke that is his bodie and his bloud c. Fire then and spirit which are not laid hold on or taken with the hand but spiritually but
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
c. Againe The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ is called the bodie of Christ suc modo after a sort though notwithstanding so it be that it is the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ that is of that which beeing visible palpable and mortall was fastned vpon the Crosse and that this offering vp thereof is called passion death c. Not in the truth of the thing but in a signifying mysterie c. In the Glose It is called the body of Christ that is to say significat it signifieth it The heauenly Sacrament which truely representeth the flesh of Christ is called the bodie of Christ but improperly c. Thus then according to the Canons we eate in the Eucharist the flesh of Christ c. spiritually not carnally Now it followeth that we looke a little about vs C Quia corpus 34. C Qui manducant 57. C. Vt quid 46. C Credere 18. C. Tuncâ—â—s 89 C Non iste panis 55. De Consecr d. 2. to see whether it be by faith or with our mouthes The Canon Quia corpus saith The Lord hauing to ascend vp into heauen did consecrate vnto vs in the day of the Supper the Sacrament of his body and his bloud to the end that that which had beene once offered for payment and satisfaction might be continually honoured in a mysterie and that this perdurable offering might stil liue and abide in remembrance which must be waighed and considered of fide non specie By inward faith not by outward appearance and pondered by the inward affection not by the outward sight The Canon Qui manducant That which is taken in the Sacrament visiblie is in truth eaten and drunken spiritually That which is seene is the bread and cuppe c. That wherein it is needfull that the faith should be instructed is how that the bread is the bodie of Christ c. And they are called Sacraments because one thing is seene another vnderstood That which is seene hath a bodily shape but that which is vnderstood a spirituall fruit The Canon Vt quid whereto doest thou prepare thy bellie and teeth beleeue and thou hast eaten The Canon Credere to beleeue in Christ is to eate the bread of life The Canon Non iste panis It is not that bread which goeth into the bodie that feedeth the substance of our soule but the bread of eternall life The Canon In illo Christ is in that Sacrament not therefore a corporall meate but a spirituall And againe the aboue said Canon C. Quia corpus 34. d. 2. de Consecr Quia corpus when thou goest vp to the Altar to be fed with spirituall meates behold by faith the holy bodie of thy God touch him with thy vnderstanding lay hold vpon him with the hand of thy hart Against all these they haue but one onely miserable Glose to obiect which saith So soone as the kind is touched with the teeth Glos in C. Trib. de consecr d. 2. C. Qui manduc 57. Mis in sequent C. Vtrumque 71. C. vt quid 46 Câ—mutat 69. A sumente nonconscissus non confractus non diuisus integer capitur Ioh. 19. Gl. in C. Ego Bereng 41. in C. vtrum so soone is the bodie of Christ rapt and conueighed with speed into heauen c. And yet it is diuersly canuased and tossed by the Canonistes and schoolemen Of eating with the mouth should follow the chawing of it with the teeth But these Canons are contrarie to that The Canon Qui manducat When we eate it we make not any morsels or bittes thereof The faithfull know how they eate the flesh of Christ It is eaten by partes in the Sacrament that is in the signes but it is all whole in thine heart The Canon Vt quid whereto doest thou prepare thy teeth The Canon Vtrum It is not lawfull to eate him with teeth The Masse likewise in the sequences and conclusions following thereon He that taketh him cutteth him not bruseth him not neither yet diuideth him into morsels c. Contrarie to this ancient truth is only that Canon Ego Berengarius made by the Cardinall Humbert as it were in despight of all antiquitie which saith That he is broken and brused with the teeth But without alleadging against him the Gospell which saith Not one of his bones shall bee broken we will onely lay down the words of two Gloses which proclaime for hereticks both Pope Nicholas II. as also the whole Church of Rome of that time The Glose of that same Canon which saith Referre all to the kinds for we make not any part of the bodie of Christ otherwise thou shalt fall into a greater heresie then Berengarius And the Glose of the Canon Vtrum vpon these wordes Is is not lawfull to eate Christ with teeth Berengarius saith the Glose saith the contrarie that is to say Cardinall Humbert in the retractation which he drew for Berengriaus but he spake hyperbolically and so exceeded the bondes of the truth Of the eating of him with the mouth it would follow that the wicked and vngodly should eate the bodie of Christ The Canons againe are contrarie thereunto The Canon Qui discordat Hee that is at strife with Christ C. Qui discordat 64. C. Qui manduc 57. C. Quia passus 35. C. Christus 56. Fidelium dentibus atters C Prima quidem â—aeres 43. d. ead C. Non oportet 3. C. Panis 38. C. Hoc est quod dicim 47. C. Ante benedict 39. C. Panis est 54. eateth not his flesh neither yet drinketh his blood although hee should euerie day take the sacrament of so high and great a thing as a iudgement of his destruction The Canon Qui manducant They that eate and drinke Christ eate and drinke life The Canon Christus Christ is the bread of whom who so eateth shall liue for euer Likewise the Canon Ego Berengarius attributeth it as proper to the faithfull to eate him with teeth In briefe vpon the question also of transubstantiation If the bodie of Christ after the words spoken must be sought for in heauen or in the hands of the priest and if of the wine bread there be nothing remaining but the Accidents Christ say the Canons is in heauen vntil this world shall be consummate and finished The bodie of Christ must be in one place but the truth is spread abroad euerie where And as for the kinds Wee must not offer any other thing in the Sacrament then wine water and bread which are blessed in the figure of Christ Before the blessing one kind is named but after the blessing the bodie is signified The bread and cuppe are a nourishing of the resurrection by the mysticall consecration that is by the efficacie of the worde and institution of Christ That is saith the Glose A spirituall refreshing of the soule which rayseth vs vp againe from the death of sinne Againe The bread and the cup saith he continue the thing
contrarie saith that it signifieth that which is secret and hidden vnder the formes thereof What difference is heere betwixt the forme and the body the substance and the accidents Againe some say that the body of Christ is made of the bread and his bloud of the wine as of his matter others denie it And Bellarmine doth affirme and denie both together Againe sometimes vrged out of Tertullian and Saint Augustine they acknowledge that there is a figure and sometimes they doe wholly and flatly denie it c. And they speake as vncertainly of the chaunge and transmutation Sometimes Bellarmine saith that the substance of bread is turned into whole Christ body and soule God and man sometimes into the body onely c. And sometimes that hee is there hypostatically or personally and as he speaketh with his personalitie that he may not fall into Rupertus Tuitiensis his errour sometimes that hee is not And there are that say that the substance of bread is turned into the truth of the body and others into the power and vertue of the same onely Besides others which in diuers places affirme sometimes the one sometimes the other Now what becommeth of this body afterward Their answeres herein haue no lesse vncertaintie and ambiguitie For one saith after that the kindes be altered and corrupted it withdraweth it selfe Nay saith an other it still continueth and abideth there Idem tr 1 c 19 Veg assert 205 Bellâ—rm l 3 de Euchar. c. 10 24. l. 1 c. 14 Veg. de reâ—l Praesent c. 58 Turr. tr 1 c 11 19 Scarg art 12 pro sacratiss Euchar. c 6. c Cont. Vel. Vega de Miss fol. 11 thes 19. 20. Idem de real praesent thes 84 Scarg in art 11. Turr. tr 1. c. 7 tr 2. c. 11. 8 Stel. Clericor for an incorruptible seede of the resurrection and that if not in substance yet in power and effectuall operation Let vs reason thus then If the efficacie and powerfulnesse be sufficient for the seede of the resurrection and incorruption Wherefore the body in our body And wherefore doe we admit this absurditie of hauing so many bodies within our bodies a thing contrarie to reason nature and all Diuinitie An absurditie wherein as yet they infold and wrap themselues For if the glorified body be supernaturally euerie where wherefore say they that he commeth downe vpon the Altar and why doe they say that hee departeth and goeth his way in respect of his body If he come downe if he goe vp why doe they say that he is not circumscript and tied to place and that he is corporally euerie where Againe sometimes they say We set our teeth in the flesh of our Lord wee deuour and feede vpon him with our teeth c. We chew him wee breake him c. And sometimes they are angrie that one should obiect it against them as their reproach they vexe themselues they denie it To bee short for we should neuer haue done if wee should goe about to gather together all their contradictions and this shall suffice for a taste when shame seaseth vpon them they are offended that a man should laye it to their charge that they haue saide That the Priests are creators of their Creator c. And by and by they come againe to their mutuall byace and doe freely vtter it That the Eucharist is no creature That it is the Creator himselfe That it is an Hypostaticall grace That it deserueth to bee adored and praied vnto c. And yet the same neuerthelesse say they that dependeth vppon the intent and purpose of him that consecrateth Now wee haue finished the whole historie of the doctrine of Transubstantiation taught in the Church of Rome The comparing of the holy supper and the Masse together But how farre is it off from the auncient simplicitie of the Christian Church and how farre from the institution made by our Lord of the holy supper The Summe wherof is thus That in the holy supper we are seriously admonished of our bond and obligation vnto our Lord and of our dutie towards our neighbour likewise nourished and strengthned in our coniunction with Christ our head whereupon dependeth our true life which approueth and maketh it self manifestly knowne as the soule doth it selfe by his motions by our zeale towards God and our behauiour towards our neighbours Therein we cal to mind our obligation when we remember according to his commandement the death and Passion of our Lord That we were dead in our sinnes dead verily and eternally seeing it was requisite and necessarie that the eternall Sonne of God should expose and giue himselfe to death euen to the death of the Crosse to redeeme and set vs free from that death therefore eternall death And thence is that action of praise and thankesgiuing that followeth solemnely obserued and performed in this action and perpetuall in our soules if we be truely faithfull For hee that willingly belieueth this great and vnspeakable benefit how can he possibly forget it How can it possibly be but that he should occupie and as it were powre forth himselfe in a continuall exercising of praise and thankesgiuing Seeing I say he sinneth euerie moment he cannot bee without matter to humble himselfe euerie moment and to haue his eye both vpon death and also vpon hell and accordingly againe he hath matter euerie moment to raise vp him selfe againe in hope by the remembrance of this eternall Sacrifice vpon the mention that is made namely in this Sacrament How that the Sonne of God hath giuen his bodie for him hath beene broken with cares and griefes and how that his bloud was shed for the remission of his sinnes And this is the cause why this Sacrament is called both a remembrance and an Eucharist or action of thankesgiuing For of the remembraunce of this benefite of this gift of saluation and by this vnspeakable meanes there followeth in euerie Christan heart a serious and heartie Eucharist or thankesgiuing But this effect by name is wanting in the Papists their Masse For this remembrance is not practised in it at all the death of the Lord is not shewed foorth there at all vnto the people This is in steed of whatsoeuer it should bee a heape of words and a varietie of gestures neither the one nor the other vnderstood Wee are taught likewise in the holy Supper our duties towards our neighbours for wee are not only created of one and the same Masse but regenerate and begotten again but redeemed and bought with one price euen bloud but made members of the same bodie and quickned by one and the same spirit but liuing mouing and feeling from one and the same head One with him through the grace of his good pleasure and will One therefore amongst our selues both by his commaundement and by naturall dutie And if the head the eternall Sonne of God haue giuen his life for vs to make vs I say his members what do
bodie from the temporall deliuerance to the spirituall from the seruitude of Egypt to the thraâ—dome and slauerie of sinne and to be short from the eating of this lambe which they had solemnized with him vnto that very and true lambe shadowed and pointed out so many ages before this paschall lambe whose bodie was likewise vpon this day giuen for them to the death Ioh. 6.50.15 and whose blood within a few houres after was shed for the remission of their sinnes Your fathers said he in S. Iohn haue eaten Manna in the wildernes and are dead But will you see the true bread of heauen the breade of life the quickning bread that am I my selfe which am truely come downe from heauen and this bread it is my flesh which I will giue for the life of the world who so shall eate thereof shall neuer die but liue for euer c. As if he should say as followeth Your fathers haue eaten the lambe and we againe haue eaten the same here at this present time but the true and very lambe in deed it is my selfe euen the same of whom Esay hath said vnto you He is led to the slaughter for the transgression of the people Esay 53 his soule is offred vp for a sacrifice for sinne Of whom not long since Iohn Baptist said vnto you behold the lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world and of whom I my selfe say vnto you at this present That I go to be deliuered vp to death for you that you shall haue from henceforth my flesh to eat and my bloud to drinke for the remission of your sinnes and for the nourishing of your soules vp vnto eternall life your soules I say that are barren and void of all righteousnes in themselues and therefore also voide of true life but yet such as shall find life in me in my obedience and in my iustice and righteousnes all which are made yours by the sacrifice which now I am about to offer vp of mine owne accord and free will vnto you they shal be become the foode and foison of eternall life if you acknowledge and confesse your sinne your nakednes your vnprofitablenesse and great miserie that is to say if you truely hunger after my grace if you finde and perceiue your selues changed and altred of righteousnes And to the end that the remembrance of this great benefite may be alwaies fresh and new in your memorie thinke vpon remember it I pray you in such sort maner as you would think vpon your meate and drinke without which your bodies cannot stand and much lesse your soules without the benefite of my death and of the life and spirituall nourishment of the same which is secret and hid Do this whensoeuer you shal do it in remembrance of me in remembrance of my torne rent and broken bodie and of my blood shed for you and that such a remembrance as shall notwithstanding exhibite and communicate them vnto you for the assuring of you of the pardon and remission of your sinnes consequently of the saluation of your soules For alwaies and as oft as you shall eate of this bread and drinke of this cup you shall expresse the death of the Lord that is to say you shall receiue the new couenant of grace the seale of your life in him vntill that hee come But this shall be expounded more largely in his place and in the meane time consider and beholde our Lorde and Sauiour doeth take occasion by the Sacrament of the Paschall lambe to institute and ordaine the Sacrament of the holy Supper passing as Saint Ierome saith from the olde to the new wherein as also in this wee haue likewise to consider both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice A Sacrament in that God there presenteth vnto vs bread and wine visible signes and yet notwithstanding exhibiters of an inuisible grace of the participation which the faithfull haue in his bodie and in his blood being members of this head branches of this vine flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones c. A sacrifice in like manner for that in the holy Supper we giue thankes to God for this great deliuerance which we receiue from the seruitude and punishment of sinne in the death of his welbeloued and hereupon it commeth that we call it Eucharisticall and that it hath the name Eucharist giuen vnto it and which neuerthelesse retaineth in some sort somewhat of the nature of a propitiatorie sacrifice in as much as therein wee carefully obserue and keepe the remembrance of this onely sacrifice which is the onely true propitiatorie which the Sonne sent from the father hath once offered vp for all vpon the tree of the crosse for vs differing herein from the Paschall lambe that the institution of the Lambe was a Sacrament of the deliuerance to come whereas the holy Supper is the Sacrament of grace alreadie wrought and purchased and herein againe for that the Passe-ouer held of the propitiatorie sacrifices in that it represented and set before their eyes that which ought to be accomplished in the bloud of Christ whereas the holy Supper holdeth somwhat of them for that it setteth before our eyes this propitiation made and perfected And thus much be spoken briefly deferring the rest till we come to speake of the Sacrifice pretended to be in the Masse What we haue hitherto obserued What was the forme of the holy Supper instituted by our Lord. 1. Cor. 11. The institution of the holy Supper Math. 26. Marke 24. Luk. 22. Paulus Fagius Deut. 8. Deutr. 16.3 is nothing else but that forme of the holy Supper wherein it was first instituted by our Lord as we haue it set downe in three of the Euangelistes and in S. Paule to the Corinthians the first Epistle and the 11. Chapter The summe whereof is as followeth that our Lord after Supper tooke breade and blessed it They vse the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was done after the manner and laudable custome of the Iewes whose ordinarie manner of blessing in this place is yet to bee read Blessed be thou O our Lord God king of eternitie which hast sanctified vs by thy commandements and hast ordained that we should eate vnleauened bread c. Afterward he brake it gaue it to his disciples and said Take eate this is my bodie do this in remembrance of me Whereas the Iewes were accustomed to say these wordes This is the bread of miserie for so is the vnleauened bread called which our fathers did eate in Egypt Hee that is hungrie let him come and eate and he that hath neede let him come and celebrate the Passeouer Our Lord in this place making the bread of miserie the sacrament of the bread of life that so who so eateth thereoâ— worthily shal neuer hunger Afterwards it is said that he tooke the cup and gaue thankes the Euangelistes vsing the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same sence and signification
To deliuer vs from eternall damnation and to ingraft vs into the number of thine elect Now after this consecration the Priest and Ministers of the Church were wonte to communicate That the Communion is the most part of it supprest Iohn Diac. l. 2. c. 41. as wee haue said and consequenthe the people to whome the Sacraments were distributed euen yet in the time of Gregorie with these wordes The bodie of our Lord Iesus Christ preserue thy soule vnto eternall life The blood of our Lord c. that is to say so oft as they did present themselues at the same But as the people became carelesse and negligent in the communicating of the sacramentes and the Priestes verie eager and forward in hauing them still to continue their offringes they beginne to giue them to vnderstand that it is sufficient for them to heare the Masse without anie communicating in the same Whereupon within some time after there beganne to grow vp this manner of speaking to heare the Masse and to sing the Masse which was vnknown neuer had been heard of in al the former ancient times in summe that if they did not cōmunicate in the Sacrament that yet they had their part in the sacrifice c. And so from hence by little and little crept in the priuate Masses especiallie in the Monasteries at which the people would bee present but the Priest alone or with him some certain number of Monkes or Clearks did onely communicate And then these wordes Corpus Domini c. Sanguis Domini c. custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam The bodie or the blood of our Lord preserue thy soule vnto eternall life which were wont to bee spoken to all manner of persons and to eyther sexe and who aunswered thereunto Amen tooke vppe their habitation in the Masse at the first for those few persons which did communicate with the Priest and in the end for himself alone And yet notwithstanding to continue and hold on alwaies in their contradictories although hee tell them that they are for himselfe and accordingly do take them himselfe yet in the Prayers following afterward hee speaketh fondlie of al Quod ore sumpsimus Domine fac pura mente capiamus Grant Lord that what wee haue taken in at our mouthes we may receiue with pure and cleane minds c. Which is the cause that some olde expounders of the Canon helde opinion that it could not be read but in publike Masses such as in which the people was wont to receiue the Sacramentes that is to say according to the Canons of this time in any case at the feast of the Natiuitie at Easter and at Pentecost because it is altogether set down in tearmes of the plurall number And yet S. Gregorie had this one good thing in him namelie that he alwaies left it in the libertie of the Churches Gregory doth not presse others to receiue his Masse Gregor in Ep. ad August Anglic. Episc Change of speech Sabel En. 8. l. 5. eyther to receiue the order which hee had newlie set vppe at Rome or else to retaine their owne For in the Epistle likewise which hee writ vnto Augustine a Bishoppe in England who would haue brought it into England hee vseth these wordes The Churches haue diuerse formes of celebrating the misteries It is left in the libertie of euerie one of them to follow that which shall like them best In euerie Church take and retaine that which thou shalt finde the best Let vs yet furthermore adde two other verie great changes and alteratiōs in this time the rather because they are in thinges that are sensible and to bee conceiued of euerie one The one is that about the yeare sixe hundred as wee reade in Sabellicus the swarmes of barbarous people continued in Italie France and Spaine for a long time where the Latine tongue was receiued and by consequent the seruice of the Church in Latine but by little and little it was found in such sorte to bee corrupted and chaunged into Italian Spanish and French as that it was not anie longer to bee vnderstoode of the common sort and further in space of time from age to age it still became more obscure and intricate Whereuppon insued though not by anie decreed ordinance but eyther by too much tolleration and sufferance or else by negligence that the seruice continuing in Latine the people growing to vnderstand it nothing at all euerie thing was done in the Church contrarie to the institution of the Apostles the vse of the auncient Churches Iustin Nouel 123. yea and the verie ordinaunces of the Emperours in a language that was not vnderstoode and by consequent without edification and the meanes for the people to come by instruction The other is that in steade of the Christian simplicitie Alteration in apparrell which was easie to bee seene and obserued in the habites apparell and garmentes of the Pastours that celebrated the Sacramentes and other holy exercises Gregorie brought in the pontificall and statelie garmentes imitating therein Raban l. 1. Institut c. 14. as sayeth Rabanus the Iewish Church the Priestes and Leuites as also their consecrations annointinges and purifyinges yea and that in the matter of Temples Altars garmentes vessels and euerie thing that is of vse in the Church thinges altogether vnknowne vnto his time and not finding anie manner of grounde or foundation in anie of the olde Writers except one weake and reeling Canon which appointeth for the Readers Laeuam lino tectam the left hand couered with some linnen and some Surplisse made of them for the Priestes And yet this riseth from hence onelie namely that Innocent the third maintained that the ceremonies of the law were not abolished Innoc. 3. lib. 4. de Sacr. Altar cap. 4. And yet it was too great a worke notwithstanding that the foundation of abuses and superstitions were deepelie laide in the time of Gregorie for the vpper building and top-frame to be finished therewithall at a trice For both in his time and afterwarde that law remained in the Church That the faithfull did communicate after the consecration of the Sacramentes and the good Pastors did blame and finde faulte with all carelesse negligence therein as they espied and founde it out exhorting and stirring vppe their Parishioners to continue their zeale and forwardnes in the participating of the same they continued also to administer it vnder both kindes yea and it was ratified and confirmed by the ordinances of the state Politique now and then as wee shall see hereafter CHAP. VIII In what sort the Masse prospered and grew greater from the time of Gregorie the great vntill about the time of Charles the great GRegorie was no sooner dead but that Sabinian his successor caused his bookes to bee burnt Platin. in Sabinian either for hatred and enuie or for some other sinister opinion that hee had conceiued Insomuch as that whatsoeuer wee haue of his at
the sacraments as not accompting it perfect without the cup. Yea and he himselfe did neuer seperate the bread from the cup Thou hast saith hee vnto the people receiued the heauenly Sacraments the body and blood of our Lord c. And thereto applyeth the words of the Canticles I haue eaten my bread with my hony Canticl ch 5. and drunke my wine with my milke c. Againe If as oft as the blood is powred out it be vnto the remission of sinnes â—e consecrat â—st 2. c. Si â—uotiescuÌ„que Ambr. in epist â— ad Cor. I ought to receiue it euerie day to the end that euery day my sinnes may bee forgiuen me And in another place to the end that we may not thinke that he speaketh of himselfe he speaketh vnto euery faithfull one Thou receiuest the remission of sinnes and art drunke with the spirit c. And yet more plainely for hee will giue a reason although it be but a bad one Because saith he that that which we take serueth for the defence of the bodie and of the soule for the flesh of Christ is offered for the saluation of the bodie and the blood for the saluation of our soules as Moyses did foreshew The flesh saith he is offered for your bodie Ambr. in 1. ad Cor. 11. and the blood for your soule c. Which agreeth well with the rule which he giueth intreating of this sacrament Hee is vnworthy sayeth he of the Lord which celeb rateth this mysterie otherwise then it hath beene giuen him for hee cannot bee deuout therein who presumeth to giue it otherwise then it hath beene deliuered vnto him by the author c. And yet notwithstanding impudent and shamelesse dealing hath so raigned heretofore Officium Ambrosianum as that in the office going vnder his name there is no mention made of the communion of the bodie against the expresse doctrine of S. Ambrose S. Ierome vpon Sophonie Hieron in Soph. cap. 3. The Priestes which serue in the administration of the Eucharist and which distribute vnto the people of the Lord his blood do transgresse wickedly against the law of Christ in supposing that the wordes and not the life do make the Eucharist c. He speaketh by name of the people Ad Damas And vnto Damasus We are fed euery day with the flesh of the Lord we are watered with his blood this banquet is celebrated euerie day Saint Augustine August in lib. sentent Prosper de consecr d. 1. canon Du frangitur Can. Qui manducant August in Leuit c. 57. When the host is broken when the blood is powred out of the cup into the mouthes of the faithfull that is of all the communicants what can be ment or signified therby but the bodie of the Lord offered vpon the crosse and the blood shed out of his side Againe They which eate drinke Christ do eat and drinke life To eate him is to make himselfe again to drinke him is to liue And the Glosse doth say excellent well vpon that place Vnder the kinds of bread wine And in another place he proceedeth further So far is it off saith he that it should be forbidden any man to take for spirituall nourishment the bloud of this sacrifice seeing it was so taken of the old Churches that on the contrarie all they which will haue eternall life are exhorted to drinke the same The Grecians haue not spoken otherwise at any time and yet to this day they practise no lesse The consent of the fathers of the Greeke Church communicating all of them vnder both kinds holding it for a horrible sacriledge to doe otherwise notwithstanding whatsoeuer our sophisticall schoolemen vnder colour of some fables or cold and foolish histories would go about to make them belieue The lithurgie of S. Denis is verie plaine for the communicating and distributing of the sacraments vnder both kindes vnto all the people in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. S. Basil saith Basil de Bapt. l. 1. c. 3. It behooueth them that shal approch draw neere to the body blood of the Lord to proue themselues c. He speaketh simply of all the faithful not of the priests De accedente non de offerente For feare saith he least he should eate and drinke to his iudgement In the lithurgy which they vse wheÌ„ it pleaseth them he did not administer otherwise vnto his people Basil in ep ad Caesar And as for that which they alleadge out of him that there were certain hermits in Egypt which had no priest but kept the communioÌ„ in their hermitages taking it by themselues our aduersaries striuing to conclude froÌ„ thence that they had nothing in their coÌ„munions but bread in asmuch as wine wil hardly be kept in Egypt assuredly in stead of deciding this tauerne case as they do I answere that whether wine keep well in Egypt or not it were better for theÌ„ to conforme fashion theÌ„selues both vnto S. Basil the holy assemblies of the church of his time theÌ„ vnto these hermits and yet they should haue done far better then so if they had learned the sharp seuere sentence Basil in Moral Summa c. 14. Nazian in oratione in sanct Pascha which he telleth them of in that place which is He that commandeth what God forbiddeth or forbiddeth what God commandeth let him be accursed vnto all them that loue the Lord. Nazianzene in the prayer of Easter saith vnto the people Without shame and without doubt eate the bodie drinke the blood if at the least thou desire eternal life The example of his sister Gorgonia doth not proue the contrary being but the deuotion of one priuate person which cannot make against the publike vse practise of a church but in deed to proue the quite contrary there is mention made of both kinds as thus That she did mingle her teares with the types or figures of the precious body and blood of Christ c. Saint Chrysostome will yet giue vs in a clearer testimonie himselfe administring the Sacraments in that famous citie of Constantinople for wee may not imagine to finde in him this Maxime grounded Chrysost in 8. ad Cor. ho. 18. that it behoueth that in the sacramentes the priestes should be priuiledged to receiue one kind more then the laitie seeing euen in the entrance he giueth vs an other rule cleane contrarie There is a thing saith he wherin the priest differeth nothing from him ouer whom he hath charge that is from the lay man as for example when the enioying and receiuing of the high and reuerent mysteries is called in question for we are all alike thought worthy to receiue them and not as in the old law Hom. 84. in Matth. where the priest did eate his part alone and the people theirs by themselues so as that it was not lawfull to take part of that which was appointed
