in veteri populo sicut nostis occisione Agni cum Azymis vbi occisio ouis Christum significat Azyma autem nouam vitam Hoc est sine vetustate fermenti The Pasouer was in the olde people celebrated as you know in the killing of a Lambe with vnleauened breade where the killing of the shéepe doth signifie Christ and the vnleauened bread a newe lyfe that is without the oldnesse of leauen And a little after he saith Venit verum Pascha immolatur Christus transitum facit à morte ad vitam TraÌ„situs enim interpretatur hebraice Pascha The true Passouer is come Christ is offered vp he passeth from death to life For Paschal in the Hebrue is interpreted passing by or passing ouer Here is no worde of the offering of Christ figuratiuely in the olde Paschall but when Christ passed from death to life then he was offered sayth saint Austen Wherfore I conclude That Christ did not offer himselfe figuratiuely in the olde Paschall neyther did the fathers of the olde lawe offer him in their sacrifices But as all the faythfull fathers that beléeued the promise did offer passouer and other sacrifices thereby to shewe their due obedience to the lawe of God Why Christ would eate Passouer by which those things were commaunded to be done trusting that when the time should be fulfilled God would performe his promise so did Christ obserue al the points of the law absolutely that being frée from the cursse of the lawe he might delyuer from that cursse those that were vnder it Thirdly Christ offereth himselfe in heauen really and so continually as the same Chapiter that we bring against the Masse doth testifie say you Non in manufacta c. Iesus entred not into a temple made with handes c. It séemeth that you haue learned some painters diuinitie Painters diuinitie where you haue séene Christ representing his woundes to God his father to mooue him to haue compassion vpoÌ„ vs for whose cause he hath suffred those wounds That which you gather of this place of saint Paule doth shewe you to be very nigh a daungerous errour if you be not already fallen into it That is the errour of the Anthropomorphits which supposed God to be as a man Watson vâ— nigh a daâ—gerous eâ— not onely in bodily shape but also in humane affections As though a thing once done coulde not be present with him both before and after it is done for euer but must be stil presented before him to mooue his affections by the sight therof which otherwise would forget it as a man doth How you can auoid this I can not sée affirming as you do that Christ is entered into heauen to offer himselfe for vs. c. We haue learned both by the scriptures and also by the auncient wryters that there is with God neyther time to come nor time past but all present The woundes of Christ were present in his sight before Adam was made and so are they nowe and shall be for euer Christ néedeth not therefore perpetually to stande representing hys woundes Ephesi 1. that we might be reconciled by him for as many as shal be reconciled to God by Christ were before the foundations of the worlde were layd reconciled to him in Christ and doe and shall remaine reconciled for euer God had appointed a time wherein Christ should worke the worke of our reconciliation which time is now past with vs but still present with him and he hath also appointed a time wherein we that be by him reconcyled shall enioy the fruit of that reconciliation that is euerlasting glorie in his kingdome which with vs is yet to come but with him it is already present In the meane season Hebr. 10. Christ hauing offered one oblation for sinne as Saint Paule sayth doth for euer sit at the right hande of God from thenceforth tarying tyll his enimies be made his footestoole For by one oblation he hath made persite for euer those that be sanctified That is those which be made holy by the spirit of adoption Rom. 8. whereby they cry vnto God Abba father But you haue founde saint Ambrose Ambro. li. 1. Officio Ca. 48 in Psal 38. in two places of hys workes to be of your minde and to accompt the sacrifice that Christ made vpon the crosse to be but an ymage of a sacrifice in comparison of that which he maketh perpetually in heauen If Ambrose were nowe lyuing and did knowe of your doing he could not thinke well of you that would make him a maintayner of your fond opinion of Christes perpetuall offering of himselfe drawing his wordes so farre from his meaning By occasion of the wordes of the Prophet Dauid where he sayth Psalm 38. Notum fac mihi Domine c. Lorde let me know mine ende and what the number of my dayes is that I may know what it is that I lack saint Ambrose doth note that the ende which the Prophet doth desire to know is that day wherein euery one shall rise out of the earth in his order wherein our perfection doth begin Here therefore sayth Ambrose that is in this mortall state there is a let or impediment there is infirmitie euen in such as be perfite but there that is in the lyfe to come there is full perfection Therefore he desireth to knowe what dayes of eternall lyfe are yet remayning not what dayes be past That he may know what he himselfe lacketh what the lande of promise is which bringeth forth contynuall fruites what maner dwellings the first second and thirde dwelling are wyth the father wherein euery man doth rest according to his worthynesse We therefore sayth he must desire those things wherein perfection is wherein the truth is Hic vmbra hic Imago illic veritas c. Here is the shadow here is the ymage there is the truth And so forth as you haue cyted But to the ende of those wordes that you rehearse Ambrose openeth his owne meaning he addeth a sentence that doth