according to the Scriptures appeareth by that which he said before That Dauid that the Euangelists that the Apostles doe teach vs c. Cyp. in Epi. 74 Saint Cyprian If it be commaunded in the Gospel if it be contained in the Epistles or acts of the Apostles let vs obserue it as diuine and holie But if it be not there then what followeth but the contrarie Saint Basil VVe must learne the Scriptures Basil regul 95 as concerning that which is to be practised in them as well to replenish our spirit with pietie as to leaue of to accustome humane constitutions Saint Ierome Hiero. in Esas It is no maruell saith he speaking of the Iewes if you follow your traditions seeing that euerie country goeth to seeke counsaile at their Idols but God verely hath giuen vs his scriptures and darknesse shall ouerwhelme you if you follow them not As also vnto Christians for euen in his time saith he it was come to the lees In. Matth. 23. VVo be vnto you wretched Christians to whom the sinnes of the Pharisies are translated and come euen that damnable tradition of theirs c. wee swallow downe against the commaundement of God the things that are great and hunt after the opinion of religion in the small and little ones c. And once for all The sworde Ad Laetam saith he of the Lord striketh at all those doctrines which are found bearing the shewe of Apostolicall traditions without the authoritie and testimonie of the Scriptures And this is the verie thing whereof Saint Augustine so greatly complained himselfe in his time that in the Church euery thing was full of presumption S. August in Epi. ad Iouin In S. Ioha tract 96.97 and preiudicate opinion that contrarie to the expresse worde of Christ the yoke of Christians was become more heauie and greeuous then that of the Iewes That men made lesse conscience of the law of God then of the least humane ordinances or rather fansies All this or the most part thereof comming from heretikes and certaine Apocripha bookes vnder the shadow saith he of this worde From the Lord I haue yet many things to say insomuch as that there is not the veriest foole that is that dareth not to abuse the same A place that some obiect against vs euen vnto this day about the same matter But saith he when the Lord hath kept any thing hidden from vs who is he that is so vaine as to goe about to gesse at it or so rash and foole-hardie as to take vpon him to reueale it And this is the cause why Saint Bernard wearie of those insupportable traditions Bern. Epist 91 ad Abba Suissioni congreg said I desire with all my hart to present my selfe as a partie in that Councel wherin traditioÌ„s are not obstinately defended nor suspersticiously obserued but rather the good and perfect will of God with all humilitie and diligence searched after and sought for And againe De precepto dispensat If there be any such as charitie hath beene the inuenter of it is iust that by the same charitie they bee ceased and giuen ouer if it bee so found expedient Againe The precepts which are of the ordinances of God are necessarie but those which are of humane constitution arbitrarie and at discretion c. And in deed the Ecclesiasticall historie doth witnesse vnto vs that the ancient fathers did leaue such things as were meere obseruations indifferent both vnto whole Churches and particular persons not inforcing any thing but what was of the pure and vndefiled commaundement of God as is to be read in Socrates Nicephorus c. Can not the Church then ordaine any thing Socrates Niceph. l. 12. c 14. Wherein or how far the authority of the Church stretcheth And wherein shall the authoritie thereof consist Nay let vs not feare that it hath ouer little to doe It is not a small thing in the blindnesse wherewith man is blinded and in the darknesse of this worlde to keepe it selfe from straying and wandring out of the way of life to keepe it selfe from loosing the heauenlie light through the sight of the eyes and to guide it selfe and others by the same And would to God it would haue contented it selfe to haue knowne this onely and to haue beene ignorant in all the rest Where as hauing toucht the forbidden tree and hauing transgressed this worde Deute 4. 12 Cursed be they which adde thereunto shee hath opened her eyes to these false and deceyuing fiers but shut them at the light and so consequentlie lost her puritie loyaltie and innocencie and leauing the truth of God is further become left vnto herselfe The ancient fathers verily The Fathers made faith the limits of the Church and the Scriptures the bounds limits of faith Colos 2.8 1. Cor. 4.6 Iohn 8.13 Not by succession Iren. l. 3. con heres c. 11. l. 4. c. 43. 44. Tertul. de prescript de pudicit Id verius quod prius Tertul. de virg â—â—land Con. Praxeam Tertul. de prescript Cypr. Ep. 55. De lapsis In tract de simplicit pontif in ep 74. Gregor Nazianz in orat habit ad laudem S. Athanas cont Arrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue not thought it any thing dishonoured when they tyed it to the obedience of her Spouse for they bounded it by faith and faith by the Scriptures And it would haue beene on the contrarie a verie strange doctrine vnto them that it shoulde haue spoken or heard any other language then her owne seeing it is said vnto her by the Apostle See that none spoile you through Philosophie or vaine deceitfulnesse according to the traditions of men Againe Learne of vs not to be wise aboue that which is written And in vs saith the Apostle that is to say by our example And by her Spouse himselfe If you abide in my worde you shall be truly my disciples Irenaeus saith The Gospel is the pillar and foundation of the Church It behoueth it to flie from all those which flie from and forsake the principal succession and cleaue vnto theÌ„ that keepe the doctrine of the Apostles Tertul. The Church is knowne to be apostolical not by nuber not by succession of Bishops but by the consanguinitie of doctrine And this doctrine again In this saith he in that the most ancientis most true that is most ancient which was from the beginning and that which is from the beginning is that which is froÌ„ the Apostles from the Apostles saith he who left the Scriptures for vs vpon whom are come the last ages the Scriptures by which the truth is defended and not by tradition or custome For how saith he could a man be able to speake of the things of faith but by the writings of faith Saint Cyprian Those are the Church saith he which dwell in the house of God But how Verily saith he who so is separated diuided
other man you shall find them to haue beene of the same opinion But what maketh all this for purgatorie but onely that it may serue to dasle the eyes of men For that this was an opinion at that time helde as indifferent in the Church it doth appeare in that that Saint Augustine handling the same in his bookes of retractations leaueth it vndecided whereas Chrysostome in many places speaketh to the contrary cutting all off in a worde As that the righteous shall see God face to face and not any more by faith c. That death coupleth vs with the companie that is with Christ where the Cherubines glorifie God where the Seraphins flie where we shall see Saint Paule c. In so much as that it was pronounced hereticall and that by the name of the heresie of the Armenians by Innocent the third Benedict the eleuenth by the decree of the Councell held at Florence where it was said that the soules of the saints at their departure out of this life did inioy the presence of God Notwithstanding that Pope Iohn the 22. had made a Decree in fauour of that doctrine namely that the Vniuersitie of Paris should be restrained from admitting any to proceed Doctor or in any other degree of diuinity which did not take an oath that soules did not see God before the day of iudgement And this is verified by Gulielmus Occan in his booke intituled Opus nonaginta trium dierū And Pope Adrian the 6. vpon the 4. booke of Sentences both which do condemne it And thus as hitherto they haue not any third place where the souls are purged in the time betwixt death the day of iudgement For that of Origen S. Ambr. S. Hillary helpeth thē not a dodkin that of Augustines refuteth this of theirs and being wel looked on appeareth to be a fire of tribulation a spirituall but not a materiall fire moreouer such a one as is very doubtfull and meere arbitrarie Likewise these pretended receptacles of Soules are not places of anguish and torment but of rest and ioyfulnesse not of making satisfaction but of contentation to be receiued by the attending and wayting for of the glorie to come in like manner they are condemned of heresie by themselues And therefore it remaineth that if they will needes haue it to haue beene at this time which is fiue hundred yeares after Christ that yet they goe and find it amongst the Gentiles And great in deede is the antiquitie of that for it was before the comming of Christ many ages and yet notwithstanding it is verie young and a meere Nouice in the Church of Christ because it is without Christ and out of the Church CHAP. IX Wherein the obiections of the aduersaries whereby they goe about to proue their Purgatorie out of the old Fathers are fully answered THey say you cannot denie Of the satisfactions vsed amongst them of the olde Church but that the Primitiue Church did impose great satisfactions vpon them which had failed in the profession of the name of Christ How then could they make the same but in Purgatorie when they were dead and had left them vndone But wee rather argue quite contrarie As that if the auncient Church which imposed these Satisfactions vpon them that so they might let them goe to God in peace did as ordinarily giue them absolution then it cannot but certainely proue that it had not learned any thing of this Purgatorie But the truth is that in the times of those great and continuall persecutions which the Christians suffered for the space of three hundred yeares onely some little respite and rest giuen vnto them many did renounce and belie the profession of the faith of Christ who before in the calme and peaceable times had giuen their names thereunto becomming readie to returne to Idolatrie as the times chaunged and altered Now against this leuitie in constancie the auncient Church did not thinke any punishments that could be inflicted to be too hard or sharpe by meanes whereof it thought to find out the sinceritie or hypocrisie of the penitents as also their liuely or otherwise dull and dead sence and feeling that they had for their sinne Wherefore the end and scope of this course was to bring them to sackcloth and ashes and to suffer them to passe many daies in making humble petitions to bee reconciled to the Church who either had sacrificed or burnt incense to Idols or who had giuen the Gospels and holy Bookes to bee burned and who were therefore called Sacrificati Thurificantes Traditores Libellatici c. yea and which is yet more to the end they might adde more carefull heede to such as should offer to enter themselues into the number of the Church there were some that would not receiue Lapsos paenitentes any more then once to the taking of penance after baptisme And Nouatus proceeded yet further and denied it them altogether for the which he was condemned of the Church which also thereupon Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 2 from that time forward began to mitigate these punishments What then And now if they died before the time were they not bound by the Church And how then did they satisfie these punishments Idem l. 3. Ep. 8 Serm. 5. de Lapsis Verily the order was good that before they had fully made such satisfaction they were not to be receiued to absolution or to haue any communion with the Church But as duely was it obserued on the other side that if they were in daunger of death before the time of such accomplishment that then notwithstanding they were receiued into the peace absolution and communion of the same Assuredly not with any purpose or intent that they should euer haue gone into Purgatorie for they neuer thought of it But to the end saith S. Cyprian that dying they might goe to the Lord in peace Idem l. 3 Ep. 17. l 4 Ep 4. Euseb l. 6. c. 34 To the ende saith Dionysius That their sinne being blotted out they may depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in good hope out of this life But here withall they ioyned say they this condition that if they should recouer their health againe that then they should fulfill this satisfaction but that otherwise they should haue any thing to accomplish in the world to come not a word Contrariwise S. Cyprian sheweth a reason of this absolution in these words saying Quoniam exomologesis apud in feros nec esse nec fieri potest Seeing there neither is nor can be any publike confession or acknowledgment amongst the dead That is to say as we haue learned to expound it of Tertullian that these Acts of Canonicall satisfaction cannot be accomplished after this life Bellarmine and others before him obiect vnto vs a place out of S. Cyprian in this same Epistle Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 4. but to no end or purpose Aliud inquit est ad veniam stare c. It is one
Walaf c. 22 there was shew and apparance that it was meet that it should likewise grow in pompe and ceremonies And moreouer concerning the circumstances of time and of the howre they saye sometimes that it should bee before sometimes they say that it should bee after Noone sometimes at Morning sometimes at Night and sometimes in the night season And for the place that it was in priuate houses in caues in dennes and holes and in most secret places And for garmentes In the first ages say they Masses were said with common apparrell the priestlie robes hauing altered and increased from time to time which notwithstanding Walafr c. 23 there are some in the partes of the world lying Eastward which yet vse them as at the first And as for vessels The cups in the Primitiue Church were of glasse and of wood c. Then say they were our Bbs. of gold Thus then you heare what these industrious searchers out of the ancient seruice of the Church do say vsing notwithstanding the Phrases and tearmes of the age wherein they liued though vnknown amongst the former as those of the Masse of the Sacrifice c. And they might also haue seene in their times and dayes the Bookes of the rites or prescript formes vsed in the Church before that the authoritie of Popes suborned and vnderpropped by the power of great Princes for so long a continuance of time had abolished both the vse and memorie thereof But to the end that wee may not thinke them to goe by gesse in that which they say neyther yet that we may seem to repose our selues vpō that only which they say nor regarding how much or little they agree with the former and more honorable reportes of antiquitie drawing neere vnto the times of the Apostles let vs heare in what manner Iustine Martyre about the yeare 160. describeth the holie Supper On the daye sayeth hee which is called Sundaye Iustinus martyr in Apologia 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the Lords day there is an assembling and comming together of all manner of people dwelling eyther in the fieldes or in the citties into one place and there are read the Actes or Recordes of the Apostles and the writinges of the Prophetes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so long as the time would suffer Then when the Reader had left off reading ô 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say