disciples chaunged not in his figure but in his nature by the omnipotencie of the worde is made flesh They stand and pitch themselues vppon the worde Nature as if it were a substance and not a propertie and vpon these wordes Is made flesh whereas they ought to remember themselues that this is contrarie to their owne doctrine that the bread should be made flesh but this matter shall bee made more cleare hereafter As in the person of Christ saith hee the humanitie was to bee seene but the diuinitie did conceale and hide it selfe so into the visible Sacrament there is infused by an vnspeakeable manner the diuine essence The diuine essence saith hee and not the humane nature the spirit then and not the flesh And this vniting of the signe and thing doth not proceed saith he to the consubstantiating of Christ that is to say to the making of him the same substancet but vsque ad societatem germanissimam eius but to a most strict and neere bond of societie And then not to the working of any consubstantiation neither yet transubstantiation but to a sacramentall vnion which exhibiteth to euerie faithfull receiuer grace with the thing the spirit with the flesh the heauenly with the earthly c. so straitly linked as that The thinges signifying and signified as hee saith in another place haue the same names Bed in Oct. Epiphan Cyril in Ioh. l. 2. c. 4. Ambros de iis 〈◊〉 myster 〈◊〉 c. 4. 9. â—â—sil de spir â—â—ct c. 15. â—â—m 6. According to that which Beda said a long time after him That the nature of the bread and wine is translated into the Sacrament of the flesh and bloud of Christ by the vnspeakeable sanctification of the holy Ghost And so speaketh Cyrill of the water in baptisme That it is reformed and as it were moulded againe by the operation of the holy Ghost into a diuine nature And Saint Ambrose I know not therein the vse of nature but the excellencie of grace And thus they all agree that there is no transubstantiation in the water of Baptisme except as saith Basill Ex presentia spiritus by the presence of the spirite And Saint Ambrose By the preaching of the crosse of our Lord c. And if as yet we stand in doubt of his intent and purpose The Maister himselfe saith hee hath declared it These words are spirit and life the carnall sences cannot pearce thereinto if faith come not therevnto Christ calleth sometimes the Sacrament that is to say the signe his bodie sometimes his flesh and his bloud sometimes bread c. Bread in respect of the resemblance it hath in nourishing Bloud by reason of the quickning effect Flesh in regard of the properties of his humanitie which he tooke vppon him c. Namely for as much as common bread changed into flesh and bloud procureth life the growth of our bodies by the which effect so ordinarie vnto vs the infirmitie of our faith is holpen and taught by sensible argument that in the visible Sacramentes is shadowed out and assured vnto vs the effect of eternall life and that wee are not so much vnited vnto Christ by any corporall passing of his bodie into ours as by the spiritual And he expresseth this coniunction diuers waies It mingleth not saith he the persons it vniteth not substances it associateth affections linketh wils together Our Maister saith he hath taught vs to care the flesh and to drinke the blood and that by abiding in him this abode is an eating this dwelling in him is a feeding this drinking is an incorporation this incorporation is an vniting of willes and affections vnto his obedience As meate is to the flesh euen so is faith vnto the soule the worde vnto the spirite c. And therefore wee doe not sharpen our teeth to eate but with a sincere faith wee breake the holy bread and distribute it wee distinguish and put difference betwixt the diuine and humane nature and notwithstanding we ioyne them together confessing one onely God and man as also being made his bodie wee are coupled and vnited vnto him both by the Sacrament as also by the thing of the Sacrament c. And to conclude Ambros in serâ—â— de Chrismat In this table saith he whereat our Lord made his last feast with his Apostles he gaue vnto them with his owne handes the bread and the wine but hee deliuered his bodie into the handes of the soldiers to be pearced through vpon the crosse to the end that the true sinceritie and sincere truth being the more deepely imprinted in the Apostles they might declare vnto the Gentils how the wine and the bread are the flesh and the bloud and by what manner of meanes the causes agree with the effects the diuers names or kindes are reduced to one the same essence and the signifying and signified thinges are called by the same names Censentur iisdem vocabulis shewing thereby that the bread and wine distributed in the holy supper tooke their effect from the bodie deliuered ouer to the soldiers to bee crucified according to that which our Lord said in giuing the bread This is my bodie that is deliuered for you There falleth into this time the first Nicence Councell out of which The Councel of Nice Ex Bibiotheca Vatiana procured out of the Popes librarie there is one that citeth this Canon In this diuine table let vs not be tied here below vnto the bread and wine set before vs but lifting vp our vnderstandinges let vs know by faith that the lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world is set vpon this table offered by the Ministers without any offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that wee receiuing truely his precious bodie bloud doe belieue that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the badges markes or ensignes of our resurrection And this is the cause why wee take not much but a little that we may know that it is not for to fill our bodies but to sanctifie vs. This Canon is intituled Of the holy Table and of the mysterie of the bodie and blood of our Lord which is celebrated in the same Now the holy Table is the holy Supper which consisteth of the signe and grace wherein heauen and earth are ioyned and coupled together and againe euerie mysterie must bee mystically expounded In this table then saith he that is to say in the holy supper we haue bread and a cuppe But let vs not saith he settle our eyes thereupon It is too base a thing for the faithfull but let vs haue our mindes and spirites carried vp on high that is to say from the signes to the grace and from the minister to God Vpon the materiall Table wee see nothing but bread and a cup and the bread truely bread a cup and that truely a cuppe but vppon the table of the Lord that is to say in the holy supper wee are to exercise our
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
from the Gospel the same is not ioyned to the Church for this is all one saith he after the maner whereby Antichrist was brought in vnder the name of Christ by counterfetting things likely thereby subtilly to frustrate the truth where as it had behooued him to haue returned to the originall of truth haue hasted back to the spring-head to see at what place the pipes conueying the water vnto vs were broken by this meanes to haue lent his eare vnto the doctrine of the heauenly Master For saith Nazianzene vnto the Arrians The church is not defined by multitude if they haue the people we haue the faith if they haue the golde and siluer we haue the true doctrine succession must be valued by pietie and not by Sea or seate Who so retaineth the same doctrine of faith hee possesseth the same Sea as he that retaineth the contrarie in the same Sea is to be helde as an enemy Because saith Saint Chrysostome The Church consisteth not in walles but in faith so that where faith is there the Church is where faith is not there the Church is not This is the true Ierusalem whose foundations are placed vpon the mountaines of the Scriptures As also saith he he goeth not out from the Church that goeth out from the bodie but rather he that forsaketh the spirit the foundation of the ecclesiasticall truth We then saith he are gone out from them in respect of the place but they froÌ„ vs in respect of faith we haue left with them the foundations of the walles but they haue left with vs the foundations of the Scriptures Saint Ambrose Christ alone is he whom no man ought to forsake or change away to whom it is by good right said Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the wordes of life It is then giuen vs in charge aboue all things to seeke out the faith of the Church in which if Christ dwell howe that then wee must make choise thereof namely for our habitation but if wee finde therein either an vnfaithfull people or an hereticall teacher that spoileth the dwelling such Synagogue is to be auoided And if to be briefe a Church forsake the faith it behooueth vs to forsake and abandon it c. And he yeeldeth a reason Christ saith he is the rocke Petra non Petrus S. Ambr. l. 1 de paenit c. 9. the foundation of the Church that is faith if thou be in the rocke thou art also in the church But to the end we may not take one rocke for another Know saith he that they which haue not Peters faith can neither haue Peters portion and inheritance Saint Ierome expounding the Creede He hath not said I beleeue in the holie catholike church but I beleeue the holie church The holie church is that which keepeth the faith of Christ in the integritie and soundnesse thereof It consisteth not of walles but vpon the veritie of doctrine VVhere faith is there is it also and there it was at such time as heretikes possessed all these churches In Psal 133. VVouldst thou enter into this church and that by the right way In Psal 5. It is the reading of the Scriptures Do thou O Lord so lay out and fit my way as that I may not fall or take offence in these Scriptures seeing that by them I desire to enter into thy church Yea saith he these Scriptures they are the kingdome of God himselfe In S. Mat c. 21. And when it is said that the Lord hath translated the kingdom of heauen from the Iewes vnto vs it is as much as to say that he hath taken the Scriptures from them to giue them vnto vs. In them saith Saint Augustine we finde Christ in them wee are to seeke and search for the Church in them and by them it is shewed vnto vs. Aug de vnit Eccles And let vs not once imagine that we haue and hold the church because we are in that wherein Ambrosius or Optatus haue beene before vs no nor yet because there are miracles wrought therein for euen our Lord himselfe woulde that his disciples should be confirmed by the Scriptures more then by any other meanes and of that nature are the titles precepts and foundations of our cause Cont. Petil. l. 3. c. 6. in Psalm 69. If then saith he there be any question either of Christ or of the church or of any thing whatsoeuer that belongeth either to life or faith cursed bee hee that goeth out of the Scriptures To the ende that thou maist not be deceiued and that no man may cause thee to take him for Christ that is not Christ that for the church which should not be the church hearken vnto the voice of the shepheard he hath shewed himselfe vnto thee he hath shewed thee the church In Ioh. ser 131 My sheepe heare my voyce c. The church is the house of God but it is not God wee beleeue the church but we beleeue not in the church It is the mother In Epist Ioh. tract 3. In Psal 103. Obpubilatur Epist 48. Sâ—rm 237. de Temp. ad Lucernam Ber. in conuer S. Paul ser 1. but the two testaments are her teates from them we must sucke the milke of all the mysteries of our saluation The Bishops may erre there haue beene of them authours both of schismes and heresies The church in like maner is sometimes eclipsed and marred with wet and tempestuous weather The surest course is to make the Scriptures our looking-glasse as also for vs to walke in the torch-light of the scriptures O Lord our good God said Saint Bernard such as seeme to holde the Primacie in the church Iâ— Cant. ser 76 are the formost most forward to persecute thee It is not inough for such as should be our guard and watchmen to giue ouer their care of protection and vigilancie except they further worke our spoile At the least saith he elsewhere let him abound in his sense vnderstanding that will Epist 77. but as for vs I could wish that they would let vs abound in the sense of the Scriptures In the meane time Durand appellat mensuram fidei in prefat Sentent Thomas regulam intel ectus in â— ad Tim. cap. 6 lect 1. Scot. mensur Theol. in l. 1. Sent. q. 1 Gerson regulaÌ„ fid de coÌ„munic sub vtraque against these Scriptures the law of the Church the measure of faith the rule and bridle of all maner of vnderstanding I speake according to the Schoolemen themselues Thomas Durand Scotus Gerson c. These miserable Doctors and teachers either of this world or of the Prince of this world enemies of the true light children of darknesse seeing they please themselues so greatly therein doe not cease to furnish vs with appeales being imployed euer and anon more in making of such then of any other bookes So that if we had nothing else against them but that we might iustly suspect
c. 4. l. 3 c 5. saith Saint Augustine hath beene gathered togither whatsoeuer was dispersed throughout the diuine Scriptures to the end that the memorie of the most dull and slow of conceipt might not be ouerlaboured And whereof Beda after him leaueth vs this lesson That we must beware that Secundum fidem fit Sacramenti diuini expositio That the exposition of the diuine mysteries be according to faith In such sort as that we haue two Canons but the one neuerthelesse an abridgement of the other the Canonicall Scripture and the Canon of faith that is the Creede that to stay our spirits so that they may not search for in substance any thing in faith Tertul. de praescript saith Tertullian anie where else then in the doctrines of faith This to direct them in the expounding of that that is of the Scriptures and doctrines of faith to the ende that they may not admit of any sense how plausible soeuer it might be which is gone be it neuer so little from the articles of faith For example 〈◊〉 wee haue to deale with an Arrian we shall say vnto him after the maner of Saint Augustine let vs pitch our selues without any shifting vpon the Canonicall Scriptures we haue no other titles whereby we may learne the right but them But if from these Scriptures he alledge vnto vs The father is greater then I c. we shall call to mind that it is also written I and the father are one and the Scripture cannot be contrarie To the ende then that the one and the other may proue true we shall distinguish referring the first vnto the humane nature and the other vnto his diuine that so we may not conclude against that which is said I beleeue in Iesus Christ for Cursed be hee that putteth his cōfidence in any thing but God c. And let vs further obserue here that as hath bin said there is no societie since that of the Apostles that can make that Canonicall Scripture which is not as in like maner there is not any that can make an article of the faith of that which of it selfe is not one This power saith the Cardinall Caietan himselfe did ende there and there is not any either succession or discent which can attribute it vnto it selfe or which can pretend the same What then How we are to receiue and intertaine the Fathers And shall the Fathers that haue so highly deserued of the Church that haue so much and so well trauelled in the Scriptures serue vs for no vse Yes but marke the place due vnto them and the which no other can bee attributed vnto them they could not be called any sooner It is for God in his word to giue vs his law he is our onely Lawgiuer to whom alone it appertaineth saith the Apostle to saue and to destroy Iames. 4.12 Expounders not lawgiuers The greatest honour that man can haue giuen him in the Church is to be an expounder To take vpon him to make any lawes therein of himselfe this is to coine money this is to incroch vpon the Prince he cannot doe it without committing of treason yea without the incurring of blasphemie Here therefore we admit of the Fathers as expounders of the law word and diuine Scriptures we receiue their interpretations with reuerence admiring their pietie doctrine and zeale but alwayes with this exception most reasonable That they be but expounders not law-giuers dispensers of the mysteries of godlinesse and not authours In whom we must consider what they haue said not in that they haue said it but in that they haue said it by the way of expounding of the Scripture not speaking of their owne heades but according to their capacitie of the sense and meaning thereof As for example we reason of purgatorie The question here is not to know if it be to be found in Origen Augustine or S. Gregorie this rule abideth alwayes firme That if there be one it must needes bee that God hath made it for there is not any Doctor that hath power abilitie to make it If it belong to vs to know it let God haue reuealed and disclosed it vnto vs for it is not to be learned at the gesse of any of the Fathers let vs then haue found it in the Church her treasurie the Scripture Now there will be some to shew vs some places out of it from which they would collect and gather it and accordingly they will that they should be vnderstood on this sort and we on the contrarie In this controuersie we shall reade ouer the Text verie carefully as also that which goeth before and that which followeth we shall examine it to see if it be faithfully translated we shall make comparison of the like places All this hitherto is nothing else but to call vpon the Spirit of God to be our aide so much the more to inlarge and open our spirits according to that which the Apostle saith vnto vs. 1. Cor. 14◠Let the spirits of the Prophets that is of such as haue the gift of interpretation be subiect to the Prophets We shall here consult with the olde Fathers we shall compare their expositions both with the Text and amongst themselues we shall marke if they haue vsed a good translation whether they handle the place by the way or of set purpose affirmatiuelie or doubtfully and where they differ as ordinarily it falleth out we shall weigh them both according to the age wherein they shal haue liued for it importeth infinitely and according to the testimonie that the Church shall haue giuen of their doctrine for they are not all of one weight And in the ende caeteris paribus We shall not despise the consent and agreement of many against a few But God forbid that we should receiue them for Law-giuers or yet for Authours of opinions in the Church either contrarie vnto or without the scriptures And as farre off must it be that we should make them correctors or iudges ouer that ballance which iudgeth them and wherin themselues will be weighed For this should be blasphemie against God treason against the Church and an iniurie to themselues We wholie yeeld vnto them in thus doing the honour which they haue giuen to their predecessours as whereby they haue set a law and giuen an example for their successors practised by them against those by these against themselues If they had done otherwise where had we beene long agoe Seeing there is not so much as one of them that hath not erred in some thing many of them in the points of faith and certaine of them so farre as that they haue fallen into heresie Verily wee had beene Chiliasts with Irenaeus Montanists with Tertullian Anabaptists with Saint Cyprian Arrians with Theophilus Pelagians with Faustus the originals of all errours yea euen of Arrianisme with Origen we should wound the bodie of Christ not being subiect to paine Zonar de Ori. in Constant S. Hie
ad Pammach Oceanum de Origen we should likewise speake doubtfullie of the Deitie of the holie Ghost with Saint Hillarie we should condemne children dying without Baptisme with Saint Augustine we should giue them the Eucharist with Saint Cyprian and the greatest part vntill the time of Charles the great euen vnto the mouthes of the dead as certaine Councels doe beare vs witnesse In a word we should haue made with lesse then nothing of the Church of Christ Augeas his Oxehouse Canus l. 7. de locis Theol. c. 3. Gen. Cent. 3. seq ad finem c. 4. VillavinceÌ„tius de ratione studiâ—â— Theolo l. 4 c. 6 obseru 1. 2. Baron annal tom 2. of Noes Arke a sinke of all superstitions and errours Which thing our greatest aduersaries themselues at this time not being able to dissemble doe say All the Saints such onely excepted as haue written the Canonicall bookes haue spoken by the Spirit of man and haue sometimes erred euen in the matters of faith both in worde and writing what profoundnesse of learning or innocencie of life soeuer that we can obserue and marke in them And they come so farre as to set downe their errors and that both by their names as also by their kinds concluding that the Scriptures are onely without error and exempted from lies As therefore there are rules for the expounding of the Scripture by the Scripture The Fathers must be admitted as expounders but not as law-giuers so there are also for the expounding of them by the Fathers the first whereof is alwayes this That they be receyued and read as expounders not as law-giuers and that they referre their expositions to the rule of faith and the articles thereof and not to make any new faith any new articles according to that which Saint Ierome saith vnto vs Hieron cont Iouinian August de Bono viduitat As oft as I expound not the Scriptures but speake freely of mine owne sense reprooue me who will And Saint Augustine The holie Scripture hath set vs a rule not to dare to knowe more then it behoueth My teaching of thee then may not be any other thing then to expound vnto thee the words of the Teacher that is of the Lord. Vincentius c. 2 22 41. And this is the same that Vincentius Lyrinensis saith vnto vs The Canon of the Scriptures saith he is perfect and superaboundantly sufficient in it selfe for all things Wee are not then to make any addition of the Fathers to make by them any supplie vnto the doctrine of the Scriptures but rather saith he seeing that they may bee interpreted in diuerse senses it is meete to ioine therewithall the authoritie of the Ecclesiasticall vnderstanding Not to adde vnto or alter any thing that is written but onely to make for the vnderstanding of it For saith he elswhere It is written Depositum serua That which hath beene committed of trust vnto thee not what thou shalt haue inuented That which thou hast receiued not what thou hast found out wherein thou must not be an authour but whereof thou art a gardiant not an ordiner but a disciple not a guide but a follower What thou hast receiued in golde redeliuer the same in golde c. And in the person of Timothie this is spoken vnto all Teachers it is spoken to the whole Church c. And what we say of one of the Fathers we take it as spoken of all togither for although all the men of the world could bee assembled and called togither and that euerie one of them were worth an Augustine they could not make or cause to be made one article of faith to binde the faith of a Christian to beleeue anie other thing necessarie vnto saluation then that which is in the holy Scripture Gaâ—â— following that which Saint Paule saith Though I my selfe or an Angel from heauen should preach vnto you any other thing then that which wee haue alreadie preached vnto you let him be accursed And a little after he setteth downe the reason For I haue not receiued or learned it of any man but by the reuelation of Iesus Christ c. And this hath beene renued by all the olde Fathers though but ill fauouredly kept by them which were their successours and whereupon notwithstanding our maister Gerson and Cardinall Caietan after him haue framed this conclusion That the Church of this time cannot any more neither hath bin able besides that which the Primitiue Church could to canonize any booke establish any article of faith c. The second is That we discerne in the workes of the Fathers the true and legitimate bookes from the faigned ones not to attribute them vnto them and by consequent sucke out of them an other mans errors in stead of their sound opinions not to receiue any doctrine for old when as the same shall be either new or else verie sparingly commended vnto vs of the ancients For it cannot be denied but that there are many such and those easily found out either by the stile being otherwise in one age then it is in another yea differing in some one time of some one father from that of another or by some apparance of contrarietie and that either in doctrine or exposition a thing hardly befalling any one authour or by the alledging of Authours which are notoriously knowne not to haue liued till after them or by the vsing of some tearmes and speeches not as yet practised in the Church in their time c. Of all which sorts the malice of men hath furnished vs with sufficient store of examples For the stile of the Epistles attributed to the first Bishops of Rome is meerely barbarous and Gottish in the times of the greatest flourishing of the Latine tongue and when there could not bee found in all Italie nor in all the Romane Empire either learned or idiot that could speake this language The stile of Denys the pretended Areoopagite is nothing like to Saint Pauls containing nothing of Apostolicall note or marke nothing of the spoiling of Ceremonies so oft repeated by the Apostle The treatise of Sina and Sion against the Iewes c. nothing of that vigor which was in Saint Cyprian his other writings against the very same but farre lesse of his elegancie zeale and doctrine The pretended Canons also of the Apostles how should they proceed from them when they forbid that which the others approue and command that which they do openly disproue and disallow And therefore by so much the more daungerous and poisonfull for hauing purloined the name of so soueraigne a drug And in such sort we are likewise to say of Saint Clement his reuises and Saint Peter his peregrination Hieronym in Apolog. cont Ruff in Epiph. haeres 27. which Saint Ierome and Epiphanius do witnesse vnto vs wittingly to hold and take part with the heresie of Eunomius and Ebion the most pernicious ones that haue been in the Church