the communion was there Thy body O Lord which we haue taken thy blood which we haue drunke let cleaue vnto our inward parts let not any spot of vncleannes abide in vs which haue beene refreshed with so precious Sacraments Beda in the homily vpon these words of S. Iohn An. 700. Beda in hom Vidit Iohan. c. Iohn sâ—â— Iesus comming vnto him c. Iesus Christ saith he doth wash vs dayly in his blood when the memorie of his death passion is vnfolded vpon the Altar when the creatures of bread and wine by the vnspeakable power of the sanctification of the holy Ghost is translated into the Sacrament of his flesh and of his blood for then his bodie and his blood are no more slaine or shed by the infidels to their destruction Concil Tolet. 11. c. 11. but taken by the mouthes of the faithfull to their saluation And the eleuenth Councel of Toledo of the same time witnesseth that the one and the other kinde were caried vnto the sicke when it excuseth them from excommunication which through weaknes did cast out of their mouthes the one or the other Beda l. 4. c. 3. Vincent l. 23. c. 7.81.97 Vadianus in Aeoli Troade Anno 800. Carol. Mag. l. 2 3. de imaginibus Gregor 3. Pap. And Beda maketh mention of Ceadda a king of England and Vincentius of Bauon Furseus Richarius that they did receiue both the one and the other at the time of their death Charlemaine saith We take the flesh of our redemption for the remission of our sinnes we escape the stroke of the Angel being besprinckled with his blood And again The misterie of the bodie and of the blood of the Lord is daily receiued by the faithfull in the Sacrament c. And Pope Gregorie the third at the same time saith That there is neede that two or three cuppes should be prouided to set vpon the altar at such time as the Masses are celebrated that the people may communicate And thus likwise do all the great men of this age witnesse and testifie vnto the same Rabanus Anno 900. Rabanus l. 1. c. 33. de Instit Cleric Lib. 1. c. 29. The water and the wine in the cup doe shew the sacraments which did run out of our Lord his side vpon the crosse wherwith we are watered Again the faithfull in the church do dayly eat the bodie of Christ and drinke his blood And in another place he teacheth by the comparing together of corporall food which consisteth in meates and drinkes that we haue neede of both kindes likewise he commandeth that all those which are baptised doe communicate in the bodie and blood of our Lord. Paschasius saith O man as oft as thou drinkest this cup Pasc de Euch. c. 15. c. 48. think not that thou drinkest any other blood then that which hath beene shed for thy sins And afterward he addeth Take and drinke ye all as well the ministers saith he quaÌ„ reliqui credentes as the rest of the beleeuers And againe The flesh is well accompanied with the blood because the flesh cannot bee by good right communicated without the blood neither yet the blood without the flesh And therefore he saith in another place We are refreshed with the flesh c. 7. Anno 1000. Haimo l. 1. c. 2. in Apoc. super haec verba Ecce Agnus Dei Super haec verba In Cana Galil Item tum venit Iesus in partes Caesar Philip. In 1. Cor. c. 11. Conc. Worm 1.36 Rup Abb. Tuicens in Mat. c. 27. in Ioh. c 6 De Offic. Diui. l. 6 c. 9. 22. Vincent l. 24. c. 75. Regino Monach c. 119. de discipl eccl Radulph Tungrens in Leuit. lib. 14. c. 4. Anno 1100. Ansel in epist ad Cor. c. 10. Lanfranc de Euch. Alger de Euch. l. 2. Damianus in Apol. ad Nicol Papam Berno in serm de purific Mariae S. Bernard in Psalm 90. ser 9 Ser. 3. de Ram. palm Serm. 2. de Coen Dom. Serm. 3. super Cant. of the diuine word and we haue our thirst quenched with his blood Haimo the Bb. of Halberstat writing vpon the Apocalips The faithfull doe daily eate in the Church the bodie of Christ and drinke his blood Againe The cup is called the communion because of the communicating therein for all doe communicate thereof And in like manner vpon S. Iohn ch 1. 2. and vpon S. Math. Chap. 16. The Councell of Wormes speaking of the incestuous Let him abstaine for the space of three yeares from the communion of the bodie and blood of our Lord. And moreouer that about this time Gisilbert vpon the ensuing of the reall Transubstantiation taught the doctrine of concomitance that is to say that vnder one of the kinds there is comprised as much as vnder both and further inferreth that it were more to the purpose not to be in daunger of shedding that the people might not communicate of the cup at all howbeit that continuall and dayly vse bee to the contrarie Witnesse Robert Abbot of Duits who maketh mention how that the Sacrament in his time was giuen and taken vnder both kindes purposely handling this matter And Vincent who saith that a certaine holy Lady named Elgyfa receiued them at the time of her death Regino the Monke The soules of the infirme and weake must be refreshed with the bodie the blood of our Lord. And Radulphus Tungrensis yet more plainely The people receiue the sacred body of Christ and drinke a holy draught of his blood c. Anselme Archb. of Canterbury All we which take of the same bread and of the same cup are made one body And Lanfranc The host of the Lord is broken when the blood is powred out of the cup into the mouth of the faithfull And Alger The bodie and blood of our Lord are taken of the faithfull together to the end that hauing receiued the bodie and soule of Christ the whole man in bodie in soule may be quickned together with Christ And Damian How may we thinke that the Lord is agreeued when a wicked man commeth to the holy altar to receiue his body his blood And Berno Abbot of Reichenaw We are not onely fed euery day with the bread of Christ whem we are refreshed by the nourishment of his flesh by the Masse of the altar but we haue also our thirst quenched with his blood as he hath promised vs He that eateth my flesh drinketh my blood c. And so are all those aboue named especially they that writ against Berengarius Saint Bernard He that soweth nigardly and sparingly shall not be without a haruest but it shal be but a poore niggardly haruest for this reaping is to receiue hire But we know him who hath promised that he that shall giue a glasse of cold water for his sake shall not bee without his hire reward but this is to be knowne whether that it shall
bee measured backe againe vnto him in the same measure which he measured out and gaue or whether in the recompence he shal be made equall to him who not in giuing of water but in shedding of his blood shal haue drunke the cup which God the father hath powred out vnto him Assuredly here is not any cup of colde water but a cup full of strong wine to make drunken a cup of pure and neat wine c. For my Lord Iesus no other hath the pure wine in his possession c. In another place Iesus Christ the night before his passion prescribed vnto his disciples the forme of this Sacrament gaue it power commanded them to doe it The prescription giuen for the forme consisteth in bread and wine Marke the order As they were yet at supper he rise from the table washed the feet of his disciples and returning to the table instituted the sacrifice of his bodie and of his bloode giuing the bread by it selfe the wine by it selfe saying of the bread Take eate this is my bodie of the wine thus drink ye all of this This is my blood c. And the same may be gathered out of diuers other places And in deed Vincent reckoneth vp one Tundatus Vincent l. 27. c. 88. a wicked man who seeing himself smitteÌ„ froÌ„ heaueÌ„ with a mortal blow required the coÌ„munion wheÌ„ he had taken the body of the Lord drunk the wine he cried O God thy mercy is greater then mine iniquitie how great soeuer it be And William Duke of Normandie hauing to giue the Danes battell in England we reade that he caused all his armie to receiue the sacrament and by name vnder both kindes But it is more then time to see by what manner of proceeding and vnder what colour the blood of Christ was cut off and taken away from the people and this will afforde vs matter inough for an other Chapter CHAP. XI How the cutting off of the cup of the Lord from the faithfull proceeded and grew and vnder what pretext and colour NOw in deed the case standeth thus that the Deuill the enemie of the blood of Christ who neuer shrinketh backe or giueth ouer did from time to time and at an inch prosecute the point of cutting off of the cup from the faithfull and which is worse vnder the shadow of deuotion For we haue seene that about the yeare 350. vnder the shadow of children and sicke folke it was laboured to bring in bread dipt in the wine which Iulius Bishop of Rome did hinder expresly opposing thereto the institution of the Lord. And againe we reade that about the yeare 950. the Monkes of the order of Clugni vnder the colour of fearing to shed the cup did institute in their conuents to deliuer bread wet in wine IntinctaÌ„ vnto their nouices though freely acknowledging that it was against the vse and order of other Churches Because say they that there are of our nouices so raw and grosse-headed as that if they did receiue the blood by it selfe they would fall into an inconuenience and this inconuenience is that which they call Periculum effusionis the daunger of shedding bred and brought vp as we shall see with transubstantiation and hath spred it selfe abroad into as many countries as the other From that time forward in a Councell held at Tours for the same consideration it was permitted to giue Intinctam breade dipt in wine vnto the sicke and that not onely in Monasteries but in Parishes and the reason thereof is added Yuo de diuinis Offic. Hildeb se Epise vocat epist 64. To the end saith he that the Priest may truely say The bodie and blood of our Lord doth profite thee vnto the remission of thy sinnes c so needfull did they alwaies iudge both the kindes to be In the end of the time of Yuo Bishop of Chartres it came to be giuen in some places vnto the whole sound But Hildebert Bb. of Mantz kept a great stirre about it findeth fault with the custome and insisteth vpon the institution of Christ vrging the same That either kind ought to be giuen by it selfe and that otherwise it is but to giue Iudas his sop and not the bodie of Christ And in deed it is cleare About the yere 1280. Hugo de Sacr. Altar that at this time the greatest and most autentike writers did speake no otherwise Hugo de Sancta Victoria saith Men receiue both the one kind and the other to signifie that this sacrament hath a double effect for it is the redemption of the bodie and of the soule which will not be sufficiently expressed and signified if it should not be receiued vnder any moe then one kind And in another place The receiuing vnder both kindes signifieth his redemption vnto him that so receiueth them and that both of bodie soule c. Now theÌ„ of which of the two wil they frustrate depriue vs Peter Lombard saith the Maister of the sentences maketh this question Lombard dist 11. l. 4. Wherefore do men receiue Iesus Christ vnder both kindes seeing bee is whole and intire in one Who answereth him with Saint Ambrose his answere vz. Because this Sacrament profiteth both bodie and soule and because that our Lorde would shew thereby that hee had taken vppon him the whole nature of man that so hee might redeeme whole man So that now alreadie there was some dreaming of a concomitancie that is an vnseperable fellowship and vnion of the flesh and blood of Christ a thing deriued and springing from transubstantiation as in deed followed to be maintained more fully afterward and yet notwithstanding this consequence did not inforce that which followed afterwarde namely That of necessitie against the expresse wordes of the institution the cuppe must be cut off from the Laitie On the contrarie Lombard l. 4. dist 11. The Eucharist dipt in wine sayeth hee must not bee giuen to people in steade of the Communion for wee reade not that the Lord hath giuen it so vnto anie of his Disciples but onelie vnto Iudas c. Gratianus the compiler and Author of the decree intreating at the same time of this matter in his Treatise Of the consecration repeateth it more then twentie times that Iesus Christ his ordinance vnto his Disciples was vnder both kindes and neuer speaketh otherwise so farre off is it that there should bee the printes and markes of the forbidding of the cuppe in his decree gathered out of all the Fathers De conse dist 2. Canon tunâ—â—is Petrus ex August de vtilitate credendi Psal 33. 35. Vide de consec dist 2. C. Comperimus C. quia passus C. Si non sunt C In Caena C. Timorem C. Quum frangit C. Quid sit Sanguis C. Sacerdotes 1. q. 1. Hymnus iste extat in Officio fest Sacram. quod S. Tho. attribuitur ea de causa co referendus est And indeede the places
yet in respect of himselfe you may perceiue what his iudgement was by these words Though it may seeme to receiue but one kinde notwithstanding to receiue both is of greater merite and desert Againe Whole Christ is not sacramentallie contained vnder either of the kindes but the flesh vnder the kinde of bread the blood vnder the kinde of wine Againe it appeareth that the rule was not generally receiued in his time when hee sayeth Jtafere vbique fit á Laicis in Ecclesia fere vbiua non vbiue it is almost thus practised in euerie Church by the Laitie almost euerie where sayeth hee Linwold de sum Trinit fide Cathol but not euerie where As likewise when Linwoldus sayeth That in the lesse and inferiour Churches it is not permitted saue onelie to the Priestes to receiue the blood vnder the kinde of consecrated wine for in that hee sayeth In the lesse or inferiour churches hee meaneth the Countrie Churches thereby excepting those that were in the Citties presuming that Cittizens had more knowledge then Countrie men Insomuch as that this Sacrament instituted by our Lord to signifie in the Cōmunicating of one and the same bread and one and the same wine the vnion and agreement betwixt al the saithfull in one bodie would serue by meanes of this corruption to sunder and separate in manifest and open shew first them of the Cleargie from those of the Laitie and secondlie the Countrie people from those that dwelt in Citties as though forsooth the soules of the one sort were more deare then the other to him who hath purchased all with one and the same blood It springeth likewise out of the same Diuinitie which Thomas Waldensis a white Fryer sayeth in his book which he hath written of the Sacramentes against the Wickleuistes and yet approued by an expresse Bull from Pope Martin the fift for after that hee hath reasoned mightilie for the maintaining of the Communicating of the Laitie vnder one kind hee commeth in with this exception vz. That it is notwithstanding permitted the Pastors if they haue not made an end of the Sacraments but onelie receiued the same in part that is if they haue not drunke all that then they should distribute the remainder vnto those of their Parishioners which are strong in faith and discreete persons Euen as sayeth hee the Pope is wont to deale with the Deacons and Ministers and with other persons famous for their faith or aduanced in dignitie and worthines with Doctors with Kinges or as the Church dealeth at this day with religious persons or men of great place c. And againe wee doe not allow it them sayeth he generallie neither doe we generally forbid it them for wee know that it is reserued of purpose for the Church and Prelates to communicate and distribute the cuppe vnto such persons c. And yet in the meane time it hath thriuen so well in their fingers as that indeed Kinges hauing kept the Charter and priuiledge of this libertie all others haue by one meanes or other lost and forfeyted the same and yet Kinges hold not this tenure say they as they are Laye-men but as they are sacred persons whereuppon we reade that the great king Frauncis demaunding the reasons of his Diuines Because said they that kings are annointed as the Priests be Which thing S. Ambrose as it may seeme by this reckoning did not vnderstand aright when hee caused the Emperour Theodosius to come out of the Queare of the Temple as a meere Laye-man Thomas Aquinas sheweth vs plainelie that it was in his time Thomas de sacram altar that this abuse was brought into the Church for in the place where Lombard had made this question Wherfore the Sacrament was receiued vnder both kindes Thomas did propound the contrarie why doe not the people receiue the blood vnder the wine And there is some difference betwixt them in respect of some certaine yeares during which distance this sufferance crept into the Church Now these are his reasons first That as there is neede of a more speciall vessell to put the wine in then to put the bread in so it is meet and requisite that it should bee a more speciall and sacred person for the receiuing of the blood then for the receiuing of the bodie which must bee expounded of the holie Priestes onelie and not of any of the vnholie Laitie But how shall those wordes of Chrysostome then take place where hee sayeth That in the receyuing of the Eucharist there is no difference betwixt the Priest and the people The second That there is danger therein least the people should shed the bloode which was not to bee feared in receyuing of the bodie And then what place shoulde bee found for the prudencie of the old Church to abide and rest in how hath shee maimed and wounded herselfe for these manie ages at such time as the people flockt and ran to the receiuing of the Sacrament by millions that shee did not foresee yea remedie and helpe this inconuenience but onelie because that new opinions haue begotten new prouisoes The third For feare least the common people which is giuen to bee wilfullie rude and ignorant hauing taken the blood vnder the kinde of wine could not afterward belieue the receiuing of it vnder the kinde of bread how true notwithstanding soeuer it bee that it is therein truelie and verilie What other thing is this but to reach vs that Transubstantiation hath begotten concomitancie and concomitancie the communicating vnder one kinde and by consequent that the Communion vnder both practised by the space of twelue hundred yeares in the Church did presuppose and take for granted a farre other kinde of doctrine then that of Transubstantiation or concomitancie But this saide Thomas did acknowledge in an other place that both the kindes are the institution of the Lord for hee sayeth expresly Thomas aduers Gentes l. 4. c. 51. Because that the working of our saluation was accomplished by the passion of Christ by the which his blood was separated from his bodie the Sacrament of his bodie is giuen vs apart and by it selfe and the Sacrament of bloode vnder the wine by it selfe to the end that vnder this Sacrament may bee contained the remembrance and representation of the death of our Lord and that so it may be fulfilled which hee sayth My flesh is verilie meat and my blood verilie drinke c. And there hee speaketh expresly not of the pretended Sacrifice of the Priest Iodoc. Clitho in Elucidario Theologico but of the distribution of the Sacramentes vnto the faithfull Likewise in the Office appointed for the feast of the Sacrament ordayned by him this Hymne doth testifie the same vnto vs Dedit fragilibus c. Again in the Hymne Verbum supernum prodiens he sayeth Quibus sub bina specie Carnem dedit sanguinem Vt duplicis substantiae Totum cibaret hominem Where hee acknowledgeth the institution of Christ
Thom. in 1. ad Cor. 11. lect 5. But vpon the Epistle to the Corinthians This Sacrament sayeth hee is giuen vnder a double kinde for three reasons The first for the perfection therof for seeing it is a spirituall sustenance it must needes haue a spirituall meate as also a sprituall drinke wherefore it is saide in the tenth Chapter that all haue eaten one spirituall meate and all haue drunke one and the same spirituall drinke The second by reason of the signification thereof for this is a remembrance of the death and passion of our Lord wherein the blood was separated from the bodie and therefore is giuen alone and by it selfe in this Sacrament And the third reason is this because of the sauing effect that is in this Sacrament for it serueth to the saluation of the bodie therefore the bodie is giuen it serueth to the saluation of the soule and therefore the blood is giuen But tell mee I pray you how farre more fit these three reasons are for to proue that it ought to bee giuen then the other three are to proue that it ought to bee taken away And what followeth hereof then but that to cut off the same is to depriue men of their spirituall food to weaken the remembrance of the passion of our Lord yea and to frustrate his people so much as in them lyeth of their saluation But see how time carrieth thinges away Thom. in Summa par 3. q. 8. art 12. for after that hee had saide To the perfection of this Sacrament there is required manducatio potatio eating of the bodie and drinking of the blood by consequent he that shall take the bodie without the blood shoulde haue but a lame and imperfect Sacrament hee addeth vnto this truth the error of the time carrying him away Notwithstanding there had great care reuerence need to bee vsed of them which receiue the same that so nothing may bee committed which might turne to the misprision contempt of so great a mystery which is most chiefly like to happen by shedding of the bloode if it should bee vndiscreetlie handled this is that which they call periculum effusionis because the Christians encreasing in number that there are amongst them old men young men children all which cannot bring such discretion as were requisite to so bolie a Sacrament it is obserued in some Churches not to offer the blood vnto the people to bee taken of them but the Priest taketh it himselfe alone hee sayeth that it is obserued wherein wee way well picke out this construction Thom. Opusc 58. c. 13. vz. that it is not a law but a custome in some churches that is that as yet in his time this custome had not preuailed euerie where And his reason of the great number of Christians is not to the purpose for the question is not of the daunger of spilling or of the number of Christians but of the number of Communicantes Now wee haue shewed before that the zeale of the Primitiue Church in frequenting the Sacramentes did farre exceede and goe beyonde the zeale of this time In brief for the vpholding of this opinion it is resolued vppon and concluded by him that the blood vnder the signe of bread is ioyned with the bodie per connexienem Scotus in Rep. dist 10. q. 3. as all the rest of the humors which is one branch of his Transubstantiation But Scotus disputeth against him both in the stocke and in the branches in these wordes Non est certum nam vtrumque potest sustineri noutrum probari This is not certaine for the one and the other may bee argued and reasoned but neyther the one nor the other can be proued Richardus de Media villa and Petrus de Tarentasia who liued since Innocent the fourth doe witnes that in their time the Sacrament was distributed vnder both kindes not onely to the ministers of the Altar but also to the best of the parish being such as by reason of their discretion were not to be feared of committing this matter of daunger Petrus de Palude sayeth Petrus de Palude in 4 Sent. d. 11. q. 1. That in certaine Churches this was done vnto all manner of persons in his time by the good order that was taken to auoide shedding also It is meete and of necessitie that there should be a twofold matter in this Sacrament meate and drinke D. 11. art 1. because the effect of the Sacrament must be perfectly represented by the figure now the effect of the sacrament is the perfect nourishing of the soule c. Cassander out of Gulielmus de Monte-landuno Idem in 4. Sent. d. 11. q. 12. art 1. q. 1. Qui recipit corpus Christi totam veritatem recipit sed non totum sacramentum ideo multis in locis cōmunicatur pane vino i. toto sacramento He that receiueth the bodie of Christ receiueth the whole truth but not the whole sacrament and therfore in many places they communicate with bread and wine that is to say in the whole sacrament c. Bonauentura a gray Frier famous amongst the schoolemen In the sacrament two things are to be considered the efficacie the signification Bonauent in lib. 4. Ser. t. d. 11. and therefore to be of the perfection or soundnesse of the sacrament is ment two manner of waies either according to the efficacie and power fuluesse thereof and so euery part is the whole or as concerning the signification and in this sort and manner the two kinds are of the perfection and intirenesse of the sacrament in as much as this sacrament is not sufficient in one of them but in both Also Of the two signes there riseth a perfect sacrament of the integritie and perfection whereof the dispositiue reason riseth naturally because neither the bread nor the wine doe either of them apart refresh and feede mā but rather both together The reason completiue riseth also of the holy institution which hath ordained these two signs to represent a perfect nourishment And he neuer speaketh otherwise In so much as that yet euen in these latter ages and times men were not come so farre as to denie that the Communion vnder both kinds was the institution of Christ or the obseruation of the auncient Church Lyran. in 1. ad Cor. c. 11. Proucrb 9. Sup. haec verba bibite vinum quod miscui vobis Dionys in 1. ad Cor. c. 11. 2. part serm In die caenae Dom. or else to alleadge any other cause of the taking away of the cup then the daunger of shedding for Lyranus saith plainly expounding the place of the first to the Corinthians He speaketh here of two kinds because that in the primitiue Church they were both giuen vnto the faithfull but for feare of spilling there is nothing giuen now a daies vnto the laitie but onely the kind of bread And a long time after him Dionys
reproued Marcellina because she burned incense to the Image of Christ what would hee haue saide to them which burne incense euerie day vnto the Images of the Saintes And hereupon also it came that the Spaniard Peresius found fault with this distinction And as for the other namelie That they doe not worship the Image but the thing whereof it is a signe can they deny that the Pagans said not asmuch vnto S. Augustine Lactantius Arnobius and Tertullian who yet did not therefore surcease or giue ouer to reproue and condemne them And if they coulde not tell how to excuse the matter or defende themselues against those Fathers Idem l. 3. de doctr Christi c. 7.8 9. what hope is there left that our Idolaters can speed any better in the same cause and matter But S. Augustine cutteth off al excuse by a generall proposition saying The signes of the Iewes are profitable because they are ordained of God but those of the Gentiles vnprofitable as their Images pictures c. notwithstanding that in them they bee properlie giuen to honour their Gods Afterwarde hee speaking of the one and the other saith If thou honour the signes in stead of the thing signified intending the honour vnto these and not to them yet this is notwithstanding a carnal scruitude wheras Christian libertie hath euen deliuered the Iewes And so by this meanes this respectiue kinde of worship goeth downe the streame Cassand in consultatione which Cassander likewise sincerelie acknowledgeth neuer to haue had anie place nor yet to haue found any reason to pleade for it in the olde Church But after this they speake a great deale more plainelie The growth proceeding of Idolatrie and Idolatrie beginneth to lift vp her Maske Theodore Bishoppe of Myra had said in the second Councell of Nice There are not two sorts of worshipping Latria and Dulia there is but one There is likewise no question to bee made of relation or respectiue regard the resembling thing and the thing resembled are worshipped both the one and the other in one and the same degree and measure But this proposition was not wel and equallie liked of all Thom. in 3. sent D. 2. Idem Scoâ—us But beholde the Schoolemen haue now found out the meanes to remoue the blocke out of the way by vertue of a place out of Aristotle but what hath he to do with our Diuinitie saying The thought that is bent vpon the Image and that which is bent vpon the thing signified by the Image are both alike and therefore the worship of the one and the other is alike And therfore they con clude and resolue that the Crosse and Image of Christ must be worshipped with Latria And therefore they vse to sing to the Crosse in the Church of Rome Behold the wood of the Crosse we worship it O holie Crosse graunt that Iustice may grow and increase in good men and pardon thou the transgressors and the sinners c. And of this opinion are likewise Thomas Iacob Nancl. Clugiens Epis Anno 1557. Scotus and Bonauentura c. so long as till that Iacobus Nanclantus Bb. of Chioggia in Italie did sharplie reproue them which said that Images ought to be worshipped and would haue had the wordes to worship Images to bee cut out But what increase insued there vpon these goodlie principles Surely thus much that eueÌ„ as they held their Images by the tenure of imitation counterfeyting therein the Pagans so they borrowed of them all the fashions which they vsed to worship their Gods withall as to offer offringes vnto them to make vowes Temples Altars and Sacrifices to say also their Masses that is to say to sacrifice the Sonne of God Tertul. in lib. de Idololatria Germanus in Ep. ad Thom. in Nice conc 2 so far as in them laye vnto them and afterward gorgeous apparrell garlandes of flowers burning of incense wax-candles burning lampes fastinges solemne feastes in honour of them the carrying about of their pictures and a worshipping of their bones What one thing is there of al these that was euer practised in the Church of Israel or in the Primitiue Christian church Or on the contrarie what one is there amongst them al which is not coÌ„firmed both by testimony example in the stories of the Pagans And what then can they haue reserued as proper and peculiar vnto God himselfe vnder the name Latria Or what becommeth of Lyranus with his distinction That we are not to bow or kneele vpon both our knees to any but to God alone when as it is in this seruice done vnto the creatures made by God and the workes of mens hands But neither haue they yet contented themselues and stayed here for after the manner of the Pagans they haue likewise so consecrated these Images in such blasphemous sort as that Paganisme it selfe would haue been ashamed and blusht to haue done the like a thing as appeareth by the Councell of Francford vtterlie vnknowne at such time as it was held and kept For in consecrating of the Crosse they pray vnto God That all such as shall kneele downe vnto the same may haue remorse and compunction of heart and remission of their sinnes Now what remaineth besides this for the true Crosse that is for the mysterie of our redemption accomplished in that death vpon the Crosse suffered by Christ Againe That this wood of the Crosse so they call it may besaluation vnto the soule health to the bodie and a remedie vnto mankinde for the strengthning of faith the increase of good works the ransome of soules and for a defensatiue against the Diuell What shall now bee left behinde for the power of the holy Ghost to effect and work for the spirit of Christ which regenerateth vs sanctifieth and strengthneth vs making vs inheritors of eternall saluation c Pope Iohn the 22. In Antidotar Animae ordained a prayer to bee said that to the Veronique that pretended Image of Christ which was imprinted in a handkerchife Salue sancta facies Redemptoris nostri c. And in the same place it is praied vnto To cleanse and wipe away all the staines of whatsoeuer vices to vouchsafe to infuse light into the heart to increase and adde vnto the merites of such as doe belieue therein to destroye heretikes to defende the Christian faith to conduct and guide those which pray vnto it to the fruition of eternall life to the beholding of God to their coniunction and ioyning with Christ who of bread is made God c. And the Pope last aboue named granteth in the same place ten thousand dayes indulgences to him that obserueth the same And what doe they reserue more for Christ himselfe Or who shall alledge and say that this is but some particular mans deuotion when the pope himselfe is author thereof Pius 2. comment l 8. And when as likewise Pius the second ordained that vpon Easter day it should be