he which was President or chiefe in the assemblie that is to say the Bb. or Pastor deliuereth an admonition and exhortation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of discourse tending to the stirring of them vppe to follow and practise those good thinges afterwarde we rise all as one and send our praiers vnto God And as wee haue said before praier being ended the breade the wine and the water are brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he which directeth the action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deliuereth with all the power and might in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prayers and thankesgiuing and the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is consenteth adde thereunto their approuing voice affection and blessing saying Amen Then followeth the distribution which is to euerie one present the cōmunicating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of the thinges which were blessed by thanksgiuing and they send of the same vnto those that are absent by the Deacons In the end they which are of abilitie and are moued therewithall giue euerie one according as it pleaseth him and that which is gathered abideth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with him which is president or chiefe amongst them wherewithall he made prouision for the fatherlesse widdowes sicke persons captiues and needie straungers c. And in another place going before After saith he that we haue washed that is to say baptised him that hath receiued the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ioyned himselfe with vs we bring him into the assemblie and congregation of the brethren where they are come together to make their common prayers both for themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for him that hath beene enlightened and for all manner of persons in what place of the world soeuer c. When prayers are thus ended wee salute one another with a holy kisse and then there is brought vnto him that is president 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread and the cup of water and wine and he hauing taken them giueth praise and glorie vnto the father of all thinges in the name of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and maketh a great thankesgiuing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that he hath vouchsafed to thinke them worthie of these thinges which being ended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ioyne and put their blessing thereto saying Amen which being Hebrew signifieth as much as So be it Afterward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pastor hauing blessed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the people answering to this blessing those whom we call Deacons giue to euerie one of those that are present to receiue of the bread and wine and water so blessed by the said thankesgiuing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they carrie it to those that are absent And this foode is called amongst vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eucharist or Sacrament of thankesgiuing which it is not lawfull for any one to receiue which hath not before receiued the truth of our doctrine by faith and which hath not beene washed with the baptisme of regeneration for the remission of sinnes c. Now in these two places thus laying out the forme and patterne for the manner of the celebrating of the holy supper in the Primitiue church for our aduersaries cite them in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of the Lithurgie or diuine office we haue all that which is before mentioned together with the euident markes of the whole Iewish seruice and yet we shall hardly bee able therein to find out the Masse Therein we well behold and see a flocke of Christians and one Pastor which doth call them together to serue God and to be fed with his word and with his sacraments the reader that readeth the holy scripture the pastor that frameth some exhortation out of the same vnto the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deuout prayers in a loude voice offred vp to God before and after aswell for the Church as for all other men Then afterward how the bread the wine and water are brought and not offered which are blessed by the Pastor by thanksgiuing vttered in a language that is vnderstood of all and not consecrated neither turned or changed by the whispring and muttering of certaine wordes the people ioyning therewithall their vowes and inward affections becomming a partie in this seruice Finally after a mutuall kisse the signe of the holy charitie which ought to be nourished amongst them as the mēbers of Christ the
of Churchmen was all one with the apparrell of the time Index Expurg pa. â—6 not of any set or affected sortes or sutes As likewise the garmentes of the Monkes of the Order of S. Benets were not anie other thing then the Latus-clauus of the Romaines Which when our Fathers of the Councell of Trent perceiued they caused this place in the Table of the notes of Erasmus vpon S. Ierom to be set down amongst other places that they decreed to be raced out and defaced Afterward as the apparrell of men doth hardly continue in one state they begun to alter amongst the secular sort and were notwithstanding continued in one fashion amongst the Church-men thereupon grew the difference betwixt the one and the other And notwithstanding that the ancient Canons do stay there yet by by after the time of Constantine Plat. in vita Syluestâ— when the church was in her prosperitie it followed that the Ministers were appointed to weare a speciall kind of garment by the ordinance of Syluester the first Let them refraine and abstaine from all cloth of silke and from dyed or coloured cloth contenting themselues with linnen at the time of the administration of the Sacraments and further let them not goe But as Gregorie had vndertaken to reduce all the olde Testament into the new changing the Elders into the sacrificing Priestes of the lawe the Tables into Altars the sacramentes into sacrifices and the Deacons into Leuites then there entred an endles peece of worke And then also beganne from time to time these priestlie garmentes consecrate for the action of their Ministerie which wee reade to haue beene giuen to Churches sometimes by princes as by Charles the Great and Lewes his sonne as also these goodly Canons and Rules that euerie man euen to the Porter should bee apparelled otherwise then the common people and that of these garmentes there should be a differenec betwixt those which were to be worn on working dayes and those which should bee worne on festiuall dayes as also that they should bee diuerse according to the diuersitie of feastes as white blacke redde greene c. white ones vpon the festiuall dayes of Confessors and Virgins redde ones vpon the festiuall dayes of the Apostles and Martyrs blacke ones vpon the dayes of affliction and abstinence and from Aduent to the Natiuitie of Christ as also from Septuagesima sunday to the Saturday before Easter greene ones vpon common and working dayes and a thousande other such like particular obseruations which it would bee too long to repeate wherewith the Romish Church hath sported herselfe from time to time to holde vp with nouelties and not to instruct in the olde and auncient truth the poore simple people Through which also the Doctors addicted to speculation as Innocent the third Durandus in his Rationall and diuerse others haue runne themselues out of breath in allegorizing vppon the vestmentes of the Massing Priestes vppon their stoles and tippettes c. and in blazoning of the colours after the manner of the olde Romaines fonde Curiosities which the first antiquitie did neuer thinke of but haue beene deuised by that antiquitie which in respect of the former is but as a yesterdayes Noueltie Now it was likewise about the same time How Vnction and the Order of Priesthoode grew vp and prospered that Vnction grewe to bee receiued for a Priestlie Order Gregorie the Great beganne the same by a peruerse imitation of the Iewish religion The times so shaped whiles the Barbarians did beare swaye in Christendome that euerie man as the scripture sayeth filled his hande that the calling of the Ministerie was prostituted to euerie ignorant fellowe and the imposition of handes offered to euerie one that came By the same meanes also the zeale of Christians waxed colde and resorte vnto the sacrament of the holie supper was rare and seldome So that what through the negligence of the Bishoppes busied with the affaires of this worlde what through the multitude of Priestes vnable for the most parte to teach the worde of God and lastlie through the coldnes and benummednes of the faithfull in the bestirring of themselues in holie exercises all these abuses were bredde and brewed namelie that the Bishoppes and Priestes preaching the worde of God no more and the faithfull repayring to the sacramentes but certaine times in the yeare the whole seruice was become a hearing or as the Italians saye a seeing of the Masse As also that whereas the Bbs. and Elders were wont to be called to the preaching of the gospell the Elders from henceforth were not ordained but onlie to celebrate the Masse which at the first they tearmed to consecrate and afterward to sacrifice They were ordained by these wordes Accipe potestatem c. Take the power of sacrificing for the quicke the deade Duran d. l. c. 9. without anie one worde spoken of the preaching of the Gospell set into their charge per calicem patinam with a cuppe full of wine and a dish full of hostes and not by the deliuering of the Gospell as being inioyned to this onely dutie and with these wordes Take vnto thee power and authoritie to offer vnto God hosts able to appease his wrath c. And they were annointed for this worke by the annointing of handes with this praier Vouchsafe O God to consecrate and sanctifie that which these handes shall consecrate and sanctifie Anno 1000. c. And this chaunge fell out about the yeare 1000. in a time most famous for all manner of ignorance of all others that had beene since the time of our Lord and that in the common opinion of all men and wherein all manner of superstition grew and increased more then it had done in many ages before In the end Transubstantiation was added vnto the rest and that the Priest who was to bee receiued into the Order Hostia 40. dierst Fulbert Epise Carnot Ep. 2. ad Finard shoulde haue giuen him by the Bb. a consecrated host which he shold be eating for the space of full 40. daies euerie daye taking some part thereof though neuer so little that so hee might be sanctified by little and little in signe of the fortie daies which our Sauiour Christ conuersed with his Disciples after his resurrection c. But what ground haue all these newe inuentions in the scripture what staye or holde in that which is true antiquitie If so bee that wee will not intitle with this name all that which may bee alleadged and brought within the compasse of some hundred yeares against the priuiledge of the Church whose priuiledges and lawes and much lesse doctrine but least of all the truth of Christ there is no prescription or number of yeares that can preiudice or impeach CHAP. VIII That the Bbs. and Ministers of the olde Christian church were married THere is yet remaining to be spoken of The scripture contrarie to their single vnmaried life the vnmarried
c. Againe The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ is called the bodie of Christ suc modo after a sort though notwithstanding so it be that it is the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ that is of that which beeing visible palpable and mortall was fastned vpon the Crosse and that this offering vp thereof is called passion death c. Not in the truth of the thing but in a signifying mysterie c. In the Glose It is called the body of Christ that is to say significat it signifieth it The heauenly Sacrament which truely representeth the flesh of Christ is called the bodie of Christ but improperly c. Thus then according to the Canons we eate in the Eucharist the flesh of Christ c. spiritually not carnally Now it followeth that we looke a little about vs C Quia corpus 34. C Qui manducant 57. C. Vt quid 46. C Credere 18. C. Tuncâ—â—s 89 C Non iste panis 55. De Consecr d. 2. to see whether it be by faith or with our mouthes The Canon Quia corpus saith The Lord hauing to ascend vp into heauen did consecrate vnto vs in the day of the Supper the Sacrament of his body and his bloud to the end that that which had beene once offered for payment and satisfaction might be continually honoured in a mysterie and that this perdurable offering might stil liue and abide in remembrance which must be waighed and considered of fide non specie By inward faith not by outward appearance and pondered by the inward affection not by the outward sight The Canon Qui manducant That which is taken in the Sacrament visiblie is in truth eaten and drunken spiritually That which is seene is the bread and cuppe c. That wherein it is needfull that the faith should be instructed is how that the bread is the bodie of Christ c. And they are called Sacraments because one thing is seene another vnderstood That which is seene hath a bodily shape but that which is vnderstood a spirituall fruit The Canon Vt quid whereto doest thou prepare thy bellie and teeth beleeue and thou hast eaten The Canon Credere to beleeue in Christ is to eate the bread of life The Canon Non iste panis It is not that bread which goeth into the bodie that feedeth the substance of our soule but the bread of eternall life The Canon In illo Christ is in that Sacrament not therefore a corporall meate but a spirituall And againe the aboue said Canon C. Quia corpus 34. d. 2. de Consecr Quia corpus when thou goest vp to the Altar to be fed with spirituall meates behold by faith the holy bodie of thy God touch him with thy vnderstanding lay hold vpon him with the hand of thy hart Against all these they haue but one onely miserable Glose to obiect which saith So soone as the kind is touched with the teeth Glos in C. Trib. de consecr d. 2. C. Qui manduc 57. Mis in sequent C. Vtrumque 71. C. vt quid 46 Câ—mutat 69. A sumente nonconscissus non confractus non diuisus integer capitur Ioh. 19. Gl. in C. Ego Bereng 41. in C. vtrum so soone is the bodie of Christ rapt and conueighed with speed into heauen c. And yet it is diuersly canuased and tossed by the Canonistes and schoolemen Of eating with the mouth should follow the chawing of it with the teeth But these Canons are contrarie to that The Canon Qui manducat When we eate it we make not any morsels or bittes thereof The faithfull know how they eate the flesh of Christ It is eaten by partes in the Sacrament that is in the signes but it is all whole in thine heart The Canon Vt quid whereto doest thou prepare thy teeth The Canon Vtrum It is not lawfull to eate him with teeth The Masse likewise in the sequences and conclusions following thereon He that taketh him cutteth him not bruseth him not neither yet diuideth him into morsels c. Contrarie to this ancient truth is only that Canon Ego Berengarius made by the Cardinall Humbert as it were in despight of all antiquitie which saith That he is broken and brused with the teeth But without alleadging against him the Gospell which saith Not one of his bones shall bee broken we will onely lay down the words of two Gloses which proclaime for hereticks both Pope Nicholas II. as also the whole Church of Rome of that time The Glose of that same Canon which saith Referre all to the kinds for we make not any part of the bodie of Christ otherwise thou shalt fall into a greater heresie then Berengarius And the Glose of the Canon Vtrum vpon these wordes Is is not lawfull to eate Christ with teeth Berengarius saith the Glose saith the contrarie that is to say Cardinall Humbert in the retractation which he drew for Berengriaus but he spake hyperbolically and so exceeded the bondes of the truth Of the eating of him with the mouth it would follow that the wicked and vngodly should eate the bodie of Christ The Canons againe are contrarie thereunto The Canon Qui discordat Hee that is at strife with Christ C. Qui discordat 64. C. Qui manduc 57. C. Quia passus 35. C. Christus 56. Fidelium dentibus atters C Prima quidem â—aeres 43. d. ead C. Non oportet 3. C. Panis 38. C. Hoc est quod dicim 47. C. Ante benedict 39. C. Panis est 54. eateth not his flesh neither yet drinketh his blood although hee should euerie day take the sacrament of so high and great a thing as a iudgement of his destruction The Canon Qui manducant They that eate and drinke Christ eate and drinke life The Canon Christus Christ is the bread of whom who so eateth shall liue for euer Likewise the Canon Ego Berengarius attributeth it as proper to the faithfull to eate him with teeth In briefe vpon the question also of transubstantiation If the bodie of Christ after the words spoken must be sought for in heauen or in the hands of the priest and if of the wine bread there be nothing remaining but the Accidents Christ say the Canons is in heauen vntil this world shall be consummate and finished The bodie of Christ must be in one place but the truth is spread abroad euerie where And as for the kinds Wee must not offer any other thing in the Sacrament then wine water and bread which are blessed in the figure of Christ Before the blessing one kind is named but after the blessing the bodie is signified The bread and cuppe are a nourishing of the resurrection by the mysticall consecration that is by the efficacie of the worde and institution of Christ That is saith the Glose A spirituall refreshing of the soule which rayseth vs vp againe from the death of sinne Againe The bread and the cup saith he continue the thing