it is that antiquitie resteth and in which it is that noueltie hath built her selfe a nest as namely whether antiquitie dwell with the Church of Rome which of the old and auncient seruice retaineth onelie the sleight and vnprofitable rind or with our reformed Church which hath restored and reestablished both all the parts as also the substance thereof vnto his former estate and whole right But here it is obiected against vs Obiections for ceremonies yet you cannot deny but that many ceremonies were now already brought into the Church and into the seruice and ministerie of the same which you allow not of in your Churches And who doubteth but that in the space of fiue hundred years containing more then one hundred thousand nights the aduersarie Sathan who vseth to rise in the night had sowen mo then a few tares And who can find it strange that in these fieldes before time both possessed and husbanded by the Gentiles as also by the Iewes there should remaine of their seed And on the contrarie who is he that will not wonder where the dore is once set open to licentious liberty traditions and mans inuentions if there should anie thing abide continue sound and sincere But who will not rather finde occasion with vs to praise God who in despight of Sathan and all the malice of the Diuell the tyrannie of Custome the licentiousnes of Tradition the slipperie nature of Superstition the presumption of mans spirit and the darkenes of ignorance ouershadowing and couering all toward the end of this time hath vouchsafed so long to conserue the principall part of his seruice at least so much as was of the substance Or who will not yet more admire his goodnes for causing as it were a new creation of the Sun of truth in these our dayes after so horrible a confusion and after such an eternall and euerlasting night S. Augustine writing of the ceremonies and Traditions of his time said vnto Ianuarius Before all other thinges I would that thou shouldest know the great maine point of this disputation August Ep. 118. ad Ianuar that is that Iesus Christ our Lord is willing to subiect al his to bring them to beare his sweete yoke and light burthen as hee calleth it himselfe in the Gospell and thereupon also it is that he hath ioyned and coupled together the societies and companies of his new people by the Sacramentes which are verie few in number verie easie to obserue and keepe and yet notwithstanding most excellent in signification c And what is it that he sayeth vnto vs therewithall in the Epistle following August Ep. 119. Cortainelie sayeth hee it displeaseth mee that there is no more care and regarde had of thinges that are most safe and wholesome and commaunded in the sacred bookes whereas in the meane time euerie thing is full of presumptions that is of forestalled opinions in such sorte as that a man is more reproued for hauing touched the ground with his bare foote these holie dayes then if hee had made himselfe drunke with wine c. So that the state and condition of the Iewes is more tollerable then that of the Christians who as they haue not knowne anie time of libertie so neyther haue they beene charged with anie other burthens then those of the Law which was of God and not with the presumptions of vaine man for hereby the Church of God seated in the middest of great heaps of chaffe darnell vndergoeth and is made to beare manie burthensome things c. And this S. Augustine said vpon the speeches of certain Christiās which were giuen in such sort to abstaine from eating of flesh as that they iudged those vnclean who did eate the same And this thing saith he is most plainely against the rule of faith of holesome doctrine Now then let vs shoule away this chaffe and darnell 2. Cor. 3. laid vpon a golden and siluer foundation sowen in the field of Christ and notwithstanding adiudged worthie to bee burned with fire by the word of the Lord and by the writ of the Apostle Let vs praise God onely that these good Doctors haue to deale with him a Lord full of mildnes a Maister full of clemencie but and if their workes and inuentions burne before the fire of his spirit yet at the least they are saued as concerning themselues because of the foundation through his mercie in Iesus Christ They alleadge against vs for the first that which they call holy water Holy water Basil 〈◊〉 S. Spiritu ad Amphilochium c. 27. Ambros l. 2. de Sacr. c. 5. going about to proue it vnto vs out of Basile in his booke of the holy Ghost written to Amphilochius where he saith We consecrate the water of baptisme c. And out of S. Ambrose That in the Westerne Churches there was a prayer made to God that it would please him to blesse the water c. I aunswere that this argument is not well framed being from the water of baptisme to the holy water from a prayer by which the vse of creatures is blessed according to the nature and right vse of euerie one of them to the exorcising of a creature turned quite an other way from his right vse And as for S. Basil you may adde an other answere with Erasmus that this booke from the midst thereof containeth nothing that is Basils Gregor Nazianz hom 3. de Sancto Ianuario And Gregorie Nazianzene his brother had aunswered him that baptisme may indifferently be administred with any water And if the vse of their holy water were at that time in the Church it had but S. Bafill his particular approbation and how commeth it then to passe that it is not found in the Liturgie which they attribute vnto him For whereas some would impute it to Alexander 1. let vs not go about to offer the Church of Rome that iniurie De consecr D. 3. Aquam either by word or beliefe as that at that time when S. Iohn said in his Epistles The bloud of the sonne of God doth purge vs from all iniquitie there should bee a Bishop at Rome that should say in his That water besprinkled with salt and consecrated by prayer doth sanctifie and make cleane the people after the manner of the ashes of the redde cow c. But the verie truth is that this water was brought in a long while after and that by the imitating of the Gentiles their purging or expiatorie water who vsed it at this time and with the verie same ceremonie Iustine saith The Gentiles when they enter into their temples Iustinus Martyr Apol. 2. doe sprinckle themselues with water and then they go and offer sacrifice vnto their Gods Valentinian a Tribune of warre vnder Iulian the Apostate following him to the temple of Fortune the Churchwardens which were at the dore cast water vpon all those that went in in so much as that there lighted one drop
concealed and kept backe Concil Tolet. 1. c. 14. Concil Caesar August c. 3. Liturg. PraesanctificatoruÌ„ Interprete Genebrardo that they were condemned by the Councels The first of Toledo saith If any man do receiue the Eucharist of the Minister and doe not eate it let him be put backe and excommunicate as a Church robber And that of Saragosa If hee doe not eate it in the Church that is in the verie place let him be accursed for euer Whereas Bellarmine alleadgeth the lithurgie of the presanctified amongst the Grecians which was said in Lent pretending that therin they did not consecrate or take any moe then one kind for certaine the lithurgie saith expressly that after that the Minister hath sanctified the bread he powred out the wine and water into the cup pronounced the accustomed words And the praier of the faithfull saith For behold his bodie without spot and his quickning blood c. which are set vpon this table And in the Post-communion they giue thankes vnto God for the receiuing of the one and the other That which is more speciall proper herein is that they consecrate for many in one day whereof they alleadge some one or other tradition But these are their cold and friuolous arguments vpon this point and in deed how can they be otherwise against the expresse word of God But we against these particular deuotions so endles and bottomles doe set this Maxime and generall rule In vaine do you serue me after your owne fancies being properly called in the scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will worship And against that custome Tertul. de virg veland Cypr. ad Quin. ad Iubaâ—â—num August lib. 2. contra Donatist c. 6. de Bapt. cont Donat. lib. 2. c. 14. that euerie man frameth and fashioneth to himselfe whether new or old as best pleaseth him let vs set the true antiquitie Iesus Christ saith Tertullian and S. Cyprian hath said I am the Truth and not Custome And whereas Custome hath preuailed against the law let vs say with S. Augustine We must waigh and ponder the doctrines in the right balance of the scriptures and not in the false and deceiptfull scales of Custome But let vs draw all vnto a conclusion and let vs not be ashamed with S. Cyprian his saying That what others before vs haue erred in and done amisse let vs correct at the admonition and warning of the Lord and where doth he speake lowder and more clearely then in his word to the end that when he shall come in his glorie and heauenly Maiestie he may find vs holding fast such admonitions as hee hath giuen vs obseruing that which he hath taught vs and doing that which he hath done So be it And now by this time wee haue looked into all the partes thereof A Recapitulation how and by what degrees the holy Supper of our Lord is degenerate and turned into the Masse how of the corrupting of the one the other was first begotten then nourished and afterward brought vp to that state wherein it hath stood for these certaine ages and that so long as vntill it hath vtterly brought the other to nothing in the Church of Rome So straunge an alteration as that in the whole frame and booke of nature there is not the like to bee met withall seeing the Masse now retaineth no more of the holy Supper either in his outward or inward partes seeing that the best sighted hauing considered the one could not obserue or find so much as one step or note of the other because also it is to go against and exceede the lawes of nature to passe from one extremitie to another a thing not credible not possible to be acknowledged if the diligent obseruation of histories did not point out vnto vs both the first proceedings and also the growing of the same till it came at the midst The holy supper was an assemblie a bodie of the faithfull vnited and knit together in one spirite strengthning the faith stirring vp the charity and kindling the zeale one of another in one common manner of celebrating of the seruice of God The Masse what containeth it being said by a priest in some corner of the church shuffled vp by a cleark who vnderstandeth not for the most part of the time one word that he speaketh The holy supper did resound with songs to the praise of God sung indifferently by all the people it taught them by the reading expounding of the holy scriptures it lifted them vp vnto God raised them out of themselues by feruent ardent praier But what impression can the Masse make in the heartes of men being a certaine kind of muttering noise posted ouer by one man alone not vnderstood of those which are present yea hardly vnderstood of himselfe where the scriptures are read of purpose so as they may not be vnderstood the praiers vttered with a low voice in an vnknown tongue that so they may not be heard with attention and lesse followed deuoutly by the people where by consequent they abide fixt vpoÌ„ that which they see not minding any higher matters it hath signes without any signification it hath pretended mysteries without any thing misticall in them except it be the muttered hums artificially affected by him that consecrateth and the carefull regard of a premeditated ignorance to be wrought and effected by such meanes vpon and in the poore silly people In the holy Supper was celebrated the memory of the death and passion of our Lord by a plaine and open rehearsall of the cause manner and benefites of the same and thereby the faithfull were taught to acknowledge and call to minde the greatnesse of their sinnes and to admire and magnifie the great and vnspeakeable mercies of God stirred vp consequently to renounce and forsake themselues to giue themselues vnto God to die vnto their lusts and concupiscences to liue vnto Christ to Christ I say who hauing once deliuered himselfe to the death of the Crosse for to giue them life did yet further vouchsafe to giue himselfe to them in his sacramentes euerie day as meate and drinke vnto their soules to the feeding of them vp vnto eternall life In the Masse I appeale vnto the consciences of all those that eyther say or see the same who of them it is that can say by being at the same euerie daye that hee can learne or carrie away any of all this that the infidell can thence playe the diuine that thence hee can receiue any instruction either of the deadly fall of Adam or of the quickning death of Christ that the Christian can profit therby any thing be it neuer so little in the true acknowledging of the mercies of God or in the knowledge of himselfe or in briefe that he can therein perceiue his transgressions that so he may run to seeke the remedie or this drynes alteration of the soule and mind which our Lord calleth the thirst of righteousnes
Trinity Of Idolatry for feare that we shold worship the Image for so goeth the case saith he that God doth not forbid onlie to worship Images but likewise to worship him in Images Of heresie also least that by such meanes wee should attribute to God a corporall and bodilie Masse or essentiall difference such as we may obserue to be giuen vnto him in these three figures and shapes And thus much be saide by the way of the pictures of the Trinitie And in another place S. Augustine sheweth the daunger generally of all Images in these wordes saying When men see them set in places appointed to honour in the resemblance which they haue with our members toucheth and striketh the spirites of the infirme and weake with some affection of praying and sacrificing vnto them especiallie at such time as the multitude is seene to runne and flocke thether August l 1. de consens Euang. c. 10. And in an other place speaking of such as deuised Epistles letters from Iesus Christ to S. Peter and S. Paule Can it bee sayeth hee because they had seene them pictured together And thus deserue they to bee mocked which haue sought Christ and his Apostles on painted wals and not in the holy scriptures Chrysostome vpon Genesis Chrysost in Gen. c. 31. ho. 57. mocketh at Labans Gods Wherefore saieth Laban vnto Iacob hast thou stolne away my God A deepe dotage And thy Gods sayeth hee are they such as that one may steale them from thee Again You know that when you were Gentiles you were turned aside vnto dumbe Idols euen you who speake see and heare vnto insensible thinges and is it possible that this thing should bee pardoned But and if in the Temples of Constantinople any such abuse had beene how had hee beene able to haue spoken these things and not to haue become ridiculous But yet sayeth hee to the ende that it might be known that these rules reached to the Images of the Christians We haue not to deale but with the Images of our Saintes for wee doe not inioy their presence by their bodilie Images but by the Images of their soules which wee haue in asmuch as that which they spake Litur Chrysost was the Image of their soules Now there is no cause why any shoulde obiect that in the Lithurgie attributed to him there is mention made of the Image of the Crucifixe for how can that be Chrysostomes seeing therein is prayer made eyther for Pope Nicholas the first neere hand 500. yeares after him or for Nicholas the Patriarke of Constantinople who was more then 700. yeares after likewise for the Emperour Alexius the first more then 700. yeares after for who cannot perceiue see that it was made 400. Hieronym in Esa c. 2. Idem in Iere. Idem in Danicl c. 3. yeares or thereabout after his death a long time also after the second Councell of Nice which established Images S. Ierome sayeth Man a liuing and reasonable creature doth worship copper and stone c. And againe This error hath ouertaken vs euen to place and put religion in riches And in another place notwithstanding that he entreat of the matter of the three children in the bote fierie furnace yet he giueth this generall rule The seruantes of God must not worshiâ—â—e Images And vpon the 113. psalme hee dealeth no better with them then S. Augustine did before But amongst the rest of his Epistles there is one of the famous man â—piphanius Bb. of Salamine in Cipres writing vnto Iohn Patriarke of Ierusalem which S Ierome hath not disdained to translate by which it appeareth manifestlie vnto vs what opinion the Church had conceiued of Images euen vnto this time Epist Epipha ad Ioh. Hiero although as hetherto it neuer came in their mindes to worshippe them but onlie to haue them as remembrances As I was come sayeth hee into a village called Anablatha had espied as J went along a burning lampe and therewithall learned after some enquirie made that it was a Church I went in to pray and found at the entrance into the same a vaile hanging dyed and painted hauing the Image as it were of Christ or of some Saint for I doe not perfectlie call to mind of whome it was Then when I had seene this thing that in the church of Christ against the authoritie of the Scriptures was hung vp the image of a man I cut in pieces the vaile furthermore gaue counsell to the keepers of the place to burie some poor dead persoÌ„ therin c. And now also I am to entreat you that you wold giue in charge by straight commandement that there be not any moe such vailes hung vp in the church of Christ as do stand against our religion for it is more seemlie to take away this disquieter of a tender and soft conscience being vnworthie of the church of Christ of the people which are committed vnto thee They labour themselues fall into a great pusle about this place some one way some an other way some disputing against Athanasius and indeed these are they that haue vndertaken the waight and burtheÌ„ of the strife and contention others in most solemn and deep sort auouching that this Epistle was but lent him which notwithstaÌ„ding is alleadged vnder his name in the famous Synod of Paris whereof we shall speake by by But whome may we better belieue then himselfe if he teach the same in his works Epiphanius tom â— cont haereses l. 3. In the second tome against heresies hee maketh a beade-roule of the traditions then obserued in the Church and our aduersaries would make vs belieue that images come in by Apostolike tradition but of images notwithstanding not one word What is there of more honor in the Church of Rome then the image of the holy virgine and yet you shall see what he saith euen of her selfe We vnderstand saith he that there are some which would bring her in for a God and which doe sacrifice vnto her Collyridem this was a certaine kind of tarte or cake and which assemble and come together in her name but this is a blasphemous worke contrarie to the preaching of the holy spirite a diuelish worke and the doctrine of the vncleane spirit And herein are accomplished the wordes of the holy Ghost Some shall depart from the faith giuing themselues to fables and the instructions of deuils c. And let it be then saith he that she be dead and buried admit that shee were taken vp or suppose that she abideth and liueth still let vs take out this lesson that we may not in any case honour the Saints further then is decent and becommeth but rather the maister of the Saintes our Lord. And let this errour broached by these seducers vanish and cease for Marie is no God let no man offer in her name for hee that doeth it destroyeth his owne soule c. Who will belieue that hee which spake these
the pronouncing and vttering of the principall part thereof according to their construction which is that which containeth the consecration to bee done secretlie and closelie thereuppon they call it a secret and that of purpose in such sort as that neither the wordes nor the sound thereof can be vnderstoode of the people learning the same of the Pagans who vnder the muttering of certaine strange and vnknowne wordes concealed and priuilie couered their mysteries Whereas the glorie of our Maister is to publish and make open proclamation of his this great secret especiall which hath laine hid from before all worldes of the saluation purchased for mankinde by the blood of his Sonne whereof he saith vnto his Apostles Preach my Gospell this good tidings vnto all creatures which by name hee would haue published and repeated at all times in his holy Supper instituted of purpose for this end in these wordes You shall shew forth the death of the Lord vnto his comming But what meaneth this shewing forth but to vtter and speake it so lowde as that it may bee heard and so plainely as that it may be vnderstood And what then is there more contrarie to the institutiō of the holy supper of our Lord and to the renewing of the remembrance of his death passion in the Church then this pretended mysterie this strange and vnwonted kind of muttering and whispering Concil Coloniens yea and yet furthermore the Councell of Colen about the yeare 1300. hath added That the Priest must hasten as fast as he can in the saying of the Canon for feare of being interrupted by some hicket yexing neesing or otherwise as if it were the propertie of our God to take vs at a word or at a halfe sillable or as if this mysterie depended and had his whole force vpon the bare pronunciation after the manner of the conceiued words of the Pagans their sacrifices whereas indeed our God worketh therein by his holy spirite which cannot be interrupted and looketh therein at the faith as wee shall see afterwarde and yet so as that hee examineth and tryeth the same in great mercie of him who presenteth himselfe vnto this holy Table But let vs heare notwithstanding what the Fathers will say vnto vs. Saint Paule will that the people should bee able to aunswere Amen which they cannot doe as wee haue already seene except they vnderstand and yet a great deale lesse if they do not heare So also it was obserued and noted by all the auncient Writers Clemens Constit Apost l. 8 Their Clement whom they so much alledge vnto vs testifieth aswell in his Lithurgie as in his Apostolike cōstitutions that after the vttering of the wordes which they call the wordes of consecration that is of the institution of the holy supper the people saide Amen a signe that they heard and vnderstoode them Seeing then that the Apostles had so ordained Ambros de Sacram. l. 4. c. 5. by whome and by what authoritie is this change and alteration S. Denys sayeth of one who had beene baptised by the Heretikes That hee heard the Eucharist and saide Amen together with the rest S. Ambrose sayeth And after these wordes thou sayest Amen August in Psa 33. Cardinal Bess de Sacrament Euchar. that is it is true S. Augustine Our brethren likewise do celebrate the Sacraments aunswere the same Amen S. Basil S. Chrisostome and all the Greeke Churches do the same to this day in their Lithurgies whereupon also the Cardinall Bessarion sayeth The Priest according to the order of the East Church vttereth with a lowd voice these words This is my bodie c. And Iustinian the Emperour in his new constitution before alleadged commaundeth the same vpon paine of grieuous punishment adding therto the threatning of Gods iudgements grounding the same vpon the precept of Saint Paule and rendring this reason thereof saying To the end they may bee the better vnderstoode of the faithfull people and that the heartes of the hearers may bee so much the more pricked with repentance as also moued and stirred vp so much the more to praise God And all are of that minde that in the Primitiue Church it was neuer practised otherwise Where then will these our aduersaries grounde this their newe deuise Gab. Biel. in Exposit Can. l. 15. Lit. D. And of what time by what Scripture Tradition or Councell They say we must haue a reuerent regard of the Sacrament And our Lord will say vnto them who hath taught you this pretended reuerence Who hath required this honour at your hands And that S. Basill sayeth That contempt is companion vnto that which is common From whence Innocent the third doth ground his speech Ne sancta verba vilescerent Laicis nota for feare that these words being vnderstoode should become vile But why doe they not rather say with Moses Would to God they had all prophesied with S. Paul Labour aboue all thinges that you may prophesie that is that you may vnderstand your selues and make others to vnderstand But and if S. Basil would haue stretched this rule to this Sacrament and to this kinde of pronunciation wherefore hath hee left vs a contrarie example And why doe wee not as quicklie call to minde the saying of Lactantius Lactanc l. 5. c. 20. That these mutteringes so greatlie recommended haue beene deuised and ordained by wilie and crafty Marchantes to the end that the people might not vnderstand what they worshipped Concil Laod. c. 19. They are not ashamed to alledge the Councell of Laodicea but yet so as that they will not seeme to know that there is any thing spoken of the Canon nor of the consecration made by the Priest but rather of the first praier of the seruice of the faithfull which euery one of them being exhorted therunto by him made vnto God with a lowe voice praying him that it would please him to blesse this holie action and ministerie the steppes and printes whereof are yet to be seene in the Lithurgies In the ende when they can say no more they flie vnto miracles as that certaine shepheardes who had learned these wordes by heart did abuse them in saying them ouer their breade for which they were presentlie punished of God and from thence forward the church ordained that these words should not be spoken otherwise then in secret But where may wee read this historie Where is the councell or decree that followed vppon this so euident and important a miracle And what other thing do they herein but oppose set a tale made for sport and in a word the whole shepheardes Calender against the institution of Christ the vse and custome of the whole Church the constitutions of Emperours and the testimonie of all the Fathers Yea and therewithall our aduersaries are not ashamed at this day to say that who so doth vse them otherwise Harding doth fulfill the saying of our Lord In giuing pearles vnto swine and casting
