this strange thing he found by conferring togeather the dayes and houres that it was the very time that Masse was sayd for him Hence the holy Doctour inferres what greate force and efficacy is in this most Diuine Sacrifice to release men from the spirituall fetters of sin wherin was so great strength to vndoe and breake the chaynes of the body The auncient formes of Masse deliuer the same truth that of S. Iames speaking with GOD thus prayeth that the sinnes we haue committed may be abolished that thou o Lord be propitious and mercifull vnto thy people that by the Oblation of this gratious Diuine Sacrifice we may be held worthy of eternall life The Masse of S. Basil sayth Let this Sacrifice be acceptable for our sinnes for the ignorances of the people S. Chrysostomes Make vs worthy to offer the gifts and this speciall Sacrifice for our sinnes grant that we may find fauour in thy sight And now in the Canon of the Masse we say that we offer this Sacrifice for the Redemption of our Soules That the Masse is a most efficacious Sacrifice to obtayne whatsoeuer we demand CHAP. X. AS cōcerning the fourth title and reason of offering Sacrifices to the end to obtayne of God that which we demaund it is cleere that our Sacrifice doth farre excell all other For if the offering vnto God of a lambe or kidd or some other bruite creature was so efficacious a meanes to obtayne the thing desired and therefore such kind of Sacrifices were ordinarily offered how much greater efficacy is there in the offering vnto him his very Son with the whole treasure of his merits Without doubt this is greater beyond cōparisō If God made such promises vnto Abrahā cōfirmed by Oath to do fauours vnto him and to all his posterity only in regard of the will he had to sacrifice his Sonne what benefits and graces will he bestow on thē that offer and sacrifice vnto him really truly his only begottē Sonne what fauours will he not grant what can one aske with such a present that he will not giue with reason we may heere vse the wordes of the Apostle Saint Paul He that spared not his only Sonne but gaue him for vs all how can it be that he hath not giuen vs all togeather with him Or how can he deny vs any thing that we can aske If the Lawes both human and Diuine so strictly prohibite vnto Iudges and Princes whose office is to gouerne the affayres of the Commō-wealth to pronounce sentence in cases of difference to receaue gifts or presents because receauing them they remaine euen in nature obliged to requite them and to gratify such as gaue them so that it seemes impossible that they should not fauour them why may we not presume that God is in a certaine māner bound to do vs fauours hauing receaued of vs a gift so great and precious as we offer him in the Masse And if the Prouerbe that Gifts breake rocks be true as experiēce shewes it is there being no hart so hard which presents do not make relent yield vnto the giuer how can we thinke that God hauing an hart not of stone nor hard but most sweet louing mercifull inclined to do vs fauours will forbeare to do vs any thing we shall request hauing taken of vs such a rich gift as we present him in our sacrifice Certayne it is that the holy Sacrifice of the Masse is a most efficacious meanes to obtayne of God all that we desire so that the Church did euer vse to say Masses to aske of God Health Peace prosperity other benefits generall and particular as well corporall as spirituall neither need I stay lōger in prouing so cleere and receaued a truth Wherefore I will only here set downe a most prudent and pious consideratiō of a graue and learned Diuine of our age most true conformable both vnto Theology holy scripture This is that Christ our Lord now in Heauen though he be not in the state to merit or satisfy for vs a new yet he is in a state where he may pray and make intercession for mē as in verity he doth according as the Apostle doth witnesse that he doth pleade for vs and at the iudgment seate of God is our sollicitour and as S. Iohn sayth We haue an Aduocate vnto God the Father Christ Iesus the Iust. Hereupon this learned Authour sayth that it is a thing very credible likely that Christ our Lord as often as the Sacrifice of the Masse is offered doth intercede and pray for them that offer it and also for thē for whome it is offered A consideration most true For seing it is most certayne that Christ our Lord doth actually and in truth exercise the office of our Priest and Aduocate seing also that the proper office of Priest is to pray intercede for the people we may rest in this persuasion without any doubt that our Lord being in all his actiōs most perfect will completly performe this office not only by offering the Sacrifice particularly for them for whome it is offered whereof there is no questiō but also by praying interceding actually for thē that they may obtaine what they request and desire if the same agree with their Saluation and Gods glory And it may seeme that the Apostle S. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews doth signify or insinuate this truth where treating of the Eternall Priest-hood of Christ he sayth That he can saue for euer them that by him haue accesse vnto God who liues euer to intercede and pleade for vs and thereupon he straight addeth It was conuenient that we should haue such an High-Priest Where he seemes to conioyne praying and interceding for vs with the office of Priesthood signifying that to discharge that duty perfectly it is necessary that he pray and intercede for them that are vnder his charge and more particularly for them for whome he offers his Sacrifice which thing is no wayes inconuenient in Christ but very agreeing with reason as the Venerable Father Dionysius Carthusianus notes in his declaration of this speech of the Apostle Qui etiam interpellat pro nobis Which also is the Doctrine of that great Saint Laurēce Patriarch who wrytes thus in a certayne Sermon When Christ is sacrificed vpon the Aultar our sayd Redeemer cryeth for vs vnto his Father shewing the sacred marks of his Woundes to saue men from eternall punishments by his intercession This being so as I do firmely belieue it is what a soueraigne and excellent thing and full of reuerence and veneration is the holy Sacrifice of the Masse If we do highly esteeme that some Saints in Heauen pray particularly actually for vs or some person liuing vpon earth whome we know to be vertuous in singular fauour with God how much more ought we to prize the only Son of God his praying and intercession for vs vnto his eternall Father Out
A TREATISE OF THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASSE And Excellencies therof Written in Spanish by the R. F. Ant. de Molina a Carthusian Monke translated into English by I. R. of the Society of IESVS VVith Order hovv to be present at the said Holy Mystery vvith Deuotion Profit IHS Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XXIII TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND MOST VERTVOVS Gentlewoman Mrs MARY PETRE c. THE CONstant report of your Deuotion to the most holy Mystery of the Masse hath emboldened me to present vnto your Seruice this Infant of a Spanish Descent clad in English Attyre to attend vpō you in your Chappell at such publicke or priuate Solemnities Not doubting but that he shall receaue such Entertainment at your deuout Hands as his Educatiō deserueth especially at this Tyme when so happy a Vnion firme Friendship is novv most happily concluded between two so mighty Kingdomes by so Fortunate and Hopefull a Mariage Wherto if I should adde my commendacions of his worth I might therby rather do him Wronge then Honour knowing his Tallents and other good parts to be such as may beseeme his Seruice though perhaps not so familiarly acquainted with the fashions of your English Court as is required yet because I know your Disposition to be Noble and your Minde greatly addicted to Piety Deuotion and also that the Present cannot be but acceptable I do in the best manner I can commend him to your Honourable Custody Protection my selfe to your vertuous Prayers resting Your assured Seruāt in Christ Iesus I. VV. THE TABLE Of the Contents of the Ensuing Booke CHAP. I. THat in the Catholike Church there is a true and proper Sacrifice which is that of the Holy Masse pag. 1. CHAP. II. That the name of Masse was giuē vnto this sacrifice by the Apostles euer vsed in the Church And the signification therof pag. 18 CHAP. III. That the Masse is an Embassage vnto the most holy Trinity in the behalfe of humane kind about the most important affaires in the World pag. 32 CHAP. IIII. That the Masse is a liuely representation of the Mysteries of our Sauiour which are renewed and mystically performed againe therin pag. 49 CHAP. V. That the Masse is a true and proper Sacrifice the same and of the same value as that which Christ offered on the Crosse. p. 76 CHAP. VI. That the Sacrifice of the Masse hath all the titles and reasons for which sacrifices are offered vnto God pag. 100 CHAP. VII That the Masse is a most perfect Holocauste pag. 113 CHAP. VIII That the Masse is a most perfect Sacrifice of Thanks-giuing pag. 123 CHAP. IX That the Masse is a most perfect Sacrifice of Propitiation for sinnes pag. 129 CHAP. X. That the Masse is a most efficacious Sacrifice to obtayne whatsoeuer we demand pag. 139 CHAP. XI That the Masse is the thing most Venerable which is in the Church pag. 152 CHAP. XII That the Masse is a thing of greatest honour vnto God p. 167 CHAP. XIII That the Masse is a Present most gratefull vnto our Sauiours Humanity vnto the most Blessed Virgin pag. 187 CHAP. XIIII The externall Reuerence and Worship to be vsed in the holy Masse pag. 206 CHAP. XV. Of the Reuerence due vnto Churches holy Places p. 233 CHAP. XVI Of being present and hearing the Holy Office of Masse which hath alwayes byn in most high esteeme publickely celebrated euery where both among the Syrians the Grecians and the Latines euer since the tyme of the Apostles pag. 259 Approbatio HVNC pium Tractatum in Anglicanum Sermonem