reputed for the seede There is question then about this faith In controuersies we must haue recourse to the Scriptures and euerie man saith that he hath it To know of what side Christ is and euery man betaketh himselfe to him as his ayde and thereupon all Christendome liueth in suspence and doubt or in trouble But my brethren let vs not beleeue men Men saith our Lord himselfe who know not of their owne vnderstanding either from whence he commeth or whether he goeth The spirits of men saith the spirit of God which are not able to comprehend his wayes In a Sea so vnknowne to man in these gulfes so perillous we cannot attaine to the deliuering of any sure and certaine speech from other where then God himselfe from the father who hath spoken from heauen shewed vs the sonne Matth. 17.5 Iohn 5.3 9. Psal 19. 2. Tim. 3. and said vnto vs heare him from the son who crieth vnto vs in the midst of the Temple in the heate of the Pharisies and all these great doctors their disputations Search you the Scriptures diligently and from the holie Ghost who hath said to vs They cause the eyes to see they giue vnderstanding to children by the Apostles they are inspired of God they make the man of God euen the Euangelist and teacher himselfe instructed vnto euerie good worke and wise vnto saluation Our fathers say some vnto you beleeued as well liued as well whereto serue these alterations Verily if you vnderstand this of your carnall fathers then what other thing doe you say S. Bern. Epi. 91 besides that which the Iewes said to our Lord or which the Turkes or Iewes may not yet say vnto vs How farre better saith Saint Bernard speaking of the reformation necessarie in the Church Let them be cast behinde both me and you which say we will not liue better then our fathers If of the spirituall as of those that haue begotten vs to Christ then who are they but the Apostles and the holie fathers that followed them And what say we herein but by their mouthes And who is there to leade vs more from customes to the lawe from traditions to the holie Scriptures Irenaeus saith The Apostles preached the Gospel Iren. l. 3. c. 1. 11. con h. ret Tradiderunt Iust Mart in Dialog cum Tryphon in exposit fid and afterward by the will of God deliuered it vs in the Scriptures that so it might be the foundation and pillar of our faith Iustinus Martyr We must fixe our faith vpon God and his onlie instructions not vpon mans Traditions we must haue recourse to the Scriptures to the ende we may finde assurednesse in all things c. That Dauid that the Euangelists that the Epistles of the Apostles doe teach vs Tert. con Hermog Cum Apostolis senti c. Tertullian I doe not receiue or admit of that which thou bringest of thine owne without any Scripture If thou bee an Apostolicall writer be furnished with the doctrine of the Apostles c. Bring backe the heretikes to the Scriptures and so saieth hee they will not bee able to maintaine themselues What would he haue said then at this day of our pretended Catholikes who abhorre nothing more then to bee drawne backe to the Scriptures Verilie and without all doubt the same which he saith of these heretikes Heretici sunt lucifugae Scripturarum Like Owles they flie from the light of the Scriptures Wherefore if that which thou speakest be not written beware of that Vae that curse which is pronounced by the spirit of God against them which adde vnto the Scriptures S. Cyprian Cypr. de laps in Epist 74. Doe the Martyrs commaund any thing to be done But what if it bee not written in the law of the Lord. c That saith he must bee done which is written for so God appointed Iosua wee must haue good regard to see if it bee written in the Gospel in the Epistles of the Apostles or their acts for if it be then such holy traditions must be obserued and kept Traditions as we see contained in the Scriptures for so did the fathers vse this worde and not for all that which may be imagined in mans braine prouided that it be of continuance and toleration Origen Orig. in Ierem. in 25. in Matth. Wee must call the holie Scriptures to witnesse without these witnesses the sence and expositions which we giue them worke no beleefe VVhatsoeuer the golde bee which is without the Temple yet it is not sanctified and as litle that sense which is besides the Scripture Athanasius Athan. contr Idol ad Iouinian in 2. orat contra Arrios de interpret Psalm in Synopsi Theodor. l. 1. Socrat. l. 1. 5 Basi de ver fid in Mora◠Regu 26. 80 The holy Scriptures are sufficient of thēselues for the demonstrating of the truth The stones wherewith the heretikes are to be stoned are fetcht from hence they are the Mistresses of the true faith the anchors and props of our c. And this is the cause why in the disputation against the Arrians Constantine the Emperor breaking the array vnto the Councell of Nice appointeth not any other weapons The Euangelicall bookes saith he as also those of the Apostles and Prophets doe teach vs euidently whatsoeuer wee must beleeue Let vs gather from thence the deciding of our controuersies Saint Basil It is a most euident signe of infidelitie and pride to go about to bring in any vnwritten thing for the Lord hath said My sheepe heare my voyce and follow not the voice of any other c. Whatsoeuer we doe or speake must bee confirmed from thence for the beleefe of the good cōfusion of the wicked Euery faithful man hath this proper to him not to adde any thing thereto neither yet to ordaine any new thing for whatsoeuer it is that is besides the Scripture is not of faith Ambros de vocat Gent. l. 2. c. 3. in lib de Parad. c. 12. and therefore is sinne Saint Ambrose VVhere the Scriptures speake not who shal speake VVe must adde nothing to the commaundement howe good soeuer it be who so addeth thereto any thing of his owne argueth it of imperfection c. Saint Hierome The Church of Christ which dwelleth well Hieronym in Mich. l. 1. in ps 98. in Ezeen c. 3. in Agg. c. 1 in Mat. c. 23. in Esa c. 8. and all ouer the world c hath her townes the law the Prophets the Gospel the Apostles It goeth not beyond her limits that is to say the holy Scriptures VVhatsoeuer we say must be auouched from thence The Scriptures are our true meate and our true drinke of this wood is the house of wisdome built whatsoeuer is not authorized by them should be contemptible to vs is likewise striken with the sword of God who so is desirous to deliuer himself out of any doubt let him go thither but
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
in the law when he vnderstandeth not by reason of his time either some exquisite Latin or some Greeke word alledged by the lawier And yet the Councell of Trent who set it downe for their position to make errours authentike will haue this translation to be authentike and that in lectures disputations Sermons and Expositions it be vsed ordinarily yea and that before that of Pagnines or Arias Montanus who haue kept themselues nearer vnto the Hebrew And why Not for any other cause then that ignorance may continue so as that errour vnder the darknesse thereof may hide it selfe seeing it cannot stand before the truth true vnderstanding or the light The third is Scripture is expounded by Scripture That we expound Scripture by Scripture one place by another one by manie obscure and darke ones by cleare and plaine ones or one darke one by many plaine ones In which attempt we haue a farre greater facilitie then they who should assay the like in prophane authours because that we are assured that there is no contrarietie therein because also that there is a perpetuall correspondencie betwixt the new Testament and the old and both in the one and the other in it selfe betwixt the new Sacraments and the old and in the olde and new in themselues c. And finally because that in obscure places wee are not to search for or gesse out any thing that is new yea on the contrarie not any thing said Saint Augustine which is not clearely apparant in such places as are most cleare This is the order Nehem. 8.8 which we reade to haue beene practised by Esdras who saith Nehemiah read in the booke of the law of God and therewith gaue the meaning causing it to be vnderstood by the Scripture it selfe The question at that time was about the purging and casting out of certaine abuses Actes 17.11 which were crept into the Church during the time of the captiuitie by being mingled amongst the Gentiles And hence are they of Berea commended as conferring the Scriptures most diligently one with another to see if it were so as Saint Paule preached vnto them The question was of the resoluing of themselues by them against the opinion of the Pharisies and Doctors of the Law by the Scriptures Whether Iesus crucified were that Christ or not And this also is the precept which the Fathers teach vs. Irenâ—us The demonstrations which are in the Scriptures Iren. cont Haeres 1.2 c. 46. 67. Basil in asceticis 267 Chrysost hom 13. in Gen. in Psalm 147. Aug. de verb. dom serm 2. 11. Tho. 1. p. sum q. 1. art 9. Aegid l. 2. Dist 37. cannot bee shewed but by the Scriptures Againe The exposition which is according to the Scriptures is that legitimate and safe c. Saint Basil That which seemeth darke and ambiguous in one place of Scripture is cleare and plaine in another Chrysostome The Scripture is expounded by it selfe this is ourarmorie against the Diuell c. Saint Augustine The wordes of the Gospel doe carrie their interpretation with them Againe VVe vnderstand the darke places by the cleare what is darkly deliuered in one place is clearly set downe in another c. S. Thomas That which is spoken metaphorically in one place is spoken simplie in another Aegidius Romanus Of manie expositions we must take that which agreeth with the other scriptures and not that which hurteth any part of them Following also that which is said by the Canon Relatum Can Relat. That we must not seeke out a sense at our pleasure from the purpose to confirme it any maner of way by the authoritie of the Scriptures but take the meaning of the truth from the Scriptures themselues if the place may be drawne into diuerse senses The fourth is In all expositions the analogie of faith must be kept That we see that the exposition which we giue or take do alwaies retaine and keepe the analogie of faith that it be proportionable and correspondent to the bodie of Christian doctrine which some of the olde fathers haue called the rule of faith I say not to establish any new principles or articles of Christianitie but to conforme and referre themselues to those which haue beene receiued therein from all times For the holy Scripture is the vniuersall principle of our faith and it is well said That there are as many articles of faith as sillables in it because it is said of the least iota that it shall not passe and by consequent that we must most firmely beleeue it all But notwithstanding as this said Aegidius saith All the Scripture is resolued into certaine articles of faith to which all the doctrine therein is to be referred and those as principles abide firme in themselues and are not resolued into others And from these principles we deduct our Theoremes and answere our Problemes no lesse then the Mathematicians doe their Maxims 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Axiomes and demaunds but so much the more firmely by howe much wee are the faster founded vpon the Creator then vpon the creature vpon the Law-giuer to the whole world then vpon the law which he hath giuen it which is Nature Thom. in Sum. q. 1. art 5.6 8. And this is it which Thomas saith That the holy doctrine taketh not his principles from any humane science but from the wisdome of God from which as from the most soueraigne wisedome all our knowledge must take his direction and ordering and that this skill commeth not vnto vs from naturall reason but by reuelation that is from the Scripture diuinely inspired and therefore that it iudgeth of all Verie farre differing from them who dispute of diuinitie according to the principles of Philosophie or other sciences against the law of Logicke which saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That we must not leape out of one science into another but rather from a true vse of Logicke discourse of reason from principles of one science to draw the propositions and consequences that belong to the same Our principles then are articles of faith against which we must beware that our expositions doe not strike and dash themselues but one the contrarie it is necessarie that they become conformable thereto To strike thereupon that is amongest the Mathematicians Deduci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be brought to an impossibilitie that is to say froÌ„ out of the bounds of reason of Nature of true diuinitie this is according to the lawes of combate to rub against the bands or ropes that pale in their ground that is to bee ouercame to be conuinced of falshood Now the primitiue Church hath gathered them for vs into a briefe collection al those which the Councels put forth afterward are nothing but Commentaries thereupon and it is the same which Tertul. calleth RegulaÌ„ fidei Vnder which Tertul. de vela viâ—g de praes aduers Praxeam August de Symbol Beda in S. Ioh. l 1.