make his meaning more playne Hic ergo in imagine ambulamus in imagine videmus illic facie ad faciem vbi plena perfectio quia perfectio omnis in veritate Here therefore sayth Ambrose we walke in an ymage we sée in an Image then we shall sée face to face where there is full perfection bicause all perfection is in truth Who would thinke that any man of learning coulde be so blynded as to vnderstand these wordes of Ambrose as you doe His whole purpose is to declare that in this mortall state there can be no perfection in any thing But the most perfite things that be here are but as ymages are in comparison of those things whereof they be ymages Yea the mediation of Christ betwixt God and man was not without imperfection in the ymage and outwarde shewe thereof For he suffered sayth Ambrose as a man and as one worthyly condemned to die And he offered
pledge is giuen For in that sense is Symbolum taken here And vnlesse you can proue that these be efficient causes you shal neuer prooue that our immortalitie and resurrection be the effects thereof The lyke may be sayde to the Conseruatorium ad immortalitatem aeternae vitae A conserue or a thing that preserueth our bodies to the immortalitie of eternall life But bicause it is your custome to cite matter in such sort that the true meaning of the Author can not be perceyued by the wordes that you cite I will let the reader sée all the wordes that Athanasius doth in that place write of that matter Sed proptered ascensionis suae in caelum mentionem secit Athanasius De p ccato in spiritum sanctum vt eos a corporali intellectu abstraheret ac deinde carnem suam de qua locutus erat cibum è supernis caelestem spiritualem alimoniam ab ipso donandam intelligerent Quae enim locutus sum vibis inquit spiritus est vita Quod perinde est acsi deceret Corpus meum quod ostenditur dâ—tur pro mundo in cibum dabiâ—ur vt sparitualiter vnicuique tâ—â—buatur fiat singulis tutamen praeseruatioque ad Resurrectionem vitae aeternae Ita quâ—que Samaritanam abstrahens Dominus a rebus sensibilibus Deum esse spiritum pronuntiauit vt deinceps illa non corporalia sed spiritualia de Deo cogitaret But for this cause did he make mention of his ascention into heauen that he might drawe them away from the bodily vnderstanding and that they might afterwarde vnderstand his fleshe whereof he had spoken to be foode from aboue heauenly and spirituall nourishment and such as he must giue For sayth he that which I haue spoken vnto you is spirite and lyfe Which is as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be meat that it may be spiritually giuen to euerye man and that it maye be to eche man a defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall lyfe In like maner also drawing the Samaritish womaÌ„ from sensible things the Lorde affirmed that God is a spirite that from thence forth she should not think of God as of corporall things but as of things spirituall Now let the indifferent reader iudge how faithfully you haue vsed your selfe in alledging the saying of this auncient Father His grounde is the wordes of Christ in the sixt of Iohn Where speaking of the eating of his body he sayth It is the spirite that doth giue lyfe the fleshe profiteth nothing at all The words that I haue spoken vnto you are spirite and lyfe Which is sayth Athanasius as much as if he should say My body which is showed and giuen for the world shall be giuen to be foode that it may spiritually be giuen to euery man and that vnto eche man it may be made a defence and preseruation to the resurrection of eternall lyfe And to make his meaning playne Athanasius sayth that Christ made mention of his ascention into heauen that he might draw his hearers from the bodily vnderstanding And further he sayth that our sauiour talking with the Samaritish woman did draw hir from sensible things affirming that God is a spirit that so she might imagine no corporal thing to be in God but al spiritual I can not therefore but thinke that such as will ioyne with you in alledging this place to proue immortalitie and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud are by obstinate wylfulnesse blinded as you doe shewe your selfe to be For it is as manifest as the cleare sunne light that his meaning was to disproue the grosse opinion of all such as imagine The meaning of Athanasius that Christ should giue his fleshe to fill the bellies of men And to teach that such as will benefite by eating of his body must eate the same spiritually and not carnally And that when it is spiritually eaten it is Tutamen praeseruatioque ad resurrectionem vitae aeternae A defence and preseruation vnto the resurrection of eternall life But this is not to teach that it is the efficient cause of our immortalitie and resurrection as you labor by this other places to proue But nowe let vs sée what you haue founde in Ireneus that was a great deale older then Athanasius He hath sayde Quomodo dicunt carnem c. By what reason doe they saye that our fleshe goeth wholy to corruption seing that it is nourished with the body and bloud of our Lorde This place of Ireneus is sufficiently opened before in the aunswere to that which you haue sayde of the first circumstaunce of the sacrament which is who it was that spake these words This is my body c and is playnely proued not to make any thing for your purpose eyther there or here Yet we haue not sayde any thing to that other place which you cite out of the fift booke of this Ireneus where he sayth Ireneus li. 5. Quomodo carnem negant capacem esse c. How doe they denie c. I might put you in remembraunce of that which Erasmus wryteth concerning his iudgement