ex Hispanico versum magnam legentibus Consolationē afferre posse iudico Io. Floydus Soc. Iesu Theol. A TREATISE OF THE Holy Sacrifice of the Masse and the excellencyes thereof That in the Catholicke Church where is a true proper Sacrifice which is that of the Holy Masse CHAP. I. IN the first place we must lay for foundation That in the Christian Church there is some speciall and proper Sacrifice to be offered vnto God which is a truth so certayne and so cleere that no doubt can be made therof but by men impertinent and without iudgment wherof the Heretickes of our tyme may seeme destitute For amōgst diuers absurdities vnto which through rashnes and pertinacity they are fallen this is one That there is no true and proper Sacrifice in the Christian Church Wherin they stand not only against the venerable antiquity of the Fathers and Doctours of the Church against the definitions of the sacred Coūcels against the manifest testimonies of the Scriptures which can be vnderstood in no other sense but also against the very light of reason For it is a thing necessary and essentiall to euery well ordered Common-wealth to be furnished with Sacrifices wherby to honour God as euen heathē Philosophers acknowledge Plato Aristotle Xenophon others Neyther was there euer in the world any Cōmon-wealth howsoeuer rude and barbarous that had not some kind of Sacrifice for the worship of God or of that thinge which they were perswaded to bee God How then can any man with reason imagine that Christ our Lord hath left his Church which is the most perfect of all Cōmō-wealths imperfect defectuous in a matter so much importing and essentiall Specially the Doctrine of S. Thomas receaued by the consent of Deuines being most true that men are bound to offer sacrifice vnto God euē by the law of Nature why shoud our Sauiour leaue no meanes to his faithfull how to comply with this Law Seing also according to true Theology Grace destroyes not nature but addes perfection thereunto And seeing these three thinges Law Priest-hood Sacrifice are so ioyned and combined togeather that change or innouatiō being made in ony one of them the same must needs redoūd to both the other as the Apostle proueth effectually writing vnto the Hebrews That the Priest-hood being translated the translatiō of the Law must also needes be consequent therevpon It is cleare that Christ our Sauiour as he changed the old Law into another new and better the auncient Priest-hood into another new and more perfect so likewyse in the same measure and proportion he ordayned another Sacrifice to succeed the elder by so much more excellent then those were by how much the new Law surpasseth the old It being also a thing so certayne that in the Law of the Ghospell there be Priests that euen Heretikes cannot deny it though they vnderstand the same amisse peruert the meaning therof certayne also it is there must be a Sacrifice which these Priests are to offer otherwise what neede or vse should there be of Priests The lyke argumēt is drawn from the Aultar which to be found in the Christian Church is a thing most certaine being affirmed by S. Paul by the third Canon of the Apostles and vniformely by all the Saints it is most vndoubted that there is a sacrifice to be offered on this Aultar because
of the nayles and lance Christ Iesus his assumpted Humanity is offered vnto the eternall Father that he may acknowledge whome he begot and whome he sent into this world and by his Mediation grant pardon vnto sinners his hande vnto the lapsed life vnto the iustified We may well belieue that at the tyme of this Sacrifice the Heauen is opened the Angels behold with admiration the Saints singe with ioy the Iust exult the Captiues are visited the fettered are released Hell mourneth and the holy Church our Mother reioyceth in spirit Hence is gathered with what veneration the Priest ought to assist to whome the office authority is giuen to consecrate this Sacrifice and to intercede and pray for the whole world who therefore ought to be a louer of Gods honour religious towardes himself humble of hart and full of compassion towards the sinnes of his Neighbours Wordes worthy of the great spirit of this Saynt and sufficient to comfort and inflame him that readeth them and to make him conceaue great respect and reuerence towardes the most holy Mystery of the Masse That the Masse is a thing of greatest honour vnto God CHAP. XII SVCH is the Excellency of the MASSE that the greatest worshipp of Religion and Diuine honour is contayned therein and the most gratefull vnto God that giues him most content of all things that are done or can be don in the world Which is auerred by the same most holy Patriarch in these wordes Verily by no Sacrifice is God more praysed and honored then by this immaculate Victime of the Aultar which to the end that complete worship perfect prayse might be giuen vnto God Christ did institute in his Church wherein the mysteries and passages of his holy Passion are mystically renewed so that nothing can be more acceptable