of the obseruations of the Primitiue church seeing that a verie strong preiudicate opinion hath seazed the spirites of the greatest part that nothing is done now a dayes in the church of Rome but after that sort maner that to require any reformatiō therin is nothing else but a longing after nouelties and a remouing of the ancients their markes and limittes and lastlie seeing that they which make their aduantage of such abuses are not without store of colours thereby corrupting and disguising the olde and auncient monumentes and writinges and besmoking the new and latter ones that so they may carrie the greater shew of antiquitie amongst which that of making as to receiue the thinges for olde and auncient which haue meerelie regarded the succeeding times of the church is verie newe and latelie hatched This I say is the taske and text which we are now to finish and make plaine by the grace of God that so wee may prouide helpes for the strengthning and supporting of some simple men and preuent the malice of the contrarie minded to the end that antiquitie may shew it selfe antiquitie and noueltie may appeare to bee but noueltie and also to the end that the superstitious and long obseruation of some ill established noueltie may not carrie away the title of antiquitie from olde and auncient veritie That truth which is of all other most ancient may not grow out of date by reason of the antiquitie thereof That the disagreements in religion are for the most parte aboute traditions established without the warrant of the word carelesly and negligentlie looked vnto Ne inquam antiquissima illa veritas vel ipsa antiquitate antiquari videatur Certainelie hee that shall weigh and consider with sound and vpright iudgement the controuersies which are at this day in christian religion shall not finde them to be anie such things for the most part as are founded vpon any doctrine that is trulie auncient vpon anie doctrine I say that is taught or mentioned in the holie Scriptures notwithstanding that the Scriptures bee the true and proper boundes of whatsoeuer may fall into mens fansies and the olde and authentike Registers and Maisters of the church to line and square out whatsoeuer is the proper due and true possession of any one And further we doo freelie declare testifie that whosoeuer shall dare to remoue the same though neuer so little shall worthilie fall into the curse pronounced by the Prophet against them which remoue auncient boundes and markes But the question is of Traditions which haue insinuated themselues and are sprung vppe together with the time by the industrie of men and that to the choaking of the true plantes of Christes fielde Of Traditions which by the reading of Antiquities wee see and behold first in the bare and naked seede then in the bud putting forth growing and rising vp into a stalke bearing fruite ouergrowing in the end the good corne ouerspreading the earth watred with the vanitie and ordinarie curiositie of men manured and fed with the ignorance of the most darke and ouershadowed ages Of Traditions one marke or step whereof for the most part we cannot espie or finde out eyther in the holie Scriptures or in the Primitiue church but which from age to age we finde and see to haue sprung vp of some crosse or ouertwhart word or else of some vnexpected action as hearbes cōming by chance wherof there is no great regard or reckoning made or else to grow by a priuation or negatiuelie in some doubtfull question from thence proceeding into some affirmatiue not well and firmelie grounded and finally ending in a full and absolute conclusion from whence is drawne within some space of time after and so throughout euerie age such strange increase and ouerrunning measure such consequences so far differing from the first steps and footinges as that they which first cast the seede into the grounde not thinking of any such haruest would not bee able as it falleth out with the fowles of the aire letting fall some nut or acorn euer to auouch the same for theirs if they should returne to beholde them yea which would rather haue smothered and stifled them in the birth if they had foreseen anie shew of such monstrousnes to haue eusued And finallie of Traditions which smoothlie conuey themselues vnder the habite of indifferencie and a certaine kinde of pretended seemlines into thercome and place of profite of necessitie of subiection yea and that greater then any Iudaicall seruitude and of the Articles of faith Articles I call them seeing that men now a dayes such as are our aduersaries are farre more tenderlie affected and deeplier doting vpon their owne inuentions then vpon faith it selfe And for the which they let not to stand and contend a great deale more in the church of Rome to maintain the same then they do striue and seeke to root out Atheisme notwithstanding it iet vp and downe like a Lord and spreade it selfe into euerie coast and quarter vnder the name of Philosophie priuilie vndermining and thereupon forciblie ouerturning the foundations of the church of Christ the holie Scriptures and the holie Sacramentes Articles againe for the strengthning whereof they are not ashamed to weaken so much as lieth in them the force and authoritie of Gods word and for the procuring of authority thereunto they defend the sufficiencie integritie and simplicitie of the same they make no conscience to call the ministerie of death the ministery of our life and to pronounce as imperfect and vnsufficient vnto Saluation the Scriptures whereof the essentiall worde did say vnto the Iewes and then by a stronger reason to vs Examine the Scriptures diligentlie and carefullie for you thinke to haue eternall life by them and they are those that beare witnes of me Now it were no hard or difficult matter to demonstrate and shew foorth the same throughout all the Articles which are in controuersie and indeede the matter hath beene performed by diuerse alreadie But I will rest my selfe for this time in shewing the truth thereof in the matter of the Masse and the appendances thereof because at this day it occupieth the principall place of Diuine Seruice in the church of Rome because it seemeth vnto them the badge cognizance to distinguish betwixt the good and euill Christian because that in not going thereunto or in going thereunto is as they hold in their opinion to worke a mans damnation or saluation And lastly because that it containing comprising in it eyther the doctrine or the practise of the principall pointes which are in controuersie betwixt vs it shall stand for a full reuew of the whole bodie of their religion or not want much thereof if it bee throughlie examined and sifted If then it be of such moment and importance vnto saluation as they would make vs belieue we need not to doubt anie thing at all but that we shall finde it so most clearelie and euidentlie by the holy Scriptures
seruice were in Latine it was vulgar if it were not vulgar then had Isidore Archbishop of Seuill said in vaine Isidor de eccle Offi. c. 10. That when there is singing in the church it behoueth euery man to sing and when there is praying that euerie man doe pray for what edge or quickning to the spirit can the singing of a Psalme or the making of a praier that is not vnderstood affoord bring And so of England the language of their Iland was peculiar to themselues and no Latine amongst them saue what the Romain Colonies did speake They will haue it that Christian religion was established there in the time of Ioseph of Aremathia howbeit Chrysostome saith that it was about his time And yet neuerthelesse S. Gregory saith that in his time the tong of the ancient inhabitants of great Britaine called at this day England Gregor in Iob. c. 27. had no better a sound then a barbarum frendere a rude and barbarous kind of grunting and how then could the Latine seruice be found there But the truth is as certaine English Iesuits do confesse that S. Augustine the Monke sent by Gregorie did there chaunge and alter both the forme and tongue wherein they had before celebrated their seruice for they could not fetch or deriue the antiquitie of their religion any further off They say it cannot at the least be denyed but that the Latine seruice was vsed in the Churches of Africke then let vs adde thereto that the Latine tongue was also common there amongst the rascall and poorer sorte of people This appeareth for the sermons of Saint Cyprian and S. Augustine Bbs. of Africke were made in the Latine tongue Now wee are of the same iudgement with our aduersaries that sermons euer were so ought to be made for the instruction of the people in the common vulgar tong because say they that properly they are to be applyed and fitted for the capacitie of the people praiers directed vnto God But in another place S. Augustine saith that being borne in the Citie of Tagusta in Africa Idem l. 1. retract c. 10. he had learned the Latine tong Inter blandimenta nutricum by means of the sporting pleasing speeches which are currant amongst cockering nurses that is in his swathing clothes or whiles he was very young tender whereby it appeareth that nurses had the knowledge of it Againe he saith To the end that euen the most simple and ignorant may see perceiue that it is of purpose because of the Donatists I haue turned a psalme into Latine that it may the better remaine with them be remembred Hence is proued that it was common to the basest and coursest kind of people And for as much as that the people there did not speake good congruitie S. Augustine applyeth himself vnto their Solaecismes Idem in psal 118. saying ossum for os and sometimes taking one case for another saying Because it is far better that the Grāmarians should reproue vs thē that the people should not vnderstand vs. In a word he saith This is a Prouerbe amongst the Carthaginers I wil tel it you in latine in asmuch as you al do not vnderstand conceiue the Punicktong Hence it followeth that the Latine tong was better knowne in Afrike then the Punicke it selfe But will you further see that whereas the knowledge of this tongue was wanting in this country there they did not tie themselues to haue their seruice in it Throughout all Sclauonia they had their seruice in the Dalmatian tong Ecchius de Missa Latina S. Ierome likewise did translate it into their tong and our aduersaries are of iudgement that it is still so obserued there vnto this day In this part of Italie likewise called great Greece ouer against Sicilia it is said in Greeke because the Greeke tong was there vulgar and common In Germany to the cōming in of the pretended reformation of Boniface that is to say vntil after the yeare 800. Walasr c. 7. it was obserued after the like maner order in so much as that Walafridus the Abbot saith that euen in his time the Northern countries had their seruice in the Germaine tong Aeneas Sylu. histor Bohem. c. 13. And Aeneas Syluius after the time of Pope Pius the 2. reporteth after many others that as Cyril Methodius were conuerted to the Christian faith certain people speaking the Sclauonian tongue were come to intreate the Pope about the yeare 800. that it might be permitted them to haue their seruice in their vulgar tong whereupon the Consistorie being gathered together and standing doubtfull what to do therein there was heard a voice as it were from heauen in these words Omnis spiritus landet Dominum omnis lingua confiteatur ei let euery spirit praise the Lord let euery tongue confesse acknowledge him And in deed whatsoeuer our aduersaries do alleadge against this as done is more then 600. yeares after the death of our Lord that is to say all that which they alleadge after the time that the Popes for to establish their authority did vndertake as we haue said in another place to impose and thrust the set forme of the Romish seruice vpon all nations abolishing others as theirs came in place that in their Romaine language for so of this exploit some attribute the first attempt onset to Pope Vitalian about the yeare 700. Now this old custome of the Church is to be compared ioyned with those goodly Maxims generall rules of the ancient Doctors S. Augustine saith August in psal 18. Basil in ps 28. Let vs be well aduised looke that we take hold with a cleare inlightned heare of that which we sing with one consent of voice And Basil conformablie Let the tong sing but let the hart vnderstanding at the same time sound and reach the sence meaning of that which is sung Cassiodor in psal 46. And Cassiodorus Let vs look that the vnderstanding of the thing be ioyned with the singing of it for nothing can be done wisely without the vnderstanding of it Which things cannot concurre go together after the rules and practise of popish doctrines And Iustinian the Emperor for to remedie such abuses tooke the matter in hand about the time that the Pope laboured with might maine to bring them in in these words saying We will and command that the Bbs. and Pastors do celebrate the oblation and praiers in baptisme with a loude voice Iustin Nouel de diuers eccl c. 123. such as may be vnderstood of the people to the end they may be stirred vp to greater deuotion to praise God c. alleadging for the confirmatiō of his constitution the places of S. Paul 1. Cor. 14. menacing roughly thundring out against thē the iudgements of God if they shold do to the contrary And wheras they answer that this constitution was not