of the authoritie of this booke for I am sure you can tell that he hath written thus Censura Eras Roterodami In hoc quinto libro quum multa scripturarum loca diligenter explicentur quaedam tamen insunt quae nisi quis comode interpretetur non satis congruere videntur cum bis dogmatibus quae hoc tempore praescribit Ecclesia Where as in this fift Booke there be many places of Scripture diligently expounded yet are there certaine things in it which vnlesse a man doe well interpret doe not séeme to agrée verie well with those doctrines that at this time the Church doth prescribe Auncient writers must be read with fauour c. And afterwarde he sayth Sed in huiusmodi multis veteres illi cum candore nonnunquam cum venia legendi sunt c. But in many such things those auncient wryters must be read with fauour and sometime with pardon also But be it that Erasmus had not giuen vs this warning is there not warning ynough giuen vs in the wordes of the place it selfe to looke well to the wryters meaning You doe according to your custome cite those wordes onely which may at the first sight make some shewe of that you would proue by them But according to my custome I will let the reader sée the whole circumstaunce that he may be able to iudge which of vs both goeth most nigh to the meaning of the writer His wordes be these Vani autem omnimòdo qui vniuersam dispositionem Dei contemnunt carnis salutem negant regenerationem eius spernunt dicentes non cam capacem esse incorruptibilitatis Sic autem secundum haec videlicet nec Dominus sanguine suo redemit
is in vs he himselfe doth in this sort testifie He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloude doth dwell in me and I in him For no man shall be in him but such as he himselfe shall be in hauing receyued into himself the flesh of that man only which hath taken vpon him his flesh The sacrament or mysterie of this perfect vnitie he had taught before saying euen as the liuing father hath sent me and I doe liue through the father so he that cateth my flesh shall liue through me For euery comparison is taken according to the forme of vnderstanding that by the example that is proponed we maye vnderstande the thing that is talked of Truly this is the cause of our life that we which be carnall or fleshly haue by the meanes of the fleshe Christ dwelling in vs which shall liue through him in such sort as he liueth thorow the father If we therefore doe naturally liue through him as touching the flesh that is hauing obtayned the nature of hys flesh how should it be but that sith he doth liue by the meanes of the father he must néedes haue the father in himselfe naturally as touching the spirite And he doth lyue by the meanes of the father seing that his natiuitie hath not giuen him a straunge and contrarie nature for as much as that being that he hath is of his father and yet for all that he is not by any vnlikelinesse incident to his nature separated from him seing that through his natiuitie in the strength of nature he hath his father in himselfe We haue made mention of these things bicause the Heretikes which fayne that the vnitie betwéene the father and the sonne is onely the vnitie of will haue vsed the example of our vnitie with God as though when we be by seruice onely and will of religion knit vnto the sonne and by the sonne to the father there were no proprietie of naturall communion graunted vnto vs by the sacrament of his body and bloud where as the mysterie of the true and naturall vnitie is to be preached both by the honor of the sonne of God which is giuen vnto vs and also by the sonne that is carnally abyding in vs being bodily and inseparably ioyned togither in him In the latter part of these words Hilarius doth playnely shew the cause that moued him to write after such sort as he doth in the former part of the same The heretikes sayth he which fayned that the vnitie betwixt the father and the sonne is onely the vnitie of will c. By this it is manifest that his purpose was to proue that the example whereby the heretikes would proue that the vnitie that is betwixt Christ and his father is but the vnity of wyll doth serue nothing for their purpose For the vnitie that is betwixt Christ and vs and through Christ betwéene God the father and vs is not onely in wyll of religion and seruice but naturall and true And in Christ we are bodily and inseparably ioyned one to another and doe altogither liue by the meanes of Christ as Christ doth lyue by the meanes of his Father And therfore he sayth as you haue cited Haec verò vitae nostrae causa est c. Verily this is the cause of our lyfe c. Nowe M. Watson call to memorie the admonition that Erasmus gyueth in his Epistle concerning the maners of spéeches that this author vseth in his workes and touching the doctrine that he teacheth in this booke wherout you alledge those wordes that we haue nowe in hande and then it shall appéere to you I trowe that you haue not vsed Hilarius well in bearing men in hande that he is one of them that teach our resurrection and euerlasting lyfe to be the effect of the sacrament of Christes body and bloud For if shall be playne that he meaneth to teache that as Christ and his father be one in nature so Christ and we that doe beléeue the promise that God hath made in him and therfore be by loue inseparably ioyned one to another and doe therfore oftentimes come togither and be partakers of one loafe and one cup whereby this perfite vnitie that we haue with God and one with another is playnely preached vnto vs and euen oure verie senses certefied that we are by fayth inseparably ioyned vnto Christ as members to their head and by