vnto God The truth of this saying is perspicuous by that which we haue shewed before that in the Masse is offered vnto the eternall Father the Sacrifice of his only begotten Sonne with the whole treasure of his merits which without question is a thing of more valew and dignity then were a Sacrifice consisting of all creatures put togeather and by this only Sacrifice more honour and worship is giuē vnto God then if all creatures were offered vnto him at once and a greater protestation of the eminency and Soueraignty of the Diuine Nature seeing hereby we acknowledge him worthy of a Sacrifice of infinit perfection valew and dignity And not only this Diuine Sacrifice is more gratefull acceptable then any other but also to speake with more propriety nothing is nor hath euer byn pleasing vnto him but in vertue of this Sacrifice which is signifyed by the speach of the eternall Father in the Baptisme and transfiguration of his Sonne This is my beloued Sonne in whome I am well pleased as if he had sayd He only pleaseth me for himselfe and all other please me for his sake and for his merits and for as much as they be like vnto him and not in other sort as the Apostle declareth in his Epistle to the Ephesians saying He made vs gracious in his beloued Sonne al the grace we haue of God stowes as frō the fountayne from that most abundant copious grace wherwith his most beloued Sonne is gratious in his sight To this effect the holy Euangelist S. Iohn hauing sayd That Christ our Lord is full of grace and truth as the only begotten Sonne of the Father addeth out of hand saying Out of his fulnes haue we all receaued grace for grace From this plenitude and height of grace which makes the Sōne gracious vnto the Father is communicated vnto vs all the grace we haue without want of any Yea it is a generally receaued truth that al the grace which hath byn giuen or shall hereafter be giuen eyther vnto men or Angels proceedeth from the grace of Christ and that no creature hath euer beene or shall euer be gratious vnto God but in him through him And answerably herevnto it is very cleere and certayn that nothing can be so gratefull and acceptable vnto him as this Sacrifice wherin Christ himself is offered togeather with all his merits which truth may be yet further declared in this sort If the charity which mē haue had frō the beginning of the world vnto this day or shall haue hereafter vntill the consummation thereof with all their merits and all the prayse honour which they haue giuen vnto God be put togeather If the torments and sufferings of all the Martyrs who with such excessiue charity and heroicall fortitude offered their liues for the honour of God if the pious and vertuous exercises of holy Confessours Patriarchs Prophets Monkes Anchorets Eremits other who by another kind of Martyrdome of longer continuance and in some sorte more painfull and difficult haue crucified massacred themselues with fastings wearing of hayre-cloth watchings pennance and mortifications finally if all the vertue and perfection both of men and Angels be layd togeather in one yet all this put togeather doth not please God so much as doth one only Masse sayd by the poorest Priest in the world And to proceede yet further the charity of the Blessed is much more perfect excellēt then that of the greatest Saynt that liueth in the world because it is charity proceeding from the cleere perspicuous vision of the Diuine Essence For this respect our Sauiour hauing extolled the sanctity of the glorious S. Iohn Baptist so farr as to say of him amōgst the Sonnes of womē there neuer arose any greater nor more holy he strayght added Yet the last in the Kingdome of Heauen is greater then he Now this being so proceeding higher in the forsayd consideration I say that though vnto the merits and vertues of all Saints that haue byn or euer shall be be added also the charity of the Blessed in Heauen both of men Angels and of the most sacred Virgin Queene of thē all all these put togeather cannot giue vnto God so much honour nor so much prayse nor so much contēt as a Masse doth offered by any Priest And the reason hereof hath been signifyed before to wit that in all and euery MASSE Christ our Lord is the principal Priest who actually makes the oblation of that Sacrifice and the proper office duty of Priesthood is to giue prayse and honour vnto God So that Christ in euery Masse is the chiefe worshipper and honour of God to make amends for our defects he as the chiefe and supreme Offerer giues the thankes the honour prayse and worship that is due vnto him and most certayne it is that all creatures put togeather cānot yet yield vnto God so great honour prayse and content as his only Sonne alone can doe Whence it is consequēt that the Sacrifice of the Masse aswell in regard of the thing offered as also in respect of the person that offers incomparably exceedes all Religion worship