Francise Dominic To euerie one that would ioyne themselues not with the Couent but to be of the fraternitie onely of S. Francis or S. Dominicke c. For to merite the kingdome of heauen for to be able to ransome redeeme their owne soules and the soulet of their friends for these are the expresse tearmes of the Bull There are Bulles of fraternitie giuen vnto the Prouinces by which they are made capable as well in life as in death of the merites of the whole Couent and of all the friers in the prouince purchased by their Masses praiers sermons fastinges contemplations vigiles abstinences Cloister disciplines deuotions singinges lessons labours c. About this time also there was in England one Thomas Becket who was slaine for hauing traiterously attempted to haue withdrawne the Cleargie from their obedience vnto the king It was concluded by the full Colledge of Sorbone at Paris that he was worthie of eternall death the Cleargie notwithstanding caused him to be canonized by Alexander the third And in derision of the blood of Christ he was there praied vnto in these words Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit Fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas ascendit That by the grace fauour purchased by the blood of Thomas hee would make vs ascend whither Thomas is ascended c. this was about the yere 1220. And who can then but be ashamed for their sakes for that as yet in the time of so great light they are not ashamed themselues verily it is not to be concealed or hidden that there haue been some that might seeme to haue blusht in their souls as being able to haue taught better things if they durst Alex. Halez q. 91. Alexander Halez Bonauenture likewise after all their wandrings turne backe againe to our Maxims Alexander We must not inuocate or adore any but one God onely c. The Saints ought rather to be reckned ex parte orantiū quà m illius qui oratur as assisting our praiers by their owne not to be praied vnto themselues Bonauent in l. 3. Sentent Anno 1360. Bonauēture likewise We must be warie in our large setting forth and commending of the excellency of the mother that is of the holy virgin least we impaire and diminish the glorie of the Son and by so doing prouoke her to anger seeing she delighteth more to haue her son praised and magnified then her self she being but a creature and he the creator And whereas there were some that replied vpon him that the honor of the mother returned to the honor of the Son But therefore saith he we ought not to giue vnto the mother all that which is due vnto the son c. And this was much spoken of both in his time in the Couent of S. Francis Wicklif apud Thom. Waldens tom 3. tit 12. c. 121. 124. Iohn Wicklife shortly after went further for amongst many abuses of the Church of Rome he condemned this openly by the scriptures and maintained the same with the peril of his life against all those of the facultie of diuinity in England His wordes are This is and seemeth to be a sottishnesse to leaue the fountaine which is more ready to our handes to seeke the troubled brookes and those further from vs c. Againe Who would make I know not what Scurram knaue that is the Latine of the time his Mediator when hee may freely speake vnto the King And yet notwithstanding his thus writing he ceast not to be verie well intreated of king Edward the third and after some small time of his liuing an exile in Bohemia to die an old man in his owne house leauing behind him a number of disciples of euerie estate condition in England Anno 1416. in whom his doctrine liued after him vntill such time as things grew to that extremitie wherein they now stand We may say the same of Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prage put to death contrary to the promise made them of safe conduct by the Councell of Constance wherein the good fathers in stead of being inuited and won to the reformation of the Church both by the truth of their doctrine and the constancie of their faith did thinke it better to haue them the heraldes of their condemnation by the iust iudgement of God then of their repentance before men And further as if they would worke a further despite they turned in the same Councell that goodly hymne which the Christian Church had made for the holy Ghost to the virgine Marie and in stead of Veni sancte spiritus c. they made it Veni mater gratiae c. wherein they call her the fountaine of mercie the light of the Church the saluation of those that call vpon her the Mediatrix betwixt God men the port of S. Peters ship the death and destruction of heresies c. But in the meane time as in this age wherein we liue men begin willingly and wittingly to cast out this dung and filthines with others such like the stinke whereof groweth so strong euen vnto themselues that haue made it as that they are constrained to stop their nose and to endeuour themselues to couer it as much as lyeth in them Viues in August de ciuit Dei l. 8. c. vit Viues that famous Spaniard had rather to cause them to be detested then couered and smoothed ouer in saying That he could find no difference betwixt the opinion that the Christians haue of their saintes and that which the Pagans haue of their Gods when as they giue them the same honour that is giuen vnto God himselfe And if there had beene any number found of the same zeale with him at that time he could haue hoped wel to haue obtained a remedie against idolatrie But certainly the greater part had rather against their owne consciences of a carnall wisedome runne and betake themselues to disguise and smooth ouer the matter Some saying that we ought not to pray vnto saints to obtaine any help of them or yet any mercie but onely to bee assisted by their praiers to obtaine them of God And this was in one worde to ouerturne all their Howres Psalters Letanies and praiers before alleadged which were directly made vnto the virgine Marie and that that she might not onely procure but giue the things praied for Wicelius Other some more boldly That wee ought not at all to pray vnto them inuocation being an honour due vnto God alone but onely Compellare to solicite them that they would remember vs vnto him as wee vse to stirre vp the liuing to succour and help vs with their praiers And other some do yet go further That this inuocation was nothing but a figure of Rhetoricke by which wee were admonished that the saintes deceased as triumphant members of the Catholicke Church haue care in heauen on the members which are as yet warfaring here below after the manner
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
the hearts of the elect the remission of their sinnes Vnto the Lambe saith he without spot or blemish that beareth the sinnes of the world alone righteous and by consequent alone fit and meete to enter into the holy of holies Now if he onely enter thereinto hee entereth all whole without any faile not one of his bones shal be broken The head shal not enter without the rest of his members his faithfull ones Cohaerentes fide conformes moribus which are fastned vnto him by faith and made conformable vnto him in their manners And they shall enter thereinto couered and clothed with his righteousnesse For saith he He hath giuen it them it is imputed vnto them he is made vnto them righteousnesse from God yea sufficient righteousnes And seeing he is made righteousnesse vnto vs it is ours c. And as for all our owne it is nothing but vnrighteousnes Idem in Can. serm 73. Idem Serm. 1 in Natal Dom Idem de â—â—pl miseric Dei Idem de sept miseric Idem Serm. 3. de Aduent Dom. Idem Dominic 1. post oct Epiph. Idem Serm. 1. de Annunt virg Mar. Initiat For there not the most holy that are but they stand in need to pray for their sinnes to the end that they may be saued by mercie Noe Daniel and Iob must repaire vnto this fountaine Pari voto with the same request desire and thirst that all others For euen the sinnes that we daily commit and which we accompt but sleight are such as presently receiue the sentence of condemnation without any delaie And mine owne soule saith hee of it selfe if God had not sustained me I both doe and will confesse was readie and prone to fall into all kind of sinne But saith hee behold and see his grace he hath iustified vs freely to the end that his grace might be the highlier esteemed of vs. And this grace doth not onely pardon and forgiue vs our sinnes but giueth vnto vs his merits For to the obtaining of remission of sins it is necessarie to haue indulgentiam Dei Gods pardon and it is impossible to haue any good worke if he himselfe doe not giue it but yet much more impossible to merit eternall life by any workes if it be not freely giuen c. Wherevpon the Prophet saith Blessed are they to whome the Lord imputeth no sinne c. And therefore saith hee we haue neede of a threefold grace a conuerting grace a grace assisting vs in temptations and a rewarding grace The first doth rough hew vs as being that whereby we are called The second doth set vs forward as by which wee are iustified The third doth perfect vs as by which we are glorified And the first is called the good pleasure of God The second merit but note by the way in what sence and signification he taketh it And the third praemium a gift wages recompence and all three graces Of the first it is said Idem Serm. 5. de Assumpt beat Mar. Wee haue all receiued of his fulnesse of the others grace for grace the gift of eternall life for the merit that is to say for the gift of temporall warfare And this grace of iustification sanctification and glorification is receiued in the Church by faith in Christ For saith he The misled and vnaduised Sinagogue which hath despised the righteousnesse of God for to establish her owne was reiected and cast off but vnto the spouse of Christ vnto the true Church it is said Desponsaut te mihi in fide I haue betrothed thee vnto me in faith iudgement righteousuesse mercie and compassion Neither must thou say that thou hast chosen me for I haue chosen thee and for to moue me to make thee my choice I did not find in thee any merits but it was of my selfe who preuented thee And therefore I haue affianced thee in faith that is to say not in the workes of the Law and in righteousnesse but that which is of faith and not of the Lawe It remaineth then for thee to iudge betwixt me and thy selfe seeing I haue affianced thee not according to thy merit but according to mine owne good will and pleasure Wherefore let it bee farre from thee to obiect vnto me either thy merits or the workes of the law or yet the heat of the day or the scorching heate of the Sunne which thou pretendest to haue indured but rather acknowledge that thou art affianced vnto me both by faith and also by the righteousnesse of faith in mercie and compassion For the true spouse acknowledgeth both the one and the other grace namely the preuenting grace as also that which followeth and commeth after it And what he saith of the Church he saith of the faithfull as he doth of the members that which he saith of the bodie Idem Serm. 67. super Cantic It is sufficient saith he to merit to know that merits are not sufficient And not to presume of merits is to merit and yet not to presume vppon them is to presume after a farre more sure and certaine way for we haue large matter to glorie of euen the ample mercies of the Lord Idem Serm. 68. super Cantic and his truth which indureth for euer That is to say faith in his promises For is there not sure and certaine matter for vs to glorie in when mercie and truth doe meete together for vs c. And al this by faith Belieue saith he that thy sinnes are forgiuen thee by him against whom alone thou hast sinned and who alone is able to deface blot them out and thou doest wel This is the testimonie which the holy Ghost beareth vnto our hearts saying Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee Whereupon the Apostle saith that men are iustified freely by faith Idem Serm. 1. in Annunciat Mariae Idem super Cant. 22. Ep. 77. Yea saith he by faith onely And so Saint Ambrose vnderstandeth him in his booke of the death of Valentinian And with such I am willing either to erre or to bee wise belieuing that man may be saued by faith alone yea without the receiuing of the Sacrament for Valentinian died whiles hee was of the number of the Catechised prouided that hee haue a desire to receiue it And this it may be was the cause saith he that our Sauiour hauing said Who so shall belieue and be baptised shal be saued in that which followeth saith onely He that shall not belieue shall be condemned c. To shew that onely faith is sometimes sufficient vnto saluation that without it nothing auaileth But this faith by which the iust man liueth doth truely liue it selfe for otherwise how should it quicken and make aliue For by this faith saith hee the heart is cleansed And God cannot bee seene Idem l. 5. de confider that is to say knowne but of him that hath a pure and cleane heart Neither is this faith any doubtfull beliefe On the contrarie opinion when it is growne to a
in all the seuerall tearmes and times of the same whether before the Lawe vnder the Law or vnder the time of grace that hee is figured in all the sacrifices and exhibited in all the Sacraments as well old as new as they which are at all times vnprofitable without Christ and which cannot be fruitfull but in Christ who onely is both the foundation and the substance Saint Paul said to the Corinthians J would not saith he that you should be ignorant c. that our Fathers haue all eaten of the same spirituall meate and all drunke of the same spirituall drinke 1. Cor. 10. for they drunke of the spirituall rocke which followed them and that rocke was Christ The Apostle expressing by the words of eating and drinking the communion which they had in Christ euen Christ slaine sacrificed crucified who otherwise did not profit either them or vs. But some make answere that S. Paul meaneth that they did verily eate amongst themselues of one the same meate c. but not of the verie same that we This is the thing that wee must see and trie Certainely the scope and drift of the Apostle is plaine as to shew vnto the Corinthians that they deceiued themselues to put their trust in the vse of the Sacraments not ceasing in the meane time to prouoke God by their abuses But saith hee our Fathers had Sacraments as well as we they eate and drunke the same meate and drinke and notwithstanding such of them as prouoked God could not put off or avoide their destruction If S. Paul had not meant it by way of comparing of the Christians with the Iewes what should the force of his argument haue bene And had they not libertie to haue replied they did not eate Christ as we doe c. But the old writers shall decide vs this controuersie Tertullian This water saith he which distilled and ranne from the rocke Tertul. de Bapt aduer Marcion l. 0. which followed the people was Baptisme for if the rocke were Christ vndoubtedly we see that Baptisme is blessed through the water in Christ. Againe Marcion hath striken himselfe against the rocke whereof our fathers drunke in the wildernesse c. Origen The same which the Iewes call the way and passage through the Sea S. Paul calleth Baptisme and that which they call the cloud Orig. in Exod. c. 