Marselles vpon this matter at such time as Pope Gelasius woulde haue bounde the Church of Fraunce with the same bandes You thinke it sayeth hee a goodly conuersion alluding as it may seeme vnto the Canon A labe scelere which saith that the maried priest must not be receiued vnto the priesthood if he haue not promised At his conuersion to abstaine from pollution wicked dishonestie for so they called the maried estate When as they abstain frō their wiues but not from other mens goods when as they professe continencie of body but let loose the reines in most dissolute manner to all incontinencie of the soule a new and strange manner doubtlesse of conuersion they do not the things which are lawfull nor make any conscience of that which is vnlawful they abstaine from mariage but not from rapine stealth What doest thou O foolish and fond perswasion God hath forbidden sinnes and not mariage you do euerie thing quite contrarie This is not a conuersion or turning to goodnes but a turning from all goodnes You that are reported to haue left the honest companie of mariage do you at the least abstain from dishonesty yea at the least do you abstain frō monstrous dishonestie Now he writ this against the priests of Rome and Italy in his time not dissembling or hiding the matter how that from that time Sodomitrie became publike common in Rome In a word about the yeare 800. Zacharie writing to Pipin sending him the decrees which he intended should be obserued in France in the 37. Canon he recommendeth the abstaining of Bbs. Priestes and Deacons from their wiues And one Claudius Bb. of Auxerre being countenanced and beloued of Charles the Great declaimed boldly against the abuses of the Church of Rome amongst others against that of forced continencie And Sigibert telleth vs that the Emperour Lothairus towards the yeare 855. great resistance being made against this law did also oppose himself therto D. 32 C. de illo Clerico as also about the yere 860. one Odo Bb. of Viēna permitted Aluericus a Subdeacon to be maried whereupon Pope Nicholas was offended And very neere to the yere 1100. Gebwiler Lambertus Schafnaburgensis and Gebwiler a Germaine writer although a Romanist witnesseth that 24. Bbs. as well Germaines as Frenchmen with the whole cleargie of their diocesses were maried and defended their mariages constantly The secular sword in the end was drawne out against mariage euen that sword which Innocent the first had threatned against the same a long time as that what the authority of the canons could not effect that same should forcible violence perswade And in the meane time it is not to be forgotten that at the very time when Gregorie the 3. ordained in France that no man should marie any woman that had beene wife to any Elder Liber Pontificalis Bonifac. in ep ad Pechelin Nothelin Idem ad Zachariam tom 2. Concil Naucler gener 25. In Spaine Hieronym ad Oceanum Sectator libidinum praeceptor vitiorū Concil Elibert 1. c. 33. Deacon Monke or witnes at the baptizing of any of his children c. alleadging to the Frenchmen that to do any of these was an enormous sin that then notwithstanding Boniface in the right behalfe of the Germains saith that he hath not yet acknowledged or conceiued of it so to be This same Gregory permitted against the expresse word of God a man to marrie his owne aunt the wife of his vncle to forsake his owne wife because of her barrennes or sicknes following that which is written of the Pharisies Which straine a Gnat and swallow a Cammell In Spaine it seemeth vsuall by Carterius a Bb. who was twice maried yet not blamed for the same by S. Ierome neither yet accounted to haue transgressed the Apostles precept as also the resistance which was made against forced singlenes by the cholericke mood of Syricius What will these loose liuers saith he say vnto mee or els these maisters of vices Thus speaketh he of the maried priests of Spain and the Bb. of Arragon telleth him that he is not able to proue that by them Likewise the 33. Canon of the Councell of Elebert is so contriued and laid downe as that it cannot wel be said whether it condemne or approue a single life because of the ambiguity and doubtfulne which is in these words Placuit in totū prohibere abstinere se a coniugibus c. And yet notwithstanding in the first Councel of Toledo held vnder Syricius Patronus the Bb. began there saying That he purposeth to stand fast vnto all that which shall be found to haue beene ordained in the councell of Nice In so much as that mariage to speake properly is not forbidden there but by a consequence falsly gathered frō the conclusion latter end which was left in the Decree of Nice for them which should marrie after orders they exclude frō all further greater promotion such as after the said orders shall haue had children by their wiues Concil Tolet. 1. c. 1.2.3.4.5 But the Councels of Girond Seuil Toledo which folowed did make the case condition to be worse euen to the arming of the secular power against it yet about the yeare 600. Isidore the younger Isidor de vita Cleric vttereth this speech namely That clearkes must either liue chastly or els at the least content themselues with one onely mariage Neither let vs thinke that it went otherwise in Italie In Italie D. 56. Plat Volat. as the diuerse Popes begotten of Priestes in marriage may sufficientlie confirme vnto vs Boniface the first sonne of Iucundus the Priest Felix the thirde sonne of Felix the Priest Gelasius the first sonne of Valerius the Bishoppe Agapet the first sonne of Gordian the Priest Syluerius the sonne of Hormisda the Bishoppe Deus-dedit the sonne of Steuen the Subdeacon Theodore the sonne of Theodore the Bishoppe Adrian the seconde the sonne of Tolarus the Bishoppe c. all of them borne betwixt the yeares 400. and 900. and more legitimate notwithstanding although they were borne after the taking of Orders Because sayeth Gratian that before the prohibition was receiued Gratian. C. Cenomanuensem D. 56. in Palea Oluis D. 28. C. de Syracus vrbis D. 31. c. 2. such marriages were lawfull and are as yet in the Easterne Church In Sicilia likewise we reade in the Decree that those of the Cittie of Siracusa hauing chosen a Bishoppe who had both wife and children Pope Pelagius delaied the well accepting of him but in the end by their importunitie was constrained to yeeld vnto them And as Gregorie about the yeare 600. went aboute to forbid the Subdeacons of Sicilia the vse of their wiues contrarie to the custome which had continued amongst them till then they did so stifflie stande in the cause as that he was constrained to let them alone as they were with this charge that from
small touch remorce of it self that can promise or perswade it selfe of the grace of God how good and merciful soeuer he conceiue it to be yea which on the contrarie doth not tremble quake before his iust anger or doeth not thereby condemne it selfe saue that it pleaseth this Mediator to take it by the hand and to leade it before the iudge not so much to beg or craue any thing for it as to seale vp vnto and graft in it his grace to say vnto it in full assurance and confidence Father this is one of them which thou hast giuen me by the merite of my obedience or rather one of those whom I purchased with mine owne blood Now of them I will not lose one take them vnto thy grace Ioh. 17. it is for them Father that I pray and intreate thee Keepe them in thy name let them be one as we are let my ioy be fulfilled in them c. Now these holy ceremonies are of two sorts such as are offered by man to God Sacrifice and Sacraments are properly called sacrifices and those which are giuen by God to man sacraments In so much as that to speake properly we may say that in the sacrifices man as much as he could was admonished to renounce himselfe and to giue himselfe vnto God in the Sacraments hee was aduertised and assured that God putting off his iustice to cloath himselfe with mercy did vouchsafe to giue himselfe vnto him the people in their sacrifices and euery faithfull man making protestation to endeuor themselues to become the people and children of God God in the Sacraments bearing witnes vnto them that he vouchsafed to be their God in Iesus Christ according to his free promises as also their father To be short a sacrifice is an acte or worke by which we acknowledge in the knowledge of the true God the whole homage which we owe vnto him and the faults which in our infirmitie we commit therein A sacrament is a holy ceremony instituted of God in which the faithfull are confirmed by signes exhibiting that which they represent of the grace of God promised vnto the faithful in the couenant which it hath pleased him to make with them Now on Gods behalfe the couenant halteth not he is faithfull farre more readie to offer himselfe and to deliuer himselfe to vs with all his good things then we are to hold out our handes to receiue them But on our behalfe all our actions are maimed this fleshlie hart giuen to the flesh cleauing fast to it selfe cannot offer it selfe to him of or by it selfe he must violently draw and pull it vnto him when he will haue it And there remaineth nothing in vs of all that which we owe vnto God besides the manifesting and declaring of our knowing of it and the testifying of the sorrow and griefe which we haue for that we are not able to render him the same as also to acknowledge in our sacrifices that all our good things that all our prosperitie and good successe are of God alone of his blessing and of his fauour and that all that which hee can receiue of vs in stead of recompence are nothing els then our new trespasses that is in stead of his bountifulnes our ingratitude and of his benefites our misdeedes Psal 16. 19. in saying with Dauid a man notwithstanding according to Gods owne heart My soule thou hast said vnto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodnesse reacheth not vnto thee And againe Who knoweth O Lord the faults and errours of his life O cleanse me from my secret sinnes And this was the cause why the old Church had two principall sortes of sacrifices peace-offerings by which all euerie one did protest according to the measure of increase which they inioyed that all that whatsoeuer they had was of God the propitiatory sacrifices by the which they did testifie all euery one that in stead of so many good thinges which they did receiue they could not render vnto God any thing but vncleannes and transgressions which by the bloud of beasts shed therein they testified and declared to be worthie of death and by the ordinarie reiterating of the killing of so many innocent beasts they did giue to vnderstand that they could not be forgiuen or pardoned but in the blood of that immaculate lambe and of the true onely eternall and perpetuall propitiatory sacrifice of the Church Iesus Christ our Lord. And notwithstanding it is here to be noted That the holy Supper may be considered both as a sacrifice a sacrament that although it hath beene already shewed that there is a difference betwixt a sacrifice and a Sacrament that yet there are some ceremonies in the Church which may bee considered in diuers respectes both as sacrifices and sacraments The Paschall lambe in the Church of the Iewes is taken for a Sacrament and that in as much as it is giuen of God for a certaine signe of saluation promised vnto the Church and to euery faithful member in the same as also in that that this blood of the lamb wherewith the dore posts are sprinkled doth represent vnto vs the blood of Iesus Christ which sprinkleth our soules and remoue farre from vs and our Christian families the destroying Angell and therfore it is saide This blood shall be for a signe vppon your houses that so when as I shall see it I may passe ouer And yet notwithstanding it may bee taken for a sacrifice of thanksgiuing in as much as it is commaunded to bee continued for euer for a remembrance and thanksgiuing for the preseruation of the first borne of Israel out of the midst of all the sorrow and griefe which they suffered in Egypt as also it is a signe of the preseruation of the elect of God in the Church from out of the midst of the condemnation of this peruerse and wicked world And therefore it is said This day shall bee a memoriall vnto you you shall keepe the same holy in your generations c. As also in some sorte for a propitiatorie Sacrifice in that it was a figure of the true and onely propitiatorie Sacrifice offered by the Sonne of God our high Priest for our sinnes to God his father vppon the altar of the Crosse according to the Euangelist his exposition You shall not breake a bone of him And the Apostle Saint Paule Our Passeouer that is Iesus Christ slaine or crucified The same may bee said of the holy Supper of our Lord It is instituted for a Sacrament of the new Testament in as much as it is the reall receiuing and communicating of the bodie and blood of Christ truely God and truely man deliuered to be put to death vpon the Crosse for our sinnes raised againe for our iustification giuen in the vse of the holy Supper according to his owne institution for the nourishing of our soules vnto eternall life And therefore it is said Take eate this is
the breade giuen to those that were catechised which wee call the hallowed breade to the washing of feete practised vppon the Apostles c. which neuerthelesse do shew vnto vs at large in their treatises that howsoeuer they abuse the word yet they doe not let as need requireth to take and vnderstand it in the right vse and signification And as for the worde Sacrifice the Grammarians likewise say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the priesthood that is the care or administratiō of holy things And this is the cause that euery consecrated action hath beene called by this name likewise it hath purposely beene vsed to signifie the diuine seruice because that the Iewes and the Gentiles did vse it so Rom. 15. Phil. 2. Orig. ad Rom. l. 10. Chrysost ad Rom. hom 29 Epiph. haeres 79. Angust de ciuit Det. l. 10. c. 6 Tertul in Apolog Idem ad Scapul Iren. l. 4. contr haeres c. 34. Psal 50.69 Ecclesiastic 35 Ad. Heb. c. 13. August epist 120. ad Honorat Euseb de Demonstr l. 1. c. 10. Tertul. c. 4. contr Marciō Philip. 4. Hebr. 3. Iren. l. 4. c. 32. 34. Cypr. serm 1. de cleemos August ep 122 Psalm 51. Ecclesiastic 35. Rom. 12.2 who placed all their seruices in Sacrifices Thus wee see that Saint Paul called all the ministerie of the Gospell a Sacrifice And Origen saith This is a very worke of the Priesthood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach the Gospell Chrysostome My Priesthood or sacrificing office is to preach the Gospell Epiphanius speaking of them which were chosen in the thirteenth of the Actes saith They did sacrifice the Gospell And in the same sence Saint Augustine likewise hath said We call a sacrifice euery worke that hath relation vnto God being done to the end that wee may cleaue and sticke vnto him in a holy societie As Tertullian speaking of prayers I offer vnto him the fattest sacrifice that I am able euen prayer which hee hath commanded proceeding from a chaste bodie from a harmelesse soule from a holy spirite c. Ireneus Our altar is in heauen whither our prayers and offeringes are directed And the praises of God and giuing of thankes are called by the name of Sacrifices in the Psalmes Whereupon Saint Augustine saith Wee giue thankes to the Lord our God which is the great Sacrament in the sacrifice of the New Testament c. And Eusebius We sacrifice and burne the memorie of this great sacrifice c. rendring thankes to the God of our saluation c. And Tertullian The Samaritane intended to offer a true sacrifice euen the sacrifice of praise and thankesgiuing in the true temple and to the true sacrificer Iesus Christ c. The offeringes likewise which are made in the Christian assemblies for the reliefe of the poore haue had this name giuen them in Saint Paule A smell of a sweete sauour a sacrifice acceptable vnto God offeringes wherewith hee is well pleased In Ireneus We offer vnto God the first fruites of his giftes feeding the hungrie and cloathing the naked c. In Saint Cyprian where he reprocheth a rich widow Comest thou to the Lords banquet without a sacrifice And Saint Augustine which calleth the almes of certaine matrons sacrifices the table of the Temple whereuppon they were laide an Altar and to bee briefe a broken and contrite heart is a sacrifice vnto God Psalme 51. so is charitie towardes a mans neighbour and the vowes which wee make of consecrating and dedicating of our liues vnto the Lord Rom. 12. And why then should any man make it strange that the olde writers haue called the holy Supper a Sacrifice seeing that all these actions doe meete together in it namely a holy office a remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ vppon the Crosse the reading and preaching of his worde feruent praiers a serious and deepe meditation of sinne and of the grace of God both together the contrition of hart the vow of sacrificing from thence forward soule and bodie vnto God and the opening of the bowelles of compassion towardes the brethren all of them such actions as euerie one whereof by it selfe is called both in the holy scriptures as also in the fathers Oblations and Sacrifices and how much more then that which doth comprise them all in it selfe alone But that we may not contend about wordes let vs come to the question which is If the Masse bee a propitiatorie Sacrifice and also if the holy Supper in his puritie were instituted for the same end if our Lord Iesus bee there sacrificed a new really and in very deed for a propitiation of our sinnes that is to say for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead by the Ministers or Priestes which things we denie and our aduersaries affirme The scripture telleth vs That there are no propitiatory sacrifices in the new Testament besides that of Iesus Christ himselfe That the lambe was slaine before the foundation of the worlde And this lambe is the eternall Sonne of God whose sacrifice cannot chuse but be almighty all-sufficient absolutely perfect in respect of the desired end namely the saluation of men And therefore for the saluation of man wee haue no need neither of reiterating any sacrifice neither of any other new and neuer before offered Sacrifice whatsoeuer on the contrary all the Sacrifices of the lawe in their imperfections doe leade vs to the perfection of this same in their being often reiterated they shew vs their insufficiencie and weaknesse to bee cut off and ended in the strength and efficacie of this onely one Whereuppon it commeth that in the new Testament we heare not any more of Sacrifices or Sacrificing Priestes Of Sacrificing Priestes saue where as it is taught to bee the name and office of all and euerie Christian You are saith Saint Peter a royall priesthood a holy priesthood a holy people 1. Pet. 2. Apocal. 1. c. And Saint Iohn Christ hath made vs kinges and priestes vnto God his father to offer saith the Glosse acceptable sacrifices vnto God by him Of sacrifices also in like manner saue that wee render continuall thankes vnto God for this great sacrifice by the consecrating of whatsoeuer is in vs To offer vnto God sayeth the Apostle spirituall sacrifices which may bee acceptable vnto him in Iesus Christ 1. Pet. 2. Rom. 2. euen our selues a liuing sacrifice which is our reasonable seruing c. Likewise in the holy Supper from whence they woulde deriue the Masse there is no worke of sacrifice for sinne The sacrifice of Iesus Christ was accomplished vppon the Crosse where hee was slaine for vs and not in the holy Supper but the remembrance of that sacrifice offered vppon the Crosse is renewed in the Supper according to the institution of the Lorde vntil his comming that is without the being of any other sacrifices for sinne that partition wall and to the vtter cutting off of all expectation or further looking after of
the same Amen CHAP. IIII. That the old fathers haue not acknowledged any other propitiatorie sacrifice then that onely one made vpon the Crosse THus you cannot deny say they that the old fathers haue called the Masse a Sacrifice yes we haue flatly denyed them the whole plainly proued that the olde fathers did not so much as knowe it by name But they reply at the least they doe vnfold vnto vs the celebrating of the sacrament of the Eucharist or holy Supper of the Lord. And surely vpon good cause warrant seeing it is a holy consecrate action and that the spirituall sacrifices of our heartes are thereby sacrificed to God vnto repentance as also seeing that the incense of our praiers and the calues of our lips and the Gospell the word of God as saith S. Paul is therein sacrificed seeing that our bowels tanquam per viscerationem doe therein open inlarge and spread abroad and distribute themselues by our almes deedes vnto our neighbours seeing likewise that the death of Iesus Christ is therein declared the onely sacrifice of the Crosse and that by the expresse commandement of the sacrificer And thus and no otherwise haue they all vnderstood it But we denie that euer they said any thing of it as a sacrifice properly so called of the new offering vp of the Sonne of God to God by the priest of his bodie and of his blood vpon an altar for our sinnes Neither must they here go about to abuse vs with a distinction of Sacrificium cruentum aut incruentum of a bloodie or vnbloodie sacrifice For this distinction wil not be receiued or admitted of against the vniuersal propositions of the scripture which tell vs that where remission and forgiuenes of sinnes is purchased there needeth no more sacrifice or offering Againe that there is no remission purchased where there is no shedding of blood But so it is that wee haue forgiuenesse in the blood of Christ much more then an oblation But so it is that in their pretended sacrifice there is no shedding of blood and therefore much lesse pardon and forgiuenesse or any effectuall grace that may procure vs Gods fauour But yet it is further to be considered that the old fathers did neuer name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bloodlesse or vnbloodie sacrifices to make distinction thereby betwixt the sacrifice of the crosse and the sacrament or pretended sacrifice of the altar but rather to set downe a difference betwixt the sacrifices of the law and the sacrifices of Christians Whereupon Oecumenius saith Oecumen ad Heb. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Sacrifices without blood those saith he of the lippes as praiers hymnes and supplications vnto God by Iesus Christ c. And others after the same manner which wee shall see farre better by tracing them from age to age Clemens Alexandrinus next succeeding the time of the Apostles saith Clem. l. 3. Paedag c. 2. in strom We sacrifice not vnto God and that vpon good consideration for he hath no need of any thing but hath giuen all thinges vnto vs and therefore we do glorifie him who was sacrificed for vs in sacrificing offering vp of our selues Againe God would be honoured though he haue no need of any thing and therefore doe we honour him with our praiers and this is the best and most holy sacrifice when wee send them vp into his presence in iustice c. Our Altar then is the congregation of such as are attentiue in prayers and haue all of them one common spirit and one common voice c. Againe Our Altar that is one holy soule our perfume and incense euen our praiers So that he doth not acknowledge or make any mention of a Sacrament properly so called when he saith We do not sacrifice hee acknowledgeth another manner of fashion namely the prayers of the faithful the sacrificing of themselues vnto God c. And yet herein hee is not behind with speaking honourably of the Eucharist For saith he this is that speciall good grace whereof those are partakers which communicate therein in faith and are sanctified both in body and soule Ireneus we haue seene heretofore how he speaketh Iren. l. 4. c. 34. and yet you may perceiue him to deale more plainly We must saith he offer vp a sacrifice to God and in all thinges bee found to acknowledge our creator by a pure and vpright opinion and iudgement by faith without hipocrisie by certaine hope by feruent loue offering vnto him the first fruits of his creatures And this is that pure oblation which the Church onely doth offer vnto the creator offering vnto him of his creatures with thankesgiuing Therefore saith he he would haue vs to be continually offering our oblations vpon the altar And what Altar This also he teacheth saying There is an altar in heauen thither our prayers and sacrifices are directed and in the temple according to that which Saint Iohn hath said in the Apocalips and the temple of God was open and the tabernacle For behold saith he the tabernacle of God where hee will dwell with men Here then is no sacrifice but that of man vnto God in the acknowledgement of his benefits by continuall prayers as also of the first fruits of the goods which he giueth him and that by communicating them charitablie with his brethren Iustinus Martyr speaketh highly honorably in commendation of the Lords Supper he describeth and setteth out vnto vs the holy ceremony wholly intirely Iustin Martyr in Tryphon and yet not a word of the propitiatorie sacrifice in all that he saith But on the contrarie he saith I dare be bolde to affirme that there are no other sacrifices that are perfect and acceptable vnto God then the supplications and thankesgiuing of good people and Christians haue learned that they are not to offer any other c. Againe Idem in exposit fidei Tertul. aduers Iud. We sacrifice vnto God without ceasing the sacrifice of praise sincere praiers and of the sweet sauour of good workes c. We haue heard heretofore what Tertullian hath said vpon the first Chapter of Malachie but yet behold what he saith further It behoued that Christ should be made a sacrifice for all the Gentiles who was led as a sheepe to the slaughter Behold here the onely sacrifice Idem aduers Marc. l. 4. ad Scapul Againe The prophecies of the lawe did signifie that man otherwise a sinner presently after that hee was cleansed by the worde of God did offer an oblation in the Temple that is praier and thankesgiuing in the Church and congregation of the faithfull by Iesus Christ the catholike that is the vniuersall Priest of the father Behold now and see here an vniuersall and onely priest by whom wee offer vnto God our sacrifices and our praiers And therefore hee saith Wee must not sacrifice vnto God any thing but that which is spirituall for it is written a
Idem l. 3. c. 4. l 4. c. 5. sometimes we consecrate our selues all wholy vnto him and his high priest or sacrificer which is to Christ dedicating I say our selues bodies and soules vnto this word where wee haue to obserue that he reckeneth vp the sacrifice of Christians as the memorie of the passion of our Lorde thankesgiuing prayers praises and offering vppe of our selues c. but of the sacrifice without blood which they pretend whether it bee in the Supper or in the Masse not one word Nowe about this time was the first generall Councell of Nyce held Can. Nicaen wherein wee haue a Canon all saue some little parte thereof drawne out of the Vatican librarie the title whereof is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the holy table The wordes are Wee doe not rest and content our selues with the breade ministred vnto vs here belowe or yet in the cuppe but lifting vppe the vnderstanding of our mindes wee thinke by faith that the Lambe of God taking away the sinnes of the worlde lyeth in this Table 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacrificed by the Priestes without being slaine c. Where wee obserue agreeing with the doctrine going before that there is insinuated a certaine secrete opposition betwixt the holy table and the Altars of the lawe of the Lambe which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde and the Sacrifices of the lawe which were nothing but figures and shadowes of the Sacrifice which was there offered to this which is but renewed by being called to minde and of the bodily presence and visible substance of the one to the eating and receiuing of the other by faith And this appeareth more euidently by that which followeth which calleth vs cleane backe from all thinking of a sacrifice to the receiuing and communicating of a sacrament that is That we truely and verily receiuing his precious bodie and blood belieue these thinges to bee the infallible signes of our resurrection And this is the cause why wee take not much but a little that so wee may know that it is not to fill vs full vnto bodily nourishment but to further and feed the worke of our sanctification For if hee had rested in the sacrifice woulde that haue followed which he saith And that notwithstanding our being present at this sacrifice wee haue the resurrection and the life c. Athanas orat 3. cont Arrian Whereupon also Athanasius of the same time saith The oblation or sacrifice of the Lord once offered did accomplish all thinges and remaineth fast and sure throughout all times Aaron had his successors but the Lorde sine transitione successione without any succession or change from one to another holdeth the priesthood for euer Saint Basill Those which were wont to be consecrated of the seed of Aaron are excluded Basill in 1. c. Esa to the end that there might come in their roome a priest according to the order of Melchisedec and not the sacrificing priestes of the Church of Rome There is no more any question saith he of the continuall sacrifice neither yet of these so oft reiterated and renewed sacrifices c. For there is but one sacrifice that is Christ and the mortification of the Saintes which is become famous and renowned for their confessing of him There is but one besprinkling and cleansing with water and that is the washing of the new birth there is but one purgation for sinne that is his blood shedde for the saluation of the world To what end saith the Lord serueth so many sacrifices he requireth but one reiecting all whatsoeuer els that is that euerie man doe reconcile and offer himselfe to God appearing before him a liuing sacrifice by a reasonable seruing of him and offering vnto God the sacrifice of praise c. Againe Now in the end and latter age of the worlde one onely sacrifice is approued once offerred for an oblation for sinne For the Lambe of God hath taken away the sin of the world offering himselfe an oblation and sacrifice of a smell of a sweet sauour c. Idem in psal 115. And in another place I will therefore sacrifice my soule vnto thy praise O Lord as it were vpon some Altar I will offer vnto thee the sacrifice of praise which is more worth then an infinite number of others c. Gregorius Nazianzenus This great sacrifice Gregor Nazianz in Pasch orat 2. which in his first nature could not bee sacrificed is mingled with all the sacrifices of the lawe That same I say which is the purgation not of one parte of the worlde nor forsome certaine time but of the whole world and for euer And thus we are admonished not to seeke for any other But saith he we offer vnto God vpon his celestiall Altar together with Angels the Sacrifice of praise let vs passe through the first vaile and drawe neere vnto the second let vs sacrifice to God at all times And hee addeth For the chiefe and principall point of wisedome is a good and honest life purged and made cleane before God euen that God which is most pure and requireth no other sacrifice at our handes but this purenesse which the scripture commonly calleth a contrite and broken heart the sacrifice of praise a newe creature in Christ c. Eusebius Emissenus saith Euseb Emissen de caen Dom. Seeing that our Lorde was to conuey vp into the heauen beyond the reach of our pearcing sight this his humane bodie which he had taken vppon him it was needfull that vppon this day hee should consecrate for vs the Sacrament of his bodie and of his blood that so what had once beene offered vppe for the price of our redemption might bee honoured in a mysterie for euer to the end that as redemption hath his ordinarie course for the saluation of men without any wearisomnesse so also the euerlasting oblation perpetuall sacrifice of this redemption might liue and continue fresh in our memorie and that this one true and perfect sacrifice that is to say Christ might continually bee present in grace which wee must iudge of by faith and not by outward appearance by the inward affection and not by the outward sight Where wee are to note that hee saith Sacrament not Sacrifice and that hee opposeth the remembrance of the oblation to the oblation it selfe the powerfull course and continuance of redemption to redemption it selfe once wrought the presence of grace to the reall presence and the body of Christ lifted vp to heauen to the Sacrament of the same left remayning in the Supper Epiphanius Epiphanius cont Marcion haere 42. 35. Haue you offered me sacrifice saith the Lord fortie yeares in the wildernesse c. To the end that they might learne that God by the comming of his Christ hath taken away all manner of vse of sacrifices and that in respect of one sacrifice which hath perfected and accomplished all the other sacrifices that went before