for this end is the Aultar built Aultar and Sacrifice being correlatiues Wherefore the errour of vnfortunate Heretickes is in this particular so strange and so contrary to the light of reason that it could haue entred but into minds afore through malice obstinate and through infidelity blinded who from errours run into errour still greater and more foule But heerin they are Ministers of the Diuell who by their mediation endeauoureth to doe the holy Church all the mischiefe he is able and the cursed Caytiffe knowes the greatest mischiefe he can doe is to driue away or hinder the most holy sacrifice of the Altar as de facto he hath driuen away and exiled the same out of townes and countries wherin preuayle these errours and pestilentiall doctrines Wherin also they declare themselues Percursors of the most wicked Antichrist cōcerning whome the Saints of God commonly affirme that the first and principall thing he shall attempt to the detrimēt of the Church is with most extreme rigour to inhibite the exercise of the most holy sacrifice of the Aultar Thus many Fathers and graue Authours vnderstand that which Daniel sayth in his prophecy That in the thousand two hundred and ninety dayes that is in the three yeares and halfe that Antichrists raigne shal continew the continuall sacrifice shall be taken away frō the Church he shall cause his image to be placed in the Temple that himself alone may be adored as God the text sayth He shall take away the continuall Sacrifice and destroy the place of sanctification strength against the cōtinuall sacrifice is giuen him in regard of sinnes This drift which the Diuel shall then prosecute by the meanes of Antichrist he now endeauours to settle by the help of these Hereticks who by procuring to take frō the Catholicke Church the most holy Sacrifice bringe therwith innumerable and inestimable mischiefes and would haue the Christian people which hath receaued more of God and greater benefits to be more vngratefull vnto their God then any other Nation in the world This the holy and venerable Abbot Petrus Cluniacensis liuing in the same age with S. Bernard well noted and signified in these wordes They that attempt to take from the Church of Christ the sacrifice by the Diuells suggestions doe their best that that nation which hath byn graced of God with more singular benefits and fauours should be lesse thankefull to him and yield him lesse worship and honour But I will leaue these Heretickes as men without discretion and common sense to thēselues my purpose not being to dispute this controuersie with them but only to giue a warning vnto the faythfull of their errours impertinēcies Al Catholike Christians are to belieue as a most sure and infallible principle that in the Catholicke Church there is a proper true and most excellent sacrifice which is offered vnto the eternall Father by the handes of Priests as being Minister of Christ Iesus the high Priest and soueraigne Bishop For this hath euer byn the beliefe of the holy Church since the tyme of the Apostles this the doctrine perpetually deliuered by the holy Fathers this the fayth determined established in the sacred Councels and last of all in the holy Councell of Trent in these words Whosoeuer shal say that in the masse is not offered a true and proper sacrifice vnto God or that the sacrifice is no other then the giuing of Christ to be eaten let him be accursed The holy Masse then is the only and most holy Sacrifice of the new Testamēt instituted by Christ our Lord not when he did offer himselfe on the crosse though then he offered a Sacrifice but that was a bloudy sacrifice consumed with payne and wounds the conuulsions of death in which manner only he would offer it that tyme but in his last supper when he consecrated his pretious body bloud vnder the formes and accidents of bread and wine For then he not only gaue it vnto his Disciples as a sacramentall food for the sustenance of their soules but also offered the same vnto his eternal Father as an vnbloudy sacrifice made them Priests with faculty to offer in the like manner granted vnto them vnto their successors vnto the worldes end saying Do this in remembrance of me that is the same thing that I doe you likewise doe in my name memory Wherfore two doctrines as most firme and Catholicke truth are settled by the premisses the one that in the Christiā Church there is a true and proper Sacrifice the other that this sacrifice is offered only in the Masse of the excellencies whereof we now are to treate That the Masse was giuen vnto this Sacrifice by the Apostles euer vsed in the Church And the signification thereof CHAP. II. HERETICKES not only deny and would take from the Church the most holy Sacrifice of the Masse but also cannot endure the very word name of Masse and soe they haue declared to affirme with sacrilegious mouth that the Masse is the inuention of the Pope and his followers The most impious Martin Luther Captayne of these wicked sectaries hath written a booke with this title De abroganda Missa The title is lyke the booke and the booke lyke the Authour and the whole lyke the matter hādled therin wherin he doth