7. hom 5. he taketh for the holy Ghost and would haue it to be vnderstood according to that which our Lord saith in the Gospell If a man be not borne againe of water and of the holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Againe the Manna which the Jewes tooke for carnall meate is called by him a spirituall meate c. And he goeth ouer it againe a litle after in the same Homely S. August in Iohannem tract 45. Augustine The times are changed but not the faith in diuers signes is signified one and the same faith as in diuers words they belieue the same things to come afterward which we belieue to be alreadie come and therfore saith the Apostle they haue drunke one the same spiritual drinke yea spiritual not corporal for they drunke of the spirituall rocke and the same was Christ thus you may behold one self-same faith but diuers signes There Christ is the rocke vnto vs Christ is that which is set vpon the Altar And they for a great Sacrament of the said Christ did drinke the water that ran from the rocke But as for vs the faithfull know what we drinke if thou regard looke vpon the outward forme which is visible it is an other thing but if thou looke vpon the inuisible signification they haue drunke the same spiritual drink c. And in another place They haue eaten the same spiritual meate What is this same but that which we our selues do also eate Idem de vtilit paenit c. Certainely I know not what should be the meaning of the same meate if it be not that which we our selues do eate For there were some that tasted Christ in their harts more then the Manna in their mouthes which made a spirituall construction of this visible meate c. and did hunger and thirst after it c. Againe expounding this place of S. Iohn This is the bread that came downe from heauen c. The Manna saith he the Altar of God c. Idem in Ioh. tract 26. in Psal 77. Epiph. l. 1.3 haue signified this bread These things were Sacraments diuers and dislike in the signes but like and the very same as concerning the thing signified Giue eare to the Apostle now brethren I would not haue you ignorant c. Epiphanius reasoneth after the same manner that Tertullian dooth against Marcion They did eate saith he the same meate and drunke the same drinke euen Christ and in truth saith the Apostle and not in shew or appearance onely They obiect and alleadge against vs in this point Saint Chrysostome who in truth speaketh of the Manna and water as figures of our Sacraments But so as that he addeth these words Chrysost in 1. Cor. 10. Idem in Homil. Nolite ignorate fratres Howsoeuer these things were sensible yet in deede the truth is that they ministred vnto vs the apprehension of spirituall matters not by the consequence of nature but by the grace of the gift and nourished the soule with the bodie inducing and perswading them vnto faith c. Likewise expounding this place elsewhere in an Homely for the purpose he findeth therein in diuers considerations an equalitie and in deed the argument of the Apostle dooth otherwise lose his force Likwise the similitude that Chrysostome vseth in the same homely That one and the same king is delineated and drawne with a former and sleighter draught and afterward set forth in liuely colours and yet is euermore the same king So Christ in the two Testaments Bed in 1. Cor. 10. and in their Sacraments c. Beda vpon this place vseth the verie words of S. Augustine without changing any thing therein at all Bertram a Priest in the time of Charles the bald Thou askest saith hee what same meate Verily Bertram in l. de corp sang Dom. that same which the belieuing people of these dayes doe eate and drinke in the Church for it may not be permitted that diuers things should be meant and vnderstood seeing it is the same Christ that in the desart fed at that time with his flesh and gaue his bloud to drinke vnto the people baptised in the cloud and in the Sea and which now feedeth in the Church the beleeuing people with the bread of his bodie and giueth them to drinke of the water of his bloud c. And if thou obiect vnto him But how Seing he had not as yet taken vpon him mans flesh and seeing that as yet he had not tasted of death for the saluation of the world
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
much saith the Apostle as That he hath not taken vpon him the Angels that is to say the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham that is to say the nature of man taking part with flesh and bloud c. to destroy the kingdom of death by his death c. For in presupposing without the word of God that this body may be in a thousand places at once they conclude against the word of God that this body hath not that which is of the very nature of a body against that which our Lord said after his resurrection reprouing the vnbeliefe of S. Thomas A spirit hath neither flesh nor bone c. and against that which all antiquitie teacheth That what he once tooke vpon him he neuer leaueth or casteth off That in putting on glorie he did not put off either nature or yet the conditions and qualities of nature c. Christ verily in taking our nature hath taken both our flesh our bloud and this bloud distributed throughout his veines c. What doth then this Transubstantiation which shutteth vp this his body by it selfe vnder the accidents of bread and his bloud by it selfe vnder the accidents of wine He hath taken likewise both our flesh and our soule and shall then a corporall substance bee turned into a spirituall The bread into the soule of our Lord c. Or if it bee not changed thereinto shall it remaine a body without a soule And if this body which was giuen to the Apostles were liuing was not then this bread changed into a soule But they denie it And if he were dead then should he not be dead and liuing both at once Dead and inuisible as he was giuen but aliue and visible as he did giue and distribute it And how many are the absurdities begotten of one absurditie And who seeth not how the auncient heretickes which called in question the truth of the humane nature of Christ did not a little ground themselues and their assertions vpon these Maxims Verily Iesus Christ our Lord after his resurrection That Christ is absent according to his humaine nature but euery where present as concerning his diuine nature According to the scriptures Iohn 7 Iohn 3. Mathew 26. Mark 6. Luke 24. Acts 1.3 ascended in his body into heauen and left this world vntill the time of his comming againe to iudge the world according as he did instruct his Apostles as hee had made them visible to behold see and as they in like maner after him did aduertise and teach vs You shall not haue me alwaies with you I am here for a while It is expedient for you that I goe I am come into the world and againe I leaue the world I goe to him that sent me from whome I am also come and if I goe not the comforter will not come You shall seeke me but as I haue said vnto the Jewes whither I goe they cannot come And now also I tell it you that is to say in one word looke not for me any more hereafter in this humane nature And in deed hee blesseth them withdraweth himselfe from them and is taken vp on high into heauen and set at the right hand of his father From whence he shall come againe say the Angels euen as he was seene to goe vp into heauen And it must needes be saith S Peter That the heauens doe containe him vnto the time of the restauration of all things And yet notwithstanding hee saith I will not leaue you orphanes I am with you vnto the end of the world I will send you the comforter which shall teach you c. Likewise whensoeuer you shal be two or three gathered together in my name I will be in the miast of you that is according to my diuine nature And thus haue al the auncient Fathers spoken Origen It is not the man that is euerie where According to the Fathers Orig in Mat. tract 33. where two or three bee gathered together in his name or yet alwaies with vs vnto the end of the world or which is in euerie place where the faithfull are assembled but it is the diuine power which is in Iesus Athanasius I goe to the Father But doth he not fill all things euen heauen earth and hell And did he neuer withdraw him selfe from the Father And to goe and come are not these properties belonging to such as are finite and limited within their lists and bounds of time and place by departing from the place where he was not to the place where he was c. But saith he This is because he speaketh of the humane nature which he tooke vpon him in which it behoueth him to goe vnto the father and come from thence againe to iudge the quicke and the dead c. S. Augustine in an infinite sort of places and that very largely You shall haue the poore alwaies with you c. Let not good men saith he be troubled In respect of his maiestie prouidence grace c. it is fulfilled which he said I am alwaies with you c. In respect of the flesh which the word tooke vpon it August in Ioh. tract â—0 as also in respect that he was borne of the Virgine apprehended of the Iewes fastned to the tree taken from off the Crosse wrapped in linnen laid in the Sepulchre manifested at the resurrection it is the same which is said You shall not haue mee alwaies c. The Church inioyed him but a few daies in respect of his bodily presence but now it possesseth him by faith seeth him no more with these bodily eyes c. Idem ad Dardan Ep. 57. What then Said one vnto him is he not euerie where Yes he is euerie where saith he but as a man is soule and flesh so Christ is the word that is to say God as also man and wee must alwaies distinguish in the Scriptures that which is spoken of the one from that which is spoken of the other By reason of the one he is the Creator and in consideration of the other a creature In the one he was here vpon earth and not in heauen when he said No man ascendeth vp into heauen c. In the other he was in heauen notwithstanding that he was not yet ascended vp into heauen notwithstanding that he was yet conuersant and abiding here vpon earth c. And therefore stand fast and irremoueable in thy Christian confession That hee is ascended vp into heauen That he sitteth at the right hand That from thence and not from elsewhere he shal come to iudge the quicke and the dead and that in the very same forme and substance of flesh whereto for certaine saith he he hath granted and freely giuen immortalitie and yet hath not bereft it of his nature And according to this nature we must not make accompt that hee is shed abroad euerie where but rather beware least we in such sort establish the Diuinitie of the
to say which haue not any thing to doe with any carnall thing but bring eternall life And if then with the consent of all the fathers this place of S. Iohn do expound make plaine the doctrine of the holy supper and must be vnderstood spiritually then also must those wordes of the institution be so vnderstood if we mind not to cause the scriptures to disagree and fight against scriptures and one place thereof against many places yea and that one against it selfe if wee will not violently go about to establish quite against all analogy of scripture the matter of transubstantiation which yet is not of bread into a bodie but of I know not what as that which hath no name into a bodie not of wine into bloud but of wine or rather of the cup into bloud or rather into the new testament in bloud If likewise wee will not haue the bread and wine abased or turned into nothing in S. Mathew in S. Marke and in S. Luke after the wordes and yet continue in their sound and perfect natures in S. Paule after the verie same that is to say If wee will not ouerthrow for the retaining of the litterall sence of one only word the spirit diffused throughout the whole scriptures and make the sacraments of the Church of Christ by the hardnes of our expositions more rawe and carnall then all those of the Iewish Church These are the absurdities which accompanie the expositions of our transubstantiators whereas ours doth retaine the nature of all the sacraments the agreement of the old with the new of holy baptisme with the holy supper of the supper of the Apostles with that of the Christian Church and aboue all the principal end of the same which is the nourishment of the soule vnto eternall life by that consunction of the faithfull with Christ as also of the faithfull amongst themselues which it fostereth and cherisheth c. It conserueth in like manner the truth of the humane bodie of our Lord which the other destroyeth the excellent dignitie of his diuine nature which that abaseth and all this by keeping the Analogie of the faith of Christ and the harmony of the holy scriptures CHAP. IIII. That the Fathers knew not Transubstantiation nor the reall presence in the signes And this is prosecuted vnto the time of the first Nicene Councell the same contayned therein NOw it is also very certaine that such as hath beene the doctrine of the Church not Primitiue onely but also for a long time after euen when corruption had entered this noble and worthie parte of the Church not hauing beene touched or defiled by the first which thing wee shall bee able to proue from time to time by the Fathers saue that we will not repeate diuers places before alleadged as the course of our treatise hath caused vs to produce and cite the same Saint Clement Bishop of Rome Clem. Rom. constit l. 6. c. 6. in the mysticall thanksgiuing that followeth the consecration Father we giue thee thanks for the precious blood of Iesus Christ which is shed for vs and for his precious bodie whereof we make vp and finish these counterfeites and resemblances l. 8. c. 17. Marke this word counterfeits that is to say correspondent figures and that after the consecration Himselfe hauing ordained it for vs to the end that wee might shew forth his death c. Againe in his liturgie after the consecration We offer vnto thee O king and God according to thine ordinance this bread and this cup l. 5. c. 61. c. And in another place The counterfeites saith he and mysteries of his bodie and blood at which say the Apostles as the report is set downe by Clement Iudas was not present with vs. l. 2. c. 61. And yet notwithstanding such because of the holy mystery whereunto they are consecrated That he exhorteth men to come vnto them as into the presence of a king If this had beene the reall