he prayed therefore he belieued there was a purgatorie Whereas he should rather reason to the contrarie for that the prophet in the reckoning vp of so many circumstances of burnt bodies of bones gathered together and buried of weeping mourning fasting c. doth to the wondring of men say neuer a word of this pretended praier which yet had beene the principall and substance His cloake to couer the matter withall 2. Reg. 12. is for that in another place it is said that Dauid fasted and praied for the sonne which he had by Bersheba Then let him call to mind withall how that after the child was once dead he ceased both to fast and also by consequent to pray for him But the historie is cleare of it selfe Namely that Dauid the people acknowledging in this ouerthrow the wrath of God vpon Israel they humbled themselues before him as may plainly bee read in the wordes as they are there expresly set downe They fasted saith he because of Saule and Ionathan his sonne and of the Lords people of the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword And further then thus Iosephus obserueth not any thing in this storie saue that wee haue also to note therein the whole complaint and mone that Dauid made for the death of Saule and Ionathan in most lamentable speeches but yet such as whereout there cannot any tittle of praier for the dead bee gathered neither yet any thing for purgatorie It is said in the Psalme 37. Psal 37. O Lord reproue me not in thy furie neither chasten me in thine anger That is to say saith Bellarmine Chastice me not in hell neither yet in purgatory And this sence he wold faine gather out of S. Augustine in such maner as that fury should haue relation vnto hell and anger vnto purgatorie And now giue eare and hearken to the weaknes of his interpretation August in psal 6. 38. For where S. Augustine hath put it downe to be read furie following the Septuagints S. Ierome skilfull in the Hebrew which S. Augustine was not hath put it downe anger and in the place of anger furie Origen could not bethinke himselfe how to make any such matter when he saith Orig. in Ezech. Numb 1. That this furie is a kind of discipline by which God traineth his to the thinges concerning the health of their soules hauing too lewdly contemned his word And yet he is one of them whom they take ordinarily to bee one of their warrants for purgatory August in psal 6. 38. And thus behold in Saint Augustine a hell and a purgatory that do change places But they should haue noted that S. Augustine himselfe saith that these are two words put for one thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that the copies do varie the one putting Ira in the first place and the others Furor Againe they should not haue concealed and kept close how that S. Augustine speaketh by name of the day of iudgement and not of the departure out of this life In the day of iudgement saith he they that haue not the foundation that is to say Christ are reproued and those which haue built thereupon timber haire and straw are corrected and amended This his asseueration rising from an old opinion that all the world should at that time be purged by fire as we shall see hereafter a thing then very farre off from the pretended purgatory seeing it should end then whereas this pretended one taketh his beginning at the departure of men out of this life Againe this interpretation could not but be very ambiguous and doubtful in S. Hieronym in psal 6. 37. Theod. in psal 6. 37. Augustine who neuer spoke but very doubtfully of purgatorie S. Ierome hath not found it in that place but holdeth opinion that those two words expresse but one thing Neither yet Theodoret Correct me saith he as a father not as a iudge as a phisition not as an executioner not in reuenging my sinne but in moderating the rigor of thy iustice S. Basil likewise This is as though one should say to a phisition Cure mee not by fire or by any cauterie but by some more mild and gentle remedie Chasten me not like vnto the Egyptians by euill Angels but with thy sauing word Likewise reserue me not vnto the day of thine ire and of the reuelation of thy iust iudgement but rather deale mercifully with mee correct me before the day of my departure hence Bernard in Cant. serm 70. which thing is to be noted And so saith he befell it vnto Dauid c. S. Bernard Reproue me not O Lord in thy fury as thou didst the angels which reuolted fell away from thee in heauen but correct me in thine ire as the man in paradice that is saith he still remembring thee of thy mercie Lyranus in shorte wise thus Reproue mee not in the rigor of thy iustice but chastise mee according to the mildnesse of thy mercie And as for the word Fury hee is of minde that it is an alluding vnto the wordes in the 2. of Samuel 2. Sam. 24. And the furie and fierce wrath of the Lord continued to waxe hot against the house of Israel wherefore Dauid was moued to say vnto Ioab go and number Israel and Iuda c. reprouing Cassiodorus who of the litterall sence resting in Dauid made an allegoricall and referred it to Iob as if this Psalme had beene made by Dauid for to represent and set out the affliction of Iob and not because of the remorce and sence of his owne transgression cleane contrarie to the opinion iudgement of all the old writers either Iewes or Christians Caietanus of our time saith in like manner Chastise me as a father and not in the heate of thy displeasure c. a hard case that amongst so many Doctors wherewith they braue out their assertions there is not so much as one to be found on their side in deed Dauid in a psalme complaineth himselfe that God had grieuously afflicted him Psal 39. but that notwithstanding he held his peace because he knew it to be his hand When thou rebukest saith he any man for his iniquitie thou consumest his excellencie like a moth or according to others Thou meltest him or causest him to drie like vnto a cobwebbe Of this word melt or drie they conclude a fire Hieronym in psal 39. this fire they will needes haue to be purgatorie whereas in the meane time S. Ierome doth translate it Thou wastest and consumest his most precious things as doth a moth Now here is neuer a word either of fire or of the soule And the Chaldie paraphrast thou meltest away his body like a snaile Now he findeth not here any torment inflicted vpon the soule Orig. hom 11 in psal 38. And yet notwithstanding they make Origen their buckler in this conflict whome all old
grieuous both the one and the other by pennance Now the truth is cleare how that purgatorie is not pennance as also that it is not ordained for sinnes but for punishment but and if it be as some would haue it for sinnes yet it is but for pettie and sleight sinnes Ireneus saith It is the word alone that washeth away the filthines of the daughters of Sion that washed the feete of his disciples and which sanctifieth their whole bodies Clemens Alexandrinus It is the good spirituall washing which cleanseth the soule Hieronym in Esa 4. whereof the Prophet speaketh The Lord hath washed away the filthines of Sion c. S. Ierome expounding this place saith in like sort That which is but lightly foule will bee washed cleane but that which is deeply stained and defiled by being burnt in the fire And this is that which Iohn Baptist said He will baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire for man can giue but water but God fire and the holy Ghost which washeth away filthinesse and purgeth away the deadly and haynous sins Chrysostome Chrysost in Matth. hom 5. c. 4. Cyril in Esa c. 4. For men are baptised with fire by temptations that are present according to that in Esay In the spirit of feruencie and zeale c. Cyrill in like manner In the spirit saith he of iudgement that is to say by a iust sentence according as our Sauiour saith Now is the iudgement of this world for hee fighteth with the world and Sathan iustifying vs by faith c. And also in the spirit of zeale by the grace of baptisme which is not begotten in vs without the spirit c. For we are not baptised with bare water but with the holy Ghost with this diuine and intellectuall fire which wasteth in vs the vncleannesse of our vicious nature and melteth and burneth all the spots of sinne Haimo ibid. c. Haimo The same holy Ghost is called the spirit of iudgement and the spirit of zeale and feruencie of iudgement because that in baptisme Sathan is iudged and as it were condemned when his power ouer man is taken away from him of zeale because he inflameth the heartes of men with loue towardes their creator scouring away the canker of sin whereof it is said God is a consuming fire he will baptise vs with the holy Ghost and with fire c. And Hugo the Cardinall in like manner And thus you may see by these ancient fathers how they haue made a purgatorie of the holy Ghost and of the temptations and trials happening in this life the paines of purgatorie which cannot be except in the other And Lyranus In the spirit of iudgement for our Lord hath satisfied for the Church by the way of iustice in the spirit of zeale because he hath performed it in a great measure of charitie and loue And yet this is one of the textes whereby Bellarmine laboureth to make his cause so strong And here we are not to forget his vnsound and vnfaithfull dealing for that which S. Augustine hath spoken expresly De nouissimo iudicio of the last iudgement wherein saith he the daughters of Syon shall be refined graunt it saith he in as much as they shall be seperated from the wicked as the pure gold from his drosse in the furnace admit it also in this respect for that all creatures shall as then passe through the fire and likewise all manner of soules according to the opinion of that time this hee turneth and wresteth to help for the building of his purgatorie which they pretend to take place and seaze vpon men at the time of their departure out of this life And we are to request the reader to marke the deceit he worketh vpon the place Peter Abbot of Clugni abuseth either ignorantly or impudently another place Esay 8. Esa 8.19 Shall the people require a signe and vision of their God for the quicke and for the dead For so he alleadgeth it whereas the text saith Shall not a people inquire at their God shall they runne for the liuing to the dead reprouing such as did runne to south sayers sending them backe as is said afterward to the law and to the testimonie c. In deed the Septuagints haue translated it Shall they inquire of the dead concerning the liuing that is to say concerning the businesse and affaires of the liuing And the Chaldie paraphrast Euerie man saith hee inquireth and asketh counsell of his idolles so the liuing take counsell of the dead And Origen likewise You to whom God hath giuen his law will you go to inquire of the Deuils which are in verie deede dead Hieronym in Esa c. 8. And Saint Ierome vpon Esay saith As the infidels do aske counsell at their false Gods so the faithfull ought to runne to the true God and to the lawe and to the Prophetes inspired by him c. Lyranus saith as hee saith Saint Cyrill Cyril in Esa l. 5. orat 5. Would you aske counsell sayeth the Lord of the dead for the liuing you which are aliue is there any reason that you shoulde inquire of the deade of the bodies which lie in the graues or of the soules which it may bee are in hell Nay rather saith hee you which are quickned by the liuely worde of God will you go vnto sorcerers and Magicians which are dead in their soules Now the argument of Peter of Clugni was thus framed There are visions of the dead and therefore a Purgatorie but it is grounded as we haue seene vpon an vnsound Grammar or rather vpon the corrupting and deprauing of the old expositor wherein as some note there was as in S. Ierome Pro viuis à mortuis and not ac mortuis And this is the more likely in asmuch as for the most parte he applyeth himselfe to the Greeke text And in deed Cardinall Hugo said Amortuis of the dead for the liuing that is to say to aske counsell of images which are like vnto dead men which is a ridiculous and foolish thing Esay 9. Wickednesse saith the Prophete shall burne like a fire Esa 9.17 It shall deuoure the briars and the thornes and shall bee kindled in the thicke places of the forrest c. This is one of Bellarmine his maister-pillars There the Prophete threatneth the people of Israel From the head vnto the taile the boughes and the stumpe the Magistrate and the false prophete These are his wordes And after that hee hath denounced the anger of God to fall vppon the Magistrates and vppon the men in authoritie hee addeth That it shall not stay there but that it shall set on fire and deuoure the common sorte which hee compareth to bushes of thornes or to a thicke growne vnderwood And it is made plaine by the wordes following And the people shall bee as fewell or a baite for the fire no man shall haue pittie vppon his companion to spare him c What agreement is
is to come it is meete that hee should throughly weigh and consider of the same c. Cardinall Hugo likewise dooth obiect the same doubts about the same that Saint Augustine doth vpon Purgatorie and so keepeth himselfe to the taking of it for the fire of tribulation and the losse of temporall things And in deede Erasmus of our time hath declared in his Commentaries that this place affordeth not any thing that may belong either to Purgatorie or to the veniall sinnes Index Expurg as they pretend For which his plaine dealing they haue commanded the place to bee raced and blotted out In the 1. Corinthians 15. The Apostle speaking of the resurrection saith 1. Cor. 15 29. Else what shall they doe which are baptised for the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if the dead rise not againe To bee baptised say they for the dead that is to afflict themselues for them that is to doe all such things as may seeme to serue for the satisfying and purging of their sinnes Wherefore they are yet in some place where they may bee relieued and succoured Therefore in Purgatorie Now this is nothing else but to make themselues continuall breakers of that Rule which saith That a man ought not to reason or gather any arguments from the places which are darke and doubtfull Now they dare not denie that there is any place in all the new Testament more obscure euen for the litterall sence then this And notwithstanding they will presuppose and set downe any Exposition thereof after their owne fantasies whereas all the Diuines that were for the space of fifteene hundred yeares were to seeke therein And hardly are there as yet any found that can satisfie themselues therein For one saith that the Apostle speaketh of them who seeing some die without Baptisme caused others that were aliue to bee baptised for them so well assured they were of the resurrection Epiphan ad ucrs haeres l. 1. tom 2. Haimo in Ep. ad Cor. c 5. August de Ciuit Dei l. 20. ca. 9. Chrysost Ambr. in 1. Cor. c. 15. Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 7 Tertull. de Resurr carn Chrysost in 1. Cor. c. 15. in 1. Cor. hom 23 Epiphanius reciteth this opinion And Saint Ambrose vnderstandeth it after the same manner and after him Haimo saith And yet such a custome as the Apostle onely alleadgeth without approuing it and that onely to shame the Corinthians with their incredulitie and vnbeliefe And the ordinarie Glose dooth note the same An other saith that this is to bee vnderstood of such as were bed-rid or sicke in their beds and could not arise or such as were baptised lying vppon their death bed or in extreame perill of their life An other of those which were dead and after baptised to shew that Baptisme was not onely a signe of the resurrection of the body but also of the soule And thus Tertullian may seeme to vnderstand it in his Booke of the Resurrection Chrysostome referreth it to the words of Baptisme saying If there be no resurrection then all that wee doe in Baptisme is but a play Namely because in it is contained the figure and resemblance both of death and of the resurrection together And Theodoret after the same manner that he which is baptised is buried with the Lord In vaine saith hee if the body be not to rise againe with him And Saint Thomas is not farre off from the taking of it in the same sence In a word there are some which referre it to the custome of celebrating of Baptismes in Church-yardes wherein the ordinarie exercises of the first Christians were wont to be kept Out of which of these old and auncient Expositions is it that they collect and gather this Purgatorie Or by which of the olde writers doe they approoue their owne these men are they whome I aske which make such accompt of the Fathers which thinke them all to bee on their side So that it will suffice vs onely to denie their interpretation Namely that to be baptised is to bee afflicted is to pray for the dead and in steade thereof we will hold and affirme that to be baptised in the text of the Gospell which they pretend is to die for the name of Christ and to suffer Martyrdome Chrisostome vpon these words Luk. 12. Mark 10. Chrysost in Math. hom 66 You may saith the Lord be baptised with the Baptisme wherewith I am baptised c. Here saith he I promise you many good things you shall purchase the Crowne of Martyrdome and by a violent death you shall depart out of this life as I myselfe c. The ordinarie Glose He speaketh here of the Baptisme of his passion And yet notwithstanding this is the place from whence they would drawe their Exposition What shamelesse and impudent dealing is this to expound to be baptised to signifie to be afflicted and that to bee afflicted should signifie to pray for the dead and that for those dead which are in Purgatorie Let them tell me if this manner of reasoning can bee vsed in any good Schoole without shame But yet after all to what end had it beene for Saint Paul to haue attempted the prouing of the resurrection of bodies by the soules tormented in Purgatorie And what would his argument haue beene in the end And why at the least did they not hold themselues either to Cardinall Hugo who saith Pro mortuis that is to say for their sinnes although verie darkly or yet for the better Caietan in 1. Cor. c. 15. to the Exposition of Cardinall Caietan For saith hee in that that they which are baptised are dipt into the water it is to bee vnderstood that they are dead vnto the world And whereas they professe to die vnto the same that so they may enter into newnesse of life they represent the resurrection of the dead The Apostle saith to the Philippians Philip. 2.10 To the end that euerie knee may bowe of those which are in heauen and in earth and vnder the earth These last are they which liue in Purgatorie for the Diuels say they doe not worship The sence is cleare That our Lord hauing humbled and abased himselfe to the taking of the forme not of man onely but euen of a seruant God hath lifted him vp on high and giuen him a name about all names these are the words going before that is to say an absolute power and Soueraigntie ouer all creatures acccording to that which he saith himselfe elsewhere All power is giuen vnto me in heauen and in earth And in the Apocalips he addeth thereto Math. 28. Apocal. 5. The creatures which are in the Sea c. Now the question is not here of an adoration but of a subiection not of the confessing or acknowledging of a Father but of a Iudge Hebr. 1. according to that which is said And hee hath made him Iudge of all things They make a great matter of the bowing of the knee
one and the humbling of God Chrysost in 1. Cor. hom 18. Saint Chrysostome in many places That God punisheth not his faithfull children either vpon any pleasure that he taketh therein neither vpon any creditor-like rigour which he exerciseth vpon vs. In that he chastiseth vs saith he it is rather for the admonishing of vs then for the condemning of vs for the curing of vs then for the correcting of vs for the amending of vs then for the punishing of vs. The Apostle saith he saith not 1. Cor. 11.31 if wee punish and afflict our selues if we take punishment of our selues but if wee iudge our selues that is to say if onely wee will acknowledge our sinnes wee shall not bee iudged Chrisost in Genes hom 44. Againe I do require saith the Lord but one thing which is that men woulde confesse their sinnes and that they would abstaine from committing them any more and then I will not lay any more punishment vpon them for their sinnes And in another place Idem in â—roem in Isa I will not saith he that thou shouldest say vnto me I haue sinned how may I be freed from so many sins Thou canst not procure the meanes but thy Lord is able who will in such sort blot out thy sins as that there shal not remaine any marke or print thereof for otherwise then it is wont to fall out in the bodie for in the bodie after the healing of a wound there remaineth a scarre God bee pardoneth the sin God remitteth and forgiueth the punishment God giueth righteousnes therewithall he maketh also the sinner equall with him that hath not sinned c. S. Ierome Hieronym in Esa c. 66. Idem in Daniel c 7. in psal 31. God is called a consuming fire to the end he way consume all the vices that are in vs our hay our woode our stubble I thinke that it was that fire that did sit vpon the tongs of the Apostles Againe Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered because saith hee that that which is hidden is not seene and that which is not seene is not imputed that which is not imputed is not punished c. The schoolmen affirme the like Lombard saith Lombard 3. D. 19. If we looke vpon and behold with a right faith him that was hanged vpon the tree for vs we are set free from the bonds of the Deuill we are deliuered from sin Sathan in such sort as that after this life there is not any thing to be found in vs to be punished for our Lord by his death by this onely true sacrifice hath put out and extinguished all those sins that were in vs whereby the Deuill had power to hold lay hands vpon vs to punish vs. Whereupon also Scotus saith Scot. in l. sent D. 15. Glos in c. 1. de poenit D. No man can satisfie for sinnes saue in the power and vertue of the passion of Christ And the Glose of the Decree Sinnes are not forgiuen either for the contrition of the hart neither yet for the confession of the mouth but by the grace of God And yet the contrition of the heart is a signe that the sins are remitted the outward satisfaction a signe of the contrition of the hart for grace goeth before contrition c. Now let our aduersaries agree and reconcile these Maxims here set downe with those of purgatorie whose foundation they will haue to be a necessitie of satisfaction the forgiuenesse of the sin but not of the punishment and an insufficiencie of that purgation which the blood of Christ hath made c. The second and it affordeth as little fauour to the aduersarie as the first Iust Mart. in quaest â—espons q. 10. Iustin Martyr The historie of Lazarus and the rich man goeth through stitch with this doctrine namely that after the separation of the soule and the bodie men cannot possibly receiue any succour or reliefe by any manner of carefull prouidence whatsoeuer The same Quaest 75. After that the soules are seperated from their bodies there is presently a distinction made betwixt the good the euill the one to bee conueighed into Paradice and the other into hell c. Iustin in Tryphon Cypr. contr Demetr tract Againe in his Tryphon This is a sentence of Christ In quibus vos deprehendero in ijsdem vos iudicabo And S. Cyprian expoundeth it Such saith he as God findeth thee when he calleth thee out of this world vnto himselfe for such a one will he iudge thee Againe We exhort you to make satisfaction whiles you haue any of these worldly things left you c. Againe After that a man is departed hence there remaineth no more place for repentance there is not any further vse of satisfaction thereupon followeth either the losse of life or the sauing of it c. Thou although thou be vpon thy departure vpon the laying downe of this life pray vnto God for the pardoning of thy sinnes confesse them to him in faith he pardoneth those which confesse he letteth loose such as belieue that they may be saued and from the path of death men passe into the place of immortalitie What a cold comfort had it beene vnto them if he had said Athanas in variis quaest quae cius utulo seruntur q. 19. Men making an end of this their walke doe passe into the torments of Purgatorie Athanasius The soules departed hence it is a profound question and hidden from vs to shew whither they go and in what condition they are for neuer did God permit it vnto any man to returne make report of these matters onely wee learne from the scriptures that the soules of sinners go downe vnder the earth into such place as wherein they neither see the light nor the maner of the liues of men but that those of the iust and righteous since the death of Christ went into Paradice which our Lord hath set open not for the theefe onely but for all the soules of the Saints Basil in Moral reg 1. c. 2. 5. Gregor Nazianz in laudem Caesar Saint Basill The time whiles men liue here is the time of repentance for so soone as wee bee gone hence the time of doing well is cut off and taken from vs. Gregorie Nazianzene The words of the wise leade me to belieue that euerie soule that is excellent and beloued of God so soone as it is departed hence being loosed out of the bodie receiueth an vnspeak eable delight and pleasure of the liuely feeling of that felicitie which is appointed for it and betaketh it selfe with a ioyfull flight to the Lord. How agreeth this ioy with griefe and paine this flight to God with purgatorie Ambros de Bono mortis S. Ambrose Dauid laboured to attaine to the blessed communion of the saints crauing by reason of the filthinesse cleauing vnto vs in this worldly pilgrimage that his sinnes
whole as that it may seeme to be nothing else then his words translated For he maketh and that by the report of Eusebius himselfe in his booke of the soule three degrees of men some that haue liued well and vertuously whom they conceiued to haue their abode in the Elisian fields as accompting them for most pure places and heauenly habitations Those whom he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 past hope of amendment whome hee placeth in Tartaro in hell from whence they can neuer come out and those which haue committed sinnes but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are curable and veniall whome hee casteth into burning flouds there to accomplish and make perfect their repentance to the ende they may bee purged therein and after their purgation receiue absolution And in deed he vseth these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to purge and absolue Yet notwithstanding note that Eusebius who compareth the opinions of Philosophers with the doctrines of Christians doth not make any mention therein but onely of two conditions of men after death namely of the saued or of the damned A plaine and cleare testimony that the Church in his time did acknowledge no other but these two Virgill describeth it at large in the sixt booke of his Aeneidos Aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igni Virgil. l. 6. Aencid Where he may seeme to haue expressed the two verbes before mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Donec longa dies perfecto temporis orbe Concretam exemit labem c. Wherefore S. Augustine needed not to be abashed when he said August de ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 13. 17. That Purgatorie was one of Platoes doctrines As also That the dead may be relieued by the suffrages sacrifices of the liuing in so much as that the souls which are destitute therof are stil delaied caused in lingring manner to lie languishing in torments Homer Odyss 12. Virg. l. 6. Aenei Alcor Azo 10. as wee reade of the soule of Elpenor in Homer and of Palinurus in Virgill c. In like manner the Iesuits do not let to confesse that purgatory is sound there And we do further giue them to vnderstand that it is all whole to be had in the Turks Alcoran if that of the Paganes doe not content them The Iewes as we haue seene learned the same of the pagans vpon their falling away from their maner of worship religion and yet not so as that it preuailed with them to get a place in their Church for in the time of our Lord there appeared no markes or notes of any such thing but rather the contrary Paul Fagius in Deut. c. 14. Anton Margarita de superstitionibus Iudaic. The bookes of remembrance which they vse at this day wherin they name three times a yere those which are dead in the yeare praying to God that he would place them in his paradice with Abraham Isaac and Iacob c. are come since thē And this is made most apparant by their order for the extreame and deadly sicke was demanded if he did not perseuere to hold fast belieue the 13. Articles of their faith amongst the which the eleuenth is of the glorie to come and of eternall death the twelfth of their faith and beliefe in the Messias for want whereof they say the law is vnprofitable the thirteenth of the viuification or resurrection of the deade of Purgatorie not a worde neither yet of the Suffrages by which they should bee freed out of the same There happeneth one to die whereupon wee come to see all their ceremonies euen to the least Their neerest kinsfolkes doe rent their garmentes they eate not for that day in the house but without they eate not any flesh neyther drinke any wine except it bee vpon their Sabbath They neither wash nor annoint themselues for the space of seuen daies They lie vpon the ground and refraine the companie of their wiues They follow the bodie bare-footed They light a lampe for the space of seuen whole nightes setting it on the house floure perswaded thereto through a sottish and fantasticall conceipt that the soule commeth during the same time for to seeke the bodie c. And this is all that humane superstition had till then inuented the most part thereof being contrarie to the pure worde of the eternall God forbidding them in expresse wordes not to torment themselues for their dead And as for their praier if you obserue the tearmes thereof it will appeare to come neerer the nature of a wish then of a prayer Let his soule rest let his sleepe bee in peace let the gates of paradice bee opened vnto him by the Comforter that is to come c. And what is there in all this that is common with Purgatorie And in deed their Capitula patrum doe not make mention of any moe then two places But amongst Christians the first seedes of this doctrine are contained in the bookes declared to be Apocripha by the Primitiue Church and so by consequent the doctrine also is Apocrypha because it hath no other foundation besides them A certaine man named Hermas in his visions asketh an old woman if after the casting of certain stones there remaine any more pennance to bee done she answered that they could not come to a certaine tower but that they should be put into a lower roome where they are tormented vntill they haue accomplished the daies of their sinnes A booke of the Actes of Saint Andrew prayeth vnto God for an old Pandor and saith vnto him Iren. l. 5. We obtaine much mercie of him for the dead and why should we faile for this man which is aliue But the doctrine of the Church is to bee read in Ireneus The priestes saith he the disciples of the Apostles say that those which are translated from hence are conueighed into paradice which is prepared for iust men and such as haue the spirit whither Saint Paule was rauished and where he heard wordes that cannot bee vttered and that they abide and continue there vnto the end of the world Index expurgator p. 71. Iust Martyr in resp ad quaest Orthod q. 7. And therefore vpon good ground doth Erasmus shew that he spake as one that knew not purgatory And this obseruation the fathers of Trent haue caused to be raced And Iustin Martyr also After saith he the departure of this bodie there is presently made a seperation of the iust and vniust for they are caried into places worthy of them that is to say the soules of the iust into Paradice where they inioy the company of Angels Archangels as also the sight of our Sauiour Iesus Christ but those of the vniust and wicked into the infernall places c. They will alleadge against vs Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen Clem. Alex. l. 6 The one whereof laboureth to proue by the supposed Apocryphes of S. Peter S. Paule