acknowledge that by conferēce had with the Diuell appearing to him he was perswaded to abrogate the best thing the most sacred and venerable that is in the Church And though neyther my drift nor the ayme of this Treatise be to dispute with Heretickes which thinge graue writers of this age haue fitly performed yet for the confirmation of Catholickes as also for confusion of Hereticks who sticke not to vtter whatsoeuer they can imagine to be disgracefull to the Church without care whether they speake true or false I thinke it reason briefly to set downe the truth of this matter It is therfore to be known that not only the Sacrifice of the Masse was instituted by our Sauiour in his last supper but also the name of Masse was giuen vnto it by the Apostles themselues frō that tyme hath euer been vsed by the holy Church The first that sayd Masse after our Sauiours Ascension is thought to haue byn S. Iames the yoūger termed Brother of our Lord. For though S. Peter were superiour and head of all as being the soueraigne Bishop yet he would yield that honour vnto this glorious S. Iames because he was Bishop of Hierusalem which was the first Church in the world it is thought this Church to haue byn the sacred Cenacle where Christ kept his last supper and where afterward the holy Ghost came downe vpon the Disciples In this Masse did the holy Apostles and Disciples communicate and the most sacred Virgin then first receaued in the most holy Sacrament her glorious and immortall Sonne whome before she had receaued and apparelled with flesh in her immaculate wombe This Blessed Apostle
the figure was to cease Therefore Christ Iesus our Lord the day before he offered this bloudy Sacrifice vpon the Aultar of the Crosse in his last supper with his Disciples doing the office of the true Priest according to the order of Melchisedech as the Councell of Trent noteth ordained that perpetually in his Church should be offered the same sacrifice he was to offer on the Crosse notwithstanding he would not haue this perpetuall sacrifice bloudy nor with those fits and accidents of death but vnbloudy vnder the formes and accidents of bread and wine yet in such māner that in substance and in essence it should be the very same And to the end that the defects and vnworthynes of Priests might not preiudice in any kind or diminish the value and dignity of a sacrifice so high and Diuine he would himselfs still remayne with the office and stile of eternall Priest really and in truth sacrificing by himselfe as principal Priest other Priests being but his instruments performing the exteriour ministery and this is that we do in the Masse offer vnto the eternall Father as Ministers of Christ the same sacrifice his sonne offered on the Crosse. And in saying We offer the same sacrifices we say a world of magnificēces dignities excellēcies For being the same it must needs haue the same vertue the same value the same sufficiency the same merit as it then had other innumerable honours worthy of much consideration Now that the Masse is the same sacrifice really essentially is a truth most certaine seing the same victime is offered the same Priest is the principall offerent the same God vnto whome it is offered and the same reason of offering as the Councell of Trent defineth only the manner of offering being different that of the Crosse being bloudy and with the extremities of death this vnbloudy couered with the externalls of bread wine without woundes or sores or accidents of mortality To this purpose pertaine the wordes of S. Ambrose saying One and the same is our sacrifice with that Christ offered For he is our High-Priest who offered the cleansing victime for vs the same we offer now that was offered then Do this sayth he in remēbrance not another sacrifice as did the Priests in the old Law but the same we still offer And S Chrysostome The sacred Oblation what Priest soeuer offers it is still the same with that Christ gaue his Disciples neyther hath this any thing lesse then that had For men do not sanctify this Victime but Christ himself who consecrated that doth in lyke manner sanctify this which are wordes of great comfort and worthy of the noting And for this reason S. Paul affirmes so many tymes in his Epistle to the Hebrews that we haue not in the Church and that we haue no other sacrifice besides that which Christ offered on the Crosse. And it is the truth that that sacrifice was most sufficient and that we neyther need nor haue any other but the same sacrifice we daily repeate and renew on the sacred Aultar for a continuall memoriall and thankesgiuing as our Lord himself ordayned to the end that the vertue of that most sufficient sacrifice may be in particular with efficacity applyed to euery one as the Councell of Trēt faith That the holesome vertue thereof be imployed applyed for the remission of such sinnes as we dayly commit That the sacrifice of the Masse hath all the titles and reasons for which sacrifices are offered vnto God CHAP. VI. THAT we may better vnderstand the