bodie of our Lord would he haue made any other comparison then from himselfe would he not haue said that it was requisite to worship it as God Ignatius Ignat. in ep ad Philadel There is one flesh of our Lord and one bloud shed for vs one bread also broken for all and one cup for the whole Church How was it possible for him better to distinguish betwixt the signes and the things then by these foure wordes flesh and bloud on the one part and bread and cuppe on the other Bellarmine would haue him to signifie by these wordes flesh and bloud his bodie stretched out and his bloud shedde vpon the crosse and by the bread and cup his bodie broken his bloud shed in the holy Supper But do we then eate in the holy supper an other body then that which was stretched and drinke we another blood then that which was shed vpon the crosse for vs What other thing is this then to take from vs all our consolation all our glorie And did not then the Apostles communicate Iesus Christ crucified And what becommeth of the glorie of that great Apostle who would not know or glorie in any other thing but him crucified And what other thing els is this but in most outragious manner to abuse the scripture That he did not speake in the supper of his bodie broken with griefes vpon the crosse but of his bodie broken vnder the Accidents of bread not of his blood shed for our sinnes but taken and powred out of the cuppe vnder the Accidents of wine which notwithstanding to be so is proued for that whereas it is said in S. Luke shed for you it is in S. Mathew shed for many for this cannot bee referred to the breaking or powring out which is in the celebration of the holy Supper but to that which was really made vpon the crosse The same father also vndermineth and ouerturneth the very foundation of transubstantiation by the nature of Christ Ignat. cp 8. ad Polycarp Here below saith he is the race but the crowne is laid vp in heauē Christ the son of God euen he who is not temporarie that is to say not subiect to any time in time inuisible by nature visible in the flesh impalpable and such as cannot be felt with handes and yet notwithstanding for the loue of vs become corporall and palpable c. Iustinus Martyr compareth the bread of the Eucharist Iustin in dial cum Tryphon to the cow which was sacrificed in the old law for them which were purged of the leprosie He hath giuen vs saith he to celebrate the Eucharist in remembrance of his death note remembrance which he suffered for them whose spirits are purged from sin to the end that we should render thanks vnto God Again He hath giuen the bread saith he to the end that we should beare in remēbrance that he was made a bodie for such as do belieue in him the cup to the end that we shold
vnderstanding by faith that is to say not to see but to belieue That the lambe which taketh away the sinnes of the worlde is there offered is there eaten Offered saith he without being offered that is to say as the Canon expoundeth it selfe mystically for the Table is mysticall C. iteratur C. Hoc est D. 2. de consecr Non rei veritate sed significante mysterio And therefore eaten without being eaten and yet truely sacrificed and truely eaten in asmuch as wee beleeue and call to minde there that hee hath beene sacrificed for vs in as much also as we are certaine that we are partakers of this sacrifice which is ours that his flesh is our meate vnto our resurrection vnto eternall life for he hath said vnto vs that he hath giuen it for vs. The Councell therefore hath saide truely because there is nothing more true then the promise of God nothing more certaine then his effect when it is receiued in faith and notiwthstanding that the bread and the wine are but tokens or signes to the ende that following the exhortation accustomed in the olde liturgies Sursum corda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Life vp your harts on high c. We may waite and looke for the receiuing of our spirituall food at the hand of God and not at the hand of man yea we lift them vp verie high and farre aboue these signes and this table before which if the doctrine of our aduersaries at that time had had any place the Councel should haue said vnto vs as they say at this day Cast your selues downe before this table settle and fixe your eyes vpon your God that descendeth commeth downe vpon it see that you kneele downe vnto and worship him there Saint Athanasius which was of this time Athanas de verbo quicunque dixcrit c. will manifest and make cleare the purpose of this Councell I haue seene saith hee the like Character in the Gospell of Saint Iohn where the Lorde entreating of the cating of his bodie and seeing that manie were offended thereat speake in this sorte Doth this thing offend you what will you say then if you see the Sonne of man ascend and go vp to the place where he was afore time It is the spirite which quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing c. For hee hath spoken here of the one and the other of his flesh and of his spirite and hath distinguished the spirite from the flesh to the and that beleeuing not onely that which appeareth vnto the eyes but the inuisible nature also wee might learne that the thinges which hee spoke are not carnall but spirituall Where wee shall marke that hee expoundeth these wordes of the Councell Let vs not settle our minds vpon the signes set before vs but let vs vnderstand and know by faith c. By these That we beleeue not that onely which appeareth vnto the eies c. Hee addeth For to what an infinit multitude of men should his bodie haue become sufficient meate being ordained to bee the foode of all the world shewing thereby that wee must alwaies iudge and make accompt of the bodie of Christ as of a true bodie And in this sence the Councell said This is the cause why wee receiue in a small quantitie c. Seeing the scope and drift of the action is the sanctification of the spirite and not the filling of the bodie And afterward And therefore he made mention of his ascention into heauen thereby to draw them backe from vnderstanding of him corporally and to the end that from thence forwarde they might learne that the flesh whereof he had spoken was a heauenly and spirituall meate which hee must giâ—e them from aboue Whereby wee learne that this eating must in such sorte bee vnderstoode as that it euermore include the truth of Christes bodie and of his locall ascention For saith he that which I haue spoken vnto you is spirit and life as if he said This bodie which is shewed and giuen for the world shall bee giuen for meate to bee attributed to euerie one spiritually and to be made vnto them a defensatiue and preseruatiue vnto the resurrection of eternall life Setting against the badges and notes which the Councell had spoken of the spirituall distribution of this celestiall meate that is to say the thing it selfe And this is the cause why in another place he calleth it The mysticall table as the Councell The holy Table At which saith he Who so is partaker doth enter into the companie of God that is such as receiue the thing signified by the Sacrament that is to say the inward grace The thing then contrarie to the doctrine of our aduersaries is not receiued by the wicked and vngodly as those that neuer come in the company of God neither then is it receiued by the hand either of the faithfull or of the minister incorporated with the signe c. For as concerning the place that Bellarmine alleadgeth of Athanasius Thedor dial 2 ex orat Athan. de fide cited by Theodoret where he saith That it is saide of the true bodie Sit thou at my right hande Likewise This is my bodie which is deliuered for you and that by this bodie he was made our high priest c. It is to good purpose against those hereticks that denie the truth of the humane nature of our Lord but not against vs as also it is still to this day against the maisters of transubstantiation which destroy the same S. Hillarie In C. Corpus Christi de consecrat d. 2. Bishop of Poictiers of the same time cited by Gratian The bodie of Christ which is taken from the Altar is a figure in that the bread and wine are seene outwardly but truth in that the bodie and blood of Christ are receiued inwardly in truth Others attribute this to Hillarie Bishop of Rome Againe We doe verily receiue vnder a mysterie the flesh of his bodie and therefore we shall be one with him And To the end that he may be belieued to be in vs by the mysterie of the Sacraments And againe There is no place to doubt of the truth of the bodie and blood of Christ for both by the profession of our Lorde himselfe and by our faith it is truelie flesh and truely blood which being eaten and drunken doe bring to passe that Christ is in vs and we in him Now wee are to note the figure opposed and set against the truth the mysterie against the reall presence the profession of our Lord ioyntly with our own faith for the making of vs partakers of this truth being the effect which followeth of the coniunction of the partakers of this truth with Christ from which coniunction the wicked are excluded and therefore also from the receiuing of this truth Hilar. in Mat. c. 30. l. 8. de Trinitate which is accomplished by faith therefore the reall chaunge can take no place there And in
take the name of the things signified the Doue of the holy Ghost the rocke of Christ c. He also giueth vs now the holy supper for an example As saith hee secundam quendam modum After a certaine manner the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the bodie of Christ and the Sacrament of his bloud the bloud so the Sacrament of faith is saith Note After a certaine manner that is to saye Per modum Sacramenti suo modo sub mysterio in manner of a Sacrament sacramentally vnder a mysterie If it had beene reallie hee would not haue so spoken And this is according to that which he saith in another place That in the sacraments men are to regard not what they are Idem cont Maxim Ep. l. 3 c. 22. but what they demonstrate and signifie because they are one thing and do signifie another Then they are alwaies the same that they are for to signifie another thing that which they are doth not vanish neither become any other thing And hereof hee taketh for example in S. Iohn The spirit water bloud 1. Ioh. 5.8 And this is the cause why he admonisheth vs heretofore to look wel to our selues beware that we take not the signes for the things signified that in the matter of Baptisme of the Lords Supper which he toucheth expressely by name saying Wherein we must obserue what they haue relation vnto August de doctr Christ l. 3 c. 5. 9. the more to reuerence them not with a carnall seruice but with a spirituall libertie But seeing that we could alleadge bring to this purpose all S. Augustine we will content our selues to stand vpon those places that seeme most proper comming neerest to the purpose Idem cont Admi. c. 12. in Psal 3. In senten Prosper aswell for the one part as for the other The Lord saith he hath not doubted to say This is my bodie in giuing the signe of his bodie He admitteth Iudas to the feast wherein he recommēdeth to his disciples the figure of his bodie and bloud The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ is called suo modo after his maner the bodie of Christ although in deed it be but the sacrament of that bodie which was nailed vpon the crosse c. Not saith he by the truth of the truth of the thing but by a signifying mysterie And to children August in ser ad infantes That which you haue seene is the bread the cup your eies declare the same but that which your faith which is to be instructed demandeth the bread is the bodie of Christ the cup is his bloud And this notwithstanding is the Proposition which our aduersaries do so deeply condemne You wil say yea but we know wel enough from whence he tooke his flesh c. He was crucified c. He sitteth now at the right hand of the father c. How thē is the bread his bodie the wine his blood These things brethrē are called sacraments because that in them one thing is seene another vnderstood that which is seen hath a corporal figure that which is vnderstood hath a spiritual fruite c. Wilt thou vnderstand what this bodie of Christ is Listen giue eare to the Apostle saying to the faithfull you are the bodie and members of Christ c. And to communicate thereat Idem de doctr Christ l. 3. c. 26. Idem in Ioh. tract 25. 26. to eate the same what shall we prepare for our selues Not the teeth saith he the bellie Prepare the hart not the mouth beleeue and thou hast eaten To beleeue in him that is to eate the bread of life that is to eate with the hart not to grinde with the teeth He that beleeueth in him eateth him he is inuisiblie fatted seeing also that he is inuisibly borne again let vs alwaies note how he compareth eating with regeneration then is the bodie and bloud of Christ life vnto euery one Idem de verb. Domini in Luc. Serm. 33. Idem de verb. Apostol Scrm. 2. Idem de Trin. l. 3. c. 10. when that which is taken visiblie in the sacrament is eaten drunk spiritually in the truth of the thing c. To eate that is to be made againe but thou art made againe by making that againe which is not wanting in thee Eate life drinke life thou shalt haue life euē that life which ceaseth not to be wholly vpright And yet he saith in another place That the bread that is ordained for this action is consumed in the receiuing of the Sacrament This bread then that is receiued in the holy Supper is not that life this bread is nothing els but the Sacrament And again This bread is eaten of many which do not eat life Life then lieth not in this bread it is from elsewhere according to that which he saith He in whom Christ dwelleth not eateth him not Idem in Iohn tract 26. notwithstanding that he do shut vp within his teeth the sacrament c. but rather he eateth his owne iudgement because of his rash presuming to approch vnto the Sacraments of Christ being vncleane Which thing we haue sufficiently handled before Thus saith he That the Christian soule heareth not in vain Sursum corda Idem Ep. 1 56. let your harts beset on high neither doth it answere in vaine That it hath it in the Lord. These were the words vsual in the seruice preparatiues to the receiuing of the Sacrament Idem Serm. 152. de Temp. contr Faust l. 33. c. 8. Idem in Ioh. tract 50. Idem de verb. Domin in Luc. Serm. 18. 33. 64. Hee toucheth Christ that beleeueth in Christ He is come neere vnto not with the flesh but with the hart not by anie bodily presence but by the power of faith send faith thou hast hold of him Thou canst not look for him any more at hand for he is in heauen look for him by faith c. It is not that which is seene that nourisheth but that which is beleeued This is not that bread which goeth into the body but the bread of eternal life that sustaineth our soule Our eies are fed with the light the eye of our hart with God neither can the multitude of eies diminish or make him lesse In like maner of Christ in the supper If ther were great prouisiō store of meat allowed thee for thy dinner thou wouldest prepare and make readie thy bellie Thou art allowed thou art esteemed of God prepare thy soule Now so many places so plaine and many more in the places from whence these are taken shall they be deluded and defeated by some pettie and friuolous distinction They obiect these words in S. Augustine Christ was caried in his owne hand when hee saith recommending his body vnto his Disciples This is my body Let them put thereto that which is said afterward