loue one to another as members of one body amongst themselues We must therefore in this point vse both iudgement and fauour in the reading of Hilarius If you should therfore go about by many such places as this to proue this effect of the sacrament you should in déede through your ouer much curiosity séeme to much to mistrust the credite of your so faithful an auditory Wherfore you doe well to cōclude without any more to doe And as for the ascrybing of the effect that you haue spoken of to so base creatures as bread and wine God is the efficient cause of our resurrection you shall not néede to feare if ye will with vs ascribe it to him that is the efficient cause thereof which is the diuine maiestie it selfe But nowe let vs sée what other effectes this sacrament séemeth to you to bring forth WATSON Diuision 25 1. Cor. 10. The principall effect of all is to make vs one body with Christ which is declared in saint Paule in these wordes Panis quem frangimus nonne communicatio corporis Christi est The bread which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodye that is to saye doth it not ioyne and knit vs in the vnity of one body of Christ Chrysost in Paul 1. Cor. 10. Vpon the which place of saint Paule Chrisostome noteth that he sayde not it is the participation but it is the communion of one body Declaring thereby the highest and greatest coniunction that can be sauing the vnitie of person for the bread which we breake that is to saye the naturall body of Christ vnder the forme of bread which we breake and deuide amongst vs not taking euery man a sundry part but euery man taking the whole the same And as Cyrill sayth Cyrillus li. 12. Capit. 32. Gods sonne going into euery man as it were by diuision of himselfe yet remayneth whole without any diuision in euery man this bread I say is the communion of Christes body that is to say maketh vs that be dyuers in our owne substaunce to be all one misticall body in Christ indued all with one holy spirite whereby the influence of Christes grace that is our head is deriued and deduced vnto vs that be members of his body fleshe of his fleshe and bones of his bones Chrysost in Paul 1. Cor. 10. Thus doth Chrisostome expound the words of S. Paule Quid enim appellio inquit communicationem idem ipsum corpus sumus quidnam est panis corpus Christi quid autem fiunt qui accipiunt corpus Christi non
members of one body is the effect of their sacrament of the aultar Let them take the spéeche to be in what kinde they wyll eyther playne figuratiue or hyperbolicall But you haue not yet done with Cyrill in this matter He must nowe expresse by a similitude of two waxes melted mingled togither Cyrill li. 10. Capit. 13. li. 4. capit 17. this coniunction of vs with Christ A man might aske you what this maketh to the purpose You must proue that our knitting togither into members of one body is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But let vs weigh his wordes He sayth thus Quemadmodum si quis c. Lyke as if a man mingle c. You haue cyted the wordes of Cyrill verie truely but you haue not coated the place aright For in the .17 Chapter of the tenth Booke are no such wordes to be founde neyther is there any such matter handled there But in the .13 Chapter of the same Booke the wordes that you cite are founde And in the .17 of the fourth are founde wordes to the same effect Watsons olde tricke will not be left But in the translating of these wordes Communicationis corporis sanguinis Christi You vse one little péece of your common trick For you say thus By the communion and receyuing of the body and bloud of Christ where as the true Englishe of the wordes is thus By the communicating of the body bloud of Christ which communicating is in the faithful beléeuers of the promise of God made in Christ though the same doe neuer receiue the sacrament of the body bloud of christ If you would haue looked in the last Chapter of the ninth booke Cyrill li. 9. Capit. 45. you should haue séene what Cyrill meaneth by this worde Communicatio His wordes be these Non erat possibile aliter corruptibilem secundum naturam hominem mortem effugere nisi primum adeptus gratiam rursus particeps Dei fieret qui omnia per filium in spiritu viuificat Carne ergo sanguini communicauit id est qui secundum naturam vita est vnigenitus Dei Patris filius homo factus est mediator Dei atque hominum vt scribitur Natura Deo coniunctus ex quo est hominibus rursus vt homo c. It was not possible that man which by nature is corruptible should otherwise escape death except obtayning the first grace he might agayne be made partaker of God that doth in the spirite quicken all things by his sonne He hath therefore communicated himselfe to fleshe and bloud that is to say the onely begotten sonne of God the father which is by nature lyfe is become man the mediator of God and men as it is written being by nature ioyned to God of whome he hath his being and agayne vnto man as he is man Thus it is manifest howe euill fauouredly The accorde of Cyrill and Watson the meaning of the auncient wryters doth agrée with your purpose in cyting them in your Sermons Cyrill speaketh of the communion or felowship that man hath with Christ by his incarnation you cite him to proue the ioyning of al christians into the felowship of one body by receyuing the sacrament of the aultar as you call it Nowe let vs sée what Hilarius hath sayde in this matter Hilarius in Psalm 6. His words you say are these Per communionem sancti corporis c. By the communion of his holy body You note in the margent of your printed booke that this sentence of Hilarie is written in his Commentarie vpon