dignity and excellency of the Masse we must note that besides the reason alleadged why men did aunciently offer sacrifices vnto God to wit to figure and represent the true most perfect sacrifice that was to be offered for the redemption of mankind in which reasō the Masse without comparison surpasseth them all as being not a meere representation but to the very workes of our redemption mystically performed as hath been sayd Besides this reason I say there were many other binding men euen by the law of Nature to offer sacrifices vnto God as they were taught by the very instinct of the light of naturall reasō as also by the speciall inspiratiō releuation made to some iust and holy men Which reasons gathered out of S. Thomas and other graue Authours though in themselues they be many yet they may be reduced vnto fower The first to acknowledge and professe the Maiesty soueraignty and Excellency of God and the supreme absolute Dominion he hath ouer all as being the Creatour and vniuersall Lord of all and to pay him the tribute of honour and veneration due vnto him for these respects This is the highest and most perfect reason of offering sacrifices vnto God which only regardes him according to that he is in himself and for this respect is due to him all honour and veneration that creatures can possibly yield And for the satisfying of this reason was instituted peculiarly that kind of sacrifice tearmed Holocauste in which some brute beast was offered burnt consumed with fyre wholly entirely nothing remayning therof to signify that whatsoeuer a creature is all is due vnto God and all to be offered for his honour and glory And if God would vse his vttermost rigour not regard men with a louing and gratious eye he might most iustly chalēg that they should offer him in sacrifice their very liues or the liues of their deerest children or other things if they haue any more deare and pretious vnto thē For this cause he commanded in his law that to him should be offered all the first begotten of man or beast in acknowledgment that he is Lord of all and the best and most beloued thing is due vnto him often repeating this reason thereof Mea enim sunt omnia For all is mine Thus he charged his friend Abraham to offer in holocaust his only Sonne whome he loued as his owne soule yet being satisfied with the promptitude of his obedience and readines to offer euen his owne life if had God made request thereof he procured him a Ramme to be offered in liew of his Sonne And with his people he was contented with that complement and ceremony of offering their first begotten Sonnes with protestation that they were Gods and due vnto him and his Maiesty tooke possession of them and receaued them as his owne but straight restored them backe againe to their parents neuer permitting that in effect any humā person should be sacrificed vnto him Only God gaue his consent that in his only begotten Sonne this rigour should be vsed of being offered in sacrifice because he alone did suffice for all as being the first begotten of all creatures On the other side the Diuell as being proud and ambitious of Diuine worshipp and a cruel enemy of mankind required of people deceaued and brought vnder his tyranny that they should adore him by sacrificing
massacring their sonnes and daughters vnto him as also they did in effect sacrifice a great multitude of Innocent Infants vnto their Idols according to that of the Prophet Dauid They did immolate their sonnes and daughters vnto the Diuells spilt innocent bloud The second reason or title that men should offer Sacrifice vnto God is to giue them thanks for the fauours he doth them and to acknowledge that all good thinges come from him and in gratitude and in place of tribute to giue him some part of these goods as Salomon What from thy hand we receaued we haue offered vnto thee and this kind of sacrifice is tearmed pacificall and sacrifice of prayse and of thankesgiuing In this sacrifice though the beast were wholly offered vnto God yet all was not burnt but only the fatt and entralls the remaynder was for the foode of the Priest and of the Officers to signify hereby that the goods which GOD giues vs he will haue vs offer them vp to him referring all to his glory with a good hart inward content and that the rest be for vs and for our profit The third reason is satissatisfactiō for sinnes which is called propitiatory Sacrifice or sacrifice for sinne or for offences This kind of sacrifices were very ordinary in the old Law where are set downe peculiar sacrifices for euery sinne which are ordayned and recorded at large in the booke of Leuiticus The fourth title and reason of offering Sacrifice is to request and obtayne of God the fauours and benefits we stande in need off For euē God is of this disposition that with him gifts and offerings are of great importance and force to purchase vs the graces for which we are suppliāts vnto him And this sacrifice is tearmed Impetratory or Victime of saluation Now if all this that hath been sayd be well