holie things before dogs And what will they say then of all the old Church and amongst whome shall all the faithfull during the time of so manie ages be accounted but amongst hogs and dogs Againe the Councell of Trent is so bold as to pronounce and say Concil TrideÌ„t c. 8.9 If anie man condemn and disalow the manner and fashion of the Church of Rome for speaking the Canon and wordes of consecration verie low or by affirming that the Masse ought to bee saide in a common and vulgar tongue let him be accursed Now it is certain that this custome slipt in for company with the rest of the abuses of the Masse The Lordes supper was wonte of olde to bee celebrated euerie Lordes day and neuer without the communicating of the faithfull in the same all the people made one partie both of the whole seruice as also of the holy supper By little and little it began to bee more rare and seldome as also lesse frequented and resorted vnto insomuch as that in the end there came but a verie few people to it yea there was not anie to communicate in the same The Pastors notwithstanding to hold fast their former authoritie were verie readie to perswade them that their alone presence was profitable and to this end they went and disguised this sacrament and put vpon it the visarde of a sacrifice and closed vppe this generall communicating of the faithfull in a particular action performed by the Priest The Priest then which was eyther alone with his onely Clearke to aunswere him or else very slenderlie accompanied beganne to speake with a lower voice and Transubstantiation comming vpon this solitarie condition of the Masse tyed the force of the sacrament to the pronunciation of words which the olde Church was alwaies wonte to attribute in parte to the power of Gods spirite and partlie to the faith of the communicants Gab. Biel. in expos Can. l. 4. l. f. g. h. and that so farre as that Gabriel Biel was so bolde as to say that the consecration was wrought by a hidden and secret power of these wordes euen altogether in such sort as charmers and witches are wont to draw milke out of a bench or forme and a helue out of a hatchet So that to giue honour and reuerence vnto the Masse but especiallie to the consecrating thereof it grew by little and little to bee a custome to pronounce these wordes as secretlie and mysticallie as may bee And this for a certaintie was not found to bee obserued before the Councel of Lateran in the Roman Church nor after it in any other CHAP. VII Wherein is intreated of the Ministers of the Church and of their charge and calling in the same IT followeth that we intreate of persons That the Ministers of the Church are to preach the Gospell and not to offer sacrifices and inasmuch as the Masse hath no grounde in the scripture or if it would yet it cannot haue any other then that of the institution of the holie supper whereof wee auouch that it is the meere deprauation the Ministers of the same can consequentlie be no otherwise sought or found in the scripture then in those which haue the charge of administring the holy supper that is to say in those which are called Ministers of the worde as Pastors Ministers Bishoppes diuerse names but signifiing one and the selfe same charge that is to say the preaching of the Gospell and dispensation of the sacraments for as for sacrificing Priestes which they call Sacerdotes wee haue none of them in the new Testament inasmuch as all the sacrifices of the law as wee shall see hereafter had relation all of them to the onelie sacrifice of our Lord finished and consumate vpon the Crosse and inasmuch as that in this sacrifice were ended and accomplished all the other sacrifices there remaining none other but the sacrifice of thankesgiuing instituted in the holie supper to declare this death to renew it vnto the belieuers and to stirre vppe in their heartes the praises of God in acknowledging of this benefite And in this sence sayeth Saint Peter all the faithfull are sacrificing Priests Neither was there anie order of Priesthoode more fitting the name and the rather for that they are all annointed in asmuch as they are Christians and so haue receiued the annointing of the holy spirite from Iesus Christ the first borne amongst his Brethren Our Lord sendeth his Apostles Matth. 18. Marke 16. he giueth them his holie spirite But is this to offer Sacrifices Preach sayeth hee the Gospell vnto all creatures Baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost c. that is declare my worde dispense and distribute my Sacraments Tit. I. 1. Tim. 3.5 S. Paul sayeth Let the Bb. be firme in the worde faithfull and mightie to exhort by wholesome dostrine fit to instruct and teach as also to reproue and correct the sinners c. Of the sacrificing of the bodie and blood of our Lord for the quicke or deade not a word And furthermore we doe not see that in the auncient Church at such time as they receiued the imposition of hands that any such charge was giuen vnto them notwithstanding that for to applie themselues both to the Iewes and the Gentiles the auncient Doctors did sometime call them Sacerdotes and their Ministerie Sacerdotium that is to say Sacrificing Priestes and the action of Sacrificing as S. Paule also saith Rom. 15. Orig. in Ep. ad Rom. l. 10. Nazian in ora ad plebem Chrys in Ep. ad Rom. hom 19. Pacâ—ym in Dionys 1. Pet. 2. Cyprian de Vnct. Chrisma Origen in Leu. hom 9. August in exposit inchoata ad Rom. I sacrifice the Gospell of God calling the Ministerie of the word a sacrifice and so in like manner the most auncient Writers Origen This is the worke of a Sacrificer to preach the Gospell of Christ And Nazianzene to his people I haue offered you to God as an offring or beast that is sacrificed And Chrysostome My offring and sacrificing is to preach and publish the glad tidinges of the Gospell Whereupon also Pachimeres the expounder of Dionisius saith He calleth a Priest him who is properlie called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Elder because that custome hath so obtained On the contrarie all Christians are called Priests in S. Peter You are a royall Priesthood In the Reuelation of S. Iohn in like manner c. Whereupon S. Cyprian vttereth these wordes All those which of the name of Christ are called Christians do offer vnto God a daylie sacrifice and are ordained of God Priestes of holines And Origen All such as are annointed with the holy vnction that is with the holy spirit of Christ are made Priestes thereby And hee presseth the place of S. Peter to that purpose And S. Augustine goeth further saying Euerie man offereth the whole burnt offring of the passion of our Lord for his sinnes Which
by the offering of his bodie once made wee are sanctified that by his owne blood hee is entred into the holy places hauing obtained an euerlasting redemption that hauing offered vp this onely sacrifice for sinnes he sitteth for euer at the right hand of God his father And in all this there is likewise as little to bee replyed that Christ is no more offered after a bloody manner but by a certaine kinde of sacrifice without blood For besides that this distinction hath no warrant in all the scripture the Apostle as if he had forseene the same cutteth it off in a word for not being contented to haue gone ouer it oftentimes how that wee haue propitiation for our sinnes in the blood of our Lord Iesus Christ once shed that all manner of other blood is voide and destitute of this effectuall power c. To the ende that wee might place our propitiation in this his only blood he yet further giueth vs these generall rules That it behoueth that the death of this Priest should be wrought for the ransome of transgressors that whereas there is forgiuenesse of sinnes that is to say after this ransome paide there is not any more offering for sinne that as concerning the rest there is no purifying or cleansing no remission without blood Whereuppon it followeth that there is no more oblation for sinne other then that of our Lord no more propitiation saue that in his blood and therefore not any more by that pretended sacrifice of theirs without blood But if they reply that if this bloodlesse sacrifice of theirs bee not propitiatorie yet it helpeth vs to make application and to take hold of the true propitiation Wee answere neuer a deale for wee are all Priestes in this behalfe all annointed by the spirite of Christ to represent and daylie offer vp vnto God the sacrifice of his onely Sonne in the feruencie of our prayers made in a liuely faith to the ende that it might please him vpon the view of the same to forgiue vs our offences He himselfe likewise as saith the Apostle is sitting neere vnto his father to make intercession for vs to make way of entrance for our requestes to apply vnto vs his faithfull ones the merite of his obedience the benefite of his death and the efficacie of his sacrifice supplying the defectes of our petitions by his intercession the infirmities of our faith and the imperfections of our obedience by the faithfulnesse of the couenant made in his blood and by the perfect obedience performed by him vpon the Crosse CHAP. II. An answere to the obiections of the aduersaries which they pretend to gather out of the holy scriptures for a Sacrifice NOw therefore what is there that our aduersaries can obiect against this doctrine grounded vpon the anology of the whole bodie of the holy scriptures both of the old and new Testament and that by so manifold plaine and expresse places They tell vs that the sacrifices of the law haue in such sorte shadowed out the sacrifice of our Lord vppon the Crosse as that neuerthelesse they haue not vtterly bereft vs of all manner of Sacrifice and that in very deede the Sacrifice of the Masse is prefigured and foretold in the old Testament and that such a one as they vse to celebrate at this day sacrificing the body and blood of our Lord vnder the kindes of bread and wine vpon their altars But let vs see vppon what ground In Genesis the 14. it is said Melchisedech king of Salem brought Genes 14. Melchisedech or caused wine bread to be brought and he was the priest of the high God They cannot deny but that this is not the true text in that place and yet notwithstanding they gather with a full hand this conclusion Christ is a Priest according to the order of Melchisedech and he brought bread and wine therefore Iesus Christ hath sacrificed bread and wine and vnder bread and wine his body and his blood and the priestes do the same daily according to his example Let vs agree in the grammaticall and literall sence and the whole controuersie in diuinitie wil be altogether void and ended The Hebrew word which is vsed there is neuer vsed in the scriptures about the matter of sacrifice cannot be better expressed then by that which we say in French To draw forth set forth or to cause to be brought or to bring forth In this sence wee reade the same word for the drawing forth of a sword Ezech. 21. the drawing forth of the windes Psalme the 135. And lice brought forth Exod. 8. and water from the rocke Cypr. in epist ad Cecil Chrysost in hom 35. in c. 14. Genes Numbers 30. in which places and infinit others the holy Ghost hath vsed the same word The Chaldie Paraphrast saith He brought or caused to be brought The Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Latine Protulit Cyprian Chrysostome in like manner Iosephus saith He entertained him as a guest Ioseph l. 1. c 18. Ambros ad Hebr. c. 7. Cardin. Caiet in Genes c. 14 and suffered not him or any of his followers to want any thing Saint Ambrose also Protulit in refectionem And Cardinall Hugo seemeth to hold himselfe satisfied with the same sence affirming that the Hebrew Doctors had so expounded it The vulgar translation Proferens panem vinum And Cardinall Caietan in like manner Here is not any thing written of any sacrifice or oblation Sed de prolatione seu extractione but of bringing forth or causing of bread wine to be brought as Iosephus saith for the refreshing of the conquerors And thus also Erasmus Sigonius do take it for which they are reproued of Posseuinus the Iesuite Possenin Bibliothec Select l. 4. c. 14. But the Apostle decideth the whole matter who telleth vs that Melchisedech came before Abraham and blessed him He speaketh not of the bread wine he findeth not any such profound mystery there he concealeth it as accessarie and priuy to that which went before it and he proceedeth to the mentioning of the blessing without making of any other stay or delay Now if the proofe of a Sacrifice do lie in this word and that this word by the consent of all interpretors containeth not so much as any shadow of a Sacrifice in it what need we then to seeke to proceed or wade any further to fish out long discourses the fountaine fathered vpon the word being alreadie dried vp and stopped Graunt it say they but yet he bringeth forth bread But now let them not go about to be ignorant of that which they know namely that the Hebrews vnder the name of bread do comprehend all manner of food and sustenance which likewise the Septuagintes haue translated in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loaues or meates in the plurall number to shew that they were to be distributed vnto the troupes and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bread to be sacrificed
Testament wherein there remaineth not anie more question of shadowes and figures and wherein if it bee nothing but a sillie sleight representation if it be nothing but an intricate and infolded thing if it bee not altogether plaine and cleare assuredlie wee may bee bolde to say and that without any doubt that it is but an humaine inuention yea and therefore that it is not there to bee found at all CHAP. III. That the pretended propitiatorie sacrifice of the Masse hath no foundation in the newe Testament OVr aduersaries say Our Lord saide to the woman of Samaria The howre is come that you shall not worship the Father anie more Iohn 4. either in this mountaine or in Ierusalem but the true worshippers shal worshippe in spirite and truth And what proue they from thence To adore say they is to sacrifice but if they said that it were to serue God they said somewhat to the purpose But yet what followeth of this Certainelie that the seruing of God shall not bee any more tyed to one place but spread all ouer the worlde according to the saying of Malachie And as assuredlie that in steade of the more carnall manner of seruice wherewith he was serued vnder the law hee shall hereafter bee spirituallie serued and in a worde that after the materiall sacrifices as saye the Fathers the spirituall sacrifices shall succeede Saint Augustine sayeth Doest thou seeke for anie holy place August in Iohan t. 15. make thy selfe in thine inwarde partes a Temple vnto God for the Temple of God is holie and that are you Wouldest thou pray in a Temple Pray within thy selfe c. chaunging all this outward and materiall seruice into an inwarde and spiritual Cyrill Cyrill in Ioan. l. 2. c. 93. He signifieth and setteth forth the time of his comming which chaungeth the figures of the lawe into truth the shadowes into a spirituall seruice according to the doctrine of the Gospell c. And Origen in like manner Chrysost aduers Iud. hom 2. Chrysostome sayeth That is there shall bee no more Sacrifices nor Priesthoode neyther yet kingdome in Iudea that so they may bee wayned from the receiued custome of the necessitie of worshipping in one certaine place and to bring them to a kinde of seruice that is more spirituall and full of Maiestie Idem de cruce de spiritu hom 3. in hom veniet hora c. In like manner expounding this place in an Homilie for the purpose hee coulde not finde anie Sacrifice but that of prayer grounded vppon the doctrine of veritie neither anie worde tending that waye Cardinall Caietan in the same sence In spirite that is to saye not in the Mountaine not at Ierusalem not in anie one certaine place nor with a temporall seruice but with an inwarde and spirituall c. And in faith that is in knowledge c. Ferus likewise In spirite in asmuch as they shall haue receiued the spirite of adoption crying in him Abba Father In truth in asmuch as they shall call vppon him in his Sonne which is Truth it selfe Offering sayeth hee afterwarde no more anie quicke or liue creatures but their owne bodies in Sacrifice a holie oblation and offering and not the Sacrifice of the Masse But how will they possibly now frame themselues to make their conclusions from this place God shall bee adored and serued in spirite no more in one place but euerie where no more in the sacrificing of beastes but in the sacrificing of our selues Therefore the Masse is a sacrifice propitiatorie for the sinnes of men therefore the Masse must bee saide euerie where c. But they come nearer vnto the point and giue an instance from the institution of the holy supper and this is also our proper part and possession It is said Luke 22. 1. Cor. 11. Doe this in remembrance of mee and to doe in the scripture signifieth sometimes to sacrifice Therefore the matter here in hand must needes bee a sacrifice And our Lord had taken the bread and the cup and had saide This is my bodie This is my blood therefore he did sacrifice vnder the kindes of bread and wine his body and his blood vnto God his Father and by vertue of these wordes iuioyneth all succeeding Priestes to doe the like a worlde of errors cauillations and false surmises in a verie few wordes And the long time since they were confuted and ouerthrowne in all these their argumentes might haue bin sufficient to haue caused them to cease from the vsing of thē any more Facere in Latine signifieth to sacrifice but by an abridging of the language to doe some holie thing but that this is more vsuall in the writinges and workes of Poets then of Orators and that seldome not often and onely then when the mater in question doth manifestlie appeare to be about a sacrifice as I say may euidentlie bee seene needeth not to be gessed at And here therefore we stand vppon the quite contrarie As that the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is neuer vsed to sacrifice as far off is faire in the French tongue but the Euangelists and Apostles writ in Greeke So that the controuersie here is about an ordinarie or common and not anie picked or vnwonted phrase the contention is not euidentlie and manifestlie of a sacrifice for it is so farre from apparatiues as that the sharpest sighted Fathers did know nothing therof And further the Hebrew word Asa and how much more the Greeke doth neuer signifie to sacrifice but when a sacrifice or oblation doth follow it as facere haedum agnū c. or facere haedo agno c. to offer a kyd a lambe c. their interlineall Glose is not acquainted with this subtill shift Hoc facite that is saith it At oft as you shal eate this bread and drinke this cup shew forth the death of the Lord vntill his comming But let vs admit that it is so Hoc facite sacrifice this what shall we make then of it To sacrifice the bodie of Christ But Christ saith Which is giuen for you and to giue is not to sacrifice Wherefore it is not the same action which Christ performed for a man to sacrifice if Christ did not sacrifice And afterwarde Which is giuen that is which is now at this present instant giuen and deliuered vp to bee crucified for vs. The olde translation approued by the Councell of Trent hath translated it Dabitur and not Datur referring the same to his suffering vpon the Crosse and not to the holy supper Chrysostome and Origen Dabitur effundetur which shal be giuen which shall bee shedde and offered vppe And Chrysostome addeth the reason how that for the comforte of his Disciples our Lord taught them that his passion was the mysterie of the saluation of mankind the Masse also enemie vnto it selfe in this point hath read it so Let vs say then that these wordes Hoc facite haue relation to the institution of
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
and that is it which galleth them most S. Paul to the Romaines alleadgeth Esay I liue saith the Lord that euerie knee shall bow before me Rom. 14. Esay 45.13 and euerie tongue shall giue praise vnto God There was greater show why it should be vnderstood of worshipping and adoration and yet he expoundeth it of the iudiciall throne of Christ Tertull. ca 17 1. de Trinit Thom in Ep. ad Philip. c. 2. and of his last iudgement And indeed Tertullian vnderstandeth it of subiection and not of adoration The ordinarie Glose saith here As well the Angels as men and the Diuell Thomas likewise The Angels willingly and freely the Diuels will they nill they That is saith hee according to that which S. Iames saith that euen the Diuels themselues doe tremble Rom. 9. S. Ambrose interpreteth it by this place of the Epistle to the Romaines Which is God blessed aboue all things c. For saith he there is nothing in the world but heauenly earthly or infernall things and referreth it to the authoritie that Christ holdeth of the Father Chrysost ad Philip. c. 2. Haimo Caict in Ep. ad Philip. c. Chrysostome to the glorie of Christ vnder which both men and Angels and Diuels doe bow and stoupe euen all both iust and righteous as also the sinners and rebellious And Haimo Hugo and Caietan after the same manner And in deed Bellarmine dare not vrge this place neither yet that of the Apocalips but confesseth that they proue not the matter Neither hath it beene alleadged by any certaine Monkes onely of this time and age excepted who make vp their Purgatorie of whatsoeuer commeth to their hands euen as franticke men who sansie euerie thing that is said vnto them For how was it possible for the old writers to find it here vnder the earth when as Saint Gregorie sought it in hotte waters in bathes and in the shadowes of trees When Alcuinus seated it in the ayre betwixt heauen and earth When the certaine place where it was was vncertaine vnto them vntill the time of Beda to whome I know not what spirit did reueale it to bee vnder the earth In the first of S. Peter Christ saith he hath suffered once for sinnes 1 Pet 3.18 c. being mortified in the flesh but quickned by the spirit by the which he also went and preached to the spirits that were in prison This prison say they is Purgatorie Let them reade that which followeth and then they will vnsay it againe Hauing beene disobedient in times past when as the patience of God did once attend and waite in the daies of Noe c. The question then is about matters happening in the daies of Noe Now they are not yet resolued that there was any Purgatorie in the time of the olde Testament And in deed they haue euermore expounded this place of the limbes so that by building their Purgatory vpon this place they haue broken downe the partition wall Againe the Gospell is preached to be heard vnderstood and receiued in faith And they themselues doe affirme that faith is not begotten or to be come by in Purgatorie To what end or vse then should this preaching serue in Purgatorie Againe to the vnbelieuing disobedient for whome according to their owne doctrine purgatorie was neuer builded Now in deed the true sence and meaning is that the spirit of Christ at all times hath called men to repentance yea euen in the daies of Noe those rebellious persons who abused the patience and long suffering of God and who notwithstanding standing out disobedient vnto the same are therefore holden captiues in prison that is to say in eternall punishment And the Greeke article leadeth vs hereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prison when the question is of spirites is ordinarily taken for here In the Apocalyps Sathan shal be let loose from his prison and elsewhere Apoc. 20. 2. Pet. 2. Iude 1. The Deuils are tyed vp in chaines of darknesse in euerlasting bondes c. But seeing they will not accept of our expositions yet at the least I would haue them to stand to the fathers Clement Alexandrine saith Clem. l. 6 that Christ and the Apostles did preach the Gospell vnto the damned but this hee taketh out of certaine Apocrypha writinges attributed vnto Saint Peter and S. Paule who had corruptly vnderstood this place In ep ad Epict. Athanasius saith that during the time that the bodie was in the graue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word went to preach to the spirites that were in hell that is to say saith Damascene Damasc l. 3. de Orthod fid c 6. Not for to conuert them to the faith but to conuince them of their vnbeliefe this preaching being no other thing but a manifesting of his deitie vnto the infernall powers by the descending of Christ into hell S. Augustine ad Euodium handleth this verie place August ad Euod epist 99. and turneth it into all the waies that it may bee taken and vnderstood that so hee might come by the true sence and yet hath not remembred Purgatorie in any one small word in the end he concludeth thus That to the end that hee may auoide the inconueniences that follow other expositions it must bee vnderstood not of any going downe into hell but of the operation and powerfull working of his deitie which he exercised from the beginning of the world that is to say that he preached vnto them which liued here below imprisoned in this mortall bodie by the spirit of his diuine nature sometimes by inward and secret inspirations and sometimes by outward admonitions proceeding from the mouth of the iust And thus it is to bee seene how that for Purgatorie hee vnderstandeth this present life Thom. 3. p. ◠62. art 2. And Thomas doeth likewise approue the same handling this question of purpose To bee shorte Cardinall Hugo saith In carcere in the prison of sinne and vnbeliefe c. And their Glosse Of the darknesse of infidelitie or of carnall desires c. And Lyranus bound and chained with the common custome of sinne And as concerning the whole place they vnderstand it Of the preaching of Noe which he practised amongst the infidels of his time Heb. 13. to draw them to repentance by the spirit of Christ for saith he Christ is yesterday and to day the same and for euer and euer what maketh all this then for Purgatorie In the first of S. Iohn If any man see his brother sinne a sinne that is not to death 1. Iohn 5.16 let him aske of God and he will gine him life to all them I say which doe not sinne vnto death There is a sinne vnto death I doe not say that thou shouldest pray for it c. From hence they inferre those which sinne vnto death Are those that persist in infidelitie saith Saint Augustine euen vnto