bee so purged by this fire as that in the end they shall proue and trie the clemencie of God And he alleadgeth Origen thereupon concealing in the meane time the rest of his opinion for that it finally extended vnto the Deuils But what helpeth all this for the prouing of the purgatorie whereof wee speake which is made for the faithfull penitents and not for them which die in their sinne for to fulfil the punishment Sixt. Senens l. 5 and not to cleanse or wipe away the fault where sinnes haue no entrance much lesse merites where the wicked haue no place much lesse the Saints much lesse also the Apostles and much lesse the holy virgine which taketh his beginning so soone as death hath made an end and is imployed about his office euerie day without ceasing and without attending the day of iudgement And notwithstanding they are not ashamed to alleadge vnto vs these places which themselues condemne in their bookes That it was a disputable doctrine and which to be short cannot make any thing for them or against vs. Yea and that furthermore this was but an opinion wherein men were let alone and left to range according to the pregnancie of their wit and capacitie and not any doctrine receiued and admitted into the Church it appeareth clearely for Saint Augustine doth not faine or dissemble the gainsaying and disallowing of it neither yet the publike confutation thereof in his bookes and that not onely without all checke or dislike August de Genes contr Manich l. 2. c. 10 In Psalm 37. but with much praise and to the good liking of men for the same In a certaine place he suffered it to escape according to the opinion then currant As that after this life such as haue not husbanded their ground well are in daunger either of the fire of purgation or of eternall fire notwithstanding that hee vseth these wordes Videri apparere that it seemeth to be apparant and that these purgatorie punishmentes according to his owne iudgement De ciuit Dei l. c. 10.25 De ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 13. l. Cor. 3. are reserued vnto the last iudgement But in the booke of the Citie of God hee reckeneth vp all the opinions of Origen and others depending on him who carried themselues in his time in the Church as those who had founded themselues vppon the mercifull clemencie and fatherly mildnesse of God misexpounded and confuteth them all bringing them backe from their pretended likelihood of truth vnto the truth it selfe and from their conceited fantasie to the infallible scriptures Thou wilt saith he that the wicked Christians may in the end be saued by these pains of purgatorie because that God is mercifull it must then also follow that the Deuils may also bee saued that so hee may bee so much the more mercifull for it is said equally and indifferently to the one and the other 2. Cor 3. Goe into euerlasting fire c. If thou demandest the cause this it is and then the which there is none more iust neither yet more holy namely that the scripture which deceiueth not hath said so Some haue abused the place of the 1. Corinth 3. for Purgatorie but hee sheweth that this fire cannot bee vnderstood of hell because that so it should become common both to the good and euill but rather of tribulations and afflictions August de ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 16. seq Dicuntur which are the exercises by which God maketh cleane his floure in this world that after this iudgement also contrarie to Origen there is not any paines of purgatorie And as concerning those punishmentes and paines which men might imagine to happen betwixt both hee saith If in this distance of time which is betwixt the death of the bodie and the day of iudgement men say that the soules of the deceased doe suffer some such fire Secularia venialia August de fide operibus Quantum arbitror Idem in Enchirid c. 69. Idem in quaest ad Dulcitium and that whether it bee there onely or whether it be here and not there or whether it bee here and there both they find a fire of transitorie tribulation burning the veniall thinges of this world I find no fault with them for such their assertion because it may bee that it is true And in another place hee saith This exposition as I suppose doth not wander farre from the way of truth Againe That some such thing may be after this life it is not incredible Againe writing to Dulcitius after he had handled the question We haue written these thinges but in such forte as that wee would not haue any canonicall authoritie giuen vnto them Whereby wee see in the first place that hee condemneth Origen Saint Ambrose and Hillarie their purgatorie c. Secondly that what hee sayeth of that space betwixt death and the day of iudgement hee speaketh doubtfully and as it were interrogatiuelie affirming And thirdly That by the same hee doeth not vnderstande any materiall fire of the same nature with Hell-fire as our aduersaries doe but a fire of tribulation or temptation such as may fall out and happen in this life And it is not to be omitted how that the good fathers of Trent did not forget to cause to be raced out many good places of Viues Index Expurg pag. 38.39 August de tempore serm 66. De verb. Apostol serm 18. In ep 80. ad Hesich Hypognosticon l. 5. Hieronym in Ecclesiast Olympiod in Prouerb c. 11. intreating of this matter in his commentaries vpon Augustines booke of the Citie of God But in another place wee haue shewed that hee hath made but two places of abode as in heauen or in hell and that hee shutteth out all manner of purgation after this life and that hee cutteth it off quite and cleane As concerning the third place we know not any thing at all thereof we find not any thing at all thereof in the scriptures And what shall we say if S. Ierome speake no lesse resolutely Jn what place soeuer saith he the tree falleth there it lyeth be it towards the South or be it towards the North In like manner looke in what place death doth take thee in the same thou abidest for euer be it that thy last day do find thee cruell and vnappeasable or otherwise courteous and mercifull And Olympiodorus doth cleare him vpon the same place In whatsoeuer place whether light or darke a man is surprised and seazed vppon by death bee hee following after vice or bee hee following after vertue he continueth in the same state and condition and in the same degree for euer For either he resteth in the light of euerlasting happines with the iust and righteous men and Christ our Lord or els he is tormented in darknes with the vnrighteous and the Deuill which is their prince They obiect vnto vs that Saint Ierome saith in his commentaries vpon the Prouerbes That soules
Hell and Purgatorie That all whatsoeuer miserie all the men in this world had indured from Adam vnto that time did not come any thing neere vnto the paines and punishment that is therein c. And that had not Saint Ierome come in the meane time they had beene neere to haue receiued the sentence of condemnation for not hauing belieued it c. Thus we may see a thing then which nothing is more naturall the doctrine of lyes maintained and nourished by a lie it selfe CHAP. X. What prosperous proceeding Purgatorie attained vnto in the Church of Rome and by what degrees IN the ende after that our aduersaries cannot all this while make choyse of any one of the Fathers to whose opinion they may trust and hold themselues in this matter of Purgatorie for wee freely permit and allow them their choyse out of them all notwithstanding that wee haue runne through the space of those fiue hundred yeares next after our Lord Purgatorie affirmed and avouched by Gregorie Anno. 600. Deut. 18.11 Esay 8.19 August de cura pro mortuis gerend Vpon what foundation he buildeth his doctrine Gregor Magn. in Dialog they are constrained to haue recourse to Gregorie Bb. of Rome liuing about the yeare 600 euen vnto that Gregorie which of the custome of the Gentiles made a Law in the Church of Christ of Origen his curiosities a necessarie deuotion of the speculations of the olde Fathers who had gone before him a grounded principle and firme Maxim and of S. Augustines doubt an affirmatiue doctrine but grounded also altogether vpon other raasons then had bene alleadged by the former as reuelations apparitions of spirits and others such like delusions directly contrarie to that which is said in the Law Who so goeth to aske counsell of the dead is an abhomination vnto the Lord as also against the Maxim which S. Augustine is so carefull for to proue That the soules of the dead intermeddle not with the affaires of those that are aliue The doctrin then of S. Gregorie in brief is That as at the breake of the day and in a browne colour the darke is mingled with the light is called the twylight so the neerer we come to the day of iudgement so much the more inter-course and communitie shall there bee betwixt spirits and men What solide or sound stuffe can hee picke out of this foundation seeing hee presupposeth and setteth downe the end of the world to bee as then And this is the cause why saith hee that men doe attaine speaking of his owne time to know the estate and condition of Soules a thing lesse knowne to such as went before Of Paschasius his soule he learneth how that it indured his Purgatorie amidst the scaldings of hotte waters because that in a certaine schisme falling out amongst the Popes he tooke part with Laurence not with Symmachus And thereupon he inferreth that good soules which halt and come short be it neuer so little in the workes of righteousnesse are detained kept backe for a like proportion of time from the inioying of heauen From the soule of a certaine Lord how that it serued at the bathes to pull off the hose and shoes of all such as came to them vntill the time that a certain Priest to whom it made it selfe knowne had offered two loaues such as had beene accustomed to bee offered for it As also from the soule of a Monke who died hauing in store the summe of three Crownes how when there was a holy day kept in his name it receiued the Communion in Purgatorie c. Hee inferreth that when the trespasses are not vnpardonable there is meanes to procure a remedy and helpe for the same by the offering of a sacrifice c. And his Dialogues are full of such friuolous tales Howsoeuer that Schoolemen doe not admit into Purgatorie any faults or sinnes how sleight so euer but the paines and punishment only he concludeth notwithstanding that there is no way to be followed but to do well so long as we are here without trusting to that which may be done afterward But what manner of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what steadfastnes of faith is there in all this Or rather what hath it but it may giue vs to belieue that these were spirits of deceipt watchfull and painefull in their craft and occupation euen in perswading the world to that which might deceiue them Tertullian saith Tertull. de Anima c. 5.7 These apparitions are but the mockeries and deceits of the euill spirit who carrieth himselfe priuily vnder the shapes of liuing men or masked and disguised after the manner of men deceased c. God hath sufficiently declared vnto vs in the parable of the poore and rich man that Hell is not open for any to come forth c. no not to winne credite to Moyses and the Prophets c. To be short all manner of representation or apparition of soules that is without body is nothing else but a delusion nothing else but witchcraft Chrysostome after the same manner Chrysost hom 29. in Math. hom 13. Idem de Lazaro hom 4. The possessed with Diuels will crie sometimes vnto thee and say I am the soule of such a one but wilt thou belieue it No not so saith hee for this speech commeth of the fraud and deceipt of the Diuell It is not the soule of any dead person that speaketh so but it is the Diuell that counterfeiteth the deepelier to deceiue and abuse the people For of a certaintie the soule seperated from the body goeth not vp and down wandring in these lower regions the soules of the righteous are in the hand of God those of the sinners after this life are quickly by force carried away The historie of Lazarus and the rich man doth proue the same vnto vs. And againe Wouldest thousee that the doctrine of the Scriptures and of the Prophets is of an other manner of weight then that of the dead which rise againe consider and know that whosoeuer the dead partie may be yet he is a seruant but as for the Scriptures it is the Lord which speaketh in them And therefore though a dead man reuine and liue againe though an Angell come downe from heauen yet let vs principally belieue the Scriptures For the Author of them is as wel the Lord of the dead as of the liuing of men and of Angels And therefore what the Scriptures teach vs most clearely let vs not goe about to learne of the dead c. And there is an Article in the auncient Synodes That such visions vnder the colour of soules are of the Diuell But what then may we thinke that Tertullian or Chrysostome would haue said to Gregorie Verily that these visions had beene of the Diuell Verily and his Purgatorie also a doctrine of Diuels And againe some haue doubted of these Dialogues that they were not his because that in the rest of his bookes hee seemeth to be more graue And
Sabinian his next successor caused so many of them to be burnt as he could But some on the contrarie haue sought by all the wayes they can to make them to bee belieued for the procuring of the greater authoritie to Purgatorie And by name Anno. 730. Gregorie the thirde caused them to bee published throughout all Christendome to the same ende Damascen Damascen confirmeth it if a man will lend his eare vnto them hath not smally aduaunced this building but alwayes with the selfe same Argumentes for in a certaine prayer which they attribute vnto him S. Steuen by his prayers saueth Falcouilla a Pagan deceased in Idolatrie God also made the head of a certaine Priest that was dead and a Gentile borne for such a one doth Durandus describe him to bee to speake to Macarius and declare to him the consolations that they in Purgatorie receiue by the suffrages of the liuing Againe at the prayer of Gregorie passing through Traian his Countrie God deliuered Traian out of hell c. But I maruaile that they are not ashamed of these fables or why at the least they set them not in better order Seeing that out of hell there is no redemption Seeing also that according to their doctrines the Gentiles cannot be in Purgatorie But it seemeth that this pretended Damascen is ashamed of himselfe when he concludeth saying that he speaketh not any thing that he meaneth to stand vnto and that what hee saith is but by way of discourse but such is his discourse as that they make a Creed of it And yet it is not credible that this was his prayer seeing that in his Bookes de Orthodoxa fide in which it is his drift to comprise the Christian faith he maketh no mention of Purgatorie Anno. 750. Now this fell out about the yeare 750. From this time forward the opinion of the sacrifice The growth of Purgatorie through the opinion of a sacrifice as also that of Purgatorie began mutually wittingly to lend their hands the one to the other ignorance groweth grosser and grosser and that sensibly and to the sight of the eye throughout all Christendome and in this darknesse the spirit of darknesse dispatcheth and bestirreth himselfe about his busines Once to looke into the Scriptures was by no meanes to be heard of but to hearken after myracles was the whole imployment of the mind One man had seene the soules tormented vpon the Gridyron an other vpon a Spit this man had seene them burning in the fire that man had espied them dipt in the Ice one was hung vp to be dried in the chimney smoake an other to vnderlay the washing raine distilling and dryuing downe a Gutter one liuing but in a traunce an other returning againe after death Further more this man had discouered one of the Gulfs in Ireland an other that in Sicilia and a third that in Pozzuolo the one by the conduct and guidance of an Angell the other by reuelation from the Diuell And all the bookes of those times are full of such fooleries other instructions then these there was not any currant amongst the people namely the Legends the Lombardicke historie and such like In a word whereas the Fathers had practised the remembrance of the dead as we haue seene for the comfort and consolation of the liuing they begin to turne all to the contrarie For those said that they were in Abrahams bosome in a place of blessed and happie rest these said they were in extreame torments nothing differing from those of hel c. And in stead that those knew how to teach them to die in an assurance of eternall life these tooke the way to make them apprehend conceiue of death as of the doore opening to an vnauoidable fire if they redeeme not themselues from thence by suffrages for now there was no more leaning vnto the mercie of God God was become a rigorous mercilesse tyrant and tormentor neither was any thing to be looked for from the satisfaction of our Lord for hee had paid no debt but what was answerable for the meere faults and transgressions the infinite merite of his passion was become vnable to satisfie for our demerits his paines and punishment for ours But Aut satis faciendum in hac vita say they or Satis patiendum in altera Either a man must prouide to make satisfaction in this life by doing sufficiently well or in the other by suffering sufficiently euill So that this is nothing else but to say let the suffrages of those that liue after vs ransome and redeeme vs from our paines And thereupon a man must cause great store of Masses to bee said for the dead for them also men must found yearely feasts Obits Chapels or Monasteries And the ordinarie clause of these foundations is Anno. 800. Anno. 1000. Anton. l. 15. c. 15. Violater l. 2. Lombar hist l. 8. Polyd. l. 6. c. 9. We giue bequeath c. such or such a thing for the saluation or redemption of our soules of the soules of our predecessors and successors c. And these fashions of doing and speaking began since the yeare 800. Toward the yeare 1000. there was a vision set out to be knowne of the people How that a man guided by an Angell had seene a number of Soules diuersly handled and intreated some lying vpon Gold some vpon Chaffe or straw some in aboundance some in want and penurie according as they were helped there by the suffrages of their friends or otherwise neglected and finding no bodie to care for them Whereupon sprung a deuotion of ordaining that vpon some certaine day in the yeare there should be generall prayers made for all soules And that is it which is called Dies omnium animarum the day of the dead attributed by the most to Odilo the fourth Abbot of Clugni perswaded by the flames of the mountaine Etna in Sicilia of the certainty of the tormentes of Purgatorie But by other some to Boniface the fourth a little after the time of Gregory the great after the fashion and imitation of a certaine feast of the Romaines celebrated yearely in the month of Februarie for the soules of the deceased that is to purchase rest for them by sacrifices night praiers waxe candles Plutarch in Romulo Anton. ut 13. S. I. Histor Lombard leg 157. Polyd. l. 6. c. 9. Canones Reform a Card. Camp propositi Not generally all at once Synod Tolet. 3 Epist Bonif. ad Gregor 3. Gregor 3. ad Bonifac. and torches light vp amongst al the people c. And thereupon it commeth that Plutarch calleth the moneth of Februarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purgatiue or purgatorie Now in the meane time it is not to be forgotten that in the councel of Lyon 1244. it was not receiued hauing rooted it selfe no where else but within the Monasteries of the order of Clugni as also that in the yeare 1524. Cardinall Campegius propounding certaine Canons of reformation was
hauing these giftes either of Saints or Angels but on the contrarie this doctrine was then noted to be the doctrine of heretickes as of the Basilidians and Ophites c. Who praied vnto Angels in their workes and that by set formes of praier Idem l. 1. c. 23. 35. which Ireneus rehearseth O tu Angele ab a te or opere tuo c. And these had likewise their pretended Saints Iudas Cain c. Against whom Ireneus doth not oppose either Abell or S. Peter but onely Iesus Christ our Lord. But in the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna Idem in Ep. ad Sâ—â—yâ—nens apud Euseb l. 4. c. 15. we haue this whole question handled the Martyrs were much honoured in the Church and they deeply condemned that did not honour them and not without cause being vessels chosen of God to seale and assure by their testimonie the resurrection of the Lord. But how far did this honour extend They were buried with great regard and there is made yearely a rehersall of their martyrdome vppon a certaine day the day of their death is celebrated and solemnized by the name of the day of their natiuitie in stead of the Paynims their Genethliacks or birth-daies the Church commeth together into the common place of buriall there to praie vnto God that by the sight of their bones they may be stirred vp to the like constancie for at that time they had not yet any Churches Now in respect of any of al this may they iustly be said to haue either worshipped or praied vnto them Nay rather saith this Epistle The Iewes and the Gentiles came to intrcate the gouernour that the body of Polycarpus might not be deliuered to the Christians least they should honour it in stead of Christ. But how doth the Church defend it selfe They are abused through ignorance saith it for we can neuer forsake Christ who hath suffered for the saluation of all them which are to bee saued in the whole world neither can we euer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 colere honour any other And note how it vseth the word which coÌ„prehendeth the seruice which was accustomed according to godlines to be giuen vnto Christ that is to say the seruing of him in calling vpon him seeking of our saluation in him But some said vnto them so greatly do you honour your Martyrs Yea saith the Church of Smyrna but we worship Christ as the true and naturall Sonne of God and we loue the Martyrs as his Disciples and followers and not without good cause for the incomparable loue which they haue borne to their king Schoolemaster we our selues greatly longing and earnestly desiring to become their companions and Schoole fellowes c. Finally We celebrate the natiuitie that is to say the day of the death and Martyrdome of Polycarpus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in remembrance of them that haue finished the combat before vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the preparing and exercising of them which are to come thereto that is to say to stirre vp such as are present to the like constancie for the name of Christ Who giueth vs the grace say they and not the Martyrs to bee partakers of the like crowne Tertull. in Apol. c. And this Epistle was written about the yeare 160. Tertullian saith J pray not to any but him of whome I know that I may obtaine because it is hee onely which doth and giueth all things and I am one that haue need to beg and craue his seruant to honour him alone and to offer vnto him the best fattest sacrifice as he hath commanded euen a praier and supplication which proceedeth from a chast body an innocent soule and a holy spirit c. And in the booke of the Trinitie he yeeldeth a reason why hee praieth vnto him alone It is not proper or pertinent to any but God to know our secrets but Christ knoweth the secrets of our harts Jt belongeth not to any but God to forgiue sins but Christ forgiueth sinnes Reasoning from his all-seeing knowledge and from his Almightie power to proue his Deitie Godhead and froÌ„ the Godhead to the seruice of inuocation Againe Else how should a man be sought sued vnto in our praiers as our mediator seing that the inuocating of one only man is without any power or efficacie to saluation seeing also it is said cursed is that coÌ„fidence that is put in man c. To that aboue said they oppose and bring a place of Ireneus Obiections where there is comparison made betwixt Eue and the Virgine Marie As Eue saith he was seduced by the words of an Angell that is a wicked Angell to runne from God by transgressing of his word so the Virgine Marie receiued ioyfull tidings by the word of an Angell that is a good Angell to heare God by obeying vnto his word And as the first was seduced and drawne away to runne and flie from God so the second was perswaded to obey him to the end that of the Virgine Eue the Virgin Mary fieret aduocata might become say they the aduocate Here saith Belarmine what can be more cleare Yea rather say we vnto him what can be more obscure That the Virgine Marie should be Eue her aduocate with God being borne 4000. yeares after Eue and receiued likewise a long time after her into heauen when as likewise we shall haue regard to their opinion of the Limbes But in deed that which goeth before as also that which followeth sheweth clearely that Ireneus had no other drift but to oppose the good that came to mankind by the meanes ministerie of Marie to the maladie and mischiefe wherwith the same became infected by that transgression of Eue. And as for the word Aduocate some are of iudgement that Ireneus was translated out of Greeke into Latine for we haue great peeces of him as yet in Greeke and further it cannot possibly bee that euer any Latine writer would haue written in such a stile 2. Cor. 7. passim Ioh. 16 And in other places also hee is verie absurdly translated by his interpreter Now the case so standeth that in the Greeke one and the same word dooth signifie both an aduocate and a comforter that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one and the same Verbe to comfort and to exhort as is often and commonly to be seene in the Scriptures So in S. Iohn that which is translated in the Gospell Comforter according to the old translation speaking of the holy Ghost the comforter of our soules is interpreted Aduocate in the Epistle of S. Iohn 1. Ioh. 2.11 Tertul. de Trinit c. 29. speaking of Christ the mediatour Likewise Tertullian where he speaketh of the holy Ghost translateth it Aduocatum so indifferently hath it beene taken either for the one or for the other And so the sence is as if Ireneus should say that as Eue was the ruine and ouerthrow of mankind so the
we are onely made acquainted with so much as Saint Ierome maketh mention of It is manifest likewise that the Church of Fraunce did not allow of this superstition in as much as that French Bishoppe of whome Saint Ierome speaketh vnto Ripacius a holy and reuerent man did hold the opinion of Vigilantius according to that which Ireneus saith That the French men and Germaines held and kept so fast what they had first receiued of the Apostolike faith as that they shutte their eares vnto whatsoeuer departed and swarued from the same Vigilantius saith by the report of Saint Ierome That wee must not worship or adore the Martyrs nor the deceased Saintes And who can denie that which hee saith of worship and adoration But for the honour due and of right to bee giuen in the remembring of the Martyrs and Saintes by the acknowledging of the giftes of God in them and the imitation of their constancie who is hee that would contend or striue against it But you say that in this honour inuocation is included which thing Vigilantius denyed Let them shew vs then in all this disputation how hot soeuer S. Ierome be any one word of the inuocation of saints or of Martyrs or any one proofe or allegation that he maketh for the same either out of the scriptures or the fathers the Councels or the Liturgies Greeke or Latine Howsoeuer notwithstanding the case so standeth as that he could not bee ignorant of that goodly Masse of S. Iames at Ierusalem if so be it were at that time for to haue proued thereby the intercession of the virgine Marie and of the Saintes For as concerning that which he saith If any man come to pray ad memorias Martyrum it is well knowne that that was for no other thing but to point the place where had beene accustomed for a long time the meetinges of the Christian assemblies to stirre vp thereby those which were present to the like constancie Origen was the first that said though doubtfully and ambiguously That the blessed soules do pray in the other world for the Church Vpon this stone men haue laboured by degrees to found and settle this inuocation Vigilantius doth take occasion by this foundation and denieth it adding that here we ought to pray one for another that there is not any place for this action elswhere S. Ierome striueth for this proposition of Origens as for an article of faith Vigilant gainsaith it as contrary vnto faith but of them passing beyond their bounds seeing that this proposition if a man stay there and go no further is indifferently to be borne with of the Church But S. Ierome gathereth therevpon this conclusion The Saintes pray vnto God in heauen for the Church therefore the Church here vppon earth must not onely pray vnto God but vnto the Saints also Superstition said But wherefore shal we not pray vnto them seeing that they pray for vs For is there not appearance that they ioyne their praiers vnto ours when we pray vnto them at their graues c. Vigilantius aunswereth No for they doe not meddle any more with humane affaires So far is it off that their soules should keepe about these graues Apocal. 14. S. Ierome thereupon cryeth out Wilt thou chaine vp the Apostles wilt thon make a law for God to keepe Do they not follow the lambe wheresoeuer he goeth c. But the question is not here of the power of God but of the nature which he hath giuen for a law to all thinges Tertullian had said vnto him That it was no good diuinitie Chrysost hom 20. in Mat. Idem de Lazat Diuite August de cu ra pro mort â—erend Idem de G. Virg c. 27. Hieronym in Epitaph Nepotian To reason from the power of God to his will or to the effect And S. Chrysosostome That the soules seperated from the bodies haue not their abode in these regions That the soules of the iust are in the hand of God And S. Augustine had proued it vnto him by scripture That they are not any more dealers in the thinges of this world That in the same place To follow the Lambe is to follow the footsteps of Christ Not saith he in respect that he is the Sonne of God by whom all things were made but the sonne of man who hath shewed vs in himselfe what we ought to doe But S. Ierome doth he say the same vnto vs that they of the Church of Rome say That they know all thinges in the seeing of God Then they reade in God that which is in our hearts in our thoughtes c. No but cleane contrarie In the Epitaph of Nepotian All whatsoeuer I can say to him seemeth to mee to be no more then a dumbe shew because that he heareth not Againe Let vs not wearie our selues with speaking to him with whom we cannot speake any more But he ceaseth not to vse his Rhetoricall figures his Apostrophes as the others do in the Epitaph of Paula whom he had so entirely loued and in his speech of the death of Blessilla wherein hee speaketh vnto them and causeth them to make answere the dead and deceased daughter to comfort her mournefull and sorrowing mother c. But in his Commentaries his choller and languishing mind is laid aside Idem in Ezech. l. 4. c. 14. tom 5 If we be to put our confidence in any let vs trust in the one only God For cursed is the man that putteth his confidence in man though they were Saintes yea and though they were Prophets We must not trust in Principibus ecclesiarum in those which are the chiefe and principall of the Churches who how vpright and righteous soeuer they be shall not deliuer any but their owne soules not so much as the soules of their owne children And to the end wee may not conceiue him to haue spoken of any but such as were liuing writing vpon the Epistle to the Galathians vpon these words Euerte man shal beare his owne burthen Idem in ep ad Galat. l. 2. c. 6. see what he saith vnto vs Wee learne though somewhat darklie by this little sentence a new doctrine which is hid and secrete that so long as wee are in this present world we may be helped by the praiers and counsels one of another but when as we shall be come before the iudgement seat of Christ neither Iob nor Daniel nor Noe can pray for any man but euerie one shall beare his owne burthen c. Which may seeme to bee a retractation of that which he had stifly maintained against Vigilantius For out of this text are gathered two propositions together Gra. Câ—in praesenti 13. q. 2. Hieronym de Assumpt Mariae virg tom 4 that is That the prayers of the liuing serue not to any vse for the dead neither the praiers of the dead for the liuing and this place is inserted into the Decree Of the virgine Mary likewise hee sayeth Thou hast