the sixt Psalme When you can shewe vs that Commentarie you shall haue the wordes that you cite aunswered Saint Hierome saith that Hilarie wrote onely vpon the first and second Psalmes the. .51 and so forth to the .62 and from the .118 to the last And in his printed workes we finde but eyght mo whereof the sixt is none Wherefore I must thinke that the great learned and godly Byshop that you speake of is your selfe or some other such as you are But if it may be found in some other part of Hilarius works what shal it make for your purpose sith these wordes may haue a good sense if we vnderstand by the first Communion that which we haue by the incarnation of our Sauiour Christ and by the later that which we haue one with another For by the communion that we haue with Christ we be placed in that communion that we haue one with another And so doe these wordes make nothing to proue that our cowpling into one body in Christ is the effect of the sacrament of the aultar But nowe that your store is well spent you vse your figure of Rhetoricke to blere the readers eye withall In such playne matter as this what néede I heape places one aboue another All the fathers are full of it How full the fathers that you speake of be of this so playne matter doth I trust sufficiently appéere in that which I haue alreadie written in the aunswere to that which you haue as yet alledged in the proufe of this matter Wherefore seing you haue not as yet proued neyther shall hereafter be able to proue eyther by the wordes of the scripture or of the auncient fathers that our knitting togither into one body in Christ is the effect of your sacrament of the aultar it is no wickednesse nor blasphemie at all to ascribe that effect to the efficient cause thereof which is God the father through his sonne Iesus Christ and the holy ghost But nowe let vs sée what other effectes you haue WATSON Diuision 26. Beside these effectes gathered out of the new Testament there be also other mentioned in the Psalmes Whereof one is that this sacrament is an armour and defence against the temptations of our ghostly enimie the Deuill as it is written in the .22 Psal 22. Chrysost in Psal 22. Euthymi in Psal 22. Psalme Parasti in conspectu meo mensam aduersus eos qui tribulant me Thou hast prepared in my sight a Table against them that trouble me By this Table sayth Chrysostome vpon this place is vnderstanded that thing that is consecrated vpon the aultar of our Lorde and Euthymius a Greeke Author sayth so also Par hanc mensam intelligit altaris mensam in qua caena mystica illa iacet by this table he vnderstandeth the table of the aultar vpon which lyeth the misticall supper of Christ which doth arme and defend vs against the Deuill which sometimes craftily layeth in wayte for vs sometimes fiercely and cruelly assaulteth vs that be fed at Christes table Saint Cyprian teacheth vs the same lesson saying Quos excitamus exhortamur ad praelium non inermes nudos relinquamus sed protectione sanguinis corporis Christi muniamus Cyprianus li. 1 Epist 2. Those persons whom we prouoke and exhort to fight against their enimies be it eyther the Deuils our ghostly
Ergo this sacrament is the reall and naturall body and bloud of Christ and not eyther bread or wine I trow not I dare referre this to the iudgement of them that vnderstande Art But is there nothing in that Masse that maketh against you I trowe he sayth thus Confidentes appropinquamus sancto altari tuo proponentes configuralia sancti corporis sanguinis Christi tui te obsecramus te postulamus saencte sanctorum beneplacita tua benignitate venire spiritum sanctum tuum super nos super proposita munera ista benedicere ea sanctificare Presuming vpon thy mercies we drawe nigh vnto thine aultar And setting before thée apt figures of the bodie and bloud of thy Christ we doe praye and beséech thée O thou holyest of all that by thy good and mercifull pleasure thy holye spirite may come vpon vs and vpon these giftes which are set before thée and that he may blesse and sanctifie them All these wordes would your Basill haue his high Priest to speake after the wordes of consecration as you terme them wherby as much as may be done in making the body and bloud of Christ is done and yet the holy ghost must come vpon those gifts and blesse and sanctifie them yet more When you haue weighed these wordes with the other then tell me what you haue gayned towards your purpose But when he commeth to the distribution All thinges reconed more is lost then won he marreth all for he sayth that they doe all communicate And so your owne Basill ouerthroweth your priuate Masse which may so euill be spared in your holy fathers Church Ambrose calleth it Gratia Dei. The grace of God not accidentall Ambrose De obitu Fratris c. In mine aunswere to the ninth deuision of this Sermon I haue noted of what authoritie Erasmus doth thinke those works to be that are conteyned in the thirde Tome where these wordes that you cite should be He sayth that he is out of doubt that they be all counterfayted and set forth in Ambrose name for there is no whit of Ambrose vayne in them Besides this I meruaile that you are not ashamed when you haue reported a lie to dubbe it with another of your owne saying that Ambrose doth cal the sacrament by the name of the grace of God Were it not for troubling the reader with to much of your folly I would let him sée the whole fable in wryting and referre the iudgement euen to your dearest friendes that haue not lost the vse of their reason Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. But to make vp the matter withall you haue sought out one place of Chrysostome