that the Saintes liuing in the time of the olde Testament were saued by the law of Moses and the Grecians by Philosophie That Christ and his Apostles did preach the Gospell in hell Origen his purgatory Orig. hom 8. in Leuit. Hom 25. in Numer Hom. 6. in Exod in ep ad Rom. c. 11. In psal 36. hom 3. In Hierem. Bellarm l. 2. de purgat c. 8. ¶ 8. septim Synod 5. c. 11. Synod 7. ex prato spiritualt Iohan. Diacon in vir B. Greg. l. 2. c 45. thereby to conuert the damned and that both in this worlde as also in that to come yea euen in hell there may bee vse and place graunted for repentance c. And the other building vppon this his maisters bad foundation a great deale worse As that all men how holy soeuer are to passe this Purgatorie euery one according to his proportion S. Peter S. Paul c. the one to be purged by fire and the other by water more or lesse c. And again that the most wicked the most miscreants yea the Deuilles themselues are purged are amended yea and saued by the same Now I desire to know of them if they will approue this Purgatorie of Origen And if they doe not approue it that then they would not obiect it any more vnto vs neither yet any of those places which haue relation thereunto seeing also that Bellarmine intreating of Purgatory doth acknowledge that the fift generall Synode condemned and cursed Origen no lesse then Arrius and Nestorius furthermore that the seuenth general Councell maketh mention of a reuelation wherein he was seene in hell amongst others the Arch-heretickes And the same is likewise confirmed by Iohan. Diaconus in the life of Gregorie But it is worth the noting how that Origen had not as yet learned that these punishmentes were mittigated and lightned by suffrages for there is not found any maner of print or note of any such thing in all his purgatorie These pollutions and sinnes go for no better then matter for the fire and torments without any hope of release or ransome And still as these fantasies continued and abode with some curious spirites they were condemned in the fift generall Councell by the East Church The Apologie of the Grecians presented by Michael Bishop of Ephesus Vincent Lyrinensis Lactan. de diuino praemio c. 21. and euen in that which concerneth their false foundation namely that Christ hath purchased the remission of sinnes but not of the punishment And this appeareth to bee so by the Apologie giuen by the Greekes in the Councell of Basill These fantasticall dreames of Origen notwithstanding by reason of the reputation of his learning did leaue their impressions in the Latine Church whereupon Vincentius Lirinensis had iust cause to say That Origen his knowledge and zeale was a great temptation to the Christian Church Lactantius saith That men are not iudged presently after their death but that they are kept in a common prison vntill the day of iudgement in which they are to bee tried by fire This place is ill alleadged by our aduersaries for they do not place together the good the bad the faithfull and vnfaithfull at the time of their departing out of this life neither do they hold that purgatorie sleepeth without doing any thing vnto the day of iudgement for they will haue it occupied about the dead from the day of their death Againe it is apparant that in the time of Lactantius the doctrine of the Church was cleane contrarie For Eusebius as we haue said comparing the opinion of the Platonistes therewith maketh but two estates and conditions after this life whereas they made three But let it be for the making of the comparison the more full that hee did not altogether forget the third But they alleadge vnto vs Saint Ambrose Saint Hillarie Saint Ierome c. The purgatorie spoken of by certaine of the old fathers is not the same with that of the Church of Iâ—ome Ambr. in psal 118. in psal 36. 2. ad Timoth 2. Then let vs see if wee shall be able to find such euidence as may make vs acknowledge this their purgatorie in them Verily there is no man that can bee ignorant how greatly Saint Ambrose did esteeme of Origen when as the most part of his expositions are translated word for word from him And thereupon likewise his opinion touching Purgatorie doth nothing differ and therefore also no lesse worthy to be condemned then his All men saith he which are haue beene or shall be the one onely Christ excepted shall be purged by fire The sonnes of Leui Ezechiel Daniel c. if they be not consumed yet at the least they shal be fired if they be not drowned yet they shall bee wette and dipt in the water for so was Iohn the Euangelist himselfe whom the Lord loued so much so was Saint Peter which receiued the keies of heauen There is not any one but Christ onely which doeth not smel of this fire who is the righteousnesse of God not hauing any sinne so that in him there is nothing found for this fire to consume or burne And this hee amplifieth by two seuerall Allegories the one taken from the glittering sword which was set at the entrance into Paradise the other from the people of Israel which went through the red sea c. He addeth hereto that this triall and proofe by fire shall bee made in the day of iudgement by the vniuersall burning of the world which shall vniuersally purge all men but euery one according to his nature euen as the fire doth melt the lead otherwise then it doth the gold c. S. Hillarie no lesse addicted to Origen Hilar. in comment in psal 118. holdeth the same opinion and proceedeth yet further saying If the virgine Marie the virgin of God must also vndergo the sentence of this iudgement of this fire hee spake before through which wee must all passe who is hee that dare desire to bee iudged of God And in another place hee saith Idem Canon in Mat. 3. Hieronym Amos 3. ex Amo 7.14 Ezech. 46. It remaineth that those which are baptised with the holy Ghost bee made perfect that is to say accomplished and fully refined by the fire of the last iudgement c. Saint Ierome likewise is infected with the like opinions by continuall reading of Origen He will call saith hee the fire vnto iudgement and behold it commeth at his summons and first of all deuoureth the depth that is to say all sortes of sinnes wood baye stubble and afterward it eateth at once the parte and portion that is to say it commeth to the Saintes which the Lorde hath made choice of to belong to him c. Againe Hieronym in vlt. cap. Esa Euerie creature is vncleane and must bee purged by the fire of God for the Sabbath day wherein hee shall haue eternall rest Likewise hee meaneth that euen wicked Christians shall
Virgine Marie was for his comfort and consolation yea and that amongst the rest vnto Eue her selfe which had sinned in as much as God had chosen this vessell to beare and bring forth the comfort of mankind from the first man euen to the last They abuse in a higher degree of vnfaithfull dealing a place in Iustinus Martyr Iustin Martyr Apol 2. The Gentiles reproach the Christians saying that they were Atheists that is to say without God The Christians answere Yea without Gods whom you take to be Gods but not without the true God For as concerning him we worship him that is the father and the Son which is of him who is come and hath taught vs these things and all the host of good Angels that follow him and the propheticall spirit that is to say we worship the father the sonne and the holy Ghost Now these words which yet are not found in many copies must vpon euident and apparant necessitie be read with a Parenthesis for there he alludeth to that Ephes 3.10 which S. Paul saith to the Ephesians That the mysterie of our Redemption which was hid from all time in God was manifested vnto principalities and powers in heauenly places c. Otherwise what should this meane We worship the father the Sonne the Angels and the holy Ghost And the holy Ghost himselfe after the Angels And by this meanes to saue the Saints they make no conscience to blaspheme the holy Ghost But in the meane time this is the Monke Perion his translation and from thence this errour hath beene dispersed into many bookes in these daies Origen commeth About the yeare 260. Hieronym ad Pammach Ocean Epiphan t. 2. l. 1. haeres 63. hauing a bold spirit Whome I loue saith S. Ierome as hee is a translator but not as he is an author of straunge opinions for his spirit and ingeniousnesse but not for his faith because his writings are venemous without any warrant of Scriptures and offering violence vnto the same c. And of this iudgement is the whole Church After this then to whome may he not iustly be suspected For as heretofore he laid the foundations of Purgatorie vpon the opinions of the Platonists so from the same he gathereth the first stone wherupon afterward was laid the inuocation of Saints The Platonists said that the vpper and higher things must bee ioyned with the inferiour and lower by a middle comming betwixt both God with men by Angels that is by their mediation and comming betwixt But Christians must not lend their eares to this as those that haue a far deeper secret and mysterie reuealed vnto them hauing giuen them his Son God and man and ioyned together in one person for the saluation of mankind that which was farre remooued and set asunder by our sinnes so that the Platonists could not comprehend or conceiue the same Notwithstanding wee see that mans inuentions do commonly please vs better then the reuelations of God and flesh and bloud doth more freely and willingly imbrace them because it smelleth and findeth something of it owne therein Euseb â—e preparat Euang. l. 12. 13. August de Ciuit. Dei l 8. c. 14.18.20 22 23.25.26 Now the summe thereof was that betwixt the greatnesse of God and the infirmitie of man there were two orders of Mediators the blessed spirits or the separated intelligences and the soules of the blessed wee call them in our Christian language Angels and Saints That these Angels offer vp mens suites and petitions to God in reporting them vnto him and obtaining a graunt thereof by their intercession c. That for this cause we must praie vnto and honour them partly as Aduocates partly as more excellent in their merits then men And that such also do the same who for their merits being men whiles they were here vpon earth haue beene exalted and extolled as Gods in heauen such a one was Aesculapius who wrought the same effects in heauen by his Diuinitie which he wrought here below by his Art such a one also was Hermes which succoured and conserued generally all those who directed their praiers vnto him c. Who is hee that cannot behold and clearely perceiue the opinions of the Church of Rome in these points of Paganisme Now they did not all enter with a full sea into the Christian Church but for certaine it is that the Gentils which were receiued into the same being seasoned with this doctrine could not be so little cherished and vpheld either by being winckt at or otherwise by the sufferance of the Pastors but that they by and by tooke great footing and that in a small time What is it then that Origen saith Origen hom 3 in Cant. The Saintes saith he which are departed out of this life bearing stil their wonted loue and charitable affections to such as remaine behind in the world if any man say that they are carefull for their saluation and that they helpe them with their praiers and intercessions towards God he doth not runne into any inconuenience for it is written in the booke of the Machabees This same is Ieremie the prophet of God that prayeth daily for the people c. Marke There is no inconuenience in it And further some are of opinion those also of the learned that these Homelies vpon the Canticles were made by some latin writer and not by Origen Vpon Iosue Ego sic arbitror I am mightilie drawne to be perswaded that all the fathers which haue fallen asleepe before vs doe still in part beare some portion of the combat with vs and doe helpe vs with their praiers thus much I haue heard said of some of our old maisters Vpon the booke of Numbers he groweth more hot for saith he Quis enim dubitat who doubteth but that they helpe vs with their praiers and confirme vs by their examples c. Where it is to bee considered how that he speaketh doubtfully of this opinion that he which had the scriptures at his fingers ends if hee had had in store euer a place to haue confirmed and setled it vpon he would neuer haue had recourse to an Apocrypha place of the second booke of Machabees neither to the report of his old maisters But yet moreouer it appeareth by Origen himselfe that this was but a discourse of his and not the faith of his time If saith he the Saintes that haue left this bodie and are with Christ do any thing for vs after the manner of Angels that take charge of our safetie let it be accompted amongst the secrets that are hidden and kept close by God and are not to be intermedled withall by any writer that is to say in a word inter Apocrypha for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke doeth not signifie any other thing But of this priuate discourse of this pretended secret misterie that the Saints pray for the faithfull gathereth he this consequent it
counteruaile eternal life and of too shallow and short a measure in respect of infinite blessednesse yea though it were the merite of the holy Virgine and that conceiued or not conceiued be it as you will in originall sinne For if shee were conceiued in originall sinne shee is freely redeemed as well as any other and regenerate and borne againe of meere grace as well as any other But and if shee were not which yet the holy Scripture denieth that was also of the worke and operation of the same grace and furthermore the greater shee is the deepelier is shee bound vnto God and the further off from merite as also from hauing any occasion to be proud beeing on the contrarie so much the more to carrie her selfe in a greater measure of dutifulnesse and humilitie in respect of so rich and aboundant mercies bestowed vpon her so freely and vndeseruedly by the high and mightie God According to that which is said Vnto whome much is giuen and committed Luk 12.24 of him shall so much the more bee required againe c. CHAP. XVII That the Regenerate man cannot merite eternall life either for himselfe or for anie other LEt vs come to the condition of the regenerate man to the state of grace Proofes out of the holy Scripture as it is called and let vs see if any one standing in that state before God can merite of him by his workes either his owne saluation or an other mans The Scripture speaketh verie highly of mans Regeneration it setteth him before vs as a man new moulded and cast by the effectuall power and working of the holy Ghost in all and euerie one of his parts and members Now what better way to comprehend and conceiue the fall and ruine then by the reedified repaired parts Coloss 1.3 Acts. 15. Ephe. 1. Coloss 2.13 Gala. 5. Rom. 6. Coloss 7. Rom. 8.14 For the spirit of Christ deliuereth vs from the power of darknesse being dead as we were in sinne he quickneth and maketh vs aliue he purgeth our hearts by faith he inlightneth the eyes of our vnderstanding by the knowledge of God He destroyeth the bodie of sinne He mortifieth yea crucifieth the old man with all the diseases concupiscences and affections of the flesh He maketh vs the children of God and as we are such to crie Abba that is to say father But dooth it follow of all this that after Regeneration we are either cleane from all sinne or that we can attaine vnto it in this world Such as doe flatter themselues in making their sinne small should therewithall thinke that a small thing should repaire and make vp the breach But what then will they say when as of necessitie for the sauing of this miserable flesh the word must be made flesh When for the deliuering of vs from the seruitude of sinne hee must needes become sinne himselfe who had neuer knowne any sinne Or will they thinke that the flesh bee it neuer so wholly and throughly regenerate will bee able to doe all things Or would they flie vp with their owne wings to heauen without Iacobs Ladder the helpe of the Lord or his merite More readie as yet by their pride to loose the benefit of Regeneration then our Father was to loose the excellent gifts he had by his Creation at the suggestion of the woman But let vs heare how the Scripture speaketh J am saith S. Paul crucified with Christ I liue Gala. 2.16 no more I but Christ in me and the life that I liue now in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who hath loued me and who hath giuen himselfe for me What could he haue spoken of more excellencie And where is that regenerate man that can vtter any thing more boldly then hee hath done this And yet therewithall heare him comming from the setting foorth of the praises of the grace receiued by God to the consideration of his owne infirmitie I see saith hee an other Law in my members Rom. 7. fighting against the Law of my vnderstanding and making me captiue to the law of sinne which is in my members c. That is to say I feele concupiscence the bud of the flesh c. And this Lawe this concupiscence if thou be in doubt doe not thinke that it is good For I know saith he that in me that is to say in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing To will well is readie with me but J doe not find the meanes to performe or doe it Nay this concupiscence is euil for he addeth thee hereunto The euill is readie with me and fast sticking vnto me I doe the euil that I would not euen the euill that I hate that is to say which I condemne in my mind and such euill as is repugnant vnto the Law of God which cannot be called any thing but sinne according to that which S. Iohn saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All whatsoeuer is against the Lawe is sinne euen to the obeying of my flesh and not the Law of my God which J consent vnto and agree to be good but vnto the Law of sinne which I condemne and dislike of in my spirit And againe This sinne is sinne in such a manner and degree as that it forceth me to confesse that it is sinne in deed For if the Law had not said Thou shalt not lust I had not knowne sinne but now I knowe it And it hath such a deepe roote in me as that I am constrained to crie Miserable man that J am who shall deliuer me from the bodie of this death Yea and it hath fruit also which it beareth and bringeth forth in me Sinne dwelleth in me euen the sinne which begetteth death which hath no other wages but death which also in stead of being brought vnder by the Law of God is lifted vp by the nature thereof and armed to rebell against it taking occasion from the same to multiplie and increase Rom. 8. Gala. 5. Coloss 3. Ephe. 4. It is prouoked and enraged like a maligne Vlcer against the salue Thus speaketh S. Paul of this sinne and not as it is in the Infidels but as it is in the regenerate and those not of the weakest sort of the regenerate but as it was in himselfe concluding generally and euerie where that he hath need to spoyle destroy kill and crucifie the same and that yet notwithstanding all this doe what he can 2. Cor. 4.10 it will not all be vanquisht and subdued at one blow For Howbeit saith he that our outward man be decaied and cast downe yet our inward is renued euerie day And yet notwithstanding not in any such measure of perfection as that any man can vaunt or boast himselfe to haue wholy put on the one and put off the other in this world For In this world wee shall neuer grow vp together and become perfect men Ephe. 4 13. according to the measure of the perfect stature of Christ