repay him againe The same also which S. Paul saith What is it that thou hast which thou hast not receiued And if thou hast receiued it 1. Cor. 4.7 why boastest thou thy selfe as if thou hadst not receiued it c. And the second Councel of Orange held about the yeare 450. doth conclude in these words Mans nature Concil Arans c. Can. 19. Man a great deale lesseable after his fall euen in his integritie could not keep his integritie without the help of God c. But after he had fallen and corrupted his waies being the second state that our first father fell into we became in farre worse and harder case Man euen in his integrity could not in respect of God merite or deserue any good thing but now in the daies of his corruption hee cannot chuse but merite yea he cannot merite any thing but the wrath of God his curse and eternall death For being become sinne and transgression it hath corrupted the most noble partes both of his humane bodie and diuine soule making the will to bee the slaue of vnbridled appetite vnderstanding of imagination vnto all euill and both of them faultie and corrupted in themselues the will estranged from the loue of God and the vnderstanding from the hauing of the knowledge of him both the one and the other carried from their naturall and one onely good state to the contrarie with all their power and abilitie euen to will and know that which is displeasing vnto him and hurtfull to themselues Man now in this estate what can he doe what can he but do amisse And notwithstanding this is the state of all men in themselues since the fall no man to be excepted God pronounceth this generall sentence in Genesis Genel 6. Iob. 14. Psal 51. All the thoughtes of the heart of man are set vpon euill continually The most holy do most freely confesse it Iob Who can draw any thing that is pure from that which is defiled Not one Dauid Behold I was begotten in iniquitie and my mother hath conceiued me in sinne and therefore he prayeth vnto God to create in him a new hart Ioh. 3.6 Christ in the Gospell That which is begotten of flesh is flesh and that which is begotten of the spirit is spirit If a man be not borne againe hee cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Rom. 7.18 2. Cor. 3.5 Ephes 1. And Saint Paule expoundeth it Because that in the flesh dwelleth no good seeing that the naturall man doth not comprehend that which is of the spirite of God And because That we are naturally deadin sinnes our workes then are both dead and deadly and to bring vs to bring out any other it cannot bee without the working of a miracle Ephes 2.5 Rom. 6.8 it is requisite that wee should bee raised againe And it is God onely that must doe this Because saith he moreouer that We are children of wrath That All the desires and all the vnderstanding also of our flesh which we make so much of is enmitie against God Prou. 10. And without exception For There is no man saith Salomon that can say Rom. 5.17 1. Cor. 15. My heart is cleane I am without sinne And the Apostle more expresly All men haue sinned and are dead in Adam By a man sinne entred into the world into all men and by sinne death c. Yea into Moyses the meekest of all other men Thou hast sette before thy face Absconditum nostrum our sinne that was hidden from vs. This naturall viciousnesse which like vnto a naturall disease is hidden from vs is lesse perceiued or felt of vs. Pâ— l. 51. Psal 116. Rom. 7. 14. reâ—â— 23. And into Dauid a man according to Gods owne hearte Create saith hee in mee a new heart Because the hearte of man is altogether peruerted Ab occultis meis mundame Cleanse mee from that which is hidden from mee And into S. Paule an elect vessell of God The law saith he is spirituall and I am carnall sold vnder sinne I see a law in my members fighting against the law of my vnderstanding and leading me captiue to the law of sinne which is in my members Wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the bodie of this death c. Into S. Iohn Baptist Luke 2. the greatest amongst them that are borne of women who saith vnto our Lord I haue need to be baptized of thee that is to say to be washed to be regenerate by thy spirit c. And into the holy virgin likewise for she acknowledged her low and base estate she magnified nothing but the onely mercy of God she placed her selfe amongst them that being hungrie are filled with good things she reioyceth in God which is her Sauiour so farre is she off from disclaiming her parte in the saluation promised in Iesus Christ the author of the saluation which is in her And in deed the Apostle to the Hebr. Hebr. 7. hath not seperated or excepted from sin any besides Iesus Christ alone The holy virgine likewise was subiect to the law of purification ordained in the Church a signe of the inward purification which God requireth in all our actions Rom. 11.32 to the end that this word may abide true That God hath shut vp all vnder sinne That no man also should thinke to be excluded from that which followeth That he hath notwithstanding shewed mercie vnto all That this that all the Saints haue beene saued euen the virgin Marie her selfe commeth of his free grace of the riches and bountifulnesse of his great mercies Now our aduersaries that will not be called Pelagians How the aduersaries do extenuate originall sinne doe agree in outward shew vnto this corruption of mankind but when we come to lay the sore open and naked they are as it were afraid of taking some harme they make the maladie as light and little as they can fearing to be too much bound vnto God not considering how that for a man to lay open his wounds before him is to heale them to confesse our sinnes freely and franckly to him is to haue them quit forgiuen whereas the hiding and couering of them doth make them mortall to denie conceale or smooth them ouer is to cast himselfe prisoner and captiue into hell and eternall fire vntill hee haue paid the vttermost farthing Pighius therefore letteth not shamelesly to say Albert Pigh de peccat orig that the punishment of Adam seized vpon all his posteritie as one bond man begetteth another but that his sinne was not transfused and conueighed into his children What is there more contrarie vnto the whole scripture then this Yea how is it possible that this man should haue so little profited in the knowledge of himselfe Andradius a true interpreter of the ambiguities and doubtes arising in the Councell of Trent teacheth That concupiscence is in nature corrupted altogether such as it was when nature
relieued if by grace we bee not borne againe in Christ. What then and what shall become of so many goodly vertues of the Pagans Let it neuer be imagined saith he that there can be any true vertue in him that is not iust let it neuer bee imagined that there is any truely iust if he liue not ex fide by faith Fabricius his torments shall be more easie then Catilines not because he was a good man but because he was not so wicked Without faith it is impossible to please God but they haue not expressed anie faith in their workes neither therefore had they anie in their heartes c. The man saith he in another place must first be changed before his workes be changed Antequà m iustificetur impius quid est nisi impius Idem serm 12. de verb. Dom. Idem cp 106. Before the wicked man bee iustified what is hee but a wicked and vngodly man c. Can there then be any thing in man whereby he may help himselfe to come vnto God except he bee first changed and regenerate by his spirite And where becommeth then our free will Hearken Man saith he abusing his free will Idem in Enchilid c. 30. hath lost both himselfe and his free will for as he which killeth himselfe in killing of himselfe liueth no more nor hath any power to raise himselfe to life againe hauing once slaine himselfe so man in sinning by his free wil and sinne becomming conqueror hath lost his free will For of whom a man is ouercome his seruant hee is and therefore man cannot be free and at libertie to worke iustly if he bee not deliuered from the thraldome of sinne and made the seruant of righteousnesse But how shall this libertie be purchased and restored to man againe being solde giuen vp and captiuated c. if he be not ransomed by him who hath said If the Sonne deliuer and set you free you shall be truely free that is to say if he cast you not in a new mould by his grace to be new creatures in Christ Idem de spirit liter tom 3. Tu non poâ—uâ—sti in te nâ—si perdere te Idem ad Bonif l. 1. c. 3. Idem de fide ad Petr. Diaco c. And therefore these are his ordinarie Maxims Free will auaileth vs nothing neyther standeth it vs in any stead it hath no power at all except it be to sinne Thou hast nothing resting in thee but the meanes of destroying thy selfe neither doest thou know to finde thy selfe except hee that made thee doe seeke thee vp Yea saith hee if he doe not draw thee that is to say if he giue thee not to belieue in Christ a power that hath no iotte of free will a power which is not but from God alone For hee concludeth in another place Euerie man is borne in originall sinnne by consequent the child of wrath and from that wrath no man can be saued but by the faith of the Mediator And no man can repent himselfe here if God doe not inlighten him if by his free and vndeserued mercy he do not conuert and turne him vnto him Prosp Aquit ad Capitul Vincent Prosper Aquitanus By the wound of originall sinne the nature of all men was corrupted and killed in Adam whence is sprung out the disease of all concupiscences and lustes and against the which there is no other remedie but the death of Christ c. Yea saith he a disease that he would needes haue and which by him was needfull for vs. For saith hee to him not to sinne was no other thing then not to be willing to sinne Idem de vita contemplat c. 2. but it is not enough for vs to be willing to liue without reprehension our will being vicious and hindered by our feeble and faint possibilitie that which was in him of pleasure choise is become to vs a necessitie euen to sinne And if you say any thing to him of the workes of infidelles hee aunswereth you in these verses Idem in epigram 81. in l. de ingrat passim Per omnes calles errat sapientia mundi Et tenebris addit quae sine luce gerit This light which he calleth faith when he saith in another place Omne etenim probitatis opus nisi semine verae Exoritur fidei peccatum est nique reatum Vertitur stirilis cumulat sibi gloria poenam Cyrillus Alexandrinus He that is become thrall to the seruitude and slauerie of sinne although that he haue cast himself of his owne free wil into this miserable slauerie cannot notwithstanding shake off this yoke when he pleaseth he must seeke deliuerance in another that is in the Sonne of God Let vs neuer make triall of or attempt any other way for the recouering of our libertie for by him alone is graunted our full freedome from sinne to the ende that sinne may not rule or raigne anie more in our mortall bodies and that in the world to come it may not find any place in vs. From whence in two wordes wee gather thus much That in our owne nature we are the seruants of sinne That it raigneth in vs without any gainsay to the procuring of the punishments that are after this life if we bee not renewed in Christ Petr. Diac. c. Episc Orient ad Fulgen. c. Episc Afric Damnatur mortis paena Petrus Diaconus ad Fulgentium Adam hauing willingly transgressed the law of God is by his iust iudgement condemned to suffer the punishment of death and is allâ— holly throughâ—ut that is to say both in bodie and soule changed into worse and hauing lost his owne freedome is become a slaue to serue the filthie drudgerie of sinne Thereupon it is that no man commeth into this worlde free from the bondes of sinne except hee who for the vnloosing of these bondes was begotten after a new kinde of conception the Mediator of God and men Iesus Christ. For what can base and vile man beget but that which is base and vile And therefore as euerie man is of Adam â—oret Pighius so by Adam euerie man is the seruant of sinne Rom. 5. c. And such deceiue themselues as say that death but not sinne hath passed throughout mankind when as there is not one of all the sonnes of men which is deliuered from this damnation death but by the grace of the redeemer c. without this grace a man might think and desire humane things but he could not either thinke of or haue any will vnto the things concerning God For the first principall foundation thereof is to belieue in the Lord of glorie crucified This commeth not from the libertie of our free will or naturall will for flesh and blood doe not reueale the same but the heauenly father to whom he will drawing him vnto this true libertie not by a violent necessitie but by a gentle infusing of his holy
spirite by which wee belieue and say that Iesus Christ is the Lord which no man can say by the libertie and freedome of his will but onely by the holy Ghost c. This is the same with that which the Bishops of the East did write vnto the Bishops of Africke S. Barnard Bernard de grat liber arb Libertas a peccato In the fall Adam fell from his not being able to sinne to his not being able to doe any thing but sinne hauing altogether lost the libertie of taking aduise and counsell c. as also that which he had of forbearing to sinne And this losse happened vnto him by the abusing of the libertie of his will c. Being fallen from his will it is not still remaining free for him to raise vp himselfe againe by the same For although at this day be would doe it yet the case so standeth with him as that it is not in his power not to sinne It must be Christ that must inspire and indue him with new vertue by his restauration that the Lord may transforme vs into this image howbeit euen then our perfection commeth not in this life but in the life to come c. And he is full in all his bookes of such places which shal hereafter be seene as better opportunitie serueth Peter Lombard saith Lomb. l. 2. d. 25 After sinne till there be a restauration by grace man is ouercome and pressed of concupiscence and hath infirmitie to doe euill but hee hath no grace to doe good And therefore he can sinne but he cannot cease to sinne and that damnablie c. Againe In that Adam hath sinned of free will and that sinne hath ouercome him he hath lost his free will Libertatem inquam à peccato the libertie that hee had to keep himselfe from sinning whereof the Apostle speaketh whereas the spirit of the Lord is there is the libertie and truth of the Gospell If the Sonne deliuer you not you cannot bee free c. And this libertie consisteth in being free from sinne for to serue and obey vnto righteousnes c. which thing they haue attained onely and not any others whome the Sonue hath repaired by grace c. And therefore Anselme said Anselm in 14. ad Rom. as Lombard doth alleadge him The whole life of infidelles is nothing but sinne For there is no goodnesse or felicitie to bee found where the chiefe goodnesse or felicitie is wanting Thom. in 2. sent dist 31 32 c. Thomas likewise layeth vs downe these Maxims The person of Adam hath infected nature and nature now infecteth the person the bodie infecteth the soule not by working vpon it but by receiuing from it for the soule is the proper subiect of originall sinne Idem l. 1. d. 41. Originall sinne is indifferently in all and the punishment thereof is likewise in all no man can satisfie for it but God onely making himselfe man No man can forsake or shake it off of himselfe for from the estate of nature to the estate of grace no man can passe either by free will or by merite but per appositionem gratiae ex mera gratia by the adding and applying of grace c. It may be Not one to be excepted no not the holy virgine August de nupt concupise Idem de perfect iustit Idem contr Iul. l. 5. c. 9. that they haue excepted some persons from this common and generall condition at the least the virgine Marie Let vs heare then Saint Augustine All flesh that is borne by the carnall copulation of man and woman is sinfull flesh That onely which was not so begotten is without sinne that is to say the humane bodie of our Lord. Againe Whosoeuer thinketh that there hath beene anie either man or woman for in Latine he comprehendeth both the sexes except the alone Mediator of God and men to whom the remission of sinnes is not needfull he is contrarie to the holie scripture wherein the Apostle saith by a man sinne is entered into the world c. Yea saith he in another place hee is an hereticke For if as without all doubt it is the flesh of Christ bee not sinfull flesh but like onely to sinfull flesh what remaineth but that it onely being excepted all other humane flesh is sinfull flesh c. Then he concludeth And who so denieth this iâ— a detestable hereticke Yea the flesh of the virgine For saith he It appeareth that concupiscence which Christ would not haue to beare any stroke at all in his conception hath caused the propagation of euill into all mankind For the body of Marie although that he did spring from thence did not notwithstanding transfuse any part of the same concupiscence into the body of Christ because shee did not conceiue thereby And it is not here to be obiected which he speaketh of in an other place that it is not his purpose to speake of the mother of our Lord when the question is of sinne Idem de natu grat c. 6. Because shee hath had greater measure of grace giuen her to ouercome all the parts and parcels of sinne For in that he saith to ouercome it presupposeth a combat with sinne for the ouercomming whereof shee had need of new grace To which purpole wee alleadged Origen heretofore Whereas if she had not beene redeemed iustified and sanctified by the blond of Christ then shee had not beene it at all S. Ambroâ—e saith Ambr. in Luc. Immaculatâ— Partus nouitare Idem in Esay Our Lord Iesus is he alone of all those that haue beene borne of women which hath not felt the contagion of earthly infection and that by reason of the new and extraordinarie manner of his conception and generation which was without spot or touch of sinne Againe Euerie man is a lyar and no man without sinne except God alone It is therefore to bee obserued that not one that is of man and woman that is to say of the coniunction of their bodies that is without sinne Anselm l. 2. Cur deus hom c. 16. in 2. ad Cor. c 5. as also that he that is without this sinne was also begotten without this manner of conception c. Anselme I would know saith he how of this sinfull lumpe of this mankind altogether infected with sinne God should draw foorth a man without sinne Tanquam azymum de fermento being as much as if a man should go about to make a Loafe of vnleauened bread out of a lumpe that is nothing but leauen For although that the conception of this man were pure and vndefiled yet the Virgine out of whose wombe he was taken was conceiued in iniquitie and her mother conceiued her in sinne and therefore also borne with originall sinne for shee likewise hath sinned in Adam in whose person all haue sinned Rom. 5.12 Whereby we may see the impudencie of our aduersaries who vpon the second to the Corinthians where it is said All
constant assertion doth become fool-hardie and faith if it become wauering is infirme and weake And therefore it appeareth by his effects and sheweth foorth the life that is in it The life thereof saith he is Christ dwelling in our hearts Idem Serm. 1. in Oct. Pasch Idem ibidem and of a certaintie looke where he dwelleth he dwelleth not without loue sanctification and good workes The life thereof is loue and charitie These are the life of faith as faith is the life of our soules For saith he If thou deuide actum a fide action and working from faith thou makest an vnlawfull diuision and killest faith Idem Serm 24 in Cant. Ep. 107. Idem Serm. de resurrect Domini 2. Idem de Serm. omn. fester for faith is dead without workes And wilt thou offer vnto God a dead sacrifice a faith without loue a bodie without a soule c. Nay saith hee workes doe testifie the life of faith Our life is knowne by mouing and that of faith by good workes Now we reason thus Man liueth not because hee is moued but he is moued because hee liueth and then the faithfull is not iustified neither inioyeth he the life of his soule because he doth good workes but because hee is iustified because his soule inioyeth life in Christ by faith he doth good workes These good workes notwithstanding are such as if the righteousnesse of God bee considered are by him compared vnto the most filthie thing in the world and such notwithstanding as they bee if you consider them according to that small quantitie of goodnesse which they containe they are of God and not of our selues Idem Serm. de Annunciat Mariae the fruit no lesse then the tree For saith hee It is meete that the holy Ghost should testifie vnto thee that thou hast them not but of him he is the author the rewarder and the whole reward This soueraigne good thing is a twofold cause of good things vnto vs the efficient and the finall And yet further hee saith Without grace wee are not sufficient onely to thinke a good thought Idem Serm. 9 in Psalm 91. Serm. 32 In so much as that speaking of his owne workes hee attributeth them vnto God As in that his soule hath not beene giuen our from the beginning vnto all sinne in that it hath beene changed from bitternesse and vexation into ioy and comfort in that it hath repented after a sound and profitable sort Idem de Sept. misericord contrarie to the repentance of many others in that hee hath obtained free remission in that he hath beene kept from falling backe into his former sins in that he hath profited in abstaining from euill accustomed the practise of that which is good and in that he hopeth and looketh for a better estate in the world to come c. Now then what remaineth for to attribute vnto man In stead that of our aduersaries we say what reserue they then as a remainder for God For if we owe vnto God that which we pretend challenge to merit by namely a faith working by charitie which is our pretended merit for what owe we not to him of whome we hold all that we haue What hire can we pretend for a thing that is not our owne but only his mercy which hath made it ours and which himselfe according to the riches of his grace will bee ours And this is that which this our good and bountiful father left vs by testament I know well saith he that I haue not any merit In â—â—t Bernar. to bring me to heauen but my Lord doth possesse it by a double title and claime namely by nature and obedience hee is himselfe content with the one and giueth me the other c. CHAP. XXI How the doctrine and opinion of merit prospered proceeded and went forward from the time of Saint Barnard vntill these our daies And what contradictions and resistances were made against it vntil the time of the full springing vp againe of the Gospell BVt let vs now drawe neere vnto the yeare one thousand three hundred wherein Christendome felt a notable change in doctrine generally but especially in this article Therein at that time Philosophie began to raigne and ouertop the sacred profession of Diuinitie by the introduction and bringing in of Schoolemen so that Aristotle got the vpper hand of Saint Paule Sound and grounded dealing melted into fine and filed subtiltie curiositie and temeritie the later enuied the former and that consequently from one to another euen to the memorie of our age This scholasticall dealing fell amongst the Monkes who added Pharisaisme vnto Philosophie seeking how to make themselues highly reuerenced amongst the common people yea and to make God himselfe bound beholden vnto them by reason of their austere and stoical obseruations deuised and affected of their owne voluntarie inuentions They ingrossed for good debt which God should become answerable vnto them for all their Masses praiers fastings sermons contemplations watchings abstinences and the discipline and correction vsuall in their Cloisters c. And that to the making of them auailable not onely for theÌ„selues for they were not vnprouided of a remanet but vnto so many as became benefactors vnto their fraternities and couents And to the common people they assigned them for readie money therewith to pay for and discharge their sinnes to satisfie the wrath of God and obtaine eternall life Mightie therefore was the growth increase of this abuse when once such multitudes of people tanquam agmine facto lent their helping hand therunto And that so much the more for that they being mendicant begging people had their maintenance assigned them vpon the pretended merits of the coÌ„mon people which also that they might the better attaine and come by they assigned vnto them eternall life to be receiued vpon the reckoning of their deuotions And here we are not to forget the maner and forme of their donations gifts Bulla fraternitatum Dominicanorum FranciscanoruÌ„ which were passed at this time to Monasteries which was as foloweth Euery man must deeply weigh and consider how swiftly this present life doth passe away and that other approch and come on and by the same meanes thinke and consider with himselfe if there be any thing in his possession to giue vnto worshipfull places for his soules health that so hee may merite to inioy eternall rest in Paradise with saint Peter and saint Andrew because that they by giuing their goodes haue purchased the kingdome of heauen The kingdome of God is woorth as much and according to that which thou possessest For what is there that is more cheape when it is bought or more deare when it is possessed and obtained c. This was the declaration and maner of speech vsed for the moouing of their affections whereupon insued their maner of giuing and disposing vpon this promise then which was made vnto them by the
couenant is certaine that they in particular are comprehended and contained in the same c. And which more is they worke within a faith of the free promises of the Creator of the remission of sinne in his Sonne c. a confirmation of that most neere coniunction that is betwixt the faithfull and God an vnion with Christ by the bond of his holy spirit such as the members haue with the head from which they draw saluation and life Whereupon it followeth that they are made new men for so much as the power and efficacie of the spirit of Christ dooth conuert and turne them into his nature draw them from their owne regenerate and cast them anew by little and little and that both in their affections as also in their actions to put their trust in God through Iesus Christ to renounce and forsake themselues for the loue of him and to wish well and doe well vnto their neighbours but especially to the members of the same bodie both in him and for him Now therefore this is the office and part of the Sacraments What a sacrament is and thereupon a Sacrament to define it properly is a holy ceremonie instituted of God added to the promise of grace made in Iesus Christ to be an earnest penie and certaine testimonie vnto all the faithfull that this promise of grace expounded explaned in the word of God is particularly exhibited ratified applied to him vnto saluation And such were amongst the old people from the time of Abraham and Moyses vnto the comming of our Lord Circumcision and the Passe-ouer instituted of God to such end in stead wherof there were ordained for vs by our Lord holy Baptisme and the holy supper to continue to the end of the world It consisteth of a signe a thing and the word Genes 17.10 13. Rom. 4. Of these Sacraments the Scripture speaketh after this sort Of Circumcision It shall be vnto you saith the Lord for a signe of the couenant betwixt me and you and my couenant shall be in your flesh for an euerlasting couenant Thus of the signe And S. Paul Abraham saith he receiued the signe of the Circumcision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seale of the righteousnesse of faith And we know that the righteousnesse of faith is that which is freely promised giuen in Iesus Christ our Lord. Now behold the effect and so by consequent a perfect Sacrament Deutr. 10. â—oâ— 2 28. Exod. 12. according to that which Moyses saith Circumcise the foreskinne of your heart And S. Paul Circumcision is not that which is made in the flesh but of the heart in the spirit Of the Passe-ouer The bloud of the Lambe is vnto you for a signe in the houses wherein you shall be 1. Corinth 5. I will see this bloud and passe ouer But this bloud saith the Apostle is the bloud of Christ Christ our Passe-ouer was slaine for vs c. Behold here againe both the signe and the thing and both the one and the other by the word that is to say by the institution of Christ who hath ordained the signe for the thing and giuen the thing with the signe otherwise naked and vnprofitable not answering the effect that is expected thereof This word in the Circumcision is this I am the Lord Almightie c. I will set my couenant betwixt thee and me Genes 17. Exodus 12. c. In the Passe-ouer The tenth day of the month let euerie man take a Lambe c. In which places God instituteth and ordaineth these Sacraments and giueth them by his institution perpetuall power in his Church as by these words once spoken Increase and multiplie he hath giuen for euer his blessing vnto holy marriage The same is that of the Sacraments of the new Testament Baptisme receiueth vs into the couenant of God in stead of Circumcision the holy Supper in stead of the Passe-ouer dooth nourish and maintaine vs therein whereupon the one is properly called Regeneration as a man would say a new birth and the other The communion of the bodie and bloud of our Lord to our nourishing vnto eternall life In Baptisme water is the signe the bloud of Christ is the thing signified water which washeth away the spots of the body bloud which cleanseth and wipeth away the sinnes of the soule namely by the mediation of the word or institution of God accompanied with his holy spirit which giueth efficacie and power vnto the Sacrament Of the signe S. Iohn Baptist saith Mat. 5. Act 1. 1 Cor. 12.13 Coloss 2.11 Rom. 3. â— Galat. 3.27 Tit. 3 5. I baptise you with water but as concerning the thing Hee will baptise you with the holy Ghost namely the Lord. Of both together the Apostle saith Wee are baptised into one spirit buried in baptisme into the death of Christ and raised againe into his resurrection and saued by the washing of regeneration and of the renewing of the holy Ghost In so much as that the word that is to say the institution of the Lord added to the element of water worketh supernaturally in our soules by the holy Ghost the same that water doth in our bodies by his naturall propertie Baptise yee in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost c. And we shall say the same hereafter but more largely of the holy Supper The new Testament of the Lord in his bloud Which being instituted to the same end is also of the same nature with the other Sacraments the bread wine for signes and tokens most fitly agreeing with the true and perfect nourishment of the faithfull that is in Christ a foode and nourishment that cannot better be expressed then by that of our bodies which turne into their substance that which they eate and drinke saue onely that the communion of the body and bloud of Christ hath this ouer and aboue because of his power which is infinitely more mightie then that of ours namely that it conuerteth and chaungeth vs into his substance maketh vs flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones and causeth vs to liue in him and by him c. Whereas our bodies being stronger then the thing which they eate doe cause and make the same to liue after a certaine manner in them turning it into their substance The signes therefore are bread and wine and by that name they are continually called of S. Paul and that euen after the words as they cal them of consecration The thing that is the Communion of the bodie of Christ broken for vs and of his bloud shed for our sins 1 Cor. 10. 11. The word that is the institution of the Lord which commeth thereunto Doe this in remembrance of me shew forth the death of the Lord vnto his comming c. This is the same that the old writers say that Christ is the onely saluation of the Church The Israelites were partakers of one and tâ—e same thing with vs.