which doth enforce you to crye out and say Oh with what eloquence doth he vtter this matter Heare but this one place If a man should aske you what matter it is that Chrysostome doth with such eloquence vtter you must say the reall presence of Christ bodie and bloud in the sacrament and that the sacrament is neyther bread nor wine But what one worde hath Chrysostome in that place to proue this His words being taken wholy together are these Quemadmodum frigida accessio periculosa est ita nulla mysticae illius Caenae participatio fames est interitus Ipsa namque mensa animae nostrae vis est nerui mentis fiduciae vinculum fundamentum spes salus lux vita nostra Si hinc hoc sacrificio muniti migrabimus maxima cum fiducia sanctum ascendemus vestibulum tanquam aureis quibusdam vestibus vndique contecti Et quid futura commemoro Nam dum in haec vita sumus vt terra nobis caelum sit facit hoc mysterium Ascende igitur ad Caeli portas diligenter attende Imo non Caeli sed Caeli Caelorum tunc quod dicimus intueberis For euen as a colde comming to the Lordes table is perillous so not to be partaker of the mysticall supper at all is famishment and death For the table is the strength of our soule the sinewes of our minde the bonde of our confidence or sure trust our foundation hope health light and our lyfe It we shall depart hence being armed with this sacrifice we shall with great boldnesse ascende vnto the holy entrie as apparailed on euery side wyth certaine garmentes of Golde And why doe I speake of things to come For euen whylst we be in this lyfe this mysterie doth make the earth to be an heauen vnto vs. Go vp therefore to the gates of heauen and marke diligently Yea not to the gates of heauen but of the heauen of heauens and then thou shalt behold those things that we speake of Here you may sée what it is The ende of Chrysostomes Eloquence that Chrysostome mindeth to set forth by this elequence that he vseth He that will beholde the things that he doth so highly extoll must in spirite go vp to the gate of the heauen of heauens euen into the thirde heauen into which saint Paule was rapt in which he learned things that he could not vtter with his tongue The Lordes supper being rightly vsed of vs doth lyuely set forth vnto vs yea vnto oure senses the Lorde Iesus himselfe which is the strength of oure soule the sinewes of our mind c. This can we not liuely sée vnlesse we doe in spirit ascend to the gate of the heauen of heauens c. But when you will proue your purpose then all that the fathers haue eyther written or spoken to stirre vp their hearers or readers to heauenly contemplation must néedes be playne spéeches and applyed to prooue your grosse opinion of the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament They must néedes say that they neyther vse figure nor spirituall meaning And where Chrysostome doth in an other Homily call the sacrament by these names Rex Caeli Deus In Epist ad Ephes ho. 3. Cyril li. 4. Capit. 17. August Epist 163. Christus as you say The king of heauen God Christ you may thinke your selfe aunswered alreadie And so may you for that which you doe here cite out of Cyrill and Austen But I maruayle much that you could not sée what Chrysostome wryteth against the staryng and gaseing presence of your good people at your Popishe Masse wherein your priest doth eate and drinke vp all himselfe and giueth none any part with him Quisquis mysteriorum consors non est sayth Chrysostome impudens improbus astat Whosoeuer is not partaker of the mysteries is as a shamelesse and wicked man presente at the ministration But what should I trouble the reader any longer in so plaine a matter The fathers haue not disceyued you by calling the sacrament of Christ by so glorious and high names but you haue disceyued your selfe by drawing their figuratiue and Rhetoricall maner of spéeches to playne and grammaticall maners of speaking and their spirituall meanings to your carnall and fleshely meaning And as you haue disceyued your selues so you
creature can not be most holy A foule ouersight in one that would be a Catholike Byshop c. Here I must tell you that you haue forgotten your duetie towardes your most holy father of Rome c. And vnaduisedly you haue denied him that title that all your brethren the papists doe thinke him worthy to haue notwithstanding he is but one of the inferiour creatures And further I must tell you that you séeme to haue forgotten that which you spake but a little before affirming the sacrament to be God and so no creature but now when you doe couple it with another inferiour creature your wordes doe import that you doe accompt it among the inferiour creatures But for the meaning of Chrysostomes words in that place you will neyther consider the custome of the fathers which was to call the sacraments by the names of those things wherof they be sacraments neyther what it was that Chrysostome labored to bring to passe by this Epistle His whole purpose was so to stirre vp the detestation of the doings of those wicked men in the hart of Innocentius that he might thereby be moued to séeke by all possible meanes to haue that horrible fact punished Which may right well appéere by his wordes in the same Epistle where he sayth thus Ad Innocentium Igitur Domini maximè venerandi pij cum haecitase habere didiceritis studium vestrum magnam diligentiam adhibete quò retrudatur haec quae in Ecclesias irrupit iniquitas Therfore my Lords most godly and worthy to be reuerenced when you shall vnderstande that these things be euen so employ your study and great diligence that this inquitie that rusheth into the Churches may be beaten back