Christ And he repeateth and goeth ouer the same in many places Idem in sentent 315. in lib. de ingrat And this grace how are we made partakers of it May we attaine it by nature Nay saith he as they which would be iustified by the Law are fallen from grace to whome the Apostle saith If the righteousnesse of the Law then Christ died in vaine so say we vnto them that call nature the grace which the faith of Christ receiueth if righteousnesse bee by nature then Christ is dead in vaine For Christ came to fulfill the Law which man could not fulfill as also to saue and restore nature lost and spoyled in it selfe according to that which is written That he is come to seeke vp that which was wandred and lost and to saue that which was spoyled And in the verie same tearmes speaketh the second Councell of Orange How then And what is the meanes to come by it Let vs confesse saith hee to the Frenchmen Concil Arans 2 Canon 21. Prosper ad Capit. Gall. oâ—uect 8. in â—â—de ingrat Idem deivocat gent. l. 1. c 24. Idem de vocat Gent l. 18. Idem in Ep. ad Demetriad that no man can runne vnto this grace but by grace All that my father giueth me commeth vnto me and they come vnto him by faith Per ipsam nisi curratur non itur ad ipsum c. Vnto God saith he in an other place no man can goe but he that hath his guide and direction from God send downe the light and truth and they shall lead me into thy holy mountaine and into thy holy Tabernacle Yea without any manner of precedent merits or yet without all other precedent cause saue onely the good pleasure saue onely the good wil of God In as much saith hee as the cause in vs for which we receiue and obtaine grace is this good will in which and with which is hidden the reason of our election our merites beginning with this grace which we haue receiued without merites Otherwise it should not be said if man bee not regenerate and borne againe of water and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen But well if man be not iust c. And this therefore saith hee in an other place is the mercie of God that maketh vs seeke for his mercie and which draweth vs as it were by maine force vnto this mercie That is because that he calleth vs first and giueth vs to heare and to belieue him he loueth vs first and giueth vs to loue him by the infusing of his spirit into vs c. And this he handleth at large in whole bookes Now this particular grace which fitteth and prepareth vs for the vniuersall Idem de vita contempl c. 21 to the fountaine of grace is called faith Faith saith he the foundation of righteousnesse before which there is not any good workes but from and of which all that are good doe come which purgeth vs from all sinnes illuminateth our vnderstanding reconcileth vs to God associateth and coupleth vs to all them that are partakers of the same nature breatheth into vs the hope of the reward that is to come increaseth in vs holy vertues and confirmeth vs in the possession of the same And the same the meere gift of God contrarie to that which Vincentius obiected That faith to belieue proceeded of man but that though man did thus come by faith that yet it must bee God that should adde thereto his spirit Idem ad obiect Vincent ad Dubium 1.2 â— Idem in Ep ad Euâ—in Otherwise saith he grace should be no more grace if it were preuented by any thing in respect whereof it should be giuen For saith he vnto Rusinus Man did not deale righteously whereupon righteousnesse was added and giuen vnto him and in that hee did not walke with God his course and wayes were strengthned and for that hee did not loue God his loue and charitie was inflamed Nay saith he but he was without faith and by consequent wicked and therefore and thereupon it was giuen him to receiue the spirit of faith and so by it was made righteous he was blind and dead and therefore had it giuen vnto him to receiue both life axd sight Idem in sentent 374. l. de ingrat And therefore he saith in an other place it is not said Euerie man that heareth my voice is of the truth but on the contrarie Euerie man which is of the truth heareth my voice because that man is not of the truth because he heareth the voice but rather he heareth the voice because he is of the truth because he hath receiued this gift of him which is the truth And what other thing is this gift but to belieue in Christ by the grace of Christ by the gift of Christ himselfe Inspirata sides And therefore they are in as great an errour which attribute the infidelitie of the wicked vnto God as they which would haue any other to bee the author of the faith and righteousnesse of good men but God himselfe For he that hath once lost that which he had receiued cannot resume and take againe the same after that he hath lost it but he must seeke to recouer the possession of it againe from whence he first had it hauing now suffered it to be lost To be briefe he saith to be able to haue faith Idem in sent 316. and to be able to haue charitie that is to say to bee capable of these graces is of or in the nature of men but to haue faith or to haue charitie commeth from that grace which is giuen to none but to the faithfull That is God giueth and dealeth freely where it seemeth good vnto him But notwithstanding the Aduersarie obiected vnto him I see S. Paul who praiseth the faith of the Romaines Corinthians Ephesians and Philippians and wherefore should he praise it in them if it bee the gift of God if it be not their owne and of themselues Nay saith hee to the end that thou maiest not imagine that it is an argument that it was not giuen them Idem aduers Collat. c 36. because it is praised in them read somewhat further how hee praiseth God for the grace which was giuen them in Christ how in all things they are made rich in him how hee hath giuen vnto them faith which worketh by loue how he hopeth and trusteth that hee which hath begun the good worke in them will finish the same from the first day vnto the day of Christ And therefore conclude the rather saith hee to them of Genua That faith whether young and newly begun Idem ad except Genuens Idem de vocat l. 1 c. 23. Concil Arans 2. c. 5. or old and growne perfect are both the gift of God That the beginning of faith vnto the consummation and full accomplishment of the perseuerance of the same is of him
committing new sinnes Let vs put off the old man c. But saith he The ransome of the bloud of Christ should bee too much abased Idem de vocat Gent. l. 1. c. 5. if the iustification which is by grace should bee due vnto precedent merits But neither precedent neither yet subsequent ones can come in for any paiment in this accompt But rather saith hee in an other place seeing that we being quickned in Christ are dead vnto the world Idem de suga Secul c. 7. wee are not any longer to serue the world wee are not any longer to liue according to our former liues but according to the life of Christ euen the life of innocencie of chastitie and of all other vertues We are risen againe with Christ let vs liue with him let vs ascend to him let vs ascend and goe vp on high in him And let vs prouide that the Serpent may not henceforth find euer a heele about vs to trip vs vpon or to bruse by not finding vs any more ouertaken and carried away with these earthly things Now what is all this but the same which Saint Paul said That faith causeth loue that hauing receiued life by the faith of Christ we would liue hencefoorth in Christ And this is the same that wee said that hee which hath iustified vs by his spirite hath sanctified vs also by the same spirite vnto the renuing of the inwarde man c. Saint Augustine in like manner We say that workes iustifie the faith August de spir lit c. 18. De fid operib c. 1.4 Ep. 105. ad Sixt. and the faith the Christian that is to say that the truth of his faith is proued by them Saint Augustine his words follow No man doth a good worke but he that is alreadie iustified but iustification is obtained by faith And these Maxims are ordinarie with him Opera sequuntur iustificatum non praecedunt iustificandum Workes follow him that is iustified they doe not goe before him that is to be iustified The merits of the righteous doe serue for vse Idem ad Simplic l. 1. q. 9 11 Idem de spir liâ— c. 10. Idem de patient c 21. Lib. 1. ad simp q. 11. Idem de fid operib c. 4. Idem Serm. 181. de temp de fid oper Idem quest 23 because that they are righteous but not to make them righteous Workes doe not beget grace but grace workes Grace is freely giuen vnto vs not because we haue done good workes but to the end wee may be able to to doe them Workes doe not preuent the mercie of God but follow it Againe They cannot bee if grace haue not preuented them by faith And good workes are by him sometimes called The workes of righteousnesse because saith he they follow righteousnesse that is to say iustification And thus you see that workes are the touchstone of faith yea the inseperable effectes necessarily following where faith is For saith he to belieue in him that is to loue him but this can neither the wicked nor yet the Diuels doe but Christians onely because that faith without loue is nothing worth And it is saith he of that health fall faith of the Gospell that the Apostle speaketh of from which workes proceede by this loue For that which bringeth forth none Saint Peter calleth a dried fountaine Saint Iude a cloud without water Saint James a dead faith c. And Saint Paul saith hee is expounded by Saint Iames namely that he vnderstandeth not that hee that belieueth Non finitur is not bound to doe well but rather that he knoweth that he is not come to the gift of iustification by the merits of his precedent workes neither yet by those that follow because it is not permitted in this life For be that is iustified by faith how can he but afterward walke righteously c. One man therefore saith he praiseth the faith of Abraham and an other his workes Idem in Psal 31. Ex side Idem in Psal 30. Confesss l. 12. and yet they bee not contrarie Great is the worke of Abraham but as it commeth of faith J see the foundation to bee faith and I praise the fruite of the good tree but in faith I knowe the roote to bee neither barren nor withered c. Whereupon hee concludeth Let not a man boast of his workes before faith neither let any man neglect them after hee hath once receiued grace to beleeue c. And as our Sauiour Christ doth liue in thine hart so let him also remaine and dwel in thy mouth Concil Arans c. 12. so also in thy deedes and actions c. This is that which the Councell of Orange doth hold vpon this question To loue God is a gift of God Hee hath vouchsafed maâ—â— to be beloued himselfe hauing loued without being loued He loued vs when we displeased him to the end that he louing vs we might please him for he hath shed loue into our hearts c. To be briefe these good fathers say Wee begin not in any good worke but afterward God helpeth vs to make an end Nay hee without any precedent merits inspireth into vs his faith and his loue c. But it may be at the least you will say that man may merit afterward Nay saith hee Prosp de vocat Gent. l. 1. c. 23. l. 2. c. 8. What hast thou that thou hast not receiued c. And Prosper Aquitanus who was of the same time Vnto euerie man saith hee is giuen Sine merito vnde tendat adâ—meritum without merit where by he may take the way to merite and it is giuen before any paâ—ines or labour taken to euerie man for which he is to receiue a reward according to his labour c. And then you wil say yet loe here both merit and reward but then againe behold â—and marke how hee expoundeth it If God find in vs what we haue committed in our selues we cannot but be condemned Idem sentent 126. but if be find in vs what he himselfe hath wrought we shall bee crowned Because saith he in an other place all our merit from the beginning vnto the end is the gift of God all our workes otherwise tending to nothing but condemnation Which thing â—ee setteth downe in these verses against the vnthankfull Nam meritum ad mortem subeundam sufficit vnum Ad vitam Idem contr collat contr ingrat nisi quod donarit gratia nullum And therefore concerning the iustice imputed vnto vs he saith Our righteousnesse consisteth more in the remission of our sinnes then in the perfection of our vertues And that same remission consisting also in the righteousnesse of Christ for from that commeth our righteousnesse in as much as wee are renued Ipsa inquit virtutum gaudiaâ—â—oulnus habent Idem in sent The greatest ioyes that their vertues can moue in them haue their pearcing wounds and scorching Corasiues Wee
Idem Serm. 5. dedicat Jt is impossible with men but not with God Wherefore wee are assured of his power but where are we so of his will For who knoweth say they who is worthie of loue or of hatred This is it which Abailard did obiect vnto him of Salomon and our Aduersaries vnto vs. But saith he It is here that faith must helpe vs that the truth must succour vs to the end that that which is hidden from vs in the heart of the father may bee reuealed vnto vs by his spirit And that this spirit that beareth witnesse vnto and perswadeth our spirits that wee are the children of God doth perswade vs of it in calling of vs and in freely iustifying of vs by faith c. CHAP. XX. How the doctrine of merite entered into the Church after what manner it grew and increased and how it hath beene resisted and withstoode in all ages euen vnto the time of Saint Barnard SEeing then that this doctrine of free iustification opposite and quite contrarie to the merite of workes is so cleare and manifest in the Scriptures so euidently and plainely taught and of such continuance in the Church from whence possibly may this doctrine of merit at this day taught and held take his beginning And what may be the meanes that it hath prospered and so well succeeded And how is it come to occupie the roome of the bloud of Christ And how hath such deepe presumption seazed vppon vs as not onely to arrogate vnto our selues an abilitie to fulfill the whole Law of God but furthermore to worke an infinite sort of workes of Supererrogation and those more meritorious then the other of the Law Not seruing onely to saue our selues but others also and that so farre forth as that we should bee bold to say no more with Dauid Saluation is of the Lord but my saluation yea and thy saluation is of me But and if we stand in need to search out the antiquitie of this opinion where shall we rather find it then in the mouth of the Serpent Gene. 3. â—â—ay 4.24 In the eare of the woman Yea which is worse in the hart of our first father You shall become as Gods you shall bee like vnto the most high and Soueraigne Lord c. In like manner the whole Scripture aymeth and tendeth to the rooting of this pestiferous weede out of the heart of man 〈◊〉 â—â—ope and 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 Scrip 〈◊〉 to hum 〈…〉 by 〈◊〉 of his sinne thereby â—â—ining him to see the necessiue of the merit of christ Ezech. 16. The Law as wee said and all the pedagogie thereof teaching and training vs vp to see our infirmitie and want of abilitie The Prophets controlling and reprouing vs of the same continually and that both generally and particularly In generall God by his Prophets saith vnto his Church Thou tookest thy beginning from out of the land of the Cananites Thy father was an Amorrhite and thy mother an Hittite In the day that thou wast borne thy nauel-string was not cut Thou wast not washed with water nor salted nor wrapped in swathing clothes Euerie man was afraid of thee I alone stoode forth to take pittie vpon thee I saw thee defiled in thy bloud I caused thee to liue in the same I cast the lap of my garment ouer thee I couered thy nakednesse I entered into league with thee I washed thee I annoynted thee with oyle I clothed thee with imbroidered worke I caused thee to grow vp and raigne then didst thou put thy confidence in thy beautie and hast plaid the harlot by reason of thy fame and high renowne c. What other thing can bee made of all this throughout this whole growth of the Church but that there is nothing in her as of her selfe but pollution and imperfection And that the whole matter of her being and felicitie is onely of God That her vncleanes and disloyaltie proceedeth from her trusting in her beautie notwithstanding that it proceede not from her selfe Esay 64 In particular hee saith of the most righteous and iust the Prophetes themselues being reckoned amongst the same You are all as a polluted thing and all your righteousnesse as a filthie cloth your iniquities haue carried you all away as a wind neither had you any manner of remedie left but onely to flie and haue recourse vnto me who deface and blot out your offences Idem 43. Idem 53. and that for mine owne sake who am not minded to call them to remembrance and through the attonement made by Christ vpon whom is laid the chastisement of your peace who is wounded for your sinnes and in whose stripes you are healed c. All which notwithstanding did it let or hinder this people consisting of men these men tainted and stained with this first and capital pride of man from hasting and endeuouring from time to time continually to returne to this pretended righteousnes which is euer floating and swimming vpon our hearts In the time of our Sauiour Christ Merit amongst the hereticall â—â—wes we see two sorts of people to bee infected with this poyson the Essees which would be so called as doers and fulfillers of the Lawe accusing the Pharisies to bee no better then bare teachers of the same whose will worship is taxed of the Apostle as deuotion of their owne deuise as also their superstitions Tast not touch not c. wherein they laid the foundation of their merits And the Pharisies who taught that it was in the power of man to fulfil the Law hauing also these same workes of supererogation whereof the Prophet speaketh saying Who hath required this at your hands Of these according to the diuers obseruations which they had tied themselues vnto the Thalmud maketh seuen sects but one especially which had this name What ought I to doe and I will doe it And of these we haue an example in him that is spoken of in the Gospell All these things haue I done euen from my youth c. Both the one and the other being verie vnfit to cast and repose themselues vpon the rest of grace and by consequent enemies of our Lord who reckoneth more basely of these sorts of people then of the Publicans and harlors And heereupon hee breaketh out to the denouncing of diuers curses against them as such as would not onely not receiue the kingdome of God themselues but hindered the people also by their interpretations and constructions to receiue the same that is to say remission of sinnes in Christ Whereupon S. Iohn Baptist preparing the way to this kingdome to vnbewitch them beginneth his Sermons at that point Repent the kingdome of beauen is at hand c. So then some of the circumcision that receiued Christ brought this errour into the Church of Christ as also they which did obstinately cleaue vnto Iudaisme had not any other ground for the same then the righteousnesse purchased by the Law and the workes thereof in which
as there can nothing come out of vs that can make God fauourable and mercifull vnto vs. In whose passion iniquitie was remitted and righteousnesse restored all in a day and that not onely vnto iustification but euen to the meriting that is to say to be reputed worthie of the companie of God by them And this is to be vnderstoode so farre forth as we belieue and as his obedience is sufficient for all belieuers vnto eternall life the same being perfectly washed into the remission which is in his bloud But and if you aske to what end then serueth the Law seeing that it doth not iustifie Haimo aunswereth Not to take away sinnes but to shew and point out the same Hincmarus It is because of transgressions and for the hardnesse of the people Adelbertus To teach vs our concupiscence and to learne vs to knowe and vnderstand what is due vnto vs for our sinnes to the end that thereupon wee may seeke for grace Theophilact To conuince vs of sinne and to bring vs to Christ. Anselme To shewe in what Chaines and bandes of sinne such were held as presumed of their power to accomplish and make perfect their righteousnesse by works that so they might perceiue the poyson though thereby they could not take it away and to the increasing and augmenting of sinne not to the cleansing or wiping of it away Radulph in Leuit. l. 20. c. 1. Gysilb in alter But what doe wee not accomplish it then Radulphus saieth What man is he vpon the face of the earth that is able verily not one And Gisilbert So neither hath it brought any thing vnto perfection it hath laid open the woundes but it hath not cured them Theophyliad Rom. c. 3. Anselm in 7 ad Rom. Haimo in Psal 118. in c. 6 ad Rom. passim Otherwise saith Theophilact We had not had neede of Christ And Anselme What is the law but a letter for them that knowe to reade it and cannot accomplish or fulfill it And therefore it hath onely led vs as by the hand vnto grace But againe concerning this grace who hath mooued the Lord to doe so much for vs Verily saith Haimo The onelie goodnesse which is in him and therefore let no man presume of his merits but of the onelie clemencie of our Sauiour who saith the Apostle hath saued vs freelie that is to say without anie precedent merits who saueth vs saith hee by his preuenting grace and iustifieth vs by his subsequent grace Eternall life is giuen to none as a thing of due but by free mercie Remig in psa 19.21 32 70. c. And S. Remigius Adam made the olde people but our Lorde Christ the newe in asmuch as he hath freely iustified the same without anie precedent merits For wee haue made our selues sinners but his onely mercie hath made vs righteous yea saith hee it hath made of vs that were wicked and vngodly godly ones of seruants free men of condemned ones such as are to be receyued into the kingdome of heauen Theophyl in Ep. ad Tit. c. 3 Anselm in c. 5. ad Ephes And Theophilact Hee hath saued vs euerlastinglie not by the workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but by the operation of his onelie clemencie c. And Anselme This hath come to passe through the great and vnspeakeable loue of God that the onely begotten sonne hath deliuered himselfe ouer vnto death the maisler for the seruant Cur Deus homo c. 2. the Creator for the creature that hee hath said vnto man Take my onelie sonne and giue him for thee that the sonne hath said Take me and redeeme thy selfe c. And all the same treatise handleth no other thing And againe howe doe wee receiue this grace Haimo in c. 9. ad Rom in c. 3 ad Galat. super Euang. in Oct. Pasch Remig. in Psa 10. in 18. in 19. Haimo saith Of faith and by faith wee are iustified heires through faith and not through the lawe by grace and not by merit to the ende that the promise made vnto the seede of Abraham may abide and continue firme c. Remigius All my faith is in Christ I belieue my selfe in him onely to be iustified saued This is my mountaine This is my refuge c. The heauens sing of the glorie of God And what manner of glorie verily saith he for that we are not saued by our workes but by his mercie And this is the great glorie of God that all hauing sinned and all hauing need of this glorie namely to be freely iustified euen in the mercie exhibited by the Sonne Gisilb in alt c. 1. 13. c. Gisilbertus Faith went before the law and without the law hath iustified the faithfull Our father Abraham pleased God by faith rather then by circumcision Many haue perished notwithstanding circumcision and many before that it was haue beene iustified by faith alone Christ is the inheritance of the faithfull whome they receiue by faith Theophyl in Abac. c 2. c. Theophylact The righteous man worketh by faith vnto life whether it bee that which is to come or be it righteousnes it selfe Faith iustifieth in as much as it vnlooseth sinnes The law would iustifie men but it hath not the power faith therefore hath done it which iustifieth Idem ad Rom. c 9 Idem in c. 3. ad Gal. Haimo in c. 1. 3. 4. ad Rom. and not workes yea saith he Faith iustifieth onely and not workes The law curseth vs but faith blesseth vs c. But to be iustified is it not to be made righteous And then with what manner of righteousnes Verily saith Haimo with the righteousnes of Christ by the which he maketh the faithfull righteous in bestowing the same vpon them and therefore it is called the righteousnes of God And the same is applied vnto vs by the gift of God that is to say by the redemption which is in Christ and not by the workes of the Law c. Whereby it commeth to passe Idem in Psal 83. Gisibert in alterc c. 8. saith he that to shew mercy is not onely to pardon and forgiue the sinnes but also to gine righteousnes Gisilbertus saith This righteousnes of God is not the same with that by which he is righteous but that wherewith he clotheth the righteous when hee freely iustifieth the wicked And it is to this righteousnesse that the Law and the Prophets beare witnesse The Lawe for in that it commaundeth and threateneth but iustifieth not anye man it sheweth sufficientlye that man is not iustified but by the gifte of GOD by the quickeninge Spirite The Prophetes in asmuch as the comminge of Christ hath fullfilled that which they haue foretolde Anselm in 1. Cor. 11. And Anselme The righteousnesse of God is by fayth by the which wee beleeue in Christ And it is called the faith of Christ after the same manner that righteousnesse is called the