considered and put by meditation togeather it will most euidently appeare that this most holy Sacrifice we offer in the new Testament hath incomparable dignityes vnspeakable eminencies aboue all the Sacrifices that aunciētly were offered For in this only sacrifice with great aduantage and excellencies concurre the former fower reasons and tytles innumerable other that may be called to minde as the holy Church iudgeth and signifyeth in one of her collects or Oraisons saying O Lord that by the perfection of one Sacrifice hast fully established set downe vnto vs all the differences of the legall Victimes And so we shall more largely perfectly declare how fully the fower afore-mentioned reasons agree vnto our Sacrifices That the Masse is a most perfect Holocauste CHAP. VII AS cōcerning the first title of acknowledging the Maiesty and greatnes of God what Holocauste to professe and signifye the same could there be offered more full and complete thē this wherein is sacrificed the first begotten of all creatures whose life alone is of more esteeme without comparison then all the creatures ioyned together And so by this sacrifice we protest and acknowledge the Maiesty magnificence and dignity of our God to be so great that no lesse is due vnto him then a sacrifice of infinit worthynes value The Prophet Isaias did much exaggerate and magnify the Maiesty of God in saying that all the Nations of the world are before him as a dropp of morning dew and as the smalest grayne of weight put into the ballance to counterpoise the cōtrary scale yea that before him they are as if they were not And that so great is his worthynes as that to offer a sacrifice answerable vnto his greatnes all the flocks of sheep and heardes of cattle that feed on the Mount Libanus would not be sufficient to make such an Holocaust nor all the trees that grow thereon able to make fyre great inough to consume the same Libanus non sufficiet ad succendendum animalia eius non sufficient ad Holocaustum The Prophet sayd much yet without falshood he might haue sayd more that the whole world and what soeuer is comprehended therein would not be sufficient for this end though all men should offer their liues in sacrifice though with mē the Angels of Heauē should enter into the Sacrifice though all creatures ioyning togeather should consume themselues in one Holocaust yet this would not be condigne yea this would be much short of Gods greatnes and Maiesty Wherefore we may herein euer admire the wysedome goodnes and power of Christ Iesus shining in this mystery that could deuise was able to effect willing to giue and indeed hath giuen vnto his Church such a sacrifice as hath not only a conformity or proportion but also equality with Gods greatnes and Maiesty so that with truth we may affirme that we offer a sacrifice as good and as excellent as euen infinite Excellēcy deserues And this is also another dignity this Sacrifice hath to magnify God because therein we make a most high protestation of his infinit power wisedome goodnes the three more principall Diuine attributes vnto which the rest are reduced Gods power and supreme Lordship ouer all creatures we professe in this Sacrifice by belieuing that all without contradiction obey his worde and will and that he may at his pleasure dispose of all both in Heauen and in earth seing at the only signification of his will the substance of bread is changed into the body of Christ and the substance of wine into his precious Bloud the accidents which naturally are still in some substance and haue an essentiall relation therunto remayne by themselues single without any substance wherein they inhere as if themselues were substance The body lykewise of our Sauiour exalted vnto the Empyreall Heauen aboue all creatures garnished roūd about with immense glory puts it self by the power of Gods word commanded vnder the accidents of bread to be eaten of the faythfull The Diuine Wisedome lykewise wōderfully shewed it selfe in inuenting a most full and conuenient way how to cōpasse things most difficile in the iudgment both of men and Angels impossible This inuention is that the whole ofspring of mē being in sinne and enemies of God a mā of this stock should be foūd to offer vnto God a sacrifice so gratefull and acceptable that euen in rigour of iustice the same deserues the redemption of man togeather yieldes vnto God the whole worship and reuerence that is due to him with great aduantage and excesse repayring the losses incurred by sinne so many reasons of profit conueniency concurring therin that they can neyther be declared nor imagined Now it seemes that the goodnes of God cannot present vnto men greater demonstrations of it selfe For the nature of goodnes being to communicate it self who can imagine a more full communication or a more straite vnion then this is where God made man vnder the formes of bread and wine giues himselfe to be eaten of all men and of euery one in particular shutting vp himselfe within their breasts vnited vnto them as perfectly and