The scope of the Epistle Here is the scope of his whole Epistle And to bring this to passe he vseth as much Art as he is able both in setting forth the horriblenesse of the fact and also the daunger that was imminent if it should be suffered vnpunished his owne innocencie and the good opinion that he had in those men that he wrote vnto These thinges considered no man that knoweth what Arte meaneth will thinke that Chrysostomes wordes in this place doe giue you such vauntage against vs as you would beare your Auditorie in hande that they doe You marke also the reseruation of the holy bloud in the holy temple c. Watson can see nothing that maketh against him But you doe not marke that this horrible tumult was made in the time when the people were togither in the ministration of the sacramentes Which doth manifestly appéere by the wordes that are written a little before those that you cite The wordes are these Ipso magna Sabbato collecta manus militum ad vesperam diei in Ecclesias ingressa clerum omnem qui nobiscum erat vi eiecit armis gradum vndique muniuit Mulieres quoque quae per illud tempus se exuerant vt baptizarentur metu grauiorum insidiarum nudae aufugerunt Neque enim concedebatur vt se velarent sicut muliers honestas decet Multae etiam acceptis vulneribus eijeiebantur sanguine implebantur natatoria sancto cruore rubescebant fluenta On the verie Sabboth day a great armie of souldiours that were gathered togither entring into the Church at the euentide of the day did by force driue out all the ministers that were with vs and fortifie the steps with weapons on euery side Women also which had at that time stripped themselues to be baptised did for feare of greater conspiracies runne away naked For they were not suffered to couer themselues as it becommeth honest women to doe Many also were wounded and driuen out and the washe Pondes were filled with bloud and the running ryuers were made red with holy bloud If you would haue considered these words you might sone haue sene how that most holy bloud the Chrysostome speaketh of might be spilt vpon the garments of the souldiours and yet not reserued in the temple for longer time then the action of Communion did last For they vsed not in Chrysostomes church to make a mornings worke of it as you doe vse your Easter day Masses but they continued the whole day in prayer preaching confession of fayth by them that should be baptised The maner of Church exercise in Chrysostoms time in ministring of baptisme and last of all in communicating al togither But when you haue founde a worde or two that may seeme to serue your purpose then haue you ynough you lust to séeke no furder No wiseman therefore will regarde your conclusion Nazianzen Oratione ad Arianos Your place that you cite out of Nazianzen woulde haue framed so euil fauouredly for your purpose if you had cited it eyther in Gréeke or Latine that ye thought it best to teache him to speake Englishe so were you able to cause him to speake as you would But you shall not disceyue your hearers so They shall heare him speake Latine in such sort as Bilibaldus taught him He sayth thus to the Arians Quosnam orantes manus ad Deum tollentes obsedi Quos Psalmos tubarum strepitu interturbaui Quorum mysticum sanguinem caeso miscui sanguini Whome haue I besieged when they were in prayer and lifting vp their handes to God What Psalmes haue I troubled with the noyse of Trumpets Whose mysticall bloud haue I mingled with the bloud of the slayne Now let your friendes iudge how friendly you haue taught Nazianzen to speake Englishe and howe your conclusion doth folow vpon his wordes But let vs sée what it is that you read in Hierome and other It séemeth to me that you haue read in those Authors that which you vnderstand not For who can beleue that eyther Hierome or Chrysostome would maintaine or teach such a Paradox Watsons Paradox as you would by their words enforce vs to beléeue That is that Christ did eate his owne fleshe and drinke his owne bloud In the aunswere that S. Hierome made to the second question that Hedibia desired to be resolued in he sayth thus Nec Moses dedit nobis panem verum sed Dominus Iesus ipse conuiua conuiuium ipse comedens qui comeditur Moses gaue vs not the true bread but the Lorde Iesus He is the Guest and the feast also It is he that doth eate and is eaten But is here all that Hierome writeth in this aunswere Doth he leaue the matter so doubtfull being desired to make it plaine I trow not He saith that we doe drink the bloud of Christ and that without Christ we can not drink it And that we doe daylie in his sacrifices treade out new red wine out of the generation of the true vine and the elected and chosen vine and that thereof we doe drinke newe wine in the kingdome of his father not in the oldnesse of the letter but in the newenesse of the spirit singing a new song that none