is the fountaine and welspring of iustification And in an other place Magniloqui dicuntur c. Such saith he are rightly called the greatest brauers who put their trust in themselues as being righteous and thereupon presume of the workes of the Law As on the contrarie those are called and are truely poore which know themselues sinners and perceiue that they can no way be iustified but by the faith of Christ. And therefore saith he it is requisite that this conceitednesse of thinking to be saued by workes should be laid downe Idem in Soph. l. 2. c. 3. Idem l. 2. in Genes c. 3. Idem in Esa c. 8. Without faith it is impossible to please God it is in like manner impossible but by faith Abraham Isaac and Iacob c. were not saued any otherwise For righteousnesse is Ex fide in fidem of faith and vnto faith Of faith that is of him who hath promised who hath sworne Vnto faith that is of him who hath belieued in him that promised and giuen credite to him that swore c. But as for such as are not true Israelites they haue no such faith for in seeking and searching after their owne righteousnesse they could not stoope vnto or vndergoe this of faith but haue toyled themselues by seeking the same from workes to workes as if Abraham had beene iustified by workes when as the Scripture testifieth of him Idem de Victor verb. Dei l. 4. c. 21. that he belieued and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse c. Verie excellently therefore is it said From faith to faith for in that the Sonne of God is come c. this proceedeth of the faith fulnesse of God of whome it is written God is faithfull c. Namely herein that Dauid and others moe haue not pearced him through with their sinnes and that he accomplisheth by his exceeding great faithfulnesse what hee had promised of his exceeding great grace And this righteousnesse tendeth in fidem vnto an other faith because it is not possible that any man should be iustified before him by his workes but by faith Idem in reg l. 2. c. 39. According to that which is said If thou obserue and marke mine iniquities O Lord c. And to be briefe he oftentimes vttereth these words The onely faith of Iesus Christ is able to iustifie c. Lombard likewise Loâ—bard l. 3 d. 19. 25. We are iustified by the death of Christ that is to say cleansed from our sinnes by faith in his death Beholding him by faith after the manner of the brazen Serpent we are deliuered from the bands of sinne and the Diuell in so much as that he is not to demaunde or looke for any thing at our hands Without faith in this Mediatour no man hath beene saued either before or since no man was euer deliuered from that condemnation that came by Adam otherwise then by faith Idem l. 3. d. 26. Rupert in Ioh. c. 1. Impraegnatam mentem Lombard l. 3. d. 23 Honor. in Specul Eccles Richard in Apocal. l. 1. c. And this faith saith he is of God according to that which Saint Augustine saith The mercie of God shall preuent me the mercie of God shall follow me c. That is saith Rupertus Because that to belieue is to haue conceiued the seed of the word of God with loue in his heart as also to haue his mind and spirit conceiued and laden with the same And Lombard To loue God is by belieuing in him to cleaue vnto him and to be incorporated into him by such faith the wicked is iustified inso much as that from thence forward faith worketh in him by loue for there are no good workes but those which are done by the loue of God and this loue is the worke of faith Honorius He is most happie in deede that belieueth rightly and that together with this beliefe liueth well but faith is the foundation and the loue of God and our neighbours is grounded vpon the same And Richard Of faith proceedeth charitie and of charitie doe good workes spring and growe And what is all this but the same which we affirme daily that faith cannot stand without charitie any more then fire can without heate That the life of faith euen as that of trees is knowne because it bringeth forth fruit In a word that wee are iustified by faith onely And yet such a faith as is neuer alone but which containeth in it a certaine heate which is naturall vnto it alwayes acting somewhat neuer idle continually bringing foorth as a fountaine of water the effects of loue which it beareth towards God and the good works it performeth vnto neighbours But Saint Bernard whome we haue so oft heretofore cited goeth further then all the rest For there was in his time a certaine man named Petrus Abailardus a verie Pelagian who durst say That whereas Christ had abased and humbled himselfe euen vnto the death c. that it had not beene but to haue left vs a patterne of liuing well and that our saluation consisteth not in his death and passion but in the growth and proceeding of our good conuersation Whereupon he is not content to giue him to vnderstand that this his assertion is the same which the Apostle calleth the making of the Crosse of Christ of none effect but taketh his occasion and proceedeth further and hauing taken the beasome once into his hand he sweepeth not onely this filth out of the Church that caused him to take it into his hand but withall he applieth himselfe all vnder one to sweepe away whatsoeuer the Iew Gentile Philosopher or superstitious Monke had brought and shuffled thereinto with their vncleane feete or else was negligently looked vnto or tolerated by the sorenamed it hauing fallen out then as it doth oftentimes vnto vs now who are not moued or stirred vp to remoue put away the thing that is euill be it neuer so great And therefore reprouing the waies that S. Augustine did walke in hee dealeth vpon the true iustification in the bloud of Christ by faith more exactly then all the rest Our master saith he knew well that the Law did require more then was in our power Bernard in Serm. 50. super Cant. Idem Serm de verb orig Idem Serm 38 super Cantic Idem Serm. 11 in Annunciat Mariae Idem de milit templ c. 11. Idem Ep. 99. Idem Serm 22 super Can. fusissime but notwithstanding he would giue it vnto vs that we might be admonished of our insufficiencie and that such and so great saith he as that we are neuer able to render vnto God that which we owe him in such sort as that if we should teare and pull our skinnes from off our backes yet are we neuer able to satisfie for our sinnes But wee haue recourse vnto the voice of the bloud of Christ which hath cried farre lowder then the bloud of Abell which proclaimeth in
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
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
is in the vnitie of this bodie that is to say in the coniunction and setting together of the members of Christ of the Sacrament of whose body the faithfull in communicating are accustomed to receiue from the Altar may truely bee said to bee such a one as eateth the bodie of Christ and drinketh his bloud And those on the contrarie that are not his members cannot eate him For hee hath said He that eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud he dwelleth in me and J in him Who so therfore dwelleth not in me I in him cannot eat my flesh nor drink my bloud he eateth it Sacramēto tenus and not re vera that is to say he taketh and receiueth but the signe and not the thing For saith he They which abide not in him are not his members And in an other place Seeing he hath recommended vnto vs the eating of his flesh c. that is to say our abiding in him Idem in Ioh. tract 27. and his in vs now wee abide and dwell in him when we are his members and he in vs when wee are his temple Which thing is much more clearely laid out by Christ himselfe I am the vine and you are the branches c. The branches sucke their life out of the Vine not to the end verily that they may be branches but because they are such alreadie and yet in so sucking they become more faire and beautifull braunches euen so the faithfull doe eate Christ in the Supper not to the end that they may become his members but because they are his members alreadie and to the ende that in deriuing and sucking their life from him they may become the better growing and thriuing members Saint Chrysostome The bread which wee breake Chrysost in 1. Cor. c. 11. is it not the Communion of the bodie of Christ Why did not the Apostle as well say participation Because that he would declare and point out some further matter and shew the great and close coniunction For we doe not communicate onely for that we receiue and are made partakers but for that we are vnited and made one for as this bodie which he hath once taken vpon him is vnited vnto Christ so by this bread we are vnited and made one with him c. For saith he what signifieth the bread The bodie of Christ. And what are they made which doe receiue it The bodie of Christ c. Whereby wee learne that the Communion is not a carnall eating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but a coherence and vniting of the faithfull vnto the body of Christ which could not be better represented then by eating which is the most strict and vnseparable way Leo. ad Cler. pleb Constant whereby one nature may naturally be ioined vnto another Leo the first to the same sense This is so currant in all mens mouthes as that the verie children cease not to speake amongst the Sacraments of our common faith of the truth of the bodie and blood of Christ seeing that in the mysticall distribution of the spirituall food it is both giuen and taken to the end that receiuing the efficacie power of the spiritual meat we may be translated and changed into his flesh who became our flesh c. that is to say let vs be fed of him as it hath beene said as flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones c. Wherefore to eate the flesh and to drinke the bloud of Christ is to fetch and sucke our spiritual nourishment from him and that from him dead for vs to the ende that the similitude may haue his full course as the corporall man draweth not forth the meanes of the maintenance of his life from things any otherwise then by the dying for the same To bee bidden vnto this banket and eating is to bee exhorted to maintaine and cherish our coniunction with Christ and our life in Christ by the continuing of this nourishment and this coniunction with Christ worketh a coniunction amongst our selues as members of one and the same bodie The coniunction and vnion of the faithful amongst them selues in the holy Supper 1. Cor. 10. which is more and more neerely and closely wrought in the holy supper which S. Paul expresseth in these words We which are many are one onely bread and one onely body for we are partakers of one and the same bread c. that is to say sucking the iuice of life from one and the same Vine we are quickned by one and the same spirit c. which is the second end of the Lords supper but yet depending vpon the first in as much as we cannot be ioyned by faith to Christ except we be also vnited and ioyned by loue and charitie vnto our brethren Ignatius making this coniunction plaine saith There is but one flesh of our Lord Iesus and one bloud of his shed for vs one bread broken for all Ignat. ad Philadelph Iren. l. 3. c. 10. and one Cup of the whole Church Ireneus The Lord promiseth to send the comforter that is to say the holy Ghost For as of drie Corne there cannot bee made any paste neither yet any bread without licour so we cannot of many be made one in Christ without that water which is from heauen Saint Cyprian Cypr. l. 1. Ep. 6 ad Magn. l. 2. Ep. 3. ad Caecil When as our Lord calleth his body bread made into dough by the mixing together of many graines he sheweth that our people the image whereof hee resembled is vnited together and made one And when he calleth the wine his bloud pressed out into one from diuers Grapes be signifieth in like manner our flocke ioyned together and made into one by the mixture Adunate multitudinis of an vnited multitude Now this vnion said Ireneus as it is spirituall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 August de Consecr D 2. c Qu a passus Ep. 57. ad Dardan so it is wrought by the spirit S. Denis The Minister saith he vncouering the bread that is couered and vndiuided and parting it into many peeces and distributing the Cup vnto all multiplieth and distributeth the vnitie mystically c. Saint Augustine And you saith hee are there at the Table and in the Cup you are with vs. Againe Christ is the head of this body This is the communion which the members haue with the head The vnitie of this body is recommended vnto vs by our sacrifice this is the communion of the members amongst themselues Being the same that the Apostle hath signified saying We are all one bread and one bodie c. Chrysostome What doe I speaking of Communion wee are the body it selfe For what is the bread Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. the body of Christ And what are they made which receiue the same The body of Christ not many bodies but one body For as the bread is made into one lumpe by the kneading of many graines together and that in
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
midst of you c. Yea to frustrate and disapoint them euerie manner of way whether his purpose and intention stand good or not For if he be nothing bent that way then according to their doctrine hee consecrateth not neither is the Sonne of God communicated And neuerthelesse if he do consecrate yet they doe not communicate therein for they are alwaies subiect to doubt whether hee had any purpose and intention or not And whereas there is doubting there is no faith and where there is no faith there is nothing but sinne Now themselues are of this iudgement that hee cannot receiue the bodie of Christ which doth not belieue in him Now then what priuiledge hath the vertuous and godly man more then the wicked seeing that the intention or not intention of the Priest transubstantiateth or leaueth vntransubstantiated seeing that both the one the other are subiect to doubt of the intention therefore of the effect seeing that both the one and the other whether doubting or assured thereof do equally receiue or not receiue Likewise what shall become of their doctrine De opere operato That the thing profiteth and is auaileable in asmuch as it is onely performed and done not in regard of the person which doth it seeing that this whole mysterie dependeth now Ex opere operantis of the working and operation of the sacrificer Moreouer where shall the excellencie of this Sacrament aboue all other Sacraments bee found if the rest depend vppon the grace of God without any such necessitie of the intention of him that consecrateth as the greatest part of them doth hold of baptisme and of that pretended Sacrament of mariage c. On God I say whose intention and purpose neuer halteth or faileth neither yet by consequent the obiect of our faith the same not to speake any thing more sharpely and grieuously of the infirmity of man being subiect to faile euerie moment But further I would know what shal become of their priuate Masses Bonauent in Comp. Sacr. Theol. rubr 11. l. 8. Gabr. Biel. lect 6. lit C. seeing that Bonauenture Biel hold That besides the intent of him that consicrateth there is required the intent and purpose of him that instituteth and ordaineth that it is not sufficient for the Priest to haue an intent to consecrate if hee follow not the intent of Christ in this sacrament But Hugo and Biel the most part of the schoolmen are they not of iudgement that priuate Masse wherein there is no publike remembrance made of the death of Christ doth nothing at all agree with the mind of the institutor what consolation then can they of the Church of Rome haue in the Sacrament when in stead of nourishing of their faith they maintaine and feed doubt and vncertaintie when as after they haue beene well prepared they know not what they receiue the efficacie of the consecration being vnable to penetrate and pearce according to their doctrine in the Sacrament without this intention and purpose the man likewise not being able to pearce and see into the intent of the consecrating Priest by any meanes Thus in seeking to giue too much to the worthinesse of the Priest they haue taken away the effect of the Sacrament from God who onely worketh the same and from the people the profit and fruit which should come to them thereby Stella clericoruÌ„ and for which it was ordained And all this that they might be honoured in the dispensation of the mysteries of God more then God himselfe more then the Creator whose Creators and makers since the time of the entring of the doctrine of transubstantiation they haue not beene ashamed to professe themselues to be Now the old Church had neuer any such doctrine they did not at any time once thinke of calling of Christ out of heauen by multitude of wordes What is meant by consecrating they did attribute the communion of the bodie of Christ to the institution of our Lord to the operation of the holy Ghost and to the faith of the faithfull To consecrate in their language was to sanctifie that is to blesse that is to change a thing from the common vse to a holy and from a profane to a sacred which is accomplished by the word that is to say by the institution of the Lord which giueth it his efficacie Thus speaketh Saint Cyprian ordinarily That the bread and the wine of the holy Supper are sanctified by the word And S. Augustine expoundeth it saying Not for that it is spoken but for that it is belieued not the sound that flâ—eth away but the permanent and abiding power that is to say the operation of the spirit of God c. After the same manner haue all the ancient fathers written as S. Hillarie Isidor l. 6. Ambrose Ierome Gregorie c. Isidore in like sort By the commandement of Christ we call his bodie and his bloud that which is sanctified of the fruites of the earth and made a Sacrament by the inuisible operation of the spirit of God c. In which sence the prophane Authors vsed also the word Consecration Promiscui vsus Cornelius Fronto saith Consecrated that is that which is made holy or turned to a holy vse being before prophane that is to say of a common vse But God forbid that our Lord should make the communion of his bodie which he offereth vnto vs subiect either to the sound of words or to the intent mind of him that vttereth them The ministers as were also the Apostles are made for the church not the church for them yea they are the ministers and not the Lords thereof they are not dispensers of their owne mysteries but of Christs yet which is more not of Christes mysteries but of the signes of his mysteries onely 1. Cor. 13. no more then they are of faith which commeth of the hearing of the worde notwithstanding that they minister the word to vs God hauing reserued vnto himselfe the gift of faith to worke the same by the effectuall power of his spirit as a dispensation only from his grace being no more depending on him that ministreth then tied to the signes which hee ministreth c. God verily saith to Moses And thou shalt sanctifie it c. Leuit 3. August in quaest in Leui. But he saith also in another place I am the Lord which do sanctifie it S. Augustine demandeth thereupon How can it be that both the Lord and Moses should do it Verily saith he Moses by the visible sacraments by his ministerie but the Lord by his inuisible grace by his spirit as that wherein lieth all the fruit and benefit of the visible sacraments So Iohn Baptist the greatest amongst those that are borne of women saith the Lord baptised with water but the gift of the spirit was of Christ And by the ministerie of Paul and Apollos many belieued but the gift of faith by which man belieueth
deed elsewhere he saith plainly That Iudas did not sup with our Lord For saith he he could not drink there with him which should not drinke with him in his kingdome seeing that he promised to al theÌ„ that drunk then of the fruit of this vine that they should drinke afterward with him The same that S. Clement hath said vnto vs before from the report of the Apostles Note of the fruit of this Vine not of the accidents of wine not of the bloud of Christ really but Sacramentally But they obiect a place vnto vs wherein I heartily wish more conscience in them and vnto the Reader that he would take the pains to reade it through for the better obseruing of the rule of this same Doctor therein That the things which are said must bee vnderstood by the causes that moued and procured such things to be said So saith he the word was truely made flesh Idem ibid. and we as verily and truly doe receiue the word flesh by the meate of the Lord How can we but iudge that he abideth naturally in vs Where they vnderstand by Cibum Dominiâ— The meate of the Lord the Eucharist and by abiding or dwelling naturally in vs to receiue the bodie of Christ really at our mouthes And these are the points which we are to examine Saint Hillarie dealeth here against the Arrians The Father saith S. Hillarie and the Sonne are one Euen so said they but yet so one as we are one with Christ Now that we are one with Christ it is of his free will not of our nature and in will not in nature the Father and the Sonne are also one Saint Hillarie then to proue vnto them that the Father and the Sonne were one in nature proueth vnto them that we are one in nature with Christ and he handleth it after this sort First that there is the same humane nature in Christ and in vs by the incarnation of the Sonne of God which he calleth the Sacrament of perfect vnitie the Sacrament of flesh and bloud and by which Naturalis communionis propriet as nobis indulgetur The propertie of the naturall communion is giuen vnto vs by our Lord Vsing the word Sacrament for the Mysterie in the worke of the incarnation as it is his ordinarie vse to doe a manner of speech verie familiar at that time as we reade in the conference betwixt the Catholiks and Donatists where Marcelline who did sit as President and chiefe Iudge for the Emperour Honorius doth sweare By the misterie of the Trinitie and by the Sacrament of the Lords incarnation c. In the second place that besides this nature which the faithfull and vnfaithfull are alike partakers of with our Lord there is a special and more particular coniunction which is wrought by the spirit of Christ dwelling in the faithfull which regenerateth quickneth sanctifieth maketh them conformable vnto him and transformeth them into him for proofe whereof he alleadgeth the 6.14 and 17. of S. Iohn which our aduersaries will not denie to belong to the spirituall eating of the faithfull onely And this he maketh more cleare when hee addeth that the cause of our life is by Christ dwelling naturally in vs by his fleshe vniting vs vnto himselfe and by himselfe vnto God the father That Christ is in vs by the truth of his nature that hee dwelleth in vs naturally we being made by this most strait bond of vnion flesh of his flesh sucking our life from his spirit And this he further declareth by sundrie sorts of speeches tending all to one sence and meaning That we communicate his flesh To mingle in vs the nature of his flesh To be naturally in vs and we in him And this our aduersaries themselues wil confesse that it cannot be said of the vngodly and by consequent that it cannot appertaine to the Sacramentall or orall eating that is to say to the eating of the mouth Ad hereunto that he which saith that he is naturally in vs saith also Hilar. de Trinit l. 8. That we are naturally in him But naturally we are not in him as being in him carnally or really but as grafted by faith into his body so neither is Christ by this argument carnally and corporally in vs. Thirdly he alleadgeth vnto vs as a testimonie of his holy vnion the supper of our Lord when he saith that we receiue verily and truely the word flesh Cibo Dominico By the meate of the Lord that is to say the flesh of the word the word incarnate the flesh of the Sonne of God by the instrument of the bread of the Eucharist that is because it is a Sacrament exhibiting this flesh exhibiting the grace represented by the signe which consisteth in this vniting of vs with Christ The same which he calleth Sub mysterio Christi carnem sumere To receiue the flesh of Christ in a misterie that is to say signified in this misticall pledge And thus all this maketh nothing for the matter of bread or the Indiuiduum vagum transubstantiated into the body For otherwise it would fall out that throughout all Saint Hillarie his discourse Christ should be auouched and taught to abide in the bread naturally and corporally And if corporally and naturally then verily contrarie to the nature and properties of a body yea contrarie to the coÌ„dition of those which S. Hillarie acknowledgeth to be in the body of Christ For saith he in an other place He taketh away the foolish sottish rashnesse of some who contend that our Lord was seene in the flesh Idem in Psal 137. in the shape of a counterfeit body c. Not remembring themselues that after the Resurrection of the body it was said to the Apostles who thought it had beene a spirit See my hands my feet c. And by a false or counterfeit body he meaneth one that hath not all the ordinarie conditions of a body For in an other place expounding these words The Sonne of man which is in heauen c. hee euidently putteth difference betwixt the natures in Christ Idem de Trinit l. 10. Idem in Psal 1â—4 l. 8. de Trinit by finite and infinite being in one place and being euerie where c. That he is the Sonne of man saith he it is of the birth and bringing forth of that flesh which he tooke of the Virgine That he is in heauen and yet neuerthelesse vpon earth it is through the power of that nature which abideth for euer Againe Hee is present to them which call vpon him faithfully but by his diuine nature and spirit that pearceth and containeth all things He is in vs but we haue to vnderstand that this is by the holy Ghost c. And after the same manner hee expoundeth the place I am with you vnto the end of the world c. And thus wee are come without any Transubstantiation or doctrine comming neere therunto euen to the time of the first generall