in the mysterie of Baptisme Water but not bare water The Apostle hath taught thee not to behold or looke vppon the things which are seene but those which are not seene thinke that the Diuinitie is present therin Wilt thou belieue the operation effectuall power thereof and not the presence c. The water without the preaching of the Crosse of Christ is of no effect vnto saluation c. And S. Augustine againe August in Io. tract 30. You are cleane by reason of the word that I haue told you Wherefore saith he did hee not rather say by reason of the Baptisme wherewith you are washed if it be not this that it is the word that washeth in the water That Baptisme is consecrated and hallowed by the word Take away the word and what is the water but water The word is put vnto the Element and it is made a Sacrament for this is also a visible word From whence commeth this great force power to the water that it should by touching of the body wash the soule but in that the word maketh it such And that not because it is spoken but because that it is belieued for in this same word the sound which passeth and goeth away is one thing and the sound which abideth staieth within is an other thing Reade the Apostle and see what he addeth therto to the end that hee might sanctifie the same making it cleane by the washing of water in the word washing should not be attributed vnto this liquid and fluent Element if there had not beene added thereto In the word And notwithstanding al that which God setteth before vs in the Sacraments Faith receiueth and taketh hold vpon the Sacrament sanctified through his word is vnfruitfull and vnprofitable vnto vs without faith for by faith alone it is made appliable apt to be receiued of vs. Whereupon also wee said that the grace offered to vs therein is receiued by the faith of the faithful as the signe is receiued of his hand For the SacrameÌ„ts giue not faith faith receiueth them they increase it EueÌ„ as the word of God being outwardly heard giueth not faith but faith receiueth nourisheth it faith I say begotten in vs by the word not that which beateth our eares but by the inward which knocketh at the dore of our heart in the efficacie and powerfull working of the spirit So was Circumcision giuen to Abraham not to the end hee might haue faith but for a seale of the righteousnesse of faith saith the Apostle which he had had in the time of vncircumcision And S. peter Repent be baptised Rom. 4. for the remissioÌ„ of your sins And the litle children or their fathers for theÌ„ answered therin Credo for that the SacrameÌ„ts are ordained for the faithful not to the end they may beleeue but because they do beleeue not to the end they may bee receiued into the couenant of God but in token that they are receiued thereinto already as meate vnto men August Sentent 338. in Ioh. tract 26. de cruit Dei l. 25. c 25. not to the end they might learn to eat but to the end that eating they might be fed nourished This is it which S. August saith That for to be a receiuer of the thing that is to say of the grace of the Sacrament it behoueth to dwell in Christ and to haue Christ dwelling in him It is requisite to be members of his body that is to say incorporated into him by faith that whoso disagreeth or is at discord with him though he should daily receiue receiueth not any thing but the bare signe Sacramento tenus saith he non re vera sacramentally not really the Sacrament Chrysost in r. Cor. 11. and not the thing of the Sacrament And Chrysostome The more he receiueth the signe so much the more he purchaseth to himself condemnation As saith he the condemnation of men is growne hereof namely that God hath manifested himselfe vnto them in the flesh c. And S. Basill Basil in psalm 33. August cont Maxim l. 3. c. 22. That the changing of the names maketh no change in the signes The inward man hath also his mouth by meanes whereof it is fed and refreshed by receiuing the word of life the bread that came downe from heauen c. And S. Augustine giueth vs the reason thereof Because saith he that men giue the Sacrament but God the only searcher of the heart giueth the thing of the Sacrament The fourth That this commutation and exchange of names doth not force vpon the Sacraments a commutation of the signes or elements in their nature but only in their vse Otherwise contrary to the doctrine of theâ—e fathers they should be the same thing vnto all men as well the miscreant and vnbeleeuer as vnto the faithfull and to the hypocrite as vnto him that truly repenteth c. It being impossible that Christ the truth and substance of the Sacraments should be receiued but vnto life although the Sacrament that is to say the signes may be receiued of many vnto coÌ„demnation And indeed none of the fathers euer said that Manna was conuerted and turned into the flesh of Christ or the water of the rocke yea the water of Baptisme into his bloud notwithstanding that Saint Paul hath said That our fathers did eate the same meate and drinke the same drinke that we that is to say Christ That the first of the olde writers haue acknowledged that the true Israelites did eate the flesh of Christ in their Manna and drunke his bloud in the rocke That wee all agree togither that in Baptisme we are washed from our sinnes in the bloud of Christ no lesse truly then our bodies are washed with water August in ser ad Infant citatur a Bed in 1. Cor. 10. Theodoret in Dial. 1. And likewise that S. Augustine saith That we must not doubt at all that the faithfull in Baptisme are made partakers of the bodie and of the bloud of our Lord notwithstanding that they depart this life before they haue eaten the bread or drunke the Cup c. Because said Theodoret heretofore vnto vs That this commutation of names is to point out vnto vs the truth of the Mysterie not for that there is anie change made therefore in the nature of the signes but because that grace is added and put to them And this is the cause why the ancient fathers The difference betwixt mysteries and miracles do call the Sacraments Mysteries and not Miracles In diuine Mysteries the grace of God is hidden in Miracles it is manifested and reuealed Miracles are wrought to moue the vnbeleeuers to conuince them in their owne vnderstanding and verie often to leaue them vnexcusable through the clearnes and euidentnes thereof Mysteries are reserued for the faithfull at least for those that are reputed such to seal vp vnto them their saluation to stir vp their faith to raise
such sort as that they are not apparant or to bee discerned notwithstanding that they be there neither yet any manner of distinction to bee made of them by reason of their incorporation euen so are we all incorporate both amongst our selues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also with Christ for wee are not nourished and fed this man of one bodie and that man of an other but all ioyntly of one and the same These are then the two principall endes of the Sacrament euen the growth and helping forwarde of our vnitie with Christ our head and of our vnitie with the brethren which with vs doe make one body in him which cannot bee accomplished more effectually then by the remembrance of the death of Christ which stirreth vp in vs a loue towards him who hath loued vs so much as to giue himselfe to death for vs euen that death which was due and iustly belonging to sinners c. So that wee not being able either to liue or die for any his emolument or profit for what good can there arise from vs to him we are incited and stirred vp to liue and die for his body which is the Church and not to spare any thing that is in vs no not our owne bloud for the edifying of the same or for the good and saluation of our brethren either begotten of Basil de Baptis in Moral or redeemed by the same bloud And this is the cause why Saint Basill saith What profit is there in these words Take this is my body To the end that drinking and eating we may euermore bee mindfull of him which is dead and risen againe for vs Who so calleth not to mind this remembrance is said to eate vnworthily c. And in another place What is the dutie of such as eate the bread and drinke the Cup of Christ Verily saith he to keep the remembrance of him which is dead and risen againe for vs perpetually c. Seeing saith likewise S. Ambrose Ambros de iis qui myst intiantur c. 3. That the Sacrament serueth not for any vse vnto saluation without the preaching that is to say the remembrance and commemoration of the crosse of Christ. And hitherto it may be that both wee and our aduersaries are of one mind in as much as we both the one and the other say That the bodie and bloud of Christ are in the Supper celebrated according to his institution and are truly and verily drunken and eaten in the same by the faithfull members of Christ in assurance of remission of sinnes and eternall life But the difference and disagreement betwixt vs is Wherein the maine difference lyeth for that wee say that they are receiued in the supper of the Lord with the Sacraments of the bread and wine They vnder the accidents of the whitenes roundnesse c. of the bread and vnder the rednesse and moysture c. of the wine the substance therof being at the verie instant of the vttering of the words by the Priest quite vanished and become nothing that so there may be place made for the bodie and bloud yea conuerted and turned into the bodie and bloud of Christ which they call Transubstantiation Againe that wee say that the bodie and bloud of Christ the nourishment of our soule which is spirituall are communicated with vs by the efficacie and power of the spirit of God and receiued of vs in like manner spiritually and by faith They that they are giuen by the hand of the Priest vnder the accidents of bread and wine and conuerted into flesh bloud by the pronouncing of the words which they call Sacramentall receiued into the mouth and swallowed downe into the stomack corporally and really c. and that not of the faithfull onely but of all both good and bad which receiue them c. So that the question or controuersie betwixt vs is not Whether there be a communicating of the body and bloud of Christ in the holy supper but How And this How is not raised by vs It proceedeth of the curiosity of our aduersaries neither yet by our incredulitie or curiositie but by our aduersaries who in stead of resting themselues in the simplicitie of the old writers haue so curiously pried into the same as that they haue wrapt themselues in an infinite sort of absurdities thereby causing doubts to arise yea and doubting themselues also of If in stead of making it plaine vnto themselues and others of the manner How Verily Saint Cyprian saith That it is an Apostolike thing and appertaining to the sinceritie of the truth to declare how the bread wine are the flesh bloud of our Lord. Saint Augustine likewise feareth not to demaund How the bread is made the bodie of Christ seeing that our Lord in the day of the Ascention caried vp his bodie into heauen But he hath also giuen vs rules by which these kinds of speeches ought to be expounded But this holy scanning and sifting out of the truth is verie farre from the prophane curiositie of our aduersaries they seeke the deciding of the matter in the nature of the Sacraments by comparing of Scripture with Scripture and by the analogie of faith and of the Creed according to the true and vndoubted rules of Diuinitie but these our aduersaries by destroying of the Sacraments the nature of Christ and the Articles of our faith our onely Diuinitie by destroying also the Lawes which God hath set in nature by a false kind of Philosophie So deeply haue they delighted and rooted themselues in an opinion contrarie to faith in the flesh which profiteth nothing contrarie to the word which is spirit and life and in the letter which is dead and killeth contrarie to the spirit which is liuing and quickning They say The literall sence neither can nor ought to be followed alwayes what is there any thing more cleare or plaine This is my bodie this is my bloud But againe is there any thing more plaine The rocke was Christ And of circumcision This is my couenant Againe The Lambe is the Passeouer These bones are the house of Israell Iohn is Elias I am the true Vine I am the bread of life which came downe from heauen c. And if the plainnesse and clearenesse of places should bee tied vnto the words and not to the sence and meaning then what clearer places can there possibly be then these Let vs make man according to our owne image and similitude And the Anthropomorphites haue heereupon concluded that God hath the shape of a man Genes 1. Luke 22 Who so hath not a sword let him sell his Coate and buy one And what then saith Origen Shall the Bishops put their hand to the sword thereupon I and my Father are one And Sabellius hath concluded thereupon that the Father hath suffered in the flesh I am the bread of life August de ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 25. he that shall eate this
as hee hath said with a most euen and vpright faith c. Epiphanius Epiphan in Anchorato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We see that which our Lord tooke in his hands as the Gospel reporteth it That he rise vp at supper that he toke these things and how that after he had giuen thanks he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is mine and this and this And we see that it is not either equall or like either to the Image and similitude in the flesh either yet to the inuisible Deitie or to the lineaments of members For this is of a round fashion and insensible as concerning power There hee reasoneth how man hath receiued the image of God truely but yet not according to the proper nature of the Diuinitie but by grace and hee alleadgeth for proofe thereof the example of the Sacrament Now then how and in what manner is the Sacrament the body of Christ Verily saith hee he would haue said by grace This is mine this and this c. And no man doubteth of this speech for who so belieueth not that the same is true as he hath spoken it he is fallen from grace and from saluation Where wee are to marke that Bellarmine leaueth out these words As he hath spoken it that so hee may applie them vnto the thing and not to the speech The reason then standeth Man is the Image of God not according to the proper nature of the Diuinitie but by grace so the bread is the body of Christ by grace and not by nature and man is regenerate in the image of Christ not by ceasing to be any more man but by being sanctified in Christ so the bread is made the body of Christ not by ceasing to bee bread any more but by being no more common bread by being made holy by being made a Sacrament c. And this he declareth more plainely by the similitude of Baptisme For saith he the vertue of the bread Ephran cont haeres l. 3. tom 2. and force of the water are made strong and powerfull in Christ to the end that not the bread but the vertue of the bread might be made vertue vnto vs and the bread is meate but the vertue which is in it is vnto vinification So as water dooth not onely wash and make vs cleane but is further made vnto vs the perfecting of our saluation by faith c. Where he compareth the water of Baptisme with the bread of the supper Now in the water there is no chaunge or transmutation And hee setteth the force and vertue thereof against the element and faith against the washing that vertue which offereth the grace vnto vs that faith which receiueth it in vs in whose soules the mysterie is made perfect for it is made for them and not in the Elements which are made for vs. Chrysostome hath very loftie and hyperbolical speeches Chrysost hom 60. 61. ad Pop. Antioch Hom in Mat. 14.83 In Encaeniis de Euchar. De S. Philog Idem hom 51 in Matth. Esay 6. Hom. 83. in Mat. but we can haue no better expounder of the same then himself in examining the places either in themselues or by comparing them one with an other He saith therefore Thou seest him thou touchest him thou eatest him thou settest thy teeth in his flesh thou receiuest him into thee Yea but something then of the maner how I see him Now he is inuisible vnto me How I touch him Now This is saith he with a pure and cleane heart How I receiue him Now this is In my soule how I set my teeth in him Now these are the teeth of faith No master of transubstantiation should bee so bold as to speake otherwise After the same manner then I eate him that is to say Sacramentally spiritually by faith The hand of the Minister saith he giueth thee not the body it is the hand of Christ that giueth it thee It is not a man it is a Seraphim with a pinsers such as Esay saw Suppose that it is the bloud that runneth out from his side Draw neer then therunto with pure lips c. Yea again but this then is that bodie and that bloud in the same maner that he which giueth them vnto me is a Seraphim or Christ himselfe after the same manner that the burning cole is made vnto mee in this example the propitiation of my sinnes There is no chaunge made in the person of the Minister nor in the nature of the cole neither therefore in the bread And notwithstanding we receiue the body the assurance also of the remission of our sins but after the same manner that Christ is giuen vnto vs that is to say spiritually and vnder a mysterie And oftentimes he compareth the supper with Baptisme with Baptisme I say wherein by the agreement of both sides there is not any transubstantiation Hee hath said saith he this is my bodie let vs belieue him without doubting or wauering and let vs behold and looke vppon him with the eyes of our minds for Christ his gift is not to be discerned with the sences c. So by the water of Baptisme which is sensible he hath giuen vs regeneration which is a gift to be receiued with the vnderstanding And he addeth the reason For if thou werst without a body then would hee haue giuen thee these gifts bare and naked without a bodie but seeing thy soule is ioyned to a body he giueth thee to apprehend his giftes by sensible things But handling this matter of purpose and that in these verie places where it hath his proper seate he is well furnisht and prouided to expound himselfe verie sensiblie Idem hom 46. in Iohan. My words saith the Lord are spirit and life that is to say We must vnderstand them according to the spirit mistically spiritually and not carnally And carnally saith he that is to say simply according to the bare letter Spiritually that is to say Idem hom 17. ad Hebr. hom 83. in Mat. Idem hom 20 in Mat. by considering the Sacraments with the eies of the spirit Againe This sacrifice is the marke signe and figure of him who was hanged vppon the Crosse God hath prepared this table to shew continually the bread the wine in the Sacrament according to the order of Melchisedec for are semblance of the body and bloud of Christ As our forefathers celebrated the Passeouer in remembrance of the myracles done in Egypt so shall you celebrate this in remembrance of me That bloud was shed for the saluation of the first borne this for the sins of the whole world c. And as Moyses saith this shal be an euerlasting remembrance vnto you c. So I you shall doe this in remembrance of me c. I haue desired to keepe this passeouer with you to make you spirituall Therefore he drinketh with them to the ende that they may not say shall we drinke the bloud of a man c. Againe Where
the redemption being perpetuall went for the saluation of all that so also the oblation of that redemption should stand perpetuall that is saith the Glose Gloss ibid. the preaching of this onely sacrifice after which there is not any other to come And that this perpetuall sacrifice might liue in our remembrance and might alwaies be present with vs in the grace thereof Asacrifice saith he which must be iudged of by faith and not by the outward appearance or kind by the inward affection not by the outward sight Here now you may behold a manifest opposition of the mystery against the realitie of the remembrance against the presence of the presence of grace against the reall presence of faith against apparance and of affection against sight But notwithstanding say they there is a change And what change verily such a one as hee there describeth and setteth downe for he compareth the change that is made therein first with the creation For as saith he in the twinckling of the Lords eyes there were incontinently subsisting and extant the heauen the sea and the earth although of nothing by the same power also in the sacramentes whereas this vertue commandeth the effect doth incontinently follow Now would they say that by the consecration Christ was created anew And to bring forth nothing is this to chaunge and turne is this to transubstantiate And what can they then inferre but that the same spirite which made the heauen and the earth doth conioyne and vnite them together in the holy supper as we haue diuerse and sundrie times said And secondly with the change which is made in vs by our regeneration in Christ into which saith this Eusebius Non viuendo sed credendo transiliisti we enter not by liuing but by belieuing we are made of the children of perdition the adopted children of God by a hidden and secret purenes continuing and abiding idem atque idem one and the same in substance but otherwise much altered and chaunged by the proceeding and growth of faith Changed saith Bellarmine accidentallie and not substantiallie And therefore the bread the wine in the holy supper in like maner changed said Theodoret in a word Not in their nature but by addition of grace c. And how then shall wee there receiue the bodie of Christ verily in a manner proportionable to this change and correspondent to this obiect When saith he thou commest to the altar to be fed of these spirituall meates looke by faith vpon the bodie and blood of thy Lord touch him there with thy mind and spirit mente continge take him by the hand with thy hart drinke him haustu interioris hominis with the full and large draughtes of thy soule with all thine inward man c. And yet this is the man amongst all the rest by whom they take themselues best vnderpropped Procopius Gazaeus saith also Procop. Gazeus in Genes c. 49. Macar Egypt Anachor The Lord gaue the image figure or tipe of his bodie to his disciples not admitting any more the bloudie sacrifices of the law Macarius an Egyptian more clearely saying That there ought to be offered in the Church bread and wine the resemblances and representations exhibiting the bodie and blood of Christ the fathers of the olde Testament knew it not how that they that should receiue the inuisible bread should also spirituallie eate the flesh of Christ c. Figures then euermore and types and representations of the bodie and bloud which forbid and exclude all manner of realnesse in the kinds as likewise all change in the substances in that they alwaies call them bread and wine c. And thus wee are come to the time of Gregory the first about the yeare of our Lord 600. CHAP. VI. That of a long time also after Gregorie transubstantiation was not knowne And further that all the most famous liturgies receiued of our aduersaries are repugnant thereunto NOw Gregorie 1. Anno 600. Gregor dial 4. c. 58. Et in registro had not as yet beene infected with this errour howbeit he had inwrapped himselfe in many other Who is there saith he of all the faithfull that doubteth that at the houre of the sacrifice at the voice of the minister the heauens are opened or that the heauens are ioyned to the earth c. and we will bee readie to tell it them at all times if they will heare And heauen is not onely ioyned to the earth but God to man and righteousnesse to a sinner c. They say that this is vnder the Accidentes of bread wee in the nature of our soule Which is the more beseeming diuinitie But when S. Gregorie saith When we take the bread whether it be heaued vp or not heaued we are made one bodie with the Lord our Sauiour To what end should he say heaued or not heaued if there be nothing but accidents And is there not any great difference whether we our selues be made the bodie of our Lord or els the bread and wine the Indiuiduum vagum accidents hanging in the aire Idem hom 22. in Euang. But saith he The bloude is sprinkled vpon the two postes when it is not taken of the mouth of the body onely but also with the mouth of the heart That is to say say they when it is taken also in at the mouth of the bodie But we say that this is according to the rule aboue specified which giueth to the signe the name of the thing That is that the sacrament is taken in at the mouth of the bodie the thing by the mouth of the soule and in the faithfull the one with the other Which S. Gregorie layeth open elsewhere in these wordes speaking of the vngodly Howbeit Idem l. 2. expos in l. 1. Reg. c. 1. that they receiue the Sacrament with their mouth yet they are not replenished with the vertue of the Sacrament And therefore say wee they did not take the flesh and bloud For he that receiueth them saith the Lord hath eternall life Beda followeth S. Augustin step by step Bed 1. Cor. 10. and it may be that Bellarmine for the same cause hath left him out He teacheth them that the sacramentes of the old and new testament are the same in substance That in all sacraments the sacrament is one thing and the vertue of the sacrament another and particularly in that of the holy Supper that that which is seene hath a corporall figure but that which is vnderstood a spirituall fruit That the bread is said to be the bodie of Christ after the same manner that we are called his members c. To be short saith he The creature of bread wine Idem in Luc. l. 6. c. 2â— by the vnspeakeable sanctification of the holy Ghost is translated into the Sacrament of his flesh and bloud Into the sacrament saith he not into the thing it selfe that is to say of elements they are made Sacraments they are made
Againe that which followeth Thy bodie is broken O Christ thy cup is blessed let thy blood be to vs vnto eternall life Can this be spoken and that in their owne iudgementes but of the bread and not of the bodie seeing that in the bodie they do not allow of any breaking And in deed he calleth the kinds after the consecration Creatures in these words Per quem haec omnia Domine semper bona creas sanctificas viuificas c. By whom O Lord thou createst all these thinges as also sanctifiest and quickenest them c. But the praiers which are said after the communion which they call Post-communions will witnesse with vs of the intent of the Church We which receiue the pledge of eternall life doe humblie beseech thee that this which we haue toucht by the image of the sacrament may be receiued of vs by a manifest receiuing c. Againe Hauing beene refreshed with celestial meat drinke we pray thee that we may be made strong through this prayers in remembrance of whom we haue receiued these things Again That we may receiue the sauing effect the pledge whereof we haue receiued by these mysteries Note Pledge Image of the Sacrament communication mysteries c. which they also commonly call Commercia sacrosancta redemptionis nostrae The sacred trafficke of our redemption Celestiall gifts the celestiall Table celestiall sacraments spirituall nourishmentes which are receiued by the spirit in visible mysteries but by an inuisible effect c. Now followeth that which is attributed vnto Chrysostome S. Chrysostomes liturgie but with what apparance of truth we haue shewed before for it cannot bee of fiue hundred yeares after The prefaces therein are customarie There is something said of change but by the inuocating of the name of God and by the power of the holy Ghost not by the pronunciation of wordes and not in the nature of the elementes but in the vse for likewise after the blessing there is a prayer For the precious giftes sanctified And the bread is called Holy bread which is distributed vnto those that are present in these wordes The Lambe of God the Sonne of the father is distributed and not diuided daily eaten and neuer consumed but he sanctifieth them which are partakers thereof Can this be any otherwise spoken then figuratiuely They obiect vnto vs that it is there said That Christ is present there That he is there toucht with the hand and seene with the eye c. And would they haue all this vnderstood according to the letter How then is it said both before and all with one breath Christ is there inuisiblie It is not incident for him to bee discerned there by our sight c. And how will these contradictions in one the same Periode agree stand together but only thus by vnderstanding the signe to be spoken of in the one the thing in the other Can they any way relieue themselues still holding their opinions without falling as saith the Canon into greater more dangerous heresies then euer did Berengarius But verily Chrysost hath spokē thus elswhere Christ is crucified before your eyes his bloud runneth downe from his side c. And S. Paul likewise to the Galathians Christ is crucified before your eies As in S. Ierome Hyeronym in Psal 85. Tertul. de baptism Our faces in baptisme are marked with the bloud of Christ In Tertullian We are washed in the passion of our Lord c. In S. Barnard Washed in his bloud in Baptisme c. And all this without any reall transmutation in the elements In the Masse also vsed at this day The liturgie of the Latines although that it haue beene ouertrimmed againe and againe wee may find sorne traces and footinges thereof for the bread and the wine are there called Dona Munera giftes offerings and the same gifts after consecration are called Creatures Per quem haec omnia semper bona creas c. Whereas the massing Priestes would haue vs belieue that after they haue once gone ouer them that they become the Creator himselfe And they pray vnto God That he would vouchsafe to accept them as the offeringes of Abell c. If it were Christ himselfe with what face could this be done Furthermore there are as yet many Post-communions carrying S. Ambrose his stile As this Pignus vitae eternae c. the pledge of eternall life Again Quod specie gerimus rerū veritare capiamus Lord let thy Sacraments accomplish in vs that which they containe to the end we may receiue in truth that which we handle in figure Otherwise how wil they expound this without a figure That the bodie that I haue taken and the bloud that I haue drunke cleaueth vnto my entralles if we vnderstand it not of the entralles of the soule and by consequent of the mouth of the same according to the words which follow That so there may not remaine any spot of mine iniquities in me c. They think themselues to haue done a great act against al these so euident proofes Obiection when they can but obiect against vs That our Lord had told his disciples that hee would not speake any more vnto them in similitudes and that the question is here about a Testament wherein euerie thing must be plainely set downe But is there any that do both wittingly and willingly make the same more obscure and intricate then they doe which of them or vs doth admit therein both moe figures more strange figures But we say that there is something to be said betwixt parables and figures and that figures are giuen to make cleare and plaine not to make obscure darke And that more is there is not any place in the scripture without speaking either of their figures That the whole discourse of the holy supper is full of figures or our owne wherein there are so many figures to be found Father let this cup passe from me Let a man sell that he hath to buy him a sword This cup is the new Testament c. I will not drinke any more of this fruit Behold thy mother c. Are these figures And is there not also both before and after the passion not onely figuratiue speeches but also figured deeds The washing of the feet of the Apostles The sop giuen to Iudas c. The breathing vpon the Apostles c. in these words Receiue the holy Ghost c. And yet these figures whether those concerning actions or those concerning wordes such as both expressely signifie as also giue much light to that which is intended to bee deliuered yea more then many other wordes would haue done For what store number would haue sufficed to lay open the duetie that our Lord would that S. Iohn should performe to the virgine or the humilitie which hee recommended to the Apostles or to haue set forth the presence of the spirite which he was as certainely to send vnto
Saint Ambrose saide to the water of baptisme O water which washest the worlde by the bloude of Christ which hast merited that is to say hast beene made worthie to bee a Sacrament of Christ c. shall hee be thought to haue adored shall he be iudged to haue transubstantiated it into Christ And when their pretended Amphilochius crieth O worshipfull and reuerende conception meaning of the virgine make vs inheritors of eternall life preserue thy people and thine heritage c. shall hee haue crowned this conception with the Godhead And when themselues say to the oyle Aue sanctum oleum sanctam Chrisma I salute thee O holy oyle or holy vnction To the Crosse Aue Rex noster due spes vnica I salute and pray God blesse thee O our King our onelie hope shall they bee thought to haue really transubstantiated him Nay rather let them acknowledge that this place concludeth nothing Epiphan in Anchor let them remember that Epiphanius did heretofore name this mysterie vnto vs An insensible thing that Pachymeres compareth it to Nazianzene his Passeouer And therefore that this manner of speech is an Apostrophe a Rhetoricall figure that in other points they do not agree amongst themselues as whether the body of Christ be there dead or aliue hauing a soule or not hauing a soule sensible or insensible c. And therefore that they are first to agree themselues before they go about to fortifie themselues from this place Origen When saith hee thou eatest and drinkest the bodie and bloud of our Lorde Orig. in diuers euang loc hom 5. the Lorde entereth in and commeth vnder thy roofe and therefore humble thy selfe with the Centurion c. Hee meaneth then that the Sacrament is adored and then he meaneth also that wee adore the Saintes that is to say vertuous people when they come to see vs. For hee teacheth in the same place two waies by which Christ entreth into the faithfull the one when the Minister of the Church visiteth them the other when they receiue the incorruptible meat of the Sacrament And this is that which he saith elsewhere That God is in vs by the preaching of the Apostles and by the Sacrament of his bloud Idem Lom â— And that this visitation is wrought in vs by the word and spirit he declareth and maketh plaine there also Speake onely the word saith he come onely with thy word Thy word is a looking glasse it is a perfect worke shew forth in this thy bodily absence the power of thy spirit c. If then according to Origen wee ought to adore the Sacraments and ministers then with as good right such men as are godly and vertuous but if these then it must be onely with a ciuill worship and adoration and so must that wherewith wee worship the other And if the adoration due to God alone being giuen to good men maketh idolatrie then also if it be giuen to Sacraments or ministeres or els this place concludeth nothing Chrysostome The wise men worshipped this bodie in the manger Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. they worshipped it with feare and trembling Let vs at the least follow these barbarous and rude men wee which are citizens of heauen He speaketh of the bodie of Christ represented in the Sacrament and exhorteth the people to come thereunto with reuerence But the wise men verily did not worship him as God but as a king And therefore this is but to returne to that which Saint Clement sayeth Clem. l. 2. constit Draw neere vnto this Sacrament with the same reuerence that you would doe vnto a King that is to say vnto some honorable person He addeth Thou seest him not in the armes of a woman but thou seest the Minister present the spirite aboundantly shedde vppon this sacrifice The Priest verily with the eyes of the bodie but the spirite with the eyes of the spirite For was it not more readie otherwise if hee had had any such purpose to say as following the opposition Not in the armes of a woman but in the handes of a Priest Not the spirite shedde vppon the thinges set before them that is to say vppon the Sacraments But Christ sacrificed himselfe But the coherence and scope of the matter doth carrie vs to conceiue That Chrysostome laboured to raise the heartes of those that were present from base and lowe thinges vnto high and heauenly thinges when hee saith vnto them That there are not anie but Eagles that approach and come neere vnto this bodie Those saith hee that haue nothing to doe with the earth that haue the eyes of the vnderstanding sharpe clearely seeing and bent vpon the Sunne of righteousnesse Hee transporteth and conueigheth them as much as in him lyeth aboue the heauens when hee sayeth vnto them also Wee must with the wise men worship this bodie This bodie verilie which is no more on earth but on high at the right hand of God And then verilie after all these Hyperboles in spirite and not in bodie that is saith hee In as much as this mysterie causeth that the earth is a heauen vnto thee that the gates of heauen are open vnto thee that thou hast accesse and entrance thereinto c. And afterward how Verily In purging thy soule in preparing thy spirite to receiue these mysteries to see touch and eate this bodie After the same manner verilie that Saint Ierome saide of Paula Thou hast offered by faith the same offeringes that the wise men did offer thou hast worshipped with them God in the cribbe Chrysost in Lithurg c. But say they hee prayeth vnto him in his Liturgie I meane that which is attributed vnto him as Christ truely and not the Sacrament Heare saith hee O Lorde from the seate of the glorie of thy kingdome which art set with the father who aidest succourest and relieuest vs here below inuisiblie c. O Lord haue pittie vppon mee poore sinner c. Here I appeale to their owne consciences whether hee frame this his prayer vnto God or the Sacrament Is this to draw vs to gaze and looke vpon the Altar or to raise vs vp vnto the heauens of heauens Saint Ambrose Ambr. de spirit sanct l. 3. c. 12. Psal 95. 98. Worship his footstoole that is the flesh of Christ saith he which we worship in the mysteries which the Apostles worshipped in Iesus c. And Saint Augustine in like manner No man eateth this flesh except hee haue first worshipped it Who doubteth that wee ought to worshippe the flesh of Christ Christ inseparablie God and man Who doubteth likewise that no man can eate this flesh if hee haue not first worshipped it worshipped it by a true faith worshipped it with heart and affection c. But wee worshippe it after the same manner that wee eate it Wee eate it as wee take it and wee take it as wee touch it In truth but in spirite in spirite but in truth And God forbid that