is able to sing except such as be in the kingdome of the Church which is the kingdome of the father This bread did the Patriarck Iacob desire to eate saying If the Lorde God shall be with me and shall giue me bread to eate and apparell to couer me withall And then he concludeth his aunswere with these wordes Quotquot autem in Christo baptizamur Christum induimus panem comedimus Angelorum audimus Dominum praedicantem Meus cibus est vt faciam voluntatem eius qui misit me Patris vt impleam opus eius Faciamus igitur voluntatem eius qui misit nos Patris impleamus opus eius Christus nobiscum bibet in Regno Ecclesiae sanguinem suum So many of vs as be baptised haue put on Christ as a garment and doe eate the foode of Aungels and doe heare the Lorde preaching thus My meat is to doe the wil of that father that hath sent me that I may fulfill his worke let vs therfore doe the will of that father that hath sent vs and let vs fulfill his worke and Christ will drinke his owne bloud with vs in the kingdome of the Church Now if you be not obstinate you must néedes confesse that Hierome meaneth nothing lesse then to teach that Christ did after such sort as you holde eate his owne fleshe and drinke his owne bloud But that he did it by doing the will of his father and performing his worke And Chrysostome also if you would vnderstand his meaning aright would teache you another meaning of Christes doing then that which you gather His words be these Chrysost in Math. ho. 83. Hac de causa desiderio desideraui c. For this cause haue I greatly desired to eate this passouer with you that I might make you spirituall He himselfe also did drinke of the same least they hearing those wordes should say What doe we drinke bloud and eate fleshe And should therfore be troubled in minde For euen when he did before speake of those things many were offended euen for the wordes onely Least the same thing therefore should happen then also he did it first himselfe that he might enduce them to be partakers of the mysteries with a quiet minde But what Will you say that the olde passouer was able to doe this also No. For he sayde doe this that he might leade them away from that Furthermore if this passouer doe worke remission of sinnes as it doth in déede then is the other vtterly of none effect But euen as in the olde passouer so in lyke maner here he hath left vs a benefit by gathering togither the memorie of the mysteries and therby bridling the mouths of the heretiks For when they say how doth it appéere that Christ was offred and many other misteries then we alledging these things do stop their mouths For if Iesus did not die whose pledge and signe is this sacrifice Thus you sée what great care he had that we should alwaies kepe in memory that he died for vs. Thus far Chrysostome in the place that you cite Here it is manifest that Chrysostome goeth not about in this place to teache that Christ did drinke his owne bloud but that he did drinke of the Cup of the newe passouer whiche he called his bloud as the Lambe was called the passouer that his Apostles might not haue occasion to thinke so grossely as you teache That is that he hadde turned the substaunce of the Wine into the substaunce of his bloud The purpose of Christ in drinking before his disciples and woulde giue it them to drinke contrarie to the lawe which did forbid them the eating of any thing in the bloud therof But he did drinke therof before them that they might thereby know that it was not bloud but wine which he would haue them to drinke in the remembraunce of his death and bloud shedding as the passouer was eaten in the remembraunce of the peoples deliueraunce in Egypt And further to bring them from the obseruing of the old passouer which was ended in him And to arme them against those Heretikes that would deny that Christ died for the sinnes of the world That this is Chrysostomes minde doth plainely appéere in those wordes of his that I haue before written taken out of the same Chapter that you cite As for his maner of speaking in calling the wine his bloud I haue sufficiently written in the former part of this aunswere It is playne therefore that you doe open wrong to Chrysostome in that you would enforce him to help you to maintaine your straunge Paradox of Christes eating of his owne fleshe and drinking of his owne bloud which I suppose neuer any learned or wise man would maintaine as you doe As for the wordes that you cite out of Euthymius and Isychius are sufficiently aunswered in this that I haue written for aunswere to that which you haue cited out of Chrysostome For they both séeme to haue taken out of him all that they write of this matter The descant that you make vpon this playne song saying Descant without good playne song By this fact of Christ we may learne c. might well haue bene spared till you had founde a better playne song to descant vpon For hitherto you haue not proued that Christ did eate his owne flesh and drinke his owne bloud eyther figuratiuely spiritually or really which you call sacramentally And here I must note one pretie point of descant which you doe vse when you say that if we say that Christ did beleue then it foloweth that he was not God So that by this descant eyther Christ must be no man or else he must be an Infidell You are so fearefull to fall into the heresie of them that denie Christ to be God that you fal into the contrarie denying him to be man And so is the prouerbe verified in you Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Caribdim He that is desirous to escape the gulfe on the one side falleth vpon the rocks on the other side But how say you to the wordes of our sauiour Christ written by saint Marke Marc. 13. Hebr. 2. 4. De die autem illa vel hora nemo scit neque Angeli in caelo neque filius nisi Pater Of that day or houre no man knoweth neyther the Aungels in heauen nor the sonne but the father Christ in his mans nature must be lyke vnto vs in all pointes sinne onely excepted But nowe for the reall presence of Christ in the sacrament you haue founde a place in Chrysostome Chrysost hom de Saul Dauid that will not be well auoyded eyther with figuratiuely or spiritually and therefore you conclude that our best way were to yéelde to that which you hold for truth c. But let vs consider the words of Chrysostome in that place He saith thus Non contigit Dauid c. It neuer chaunced to Dauid to tast of such a sacrifice