Idem in Psal 33.1 2. Ierm And how was he carried in his own hands Because that recommending his body his bloud he took into his hands that which the faithful know that is to say the bread and the cup and so he carried himselfe after a certaine maner saying This is my body c. Now let them expound vnto vs what is the meaning of this Quodammodo C. Hocest quod De Consecr D 2. Idem Ep. 118. c. 3 after a certaine sort except it be Sacramentally Or as the Canon saith Improperly not in truth but in a misterie To the end saith he that the sence may bee It is called the body of Christ that is to say it signifieth it He compareth say they the deuotion wherwith it ought to be honoured to that of the Centurion who said vnto our Lord I am not worthie that thou shouldest come vnder my roofe c. But to what purpose if we receiue but the signe Where as we take the thing by faith and the signe with the hand As the Centurion receiued the Lord corporally vnder this roofe and spiritually and by faith in his soule and corporally without faith vnto condemnation spiritually by faith vnto saluation according to that which Saint Augustine saith in an other place That the Virgine is not vnâ—happy Idem in ps 98. because shee did conceiue and beare our Lord in her wombe but by faith in her soule But he hath said say they Worship his footstoole and thereby he meaneth his flesh And of his flesh he saith That no man doth eate it that hath not first worshipped it This is not then the bread And who doubteth that wee ought not to worship the flesh of Christ vnited hypostatically to the Deitie And that no man can eate it which doth not belieue it and that no man can belieue it which doth not worship it and that no man can truely worship it except that hee belieue it And is not this same against our transubstantiators which teach that the wicked eate it Of those I speake which can neither worship nor belieue it But to worship it is to worship it in heauen and not in the bread lifting vp our spirits on high and not casting downe our eyes vpon the earth And this is it that wee dispute Not saith S. Augustine the signe that is seene Idem de doctr Christ l. 3. c. 9. and which goeth away but that whereunto it ought to bee referred But let them blush and bee ashamed that they haue not added there to that which followeth Vpon what ground so euer thou fallest downe to worship looke not down vnto the earth but vp to the holy one whose foot stoole it is Idem in Psal 98. that is to say the humanitie of Christ And when thou worshippest him let not thy thoughts rest in the flesh and without being quickned by the spirit for it is the spirite that quickneth c. And this is the cause why our Lord said to the twelue c. Vnderstand sptritually that which I haue said you shall not eate this body which you see neither shall you drinke this my bloud which they shall shed that shall crucifie me I haue inioyned you by commandement to vse a certaine Sacrament which spiritually vnderstood will giue you life c. Had it not therfore beene better for them that they had left this place vnremembred They cite an other place That which is taken from the fruits of the earth saith hee consecrated by misticall prayer let vs take for the spirituall saluation in remembrance of the passion of our Lord Idem de Trin. l. 3. c. 4. c. it is not sanctified to be so great a Sacrament but by the inuisible operation of the holy Ghost And what is there heere for any man to doubt of As though there were no other operation of the holy Ghost but Transubstantiation For is not regeneration in Baptisme a marueilous worke also of the holy Ghost Wherein notwithstanding the water in his substance receiued not any chaunge But as for that which hee saith of the fruites of the earth and that they are made a great Sacrament they should haue learned that for to continue Sacraments they also continued fruites of the earth and for to continue fruites of the earth they did also continue Sacraments that is to say sacred signes of the grace of God And such like and lesse forcible to proue any thing are these places following It is one Passeouer which the Iewes celebrate as yet with a lamb idem contr li. Pet. l. 2. c. 37. It is an other which we receiue of the body bloud of our Lord. And who denieth it euen since the true Lamb which hath caused to cease the tipical or figuratiue and which hath take froÌ„ it both the thing and also the Sacrament Againe In stead of all the old sacrifices the body of Christ Idem de ciuit Dei l. 17. c. 20 is offered and administred to them which are partakers thereof Or who doubteth of this point And how oft hath it beene told them that the question is of the manner And in the end Idem apud Yuon Carnut Serm. ad Neophyt Idem de doct Christ l. 3. c. 16 they would find it in a place cited by Yuon Bishop of Charters Take and receiuean the bread that which was hanged vpon the Crosse and in the Cup that which issued out of the body of Christ And what is this but the same that he said to the children as here hee speaketh vnto Nouices or new conuerted Christians These things are called Sacraments because that therein one thing is seene and an other vnderstood Communicate in the passion of our Lord and keepe fast in your memories that his flesh was crucified and pearced through for you And yet this place is not found in his workes but alleadged by the said Yuon of Chartres Let onely the sound Reader iudge here what swaie or force these places can afford amongst so manie others by which they are most clearely and planely expounded Cyrill Patriarke of Alexandria giueth vs these Maximes Cyril Anâ—t 12 Our Misterie is not an Anthropophagie that is to say consisteth not in eating of mans flesh we must not set the spirits of the faithfull in the scrole of these grosse conceites beeing occupied in things that are receiued by a pure exquisite and onely faith c. Christ entreth into vs by faith and dwelleth in vs by the holy Ghost for the holy Ghost is not separated from the Sonne c. Cyril 3. c. 24. l. 11. in Ioh. Idem in Leuit. l. 7. Idem in Ioh. l. 3. c. 24. If thou stand perswaded according to the letter in that which is said If you eate not the flesh c. this letter dooth slate thee but if thou be perswaded to vnderstand it spiritually there is the spirit of life to bee found therein c. The only begotten Sonne
of God is the true bread which giueth life to euerie thing As the earthly bread sustaineth the weaknesse of our flesh so he quickneth our spirits by the holy Ghost and deliuereth the body from corruption that is to say according to that which hath beene said so oft to make vs partakers of the resurrection of life Againe This flesh Idem l. 4. c. 14. 16.17 or this body is made aliue because it is by a certaine vnspeakable maner ioyned to the Sonne of God by whom al things are quickned made aliue And hereupon when we eate this flesh we haue life in vs in as much as we be ioyned vnto him in that we are the body and members of Christ in that by the blessing of the misterie we receiue the Sonne of God himselfe And it is necessarie if any man receiue the flesh and bloud of Christ that he bee so coupled to him as that Christ be found in him and hee in Christ c. To eate then the flesh of Christ with S. Cyril is to belieue in Christ it is to haue him dwelling in him liuing in him by his spirit to bee a member of Christ and one with Christ c. And he that hath not Christ in him doth not eate his flesh neither yet drink his bloud c. How can this agree with the pretended eating of the mouth They obiect vnto vs that he saith vpon S. Iohn Idem in Ioh. l. 11. Wee are vnited and made one with God the Father by the mediation of our Sautour for wee receiue corporally and substantially the Sonne of God naturally vnited to the Father and thus we are glorified beeing made partakers of the supreme nature c. which is properly spoken of the incarnation which he calleth a misterie as S. Hillarie a Sacrament And withall let them not dissemble and passe ouer S. Cyril his Exposition vpon this sentence I am the Vine and you are the braunches which is in such sort as S. Hillarie hath expounded it before and to the same sence That the drift that Cyril shoteth at is very cleare and euident to them that will reade the place And that as to be vnited to Christ according to the spirit is to haue the spirit of Christ regenerating his so to be corporally vnited vnto him or according to the body is to bee ioyned to his body and to become members of his body made conformable to him in this life by the beginning of sanctification and spirituall life waiting and attending till we bee perfected in him that is to say glorified in the celestiall life Now saith hee this vnion is made by faith and cherished and strengthned by the eating of his flesh and drinking of his bloud and that he that eateth and drinketh them is in Christ and Christ in him c. Hee vnderstandeth then that this corporall and substantiall vnion is wrought by a spirituall eating by that pure and exquisite faith which he requireth and not by the corporall which is common to vs with many drie rotten members euen the vngodly infidels of whom it cannot be said that Christ is in theÌ„ or they in Christ And in deed he hath ther to deale against heretiks which pretended Christ was not called a Vine according to his humanitie but according to his deitie He holding on the contrarie that the faithfull are made partakers of the nature of Christ as the braunches doe communicate with the Vine by the participation of his spirit Affiâ—i c. And this is that which he saith That they are fastned to Christ as the braunches to the Vine firmely and substantially ioyned and glued to him by his spirit That they are made braunches in as much as they are regenerate and in as much as the roote doth impart vnto them his qualities They bring foorth fruit in as much as they hang vppon the Vine ioyned to the same by faith and holinesse Idem in Ioh. l. 10. c. 13. and nourished and fed vp to eueâ—ie vertue by his holy spirit c. In a word altogether as he saith That Christ is corporally in vs in like manner saith he as wee are corporally in Christ Now our bodies are not corporally in Christ but wee are grafted thereinto by faith neither then is the body of Christ corporally in vs but spiritually receiued by faith Now of conscience can this be vnderstood of an eating which is made by the mouth or that can be done but by those that are truely faithfull So that in Cyrill to be corporally ioyned is not after the manner as they are wont vsually to take it in the Schooles Ratione modi sed ratione obiecti that is to say to bee conioyned by the meanes of the body but to be ioyned to the body And in deed he declareth this coniunction by a place in the Corinthians where the faithfull are called the members of Christ that is to say inseparably ioyned to the body of Christ and not verily by the body but saith he by the mediation of his spirit As also by that place of Saint Iohn where wee agree and are of iudgement that it is spoken of the spirituall eating and not of the corporall But I would intreate the Reader to reade the whole place that hee may the better iudge of counterfeited and cloaked dealing They obiect in the meane time the Synod of Ephesus wherein Cyrill was president We come saith hee vnto the misticall blessings and are sanctified being made partakers of the holy body and precious bloud of Christ c. not receiuing it as a common flesh which God forbid neither yet as the flesh of a sanctified man c. but as that which is become the verie flesh of the word or eternall Sonne of God And who would haue them to doubt of this But the question is not of the obiect of our Communion but of the manner And behold thus he expoundeth it When saith hee they had heard If you eate not my flesh c. they were troubled c. Because saith he they had not as yet bene made acquainted with the forme and most goodly administration of this misterie Idem in Ioh. l. 12. c 58. That is as he saith to Euoptius That we must not handle or deale with that which is not gotten but by pure and onely faith according to the conceipts of mans braine That the bodie of our Lord is not common although the nature of the diuine word bee not eaten That the participation of this misterie is a true confession and remembrance that the Lord is dead for the loue of vs and that he is risen againe for vs and that by occasion thereof he filleth vs with his diuine blessings Finally that the operation of the Sacrament is not wrought in the bread Idem in Leuit. 15. or wine but in vs but in our soules For saith hee in an other place the Lord saith Take eate and not keepe it reserue it till
to morrow c. And this is to bee noted against hereafter and for that there bee some that alleadge it vnder the name of Origen And that the effect thereof is the dwelling of Christ in vs by his spirit But saith hee he entreth into vs by faith Theodoret Theodor. dial 1. who was present at the Councel of Ephesus and Chalcedon decideth this question dealing against the Eutichians saying Our Lord giuing the misteries called the bread body and the wine wherein the sop had beene dipped bloud Then the Orthodoxe brought in in that Dialogue yeeldeth a reason to the Erranist that is to him that disputed with him and maintained the errour saying Verily hee chaunged the names giuing to the body the name of the signe and to the signe the name of the body And that in the same manner that he called himselfe a Vine he called the signe bloud And againe hee giueth the reason To the end saith he that they which are partakers of the diuine misteries doe not rest themselues vppon the nature of things which are seene but that because of the chaunge of the names they belieue the chaunge which is wrought by grace For he that calleth his naturall body corne and bread c. hath honoured the visible notes and signes with the name of his bodie and bloud not by chaunging their nature but by adding grace to their nature c. Which is as much as if he should say vnto vs that This is my body This is my bloud should be expounded by these wordes of the same our Lord I am the bread of heauen I am the stocke of the vine c. In an other place Idem Dial. 2. The mysticall signes saith the Orthodoxe which are offered to God by the ministers of God are the signes of the bodie and bloud of our Lord. But saith he to the Erranist Thou hast entangled thy selfe in thine owne snares for they forsake not their owne natures after the sanctification but abide in their first substance figure forme palpable and to be felt as before c. And he that shall compare Bellarmines answeres by his sensible Accidentes with the text of Theodoret which is worthie the reading throughout shall find them altogether fond and friuolous In the meane time we con him heartie thankes Gelas de duab natur in Christ for that he so freely confesseth that Gelasius whether hee were Pope or Bishop of Cesarea is of the same opinion with Theodoret as he was also liuing in the same time Certainly saith hee it is a diuine thing as also the Sacramentes of the bodie and bloud of Christ which we receiue for thereof and by them we are made partakers of the diuine nature and notwithstanding they cease not to bee the substances of bread and wine And verily the image and semblance of the bodie and bloud of Christ are celebrated in the action of the Sacraments Note Image and semblance that is to say The figure and not the thing Againe Which abide in their first substance of bread and wine Is it enough to say that by the word substance he vnderstood accidents Leo the first Bishop of Rome Leo 1. ep 23. ad Cler. pleb Constant In the mysticall distribution of the spirituall food that is giuen that is taken to the end that receiuing the vertue of this celestiall meate we might be turned into his flesh which is made our flesh Looke how many words there be so many breaches are there made vpon transubstantiation Mysticall distribution that is to say sacramentall Spirituall food the vertue of the heauenly meate to bee turned or chaunged into his flesh which is made our flesh For this is not wrought by any disgesting of the flesh as they pretend They obiect againe for the rest will carrie the question away Idem serm 6. dereiunio 7. mens That is receiued in at the mouth which is belieued by faith And therefore say they it is receiued in at the mouth whereas wee on the contrarie expound him by S. Augustine Thou takest the bread of the Lorde in at thy mouth if thou belieuest with thy heart Thou takest the bread of the Lord to thy condemnation if thou belieuest not And thus that which thou belieuest by faith thou receiuest at thy mouth be it vnto thy condemnation or be it vnto thy saluation Hesychius If his bodie had not beene crucified we should not haue eaten him Hesychius in Leuit. l. 1. c. 2. l. 2. c. 8. l. 6. c. 22 for the meat that we now eate is that wee receiue the memoriall of his passion Againe Hee forbiddeth vs once to thinke or conceiue any earthly or carnall thing of the holy thinges and commandeth vs to receiue them diuinely and spiritually c. And it was a custome in his time as he himselfe testifyeth To burne all that which remained of the Sacrament in the fire An argument that they had not receiued any such opinion in the Church then as is at this day But they haue a conceipt that they shall reape a better crop out of Eusebius Emissenus not that Greeke of whome S. Ierome speaketh for seeing he speaketh of the Pelagians it cannot be he but the author of the sermon De corpore Domini a Latine no doubt whome some take to bee Faustus Rhegiensis others Caesarius and the later writers some one some an other but both of them Abbots of Lirin Let vs heare him Let all doubting or wauering of faith depart far away from vs. Herein we agree C. Quia corpus de consec D. 2. This sacrifice must be in deed by faith not by the outward appearance by the inward affection not by the outward sight And in that also But say they The inuisible Priest chaungeth his visible creatures into the substance of his bodie and bloud by his word by a hidden and secret power Marke the inuisible Priest and not the visible or minister But so it is say they that he chaungeth it euen in conscience taking these wordes after the letter would they subscribe vnto them could they approue them by their owne Maximes That it is an errour yea an heresie to hold that the bread may be made the bodie of Christ that it may be turned into the bodie of Christ Against their Glose also vpon the word Conuertantur which expressely condemneth disaluoweth this proposition De paue fit corpus Christi and alleadgeth the inconueniences thereof c. Let vs then expound him by himselfe and not by our preiudicate opinions In the Sacrament saith he seeing that our Lord remoued his bodie farre away from our eies it was necessarie that he should consecrate the Sacrament of his bodie and bloud in the day of the Supper To the end saith he that Coleretur iugiter per mysterium C. Semel Christ de consecr D. 2. that might be continually celebrated by a mysterie which had beene once offered for the price of our redemption and that as
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
Christians should not haue anie other meanes to touch Christ but with their handes or to eate him but with their teeth seeing that the virgine is not blessed for hauing conceiued him in her wombe nor Simeon for hauing receiued him into his armes but rather by hauing belieued in him What shall wee say then to these good Fathers Verily the same that they say vnto vs themselues Ambr. in serm 58. de Mar. Magdal in Luc. l. 10. c. 24 Augu. de cognit ver vit c. 40. Wee worshippe Christ as wee touch him And Wee touch him saith Saint Ambrose not with a bodily touching but by faith After the same manner sayeth hee That Saint Stephen on earth saw and touched Christ in heauen Yea saith Saint Augustine Hee saw him being vnder the roofe of the seate of iudgement which hee pearsed through saith hee and the heauens aboue the same and therefore with the eyes of the spirite Wee worshippe him in the mysteries but not the mysteries in the Sacrament but not the Sacrament the Creator in the creature sanctified but not the creature For Saint Ambrose which calleth it a creature Thou hast seene saith he the Sacraments vppon the Altar Chrysost in Marc. hom 14 Ep. 120. c. 21. Psal 21. Thou hast admired this creature howbeit a wonted and well knowne creature c. had neuer counselled vs to worshippe and adore the creature So likewise sayeth Saint Chrysostome That wee worshippe Christ in the Sacrament of Baptisme Saint Ierome That Paula had worshipped him in the cribbe was it euer in these mens mindes to say that they had worshipped the water or the cribbe Or would they haue said therefore that either the water or the cribbe were transubstantiated into Christ But they ought therefore to haue added that which followeth in S. Augustine Worship him for he is holy And who is this that is holy Euen he saith he for whose loue and sake thou worshippest the stoole c. that is to say the flesh of Christ the humanitie of Christ And when thou worshippest it rest not thy thoughtes vppon the flesh least then thou shouldest not bee quickened by the spirite c. And this same good and sound faith is set forth in another place of Saint Augustine which they alleadge and that somewhat more commendablie For in the place where it is saide Rich men were brought to the table of the Lord they tooke the bodie and bloud But they did but onely worship they were not filled full c. that is because they contented themselues to make profession of his name without conforming of themselues vnto Christ And this he declareth by these wordes Non saturati sunt sicut pauperes vsque ad imitationem They were not filled and fedde full as were the poore to the conforming of themselues vnto him They are not ashamed to adde Illud that so they may make him say Hardingus That they worshipped the bodie and the bloud and not simplie They worshipped And some one amongst them hath added as drawing the text to a further length They haue acknowledged that Christ was there present The same impudencie shoulde thrust him forwarde and cause him to adde Reallie corporallie and Per modum transubstantiationis c. They would faine bee beholden to Theodoret and as we haue seene there is not any one more against them for he hath told vs That the signes are not changed that they continue in their nature and substance c. And their greatest Doctors are of iudgement that there cannot be had any adoration without transubstantiation He saith therefore And yet notwithstanding these same signes of breade and wine which retaine their first substance are vnderstoood belieued and worshipped as though they were the things which they are belieued to be Worshipped therefore as they are vnderstoode and as they are belieued that is Vt Antitypa ratione prototypi as signes in respect of that which is signified As the Councell of Nice II. speaketh of images no respect being had to that which they are but to that which they represent For likewise Theodoret calleth them Images in the words next ensuing Compare saith he the patterne with the person and thou shalt see therein the similitude likenes for it is requisite that the figure should resemble the veritie Now the images of any thing whatsoeuer are not worshipped with that worship which is due to God and by consequent to adore or worship in Theodoret can not be any other thing then to honor reuerence receiue with reuerence which we most willingly yeeld vnto the Sacraments Proofes out of the fathers Clem. Constit l. 2. c. 6. August de Trinit l. 3. c. 10 De catechism rud c. 26. Idem de doct Christ l. 3. c. 9 And of a truth this is the same that the fathers teach vs. S. Clement if those be his books That all do take in order the precious body and bloud of our Lord drawing softly thereunto with feare reuerence as to the bodie of a king S. Augustine The sacraments may be honoured as religious things And in another place As visible signes of diuine things wherin the inuisible things are honoured and not as common things seeing they are sanctified by the blessing Againe He that worshippeth a profitable signe instituted of God and whereof hee vnderstandeth the power and signification doth not worship that which is seene and passeth away but rather that vnto which all such things ought to be referred Where it is to be noted that he vseth the words of adoring reuerencing indifferently that he referreth them not to the signes but to the things signified And a little after he giueth for an example the sacrament of Baptisme Idem de bono perseuer l. 2. c. 13. the celebration of the bodie bloud of our Lord and of this by name he saith That that which is said Sursum corda is to admonish vs to pray vnto God that he would lift vp our harts to ascend and taste the things that are on high where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God Not the thinges that are vppon earth God saith hee to whome wee must render thankes for so great a thing c. And when likewise it shall haue at any time escaped any of the fathers to say altogether rawlie which yet hath not at anie time J worshippe the excellencie of the Sacrament What other thing should this bee but of the same sence with that which Tertullian saith I adore the fulnes or sufficiencie of the scriptures Of the scriptures because there God speaketh vnto vs giueth the effectnall working of the spirit c. And yet they are not God neither are they adored or worshipped as God Of the Sacrament then in like manner seeing it pleaseth God therein to giue and in a neere and straite manner to communicate himselfe with vs and yet not therefore God but the instrument of the grace of God to be reuerenced
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