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
truth And by consequent Pope Nicholas and the Councel of Rome consisting of 114. Bishops and the whole Romish Church mentioned in the Canon Ego Berengarius So slenderly was this Beares whelpe as yet licked In the meane time this goodly recantation is sent throughout all Christendome and Prouinciall Synods assembled in euerie nation to cause it to be receiued But Berengarius returneth into Fraunce refuseth it and publisheth the cruell and violent dealing wherewith he had beene tormented by the Church as hee calleth it of the malignant Ecclesia Malignantium Auersanus Episcopus the Councell of vanitie Then beginne Humbert made Cardinall vpon that occasion and Guitmond of a Monke of the Crosse Saint Leuffroi made Bishop of Auers to write against him This was towards the yeare 1059. In the end Berengarius died in Fraunce the fierie and terrible threatnings of the Pope according to his former practise still perseuering And he had an Epitaph made him by Hildebert or Fuldebert Bishop of Mans Epitaph BereÌ„gar per Fuldebert Episc Cenoman apud Mamelsbur vel per Hildeb ex Gaguin such as hee could for the greatest and most holy person of that age which beginneth Quem modo miratur semper mirabitur Orbis c. Wherein hee extolleth his pietie and wonderfull learning both for the benefite of those of his owne time as also of the posteritie wherein hee bewaileth his death as threatning a ruine to the whole Church in as much as in him resteth the hope and glorie of the Cleargie wherein hee saith that enuie her selfe which did oppresse and beare him downe dooth weepe ouer him c. Afterward hee concludeth with a verie feruent desire and wish that hee might lie downe and liue with him that his estate and condition at the time of his departing out of this life might bee no better then his Mamelsbur l. 3. c. 58. c. But it is more to the purpose to see it in Mamelsburiensis who reciteth it wholly And Platina likewise the Popes their Historiographer in the life of Iohn the fifteenth dooth giue an honourable testimonie of him Some adde that dying hee should say To day Christ will appeare vnto me according to my penitentnesse as I hope vnto glorie or because of others vnto paine The most sound interpretation whereof is that he did repent of hauing yeelded or turned aside from the profession of the truth and that he feared that he had offended his brethren through his infirmities And it is to be noted herewithall Lanfrancus Guitmond do not speake as our aduersaries that Lanfrancus Alger and Guitmond doe not yet vse such tearmes and speeches as these dayes are full of But they beginne to call the bread and wine Kinds after the consecration where the Fathers called them by this name before the same vnderstanding by this word Substances and not appearances or fantasies onely as those of this time Againe they beginne to say that the bodie and bloud inuisible in the Kindes are Sacraments of the visible bodie and bloud for feare that mans infirmitie should be offended and surprised with the horrour of the thing But they as yet had not beene to learne their lesson at Sorbone As that the substaunce of bread and wine doe vanish that the accidents abide hanging in the ayre and yet notwithstanding are remooued by the hand and are brused with the teeth of the Priest c. Neither had they as yet intituled this their carnall fantasie and called it by the name of Transubstantiation But after the consecration they retained the name of signes and markes Lanfrancus saith oftentimes with the fathers The Sacrament of the Altar is the figure of the body and bloud of our Lord c. And what shall we say more Pope Gregorie the 7. his staning in doubte of the truth of Transubstantiation â—enno Card. in Gregor 7. when as Benno Cardinall of Hostia and Deane of the Cardinals doth make mention in his Historie that Pope Gregorie the seuenth called Hildebrand who had beene present at the Councell of Tours as Legat from Pope Victor II. against Berengarius is in such distressing doubt as that hee sendeth two Cardinals such as were his trustie and faithfull Agents in matters of weight Acto and Conno vnto S. Anastasius to the end that they should fast three daies with Suppon arch-priest of that Parish singing three dayes the Psalter and the Masse to the ende that God would shew vnto them by some signe which was the sounder iudgement that of the Church of Rome or that of Berengarius And notwithstanding all that saith he there came nothing of it Not yet satisfied hee inioyned the whole companie of the Cardinals to fast for the same end and purpose And when as Iohannes Portuensis to whome he committed all his secrets euen he that first said Masse in Latine at Constantinople according to the maner of Rome said after his death Ex ambone B. Petri from out of the Chaire or Pulpit of Saint Peter in the hearing of all the people and Cleargie Hildebrand and we haue done a deed for which we ought to haue beene burned aliue Being about to say saith Benno That he had consulted with the Sacrament as with an oracle against the Emperour Henrie his enemie and that afterward hee cast it into the fire in the presence and against the good liking of certaine Cardinals which then were there with him This Hildebrand I say of whome they cannot sufficiently content themselues with saying and that for good cause Vir Pontificatu dignus c. A man worthie of the Popedome c. Wherfore the Decree of Pope Nicholas II. could not so quickly root out of the harts of men the old and ancient truth but that the traces thereof might as yet be seen in such as were most deuoutly addicted vnto the Romish Church Anselme Lanfrancus his Disciple and successour as well in the Abbey of Bec-Heloin as in the Archbish-oppricke of Canterburie teacheth conformably to the Fathers That the Fathers vnder the Law did eate the same spirituall meate that we euen the body and bloud of Christ That in the Sacraments they signifying things that is to say the signes do take the names of the things signified And thus saith he the rocke was Christ That the breaking of bread was a signe of the breaking of his bodie which should be done at his Passion that to eate him vnworthily is to eate him with the mouth of the bodie worthily with the mouth of the heart c. Saint Bernard intreating vpon the supper A ring is absolutely giuen for a ring and it carrieth no further signification with it It is also giuen to aduance a man to some place of honour and dignitie or else to set one in possession of an inheritance in so much as that hee which hath receiued it may say The ring is nothing worth but it is the inheritance that I seeke and aime at After the same manner our Lord drawing
neere to his death had care to set vs in possession of his grace to the end that his inuisible grace might be giuen vs by some visible signe And for that are all the Sacraments instituted for that cause also the Eucharist and Baptisme c. What will they here say which blame and are offended with vs for that we call the Sacraments a ring or pledge In an other place he putteth downe this comparatiue speech Idem in Cant. serm 33. Men vse not to take with like chearefulnesse the crust of the Sacrament and the finest of the flower of the Corne faith and riches remembrance and presence eternitie and a stinted time the face and the Glasse the Image of God and the forme of a seruant Againe Idem de S. Martinio ser 21. The true substance of the flesh is exhibited vnto vs in the Sacrament but spiritually not carnally And what is the meaning of this spiritually Verily saith he in an other place expounding these words Noli me tangere This touching from henceforth seeing Christ is gone vp into heauen is done by the affection not with the hand with the desire not with the eye by faith not by feeling Thou shalt touch him with the hand of faith the finger of desire the fierie flames of deuotion and with the eye of the vnderstanding c. To belieue him is to haue found him Hug. erud Theolog. trac 6. c. 7. Summae Senten de sacr l. 2. p. 8. c. 8. 13. The faithfull knowe that Christ dwelleth by faith in their hearts what can there be more neere Hugo of Saint Victor This visible kind is named flesh by the custome of the Scripture which giueth to Sacraments the names of the things whereof they are Sacraments Againe The bread is proposed and set before men that in it may be taken and by it may bee signified the truth of the bodie and bloud of Christ And againe The receiuing of the Eucharist is the Sacrament and image of the participation of Iesus For this his Sacrament which wee take visibly is the signe that we ought to be vnited vnto him spiritually In a word It is better for thee saith he that Christ should enter into thy vnderstanding then into thy belly This meate is for the soule and not for the bodie Which beareth in a word this lessoÌ„ with it as we take it That the bread is the body of Christ Sacramentally in signification and in figure exhibiting notwithstanding vnto our soules the thing in truth spiritually by faith And Berengarius doth interpret it in the same words cited by Lanfrancus Now I am not ignorant that these same Doctors haue in other places spoken altogether as properly but so it is that Barbarisme had not as yet choaked suppressed the old language of the Church notwithstaÌ„ding that persecution was euerie where intended against them that would speake it freely Oppositions Peter de Bruits a famous Doctor at Tholose who taught that the transmutatioÌ„ of the kinds was contrarie to the word of God Petrus Cluniacensis l 2. being followed of a great number of people in the Prouences of Dolphinie Prouence Languedoc and Guien was burned aliue And Henrie his fellow Scholler did not shrinke to take his place vpon him in most couragious sort maner as also diuers others with him An Abbot rose on the other side in Fraunce who preached the verie same doctrine an other in England holding disputation Panem esse Sacramentum non rem Sacramenti That the bread is the Sacrament and not the thing but this man was oppressed by Malachias Bishop of Ireland In Graecia likewise they disputed and reasoned sutably to this doctrine Whether the bodie of Christ Nicetas after it is taken bee corruptible or incorruptible Nicetas taketh the one part and Humbert the Burgonian the other men agreed vpon as contrarie one to the other in all things Thus by these friuolous and fantasticall questions turning into cruell contentions the true body of Christ was rent in peeces and his very bloud contemptuously shed and spoyled whereas it was instituted for the vnion and knitting together of the Church Now come in Gratian and Lombard Friers patrons and protectors the one of the Canonists the other of the Schoolemen the one a compiler of the Decrees the other of the sentences Anno 1200. The Canons the greater part whereof is taken from the Fathers but sometimes not according to their true sence the rather to fit them thereby to their times And hereby we shall still be able to perceiue and see that the truth thereof cannot bee hid or concealed Let vs begin with Gratian The Canon Inquit is verie plaine and manifest Gratian. Câ—nqâ—â—t 80. De Consec d 2 C. Quia passus 3â— â—c Consec c. 2 â— Null◠〈…〉 C. â—um Quid 43 c. oâ—ccrâ— d 2. â—b Gl. C. Non hoc 4â— ibid. That the Fathers of the old Testament did eate the same spirituall meate that wee c. The Canon Quia passus That euerie faithfull person is partaker of the bodie and bloud of Christ of his bread and Cup in Baptisme Maxims altogether contrarie to those of the transubstantiators And as concerning the Eucharist the Canon Prima quidem saith You shall not eate this bodie which you see you shall not drinke the bloud which they shall shed that shall crucifie me I haue recommended vnto you a certaine Sacrament the same spiritually vnderstood doth quicken you And the Glose You shall not eate this bodie c. that is in this sort and greatnesse but in the Sacrament Which is directly against that which they teach That the same body which was crucified is eaten in the Eucharist Now to the end they may loose themselues out of this snare they patch it vp with these words Ipsum non ipsum That is the same and not the same the same inuisible not the same visibly c. But the Canons C. Dupliciter 2◠〈…〉 est quod 4â— d. ead 〈◊〉 Gloss Aâ—â—ust in psa 98. Tâ—om op 58. c 19 C. de hac quidem 75. d. 2 vbi Hieron C. Hoc Corpus 27. de consecr d. 2. Dupliciter and hoc est quod doth quite breake off whatsoeuer hold they might seeme to haue The flesh and the bloud of Christ are taken two waies either as they are spirituall and diuine of which the Lord saith My flesh is truely meate c. Or for the flesh which was crucified and the bloud which was shed with the speare c. Now Saint Augustine meaneth that it is this that is neither eaten nor drunken Againe by the Canon De hac quidem It is not permitted saith he to any man to eate of the host that Christ hath offered vpon the Altar of the Crosse but rather of that other which is admirably done in remembrance of it Then there is nothing left for vs to eate but the remembraunce and memoriall onely