visibiliter to put inuisibiliter for substances accidents for temporall eternall c. And this is further to be noted therewithall that he was not taxed of heresie for the same that the Abbotte Trithemius which forgot not to set the brand vpon others when there was cause hath not once pointed at any such thing in him Haimo Bishop of Halberstat and one of Alcuinus his hearers Haim in 1 Cor. 11 in Sabbarh post Iudic. who was Schoolemaster to Charlemaine This is my bodie saith he that is the bread that Christ gaue to his Disciples and to all the predestinated vnto eternall life and that that which the Ministers do consecrate daily in the Church by the power of the Diuinitie which filleth this bread is the bodie of Christ Now I would know if they wil approue of this Proposition That this hoc is the bread Then it is not their Iudiniduum vagum nor yet their accidents Giuen to the elect or predestinated not then to the wicked and vngodly and not by the mouth Filled with the diuine power not then with Christ really who is that fulnesse And in the end This bread the body of Christ And how according to their owne speeches without heresie How then but Sacramentally by the neere coÌ„iunction of the thing with the signe Againe The flesh that Christ tooke in vnity of person and this bread are not two bodies but one And how can this be otherwise then by this Sacramental vnion The one then as saith the Canon In truth the other in a mysterie Againe At the same instant that this bread is broken and eaten Christ is offered and eaten whole notwithstanding and liuing Then it is the bread that is broken and not the body and not the accidents And therefore according to that which he saith afterward Hoc facite Sanctifie this body in remembrance of me in remembrance saith hee of my passion of your redemption that I haue redemed you with my bloud He addeth The Lord therefore hath left this sauing Sacrament to all the faithfull that so he may imprint in their harts that he died for their redemption So some man being about to die leaueth vnto his friend a gift and saith vnto him keepe that in remembrance of me he is heauie and pensiue when he seeth it and we when we are partakers of this eternall gift in the Sacrament must come to it with reuerence remembring our selues with what loue he hath loued vs giuing himselfe a ransome for vs. The bread therfore is a Sacrament of the gift and not the gift it selfe and that vpon far stronger reasons then any hee toucheth which assureth vs more and more of the reall possession of our life nourishment in Christ In whom saith he in an other place to abide and dwell is to eate him is to liue by him is to be bone of his bones flesh of his flesh and one with himselfe Rabanus Maurus Archbishop of Maguntia The creator of things redeemer of men Raban in eccl l. 7. c. 8. making of the fruits of the earth that is to say of Corne and wine a fit and conuenient mysterie turned them to Sacraments of his bodie bloud He saith not into his body and bloud Idem l. 1. c. 5. de proprie rerum verb. He would saith he in an other place that these Sacraments should bee receiued into the mouthes of the faithfull and become their foode to the end that by the visible worke the inuisible might be shewed that is to say by the true corporall eating the true spiritual eating What is now become of our accidents For euen saith he as the materiall meate doth nourish refresh the body outwardly so the word of God doth comfort and nourish the soule inwardly c. Where he layeth downe before vs the agreement and analogie which once comming to cease as in deede it ceaseth by Transubstantiation there followeth the destruction of the Sacrament Some obiect But are they not the bodie and bloud Let vs heare him Because that bread dooth confirme and make strong the bodie it is verie fitly called the bodie of Christ and the Wine because that it maketh the bloud in the fleshe is referred to bloud Note also That they are named But when they are sanctified then by the holy Ghost they become the Sacraments of the diuine bodie Idem de sacrâ—m Euchar. c. 10. 41. And then not into the verie thing of the Sacrament Which saith he in an other place hee hath left vnto vs because it must needes be that he should ascend vp into heauen to the end that they might bee figures Characters of his flesh and bloud vnto vs and that our spirit and our flesh might bee by these things the more aboundantly nourished to the receiuing by faith of the things that are inuisible and spirituall So by this it appeareth that the thing of the Sacraments is spirituall and receiued by faith that is to say spiritually And so in deed it is not receiued but of the faithfull euen by such as haue the spirit of Christ dwelling in their hearts For saith he The Sacrament is one thing Idem de prop. Serm l. 5. c 11. Idem l. 1. c. 3. and the power and vertue of the Sacrament is another thing The Sacrament is taken in at the mouth but the vertue of the Sacrament by the inward man The Sacrament is turned into the nourishment of the bodie but the vertue of the Sacrament worketh in vs vnto eternall life The Sacrament by some is taken to their destruction but the thing alwayes vnto saluation If they say that the wicked in the Sacrament doe receiue the bodie of Christ but not the power and vertue of the same how can they without blasphemie seperate the bodie of Christ from his soule Or the one or other from his Diuinitie From his spirit And who can receiue that but to his saluation They replie againe It is as he saith That the figure and Character is verily the same which it is outwardly perceiued to be Idem de Sacr. Euchar. c. 14. but that which is taken inwardly is altogether truth without any shaddow And without doubt also we say and himselfe dooth lay it open We participate the flesh of Christ which was crucified for vs verily and truely and the Sacraments of the same in deed are there And thus there is truth and veritie in euerie thing whether it bee the thing or else the Sacrament of the thing Paschasius Pasch Ratpert de Corp. Sang. Domini c. 1.19 50. Abbot of Corbie in Saxonie held the contrarie opinion for the Schooles and Monasteries were diuided concerning this point And yet so new was this doctrine as that we may see that he was not able to vtter his mind or to speake what he would seeme to meane in the booke which he made He saith The Lord hath done in heauen and in earth whatsoeuer
III. a great promoter of this monster moueth this monstrous and brutish question What eateth the Mouse when she gnaweth the sacrament Lombard hath answered God knoweth And notwithstanding towards the end It may be safely said that the bodie of Christ is not taken by beastes But the schoole of Sorbone hath noted Hie Magister non tenetur Other follow not the iudgement of the maister of the sentences in this point Iohannes de Burgo verie grossely The Mouse doth take the bodie of Christ Innocentius more subtillie The bread passeth away miraculously when the bodie commeth and the bodie passeth and getteth it selfe away when the Mouse draweth neere Alex. p. 4 q. 45. membr 1. the bread commeth into his place againe Alexander Hales The bodie of Christ is euen in the bellie of the Mouse and yet no disparagement to the bodie of Christ nor yet to the Sacrament in the bodie in like manner of a dogge or hogge c. Bonauenture verily dealeth more honestly The Mouse cannot eate it God forbid it should euer come to that And what would the Fathers say concerning these absurdities which teach vs That no bodie receiueth the bodie of Christ that hath not first worshipped it And that many worship it which doe not receiue it And what vnequall dealing is this here to eleuate and hold vp on high a peece of bread for the bodie of Christ to call it our Lord to adore it and belieue it to be God and after this eleuating of it to debase it so farre as to make it subiect to the filthie vomiting of men and deuouring guttes of greedie beastes And this may serue for a scantling of the goodly diuinitie proceeding from this deuise of transubstantiation and their bookes are full of the like Their contrarying and crossing one of another is a thing no lesse worth the noting The contrarieties which they haue vttered in the deciding of the former questions Gl. in C. Tribus Durand in Rational l 4. c. 41. Aftesa in Sum. 4. part tit 17. Richard 4. d. 9 q. 1. Bonau 4. d. 9. q 1. Thom. 3. q. 80. art 3. C.S. quis per ebrietatem ibi Gloss Caiet tom 2. tr 2. c. 3. 5. Thom. opusc 58. c. 13. The first Is the bodie of Christ taken in at the mouth passeth it into the stomacke To the first they answere yea At the second they are astonished Gratian his Glose saith So soone as the tooth toucheth it it is swiftly conueighed vppe into heauen Durandus From the mouth it passeth and goeth forward vnto the hart that is to say into the soule And then there ceaseth to be any corporall presence the spirituall onely remaining Another Yea it goeth downe into the bellie prouided that the kind haue not beene changed in the mouth Others it passeth downe thither and there abideth vntill the kindes bee consumed How much better had it beene for them to haue held themselues to the Fathers The heauenly bread which nourisheth our soules is not that which goeth downe into the stomacke c. And in deed Cardinall Caietanus was ashamed of the contrarie saying That it is most false to affirme hold that the bodie of Christ is taken corporallie for it is taken spiritually in the Eucharist by beleeuing and not by receiuing Againe He that eateth not cheweth not the bodie of Christ but the kinds but the spirituall eating which is performed by the soule obtaineth the flesh of Christ which is in the Sacrament c. Secondly The bodie of Christ at such time as it is taken in the Eucharist is it in heauen or not Thomas answereth Jt is visiblie in heauen in the shape of a man but his diuinitie his bodie is vpon euerie altar sacramentallie If hee vnderstood this word as Saint Augustine doth we shall agree together but hee vnderstandeth it by an inuisible bodie And what shall then become of that which all the Fathers say vnto vs As he is God he is infinite he is euerie where but as hee is man he is finite limited and abiding in one place Whereunto they bring forth this goodly distinction but let him proue it that can The bodie of Christ is in a place but not locally It is quantū but not after the manner of a qualitie that is to say it is a bodie but not corporally c. Thirdly What becommeth of the substances of bread and wine in this change Gl. in C. species de consecr d. 2. in C. firm ext de Sum. Trinit Caiet in Tho. Thomas saith after Lombard That they are turned into the substance of the bodie and bloud of Christ. Gratian his Glose and the extrauagants That they vanish to nothing And Pope Innocent the third in like manner Scotus thereupon refuteth Thomas and Caietanus refuteth Scotus Likewise they are not agreed vpon their propositions for diuers let not to say after all the Fathers The bread is the bodie of Christ Scotus to the contrarie saith That it cannot be said so and as farre off is that Panis fit corpus Christi The bread is made the bodie of Christ. But rather Of bread the bodie of Christ is made c. C. Non oportet ibi Gloss de Consecr d. 2. C. Cum Martha S. Verū de celebr Miss Thom. 3. q. 14. art 8 Durand l 4. c 42. Scot. in Rep d 2. 3 d. 10 q. 1. And how much shorter had it beene for them to hold themselues to the fathers The bread is the bodie of Christ is made the bodie of Christ Per modum Sacramenti after the manner of a Sacrament Fourthly What becommeth of the water in this change who is it that bringeth it to nothing That transubstantiateth it into bloud with the wine And into Christs vitall humour c. Thomas more subtilly turneth it From water into wine and after from wine into bloud Durandus dealeth more so berlie Who dare bee so bold to decide the question And what shall become then of their Allegorie That the water signifieth the Church the mingling of the water with the wine the coniunction of the Church with Christ But Scotus after all this giueth the crosse blow vnto all these pretended changes The first opinion saith he was that the substance of bread did abide the second that it did not but that it vanisheth into nothing or is resolued into the first matter the thirde that the bread is turned into the bodie of Christ c. But I say that althogh the substāce of bread shal abide yet is shal not take away our worshipping of it yet shall not be any cause of idolatrie and that the substance of bread doth more fitly represent the bloud of Christ then the accidents alone Petr. de Alliaci l. 4. Sent. d. q 6. seeing there is more resemblance betwixt substance substance then betwixt a substance and an accident And the Cardinal of Alliaco hath followed his steps The maner saith he that admitteth that
the vncertaintie of their doctrine as also of the spirite of lying raigning amongst them In the meane time heare them speake They iarre about a controuersie which is betwixt Luther and Caluin thinking to cloake and conceale such a multitude of contrarieties as are amongst themselues And thus when they haue cast about euerie way The Schoolemen shew that they are forced by the authority of the decrees of Lateran Hugo Card. in Mat. c. 26. in Marc. c. 14. in Luc. c. 26 now at the last they breake out and say that it is the Councell of Lateran or rather the tirannie of the Pope that tyeth their tongues like prisoners and not the concluding of their pretended reasons Cardinall Hugo in his perpetuall Postill swimmeth betwixt the truth and the errours of that time as well as hee can Hee blesseth sayeth hee but hee sticketh long in the bringing forth of the wordes of blessing as hauing purposed to accommodate himselfe to the opinion then receiued to which ende hee bringeth forth foure constructions of this texte and those verie diuerse Fregit hee brake that is to say Frangendum in cruce signauit hee signified that his bodie should bee broken vpon the Crosse Accipite take that is said hee by belieuing with the heart and confesting with the mouth Comedite eate that is by ioyning your selues to him in loue and vnitie This is my bodie this is my bloude that is that I haue giuen you for meate which I haue giuen you for drinke according to that sayeth he which hee sayeth in Saint Iohn 6. My flesh is truely meate and my bloud is truely drinke Now it is so that our aduersaries vnderstand it of the spirituall eating And afterwarde saith hee To whome giueth hee it Verily vnto his disciples His disciples and not others haue right to eate and drinke it they which go and sitte downe in his schooles that ruminate his lessons of humilitie of mildnesse gentlenesse charitie c. And yet in the meane time hee letteth not after all this to winde himselfe here and there within the errours of the time Thom. 3. p. Summ q. 76. art 1. Damasc l 4. c. 4. Thomas after hee hath spent all his breath about the prouing of the doctrine of Transubstantiation turneth backe at the last to approue of Damascen his opinion The coale is not of simple woode but it is vnited to the fire so the breade of the Communion is not simple breade but bread vnited to the diuinitie And wee agree to him if hee meane a Sacramentall vnion if hee meane that it is said of the breade This is my bodie which is giuen for you In like manner as it is saide of the cole This hath touched thy lippes therefore thine iniquitie shall go away and propitiation shall bee made for thy sinnes For hee woulde not haue it meant of any hypostaticall thing Bonau in l. 4. Sent. d. 8. d. 1. q. 3. Bonauenture doth flatly deny euerie part of Thomas his exposition That the bread was the bodie of Christ at such time as our Lord vttered these wordes This is my bodie Againe they hold it for an errour That grace is essentially contained in the Sacraments as the medicine in the boxe but they hold that it is in them in as much as they do signifie shadow it out Now the bodie of Christ vpon their consciences is it without grace That grace notwithstanding is in them if the default be not on the behalfe of the party that communicateth Could he deliuer his mind in better tearmes that the bodie of Christ is not receiued but by the faithfull And his conclusion vrgeth the matter yet further Thus vnderstanding saith he that the grace is in the soule and not in the visible signes that is to say that the effect of the Sacrament is wrought in our soules by the operation of the holy Ghost and not any miracle in the substances of the bread and the wine The same vppon the worde Eate Eating saith hee is properly found to haue respect vnto corporall thinges and from thence is translated vnto those that are spirituall And therefore if we will take well the right spirituall eating it is necessarie that wee should go from the proper signification of the word Idem in l. 4. d. 9. q 1. Scot. l. 5. Rep. in 4. Sent. d. 10 q. 1. vnto the borrowed and translated And so by this meanes he acknowledgeth a figure therein And note that hee was both a gray fryer and a Cardinall Iohn Duns saith Scotus neere hand 100. yeares after the Councell of Lateran durst bee so bold as to call the matter in question againe If the bodie of Christ bee really contained vnder the kindes and reasoneth by argument that it is not And his groundes are Idem d. 11. q. 3 That the quantitie cannot suffer it so neither the localnesse and circumscription of place which go inseperablie and naturally with a true and naturall bodie such as is the bodie of our Lord that as a temporall thing cannot bee at diuers times together no more can a locall thing be in diuers places together And therefore that the opinion which holdeth that the bread and wine abide in their substance Idem d. 2. 3 104.20 seemeth vnto him the more probable and no lesse worthie to bee embraced c. Notwithstanding that hee holdeth himselfe to that which the Church ordained in the Councell of Lateran Because it is said that Saint Peters faith shall not faile c. Although saith hee that the wordes of the scripture might bee maintained and defended by a more easie exposition Occam in centilog theol concl 25 26. c. and in all likelihood more true Occam durst propound and set downe That the bodie of Christ is euerie where as God is euerie where and that if there were an host that did fill all the world the bodie of Christ might bee together with euerie part of the same when it should bee consecrated Directly against the Councell of Ephesus which concludeth that euerie nature should retaine such his properties as could not become really communicable from one to another And from him the Vbiquitaries of this time may seeme to haue drawne their fountaine water spring But in another place hee holdeth Idem l. 4. q. 6. that the opinion which setteth downe That the substance of bread abideth and that the bodie of Christ is coexistant with it is most probable and least subiect to inconueniences not repugnant to reason neither to the authoritie of the Bible notwithstanding that hee keepeth himselfe vnto the determination of the Church and such opinion as is most commonly receiued Durand de S. port in l 4. Sent. d. 11. Gulielmus Durandus of Saint Poursain whome the vniuersitie of Sorbone calleth Magister by the way of excellencie and the most resolute Doctor and that more wisely It is rashnesse saith hee to say that the bodie of Christ by the
there members owe yea what doe they not owe one to an other Seeing also that this head most liuely feeling all that which these members doe or suffer doe not disdaine to declare and manifest vnto vs that what is done or denied vnto the least is done or denied vnto himselfe and from him hath either reward or punishment And this is the cause why the Fathers haue called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an assemblie a Communion And this second fruit and effect is also wanting in the Masse where there is no Communion betwixt the members nor any signification of this coniunction of Christ with vs of our selues together all men vsing of so many cornes to make but one Loafe and one wine and al of vs sucking life out of the same death nourishment from the same meate of the fleshe and bloud of our Lord But particularly in respect of our selues we being members of Christ and quickned by Christ are there nourished and strengthned both in Christ and of Christ And it is not more sure that the Minister doth giue vs the bread and wine that wee take them with our hands that we eate and drinke them that they are conuerted into our substance and become nourishment for our bodies to maintaine and strengthen this life then it ought to be sure and certaine to euerie Christian that our Lord in the holy Supper celebrated according to his institution dooth giue vnto vs at the same instant his flesh and bloud That we take them by faith that we eate and drinke them that they are turned into the life and substance of our soules becomming the foode of the same to maintaine and strengthen vs vnto eternall life Yea and which more is that by the predominant and ouer-ruling power that they haue they turne our soules both to Christ and into Christ vniting them vnto him and making them one with him and our bodies consequently and proportionablie after the manner of our soules doe make vs bones of his bones flesh of his flesh members of that head gouerned by his spirit and one with him to raise againe one day our bodies and soules to be glorified and raigne with him And this fruit also of the holy Supper is lacking in the Masse of the Church of Rome wherein there is not any thing at all representing this straite and neere coniunction with Christ or that true eating by the which it is cherished and maintained wherein such as are present doe neither eate nor drinke corporally nor spiritually wherein they become all together idle gasers and starers vpon the Priest which eateth and drinketh and vpon a pretended mysterie both deafe and dumbe and wherein in a word there is not any one action which stirreth vp their consciences nor any manner of instruction to helpe forward and ad vnto their knowledge These are the principall ends for which our Lord instituted his holy Supper and whereof wee haue beene altogether destitute vnder the Church of Rome which in steed of this sacred meate which we were wont to eate at our Fathers table hath fed vs with huskes apish toyes and mummeries intertaining in stead of all that which was the old fashion of Rome the poore people with vaine pompes and ceremonies and therefore famished with the want of the grace of God From that farre countrie whether our humane fancies had transported and led vs wee are put in mind of our Fathers table and become resolued to returne againe home vnto him from these abuses and deceits so farre differing from his institution to his truth and from our sinnes to his grace and that by his grace Father haue we said We haue sinned against heauen and against thee we are not worthie any more to be called thy children And hee hath according to the same euen his wonted mercie put a ring vpon our finger cloathed vs with Christ and caused vs to eate his flesh and his bloud They were dead hath hee said but they are returned to life they were lost and they are found againe c. To God bee praise and glorie for euer by the same his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord Amen Let vs now runne ouer and briefely rehearse againe all that which we haue handled and intreated of in this whole worke In the first Booke we haue handled the rearing and raising vp of the Masse A briefe rehearsal of the whole worke from time to time and from parcel to parcell we haue shewed that the old seruice did consist of a publike confession of sinnes in the reading of the old new Testament and that of whole bookes of the same in singing of Psalmes by the whole Congregation in a Sermon vnto the people which was made by the Bishop or Pastor expounding either some place that had beene read or some such other as hee iudged fit for the edifying of the Church in offerings which were offered by the people for the poore and other vses of the same in a generall praier for all the necessities of the Church state in the institution of the holy Supper taken out of the Gospell or the Apostle in a witnessing of the sincere loue of the faithfull one towards an other before they should draw neere vnto the holy Table and in a denunciation vnto such as were not of this number to the wishing of them to abstaine in the distribution of the holy Supper vnto all the people vnder both kindes during the time of which action they ceased not to sing Psalmes or to read the Scriptures and finally in a solemne thankesgiuing for the benefit receiued as well in the death and Passion of our Lord as in the Communion of his body and bloud in the holy supper Which done the Bishop or Pastor sent the people away with a holy blessing And it is not to be forgotten as we haue seene that all this was done in an vnderstood and knowne tongue As for prayers for the dead praying vnto Saints the Canon of the pretended sacrifice and all the parts whereof it is framed wee haue seene them brought in many ages after and that at seuerall times and great distaunces betwixt one and an other and still impairing and growing worse from time to time Retaining therfore for our seruice that which we well perceiue to bee truely auncient and reiecting that which is notoriously new what shall such seruice bee to speake according to a good conscience but the same that is now vsed in the reformed Churches In the second Booke we haue compared the circumstances of the old seruice and those of the Masse First we haue found the Church vnder persecution without publike places to call vpon the name of God in Afterward wee did see Churches built for the same but without any manner of Images with tables let vs call them if you will Altars for the communicating of the holy supper but without Lampes burning of Incense Consecrations Dedications c. We haue obserued the lawfull election and calling of
And we haue a decree from Honorius the third about the yeare 1220. after the Councell of Lateran in these wordes Let the Priest oftentimes teach his people reuerently to bow themselues when the wholesome and sauing host is eleuated L. 3. decret de Celebr Missar Blond l. 7. dec 2. Thom. Cantipratensis Iacob de Vitriâ—to Gerard. Lorich l. 5. â—â—prtuat Mâ—ss C. Tribus gradib de cons d. 2. Innoc. 3. l. 3. de r. tit 44. in Conc. Lateranens c. 20. c. Gregorie the ninth about the yeare 1230. addeth thereunto a little bell to giue euerie man warning to fall downe vpon his knees The which is done saith Durandus That the people might be forewarned of Christes comming downe vpon the Altar And this is the cause why Gerardus Lorichius in his booke of the Masse inferreth of this eleuation That the Masse was not lawfull if it were not done for the publike vse of the Church the people there taking the Sacrament or els celebrating the sacrifice of praise and by consequent that the priuate Masses that are made without the people in generall are rather abhominations then oblations Vnto the time of Clement the third about the yeare 1188. we see that the Eucharist had not any peculiar place in the Churches where it was kept and worshipped For he ordained That there should be so much bread set vpon the Altar as the people could make an end of and that what remained should be made an end of by the Clearkes Innocent the third therefore after the Councell of Lateran about the yeare 1215. after that he had brought to passe so farre as in him lay that transubstantiation should go for an article of faith commanded that in all the Churches there should be made a coffer wee call it the boxe wherein the Sacrament is kept or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Mathew who putteth vs in mind thereof wherein the Eucharist that is to say this host consecrated by the priest may bee kept vnder key And because that this ordinance was not well obserued it was shortly after renewed by Honorius the third about the yeare 1220. Honor. l. 3. Decr. de celebr Miss Also these words were ordinarily written in Cathedrall Churches vppon the boxes or tabernacles made for the hostes in great letters Hic Deum adora here honor God or else Flecte genu lapis hic honorabilis hospite Christo c. Bow the knee this stone is worthie honour because that Christ lodgeth in it c. What is this but a cleare and plaine exposition of the place of Saint Mathew Mat. 24. ecce est in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nolite credere If they say vnto you behold he is in the secret places c. beleeue them not The same Honorius ordained That the Priestes should carie the host honorablie when it should bee taken out of the boxes to bee carried to the sicke whereas the old Church did send them the Sacraments of the assemblie euen the Sacrament of the faithfull as we haue seene in Iustinus Martyr And at this time there was a Councel held at Colen vnder the Emperor Radulph of Hapsbourg the chiefe of the house of Austria where we note how much the Church had profited since the Councell of Lateran for it is there that we doe first of all reade these goodly and wholesome Canons whereof the old fathers neuer tooke any manner of notice That the Priest should make choise of a verie sound cuppe and such a one as had a fast and sure foote That the pottes should bee marked that so he may not take water for the wine That he looke well to it that his host bee whole sound and not ouer old That hee put not aboue two or three drops of water That he make as quicke dispatch in the pronunciation of the words of the Canon as possiblie he can that so he may not be tedious vnto those that are present auoide other inconueniences That the eleuation be done after the words Hoc est c. And that the little bell be rung thrise that so they may come from euery part corner to adore worship That if there fall any small thing of the bodie or of the bloud vpon the pall of the Altar In piscinam that then the stone bee cut and burned and the ashes put into the holy place or cast into the fish-poole if it be any part of the shrowde it must be washed and the water drunke fasting by the Priest If it be vpon the stone or vpon the ground let the Priest licke it vp then let it be scraped afterward and the scrapinges put into the holie place or into the holy fish-poole if that a spider or a flie bee fallen into it let them be taken out warily and burnt ouer the fish-poole Caute let the priest haue a boxe of gold siluer Iuorie or at the least of copper to keepe it in c. That when hee goeth to carrie the host vnto the sicke hee say the Letanie and other prayers at hee goeth and let him go with the little bell and the waxe candle burning let such as shall accompanie him reuerently going and comming haue ten daies pardon let such as meete it if they bee on horsebacke light downe that they may kneele vnto it let the priest demand before that any man do communicate if he doe not belieue that vnder the forme of bread is the bodie of Christ borne of the virgine Marie crucified risen againe c. If a man should vomit it vp againe that the peeces be gathered vp and that they be giuen to a faithfull man to take and eate and that the rest of the vomit be burnt and set neere vnto the Altar c. And this I thought necessarie to set downe at length in this place to the end that euerie man may know that all these inuentions are of the appendances and begetting of transubstantiation And therefore it cannot bee but new in the Church seeing they are so new and so lately entred thereinto But the abuse stayed not here for in the yeare 1264. The feast-God Petr. Praemonstrate sis Arnold Bostius Bull. Vrban Pap. ad Euam reclusam data apud vrbem veterem 6. Id. Septemb. anno Pontif. 3. Platim in vit Vrb. 4. Naucl. de Tho. Vrbanus the fourth instituted and ordained the celebration of the day which they call the feast-God with his Octaues and that vpon the pretended reuelation of a certaine woman of the countrie of Luke called Eue shut vp in a Monasterie whom he had knowne before his Papacie We haue as yet his letters written to the said Eue which beginne We know holy daughter that thou hast desâ—â—â— that there might bee instituted a solemne feast of the bodie of Christ in the Church c. Then follow these wordes more then blasphemous which turne the song of the holy virgine to be applied to this silly woman and
to this idol Magnificet animatua Demmum let thy soule therefore saith he praise the Lord c. Because thine eies haue seene thy saluation which we that is to say the Pope haue prepared before the face of thy people c. By the same meanes he sendeth vnto her Quaternum in in quo officium continetur a scedule or booke of the office which some hold to haue beene composed by Thomas Aquinas a great defender of this new opinion to haue had giuen vnto him therefore for a gift from the Pope a Doue of siluer whereupon it commeth that being painted he is alwaies set forth with the picture of a Doue at his right shoulder And namely he turneth the hymne Pange lingua gloriosi which Fortunatus had framed about the yeare 600. vpon the passion of our Sauiour to the honor of this feast But because as saith the Glose of Decretals In Decret de reliquils ve nerat Sanct. vbi Gloss Clem. l. 3. Pomerius De reliquiis veneratione sanctorum that this constitution was not receiued in euerie place about the yeare 1311. that is to say some 50. yeares after Clement the fift ordained in a Councell holden at Vienna that it should be obserued of all And about the yeare 1360. beganne the Processions and Tabernacles at Pauie the patterne whereof was recommended to all Christendome For in deed in that of Clements there was not as yet any mention made of bringing it forth in procession and offering of it in the streetes to worship for in it there are onely these words That this feast was ordained for the preparing of euery one to the better receiuing of him c. In like manner there is euery where mention made of two kinds But in despight that Berengarius who had striuen against and beaten downe transubstantiation was Deane of S. Maurice of Angiers hee was recommended vnto this same Cittie that he might in most singular and solemne sort celebrate this festiuall day And hence sprung the originall of the solemnities of Angiers more execrable cursed and in derision of our Lord then it was euer in any other place Since Pope Martin the fift and Pope Eugenius the fourth after the yeare 1400. redoubled the pardons againe so far forth as that those of the day of the Octaues calculated and reckned by Pomerius doe amount to fortie foure thousande daies of true pardon and that as well on his part and behalfe that looketh on as on his behalfe that communicateth And this is the goodly diuinitie of Popes vpon the holy Supper of our Lord. The pompe of Rome L. 3. Ceremon eccles Romā Let vs adde hereunto the pompe of Rome for it is yet come in of a later time after the other In the middest of the same a little before the Pope there is ledde a white ambling gelding which beareth the pretended Sacrament shut vp close and fast in a boxe This ambling gelding hath a little bell of a verie good sound hanging at his necke a sumpter-cloth is spread ouer it Lib. Pontifica lis sect 1. 2 5. 12. l. 1. 3. de offic sacrist wrought with the Popes armes twelue lustie cutters or ruffians walking before c. Sometimes also if the Pope go into the fieldes they send it with traine and baggage And hee that is desirous to know yet further let him reade the Pontificall bookes wherein they intreate of Processions through the Cittie of the Pope or of the Emperour his coronation But this is a thing for vs to marke and proue namely what agreement there is betwixt these inuentions and deuises of Popes and the institution of our Lord Take eate do this in remembrance of me c. As also what meanes there are for them to excuse this idolatrie There can no excuse be made for their idolatrie Summ. Angel Euchar. c 26. according to their owne Maximes They hold that If the Priest haue not had an intent and purpose actuall as some say habituall as others to consecrate that then he doth not consecrate That likewise if he had not any further purpose then to consecrate halfe a bread that then the other halfe is common breade Those then that worship if he haue not had any purpose to consecrate what do they worship but the creature And with what faith seeing when as he hath had a purpose they are not able to sound the truth and find it out Thom. Salisburiens de art predican c. 25. Wherefore it will behoue men to haue recourse to Thomas Salisburiensis his consideration as To worship vpon condition that euerie dutie and thing required to the action be well and truely done c. They hold also That the intent of him that consecrateth is not sufficient if his also that did institute the same doe not concurre Bonau in Còpend sacr theol l. 6. rub 11. that is to say that the Priest haue an intent saith Bonauenture if he worke not according to the institution of Christ To worship then in a priuate Masse is it not idolatrie seeing that Hugo of S. Victor Gabriel Biell and Gerardus Lorichius their great Maisters of transubstantiation doe openly hold and maintaine That the priuate Masse wherein there is not made any remembrance or publike Communion is against the institution of Christ And further seeing there is such an infinite number of cases such as are verie ordinarie Thom. p. 3 q 13. Ioh. de Burgo Pupilla c. 3. Gerson contr Florent Extr. de celeb Miss and notwithstanding not perceiued of those that are present wherein the priest doth not consecrate at all As If hee forget to put wine into the cuppe if the bread be made of any other then wheate flower if there be more water then wine if the wine be eager and sharpe if of seuen leaues moe or lesse he did thinke but of sixe if he haue omitted but one worde Of those wordes say I once againe whereupon they are not agreed amongst themselues c. who shall assure their faith that are present thereat of the consecration and by consequent warrant their consciences against idolatrie How that many notable personages of this time haue beene ashamed of the doctrine Pic. Mirand in Thesi◠secund Thom. Scot Idem in Apo in disput de Euch. Now it is verie certaine that manie in these our daies and times haue beene ashamed of this doctrine Iohannes Picus Counte of Mirandula durst dispute publikely at Rome against transubstantiation And his Theses are That the true bodie of Christ is locally in heauen and sacramentallie at the Altar That these wordes also Hoc est corpus meum doe not consecrate if the former be not expressed that is Pridié quà m pateretur c. That is to say that the institution lyeth not in certaine wordes but in the institution of Christ That the foure words tenentur materialiter non significatiuè Likewise he deliuereth a particular manner of eating the flesh