he would and that because it was his will where he taketh for graunted the thing that is in question Although it bee the figure of bread and wine notwithstanding after the consecration we must altogether belieue that it is the body and bloud of Iesus Christ And al his arguments are drawne from the omnipotencie of God without any proofe of his will But would the masters of Transubstantiation approue and like of these words Paschas ad Prudeg The bread and wine are the flesh and bloud of Christ And yet notwithstanding he is much troubled in himselfe when hee considereth That there must be in the Lords supper the figure and notwithstanding the truth And how the one may bee without the preiudice of the other c. In so much as that he is forced to say That it is no maruaile if this mysterie be a figure and if the wordes thereof bee called figures seeing that Christ himselfe is called an ingrauen forme and figure Ideâ— de Corp. Sang. Dom. l. 4. euen hee which is the truth it selfe That we belieue that that is done spiritually and that we ought so to belieue it to be That he is offered for vs mystically That wee walke by faith and not by sight That our Lord hath left vs these visible figures ascending vp to heauen to feede our spirite and fleshe by faith in spirituall things c. Neuerthelesse notwithstanding the resistances and oppositions of the most learned the abuse ceased not to spread it selfe further into diuers countries abroad because that the ignorant people who haue alwaies the stronger side did perceiue and see that both authoritie and profit would grow vnto them therby We read by name that in England there rise a great schisme betwixt Odo Archbishop of Canterburie assisted by the meaner and inferiour sort of Priestes being the parties affecting Transubstantiation and the most learned of his Cleargie To whose arguments and places alleadged out of the Fathers hee opposeth authoritie and force And secondly to winne the Idiots and simple people he vseth illusions and false myracles whereof these ignorant ages did neuer want good store This was about the yeare nine hundred and fiftie But in Fraunce Berengarius Deane of Saint Maurice of Augiers about the yeare 1050. Anno 1050. Lauâ—ranc con Berengar displaieth againe the ensigne of truth and writeth a Treatise of the Lords Supper whereof wee haue nothing more then it pleased Lanfrancus his aduersarie to cite in his writings against him And yet notwithstanding such as that thereby he doth neither iniurie the truth nor his good name although he make it euident and apparant enough that hee hath not forgotten to weaken and detract from the force of his reasons so much as he possibly could This Berengarius therefore writ priuily to Lanfrancus a Millaner then Abbot of Bec-Heloin in Normandie what hee thought of the holy supper Lanfrancus being absent his Canons did open the letter and sent it to Rome In it he praised the booke of Iohannes Scotus written in the time of Charlemaine The letter is made knowne in a Synod holden at Rome and condemned the Author being neuer heard Lanfrancus is inioyned to refute it if so be he would cleare himselfe of all suspition of hauing any part in that pretended errour which was so much the more because of such intelligences as did in verie familiar sort passe betwixt him and Berengarius Scotus his booke was burnt two hundred and fiftie yeares after his death Berengarius continueth his vertuous course and had for his Disciples and followers diuers great personages in Fraunce amongst others Freward and Waldus Knights c. A thing verie likely seeing that the Popes otherwise more curious and carefull about worldly complaints then studious in questions of Diuinitie did so much molest and trouble them Leo the ninth therefore called a Councell at Verscillis in Piemont and came thither himselfe in person Berengarius durst not appeare but sent thither onely two of his friends to tender his reasons who were easily made afraid The Councell of Rome thereupon became the more emboldned and gaue order notwithstanding that the French Church should assemble a Councell at Towrs to cause Berengarius to stoope and become subiect This was in the time of Pope Victor the second and there was Hildebrand afterward Gregorie the seuenth on his behalfe the most violent and head-strong Prelate that euer liued There appeared Berengarius who declared vnto them That he did not teach bare and naked signes in the Eucharist but that the bread and wine there vsed were most vndoubted pledges and seales of the reall Communion in the true bodie and bloud of our Lord which all those haue and there receiue which take these signes with a true faith That the bread and wine notwithstanding doe not chaunge their substances but rather of common ones are made holy ones of elements Sacraments c. And that to conclude hee held for other matters as all the auncient Fathers haue written and according also to the sence and meaning of the Lithurgie ordinarily read in the Church c. Thus the Councell rested satisfied at his hands But Pope Nicholas II. perceiuing that this doctrine was on foote againe cited Berengarius to Rome the second time to appeare in the Consistorie of Lateran and thither hee came being drawne and allured by faire and flattering speeches The first argument that was framed against him was that if he did not retract his former opinions he should be burnt and thereupon Humbert the Burgonian afterward Cardinall drew a reuocation such as we reade in the Decree That hee doth confesse C. Ego Berengar de consec d. 2. that after the Consecration the bread and wine are the verie bodie and bloud of Christ That they are there sensibly and in truth handled with the hands of the Priests broken and brused with the teeth of the faithfull c. And that hee curseth all them which doe iudge otherwise c. that is to say the whole Romish Church at this day which holdeth these propositions for hereticall That the bread is the bodie that the bodie is brused with the teeth c. Lanfranc de Sacr. Alger Where it is also to be noted that he saith Of the faithfull not of all those that are partakers thereof a remnant and small parcell of the pure doctrine and a signe of the as yet imperfect deliuerie and teaching of the impure and corrupt And therefore the Glose of the Decree addeth thereunto Beware least thou shouldest not rightly vnderstand that which Berengarius saith here and so shouldest fall into greater and more grosse heresies then euer he did And the Glose vpon the Canon Vtrum hath these words C. Vtrum de consecr d 2. ex August vbi Glos It is not lawfull to eate Christ with the teeth Berengarius saith hee said the contrarie but hee spoke hyberbolically and went beyond the listes of the
and drinking the bloud of Christ in the holy Supper Sine conuersione panis in corpus Christi vel paneitatis adnihilatione without chaunging of the bread into the bodie and the reducing of the bread into nothing that is saith hee in as much as God can quamcunque creaturam suppositare chaunge or vnite himselfe hypostatically vnto any creature whatsoeuer c. In which meane time saith hee The breade shoulde continue breade and the bodie should bee with the bread c. And yet notwithstanding this his Chymera and monstrous broode hee was not published an hereticke Card. Caiet t. 2. tr 2 c. 3. 5 because that euerie one was as yet admitted and suffered to bring his determination and conclusion concerning the same The Cardinall Caietan clearely and plainely It is a most manifest and notorious vntruth that the bodie of Christ may bee taken corporally but in deede Diuines teach that hee is taken or receiued spiritually and yet not by taking or receiuing but by belieuing Fisher Bishop of Rochester otherwise called Roffensis writing against Luther Ioh. Fisher cont Captiuit Babilonie Hitherto saith hee S. Mathew speaketh who alone hath spoken of the new Testament Neither hath he therein any one word by which it may bee proued that in our Masse there is wrought a true presence of the flesh and bloud of Christ. Nay saith he a little after It cannot bee proued by any part in all the Scripture The Cardinall Contaron in the Colloque of Ratisbone in the yeare 1541. vpon this that the place of Pope Gelasius was alleadged vnto him That the nature and substance of bread and wine continue in the Sacrament was not able to answere any thing to the contrarie In the Colloque of Poissi in this Realme holden in the yeare 1561. betwixt the Bishops and the Doctors of the Church of Rome and the Ministers of the reformed Churches it was agreed vpon in these words We confesse that Iesus Christ in his holy supper dooth set before giue and exhibite vnto vs verily and truely the substance of his bodie and bloud by the operation of his holy spirit and that wee receiue and eate Sacramentally spiritually and by faith that verie body which aied for vs to bee bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh to the end we may be quickned and apprehend all that which shall bee requisite for our saluation And for as much as faith resting it selfe vpon the word of God effecteth and maketh present the things that are promised and that by this faith truely and in deed wee take the true naturall body and bloud of Iesus Christ by the power of the holy Ghost In this respect we confesse the presence of the body and bloud of the same Iesus Christ in the holy supper But the Vniuersitie of Sorbone at the Cardinall of Tournon his prouoking and pricking of them forward did disclaime and disauow such as did speake for them onely to the end that they might not giue this aduantage namely to haue failed by any maner of meanes Notwithstanding that those which had beene chosen for the conference and which had giuen their consent to vndertake this incounter were the most famous and notable men of the Cleargie as Charles Cardinall of Lorraine Cass in co nsult the Bishops of Valence and Sees and the Doctors Salignac Bouteiller and Despense Cassander in his consultation to the Emperour Maximilian the second vpon the controuersies of this time acknowledgeth That Transubstantiation both in name and effect is new and that it had beene better to haue held the auncient tearmes of the fathers And that also the abuses therein were come to that head as that they were verie neere vnto Idolatrie And in other of his writings hee deliuereth his mind to the like effect Index expurg p 36 37. 38. It is verie true that the fathers of Trent did appoint that all such should be raced out and defaced as did displease them To be short the Popes Legates from the time of Luther his first protestations being sent at sundrie times into Almainie Campegius Contaren and Caietan did make open profession of their dislike of this doctrine both to the Emperour and to the Princes as also in their conferences saying That things were miscaried both in this Article and in many others Onely the Councell of Trent that is to say the Pope in that Councell to make quicke dispatch and to the ende that there might not be any thing found that stood in need to be reformed would not haue it that there was any thing therein amis doing herein as in al other things cleane contrarie to Saint Peter who knowing acknowledged his fault and shewing himselfe most euidently thereby to bee the Sonne of perdition as one that in the brauerie of his mind would himselfe become a reprobate and draw all the world after him vnto destruction knowing it in the eminent and high place wherein he is The Doctors of this time do not agree amongst themselues Bellarm. l. 1 de sacr c. 18. l. 1 de Euchar. c. 10 11. Turrian sibi ipsi contrar 1 c 22. tract but not acknowledging it What then From the time of the holding of this Councell haue they agreed together and haue beene of one iudgement The Iesuites the stighlers of this doctrine yea amongst themselues This is the only thing which remaineth for vs now to looke vnto They stand exceedingly vpon these words Hoc est corpus meum and yet they are not agreed either amongst themselues nor euerie man in himselfe Bellarmine in one place calleth them Principtum productinum the producing principle Namely the body of Christ of bread And in an other place hee will not that Hoc should signifie the bread but the body of Christ by an identical proposition by a fond and foolish consequent But how can this thing be if he bee not hatcht but by the vertue of these words And not as he saith by the beginning but by the end of them Againe Hoc est Bellarme l. 1 de Euch. c. 11. is a word operatiue It followeth then that Hoe est is as much as to say hoc fiat this is that is to say This may bee made my bodie And yet for all this they will not graunt that it is any figuratiue speech neither yet will they that Est dooth signifie fiat but Est simply Who seeth not then that it must be a simple Enunciatiue and not a practicke as they speake or operatiue any longer Againe who saith that Hoc doth signifie the bread or the Cup Scarg l. 1. c. 5. pro sacrat Euchar Veget. de Miss f. 13. thes 23. fol. 7 thes 11. Bellarm l 3 Euchar. c 18 Veg. de re ali praesent thes 133. Scarg art 7. Turr. tr 1. c 22 Bellarm. l. 3. de Euch c 15 l. 1 c. 2 l 3. c 20. l 3 c. 6. Turr tr i. c. 18. who on the
sufficiently set out this doctrine My merite saith he is no other thing then the mercie of God I am not poore or spare of merites vntill such time as mercies begin to faile I will sing eternally And what Of mine owne righteous workes Nay O Lord I will call to mind thy righteousnesse alone for euen it also is mine For thou art become and made righteousnesse vnto me from God Should J feare that it will not be sufficient for both Nay this is no short cloake Idem Serm. 67.68 that is not able to couer two Thy righteousnesse is righteousnesse and indureth to all eternities This large and long lasting righteousnesse shall couer both thee and me for euer and in me a multitude of sinnes Idem Ep. 190. contr A bailar c. On the contrarie saith he Whereas merite hath forestalled and setled it selfe grace cannot find so much as a doore or any other place to enter at All that thou attributest to merites belongeth vnto the grace of God c. The children new borne stand not in need of merites for they haue the merites of Christ c. For saith he where as man wanted righteousnesse of his owne Aliunde the righteousnesse of an other was assigned vnto him Man was indebted and man paid the debt the satisfaction of one is imputed vnto all the head hath satisfied for the members Colossians 2. c. And what reason should there bee why our righteousnesse should not come from elswhere then from our selues seeing that our sinne came from elsewhere And should sinne be inherent in the seede of the sinner and righteousnesse separated from the bloud of our Sauiour Nay but as they died in Adam so they shall be quickned in Christ J am defiled of the one by the flesh but I take hold of the other by faith And if thou obiect vnto me the sinfulnesse of my birth and generation I set against it my regeneration my spiritual birth against my carnall birth Idem de Caenaâ—â—cmâ—ni Idem l. degrat liber arâ—it He that hath taken pittie vpon the sinner will not condemne the iust And righteous I may be bold to call my selfe but by the righteousnesse of Iesus Christ And what manner of righteousnesse The end of the Law is Christ in righteousnesse to all them that belieue seeing he is made righteousnesse vnto vs from God the father Now if hee haue beene made righteousnesse vnto me is not it mine The righteousnesse then of man consisteth in the bloud of the redeemer c. So farre forth as That it is impossible saith he that the least sinnes should be washed away otherwise then of Christ and by Christ c. And who is he that iustifieth himselfe but he that presumeth of other merites then his grace Incentura And this also is properly to be said to be he that knoweth not the righteousnesse of God it is hee onely that doth meritortous workes which hath made them vpon whome he may bestow them That which we call merites Via regni sed non causa regnandi is the nurcerie of hope the matches and matter to make charitie shine out the signes of a secret predestination the forerunners of a future felicitie and the way whereby to enter into the kingdome but not the cause of raigning c. In as much verily as the kingdome of heauen is an inheritance but the way to come thither is the feare of God manifested saith the Apostle in good workes which God hath prepared to the end that we should walke in them c. Whereby wee may iudge how farre Saint Barnard his doctrine is off from that of our Aduersaries in this point and yet it is not passing three hundred yeares since he writ when as he acknowledgeth no righteousnesse able to iustifie a sinner but the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to the sinner continually vsing this word of imputation whereat they stumble and whereto they oppose and set themselues so much He acknowledgeth not I say any merit but the merit of Christ nor any satisfaction but that which he made for vs vppon the Crosse And he maketh al this to be ours by faith alone Idem in Psal 91. Serm 9. Idem Serm. 10 15. as appeareth by that which followeth Let him saith hee that will pretend his merit it is good for me to put my hope in God God will saue them saith the Psalmist By what merits Heare what coÌ„meth after Because they haue hoped in him Hereby then consider their righteousnesse euen that which is of faith and not that which is of the Law Faith saith Great good things are prepared for the faithfull Hope These good things are reserued for me Charitie I runne thither ward as fast as I can c. In a word all the merit of man is that he haue his hope fixed in him which hath saued euery man c. Idem in Cantic Serm. 24. Epist 190. Whosoeuer findeth in himselfe remorce and compunction for his sinnes hungreth and thirsteth after righteousnesse Let him belieue in thee O Lord which iustifiest the wicked and he shall haue peace with God Being iustified saith he by faith onely For saith he the end of the Law is Christ vnto righteousnesse saith the Apostle vnto euerie belieuer c. CHAP. XIX That good workes are the gift of God and therefore cannot merit and to what vse or ende they serue according to the holy Scriptures and the fathers WHat then Are our workes vnprositable God forbid Whereunto good workes serue They are vnprofitable to iustifie thee before God and yet no doubt profitable to iustifie that is to say to testifie thy faith before the Church vnprofitable to make thee a Sonne to make thee an heyre but profitable liuely to set forth and truely to point out a Sonne a child of the promise in as much as thou liuest according to God in that thou indeuorest to edifie his elect and chosen For saith the Apostle wee are created in Christ vnto good workes which God hath prepared Eph. 2 2. Cor. 5. 1. Pet 2. to the end that we might walke in them He is dead he is risen againe for vs but it is to that end that wee may liue vnto him that we may die vnto sinne and liue vnto righteousnesse Hee hath deliuered vs from the seruitude of sinne and from the power of darknesse Rom 13. Iam. 2. 1. Timoth. 5. Rom. 8. but to the end that we might serue vnto righteousnesse that we might renounce the workes of darknesse and put on the armour of light Be cause that Faith without workes is dead Because that Who so saith that he knoweth God and doth not his commaundements is a lyer And because that Wee are debters to liue according to the spirit and not according to the flesh And therefore if we haue not loue The loue wee beare to God must not consider thereward but our obedience and dutiful regard Iohn 3.
we haue not faith we are not of God we haue nothing to pretend wherfore we haue any right or part in his inheritance But certainely that which we doe if we bee the true children of God we doe it not for the inheritaunce that were in some sort too seruile a thing but rather in consideration of the great bountifulnesse and louing kindnesse of God who hath so loued the world yea which hath in particular so loued vs as to haue giuen his onely Sonne vnto death to the end that belieuing in him we might haue eternall life Who furthermore hath manifested this secrete vnto vs hath giuen vs to belieue therein hath iustified vs in his Sonne and hath sanctified vs by his holy spirit because that this great loue and fauour of God towards vs most miserable wretches ought to beget a loue in vs which may mak vs to loue him alone and that for himselfe which may cause vs to renounce our selues for him and which may make vs loue our neighbours in him Not to procure vs thereby the celestiall Paradice but for the loue of himselfe Nay to loose a Paradice for him if we cannot haue it but without him Such ought to be our loue towards God as that it ought to bee intirely and wholly set on him and cleane and free from all respect of reward or punishment As likewise the good child obeyeth not his father because he is the heire this were an euill signe but naturally because he is a Sonne Neither is he heire because he obeyeth but because he is a child a child who by obeying cannot merite this inheritaunce for it is his part and dutie who notwithstanding by disobeying might loose it and that euerie houre in as much certainely as the inheritance dependeth vpon the father and that grace is lost by ingratitude if it be not renued supported by the goodnesse of the father a bountifull goodnesse descending more freely from the father to the Sonne then it ascendeth from the Sonne to the father And this againe is the cause The loue of God the gift of God wherefore it is a gift of God that this loue of God which worketh good workes in vs this loue of God which hath begotten vs for children to him in the bloud of Christ euen that this same loue should giue vs to be true children and should giue vs to loue God by the operation of his spirit This free loue I say of the Lord which hath iustified vs in his bloud and sanctified vs by his spirit in as much as the merit of Christ worketh not only to the obtaining of the remission of our sinnes A double or two fold righteousnesse but both of them the gift of God Rom. 6. in that we die in him but also to the giuing of his holy spirit vnto vs which renueth the spirit of our vnderstanding to the end that wee may liue to him And yet in the meane time both the one and the other gift is called righteousnesse the former that is the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ for the remission of our sinnes when it is said Abraham belieued and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse The latter that is the operation and working of his holy spirit renuing vs from daie to day from the outward man to the inward and from the old to the new when it is said 1. Ioh. 2. That we are freed and set at libertie from sinne to serue vnto righteousnesse Againe Whosoeuer worketh righteousnesse is borne of God c. But these two sortes of righteousnesse though they both proceede from one and the same fountaine of liberalitie are farre differing the one from the other That as which is able to stand out against the anger of God at all assaies because it is the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to euerie faithfull man by the which he is iustified that is to say quit before God not as one that hath paide the full paiment but as one that hath obtained an acquittance and absolute discharge and that by hauing seene the hand writing defaced and the Bill of debt cancelled and therefore he is called Blessed to whome sinne is not imputed c. This as which can neuer make it selfe able to discharge vs of our debt toward God as making vs day by day more indebted vnto him by reason of that contradiction betwixt the fleshe and the spirit and by the making heauie and sad of the spirit of God within vs Wherupon also the Apostle crieth out of himselfe Who shall deliuer me from this mortall bodie c. And this little righteousnesse notwithstanding as also sanctification which appeareth in our workes is euermore the gift of God grace for grace in as much as those whome he hath iustified 1. Cor. 9. he hath also sanctified hee hath giuen vs faith and the spirit and both to belieue and to do Wherupon the Lord againe thus setteth vpon vs and saith What hast thou that thou hast not receiued Who hath giuen vnto me first and I will repay it him againe c. You are not your owne For you are bought with a price c. Why it is called a reward The word Merit vnknowne to the Scripture Eccles 16. And notwithstanding in as much as Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and of the life to come God vouchsafeth sometimes to call it hyre which hee giueth vs of his free promises hyre promised by him but not deserued by vs a reward whereof he is become debter vnto himselfe that so he might crowne his own gifts vnto the faithfulnesse I say of his owne promises and not to the sufficiencie of our merits For as concerning the word Merit it is not to bee found in the whole Scripture the word it selfe is no lesse new then the doctrine that followeth vpon it In Ecclesiast 16. whence they alleadge Euerie man shall find according to the merit of his workes Hebr. 13. Their Glose hath noted Placetur Deo To the Hebrewes likwise where they Translate Talibus hostiis promeretur Deus by such sacrifices God is merited that is by giuing and distributing of their goods the Greeke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is well pleased But let vs yet further heare the testimonies laide downe in the writings of the fathers The Lord Iesus saith Saint Ambrose Is come to fasten our sufferings to his Crosse Thus haue the old writers spoken Ambros de Incob vita beata l. 1. c. 5. and to forgine vs our sinnes In his death we are iustified c. Now as our sinnes are forgiuen vs in his death that in his death also the passions sufferings of our flesh might die that they might bee nailed to with his nailes Let vs liue and conuerse with Christ let vs seeke and search with Christ the things that are heauenly Wee are renued in the spirit let vs walke in the spirit let vs not cast our selues into new billes of debt by
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
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